Whether you ferment in feature - film production , industrial television , or Web animation , Adobe After Effects has long been the 300 - pound gorilla of compositing and motion - graphics applications . While competing curriculum such as Apple Shake (; January 2006 ) , Apple Motion (; October 2005 ) , and Autodesk Combustion (; September 2004 ) have present first-class alternatives to After Effects , no one has managed to completely unseat the program .

With version 7 of the professional edition , the competitor will have an even more difficult metre taking market share aside from Adobe ’s compositing workhorse . While the latest press release offers major new features such as support for 32 - bit color and fantabulous new retiming effects , much of the advance resultant role from what Adobe hasundonein the form of port fixes . No matter what type of work you use After effect for , you ’ll find something to wish in the new release .

Although I review the Professional edition , there ’s also a stock interlingual rendition , which be $ 300 less . Geared toward user doing basic compositing for the Web or picture , the Standard edition lacks advanced keying and matt tools , support for 16- and 32 - act color , 3 - D features , apparent movement - trailing instrument , and advanced sound recording features . The Professional version is aimed at television and filmmakers who are perform complex effects , and who need more - robust color control .

Palette embargo

While Adobe has systematically added compelling new features to each update of After force , it has usually done so by swot up more pallet into the program ’s interface . By interpretation 6.5 (; November 2004 ) , After effect ’ pallet - heavy interface could make even a 30 - inch monitor feel a little cramped . With version 7 , though , Adobe has redesign the entire interface , and in the process totally improved the platform ’s serviceability .

By default , the full After Effects 7 interface resides in a undivided window that is divided into separate , resizable skeleton . In this regard , the After Effects 7 interface is closer to Apple ’s DVD Studio Pro and Final Cut than to any of its predecessors . The overall contour of the mortal frame up mirror the placement of palettes from old versions , so you wo n’t find completely lose when you first get into the programme .

Where the new interface scramble is in its customizability . you may easily rearrange any of the panes , dock them to each other in many configuration , and write the different arrangements . The plan ship with several layouts that are already optimized for particular purposes , such as liveliness and movement trailing . you could also portion keyboard shortcuts to layouts so you could chop-chop switch between them . By intelligently designing and using layout , you may easy manage After Effects ’ rattling turn of mastery . And if you choose the quondam - school After Effects interface , you may drag any of the panel out of the primary window to re - make the multiple - float - palettes port of old edition .

Adobe has made other important tweaks throughout the interface . For object lesson , the Comp window now includes a Fit Up To 100 % choice that get you resize the window while still being capable to see the full image — something the political program has lacked for years .

Graphing your changes

After effect has always provide powerful tool for editing animation keyframes . This is one reason it has preserve its dominance for so long . However , the program ’s Curves editor program — which you could use to fine - tune keyframes — has long been underpowered and cumbersome . Version 7 in conclusion tot an excellent Curves editor to the After Effects timeline .

The program ’s Function - curve editor in chief lets you graph the values of any parametric quantity you want to animate against metre . Using simple beziér controls , you may easily remold a parameter ’s breaking ball to alter how its values change . In previous versions , After burden display a long tilt of separate curves for each parametric quantity . But in Version 7 , a new single Graph survey lets you see curve superimpose over each other . Not only is this a more - practical use of screen distance , but it also need much less seafaring while editing . The Graph editor also includes powerful free - transform capabilities that let you reshape an entire set of keyframes at once .

After Effects 6.5 introduced presets for text edition - animation effects . In version 7 , Adobe has gallop the vitality - preset capacity to any impression that you’re able to keyframe . This mean you create presets for desktop , behaviors , material body , intelligent effects , transformations , and more , then easily apply them to any level . This is a huge metre - saver when produce iterate elements or animated interfaces .

After effect 7 includes not only a Brobdingnagian assortment of presets , but also a library of gross task templates for everything from DVD carte to bumper and credit roll . Even if you never use any of this pre - built material , learn aside the presets and template is a neat way to read unlike After Effects proficiency .

Blurrier blurs

The ability to blend frames together is essential for make time - remapping effect — dim and dissolute motion . After Effects 7 includes the same frame - blending options as previous versions , and adds a new Pixel Motion option , which chase the motion of every pixel in a frame . The result is gamey - lineament time - remapping force than what you get with the usual frame - blending options .

The Professional version of After effect also includes a new Timewarp effect , which uses the Pixel Motion feature to produce time remappings with more - sophisticated control . you’re able to even use the Timewarp effect to add up motion blur to non - blurry footage , with very convincing outcome .

Speed and color

Adobe has improved After result ’ overall render performance . The amount of improvement you will see depends largely on the complexity of your project . In some cases you might see up to two times the operation improvement , and overall the programme feel noticeably snappy . The fully grown speed improvement comes from the addition of OpenGL 2.0 support , which entail that if you have a brawny enough video card , you may preview antialiasing , motion blur , and blend - fashion effect in real time .

After Effects 7 also provides splendid bread and butter for 32 - bit image elements . While some effects are n’t yet functional in 32 - bit way , Adobe ’s commitment to make After Effects work in the larger colour space is obvious . Version 7 support Open EXR data format , along with HDR images , Cineon , 32 - snatch TIFF and Photoshop data format , and more .

Despite the massive advance , some office of the program are showing their long time . Adobe has not upgraded the 3 - D locomotive engine , and I ’d like to see the plus of more text features from Photoshop , such as Layer Styles .

Macworld’s buying advice

Adobe merit a lot of praise for the tremendous advances it ’s made in the program ’s usability . After Effects 7 Professional is an extremely complex program , and the young interface does an excellent job of organizing and presenting the consuming numeral of controls . Between the port renovation , better performance , new Curves editor in chief , and other feature , After Effects 7 is a unfeignedly great acclivity that get by to stay onward of the pack .

[ Ben Long is a freelance author , photographer , and videographer ground in San Francisco . ]