What is After Effects?

Motion graphics and virtual effects have the potential to make or break a movie in today’s saturated market. While character development and captivating dialogue linger in the memory of some audience members, most viewers leave the theater remembering the dazzling graphics, intriguing opening sequence, and the closing credits interrupted by Deadpool coming out of a bathroom to tell the audience to go home. All these cinematic elements are the creation and integration of After Effects with other Adobe Creative Cloud Programs. Use this overview to learn more about this dynamic application that has been at the forefront of original and composite motion graphics and special effects since the 1990s. 

What Can You Do with After Effects?

Think about the last time you watched a Hollywood blockbuster. What were the main things that you noticed throughout the movie? Maybe you noticed the quality of the animations and other motion graphics that added a unique texture to your viewing experience. Perhaps the dynamic opening credits that set the stage for the action caught your eye. Or maybe the incredible special effects drew you into the movie's action. Regardless of what visuals captured your attention, Adobe After Effects or a related motion graphics and special effects tool was likely responsible for these incredible visuals. 

After Effects is a motion graphics and special effects software that allows you to animate texts and objects, use greenscreens to add or subtract objects and elements, and develop unique transitions to your visual media creations. Users can create their original graphics using Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator or redesign one of the many available templates to create their vision. When users combine the editing power of After Effects with the capacities of Cinema 4D Lite included with every subscription, these artists can add new textures and dimensions to their visual media. 

Beyond the incredible toolkit offered within the After Effects program, this application is also compatible with many other tools. Part of the larger Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe After Effects can work with programs such as Adobe Audition, InDesign, Lightroom, and Premiere Pro to create original and composite forms of visual media. After Effects also works with third-party plugins such as FXFactory, Red Giant by Maxon, and CycoreFX, further maximizing the capabilities and functionality of this application.

How Much Does After Effects Cost? 

After Effects is a professional-grade tool available to users with all levels of experience and expertise. Consequently, the price of After Effects depends on the artist’s goals and expected outcomes. Video editors planning to create opening credits for a single project may enroll in a monthly subscription plan of $31.49, which they can cancel anytime. Users prepared for a longer commitment can enroll in a monthly subscription program for $20.99 for twelve months or a full-year subscription for $239.88. Not ready to commit? Take advantage of Adobe’s free application trial period. 

Subscribers that intend to use two or more Adobe Creative Cloud applications frequently choose to enroll in the Creative Cloud All Apps program. The Creative Cloud All Apps program is ideal for animators and special effects artists that aspire to create original content through Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. Artists access to more than twenty Adobe applications for a cancellable monthly fee of $82.49 a month through this subscription program. Need the Adobe Creative Cloud for a longer or larger project? Consider enrolling in Adobe’s monthly subscription program for $54.99 per month or $599.88 for the entire year. Teachers and students are eligible for individual discounts. Businesses, universities, and other organizations can also save on multiple subscriptions through the Creative Cloud for Teams and Creative Cloud for Education deals. 

Beyond the upfront cost of subscribing to After Effects, users should also account for additional expenses that may accrue throughout their After Effects journey. Animators and special effects artists may need to purchase a gaming computer or another computer with a large amount of available RAM to ensure their program does not regularly crash. Gaming computers can cost anywhere from $800 to $5,000, so do your research before making a purchase. 

 Users may also want to enroll in an After Effects course. Classes usually range from single-day courses that cost $300 to $1,000 to more extended certificate programs that tend to last multiple months and cost $4,000 to $6,000. Unsure which class to take? Consider taking advantage of Noble Desktop’s Best After Effects Classes Online list or the innovative After Effects Classes Near Me search engine. These tools allow users to compare and contrast the cost, duration, and location. 

What Are the Benefits of Learning After Effects?

Do you have a creative eye? Did all of your school assignments always have doodles in the margins? Would you like to transform your animation hobby into a career? After Effects gives you the tools to bring your imagination to life and start building your unique business or individual brand! Discover why artists, businesses, and filmmakers gravitate towards After Effects to fulfill their needs for motion graphics and special effects! 

Adobe After Effects is a highly-rated motion graphics tool allowing users to create dynamic title and closing credits, stunning special effects, and cohesive and compelling narratives. Part of the larger Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe After Effects works cohesively with other Adobe programs like Animate, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro and is compatible with third-party software such as Frame.io, Universal Audio, or Flow. Creators can use After Effects to create unique designs from scratch or develop their own vision using one of the many presets included with the program. After Effects even allows users to design 3D figures using the Cinema 4D Lite extension, integrating new textures and experiences within their media.

Read more about why you should learn After Effects.

