Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional descriptionEfficiently produce motion graphics and visual effects for video, multimedia, and the Web
Adobe After Effects creates motion graphics and visual effects.
Adobe After Effects delivers a comprehensive set of tools to efficiently produce motion graphics and visual effects for film, video, multimedia, and the Web.
Animate your ideas. Adobe® After Effects® 7.0 software helps you create compelling motion graphics and blockbuster visual effects with efficiency, precision, and infinite variety.
Take advantage of unmatched integration with other Adobe software, flexible 2D and 3D compositing, and hundreds of effects and Animation Presets to bring a new dimension to your film, video, DVD, and Macromedia® Flash® productions
Here are some key features of "Adobe After Effects":Graph Editor
· Value and Speed graphs
· Edit Value and Speed graphs in the Graph Editor, or let After Effects choose the one most appropriate for the animated property.
Value graphs for spatial properties
· See spatial properties such as Position represented with value graphs on individual channels, each with a unique color.
Selected properties display
· Choose one or all of three display modes for comparing animation curves: all selected properties, all animated properties of a selected layer, or a Graph Editor Set containing marked properties only.
One-button eases
· Add eases in and out of curves with a single click.
Free transform
· Scale and offset keyframes in the Graph Editor with free-transform features, just as you would scale or offset vertices on a mask.
Snapping keyframes
· Snap keyframes to interesting points as you drag them horizontally or vertically around the Graph Editor.
Scalable view
· Freely zoom and pan around the Graph Editor with the Zoom tool, Hand tool, or your mouse scroll wheel, using modifier keys for additional controls. Automatically fit all graphs to the current view with a single click.
32-bit High Dynamic Range (HDR) and 16-bit color support
· 32-bit floating-point pipeline
· Freely push values above full white and recover detail at any stage of the pipeline, so you can access the full range of color visible with the naked eye (Professional edition only).
Support for HDR image formats
· Import and export HDR color images in Adobe Photoshop®, OpenEXR, and TIFF formats to preserve the full dynamic range of all footage (Professional edition only).
Quality 16-bit results
· Produce work that is film- and HDTV-ready using the broader range of colors available in the 16-bit color mode (Professional edition only).
Flexible color modes
· Rough out a composition in 8-bit color mode, and then finalize and output it to 16-bit or 32-bit color for optimal quality. Toggle between 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit color on-the-fly. (Professional edition only.)
Powerful masking tools
· Unlimited masks
· Control which parts of a 2D or 3D layer are visible by adding and animating an unlimited number of masks on any layer.
Imported masks
· Import Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator® paths as masks.
Mask animations
· Stroke, feather, transform, animate, and apply motion blur to masks over time.
Combined masks
· Combine masks using Add, Subtract, Intersect, and Difference.
Mask auto-tracing
· Quickly turn any channel, including alpha channels, into a vector-based mask, and quickly create animated masks.
Masks from text
· Turn After Effects text into masks using the Create Outlines command.
RotoBézier masks
· Create RotoBézier masks from scratch or convert them from Bézier masks. RotoBéziers simplify repetitive tasks by reducing the number of control points you have to think about.
Faster mask rendering
· Render even complex masks up to 100% faster than in previous versions of After Effects.
Smart Mask Interpolation
· Create smooth, realistic intermediate mask keyframes automatically based on settings you provide. Take control of mismatched points, or create arcing mask transitions to replicate natural motion. (Professional edition only.)
Highest quality keying and matte tools
· Track mattes
· Turn any grayscale image, movie, or animated text or graphic into an alpha or luma track matte to control what's visible on another layer.
Color Range
· Quickly eliminate all the pixels on a layer that are similar to a color you've specified. For example, cut out a greenscreen background in one step by specifying that color.
Keylight
· Create subtle, elegant mattes of reflections, semitransparent areas, and hair with this Academy Award-winning keyer from The Foundry. Spill suppression, color correction, and edge refinement tools help perfect the result. (Professional edition only.)
Extract and Linear Color keys
· Easily create high-contrast mattes with subtle edge thresholds using these keys to isolate and knock out a single shade or range of intensity (Professional edition only).
Color Difference Key
· Replicate the method used to key color footage on many landmark films. The Color Difference Key weights the dominant color being keyed against the other two primary colors. (Professional edition only.)
Spill Suppressor
· Remove unwanted color spill from any footage quickly and easily (Professional edition only).
Difference Matte
· Compare foreground information in a scene against a precisely matched, static background "clean plate" and leave only the pixels that are different (Professional edition only).
Inner/Outer Key
· Derive the key from border pixels that you select by creating a rough mask around the edges of the object. This helps out in difficult keying situations. (Professional edition only.)
