I need to destroy a city...
 

I’m shooting a feature in the spring, a disaster flick complete with a city in ruins, smoke, fires, gutted buildings, streets clogged with abandoned cars, blah, blah, blah. Can anyone recommend a visual effects software? I’m editing with Final Cut Pro on a Power Mac G5. Right now I’m looking at Shake and After Effects. Any preference for one of these? Can you recommend another? Thanks!

Depending on what you need the camera to do, this can be done in photoshop and AE. Read up on some PS tutorials for gutted building (there are lots) and just export your layers to a composition inside AE. Then you can position them for a 3D effect with some small camera moves. Use something like Particular for some smoke and haze.

Thanks!
 

Thanks, Bennis. So your vote is for AE. AE would be easier to learn. As a freelance graphic designer and photographer, I've used Photoshop for more than 10 years. I'll look up those tutorials.

Both shake and AE will do the job...Shake has better integration with final cut studio...AE has waaaaaaay more free online tutorials.

With your background in graphic design, AE would be your best bet! I come from the same background you do - and AE is the easiest to transition to.

Dude.. you gotta check this out
 

Check out videocopilot.net
It's one of the greatest AE tutorial sites on the planet!! Andrew Kramer offers tons of valuable info\tutorials on his site for free! He also has a TON of awesome DVD's you can buy. I own everything he's ever sold! Andrew has a tutorial posted on his site that deals with the gutted\destroyed environments too!

I know this will help you :)

yeah, video copilot makes me wish he was a shake guru :(

I seem to recall there was once a free project on videocopilot of a missile hitting a city and sending shockwaves the screen. had a mushroom cloud in the centre, then the city jpg turns orange as if on fire, spreading out from the centre, lasted about 6 seconds. Not sure whether he has it on his site now he's revamped it, maybe worth checking out. The project is free to use but can't use the city picture he includes.

Thanks for all the info. I'll certainly check out AE and the tutorials.

You weren't kidding. Those AE tutorials are great. It's always satisfying and inspirational to watch any given tool in the hands of a professional.

Andrew Kramer (videocopilot.net) gets my vote, as well.

I'll be buying his latest DVD (Evolution) soon, then I'll have the full set.

Aharon Rabinowitz also does some great tutorials, available as podcasts.