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Sort-of OT: AE v. Motion, plus workflow…
Okay, this is something of a long question and I would happily have someone refer me to an answer as opposed to answering me.
I have very limited experience with AE (mostly repeating Cow Podcasts), and I edit with Final Cut Pro. I have an 8-yr-old camera that I’m about to upgrade. But I want to be smart about it, and that means I want to make sure that I have the appropriate software.
Problem is, I don’t know what most programs are intended for.
Example: I had to do some animation. So I made some drawings in Photoshop, and created the animation in FCP using keyframes. (It was a clunky procedure.) Additionally, I used AE to scrawl some text on the screen (easy, thanks to Aharon Rabinowitz). But, point is, that I could do it all with Photoshop and FCP.
I’m sure Flash would have been easier, but I can’t seem to find a place that will tell me succinctly what Flash is best for, what Illustrator is best for, what Photoshop is best for (all in the context of video editing, mind you).
Until I can figure that out, I’m going to have trouble creating smooth workflows. And ultimately, that’s my goal.
I don’t want to go out and get the CS3 suite and then not know how it all fits together.
ANY help would be great.
Thanks,
Mike
PS. Sorry if this isn’t the best forum… I just couldn’t find a better one.
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5 Replies
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There are some sections of After Effects CS3 Help on the Web that are intended to answer exactly these questions—at least the parts about how After Effects works with and compares to the other Adobe applications. (You did ask in an After Effects forum, so I’ll leave it you to browse the Illustrator and Flash Help documents on the Web to find out about how those two compare to one another.)
Here are some links:
“Working with Photoshop and After Effects”
“Working with Flash and After Effects”
“Working with Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects”
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Todd, thank you. I’ll pour over those pages and start getting my hands dirty. Then I can ask some real questions.
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Todd,
Thinking through my entire question, there’s still something I would like a bit of advice figuring out.
I tend to think of Flash as being “what they use to make internet banner ads” (although I know they do some TV animation with it), and AE as what one uses to do affects on top of film (although Aharon Rabinowitz refers to himself as an animator).
Where can I read about what the programs are best suited to do?
Thanks,
Mike
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The very short answer: Flash is what you use to create interactive movies, and After Effects is what you use to enhance the visuals in movies. Sometimes, you use both, passing the output of one to the other. Both applicationns are good for creating and animating graphics, though some people prefer one over the other.
Here’s an excerpt from the Flash & After Effects document that I pointed to earlier:
“Flash is the more web-oriented of the two applications, with its small final file size. Flash also allows for runtime control of animation. After Effects is oriented towards video and film production, provides a wide range of visual effects, and is generally used to create video files as final output. Both applications can be used to create original graphics and animation. Both use a timeline and offer scripting capabilities for controlling animation programmatically. After Effects includes a larger set of effects, while the Flash ActionScript language is the more robust of the two scripting environments.”
There have been some articles in _The Edge_ that compare and contrast Flash and After Effects. Here’s a link to one:
https://www.adobe.com/newsletters/edge/september2006/articles/article2/index.html
A lot of character animation is done using After Effects. Angie Taylor’s book, _Creative After Effects_, is a great introduction to making cartoons (among other things) with After Effects:
https://www.creativeaftereffects.com
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Thanks again.
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