Matte Choker and Simple Choker
· Spread or choke the selection area of any alpha channel with a subpixel level of control (Professional edition only).
Professional color correction
· Color Finesse
· Perform your most demanding digital intermediate work within After Effects using Color Finesse™ from Synthetic Aperture, a full-featured color-correction environment containing high-end telecine-style correction tools.
Comprehensive color correction
· Adjust colors on layers over time using color-correction tools similar to those in Photoshop, including Brightness & Contrast, Channel Mixer, Color Balance, Levels, Tint, and more.
Shadows/Highlights effect
· Automate color correction over time while preserving the shadows and highlights within the frames using the Photoshop style Shadows/Highlights effect.
Automatic adjustments
· Enhance the contrast of footage over time with Photoshop style Auto Color, Auto Contrast, and Auto Levels controls.
Curves controls
· Adjust the tonal range of an image with complete control — for example, decrease blues in the shadows and increase them in bright areas. Also import curve settings from Photoshop.
Hue/Saturation controls
· Adjust the hue, saturation, and lightness of individual color components on a layer. Adjust up to six separate user-defined hue ranges.
Color Stabilizer
· Sample the exposure of a single reference frame and adjust the exposure of all other frames to match it (Professional edition only).
High-quality audio
· 32-bit audio support
· Maximize audio quality in your projects with new support for 32-bit audio. Import 32-bit audio files mixed and mastered in Adobe Audition® software. Fine-tune audio levels precisely using VU meters with peak and clip indicators on the Audio panel.
Auto-sampling support
· Prepare and resample audio using sampling rates from 8kHz to 96kHz (Mac OS) or 8kHz to 96kHz (Windows®).
Audio-to-keyframe conversion
· Create keyframes to represent audio.
Audio effects
· Remap audio over time with the Delay and Backwards audio effects. Adjust audio tone with Bass & Treble.
Stereo Mixer
· Pan from the left speaker or channel to the right speaker or channel, or vice versa, with the Stereo Mixer.
Advanced audio effects
· Use Modulator, Parametric EQ, and High-Low Pass for precise professional control over 32-bit audio. Delay, Flange & Chorus, and tone generation allow you to stylize sound or generate sounds from scratch. (Professional edition only.)
Audio Spectrum and Audio Waveform effects
· Generate full-color visuals based on audio elements that animate dynamically along a frequency spectrum or that behave like an audio waveform.
Superior output
· Render Queue
· Use the powerful Render Queue to simultaneously render at multiple resolutions and file formats or to batch render files. Also create templates to apply common render and output settings.
OpenGL rendering
· Use OpenGL for final rendering at high speed: OpenGL 2.0 capabilities include common blending modes, motion blur on 2D layers, anti-aliasing and track mattes, better shadows and transparencies, and more.
Network rendering
· Divide each render — and the time it requires — over networked machines using a special Render Engine version of After Effects, with no limit on the permitted number of computers. See the product license agreement for details. (Professional edition only.)
Grid rendering
· Speed output by using other networked computers to render your compositions, thanks to Gridiron X-Factor (plug-in available for Professional edition only).
Advanced 3D Renderer
· Render 3D compositions — even those that include intersecting layers — at the highest possible quality.
Flexible frame rates and resolutions
· Specify output frame rates and resolutions (up to 30
,000x30,000 pixels) to meet all international film and broadcast standards, including Cineon, HDTV, HDV, and more.
Render automation
· Use scripting to automate a render pipeline (with an unlimited number of nodes) and to integrate with third-party render management software (Professional edition only).
Pixel Aspect Ratios
· Compensate for non-square pixels in DV, 601, HD, HDV, and other video formats using the Pixel Aspect Ratio settings.
Pulldown modes
· Translate files smoothly between film and video using the 3:2 Pulldown option. Choose the 24PA Pulldown option for 24-frame progressive DV cameras.
Field rendering
· Control field-rendering order for jitter-free playback on PAL and NTSC video systems.
FireWire video output
· Preview your compositions on NTSC and PAL video monitors whether you're using a Windows or a Mac OS X system.
Extensive file format support
· Extensive support for industry-standard formats
· Import and output files in QuickTime, AVI, MPEG-2 (Windows only), Windows Media (WMV9 export on Windows only), RealMedia (Windows only), native Photoshop (PSD), Camera Raw, Macromedia Flash (SWF and FLV), Cineon, SGI, TIFF, TGA, Maya IFF, JPEG, ElectricImage, Filmstrip, PDF, WAV, and AIFF formats.
