[When should I use or buy After Effects?]

James Sharp · Post by **James Sharp** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 3:58 am

OK this is probably gonna be considerd an extremly stupid question. This is not a joke..im serious about this question. And i could not find an answer to it in the forums so im gonna ask....WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO USE adobe AFTER EFFECTS. because if you use it after your video..then it is obviously to late..unless you plan around that.. witch would be difficult. so do you use it at the same time as normal editing all throughout the video.. should both the editor and after effects be used as partners..or is ae just a clean up crew?? and does it make that much of an impact that its worth investing mucho bucks into?

CerebralAssamite · Post by **CerebralAssamite** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 4:17 am

Trial and Error

I live by those words, in a few "try out" videos i've done that won't make it onto the org, i've used after effects when rewatching my video not after its been completed but in stages, ill do 20 seconds then watch it and see if it "needs" effects or any touch up sync wise and ect ect...
But thats me.

Poetic_Kaos · Post by **Poetic_Kaos** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 5:28 am

There are a lot of people here that would simply say never. Stick to your cross fades and dissolves.

Personally I go by this motto, “If it can be done in Premiere do it in Premiere.” But if you chose to use AE, you should have a plan. You should already have a good idea in mind before entering AE, and have the video clip/timing done as well.

[Mike of the Desert] · Post by **[Mike of the Desert]** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 6:12 am

I'm beginning to use after effects like this:

I work on premiere, and when I get to one part and I say "Here I want this effect like this and that", I take the episode I need to work on and I make that part on AE. After I export that on Premiere. So I use it when I need to make clips that premiere can't.

Zarxrax · Post by **Zarxrax** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 8:25 am

Michele wrote:I'm beginning to use after effects like this:

I work on premiere, and when I get to one part and I say "Here I want this effect like this and that", I take the episode I need to work on and I make that part on AE. After I export that on Premiere. So I use it when I need to make clips that premiere can't.

Thats the way. What I do is I basically make all my cuts and fades in Premiere, then I move it into After Effects to do my effects. You can also just use premiere to trim small clips out of your source, then import those into AE for manipulation.

For example, if I wanted to make a 4-way split screen effect, I would make 4 full screen video segments in Premiere, on 4 seperate layers. Then I would export each layer to a seperate file, and then move it into After Effects where I would create the split screen, then I would export that out of AE back into Premiere, and replace my original 4 videos with it.

How you handle each situation depends on what you need to do, and so you plan your workflow accordingly. Sometimes you might not want to actually *integrate* any effects into your video, you may just want some junk like shapes moving around on top of it or whatever. In this situation you could edit the whole thing in premiere, then put your final video into AE where you will add your effects.
In situations where the effects are a core part of the video, you may barely use Premiere at all, mainly just to sync up key events and trim clips... then create most of the video in AE.

FurryCurry · Post by **FurryCurry** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 1:15 pm

Thirded, fourthed, or whatever the posters above me.

My use of AE/Combustion has been minimal, but I get everything timed out to the frame in Premiere, then export only the clips necessary, knowing exactly how long the effect needs to be, then do the dirty work with the compositing program, and drop the finished product back in Premiere in place of the raw clips.

James Sharp · Post by **James Sharp** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 1:18 pm

OK now for the second question..i found AE standard for 99 bucks...I am pretty positive thats a great deal.. from your experience would you say ae is worth that?..expecially for a new editor like myself.

[Mike of the Desert] · Post by **[Mike of the Desert]** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 1:26 pm

If you can really buy that for that price, DO IT. But be careful about the source. More than that, buy it or not depends most on the fact "do you need it?" If you think you will use it..^^

FurryCurry · Post by **FurryCurry** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 1:37 pm

The $99 price sets off huge alarm bells for me, I'd consider that to be 90% likely to be a bootleg/warezed copy, or at best, a 2+ year old very obsolete version.

I only have AE because owning legit Premiere got me on the upgrade train, and a couple years ago, I had the chance to buy one of the upgrade bundle boxes with all the good stuff, Photoshop 7, Premiere pro, Illustrator, AE, Audition, and Encore, for only ~$200 or $300 more than just the cost of a standalone Premiere upgrade.

If you don't already have it, Photoshop is probably 500x more useful for editing than AE. I can't really say I've used AE (or Combustion, for that matter) enough to have gotten my "money's worth" out of what I spent yet.

If I wasn't certain I was getting a legit copy, I'd personally prefer to um, "demo" the software for a while, and if I found it was worth it, wait for the next "bundle" opportunity from Adobe to come along, and buy that for legit upgrades of everything at once. There will probably be a Premiere Pro 2.0 out within 6-9 months, no doubt there will be a bundle box at or around the same time.

[Mike of the Desert] · Post by **[Mike of the Desert]** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 1:52 pm

FurryCurry wrote:The $99 price sets off huge alarm bells for me, I'd consider that to be 90% likely to be a bootleg/warezed copy, or at best, a 2+ year old very obsolete version.

I only have AE because owning legit Premiere got me on the upgrade train, and a couple years ago, I had the chance to buy one of the upgrade bundle boxes with all the good stuff, Photoshop 7, Premiere pro, Illustrator, AE, Audition, and Encore, for only ~$200 or $300 more than just the cost of a standalone Premiere upgrade.

If you don't already have it, Photoshop is probably 500x more useful for editing than AE. I can't really say I've used AE (or Combustion, for that matter) enough to have gotten my "money's worth" out of what I spent yet.

If I wasn't certain I was getting a legit copy, I'd personally prefer to um, "demo" the software for a while, and if I found it was worth it, wait for the next "bundle" opportunity from Adobe to come along, and buy that for legit upgrades of everything at once. There will probably be a Premiere Pro 2.0 out within 6-9 months, no doubt there will be a bundle box a
t or around the same time.

x2