Adobe After Effects

Adobe After Effects is a powerful motion graphics and visual effects software that enables you to create stunning animations, cinematic visual effects, and compelling video content. It's widely used in the film, television, video game, and web industries to bring visual storytelling to life.

Whether you're a professional video editor, animator, motion graphics designer, or a beginner exploring the world of visual effects, After Effects offers limitless possibilities to create captivating and impactful visual content.

Adobe After Effects Features

• Motion Graphics and Visual Effects Creation: Create stunning motion graphics and visual effects for social posts and videos with AI. Animate logos, and characters, or start a fire and make it rain. Navigate and design in a true 3D workspace​​.

• AI-powered Roto Brush Tool: Extract objects quickly and accurately. This tool is ideal for challenging roto tasks like extracting overlapping limbs, wind-swept hair, and transparent elements​​.

• Extensive Presets Library: Access hundreds of presets from well-known motion designers directly within the app, helping to start videos that engage viewers more effectively​​.

• 3D Workspace: Import 3D models into After Effects for animation, lighting, shading, and blending with 2D elements for compelling motion graphics and VFX composites​​.

• Enhanced Rotoscoping with AI: Utilize a more powerful AI model for the Roto Brush and mask refinement tools, making rotoscoping of fine details in motion faster and more precise​​.

• Collaboration with Frame.io: Streamline the sharing of work with clients and team members, including notes, feedback, and approvals directly within the software​​.

• Automatic Reframing: Adjust and optimize your video's aspect ratio for different platforms with AI-powered guidance.

Adobe After Effects Pricing

• Individual Plan: Pay USD $22.99 per month​​.
• Creative Cloud All Apps Plan: Pay USD $59.99 per month​​.
• Students and Teachers: Pay USD $19.99 per month for the first year​​.
• Business Plan: Pay USD $37.99 per month per license​​.

Adobe After Effects Usages

• Rotoscoping: Rotoscoping is the process of manually tracing the outline of an object in a video so that it can be separated from the background. This can be a very time-consuming process, but Adobe After Effects now has an AI-powered rotoscoping tool that can do it automatically. 

• Masking: Masking is similar to rotoscoping, but it is used to hide or reveal parts of a layer. Adobe After Effects now has an AI-powered masking tool that can automatically create masks based on the content of a layer. This can be used to create complex masks quickly and easily.

• Motion tracking: Motion tracking is the process of tracking the movement of an object in a video so that it can be applied to another object. Adobe After Effects now has an AI-powered motion-tracking tool that can track the movement of objects automatically. This can be used to create realistic animations and effects.

• Color correction: Color correction is the process of adjusting the colors in a video to make them look better. Adobe After Effects now has an AI-powered color correction tool that can automatically adjust the colors in a video. This can save editors a lot of time and effort.

• Grading: Grading is the process of adding a look or style to a video. Adobe After Effects now has an AI-powered grading tool that can automatically add a look or style to a video. This can be used to create cinematic effects quickly and easily.

• Greater creativity: AI can help you to explore new creative possibilities that would be difficult or impossible to achieve with traditional methods.

• Motion graphics: AI can be used to create motion graphics, such as animations, titles, and effects. This can be done by using pre-made templates or by creating custom animations from scratch.

Adobe After Effects Competitors

• Autodesk Maya: Known for its robust 3D animation capabilities, Maya integrates AI for realistic movement simulations and environments. It's a go-to tool for professional animators and visual effects artists in film and gaming industries.

• Powtoon: It is a cloud-based animation and video creation platform that allows users to create professional-looking videos and presentations with AI.

• Blender: A free, open-source 3D creation suite, Blender includes AI features for motion tracking and realistic physics simulations. Its versatility and no-cost access make it a popular choice for independent creators and small studios.

• Cinema 4D: Developed by Maxon, this tool is used for 3D modeling, animation, motion graphic, and rendering. It includes AI-driven features for creating realistic textures and materials.

• Houdini by SideFX: Known for its procedural generation capabilities, Houdini is widely used in the VFX industry. Its AI-driven features are used in complex simulations like fluid dynamics, particle effects, and terrain generation.

• Nuke by Foundry: An industry-standard compositing tool, Nuke offers AI-based features for tasks such as rotoscoping, which is essential for combining live-action footage with digital visual effects.

• HitFilm Pro: Offers a mix of video editing and visual effects compositing. Its AI-driven features are tailored towards independent filmmakers and content creators, providing tools for creating sophisticated effects.

• Blackmagic Design’s Fusion: Part of DaVinci Resolve, Fusion offers a node-based interface for compositing, motion graphics, and visual effects. Its AI capabilities include object removal, facial recognition, and scene reconstruction.

Adobe After Effects Launch & Funding

Adobe After Effects was originally created by David Herbstman, David Simons, Daniel Wilk, David M. Cotter, and Russell Belfer at the Company of Science and Art (CoSA) in Providence, Rhode Island.

In 2022 Adobe acquired the AI-powered video editing platform Frame.io, which integrates with After Effects. At IBC 2023, Adobe unveiled several new AI-powered features for After Effects.

Adobe being a publicly traded company, doesn't disclose specific funding for individual products like After Effects. However, the company invests heavily in research and development, and AI is a major focus area. In 2023, Adobe announced a $15 billion investment in AI and machine learning over the next five years.

Adobe After Effects Limitation

• Repetitive tasks: After Effects' AI is currently best suited for automating repetitive tasks, such as rotoscoping, color correction, and lip-syncing. It can't handle more complex tasks that require creativity or understanding of context.

• Steep learning curve: Even the basic AI features in After Effects can be complex to use, especially for beginners. There are many settings and options to tweak, and it can take some time to figure out how to get the results you want.

• Performance limitations: AI-powered features can be very resource-intensive, especially on older computers. This can lead to slow rendering times and playback lag.

• Lack of automation: Most of the AI features in After Effects are not fully automated. This means that you still need to do a lot of manual work, such as setting keyframes and adjusting parameters.

• Limited scope: The AI features in After Effects are mainly focused on specific tasks, such as rotoscoping or filling in missing pixels. They can't be used for more general purposes, such as generating animations or creating new content.

• Data dependency: The accuracy and effectiveness of After Effects' AI depends on the quality and quantity of data it is trained on. This can lead to biases or errors if the training data is not representative or diverse enough.

• Cost: AI features in After Effects are only available in the expensive subscription plans.