Can someone give me some info on Adobe After Effects CS4

Hub

I'd like to get into design/marketing.

How should I go about this? I've looked at a few jobs and they ask for experience with Adobe After Effects. On the website it doesn't really give a summary demo like other software sites do but lets say the one below. It comes with all that software right?


Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium

InDesign CS4
Photoshop CS4 Extended
Illustrator CS4
Flash CS4 Professional
Dreamweaver CS4
Fireworks CS4
Acrobat 9 Pro
Adobe Bridge CS4
Adobe Device Central CS4
Version Cue CS4

Cheers

red_ice

em, im pretty sure after effects is used for video editing. Its as it says on the tin... backwards... its used for after the project to add effects.

Marketing and design are two different departments. If you want to focus on design tho, id recommend you learn to use illustrator. Its very good for getting a clean design out. Then learn how to use photoshop to make that design work better. Then try out inDesign, fireworks and flash.

Heres the kicker... they all more or less do the same thing (well, some are vector, some are not). Why not have the functionality in one app? They make too much money selling them seperate, and people wont try out a new app as they get results with the ones they use.

If it doesnt say after effects is in the package.. its not in the package. From what i remember its in the CS4 Master suite, but its very expensive to get.

p

red_ice wrote: »

Heres the kicker... they all more or less do the same thing (well, some are vector, some are not). Why not have the functionality in one app? They make too much money selling them seperate, and people wont try out a new app as they get results with the ones they use.

I would not agree with that point.
1. The apps don't do the same thing. They're all fairly distinct and have a different focus. Having one app that did everything would be the biggest pile of poo ever. It'd be like a swiss army knife; sure it has everything, but if you want to eat your dinner, you'd prefer a regular knife and fork.
2. Adobe just had massive layoffs recently, they're not exactly raking it in.
3. If you don't like their software, or it doesn't save you time and money, there's lots of alternatives out there. For many people it's very useful.


To the OP - as red_ice said, design and marketing are very different. What are you interested in, are you changing careers, what's your motivation. There's lots of different avenues you could take. Also, learning to design has very little to do with software, and you actually need to learn about layout, typography, colour theory etc...

Smyth

After Effects is used for post production and compositing. It's a motion graphics program but can lend it's hand to web stuff if need be. I use it all the time for flash animations. It's also pretty expensive and to get the most out of it, you'll need to purchase 3rd party plugins.

And no, if it's not listed in the package, it doesn't come with it.

red_ice

p wrote: »

I would not agree with that point.
1. The apps don't do the same thing. They're all fairly distinct and have a different focus. Having one app that did everything would be the biggest pile of poo ever. It'd be like a swiss army knife; sure it has everything, but if you want to eat your dinner, you'd prefer a regular knife and fork.
2. Adobe just had massive layoffs recently, they're not exactly raking it in.
3. If you don't like their software, or it doesn't save you time and money, there's lots of alternatives out there. For many people it's very useful.

I disagree. From a web designer’s pov, illustrator, Photoshop and fireworks can be used to get the result. Indesign and flash too for that matter. From a graphic design pov, illustrator, photoshop and fireworks again. Its learning how to mix and match those applications that shows your talent. I know plenty of people who think Photoshop is terrible and swear by illustrator for their web work. What’s the point if its not going to be vector when you make a site from it? There are arguments for both sides really..

They all do the essentials is my point and obviously an application like illustrator would be more focused on design than flash would, however flash offers allot of the functionality in design that illustrator does with other changes such as bending lines. Illustrator has the pathfinder tools, which flash doesn’t. Flash has highlight and erase. They both do vector images. They both work well with each other and can work hand in hand. So they do actually have the same functionality for designing (for example) a solid logo (a good logo being obvious and monotone)

Personally, I would like the idea of having everything I need in one application. I don’t like having allot of different applications open on my desktop, so it would suit me fine. However this industry is built on specializing in certain areas with certain applications. If it was down to one application it would be harder (still) to get work. Your definitely right with the Swiss army knife analogy.

However, in 3d, some people use certain programs to make fog, smoke, fire, organic modelling, architectural modelling and so on. They can all be done within the one app (3d studio max), and VERY well. Now zBrush comes along and it’s the new organic tool to use. It’s built purely for organic modelling, however now people are doing architecture on it. Applications evolve is my point I guess. And the above mentioned have evolved into each other more or less. Its just a case of picking the one you feel comfortable with and working with it. For me its photoshop and illustrator, in that order.

PS for design and texture, illustrator for font and logo. Result.

bloo

I'd recommend taking a course and learning about design/marketing before you invest in any software. All you need is a pen and some paper to get started.

Any job that ive applied for has asked for a portfolio of work and most often some design qualification and experience. You'll also need to be proficient in a few bits of software depending on which area you want to get into but more often than not it will be Adobe stuff like flash/photoshop/illustrator etc.