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AE7.0 Yawning Gap
Alright I *am* atleast appreciative that the upgrade price is a sober $200 for the Pro version , but as stated elsewhere , the lionshare of noticable new features are performance oriented. This includes the approach of the new UI workflow. Welcome evolution indeed. That said here comes the beef.
No advancements to actual animation of graphic FX. Nothing about including animatable Photoshop *Styles* with personal customizations that casn be saved as presets. I’d have thought that would’ve been a natural progression.
And while I’m on the *animatable Photoshop* bandwagon , the big one that i have been lobbyng for but saw nothing new on , was making more of Photoshop’s *paintbrush engine* animatable via inclusion in AfterFX Pro. How much would it have been to ask to atleast be able to import the brush footprint libraries. They’re all only 2d flat shapes in succession. Need I surmise that this means Adobe beleives most motion graphics artist can’t/don’t paint well enough to begin with to want to then animate such a featue and is , thus , somewhat of a strectch? For me and my well-traveled 12 x 18 Wacom I feel let down. Photoshop’s brush engine is close enough to the artistic fluidity and range of Corel’s Painter to be poised for a breakout into truly new territory and I really wished that the wizards of Adobe would’ve paid attention to this unique feature by taking it to the next logical level. Really too, too bad.
And speaking of animated graphics why no allowance for atleast stop-motion animation of Illustrator’s bezier path brush vectors. There are some equally brilliant vector brush shapes that would be oh so sweet to be able to animate either in the process of creating the brush path or then being able to animate , by way of direct hand’s on manipulation of the bezier path , those same vector brush strokes.
I , for one , have been dying to , one day , be able to *animate* creative brush path signatures *along a path*. just the way Adobe shows off ther many ways you can animate *text* along a path.
What’s the bloody hold-up on that front unless digital paint brush artists are consoidered back-benchers.
Now I appreciate that all this level of brush engine animation requires rendering considerations , but we’re now in the era of truly fast grafxcards , GB’s of RAM , and multicore multi- CPU’s. This is the 21st century for crying out loud and it’s highest time the *artistic* side of the equation got some new attention ; especially since Adobe has already begun to show that it “gets it” with regards to advancing the brush engines in their *static* state via PShop & Illustrator. C’mon guys , now artists genuinely good with a brush will have to wait another 18 months to 2 years to be allowed to * paint in animation*.I did mention that this is the 21st century , didn’t I. 😉
Later,
Taliesn -
20 Replies
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Well… you can’t have it all, can you.
There’s a lot of features that all of us would love to see added into AE, trust me, I’ve filed loads of them. In your case, have you actually sent an email to Adobe with your feature requests? That’s how it works.
But if you consider that the interface has been completely rebuilt, the render engine has been upgraded to include 32-bit float, and linear blending on all of the bit-depths.
6.5 was a release for motiongraphics artists, with loads of new effects bundled, text animators etc.
7.0 seems to focus on improving workflow (I for one work a lot faster in 7 than in 6.5), and control over what you’re doing. Quad views for 3D, OpenGL accelleration, the graph editor, tight integration with Premiere and Encore. Plus as a bonus smooth slomo’s and Photoshop’s Lens Blur.
Bar3nd
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I guess the transition from 6 to 6.5 spoiled me, because I also feel underwhelmed by 7. Things like an intergrated tool for rotoscoping, and 3D enhancements would have left me with a full plate feeling. After viewing all the reviews , I think I will purchase a third party roto tool and a third party particle system and that will make me feel like my capabilites have been enhanced.
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I agree that the 7.0 update may not sound as glamorous – and that we were quite spoilt by the 6.5 upgrade…
But I would seriously recommend downloading the demo once it’s online, and try out the new interface. If you like working in 3D space in AE, you’ll love the new quad viewports UI.
Seriously, I’ve been using 7 exclusively for months now, and would hate to have to go back to 6.5, just because of the interface. It’s a lot more than just a visual overhaul. But don’t take my word for it, just give it a testdrive once the demo is available.
As for particle systems: Trapcode Particular is great.
Bar3nd
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Can you recommend a good third party roto tool? Thanks in advance.
-jay
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“you’ll love the new quad viewports UI.”
Didn’t we already have multiple viewports? Is this new?“we were quite spoilt by the 6.5 upgrade…”
I am spoiled looking at Fusion 5 (even at $5k)After Effects is still awesome software. But this upgrade is very WEAK.
What was Adobe doing for over a year? I bet company soccer team is undefeated!Where are the things we NEED?
