im new and is adobe after effects good for beginnings?

[David Bogie]

No. Nothing from Adobe’s pro suites is for beginners unless you are going to be making a living with the software.

All of the Adobe Elements products are suitable for beginners.

bogiesan

This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”

[Steven Mitchell]

All the above is true but if you are interested in great results you are at the right site. I started with AE 7 about a year and a half ago. With training from the cow (their free online tutorials) and this forum you are defiantly able to learn to be proficient (notice i didn’t say master). If you are considering the package download the free trial from Adobe for CS3 and follow along with some of the tutorials. Andrew Kramer has a boot camp training at his website https://www.videocopilot.net. I hope this info helps.

Regards,

Steven

[Joe Moya]

First of all, everyone is a beginner when they first use After Effects… it is a program that has a lot of complexity and requires some time to learn. How much time depends upon your current level of experience with adobe products and video graphic designing in general. The less experience the longer the learning period.

I noticed you compare After Effects to Vega… that’s a bad comparison. After Effects is NOT an editing software. It is a special effects software designed to achieve things that are related to computer graphic designs. Some use After Effects as if it is a editing software… but, that is not what After Effects is designed to be used for. Editing software and CG (computer graphics) software are different software types. They are two types of editing tools that should be used in a fashion tha fits the need. Trying to use After Effects like an editing program would be like using a pair of plyers for a hammer… you might get the job done, but it will be a difficult process.

Using the right software, for the right video job is key to achieving a clean and fast work flow. After Effects is a very good software for computer graphics, but it is not an editing software like Vega (Avid, Avid Liquid, Final Cut, etc.)… nor is AE a 3D software like 3DMax, Cinama4D, Blender, etc.

As you can tell, the costs can be come significant if you attempt to have all the right editing tools. Therefore, whether or not After Effects is “better” depends upon what you are going to use it for. The purpose defines the software’s worth since no one software can achieve all the needs of an editing project.

FWIW Joe Moya

[Chris Norris]

so what can we do with adobe elements?