Adobe After Effects

Score9 out of 10

282 Reviews and Ratings

What is Adobe After Effects?

Adobe After Effects allows users to create cinematic movie titles, intros, and transitions, remove an object from a clip, start a fire or make it rain, or animate a logo or character. The vendor states that with After Effects, users can apply motion-graphics and animation to any digital object.

Categories & Use Cases

Animation

Avery Chipman View profile

Interior Designer in Professional Services at EOP Architects (51-200 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use Adobe After Effects to create motion graphics that combine photos with vector images for use on our company social media page. Adobe After Effects gives me the full range of capabilities to create fully personalized videos that are 100% customizable whereas other popular products do not deliver the same level of ability and customization.

Pros

Customizable motion
Utilizes both pixel and vector images
Allows for use of audio and audio customization alongside video

Cons

In my experience, Adobe After Effects is not remotely intuitive to use.
In my experience, complicated for beginner or very basic use
Many wonderful effects available, but I think the menu is frustrating to use

Return on Investment

Helped us create motion graphics that are above that of our competition
Increases interaction on our social media by helping us create more dynamic and engaging content
Can be time-consuming to create even short content so must be considered in advance

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe PhotoShop

Other Software Used

Adobe Illustrator CC, Adobe InDesign, Canva, Microsoft Powerpoint Online, Microsoft Powerpoint, Revit, BricsCAD, Microsoft Teams

Verified User

Employee in Marketing (501-1000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Adobe After Effects for Marketing and training videos. Mostly we use it to animate text, objects, infographics, and other various elements to support our marketing and other company department's needs. The videos we create are usually client facing, but sometimes for internal use to better visualize a process for training.

Pros

More in-depth customization for animations on text
Great built-in templates to simplify workflows
Supports plugins that help alleviate manual processes

Cons

Steep learning curve of the software
Setting up a custom workspace is a little tedious

Return on Investment

Saves money by using it with an in-house creative team instead of outsourcing
Built-in templates has improved my workflow by 25% by alleviating manual editing of keyframes

Usability

Verified User

Employee in Marketing (51-200 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

After Effects is mostly used to come up with quick motion design elements we might use on the site, emails, or even some videos. Most of it is quite small, just simple things that already enhanced what we have created, transitions between certain products, or presentations to internal members. Though occasionally we do create longer works when marketing requires it, usually being put to use on the homepage or in social media posts.

Pros

Easy integration with the rest of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite
Industry standard
Work can be easily continue even when switching from Mac to Windows or backwards.

Cons

The program itself feels "heavy" so some de-bloating would help
Sync workspaces to Adobe Cloud so they can be loaded automatically

Return on Investment

Comments saying the site feels better
Click through rates on emails increased
More engagement on social media

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Adobe Illustrator CC, Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe Animate

Other Software Used

Adobe Illustrator CC, Adobe PhotoShop, Figma

Verified User

Professional (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

AE is great for animated titles, animations, and video compositing.

Pros

Animation
Dynamic Link with Adobe Premiere
Masking
Managing Nested/Layered/Complex Compositions

Cons

Sometimes it can be difficult to find the pathway in creative elements when compositions get complex
Dynamic link can sometimes have issues.

Return on Investment

Subtitling is a breeze in AE.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Audition, Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe Illustrator CC

Other Software Used

Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe Illustrator CC, Adobe Audition, Discord, AnyDesk

Verified User

Team Lead (1001-5000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Adobe After Effects to create complex and simple animations for the eLearning Platform called Digital Learning. Adobe After Effects helps us achieve the highest standards of quality as well as efficiency in creating that content easily. It helps create engaging content faster and smarter. Adobe After Effects is the best out there. We have absolute control on what we can do.

Pros

Create 2D Animations
Create templates for managing recurring content developments
Creating Custom Animations for Logos and on-screen elements

Cons

First Off: Random Crashes
Working on Complex Projects on Low End Systems
Efficient RAM usage
Better Custom Scripts / Plugins support

Return on Investment

Adobe After Effects helped the company launch a product which is earning well above 200,000$ each year and growing from 0
It helped us create assets easily
It helped us create custom templates for repetitive elements