What is AE used for. A straight answer, anyone?

C

calito

Active member
I've been reading some of the postings here about AE and I feel like I'm missing on something great. Even thought the necessity to use something like AE has not knocked on my door I feel like it will. So maybe I should be a little more curious about it. Is anyone patient enough to kind tell me why I should be at least acquainted with AE.

Actually, what can one do in AE ? I've asked this question around and people are afraid to admit that they don't really know what AE is for or what it can do.

I even called a company that sales tutorial DVD's and their representative couldn't give a straight answer. As I got off the phone I was wandering if the guy just didn't know, or maybe AE is that versatile that made it difficult for him to give me a straight, clear, answer.
 
After Effects is a digital motion graphics and compositing/effects program. Its commonly used in movie post production, and in the creation of commercials, as well as other pieces which require digital effects to be integrated with live video or film (compositing).

Although it can create images of its own, its generally used to combine material from other sources to make moving graphics (also known as "motion graphics"). It is pretty versatile, so some (brave) people use it as an editor (I do for short form stuff, ie under 1 minute). It's very useful for color correction, effects, particles, motion tracking, titling, etc. It has 3d space in it, so you can composite layers in 3d and move the camera around them, etc as well.

Does this help at all?

ps: that sales guy might've just not been able to put it into the right words... AE is a very very deep program, and as such is also very versatile. It's used in many different ways for many different things. Sorry that this adds to the confusion.
 
well about that 3d space. it is only 2.5 because every layer is a simple plane image...
 
Braskar,

Look into another similar program called "Combustion" (by Autodesk). I've used both programs and find that Combustion is easier to learn (or maybe its just me).

Best of luck.
 
Interesting perspective. I'd say that if you had the choice between starting out fresh with After Effects and Combustion, yes, go with Combustion. It will take you further in the end... unless you end up wanting to do purely motion graphics stuff, in which case the larger community of After Effects is worth any cost of inefficiency.
 
problem with AE is that it's mostly 8 bit with some 16 bit support, though it's getting better. So for high rez film scans it's not so great.

I used to use AE a lot, but have found myself using shake more and more these days. There's just something antiquated about the AE timeline and layering effects as opposed to a node based structure, which is much faster and more versatile.

That being said some things are just easier in AE. It has a great simple scripting language buried in there, and for quick motion stuff nothing beats it... even Motion (which I find amusing but not so great)

Wait for AE7 to come out before buying any learning books or anything, they're changing a lot, especially in the user interface, so it would be very frustrating to learn 6.5 only to have 7 come out a month later.
 
surf said:
well about that 3d space. it is only 2.5 because every layer is a simple plane image...
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No it's three dee - you can import 3d files and rotate around them. It is picky with file types, but AE does total 3d.
 
flyerland said:
No it's three dee - you can import 3d files and rotate around them. It is picky with file types, but AE does total 3d.
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Even if it didn't do that, it would still be 3d. It doesn't matter if it can only create planes, it can still move them in all three dimensions. I don't think there's such a thing as a 'half dimension.'
 
TC said:
Even if it didn't do that, it would still be 3d. It doesn't matter if it can only create planes, it can still move them in all three dimensions. I don't think there's such a thing as a 'half dimension.'
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oh, of course there are not half dimensions, but I wanted to say that if you make a layer to 3D, it won't look like in a 3D software... I mean the tree on the pic, won't go back, and the man won't come forward...
 
flyerland said:
No it's three dee - you can import 3d files and rotate around them. It is picky with file types, but AE does total 3d.
Click to expand...

Which kind of files are those? There is no way in AE to take say a Lightwave Modler file and manipulate it, or even a .obj file. What kind of 3D files can Ae rotate around?


TC said:
Even if it didn't do that, it would still be 3d. It doesn't matter if it can only create planes, it can still move them in all three dimensions. I don't think there's such a thing as a 'half dimension.
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Not really. None of the objects AE generates are true 3D, they are flat. Since it can not make truly 3D objects, it's not 3D. That's why it's called 2.5D.
 
dailyrushes said:
I still haven't figured out what half their other products are for, they aren't very clear about it all, they just assume you know and that it's the greatest thing going, so why should they have to explain what everyone knows?
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I feel exactly the same way when I look at an EVS catalog, but for video accesories.

What are you curious about? Post it up. Someone here will know.
 
Rapier_100a said:
Which kind of files are those? There is no way in AE to take say a Lightwave Modler file and manipulate it, or even a .obj file. What kind of 3D files can Ae rotate around?
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Agreed. There's no way to bring true 3d models into AE. Flame and other boxes can however.

Rapier_100a said:
Not really. None of the objects AE generates are true 3D, they are flat. Since it can not make truly 3D objects, it's not 3D. That's why it's called 2.5D.
Click to expand...

Well, in a sense. It's 2D objects in a true 3D space. That's where the 2.5 moniker comes around. By the book it's true 3D, just very limited 3D. You still have a full 3D camera, lights, animation, etc. With certain plugs (particular, 3d stroke) you can create 3D elements (particles moving and swirling in true 3d, etc).

But, in essence what you said about models is completely true.
 
kai said:
Agreed. There's no way to bring true 3d models into AE. Flame and other boxes can however.
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Do what?? In Inferno and packages like that you can import 3D models and manipulate them? How does that happen, what kinds of file types can they import, and where can I get a copy? That would be too cool.
 
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