Premiere and After Effects at DVinfo.net

Marko Zorec · September 29th, 2003, 07:26 AM

Hello,

Don't laugh. My question is a little bit... hm.. er, let's go: What is a difference between Premiere Pro and After Effects 6.0?

I mean, which things I can or can not do in those two programs? I am new in a video world, but I am a photographer for a long time and i am very familiar with Photoshop 7.0...

One more thing: Am I right, that Magic bullet 1.1 will work on PC, not only on MAC?

Thanx,

Marko Zorec

Mark Jefferson · September 29th, 2003, 10:48 AM

Hi Marko,

Each package does different things: Primiere is designed to primarily edit your video clips together. AE is designed to apply certain types of effects to the clip. There is some overlap in these products, but things that would be difficult or impossible to do in one package is easy to do in the other.

Take for example green-screening. Both of these programs can do this. The difference is that in Primiere, green-sceening sucks. It's confusing and doesn't work very well, but Premiere can do it. In AE, green-screen is somewhat confusing if you are not used to AE, but the results are extremely good.

Another example is just editing your clips together. Premiere has a (sort-of) intuitve interface that lets you lay out your clips in any manner you see fit, and turn those clips into a movie. After Effects has this ability also, but the interface is confusing as he11 and hard to use for that type of thing.

Use the proper tool for the job (or something like that <GRIN>)

Cheers,
Mark

Keith Loh · September 29th, 2003, 12:22 PM

I used to use both Premiere and AfterEffects side by side but now I tend to only use AfterEffects. Since most of my videos are heavily effected anyway, I just lay down the clips in AfterEffects and tweak them in there instead of doing it in two steps. AfterEffects editing can be sloppy unless you zoom right down to the frames.

Jon Yurek · September 29th, 2003, 05:04 PM

After Effects is more like Photoshop... you can edit existing footage and blend and composite, or you can create footage from scratch and have it look nice for inclusion with the rest of your project.

Premiere is more like a HTML and a web browser. You can only really take what you already have and put it together to form the cohesive whole. You can't *really* create anything directly, you can pull together the regular stuff and the stuff you've created and make it hum.

Sure there's overlap in their jobs, but it's pretty clear what each one is intended for.

Marko Zorec · September 30th, 2003, 01:30 AM

Hello,

First of all, thanx for the answers.

There is one thing I don't understand: Can I edit single frame in a AE like in a Photoshop? (For example: I want to erase a tree in a background in a frame or in a lot of frames.)

Another one: I have tested the both of the programs. But I have not seen Vegas. Is it better or worse? Or just different? Is it at the same professional level?

Thanx again,

Marko Zorec

Keith Loh · September 30th, 2003, 11:13 AM

Yes, you can do that in AE or as an animated process over a number of frames. That is specifically what AE is designed for.

Stuart Kupinsky · October 1st, 2003, 06:25 PM

Marko, there are *lots* of discussions comparing Vegas and Premiere/After Effects. Just do a search. Keep in mind that Premiere and Vegas are both designed at core to be editors, while AE is a compositing program. The lines blur some with time as the editors (NLEs) mature and incorporate some compositing functions, but there's still a big difference.

It all depends on what you want to do with video and some personal preferences. (Note this board has a separate set of discussions dedicated to Vegas.)

Scott Anderson · October 3rd, 2003, 04:08 PM

After Effects has been described as "Photoshop in Motion", and I suppose that's still about as cool a description as you're likely to find. AE is all about taking multiple footage sources (video, text, animated sequences, completely artificial things created entirely in After Effects, etc.) and combining them into a single composition, in motion. Then nesting one composition into another. Then tweaking that with more effects. Whew! It's called Compositing, and the people who do it well are called Motion Graphics Artists. It's a deep, deep program that could take you years to plumb the depths of. It's also about having precise control over every possible parameter of each layer, and being able to set keyframes to animate all those parameters over time.

What AE is NOT good at is video and audio editing. That's where Premiere comes in. Editing is all about working fast. Changing a cut and then playing it back right away to look at the change. Scrubbing back and forth through footage looking for the rythym. Laying in a rough dissolve and then changing you mind ten times in a row. Tweaking the position of a music cue so that it hits just right on the beat. Fading audio up and down to a speaker's voice inflection. It's all about realtime feedback.

I would never use AE for editing. It's too slow and deliberate for that. I would also never expect the kind of AE precision in Premiere. That's not what it's for. My workflow is to usually edit a program as much as I can in Premiere, until I know that it flows the way I want. Then it's easy to export your edited timeline out of Premiere into AE, where you can add the sophisticated filters and effects that only AE has.

