Adobe After Effects
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| Adobe After Effects | |
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 After Effects 7.0 under Mac OS X 10.4 |
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| Developer: | Adobe |
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| Latest release: | 7.0 / January 17, 2006 |
| OS: | Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows |
| Use: | Video editing/Visual effects |
| License: | Proprietary |
| Website: | Adobe: After Effects |
Adobe After Effects is a digital motion graphics and compositing software published by Adobe Systems. It can be used in film post-production, and in the creation of television commercials, as well as other pieces which require digital effects to be integrated with live video or film.
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[edit] Description
After Effects uses a resolution-Independent system of layers, objects and a timeline wherein objects and video files can be placed within a composition and the position, opacity, size and other effects can be animated along the timeline to control the visual effect seen by the viewer. It's often thought of as "Photoshop with time added."
Although After Effects can create images of its own, it is generally used to combine material from other sources to make moving graphics (also known as motion graphics). For example, with a picture of a space ship and a picture of a star background, After Effects could be used to place the ship in front of the background and animate it to move across the stars.
Each picture or movie is layered on a timeline, in a similar way to a video editing program. However, one difference between After Effects and video editors is that After Effects is layer-oriented, and video editors are generally track-oriented. This means that in After Effects, each individual media object (video clip, audio clip, still image, etc.) occupies its own track. However, video editors use a system where individual media objects can occupy the same track as long as they do not overlap in time. This track-oriented system is more suited for editing and can keep project files much more concise. The layer-oriented system that After Effects adopts is suited for extensive effects work and keyframing.
- After Effects can convert any 2D layer into a plane in 3D space.
- After Effects also has the capability of rotoscoping
- After Effects can be used for digital conversion between different frame rates such as the 29.97 frames per second used in NTSC material and the 25 fps used in PAL video.
[edit] Workflow
After Effects integrates with other Adobe software titles such as Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere and Encore DVD.
The main interface is divided into three major sections: Project window, composition window, and timeline. The project window acts as a bin to import stills, video, and audio clips. Media clips are moved from the project window into the timeline where layer order and timing can be adjusted. The items visible at the current time marker are displayed in the composition window.
The timelines window can become hard to navigate when working with many layers. This is because elements are stacked on top of each other in layers, and not managed using tree or node style graphs as in other compositing packages (AfterEffects does feature a "Flow Chart" view but this is merely for display purposes and is not fully functional). The clutter can be reduced by selectively hiding layers (using the "Shy" switch) or by grouping them into "pre-comps".
[edit] History
After Effects was originally created by the Company of Science and Art in Providence, RI, USA. Version 1.0 was released in January 1993. Version 2.1 introduced PowerPC acceleration in 1994. CoSA along with After Effects was then acquired by Aldus corporation in July 1993; this company was then acquired by Adobe in 1994, and with it PageMaker and After Effects. Adobe's first release of After Effects was version 3, codenamed Nimchow.
[edit] Plug-ins
After Effects has extensive plug-in support; and a broad range of third party plug-ins are available. A variety of plug-in styles exist, such as particle systems for realistic effects for rain, snow, and fire etc.
Using third-party plug-ins, After Effects can create impressive 3D effects. These sort of 3D plug-ins use basic 2D layer from AE. Illustrator graphics can also be loaded and rendered in 3D using plug-ins such as Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator Pro. Some well-known plug-in vendors are, The Foundry, DigiEffects, Zaxwerks, BorisFX, Red Giant Software, and Trapcode.
[edit] Reviews
- Creative COW, by Mylenium, January 17, 2006
- Millimeter, by Steve Katz, July 1, 2004
- MacNETv2, by Lisa Swanson, June 21, 2004
- PC World, by Anush Yegyazarian, April 22, 2004
- Digital Producer, by Stephen Schleicher, April 28, 2004
[edit] Support
- AE Mail-List
- Creative COW After Effects support forum
- Creative COW After Effects Podcast
- Creative COW After Effects tutorials
- DMN Tutorials
- MGLA Cafe
- Mograph.net
- Toolfarm Tutorials
- Toolfarm Forum
- Toolfarm User Groups
- User Groups>Old & New
- World Wide User Group
- Categorized After Effects Tutorials
[edit] See also
Competitors to After Effects include Discreet Combustion, Apple Shake, Cinelerra, Apple Motion, eyeon Fusion, Boris RED, Inferno, Flame, and Pinnacle Commotion.
