Why Use After Effects?

Abstract

Is it possible to make an entire animated piece in Flash and Flash alone? Yes. Is it a good idea? Probably not if your project is getting long—let’s say, over 1 minute. The more content you add and the more symbols in the document, the bigger the file size, which can lead to disorganized libraries and a less efficient project resulting in big headaches. Flash is a great character animation tool, but for editing and compositing, there are better tools. In these cases, doing some of the work in a dedicated motion graphic tool is often better. I tend to use After Effects, although there are other options available, such as Shake or Combustion, or editing in software like Adobe Premiere, Vegas Video, or Final Cut Pro. For more on After Effects, Flash, and Motion Graphics, check out From After Effects to Flash: Poetry in Motion Graphics by Tom Green and Tiago Dias (friends of ED, 2006, ISBN: 1-59059-748-4).