September 29th, 2003, 07:26 AM	#1
Marko Zorec Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 32	Premiere and After Effects Hello, Don't laugh. My question is a little bit... hm.. er, let's go: What is a difference between Premiere Pro and After Effects 6.0? I mean, which things I can or can not do in those two programs? I am new in a video world, but I am a photographer for a long time and i am very familiar with Photoshop 7.0... One more thing: Am I right, that Magic bullet 1.1 will work on PC, not only on MAC? Thanx, Marko Zorec

September 29th, 2003, 12:22 PM	#3
Keith Loh Air China Pilot Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Posts: 2,389	I used to use both Premiere and AfterEffects side by side but now I tend to only use AfterEffects. Since most of my videos are heavily effected anyway, I just lay down the clips in AfterEffects and tweak them in there instead of doing it in two steps. AfterEffects editing can be sloppy unless you zoom right down to the frames. __________________ -- Visit http://www.KeithLoh.com \| stuff about living in Vancouver \| My Flickr photo gallery

September 30th, 2003, 11:13 AM	#6
Keith Loh Air China Pilot Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Posts: 2,389	Yes, you can do that in AE or as an animated process over a number of frames. That is specifically what AE is designed for. __________________ -- Visit http://www.KeithLoh.com \| stuff about living in Vancouver \| My Flickr photo gallery

October 1st, 2003, 06:25 PM	#7
Stuart Kupinsky Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Princeton, NJ Posts: 82	Marko, there are lots of discussions comparing Vegas and Premiere/After Effects. Just do a search. Keep in mind that Premiere and Vegas are both designed at core to be editors, while AE is a compositing program. The lines blur some with time as the editors (NLEs) mature and incorporate some compositing functions, but there's still a big difference. It all depends on what you want to do with video and some personal preferences. (Note this board has a separate set of discussions dedicated to Vegas.) __________________ DVX100A/AT4071a/Vegas/After Effects Dual 2GHz Xeon PC

September 29th, 2003, 10:48 AM	#2
Mark Jefferson Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Collinsville, Illinois Posts: 86	Hi Marko, Each package does different things: Primiere is designed to primarily edit your video clips together. AE is designed to apply certain types of effects to the clip. There is some overlap in these products, but things that would be difficult or impossible to do in one package is easy to do in the other. Take for example green-screening. Both of these programs can do this. The difference is that in Primiere, green-sceening sucks. It's confusing and doesn't work very well, but Premiere can do it. In AE, green-screen is somewhat confusing if you are not used to AE, but the results are extremely good. Another example is just editing your clips together. Premiere has a (sort-of) intuitve interface that lets you lay out your clips in any manner you see fit, and turn those clips into a movie. After Effects has this ability also, but the interface is confusing as he11 and hard to use for that type of thing. Use the proper tool for the job (or something like that <GRIN>) Cheers, Mark

September 29th, 2003, 05:04 PM	#4
Jon Yurek Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Worcester, MA Posts: 64	After Effects is more like Photoshop... you can edit existing footage and blend and composite, or you can create footage from scratch and have it look nice for inclusion with the rest of your project. Premiere is more like a HTML and a web browser. You can only really take what you already have and put it together to form the cohesive whole. You can't really create anything directly, you can pull together the regular stuff and the stuff you've created and make it hum. Sure there's overlap in their jobs, but it's pretty clear what each one is intended for.

September 30th, 2003, 01:30 AM	#5
Marko Zorec Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 32	Hello, First of all, thanx for the answers. There is one thing I don't understand: Can I edit single frame in a AE like in a Photoshop? (For example: I want to erase a tree in a background in a frame or in a lot of frames.) Another one: I have tested the both of the programs. But I have not seen Vegas. Is it better or worse? Or just different? Is it at the same professional level? Thanx again, Marko Zorec

October 3rd, 2003, 04:08 PM	#8
Scott Anderson Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 327	After Effects has been described as "Photoshop in Motion", and I suppose that's still about as cool a description as you're likely to find. AE is all about taking multiple footage sources (video, text, animated sequences, completely artificial things created entirely in After Effects, etc.) and combining them into a single composition, in motion. Then nesting one composition into another. Then tweaking that with more effects. Whew! It's called Compositing, and the people who do it well are called Motion Graphics Artists. It's a deep, deep program that could take you years to plumb the depths of. It's also about having precise control over every possible parameter of each layer, and being able to set keyframes to animate all those parameters over time. What AE is NOT good at is video and audio editing. That's where Premiere comes in. Editing is all about working fast. Changing a cut and then playing it back right away to look at the change. Scrubbing back and forth through footage looking for the rythym. Laying in a rough dissolve and then changing you mind ten times in a row. Tweaking the position of a music cue so that it hits just right on the beat. Fading audio up and down to a speaker's voice inflection. It's all about realtime feedback. I would never use AE for editing. It's too slow and deliberate for that. I would also never expect the kind of AE precision in Premiere. That's not what it's for. My workflow is to usually edit a program as much as I can in Premiere, until I know that it flows the way I want. Then it's easy to export your edited timeline out of Premiere into AE, where you can add the sophisticated filters and effects that only AE has.