Adobe After Effects is a digital

visual effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated as VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and other live-action fo ...

motion graphics Motion graphics (sometimes mograph) are pieces of animation or digital footage that create the illusion of motion or rotation, and are usually combined with audio for use in multimedia projects. Motion graphics are usually displayed via electro ...

, and

compositing Compositing is the process or technique of combining visual elements from separate sources into single images, often to create the illusion that all those elements are parts of the same scene. Live action, Live-action shooting for compositing ...

application developed by Adobe Inc.; it is used for

animation Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

and in the

post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...

process of film making,

video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

and

television production A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

. Among other things, After Effects can be used for keying,

tracking Tracking may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Tracking, in computer graphics, in match moving (insertion of graphics into footage) * Tracking, composing music with music tracker software * Eye tracking, measuring the position of ...

, compositing, and

. It also functions as a very basic

non-linear editor Non-linear editing (NLE) is a form of offline editing for audio, video, and image editing. In offline editing, the original content is not modified in the course of editing. In non-linear editing, edits are specified and modified by specialize ...

, audio editor, and media transcoder. In 2019, the program won an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

for scientific and technical achievement.

History

After Effects was originally created by David Herbstman, David Simons, Daniel Wilk, David M. Cotter, and Russell Belfer at the

Company of Science and Art Company of Science and Art (CoSA) was a small software company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1990 by Greg Deocampo (also a member of the video art collective Emergency Broadcast Network), David Foster, David Herbst ...

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

. The first two versions of the software, 1.0 (January 1993) and 1.1, were released there by the company. CoSA, whose CEO was William J. O'Farrell. CoSA with After Effects was acquired by

Aldus Corporation Aldus Corporation was an American software company best known for its pioneering desktop publishing software. PageMaker, the company's most well-known product, ushered in the modern era of desktop computers such as the Macintosh seeing widesp ...

in July 1993, which in turn was acquired by Adobe in 1994. Adobe acquired

PageMaker Aldus PageMaker (later Adobe PageMaker) is a desktop publishing computer program introduced in 1985 by the Aldus Corporation on the Apple Macintosh. The combination of the Macintosh's graphical user interface, PageMaker publishing software, and t ...

as well. Adobe's first new release of After Effects was version 3.0.

Third-party integrations

After Effects functionality can be extended through a variety of third-party integrations. The most common integrations are: plug-ins, scripts, and

extensions Extension, extend or extended may refer to: Mathematics Logic or set theory * Axiom of extensionality * Extensible cardinal * Extension (model theory) * Extension (proof theory) * Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values t ...

Plug-ins

Plug-ins are predominantly written in C or C++ and extend the functionality of After Effects, allowing for more advanced features such as

particle systems Argonaut Sheffield (formerly Particle Systems Ltd.) was a British video game developer based in Sheffield, England. The company was founded as Particle Systems by Glyn Williams and Michael Powell. Games developed by Particle Systems include '' ...

, physics engines, 3D effects, and the ability to bridge the gap between After Effects and another application.

Scripts

After Effects Scripts are a series of commands written in both JavaScript and the ExtendScript language. After Effects Scripts, unlike plug-ins, can only access the core functionality of After Effects. Scripts are often developed to automate repetitive tasks, to simplify complex After Effects features, or to perform complex calculations that would otherwise take a long time to complete. Scripts can also use some functionality not directly exposed through the graphical user interface.

Extensions

After Effects Extensions offer the ability to extend After Effects functionality through modern web development technologies like HTML5, and Node.js, without the need for C++. After Effects Extensions make use of Adobe's Common Extensibility Platform or CEP Panels, which means they can be built to interact with other Adobe CC apps.

Similar products

* Nuke – The Foundry *

Flame A flame () is the visible, gaseous part of a fire. It is caused by a highly exothermic chemical reaction made in a thin zone. When flames are hot enough to have ionized gaseous components of sufficient density, they are then considered plasm ...

–

Autodesk Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software corporation that provides software products and services for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries. Autodesk is headquarte ...

Motion In physics, motion is when an object changes its position with respect to a reference point in a given time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed, and frame of reference to an o ...

–

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...

* VSDC Free Video Editor *

Natron Natron is a naturally occurring mixture of sodium carbonate decahydrate ( Na2CO3·10H2O, a kind of soda ash) and around 17% sodium bicarbonate (also called baking soda, NaHCO3) along with small quantities of sodium chloride and sodium sulfate. ...

* Autograph – Left Angle * Video Star — Frontier Group (for IOS only) * Boris RED – Boris FX *

Silhouette A silhouette (, ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhouett ...

– Boris FX * Fusion –

Blackmagic Design Blackmagic Design Pty Ltd is an Australian digital cinema company and manufacturer based in South Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It designs and produces broadcast and cinema-grade hardware; notably, high-end digital movie ca ...

* HitFilm – Artlist * CapCut –

ByteDance ByteDance Ltd. is a Chinese internet technology company headquartered in Haidian, Beijing, and incorporated in the Cayman Islands. Founded by Zhang Yiming, Liang Rubo, and a team of others in 2012, ByteDance developed the video-sharing ap ...

* Alight Motion (for mobile devices) While not dedicated to compositing, the open source software

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer (from Latin ''mixus, the PPP of miscere eng. to Mix)'' or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary ...

contains a limited node-based compositing feature which, among other things is capable of basic keying and blurring effects.

References

External links

* {{Authority control After Effects After Effects Video editing software Compositing software Visual effects software Animation software Aldus software 1993 software