RLA/RPF support
· Import camera data and auxiliary 3D image data saved with RLA or RPF files, such as data generated from 3ds Max (Professional edition only).
HDV support
· Work with HDV video directly within After Effects.
DVD-ready files
· Create DVD-ready files by encoding your After Effects output in MPEG-2 format (Windows only).
Macromedia Flash export
· Streamline the process of encoding video and audio for your Flash projects with new Flash Video (FLV) export. Create compact, vector-based SWF animations that include sophisticated text animations and shape morphing.
AAF/OMF support
· Import timelines from Avid using the Advanced Authoring Format (AAF). Import and export media in Avid's native Open Media Framework (OMF) format. (Professional edition only.)
Windows Media and RealMedia export
· Export your After Effects work in popular Windows Media and RealMedia formats for the web.
Intelligent workflowEase of use
· Redesigned, unified user interface
· Work within an elegantly redesigned interface featuring workspace panels that dock and group for optimal organization, eliminating overlapping windows. Save custom workspaces, control UI brightness, and more.
Familiar Adobe look and feel
· Leverage your knowledge of other Adobe products to get up to speed quickly: After Effects uses standard Adobe tools, palettes, menus, and customizable keyboard shortcuts.
Easy to learn and use
· Learn as you work with convenient Tool Tips, context-sensitive menus, the Adobe website, third-party books and training videos, and an active user community. Get started quickly with professionally designed templates for DVD motion menus and animated backgrounds.
Adobe Help Center
· Get answers quickly from the new Adobe Help Center, which offers powerful search features and convenient topics.
Auto Save
· Prevent mishaps from destroying hours of work. The Auto Save feature saves incremental versions automatically as you work.
Flexible media management
· Cross-platform workflows
· Easily share projects and files across Windows and Macintosh platforms.
Resolution independence
· Mix multiple file resolutions from small thumbnails up to 30,000x30,000-pixel frames.
Adobe Bridge
· Simplify the everyday tasks of asset management with Adobe Bridge, which offers powerful ways to browse and search digital assets, preview and apply presets, work with metadata, manage files, and run batch processes.
Post-render actions and Proxy creation
· Use post-render actions to streamline back-end production tasks, such as creating proxies or replacing project footage with output from the Render Queue.
Convenient file management
· Use commands such as Find, Reveal, Reduce Project, and Collect Files to manage files easily.
Flowchart view
· View a flowchart of a composition or project to see how it's organized and what footage, layers, and effects are used.
Unmatched Adobe integration
· Photoshop CS2 integration
· Save 32-bit HDR and 16-bit color values in Photoshop files. Text remains editable, and layers, common layer styles, blending modes, masks, and transparency are all preserved when Photoshop files are imported as compositions. Use Photoshop paths as masks or animation paths.
Photoshop layer style support
· Import common layer styles created in Photoshop — including Glow, Bevel, and Drop Shadow effects — for rendering in After Effects layers.
Photoshop file creation
· Create a new Photoshop file from within your After Effects project. Photoshop automatically opens a blank file using composition settings — including title-safe and action-safe guides — ready for editing. Changes appear in After Effects when you save.
Illustrator CS2 integration
· Copy vectors from Illustrator to use as After Effects masks or motion paths. Illustrator layers and blend modes are preserved, and vector shapes can be continuously rasterized (and output as compact SWF files), preserving smooth edge detail.
Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 integration
· Preserve bins, edits, markers, keyframed effects, nested sequences, transitions, and more from Adobe Premiere® Pro 2.0 software. Drag and drop or copy and paste clips from one application to the other. (Windows only.)
Adobe Premiere Pro project export
· Export an After Effects project as an Adobe Premiere Pro project, streamlining work that involves editing as well as motion graphics and effects. (Windows only.)
Adobe Encore DVD integration
· Create elements such as motion menus and interactive buttons for your DVDs. Export AVI and MPEG-2 movies from After Effects with markers that Adobe Encore® DVD software reads as chapters. (Windows only.)
Optimal performance
· Real-time, high-fidelity OpenGL support
· Experience real-time performance with advanced OpenGL 2.0 capabilities including support for blending modes as well as motion blur, anti-aliasing, track mattes, high-quality shadows and transparency, and accelerated rendering of common effects. Use OpenGL for accelerated final renders.
RAM previews
· Preview compositions in real time and benefit from intelligent caching, dynamic previews, and the ability to define a region of interest for faster and longer RAM previews.
Disk caching
· Dramatically enhance previewing and interactivity on large projects with highly efficient disk caching.
Windows and Mac OS optimization
· Take advantage of better performance using the latest Intel® Pentium® based Windows hardware and PowerPC® G5 based Macintosh hardware.
