[Michael Szalapski]

That tool looks really interesting! I’m curious to see how it’s done.

– The Great Szalam
(The \’Great\’ stands for \’Not So Great, in fact, Extremely Humble\’)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.

[Michael Szalapski]

Interesting. I just tried it and nothing’s happening for me anymore either. It used to pop up a little notification letting you know that the like was successful. I guess as the COW transitions to the new version, some things have broken.

– The Great Szalam
(The \’Great\’ stands for \’Not So Great, in fact, Extremely Humble\’)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.

[Michael Szalapski]

You could try resetting your preferences (back up your old ones first) and then re-importing them.

– The Great Szalam
(The \’Great\’ stands for \’Not So Great, in fact, Extremely Humble\’)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.

[Michael Szalapski]

There are controls in the Camera Lens Blur effect for doing everything you’re asking for.
There’s a tick box to invert blur map. And you can adjust the Blur Focal Distance number to make something else be in focus as everything else defocuses.

– The Great Szalam
(The \’Great\’ stands for \’Not So Great, in fact, Extremely Humble\’)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.

[Michael Szalapski]

[Graham Quince] “We need a like button. “

There is one. Under each post – immediately to the right of the orange “reply” button is a green button with a thumbs up image. That’s the like button. ☺

– The Great Szalam
(The \’Great\’ stands for \’Not So Great, in fact, Extremely Humble\’)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.

[Michael Szalapski]

That’s…really weird. Have you tried resetting your AE preferences yet?

– The Great Szalam
(The \’Great\’ stands for \’Not So Great, in fact, Extremely Humble\’)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.

[Michael Szalapski]

Going to one of your saved workspaces should include any panels that are saved in that workspace. Double-click the workspace name to reset it if needed.

To avoid it, import an old project into a new one. There currently isn’t a way to avoid that although it sounds like a swell feature request for the (relatively) new After Effects UserVoice page. (Although, I’d suggest doing a search there in case someone else has made that suggestion and you can add your vote to it.)

– The Great Szalam
(The \’Great\’ stands for \’Not So Great, in fact, Extremely Humble\’)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.

[Michael Szalapski]

Thanks for reporting what the issue was!

– The Great Szalam
(The \’Great\’ stands for \’Not So Great, in fact, Extremely Humble\’)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.

[Michael Szalapski]

I don’t understand the question. Why would smoke be turning? Do you mean the way smoke just kind of curls around due to vorticity? Some images demonstrating your issue would be helpful.
Most smoke assets (like those from Action VFX) curl already.

– The Great Szalam
(The \’Great\’ stands for \’Not So Great, in fact, Extremely Humble\’)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.

[Michael Szalapski]

You’re looking for a script to do what you’re describing. (.jsx file). There’s a whole WORLD of AE scripting out there!

– The Great Szalam
(The \’Great\’ stands for \’Not So Great, in fact, Extremely Humble\’)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.