• Adobe After Effects

  question concerning after effects application and applying it

  Posted by Mark Price on January 20, 2009 at 12:01 am

  I am an amateur animator trying to do his first project . So i have been reading forums about after effects and i have some questions. My method this far is to create my shot in photoshop with layers for each part i want to move and then bring them in AE as .psd. Now i only have one shot created in photoshop with the elements where i want them in the middle of the shot.

  Should i have more info for after effects from photoshop like a start and an end frame of is that enough?

  It seems to me that after effects is meant for manipulation of images and video to achieve the desired effect and less for creation of these effects, Is that a correct assumption?

  If so does that mean after effects is a place to assemble all my animated elements rather than create?

  Is after effects the proper program to use in creating characters walking through a field?

  is after effects the proper program to create camera effects in this created world of photos and drawings?

  i am also wondering about the workflow of such a project how much do i do in photoshop and how much do i do in ae?

  Also are there any other programs that i should conceder using in addition to AE and Photoshop?

  I was planing on using Final Cut to assemble all of my clips into the final piece any suggestions in exporting to Final Cut in terms of codecs people prefer when creating a fully animated piece?

  Thank you for making it through this long post but any and all input is greatly appreciated also any tutorials and book that people find helpful would be great

  Matt Breeden replied 17 years, 3 months ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
• 1 Reply

• 

  Matt Breeden

  January 25, 2009 at 7:59 pm

  You’re definitely using the right program. Everything you want to do can be done well in AE. As for your problem with the PSD, if I’m understanding you correctly, I believe you’re not importing the file correctly. For your particular purpose, you need to import your PSD as a composition with editable layer styles. Make sure that you select “composition” and NOT “composition–cropped layers” from the drop down menu in the import file dialogue box.
  I think you’re right in thinking that you should assemble in final cut for your final edit. As far as how much you do in Photoshop, it really just depends on what exactly you’re making, though it’s best, I think, to have the source material for your animation as complete as possible before moving on to the step of animating,
  Good Luck

  Matt Breeden
  Elephant Room Media
  
  Video Production – Animation – Web Design

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