Integrated Script Editor
· Text editing palettes
· Organize and edit scripts using numbered lines, user-defined text formatting, and colored text (Professional edition only).
Debug menu
· Clearly isolate specific functions and statements in complex scripts by interactively managing breakpoints (Professional edition only).
Profile
· Profile individual functions or lines within scripts for individual timing and hit count information to understand how and when individual parts of the script are called (Professional edition only).
Integrated palette-based interface
· Instantly access all scripts in the Scripts menu, which also includes a JavaScript Console and Call Stack, Breakpoints, and Data Browser palettes (Professional edition only).
Creative empowermentFlexible 2D and 3D compositing
· Real-time design with OpenGL acceleration
· Composite layers in 2D or 3D space using multiple cameras and lights. Mix and match 2D and 3D layers in a single composition, and design in real time using OpenGL acceleration.
Cameras and lights for 3D compositions
· Create and animate multiple cameras and lights. Specify a point of interest, produce soft shadows, and simulate different types of lights to add depth.
Multiple views and workspaces
· See how layers interact in space, and manipulate a composition from multiple perspectives using multiple views. Use predefined workspaces or create your own to contextually streamline your workflow.
Projection layers and colored shadows
· Project light through a layer to create colored shadows, stained-glass effects, and the look of projected slides.
Camera data
· Import 3D camera and null animation data in the Alias Maya (MA) format, directly from Maya or from any 3D tracking software that can export MA files, such as 2d3's boujou (Professional edition only).
Quick arrangement of multiple layers
· Quickly arrange multiple layers in time with the Sequence Layers keyframe assistant, and arrange layers in space with the Align and Distribute tools.
Parenting
· Speed up production by defining a parent-child relationship between layers to ensure the child layer inherits all transformations applied to the parent.
Built-in creative tools and templates
· Produce cool animations from scratch right in After Effects by creating layers, adding masks, and applying effects. Or use included project templates to get started on creating DVD motion menus, animated backgrounds, and more.
Unrivaled text animation and titling effects
· Intuitive text creation
· Create text using Adobe-standard tools for typing, editing, and formatting text, and easily edit text created in Photoshop. Mix and match fonts and other attributes on a layer.
Text Animation Presets
· Save animation time by instantly applying more than 250 professionally designed, fully editable text Animation Presets, or create and save your own. Use Adobe Bridge to conveniently preview and apply presets.
Character-level blurs
· Create and animate blurs on a per-character basis for eye-catching text animations.
Versatile text animation
· Animate text along any path, transform or displace words or lines of text over time, set intercharacter blending modes, randomize the order in which characters animate, wiggle your text, and more.
Web-ready text animations
· Export animated text as vector-based SWF files to create innovative, web-friendly animations.
Expert visual effects
· Comprehensive effects toolkit
· Use a broad selection of included effects to change the appearance of footage or to generate entirely new elements. Create unique looks from scratch or by using more than 100 new, customizable effects presets.
Creative blur effects
· Re-create the effect of a defocused camera lens easily and realistically with new Lens Blur, and use new Smart Blur to create soft color effects without destroying fine detail. Use a variety of other blur effects for specific situations, including Directional Blur, Box Blur, and Gaussian Blur.
Fractal Noise
· Create textures and organic elements with Fractal Noise, which is perfect for simulating caustics, clouds, lava, flowing water, and gas. Use included presets to create eye-catching animated backgrounds.
Flexible distortion effects
· Distort and morph footage using Mirror, Ripple, and other effects, and paint distortions directly onto imagery with Liquify.
Maximum warping
· Warp and distort the full frame of your footage as well as selected areas in specific, realistic ways with effects like Mesh Warp, Bézier Warp, and Displacement Map (Professional edition only).
Reshape
· Morph one defined shape in a layer into another shape on the same layer, distorting the image itself to fit the shape of the new area (Professional edition only).
Optics Compensation
· Precisely simulate the fish-eye lens distortion of images taken with a real camera using a wide-angle lens.
Corner Pin
· Skew the corners of an image to simulate the perspective of a plane in 3D space. Use the tracker to create animated corner pin data automatically, matching scene features precisely. (Professional edition only.)
Bulge
· Warp an image around a given point, as if inflating the pixels out to a given radius.
3D effects
· Use 3D Channel Effects to import 3D channel image files saved in RLA, RPF, Softimage PIC/ZPIC, and Electric Image EI/EIZ formats, and work with the 3D image data contained within them. Use Depth of Field to simulate the focal effects of camera depth of field, and use Fog 3D to simulate volumetric haze in a source 3D image file. (Professional edition only.)
