Adobe After Effects

When you need to enhance a picture, for professional purposes, a lightweight image processor is not sufficient. The same rule applies to videos. You can use Movie Maker, which comes with Windows XP, to assemble home videos, but if you want to give your videos a professional look, you would need a wider range of controls and complete freedom to apply effects however you want. This is just a fraction of what Adobe After Effects has to offer. We can say that After Effects is like Photoshop, but for videos is not enough, especially since the CS6 version came out. You will notice many improvements, like its ray-traced 3D rendering engine, 3D camera tracker, variable mask feathering and more. What's more, Adobe After Effects CS6 allows you to work much faster.

Although After Effects CS6 makes better use of a computer's hardware, it is still a bit demanding when it comes to system requirements, so you may not be able to use it with low end hardware. The 1.38 GB installation package will take some time to download, but the Adobe Download Manager will make it a bit easier. It is a lightweight application which gives you access to numerous Adobe-developed programs. You just need to select one and the assistant will download and install the software for you.

The user interface does not present major changes. It consists of multiple panels, which you can arrange however you want. A big improvement is After Effect's global performance cache, which "remembers" your work. This eliminates the need to re-render previews, so you can work much faster. As with the previous versions, the software's numerous effects are neatly organized in a tree structure and you just need to click and drag one over the preview area in order to apply it. Once applied, you can make a wide range of adjustments to your effect.

If you are familiar with After Effects CS 5.5, you may recognize certain features, like the warp stabilizer, improved lights or camera controls and others, but the program's well known functionality has gone even further in the CS6 version. One of its central features is the 3D camera tracker. Although it may take a minute or more to apply, especially on lengthy video segments, this feature will automatically create a 3D camera, after analyzing the motion in 2D footage. Furthermore, the software will overlay 3D tracking points on the original footage, which enables you to insert objects much easier. Thanks to these tracking points, anything you insert on the new 3D layer will have the same movement and perspective changes as the initial footage.

The ray-traced 3D rendering engine enables you to design 3D objects and apply various effects, like beveling, embossing, adding transparency or reflection effects, depth of field blur and more. It is a well known fact that you can integrate one Adobe-developed program with another. After Effects CS6 allows you to import vector artwork created with Adobe Illustrator and convert it to shape layers. The best part is that the converted shape does not leave the original application and you can still perform various editing tasks. If you are a new-comer to Adobe After Effects, you will need some time to learn its advanced functions. The good news is that you can find numerous tutorials on various web sites, such as lynda.com.