Adobe After Effects

Adobe After Effects Review – Pricing & Product Details – 2024

Want to add stunning visual effects to your footage? Adobe After Effects is probably one of the most amazing tools you can consider for creating stunning transitions, intros, and other effects for your videos in no time. In our today’s Adobe After Effects review we will have a look at all its features, pricing, system requirements, and all the other aspects. You can further decide whether it’s worth your time or not!

Adobe After Effects

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If you are into serious video editing, you have probably heard of Adobe After Effects. When it comes to VFX, motion graphics, and video editing as a whole, professionals from across the globe swear by this tool. It’s highly recommended software by designers and animators to create 2D and 3D animations with vectors and rasterized art.  So, without further ado, let’s delve into Adobe After Effects review and find out if it's worth the hype or not!

What Is Adobe After Effects?

Adobe After Effects is an industry-standard VFX, animation, and motion graphics software that comes packed with an ocean of stunning features. It is used across a variety of creative fields some of which are movies, video games, TV, and video for all web platforms.  Using this video editing software, you can easily create special effects, cut out objects from one footage and place them into another. You can even utilize the tool to create motion text, add animations and do a lot more. In case you are unaware of how to create an effect from scratch, you can take the help of existing presets it offers. These pre-defined templates and support files are created by seasoned designers.  For instance, if you wish to simulate an explosion, you can choose from hundreds of animation presets. For this head to the Presets folder on your computer. You can find it at Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects\Support Files.  It also comes with lots of learning material & graphical elements, using which amateur video editors and professionals can take advantage from.  Even though editing with After Effects is fun, for someone who has just started out with video editing, the tool may come across as a little overwhelming. Alternatively, beginners users can start with an easier tool like Clipchamp video editor that comes pre-installed with a lot of Windows PCs & laptops.

Pros:

• High level of customizability.
• Exceptional motion graphics.
• Professional keyframe management.
• You can install plugins to make your workflow faster

Cons:

• Consumes high computer resources

System Requirements

Before you get started with video editing using After Effects, it would be beneficial to know, whether your PC can handle the software or not. As a part of this Adobe After Effects review we have outlined its system requirements as well.  To begin with, we won’t deny that it is resource-intensive software as compared to many of its other counterparts. But, the functionality that it offers makes up for this -  Windows OS Compatibility: Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit) V20H2 or later RAM: 16 GB minimum, 32 GB recommended.  Monitor Resolution: 1920X1080 Hard Disk Space: Minimum 15 GB required. You will need additional free space during installation. 64GB+ is required for the disk cache.  GPU: 4GB or more of GPU VRAM is recommended. For systems with NVIDIA GPUs, Windows 11 requires NVIDIA driver version 472.12 or later. Active Internet Connection: For registration, software activation, validate subscriptions and in order to access other online services. 

Interface

85% - Very Good

Before we talk about After Effects (AE) Editing, let’s briefly discuss its interface because this is the place that you will be communicating with. To begin with, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that there are several things that constitute the whole dashboard, but it is certainly not tough to get a hang of it.  The interface consists of the Timeline panel, the Composition panel, the Effects panel, and the Project panel. When you click on each of the different panels, you get a blue highlight which depicts that the panel is active.   The Project Panel is the place where you create your projects, import footage, and even other assets. When you create a composition consisting of several layers, it is shown in the “Composition Panel”.  The layers associated with your composition will appear in the “Timeline”.  There are also “Workspaces” that are named after different tasks you might be trying to complete. For example, you may have a dedicated workspace if you are working with a lot of text. In that case, you would want to work with a “Text Workspace”. But, for the most part, you can select the “Standard” workspace.

Features

90% - Excellent

Best In Class VFX

Adobe After Effects review would be incomplete without throwing light on its solid VFX capabilities. Using a variety of means you can eliminate distractions and mistakes, add special effects, get rid of camera angles, and even work with Cinema 4D to convert objects into 3D.  You can add blur over specific areas of your footage or isolate elements using a green screen.  Once you have created visual effects, you can even import or export assets from Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Illustrator, and other such applications. All in all, Adobe After Effects can help you with everything in the post-production stage. 

Cut Moving Objects From the Video With Rotoscoping

One technique that is very popular among the users of Adobe After Effects is rotoscoping. It helps remove elements from a video so that you can place them in different live-action footage. It is a compositing technique that is frequently used in movies.  Using the “Roto Brush” Tool you can automatically select objects that you want to remove. You can further increase or decrease the softness of the matte edge, use the Pen tool to outline objects with sharp lines, and ensure that the mask fits the object correctly frame by frame.  To avoid manually editing between keyframes, you can mask objects and the content-aware fill will replace them with new image details taken from other frames. 

Make Text Animated

There are a lot of reasons why creators use text animation. From animated logos to subtitles to simple roll credits, the various text animation tools help bring words to life. You can either start afresh or choose from various presets to create engaging text animation.  When editing text with After Effects you can use the inbuilt graph editor to control the speed of your animation. 

