After Effects is basically a synonym for animation. It has been one of the most popular software to create animations for the last 20 years (to say the least). If you have never heard of it, it’s probably because you’re new to animation. Anyway, we can assure you that you have already seen the work done by it. The Walking Dead, Star Trek, Action Movie Kid? Well, they all had a part of After Effects in them.
This article will provide you with everything you need to know about this software, starting with its history, the most common fields where it is used, how it works, etc. You are going to be amazed at the things you can make using it, so keep reading until the end!
What is Adobe After Effects?
Adobe After Effects is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud and is used to add special effects and animation to videos and movies. After Effects is, of course, compatible with both Windows and macOS. It was first developed in 1993 by CoSA (Company of Science and Art) and had two versions with very little features. This first version was actually only compatible with Mac.
It is only after one year that Aldus acquired it and added more interesting tools to it, such as the motion blur. Before 1994 ended, Adobe bought the software and remained owner until today. It kept upgrading the software through different versions (around 50 versions) until today.
The software became so developed and impressive that it even won an Academy Award in 2019.
What is Adobe After Effects used for?
There are different uses of After Effects, such as adding moving titles, animating cartoon characters, and more. Most people confuse After Effects for an editing software while it is not. Its role comes after editing your videos and consists of adding effects and animating the final footage. For example, you can use it to animate static cartoons in order to narrate a story, which is more amusing to the viewer than having to look at a photo slideshow.
This is where the difference between Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro takes place. Premiere Pro is a video editor and handles video footage. This means that you use it to make modifications to the video itself, such as cutting it, adding an audio track, etc.
On the other hand, After Effects consists of manipulating the visuals by editing their static elements. For instance, you can change the color of an element, its size, move it, rotate it, and so on. You can also layer different effects on one element and get original with it.
What is created with After Effects?
As we said above, the purpose of using After Effects is to animate a 2D element in a 3D space. It helps you get creative with effects and giving life to your 2D characters, such as logos, texts, illustrations, etc. You can also combine two elements into one single video.
Among the most common uses of After effect:
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Animation
Using After Effects for animation mainly means using it for motion graphics. This consists of adding movement to static elements. It could be a logo, some text, or even an illustration.
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Effects
You can also use After Effects to add visual effects. What does it mean? Let’s just say that you want to add fire to a scene in your video, maybe water or even snow, After Effects allows you to do that through a super easy process.
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Compositing
Digital compositing is also an option when using After Effects. This means grouping multiple videos in one, with the possibility of layering them or merging them to create an original animation.
Who uses After Effects?
For amateur work, many people use After Effects to post videos on their YouTube Channel, produce web content, edit personal work, etc.
For professional use, After Effects is used by visual artists specialized in animation or video producing/editing. These people are called motion graphics designers and UX professionals.
That said, in both cases, After Effects is only efficient when you know how to manipulate its tools the right way, so you need some training first before being able to enjoy its excellent results.
Creating web content using After Effects
Web content is a powerful tool to advertise and market for a brand or a product. It allows you to keep a good relationship with your viewers or customers, and this can be done through outstanding quality motion graphics that will catch their attention. And this is where After Effects comes in handy.
Creating presentation graphics using After Effects
Since After Effects is used to give static objects movement, you can use it to animate presentation graphics for slides (for example, graphs, charts, diagrams…)
You can also use it to animate banners or anything with the goal of advertising and informing, even entertaining.
Effects as plug-ins
As we all know, plug-ins are additional functionalities to a software or an application. Effects on After Effects work as plug-ins, and they are developed by other parties than Adobe. You can find countless plug-ins made by developers online that you can use in After Effects.
But, before buying plug-ins, we advise that you learn the necessary tools first, as the effects will be useless if you can’t use them right. After teaching yourselves the main functionalities of Adobe Effects, you can then check one of these websites and download additional effects:
- Aescripts
- Video Copilot
- Red Giant
You can also do a quick search on Google, and you will find numerous other sources of effects to use.
What do you think of Adobe After Effects now? Pretty impressive, huh? We hope this article was fun to read and that it’ll be a motivation source for you to learn to use this great software. You can find multiple YouTube Channels teaching the basic tools of the software or online blogs guiding you through each step. You can even take a master class and make sure you get professional training.
Whatever your choice is, don’t hesitate to ask us any questions, we will always be happy to answer you.