Motion and After Effects

PainTed

PainTed

Active member
Is one really better than the other? Does motion replace After Effects or compliment it? Is it just a matter of choice? Is one easier to learn than the other? I am trying to decide and am new to both. Thanks.
 
Don't know if the one is better than the other,

but the support base for After Effects is huge, so it is easy to get help when you get stuck. And it is an extremely powerful piece of software!

- Derrick
 
you cant really compare motion and after effects. motion is for quick pre built motion graphics and custom stuff is a bit harder to do, where after effects has some built in stuff but is mostly for custom creations and animations. you have much more control in after effects than you do in motion. motion also has some high demands as far as system requirements. its good for projects where you dont have much time for text animations and the likes. one good thing motion is for is dvd studio pro menus. you can create menus using motion to get some nice stuff.
 
think of motion as kind of how imovie is to final cut. It's designed as a "prosumer" piece, while After Effects is a full blown pro app.
 
I'd disagree a little bit. iMovie is designed for complete amatuers, Motion takes some serious knowledge to use and is capable of making some very complicated and professional effects. The only thing lacking from Motion compared to AE is a proper slow motion and a good 3d engine.

However, if you want to add some motion graphics to final cut, Motion is totally the way to go. It integrates so easily and makes the work flow so much better. If you want to be a graphic artist/designer, go with After Effects.
 
yeah i'd agree with benscott productions. i've used ae for years, but the integration with fcp makes motion really nice for me. most of my motion graphics stuff is pretty simple, and i like being able to send my fcp project into motion with my edits (and motion settings) intact. with ae, you need a 3rd party app (automatic duck) to get that kind of integration.

on the downside, motion is an insane system hog.
 
yeah i'd agree with benscott productions. i've used ae for years, but the integration with fcp makes motion really nice for me. most of my motion graphics stuff is pretty simple, and i like being able to send my fcp project into motion with my edits (and motion settings) intact. with ae, you need a 3rd party app (automatic duck) to get that kind of integration.

on the downside, motion is an insane system hog.
 
i'm on a dual 2.3g g5 tower right now with 2gigs, and it works pretty good, but it hangs up on occasion. i also don't do anything super-crazy, effects-wise. 4 gigs would be preferable.

at home i have dual 1.8 g5 w 1 gig of ram, and motion is too slow to bother with.

those are the only systems i've used it on, so ymmv.
 
PainTed said:
Would an iMac G5 w/2gb Ram be adequate for some basic stuff?
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It runs fine on my PowerBook G4 w/ 1.5 GB Ram. So you shouldn't have any problem.
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Contrary to popular belief (or demand) you can run Motion on lesser systems, just not anywhere near the real-time that it touts. Just more rendering/RAM previewing...
 
benscott productions said:
I'd disagree a little bit. iMovie is designed for complete amatuers, Motion takes some serious knowledge to use and is capable of making some very complicated and professional effects.
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While this may have some truth to it in the fact that it has a higher curve than say, iMovie, you won't find motion being used widely in the high end pro market.

benscott productions said:
The only thing lacking from Motion compared to AE is a proper slow motion and a good 3d engine.
Click to expand...

Once again, I have to disagree... Motion isn't really a compositor. It's designed to give people an easy to use tool to create simple motion graphics in their projects. Shake is Apple's real competition to AE, not Motion. AE is a high end compositing tool that also just happens to be top notch for mograph.

One nice feature however is that you can integrate Motion with After Effects for when you want to do some real heavy lifting.
 
kai said:
Once again, I have to disagree... Motion isn't really a compositor. It's designed to give people an easy to use tool to create simple motion graphics in their projects. Shake is Apple's real competition to AE, not Motion. AE is a high end compositing tool that also just happens to be top notch for mograph.

One nice feature however is that you can integrate Motion with After Effects for when you want to do some real heavy lifting.
Click to expand...
Correct you are, Kai. Too bad Shake is $3000. At about 3x the price of AE I wonder if it's really worth the difference? Any idea?
 
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