Programs like AE?

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Programs like AE?

Postby CrackTheSky » Tue Oct 10, 2006 3:18 pm

Are there any programs out there that do the same kind of things as After Effects, but for a reasonably cheaper price?
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Postby Zarxrax » Tue Oct 10, 2006 3:49 pm

I think AE is pretty much mid-range/low-range for that type of software. Similar apps like Shake/Motion or Combustion tend to cost even higher.

Editing software like Premiere Pro and Vegas are continually gaming more compositing and motion features that may be able to satisfy your needs.
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Postby Zarxrax » Tue Oct 10, 2006 3:50 pm

that was meant to say "continually gaining"
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Postby CrackTheSky » Tue Oct 10, 2006 4:34 pm

Jesus, $600+ for After Effects is the cheapest on the market?
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Postby Xarathion » Tue Oct 10, 2006 4:41 pm

Unless you're a student, and get a discount.
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Postby DJ_Izumi » Tue Oct 10, 2006 4:54 pm

If you know how to win at the internets real good, you can get a REAL nice discount. <3
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Postby Scintilla » Tue Oct 10, 2006 5:01 pm

DJ_Izumi wrote:If you know how to win at the internets real good, you can get a REAL nice discount. <3

Tyler wrote:The <a href="http://www.animemusicvideos.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=289">seventh rule of the A-M-V.org forum</a> is that you DO NOT TALK about illegally obtaining stuff.
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Postby DJ_Izumi » Tue Oct 10, 2006 5:04 pm

My post said nothing about breaking the law. If you interpreted as such, it's your problem not mine.
Maybe I was talking about internet coupons! Or discount software websites! Or cybersexing up an Adobe employee!
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Re: Programs like AE?

Postby madbunny » Tue Oct 10, 2006 7:19 pm

CrackTheSky wrote:Are there any programs out there that do the same kind of things as After Effects, but for a reasonably cheaper price?


Sure. It depends on what you're trying to do. Most of what I see AE being used for is masking, which you can do (painfully) with pretty much any image editor, or even the garbage matte in premiere.

If you want 3D effects, you can always use a 3D app for that, and apply your animations to the polygons from within the app. This might require that you learn some new skills however. Honestly, MOST of the normal run of the mill effects and such can usually be done in a variety of ways. AE just happens to be a program that specializes in it's area, and is good at what it does.

If you're student, or KNOW a student: AE alone or The whole enchilada for slightly more Seriously good deal for all that stuff.

DJ Izumi's post, while seeming to indicate that you should do something wrong, probably means try Ebay for older versions.
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Re: Programs like AE?

Postby trythil » Tue Oct 10, 2006 8:07 pm

CrackTheSky wrote:Are there any programs out there that do the same kind of things as After Effects, but for a reasonably cheaper price?


What are you trying to do in After Effects? I doubt it's everything AE can do.
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Postby CrackTheSky » Tue Oct 10, 2006 11:47 pm

Actually I have nothing specific in mind, save for adding moving graphics to my videos. I was really just curious; if I do get a cheaper After Effects-like program, it probably won't be for a while. I just wanted to know what my options were, should I ever feel so inclined to search something out.
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Re: Programs like AE?

Postby kmv » Wed Oct 11, 2006 5:08 pm

trythil wrote:What are you trying to do in After Effects? I doubt it's everything AE can do.

Actually, I am interested in this too for a project I am about to start so I might as well chime in...

I am interested in motion paths and camera positions. For example: having a number of clips/masks move along a number of pre-determined, non-linear paths in "3D space" while the camera moves in amongst them.

I can think of a way to do that in Premiere - but not accurately, and certainly not easily. I haven’t used Blender, but judging from some of your stuff, it could do it – but it also sounds like the rendering times are a problem.

What are the cheap/free options? Excluding eBay of course.


Oh yeah... and I am thinking of buying a Mac (not that changes much of anything these days)
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Postby Zarxrax » Wed Oct 11, 2006 5:29 pm

Blender would be your best choice on the cheap. As long as you aren't doing anything terribly complex like trythil does, rendering time wont be bad at all.
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Postby trythil » Thu Oct 12, 2006 1:50 am

CrackTheSky wrote:Actually I have nothing specific in mind, save for adding moving graphics to my videos. I was really just curious; if I do get a cheaper After Effects-like program, it probably won't be for a while. I just wanted to know what my options were, should I ever feel so inclined to search something out.


Well, reason I asked is that depending on what you want to do (see kmv's post, for example) there are other programs that can enable you to do the same thing. (Sometimes, they'll let you go even further.)

For example: 2D motion graphics can be done in Blender (or pretty much any other 3D program). One example can be found in the credits sequence of Elephants Dream. An implementation of the technique is to use an orthographic projection for your camera and rotate your camera so that it faces perpendicular to the plane containing your 3D objects.

Blender can also import 2D vector formats such as SVG, which will allow you to use dedicated vector graphics tools like Inkscape, Xara Xtreme, or Illustrator to design your shapes.

I'm not saying that this is the industry standard way, but it certainly works.

kmv wrote:I am interested in motion paths and camera positions. For example: having a number of clips/masks move along a number of pre-determined, non-linear paths in "3D space" while the camera moves in amongst them.

I can think of a way to do that in Premiere - but not accurately, and certainly not easily. I haven’t used Blender, but judging from some of your stuff, it could do it – but it also sounds like the rendering times are a problem.


Yeah, that's doable, and rendering times are generally pretty good -- mine go through the roof because I like playing with really expensive operations that can usually be faked at a lower time cost. :P I'll see if I can post an example Blender file soon.

On the speed issue: Blender's renderer is multithreaded, so you can use multiple processors / cores to speed things up. (Of course, distributing frames across multiple computers also works, and can be managed with software like DrQueue.)
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Postby kmv » Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:02 am

OK, sounds like Blender is the main option.

Can Blender cope with audio tracks? If not, how do you match the action to the soundtrack? Really careful planning and keeping a close eye on the frame/time marker?
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