Anyone ever hear of this graphics program?

[John Locke]

Hi all,

Just got some spam that was interesting for a change. No,...not talking about ways to retire at 30, or discount prices on Viagra, or even nude teen cheerleaders who are specifically waiting to talk to you now.

Nope. Instead, it was advertising a graphics program that works in conjunction with Photoshop to create TV titles and graphics.

Anyone have any thoughts on it or experience with it?

http://www.toolsfortelevision.com/prodinfo.html

[Chris Hurd]

I looked at it -- the price isn't listed. You have to click on the "Buy Now" button. It's $250. I said no thanks. Just not enough bang-per-buck for me.

[John Locke]

After thinking about it more, I agree completely. Seems much more logical to invest in After Effects. This discussion led me to start looking at After Effects more closely. I've had it on my wish list for some time...just been waiting to save up the $$$ to get it.

I have a question, though...is the "production" version of After Effects THAT much better than the standard edition. Going from $649 to $1999 is a pretty hefty jump. I know it says it includes Zaxwerks which is about a $495 portion. But if that's the case, where does the other $855 come in?

The description adobe gives is

<<After Effects is available in two versions. The Standard version provides core compositing, animation, and effects tools. The Production Bundle contains all of these tools plus 16-bit color support, vector paint capabilities, network rendering, and additional powerful keying, motion control, visual effects, 3D channel, and audio tools. Any new license of the Production Bundle also includes the Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator Classic, a plug-in designed for easily producing broadcast and film quality 3D graphics. >>

Anyone out there with experience in both? Do most people aside from the networks get by with the standard version? Would other programs such as FCP and Peak overlap with the added perks of the production version?

Thanks for any insight.

[Rob Lohman]

I've read an article that the keying (bluescreen work etc.)
and matte tools are really really good in 5.5 production
bundle! In the normal version these things are so so.
I don't have any actual experience though. The best thing
todo is this I think:

- Check if there is an upgrade path available. To go
to the Production Bundle version from the normal
one at a discount (this can be interesting for you!)
- If you don't need good keying or matting or any of
those other extra tools then go for the normal one.
- perhaps you can download or order a trial version?
(of both?)

Good luck

[CarterTG]

If it's inevitable that you'll get either version of AfterEffects, the best thing you can do immediately is pick up Chris & Trish Meyer's book "Creating Motion Graphics with AfterEffects"

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0879306068/cartertg-20

Thumbing through it will help you several ways. To start, all chapters will give you a strong sense of how invaluable a tool AE can be. Next, some areas are marked with a "PB" logo indicating that the Production Bundle version is required to achieve some things. If you want to achieve the things the book demonstrates using PB tools, you'll want the Production Bundle.

Off the top of my head, some invaluable PB extras include:

WIGGLER Keyframe Assistant: [chap7] Can be applied to most parameters of a layer or comp. (ie Wiggler on Text Position gives it a nervous twitch, Wiggler on a JPEG's opacity gives it a flicker)

MOTION STABILIZATION: [chap33] Essentially using AE like a software version of EIS for shaky footage.

PARTICLE PLAYGROUND: [chap 24] "..dots, text, and even other animated layers can be flung about the screen following a myriad of rules."

NETWORK RENDERING: An AE project placed in a designated folder will spread its rendering job across other computers on a network.

In SOME cases, the Meyers book shows you alternative work-arounds using the Standard version, but it's rare.

Don't forget to check out the CD-ROM in the book. It's stuffed with all sorts of actually useful things... not just all project examples from the book and a trial version of AE, but free & useable plug-ins from vendors and around 22 PDF tutorials... kinda like ADDITIONAL chapters with a hands-on touch.

I had initially bought Classroom In a Book, but found it as bland and uninteresting as the AE manual.

In the states, AE Production Bundle sells for around $1400.

[John Locke]

Thanks for the info!

Ordering the book beforehand is a good idea. I'll do that right away.

The $1400 price tag is interesting. On the Adobe web site they've posted $1999. I'll see if some retailers are selling it for the lower price...might be an older version though (I need the newest OSX version).

[K. Forman]

You folks are underestimating Photoshops ability to create and manipulate images. I would save myself the $250 for that program, and buy a Photoshop book teaching the same things. As far as titling goes, it does a poor job in general.

After Effects, while a fantastic compositing program, can't create too well. It also isn't meant to edit video. Compositing, and video effects is it's speciality. Titling is is much better with AE.

Premier is very good at compositing, so-so with titling. It is mainly an editing program.

Most of the time, it will take two or three programs to get a final product. Finding the right combination that play well with each other can be the hardest part. All three programs together, make a very impressive arsenal.
Keith

[Adrian Douglas]

I think the bottom line is don't limit yourself to one application or platform to get the job done. Use whatever tools you have at your disposal. You might find yourself editing in FCP, then exporting to a PC and TMPGenc to smooth out that slow-mo section, then back to the Mac for AE Titling.

[Rhett Allen]

Hi John,
What you are mistakenly looking at is the difference in price between After Effects (standard) and Adobe Digital Video Collection which includes; After Effects (Production Bundle), Illustrator, Photoshop and Premier. All for about $2000 ($1300 for standard). After efferct itself is $650 and the "Production Bundle" is $1500 or less if you have Premier.
Is it worth it? I think so, it has many more effects than the standard version and if you call Adobe you can get ALL kinds of possible discounts, from cross platform (PC-Mac and vice versa) upgrades and previous owner discounts for other programs in it. All in all I think it is a great deal.

[Justin Chin]

Just as a side note about the keying tools, we used this on Jedi Knight. It worked even better than the version of Ultimatte we had at the time (I believe it was 5). So you can't go wrong with pulling software mattes in After Effects. Of course we had the Ultimatte in the studio to check our mattes. That probably made a big difference in getting the correct source to begin with.

Worth every penny. In fact it's pretty cheap considering every effects house in the world uses it at some point in their production pipeline.