ID Matte
· Isolate elements in a 3D image file using unique embedded Object ID tags created by 3D programs (Professional edition only).
Scribble
· Achieve a loose, hand-drawn look instantly by applying Scribble to a layer.
Cycore Effects
· Add smoke and sparks using Particle World, create blazing ray-of-light transitions using Light Burst and Light Sweep, change all the colors in an image to just three hues using Toner, and more with over 60 bundled effects from Cycore.
Grain management tools
· Add or remove grain artifacts from footage — automatically or manually. Specify the characteristics of grain on all three individual color channels for a perfect match. (Professional edition only.)
Glow
· Instantly brighten or diffuse the bright areas of an image to create a glowing halo or other lighting effect, suitable for stylized emphasis of featured elements.
Advanced Lightning
· Create electrical arcs with variety, precision, and realism.
Particle Playground
· Simulate explosions, flocks of birds, swarms of bees, and more using a powerful particle system. Any layer, even text, can be a particle. (Professional edition only.)
Scatter
· Generate sizzle around borders by adding dancing, dissolve-style animated pixel scatter to the inside and outside of masked areas of a layer (Professional edition only).
Expandable effects toolkit
· Expand your creative range in After Effects with hundreds of compatible third-party effects plug-ins (available separately).
Intuitive effects management
· Effects & Presets palette
· Organize effects the way you like and quickly access them in the Effects & Presets palette. Save, apply, and share Animation Presets with specific settings and animated properties.
Placeholder for missing effects
· Continue working on a project even when the effects it uses are missing from your system. Information about where each effect was applied and the settings it uses is preserved.
Adjustment layers
· Create adjustment layers, similar to those in Photoshop, to apply effects to any layers that appear below them.
Powerful animation and motion controls
· Motion blur
· Apply motion blur to moving layers to produce more realistic animations.
Timesaving Animation and Behavior Presets plus project templates
· Produce great-looking animations quickly using hundreds of fully customizable Animation Presets, including presets for animating text, effects, transitions, backgrounds, and behaviors. Use included project templates for DVD motion menus and motion graphics backgrounds.
Timewarp
· Slow down and speed up footage with smooth, crisp results and minimal artifacts. Timewarp analyzes pixel motion to create more accurate in-between frames. (Professional edition only.)
Time remapping and frame blending
· Produce effects such as variable slow motion and backward playback using two types of frame blending: frame mix and the new pixel motion.
Motion Sketch and Smoother
· Quickly draw an animation path and set its velocity with Motion Sketch. Then fine-tune the shape and speed of the path with the Smoother.
Motion Tracker
· Precisely match the motion of source footage using the fast, accurate Motion Tracker. Use as many points as you like or standard one-, two-, and four-point settings to track x and y position, rotation, and scale. (Professional edition only.)
Motion Stabilizer
· Eliminate unwanted motion using the Motion Stabilizer, which can give handheld video shots the look of a locked-off shot (Professional edition only).
Wiggler
· Apply smooth or jagged changes to color, motion, or other effects over time with the Wiggler (Professional edition only).
Exponential Scale tool
· Create natural-looking zoom effects by making linear changes of scale exponential (Professional edition only).
Time Displacement
· Mix different portions of source footage in an intriguing manner using the luminance of one layer to control the timing of individual pixels in another layer (Professional edition only).
Rotoscoping and paint tools
· Nondestructive vector painting
· Paint nondestructively on layers to clean up footage, draw masks, clone elements, and create animations.
Photoshop style brushes
· Work with brushes similar to the ones in Photoshop. Customize brushes to control size, spacing, and angle, and save them for ongoing use.
Advanced Clone tool
· Remove unwanted distractions like dust and scratches, or replicate elements for a desired effect, like filling a stadium with people. The Clone tool offers multiple presets and onion skinning of the source frame.
Animated paint strokes
· Animate individual paint strokes over time to change their size, position, or shape and to create write-on and write-off effects.
Eraser tool
· Control whether the Eraser tool removes paint strokes only or paint strokes plus the underlying background footage.
Wacom tablet support
· Use Wacom tablets for more precise control when painting in After Effects.
Versatile Expressions and Behavior Presets
· Keyframeless creation of animations
· Define Expressions that link the behavior of one layer property to that of another on any layer in the composition. Use new Behavior Presets to create Wiggles, Bounces, Drifts, Flashes, and more without setting keyframes.
Intuitive pick whip interface
· Link properties easily and intuitively with the pick whip interface.
Standard syntax
· Use standard JavaScript to modify Expressions, or create your own from scratch.
Menu of preset commands
· Reduce keystrokes and eliminate the need to memorize code with an extensive library of functions and commands.