Smooth Working in 3D

An interesting aspect of AE Editing is its ability to composite 3D scenes. You can easily replicate a real-life 3D scenario quickly and accurately. A small caveat here is that some part of it also depends on the specifications of your computer.  With that out of the way, let’s discuss a few tools that can help you composite and design 3D content natively in Adobe After Effects. The 3D Ground Plane gives you a horizontal plane that vanishes to infinity and it can be used as a reference when creating a scene. You can toggle it off and on, so it appears only when you need it.  You have 3D Draft Preview that uses Mercury 3D engine renderer to show you real-time updates you make in your 3D design. And, surprisingly there are no lags during the preview. For a broader view, you even have the Extended Viewer that lets you watch your 3D composition outside the composition frame.  There are Camera controls that help you move around your 3D space quickly as soon as you convert a 2D layer to 3D.

Professional Color Grading

After Effects provides you with industry-level Lumetri color correction and color grading tools which helps users to color grade your footage right from your timeline. Lumetri Color exercises GPU acceleration for swifter performance. 

Motion Tracking Capabilities

When using After Effects for editing videos you can track the movement of an object in your video. There are multiple ways in which you can pin an object in a way, that it moves smoothly with the camera.  For instance, you can add moving text, add graphical elements such as cartoons in real-world footage, add word bubbles, smiley faces, etc. Ae editing gives you complete control over keyframes, tracking data, and all your motion-tracking assets. 

Updates

85% - Very Good

Adobe Effects keeps rolling out new features & updates to enhance overall users experience. The developers also works dedicatedly to ensure all the stability issues & hiccups are eliminated while working. For instance, with the latest rollout, there was an integration with OpenColorIO (OCIO) which simplifies ACES workflow. Also, various stability issues were fixed.   To manually update the application, launch the After Effects application, click on Help, and then check for updates. You can even update After Effects with the Creative Cloud app. For that launch the app and head to “Updates”. If there is an update available for After Effects it will be shown as “Update is available”.  Click on it and select a major version you want to install and further click on the blue Update button. 

Speed

80% - Good

Once you are done with composing and editing the various elements, it's time to publish or render it. Depending on the elements and the specification of your computer’s hardware, the time may differ. On a personal front, we have seen files taking up several hours to render on a PC with mediocre specifications. Also, the files may go up to several GBs.  So, is there a way you can prevent that? Can you cut down on the size as well as reduce the rendering time?   Something that can help you reduce the rendering time, cut down on the file size, and even increase the quality is Adobe Media Encoder. Although, it is a video rendering application that comes with After Effects in Creative Cloud and it might add to After Effect's price, the investment is worth it.  You can keep working on the project in your primary After Effects application, while the compositions will keep rendering in another application. To send a project to the media encoder, click on File > Export > Add to Media Encoder Queue. You can also do the same via the “Composition” menu as well. Alternatively, you can also use the Ctrl + Alt + M. 

Pricing

80% - Good

Wondering what’s Adobe After Effects price? Similar to all the Adobe’s product line such as the Adobe Creative Cloud, you can try all the features of Adobe After Effects free for a time-frame of 7 days provided your PC meets the system requirements required for Adobe After Effects as shown above. You can sign up for the free trial, and after the trial period ends you will be charged $19.99/ month. 

Customer Support

85% - Very Good

There are various channels through which you can contact the customer support team of Adobe in case of doubts. First, you can visit the Adobe Customer Care page and get basic queries resolved such as those related to download and installation, plan cancellation, and plan change.  Then, there are tons of tutorials and guides that can help you work through various features. This is the place where you can also get access to commonly reported problems by other users as well.  If need be, you can also post your queries, bugs or discuss techniques with other users using the After Effects community forum.

How To Use Adobe After Effects

1. Once you have signed up for the account (in case you are using the trialware), install and run the application.  2. Once the application launches, drag and drop all your assets into the Project panel. These include your images, videos, and various other assets. 3. Click on the Create A New Composition button at the bottom. To begin with, you can go with the default Composition Settings. 4. Now from the left, drag and drop the footage and elements that you need for your Composition panel.  5. You will then be displayed layers of your composition in the Timeline. Click on the arrow towards the left of the layer name and you can see various effects that you can apply.  6. You can drag a layer above or beneath another layer based on visibility. For instance, the layer above is visible on the top. 7. On the right, you have the duration bar where you can access the timeframe of the footage quite like any other video editing tool.    8. To play the video, simply press the spacebar.  9. You can even change the resolution so that you can preview your composition quickly in real-time. 

Wrapping Up

Whether it is creating special effects or adding animation, a character or logo, or working with 3D elements, After Effects opens your world to a new world of creativity. Do let us if you liked this post and if you have been working with Adobe After Effects for a while. Share your personal experience with us in the comments section below. You can also find us on Facebook, Flipboard, and Pinterest.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What is Adobe After Effects?  Adobe After Effects is an industry-standard VFX and motion graphics tool.  It is majorly used in the post-production stage to manipulate existing RAW or treated footage. Apart from adding or creating a composition, it is also used to create 2D and 3D animations with both vector and rasterized art.  Q2. How much does After Effects cost?  You can sign up for a free account and try Adobe After Effects free for 7 days and then after the trial period is over you will be charged $19.99/ month. You can also choose from various other plans as well.  Q3. Is After Effects worth it?  If you are into serious video editing or compositing, Adobe After Effects is definitely a tool to reckon with. It comes with an ocean of inbuilt features as well as comes with great support for plugins as well.  Q4. Is Adobe After Effects free?  Adobe After Effects offers you a trial version where you can use all the features of the tool free for 7 days after which you can opt for the subscription at $19.99/ month.