Let's get into what After Effects can do, and what it's not really that great at. This program is very deep and there are so many use cases that we may not capture them all. But, if you're new to After Effects this article will give you a great foundational understanding of what it's capable of.
By moving and transforming layers, you are able to bring artwork to life. After Effects offers digital tools that help you manipulate and edit various properties.
There are a lot of ways to create animations inside of After Effects! With integrations from third party software, and artists pushing the boundaries of everyday workflows, the use cases for creating animations in After Effects is astounding.
Here is a simple list of different types of animations you can create in After Effects:
- 2D Vector Animation
- Basic 3D Animation
- Character Animation
- Kinetic Typography -UI/UX mock-up animations Visual Effects This is just a small list, but it shows some of the core examples of what you can expect to animate when working in this program.
Outside of animation, there are other use cases for Adobe After Effects.
Visual effects workflows have created a comfy home inside of this program. For years people have manipulated video and film to add in many post-production effects.
Smoke, fire, explosions, scene tracking, and background replacements using green screen technology represent many of the tasks After Effects is capable of performing.
For example, you can add lighting effects or create really cool smoke trails that look like objects are flying through a city. Here's a fun tutorial that we put together utilizing After Effects as an animation tool.