—–At a minimum:
-B-Spline masks
-Custom Brushes
-How about a simple folder in the timeline (like in Photoshop layer palette) or some way to view a nested comps layers?—–All the kids are doing it:
-A more intuitive color corrector (3rd party software that Adobe just buys doesn’t count)
-XML import or some way to import EDL’s from Editing software that people actually use. (again, 3rd party software doesn’t count)—–Now I’m just dreaming:
-3D object import, or at leat a way to exrude and bevel text or a layer (Zax is a GREAT work around)
-selective lighting
-additional node based view/interface that is actually functional. This would be HUGE.I will upgrade & every new feature in AE7 is great, we just need another 5 big ones, thats all.
Yes, I did send this list to Adobe as feature requests, a few times, starting with version 5.
sorry for the rant, I feel better now.
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AE’s roto tools are a joke, Silhouette FX is a great roto plugin, when you buy a license it works for AE and Final Cut Pro.
Silhouette FX
https://www.silhouettefx.com -
I think you all are missing the one important thing: Development of a tool is not about fullfilling every users wishes, it’s about integrating it into the overall strategy and product portfolio of a company. Though I would have adressed many other points first before even moving to 32bpc or integrating OpenGL 2, I must give credit to Adobe that in a way the overall feature set makes sense.
The other thing you are also not considering is the timeframe. At one point features have to be “nailed” to shove the product out of the door. Adobe could retire to their dark cellar and develop the perfect AE for 3 years, but in the meantime it would loose all its existing users because they don’t get any advancement.
So please stay calm. I understand your disappointment, but it’s quite possible that we will see some of your dream features in the next release and with the big overhaul already been done with this version, it should be much sooner than the gap from AE 6.5 to AE 7.
Mylenium
[Pour Myl
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[Guy] ”
Didn’t we already have multiple viewports? Is this new?”No you didn’t have this already… Yes you could set up multiple viewports for the same comp, but I don’t know about you, I thought it was a pain.
With the improved OpenGL accelleration you can set top, left and front to ‘Always OpenGL’, and the Camera view to ‘Interactive OpenGL’. Works like a charm.
The thing is, you really need to play around with it to appreciate it. But I’m never going back to the old UI.
And I realize that everyone has their own priorities, and I’ve got a couple of requests for my own, but now you go comparing a 5k app to a 1k app… I’m sorry… but that’s plain silly. Spend a couple hundred bucks on the Silhouette tools, and you’ll have all the masking and paint tools you need, well below the price of Fusion.
Bar3nd
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Yeah – just think about Macromedia becoming part of Adobe. You’ll start to understand just WHY they HAVE to start getting their act together interface wise – and the Encore/Premiere/Adobe/Audition tie is quite solid now. Possibly the most solid of any suite of apps i’ve used.
They also rearranged a lot of things to make it easier on new users. Effects that were once randomly placed are now in ‘folder’s that make sense to even a newbie.
I think the big thing that’s hard to communicate through press is just how much your workflow will improve now. It’s sooooooooooooooo much better/nicer and less annoying than before. In our work – that’s worth a lot.
Trust me tho – that AE/PS integration with layer styles is something I’ve been FRequesting for forever. I want PS to rebuild it’s layerstyle engine – so maybe they’re waiting on that. Next release???
(side note – the new ‘convert to smart object’ in PS CS2 brings the layer effected layer in great into AE – of course flattened. But at least you can go back to PS and make changes without saving multiple versions. Smart Objects rawk)
// jayse
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I, too, am extremely disappointed by this release. There’s some good stuff in it, and I realize that we’ve been spoiled by 6.5. However, as was pointed out to me by a master AE user I know: the “solid” upgrades (5.0, 6.0, 7.0, etc.) are always great, but it’s the “dot” releases (5.5, 6.5, 7.5, etc.) that always seem to kick out the awesome new goodies, plus build/improve upon new features released in the previous “solid” version. Also, keep in mind that Adobe usually rolls out its “dot” releases within a year of their “solid” releases. Who knows what treasure lies within Adobe’s sleeves? We’ll find out in a year or so when 7.5 hits the shelves.
2 features I’m absolutely shocked that Adobe hasn’t included are 1394 (firewire) capture/output support…WITHOUT needing Premiere (this is a huge request by tons of users, since many AE artists don’t even own an NLE and therefore don’t need one if they’re just running effects on their own), as well as 3D extrusion capabilities. I love Boris Red and use it and Avid’s Marquee Title Tool for 3D extruded text. I’d love to have this ability in AE. I’ve been lobbying for it in combustion 5, as well (also due in the not-too-distant future).
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