How does using AS differ from After effects?

[JP BEATTIE]

I know that sounds a strange question, but hear me out. I've been working on an animation project for a while and I've been using After Effects (just because it's what I know). I've developed a way of animating that is very effective, but a great pain! Basically I use solid layers with shaped masks to form my characters, then keyframe the masks to my next key animation pose, and After Effects does the rest. As I say it's slow but effective, and you can parent layers for simple movement animation.
Now I've been looking to buy AS for a while, as the results from it look good, but I was wondering, will AS do things better, or faster for me?
Any feedback would really be apreciated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_Osl1y6P9A

[funksmaname]

well... YES.
I didnt even think what you did with after fx was possible, so nice one - however its probably the worst case of 'wrong tool for the job' ive ever seen

I believe you can get a demo version of AS? i would try it - the fact that you can do complex point animation, as well as 2D bone your illustration for what i like to call 'digital puppeteering' will save you an incredible amout of work! sounds like your solid/point to point animation technique in AFx is quite similar to what you would do with point-to-point in AS, except you can have a lot more than one shape/colour on a single layer in AS, whereas you would be stuck with a single mask per layer in AFx which i can imagine can get hard to manage... so just for that fact AS will save you a lot of time... as well as having more tools geard towards point manipulation (i.e. magnet tool, ASPro only though i think)

bear in mind that AS can't do a lot of what AFx can do, and vice versa... they are completely different tools aimed at different processes entirely.

[JP BEATTIE]

Yeah, I kind of thought that!! I presume AS will allow you to export with an alpha channel though? Then I can use AE as my compositor anyways.
Cool, I'm going to buy AS this weekend!

[funksmaname]

yeah, you can export with alpha channel... i find 3d camera movement to be easier in AFx personally so i would use that for final comping and camera moves...

If you can afford it, go for ASPro... its deffo worth it imo.

[JP BEATTIE]

Yes that's what I use AE for mostly too. It also has nice camera integration with Cinema 4D which I use a lot. I've been trying to get a cartoon pilot off the ground for ages. Most of the time has been spent scripting, storyboarding and character design; so I haven't got into the animation much yet. just some tests in After Effects, which I found frustrating! So I'm looking forward to getting AS. Thanks again!

[funksmaname]

if you already got the scripts and characters done, you will have a lot of fun just GETTING ON WITH IT! I think AFx would be better for adding DOF and deffinately for motionblur which isnt properly supported in AS...

The main bits of advice i could offer is a) do ALL the tutorials, and b) practice getting to grips with the AS drawing tools... they might frustrate you when you get started coz they are different to any other program i've ever used, but when you get to grips with it, its the most natural way to create great looking characters for AS animation while keeping your constructions as simple as possible to get the job done (particularly if you plan to do a lot of point animation... but bones and point combination will blow your mind... i honestly feel AS has something to offer that can't be found anywhere else.

[knunk]

Hi Guys
Remember AEs new puppet tool. My copys not arrived yet but I'm looking forward to playing with this.

http://www.keyframer.com/index.php/2007 ... ppet-tool/

http://aefreemart.com/2007/06/13/photo- ... -tutorial/