After Effects Careers

Before pursuing an After Effects certificate or certification, many users first wonder what types of industries utilize After Effects. Some students may even wonder why they would invest time learning After Effects over Adobe Animate and if the latter is more marketable. Look no further! Here are some of the top industries that employ After Effects professionals today: 

Broadcasting Companies and Live-Action Film Studios 

Breaking news! Cable news networks frequently use After Effects to create motion graphics for different segments and to create a coherent narrative that engages audiences. Movie-makers use After Effects when inserting animation and special effects into their features. After Effects provides an avenue for artists to live their Hollywood dreams! 

Animation Studios 

When most people think of animated graphics, their minds frequently imagine traditional animation that requires artists to draw each frame by hand. Nevertheless, computer animation began to replace this type of 2D animation as early as the 1950s and 1960s and now dominates the industry. Adobe After Effects is an excellent tool for creating this popular animation style.

Marketing Agencies 

Use After Effects to convey a narrative or an inside joke to attract new audiences to your website. When scrolling through social media, most users tend to stop when they encounter an amusing or eye-catching moving graphic. After Effects users that have their fingers on the cultural pulse will thrive as After Effects artists and video editors for marketing brands. 

YouTube

After Effect professionals attract many different job opportunities on Youtube, regardless if they are working for a larger company or working on getting their brand off the ground. With over 51 million YouTube channels, an attractive opening sequence and engaging graphics can make or break a content creator’s career. See how Youtubers are launching their careers into stardom through After Effects. 

Independent Artist or Contractor 

After Effects is an excellent tool for artists looking to run their businesses as independent contractors, as it gives users the time and space to work on their projects while providing essential advertising services to large and small businesses. Independent contractors working with After Effects frequently contribute to a range of industries, ensuring that your job will never be boring or repetitive.

How to Learn After Effects

After Effects is a dynamic program that allows users to create visually engaging videos. Despite these strengths, the program is not necessarily intuitive or beginner-friendly. Users report the highest level of success when they pair formal instruction with practice and independent study. The three main teaching formats for learning After Effects include in-person, live online, and on-demand courses. 

In-person classes mimic a more traditional learning style and context that anyone who attended public or private school will recognize. Students enrolled in these classes frequently learn from industry titans through project-based curriculums and hands-on experience. Four-year universities and specific technical colleges such as Training Connection and Ledet Training often host these courses throughout the United States. Noble Desktop offers its highly rated After Effects Bootcamp and After Effects in a Day at its Manhattan campus. Unable to make it to Manhattan? Use Noble Desktop’s After Effects Classes Near Me tool to find one in your area! 

Since the onset of the pandemic and the rise of alternative learning opportunities, many students have been searching for training options beyond the traditional classroom environment. They have discovered the benefits of live online learning through institutions such as Noble Desktop, Future Media Concepts, and The Knowledge Academy. Like in-person classes, skilled professionals teach live-online courses and are available to answer questions and assist throughout the course. Nevertheless, students can set up their ideal working environment and avoid the distractions of a traditional classroom. Several live online classes even offer students career support and one-on-one mentoring opportunities. Find a live online class that will work for your schedule and budget using Noble Desktop’s helpful After Effects live online courses compare and contrast tool. 

Students that cannot commit to the intensity or time of live online or in-person classes tend to gravitate towards on-demand classes. On-demand courses are pre-recorded videos that can be watched whenever most convenient for the student. Like other forms of software training, on-demand courses feature instruction from industry professionals and frequently come with assignments, handouts, and other supplemental material. The asynchronous nature of these classes means that students cannot receive aid in real-time. However, they can watch and rewatch the videos as often as needed. Interested in taking an on-demand course? Check out Noble Desktop’s list of Best After Effect Courses Online. 

Still unsure which learning formats will be most conducive for your After Effects learning experience? Check out some of Noble Desktop’s free online resources to experience these learning formats before financially committing to one. Do you enjoy watching YouTube tutorials and learning new skills by seeing someone else demonstrate them first? Check out Noble Desktop’s YouTube Channel, which offers tutorials and demonstrations for most Adobe Creative Cloud and Microsoft Office Suite applications led by Noble Desktop instructors. These tutorials allow you to learn the general structure of all three learning formats while exploring your ability to learn asynchronously. Students who want to diversify their learning formats should explore Noble Desktop’s After Effects Learning Hub, which includes a fantastic collection of blog posts, product overviews and reviews, and tutorials. 

Are you interested in trying live online learning without enrolling in a bootcamp or certificate program? Check out one of Noble Desktop’s Free Design, Coding, and Business Seminars. You can even start learning how to create original and composted animations and motion graphics through recordings of past seminars, such as the Intro to After Effects and Get Started in Motion Graphics courses.

Read the full guide on how to learn After Effects.

