Question by Chet: Apple Motion, Apple Shake or Adobe After Effects?
I just recently purchased Apple’s Final Cut Studio 2 suite and have fell in love with Motion. I want to ask any editors, filmmakers and compositors as well as animators out there, what program should I go to for my visual/ special effects shots, keying and other similar post production work. I would like to know what are each programs strong and weak points. And I would also like to know If I could use one program for all these jobs what program should that be. I know this is alot, but any help is welcome. Thank you all!
Best answer:
Answer by jf
Apple Motion – easy to use, solid for motion graphics. Not as robust as After Effects, but it can do a lot. Put in a few filters and it can be really strong. Keylight from the Foundry makes it a decent keying software as well.
Apple Shake – this is the strongest compositing software of the bunch. But it is end of life (Apple will no longer make new versions). Most places that still use it have IT departments that have written new nodes for it. So while I think an amazing tool, might not be for you. Also the learning curve on this is harder than any of the others, by a long shot. But for compositing, to me, its second to none. But is not for motion graphics.
Adobe After Effects – its the best mix of motion graphics and compositing. Also it has a HUGE user base out there. So its easy to find new filters/plug-ins, online support, and/or tutorials. The learning curve on it is probably towards the harder end of the spectrum, but again, there’s lots of help out there for you.
If you’re going to go with 1 program to do it all, then go After Effects. With a few good plug-ins its likely the strongest all-in-one of the lot. I think Motion is great but limited how far it can go. Shake is hands down my favorite compositing tool, but its only good for compositing (and its starting to get a bit dated).
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