When my web design clients want motion graphics, they expect [1] Flash—and I’m happy to deliver. Flash allows me to create powerful motion graphics that don’t need long loading times and can do practically anything thanks to ActionScript. However, I’m starting to turn away from Flash for motion graphics and moving to [2] After Effects: the end results are often more stunning and the clients are happier. My experience with After Effects CS3 has been exceptional, and out of all the CS3 applications (with the exception of [3] Photoshop and maybe Flash) After Effects has probably improved the most from its immediate predecessor.

Giving users what they want

There’s a lot of new things in After Effects CS3:

[4]
• Shape layers. Vector graphics can now be drawn and animated in CS3, similar to what one does with Flash. Flash’s vector animation options are certainly more robust, but After Effects at least has the ability and flexibility to do this as well.

• Photoshop integration. The beauty of CS3 is its improved connections between applications, and After Effects CS3 works beautifully with Photoshop. Layer styles and video layers are preserved when Photoshop files are imported. After Effects can add and even animate Photoshop layer styles and blending options. And Photoshop isn’t the only integrated application: After Effects can now export Flash Video files and import SWF files with greater ease.
[5]
• Puppet tools. This was constantly shown in the months leading up to the CS3 Production Premium launch: the ability to animate a rasterized image by stretching and moving various elements. I didn’t give it much thought because it seemed its reason for existing was to create funny stick figure animations. I still haven’t found a killer application for this feature, but I do think there’s a lot of promise to it. It reminds me of the animation interface in Anime Studio Pro 5. Funny aside: with the Puppet interface comes what must be Adobe’s most amusing tool since the Tornado tool: the Starch tool, used to stiffen elements.
[6]
• Brainstorm. Think of Photoshop’s [7] Variations feature—but for After Effects CS3. Play around with element properties and see the results side by side.
• Hardware performance gains. After Effects 8 had real problems with Intel Macs, such as the inability to use more than 50% of total memory. That is now history with After Effects CS3, and you can also use multiple processors to render work much faster. The difference between versions 8 and CS3 are vast when it comes to performance.

There’s some other smaller improvements too, such as improved color management and the addition of Clip Notes so Acrobat and Adobe Reader users can comment on videos. The result is an application that feels truly integrated with other CS3 applications—many of these improvements are related to other applications, whether directly (Photoshop integration) or indirectly (Clip Notes).

[8]

Adobe Reader and Acrobat users can view and comment After Effects projects, thanks to Clip Notes.

My personal experience

My first work with After Effects CS3 was a web graphic for a digital document imaging, management and scanning company named [9] Imagetek. I used the opportunity to get acclimated to the new application and see how it “felt” compared to After Effects 8. In my opinion, that application felt like a video graphics application while CS3 seems to have a lot more in common with Photoshop, Flash and other Adobe graphics applications. Workspaces make it easy to set the panel layout up so it’s not a mishmash of panels and monitors, which seems to be the norm for video applications. Some new features, such as moving individual text characters in 3-D space, appeal to motion graphics designers and not just video graphic designers.

I would say that After Effects CS3 has made a successful transition from strictly video to a more holistic view of motion graphics. Flash designers in particular should take a look at After Effects because to me it now feels like “Flash for bitmap graphics” (ironically, the comparison I hear most about After Effects is “Photoshop with a timeline”). Perhaps in the future we’ll see some other Flash features move into After Effects, such as ActionScript or maybe embedded Flash Video (After Effects only exports video to Flash Video). CS3 represents a quantum shift for After Effects beyond its video roots, and I am excited to see what happens with After Effects CS4 and beyond.

Flash, After Effects…or some other application?

If you’re a motion graphics designer, which application should you use? Flash? After Effects? Or even Photoshop, which has much more robust animation and video tools with CS3 Extended? Well, After Effects is not the only CS3 application that has had a quantum shift: I would say Flash CS3 Professional has also had a major shift from graphics and animation creation to rich web application creation. ActionScript is much more integral to the Flash experience than it used to be, and I would argue that Flash’s graphics tools have lagged behind as a result. After Effects, on the other hand, is still all about graphics, as is Photoshop. If bandwidth is not a major concern (and it often isn’t, given the penetration of broadband Internet), then After Effects may be the best motion graphics application out there for the World Wide Web. The only exceptions are the design of animated GIFs (use Photoshop) or animations that need to use little bandwidth (use Flash and its vector graphics). Otherwise, After Effects CS3 will give you the most impressive motion graphics.

Conclusion

If you are considering the upgrade to After Effects CS3, I would say go for it—there’s too many improvements and new features to wait for CS4, when there will inevitably be more to learn. Moreover, if you are designing web graphics, I think you should look at After Effects CS3 as the next-generation tool in your toolbox. It’s not the perfect motion graphics application (it still is primarily a video graphics application), but video and web graphics are converging and in ten years’ time most web graphics will look like After Effects video. Get in on it now and start learning! It’s a vast application and the learning curve is steep, but I know from personal experience that the results are awesome.

[10] After Effects CS3 Professional
[11] Adobe Systems
[12] $999/[13] $299 upgrade
Rating: 10/10