Adobe AfterEffect CS 8

Description

Adobe After Effects is a digital visual effects, motion graphics, and compositing application developed by Adobe Inc., and used in the post-production process of film making, video games and television production. Among other things, After Effects can be used for keying, tracking, compositing, and animation.

 

Adobe After Effects is a 2.5D animation software used for animation, visual effects, and motion picture compositing. After Effects is used in film, TV, and web video creation.

This software is used in the post-production phase, and has hundreds of effects that can be used to manipulate imagery. This allows you to combine layers of video and images into the same scene.

After Effects is known for it’s versatility, and work created using this program is everywhere. You may recognize some of the following examples, but didn’t realize they were created using After Effects, or even how they were created.

ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS HAS BEEN USED TO CREATE SOME PRETTY POPULAR CONTENT:

• Star Trek: Into the Darkness Titles
• Action Movie Kid
• Enders Game
• UI Stuff: Google Home App
• Formula 1
• CNN Color Series
• Nike
• Cowboys & FreddieW

Aren’t those just absolutely amazing? There are so many different ways you can use After Effects to create visual wizardry. Those are just a few examples that have stood out over time, and really showcase what you can make.

After Effects was developed in 1993 and since then has been acquired a hand full of times. The original developers, Company of Science and Art (CoSA), created two versions with a few functions that allowed you to composite layers and transform various properties of a layer. Fact of the Article: The first version was actually only available on the Macintosh computer, built by Apple.

Acquired in 1994 by Aldus, just one year after launching the program, the program gained amazing new features like multi-machine rendering and motion blur. But, before the year of 1994 came to a close, Adobe came in and acquired the technology, and is still the owner of After Effects today.

Since the conception of After Effects, Adobe has released 50 different versions of its industry leading software, each time gaining new functionality. Some versions are bigger than others, but they all showcase that Adobe has created an extraordinary piece of software.

In fact, in 2019, the program won an Academy Award for scientific and technical achievement; a testament to how well integrated and powerful After Effects is.

Classic Animation vs Motion Graphics

When it comes to animation, there can be some confusion about the difference between a motion designer and a traditional animator. Although these two industries blend and overlap in a few areas, they are different in their workflow.

TRADITIONAL ANIMATION

Drawing frame by frame, using a physical medium, and/or creating cel animation inside of programs like Adobe Animate, is considered the traditional art form of animation.

Through a series of planning out key poses, and drawing in-between each of those, is a lengthy process that offers different advantages in creativity, and some disadvantages in the time it takes to create projects.

When you think of traditional animation you may be picturing some of the original Disney movies, like Aladdin and The Lion King. Those are actually great examples of the traditional animation practice.

MOTION GRAPHICS

Adobe After Effects takes a different approach for creating movement. Motion graphics animation works by manipulating vector and rasterized art to create and tell a story. You can integrate physical based media as well through photographs and videography.

After Effects uses a variety of tools, coding, and user input to manipulate the media being used in a project. You can move, twist, scale, rotate, and much more in order to transform your images and videos.

That may seem a little hard to wrap you head around, so let’s walk through some cases and show examples of how you can use After Effects to create animated videos.

In addition to photos and vector artwork, you can manipulate words using text features in After Effects, and videos that can be imported, and much more.

Let’s get into what After Effects can do, and what it’s not really that great at. This program is very deep and there are so many use cases that we may not capture them all. But, if you’re new to After Effects this article will give you a great foundational understanding of what it’s capable of.

ANIMATION

By moving and transforming layers, you are able to bring artwork to life. After Effects offers digital tools that help you manipulate and edit various properties.

There are a lot of ways to create animations inside of After Effects! With integrations from third party software, and artists pushing the boundaries of everyday workflows, the use cases for creating animations in After Effects is astounding.

Here is a simple list of different types of animations you can create in After Effects:

• 2D Vector Animation
• Basic 3D Animation
• Character Animation
• Kinetic Typography
• UI/UX mock-up animations
• Visual Effects

This is just a small list, but it shows some of the core examples of what you can expect to animate when working in this program.

VISUAL EFFECTS

Outside of animation, there are other use cases for Adobe After Effects.

Visual effects workflows have created a comfy home inside of this program. For years people have manipulated video and film to add in many post-production effects.

Smoke, fire, explosions, scene tracking, and background replacements using green screen technology represent many of the tasks After Effects is capable of performing.

For example, you can add lighting effects or create really cool smoke trails that look like objects are flying through a city. Here’s a fun tutorial that we put together utilizing After Effects as an animation tool.