The 14.2.x cycle introduced several tools that transformed the daily workflow of After Effects users:
Effects like Set Matte and Displacement Map were updated to reference a layer's masks and effects directly. Previously, users had to "pre-compose" these layers to apply effects to the source, a repetitive task that this update largely eliminated. adobe after effects cc 2017 1421
Importing Adobe Illustrator and PDF files became 3-4x faster , particularly for complex files with numerous layers. The 14