Is After Effects worth it?

TokyoU15 · Post by **TokyoU15** » Sat Aug 03, 2002 11:39 am

I mean, it is TOUGH as FUCK to learn on your own and I have a bootlegged copy and not even the help file helps. ACtually to be honest I haven't bothered with it, I will one of these days tbough.

I'm wondering if it's worth spending the money to buy the legit version. I bootlegged premiere, fell in love and baught it. Now I'm sorta trying out AE *SORTA* this thing is so damn hard to use.

Or do you guys recomend something better? As far as I'm concerned Adobe After Effects is really the only hands on special effect program. I think Discreet has some special effects programs for video, but most of their shit is for 3D animation.

Anywho, buy AE? yay or nay?

alternatefutures · Post by **alternatefutures** » Sat Aug 03, 2002 12:16 pm

I've had experiance with AE and I'd rather shell out for Discreet's Combustion.

TokyoU15 · Post by **TokyoU15** » Sat Aug 03, 2002 12:34 pm

yikes! Combustion is $4,995!!!!!!!!! I don't have that kind of money. If I still had my job I could have maybe baught it. Wow, but it REALLY does look REALLY nice. And it looks a lot easier to use than AE. *looks*...heh....I'm definatly keeping that one in mind.

By the way, i'm curious to know what your beef is with AE?

Mechaman · Post by **Mechaman** » Sat Aug 03, 2002 1:10 pm

Combustion is indeed pricy, but it outpowers AE by an unfunny margin. It's basically a mix of flint, flame, and inferno(their SGI products), boiled down for x86 machines.
For a quick example, the MLB titles on Fox Sports Network(the flashy futuristic ones), are done entirely in combustion.

I'm actually planning on getting a copy of MainVision myself. It's the professional version of Axogon Composer that I've used for all my previous work. The nice thing is that not only is it an compositing/effects program, the interface is flexible enough to also do NLE, as opposed to most other compositors.

AbsoluteDestiny · Post by **AbsoluteDestiny** » Sat Aug 03, 2002 2:37 pm

I personally find it gratifying to overcome the odds and do things that you normally wouldnt do in simple programs like premiere.

I'm sure I'd get a lot out of a superb effects suite but for me part of the fun is getting the style I want with the tools I have available. None of these out-of-the-box effects for me

If I ever hit an unsurmountable hurdle, I will finally learn how to use a more complex program. For now, premiere, photoshop and some free programs are all I need. There's only one scene in an amv where I've though, "man I wish I could do that" but no editing suite could do that scene - I'd have to actually draw and animate it myself. So I don't think I've lost out on anything by only using the software I use... yet.

mexicanjunior · Post by **mexicanjunior** » Sat Aug 03, 2002 2:40 pm

AbsoluteDestiny wrote:I personally find it gratifying to overcome the odds and do things that you normally wouldnt do in simple programs like premiere.

Simple??? >_<

AbsoluteDestiny · Post by **AbsoluteDestiny** » Sat Aug 03, 2002 2:54 pm

simple is a relative term... it's simple in comparison to most of the programs discussed above ^^

alternatefutures · Post by **alternatefutures** » Sat Aug 03, 2002 2:58 pm

Hell, you want to see breaking a program, seriously, check out my Light of Day video. Of course, it helps if you've had any experiance with Bryce 3D, you'll be scratching your head trying to figure out the lighting effects on that one. That's the culmination of days of work in three different, mid-range programs and the payoff is my freinds (broadcasting majors who work with Avid editing systems) asked where I got ahold of 3D Studio Max. But, while it is nice to be able to do that, the amount of time I spent on it makes me REALLY yearn for better programs, even if I do need a new computer with Win2K installed to run it. I've been thinking of saving up and budgeting $15000 for a workstation and small render farm, but then again, I want a new car...

stormychef · Post by **stormychef** » Sun Aug 04, 2002 2:54 am

I guess everyone would relate to this:

http://www.animemusicvideos.org/legacy/video.php?v=5133

jbone · Post by **jbone** » Sun Aug 04, 2002 9:28 am

I think <I>more</I> people would relate to this:

http://www.animemusicvideos.org/legacy/video.php?v=2665