AE or FXHome...newbie questions

[steveblake]

Have you considered Flash or Keynote for simpler AE style motion graphics?

http://www.fxguide.com/qt/273/273
http://www.fxguide.com/qt/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/autodesk_s.mov
(http://www.fxguide.com/qt/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/autodesk_s.mov)

[Pesto]

Thanks Steven. I would go for KeyNote but I am on PC and I don't think there is a PC version:( I will check out Flash thou.


Thanks

[DizzyJ]

I'll give you the annoying advice of "download the demos and try them." AE has a fairly simple workflow if you come from a Photoshop background, although working through a few tutorials is vital if you don't have a friend to help you out. Flash is likely to be more complicated, but if you're doing mostly vector work, might well be superior. I'd never heard of the FXHome stuff, but if it does what you want to do more easily than AE, go for it. AE can probably grow if your interest and skills do, but that doesn't automatically make it better.

[Pesto]

Thanks Dizzy. I actully plan to download the AE demo but it won't be available until July.

[DizzyJ]

Thanks Dizzy. I actully plan to download the AE demo but it won't be available until July.

Darn that upgrade cycle! You might look at CreativeCow.com for tutorials while you wait. I can't stand the way the forums are organized, but most of the AE-centric guys I know swear by the Cow. You should at least be able to get a good idea about how the interface works.

[Pesto]

Thanks Dizzy - I will check it out!

[biliousfrog]

If you do decide to go with AE I'd strongly consider going with the production premium pack, it does cost more but only marginally considering all the applications that you're getting. It'll probably drop in price shortly too because of the imminent upgrades (apparently).

[abyjoe]

i dont agree to that advice of buying the production pack... you are basically asking him to spend extra few hundred on softwares he will never ever use and just block up his hard drive space. not recommended unless you use afx, photoshop, flash, illustrator all together...

in fact as a hobby you dont even need a professional package of these softwares. you can start off with the cheapest version and then upgrade later if you want to...

[biliousfrog]

It depends on where you buy, I bought the production bundle recently for less than most places are selling just After Effects plus you get all the other tools that will be beneficial for creating and editing content for the After Effects compositions. Soundbooth would be useful for creating audio, Flash for creating web content, Illustrator for vector work (also useful for importing into 3d apps such as C4D), Photoshop is great for anything CG....If money is really tight then sure, go with the cheapest option but when you consider the prices of each application in that bundle you can't deny that it is a far better deal and if you have those apps I can guarantee that they'll be used.

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