Photoshop and After Effects - Compositing

[quarrel84@hotmail.com]

Hi guys. I mainly work with FCP now (just began 2 months ago), but, once I have mastered FCP, I am interested in getting into Compositing mainly, but also color correction, and motion effects, etc. I was wondering if it would be a worthy investment to begin learning Photoshop as well before I began with After Effects. How closely are these two programs related and feed from one another?

To be perfectly clear, I am not interested in editing photographs with Photoshop as a medium in itself, and will not be using photoshop merely for photography. I plan to use it to introduce myself into the digital imaging "world", so that I would have an easier time understanding After Effects and Shake down the road.

Is this necessary and viable? Or would I just be better off getting into Compositing/Motion software with just FCP as a backbone, and Photoshop being unnecessary?

Abit confused on this, so appreciate all help here, thanks very much.

 

[oneinfiniteloop]

Some photoshop knowledge is very useful in the compositing/motion graphics world. Although you might not need it, you will suffer without it, especially when it comes to the creation of elements for mograph pieces, and various compositing tasks.

 

[Steve_Arm]

If you stick to FCP, I suggest to learn Shake or Motion. Skake from what I read integrates with FCP.

As the friend above suggested some Photoshop knowledge is a must... and not only,you might want to grasp some reading on Bezier curves. Since they are a vital part of the graphics.

 

[Matt Grunau]

Much of compositing is color matching, fitting elements into a color space before grading, understanding principles of RGB color space and digital color in general. Nothing trumps this like Photoshop. With the use of blending modes, layer masks, an understanding of Levels, Curves, and how they work, any compositing package is all the more easy.

I would start any compositing wanna-be's in Photoshop to grasp the basic principles of what makes up an image, the differences in color modes (and how they can be utilized), background and foreground replacement, as well as background and foreground addition, to say nothing of "clean up" like wire removal, fore and background plate restoration, clean plate usage, and WHY all these things are important.


Learning Photoshop and manipulation of images will only help. Also, Photoshop is an invaluable tool for composting, because many times the elements you use to tie a scene together are a result of Photoshop-type work. Creating backdrops/matte paintings, constructing backdrops from many individual elements, and even creating things like a texture for a world map/global texture for accurate reflections in 3D renders all require Photoshop knowhow (or at least the principles you would get from it).