Get ready for tools and extensions galore in this week’s news round-up...

Squash & Stretch for After Effects features library of handcrafted behaviours

Even though adding squash and stretch to animations in After Effects is relatively straightforward, it can take up quite a lot of time.

But thanks to a new tool from Mamoworld, appropriately called Squash & Stretch, you can now choose from a library of handcrafted behaviours at the click of a button.

The key difference is that Squash & Stretch adds movements through keyframes, not expressions. This makes it easier to edit, alter, and modify your animations.

Hooker tool for After Effects features ability to connect points to layers

A new extension for After Effects CC 2018 takes advantage of the application’s latest features for more advanced point control options.

Hooker has the ability to access path points and hook them to layers. As a result, each point can be animated separately without affecting the rest.

You can also hook/unhook one or more path points at a time and target inTangents, outTangents or Vertices individually.

Tracker Master for After Effects combines track points and masks

Tracker Master is a new post tracking tool in After Effects, which has been designed to make common compositing tasks faster and easier to complete.

For example, it lets you join tracked points and tracked masks seamlessly for extended motion tracks.

One of Tracker Master’s biggest advantages is that all clone types have content transformations, time offset controls, and are keyframe-less.

Allegorithmic unveils public beta of Substance Plugin for 3ds Max

At Autodesk University 2017, Allegorithmic unveiled the public beta of Substance Plugin along with integration of Substance Source for 3ds Max.

Substance Plugin has been redesigned around Substance Engine technology, offering improved performance, a new UI, and increased resolution to 8K.

“When we started this process, we were dealing with an outdated version that didn’t reflect how far our technology had come in recent years,” said Dr. Sébastien Deguy, founder and CEO, Allegorithmic. “With this new plugin, that gap has been filled, turning a great tool into the powerhouse the rest of our users know and love.”