pen-pen2002 wrote:I don't think AE geniuses are the problem. The problem is aspiring AE geniuses.
For example: Shatter is practically a program in and of itself due it's many options and uses. However it comes with a preset (this is a word all effects videos should fear) that can be applied in a single click which will. . . well, do what all the other videos do. Now do do something fancy and uniqe (such as a "dust in the wind" type effect) can take hours of tweaking physics, adjusting primary and secondary impacts and creating coustom shatter maps.
One click, zero knowlege VS hours of learning and experimentation, plus some reaserch.
The problem (one of them at least) is that gaudy effects are too easy.
Also people are rewarded throgh feedback for the impresiveness of their effects, not their imaginativness. Hence endless repeats of piano keys and such.
Amen to that, if I see an effect that I can't replicate, I bow before the 1337 editing skills.. [note, I can replicate nearly everything an AE user can do, save for shatter but that's another story... Koop said it best: "It's not the program, it's the editor]
"Strength lies in action. Let the weak react to me..." - Kamahl, Pit Fighter from Magic: the Gathering
"That is a mistake many of my enemies make. They think before they act. I act before I think!" - Vortigern from Merlin ('98)
"I AM REBORN!" - Dark Schneider Bastard!! OAV