Final Cut vs After Effects
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- mope
So my boss has agreed to pay for some software training on the company dime. Pretty sweet, but I'm not sure what's the better tool for me?
Seems like After Effects is the industry standard, but our shop's probably not getting into any real heavy-duty motion projects. More likely just video editing and animated type for titles and such.
Suggestions?
PS I'm a video novice (at best).
- nosaj0
They are different tools for different things. FCP for editing, After Effects for Motion Graphics. If you're going to be more into editing FCP is great.
- Dodecahedron0
the answer is in the question. Final Cut, learn AE on the side whenever. You can do a lot of basic animation and compositing with final cut anyway.
- only any animation you do in Final Cut will look like complete shit so no...
NONEIS - wrong. its animation, make your elements layer them and do it properly. AE doesn't make things look better, it just more capabilitiesDodecahedron
- ...capabilities.Dodecahedron
- only any animation you do in Final Cut will look like complete shit so no...
- nosaj0
That said, for the titles you might want After Effects. A third option is to get Final Cut Studio, you then get FCP, Sound Track Pro for sound and Motin for titles.... Or go the adobe route and get a package with Premiere, after effects and audition for sound.
- Stay away from Motion, I love Apple but it's the worst piece of software in the industry!NONEIS
- locustsloth0
Does FCP Studio still come with LiveType? It's a bit cheesy but fills your animated titles requirement.
If you're doing video predominantly, definitely go with Final Cut.
- dnoobie0
which one won?
- Media100locustsloth
- +1 - with or without the dongle?dnoobie
- Without. PCI card to breakout box. With not one but TWO 4Gb ultraSCSI external driveslocustsloth
- Media 100 was the first video editor I ever learned.Dodecahedron
- wow, i feel very analog and very old.dnoobie
- I'll have to use a SCSI chain. My Power Mac 9500 only has one slot availablednoobie
- we used to have an extension tower for extra slots. It's what i learned on too.locustsloth
- But then the studio i worked for got Final Cut Pro 2 (not studio2, but version 2), and the rest is historylocustsloth
- ugh, media100. I've used FCP, AVID, Premiere, Vegas, Media100, Sony ES +more media 100=least favoritetedvandell
- Chief0
You don't want to edit in AE.
- I do it all the time. With all the keyboard shortcuts I don't see the problem.CyBrainX
- Really? Having to ram preview to see your cut isn't a problem? Think about how often you play your sequence in final cut.Chief
- now think about the added time having to wait for AE to pre-render over and over again.Chief
- Hombre_Lobo0
^you say that, but i much prefer AE to premier for editing. i think im an exception to most though.
i hate final cut. its horrible.
- CALLES0
learn after effects from them... learn it... practice it... leave for a better job with better pay... i didn't even know premier was still around
- CALLES0
oh final cut whatever
- team_zissou0
just get a titling plugin for fcp
- CALLES0
you can learn how to do this
- stoplying0
Final Cut sounds like the more sensible choice for the workload, but if your videos need titles, opening boards, etc...then you need AE or at the very least, static titles created in Photoshop and imported into FCP.
AE is a vast app, but there are tons of really good tutorial sites where you can learn basics up to advanced techniques. I would say go FCP, but WAIT until they release the new version which is set to be vastly different from the current version.
- inteliboy0
repeat:
Final Cut for editing.
AE for motion.You can't real-time play back with speed in AE, so it's pretty much useless for any substantial editing beyond music videos and motion graphics.
- NONEIS0
Get the CS5.5 Production set, and you will get AE and Premiere in one fell swoop. FCP is superior for editing, but you will get far more bang for your buck this way, and it comes with Audition now which is freaking solid for laying in sound / music. It's a little more expensive, but you might be able to rationalize it via the significant increase in flexibility.
- out of curiosity, what can fcp do that premier cant?Hombre_Lobo
- Being able to have unrendered AE files In a sequence is a nice feature about Premiere.nosaj
- nosaj0
Premiere doesn't work great with multiple editors. Final Cut Pro along with Final Cut Server is a pretty great team editing solution. That said maybe adobe has a similar server package I haven't heard of.
- CyBrainX0
After Effects is such a far superior and more powerful program it's ridiculous. Learn AE because there isn't a thing you can do in Final Cut that you can't do in After Effects.
- Edit a 30min program in AE. i'll call the suicide hotline for youlocustsloth
- 30 minutes? even 5 minutes is ridiculous.Chief
- even 2minutes is ridiclous.tank02
- Hombre_Lobo0
clearly as nosaj pointed out, one is for special effects, one is for compositing/editing.
i dont have much experience with premier but in after effects the fact that you cant have more than 1 video clip on a single layer makes mass editing very very messy.
lol @ locustsloth
I've noticed Chief (notes in the above post) has been posting video editing and AE help for ages and seems to know a hell of a lot about it, so id listen to him.
and what intelliboy said is a massive deal -
"You can't real-time play back with speed in AE".Thanks intelliboy, i thought it was because my computer wasn't crazy good, didnt know it was an AE limitation.
- mope0
This is all good stuff. Thanks y'alls.