A Brief History of After Effects

Like most Adobe Programs, After Effects is a child of the 1990s. David Herbstman, David Simons, Daniel Wilk, and Russell Belfer created the application at the Company of Science and Art in Providence, Rhode Island. Several technology application developers owned and sold After Effects before Adobe purchased it in 1994. Like the current iteration of After Effects, users could use this early application to construct original media by delineating and transforming composite layers. Simmons later explained how the name of After Effects connected with its function, claiming that “rather than distribute… a new medium of digital video and animation, (After Effects) would help you create it.” 

Since purchasing the program, Adobe has released over 50 After Effects versions, each with new improvements and functionality. While the original program only worked on Macintosh computers, more current versions now operate on Mac and PCs. Part of the larger Adobe Creative Cloud, After Effects works with all Adobe programs and several third-party plugins such as FXFactory, BorisFX, and CycoreFX. Adobe was even awarded an Oscar in 2019 for scientific and technical achievement recognizing After Effects’ incredible capabilities. 

Comparable Applications/Programming Languages/Fields

Adobe users frequently pair After Effects with other video production software such as Animate, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro. To the untrained eye, these programs may appear so similar that motion graphic artists and video editors may not know how these programs interact with each other and the potential benefits of learning to operate multiple programs in the Adobe Creative Cloud. Rather than leaving users to guess, the following section works to situate After Effects in the larger Adobe Creative Cloud. 

Based on names alone, many people assume that “Adobe Animate” would be the natural choice for anyone that would like to integrate motion graphics and special effects into their video content. Animators frequently use Adobe Animate to create web-based moving graphics and bring more traditional-style cartoons to life through frame-by-frame animation. Nevertheless, these applications provide very different tools and work best for creating media for varying platforms.

 Contrastingly, film producers and game designers use After Effects to add motion to original and template graphics digitally drawn in programs such as Illustrator or Photoshop. These creators use After Effects to animate and design opening credits, motion graphics, and special effects for videos and other visual media content. While Animate allows artists to create animation in the application, users can design more advanced and dynamic graphics using After Effects. 

While Adobe Animate and After Effects perform similar functions by animating content for different platforms, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro tend to work in tandem with After Effects to create a cohesive form of visual media. To use a baking metaphor, video producers use Illustrator or Photoshop to create the ingredients of a motion graphic or special effect by creating a unique original image or providing a template that the user can modify. After Effects works as a mixer, allowing artists to combine these ingredients with dynamic motion and effects. Premiere Pro then operates as an oven, allowing users to refine and mature their media into its final form through tools such as color correction, captioning, focused framing, and sound modification. At the end of this process, you will have a professional quality video you can enjoy and share with multiple audiences. 

Learn After Effects with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Are you looking for a training program to jump-start your After-Effects adventures? Noble Desktop, the creator of this tool, is known for its high-rated full and part-time bootcamps and certificate programs. Expert instructors set students up for long-term success through project-based learning and many opportunities for hands-on learning. Students living in or near New York City can easily commute to regularly offered in-person After Effects classes offered at Noble Desktop’s Manhattan campus. Want to avoid a long commute? Consider enrolling in one of Noble Desktop’s live online After Effects classes, where you can receive dynamic and interactive After Effects training from the comfort of your home or office!

Wondering which class format will help you cultivate your After Effects knowledge and skills? Consider your timetable and ultimate objectives. Students looking to use After Effects more casually or as an additional skill for an existing career may want to enroll in Noble Desktop’s After Effects in a Day or three-day After Effects Bootcamp. These classes save you time and money by balancing lectures with hands-on experience, maximizing retention, and setting you up for success. “Definitely recommend Noble Desktop overtaking a semester-long continuing education class at an expensive art school,” raved one reviewer, “This class covers techniques in a practical manner, and you can get started on your own after three days of intensive learning.” Worried that you couldn’t possibly retain everything you learn? Noble Desktop offers a free retake for all of its classes! 

Students interested in a more dramatic career change or would like to develop their portfolio and CV may want to enroll in the Motion Graphics Certificate or Video Editing & Motion Graphics Certificate programs. These training programs use hands-on experience and project-based training to teach students how to create original content using After Effects, Premiere Pro, and other Adobe Creative Cloud applications. Students also have several opportunities for one-on-one mentorship and receive a comprehensive step-by-step manual that ensures they have all the tools needed for long-term success.

Key Insights

• Artists use Adobe Animate to create web-based media and more traditional hand-drawn cartoons. They tend to use After Effects to create motion graphics and special effects for videos and gaming content. 
• Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, and Premiere Pro work together to create a cohesive and fully produced video. 
• Noble Desktop is an excellent resource for finding in-person, live online, and on-demand classes.