I hate after effects

[Creepyman]

I hate this program with a passion. All I wanted to do was find a way to play. stop, rewind a clip. You know. The things that every other software in the industry has buttons and symbols for. A little triangle. A square. two smaller triangles. Why doesn't Adobe include this. I hate this  program with every fibre of my being. How much money does my school make from Adobe for using this mess of a software? F this program. If you didn't have Photoshop, I would cancel my subscription to your overpriced site.

[imeilfx · Accepted solution]

Ok. So your anger is I think as justified as anger of someone who is buying Car factory and is mad because he was actually only in need of a one cheap car.
If you look for something to play some video clips you should use one of many media players from Quick Time media player and Windows media player that are included in most operating systems or chose some free ones like Media player classic, vlc media player etc.
After Effects is not a media player but a digital visual effects, motion graphics, and compositing application. So it is more like that car factory not a car itself.
So ... hope that you already found media player that you liked and hope that next time when you will use AE will be to do stuff that AE is made for.

[One&Done]

STILL SUCKS

[Creepyman]

A valid point. Peace.

[Dave Merchant]

And these would be what exactly?

[Creepyman]

uh...little buttons?

[craigi35826625]

As someone relatively new to AE who has spent the last two years totally immersed studying and learning the app, I do not disagree with the essence of your OP as the product has a dreadfully unintuitive nature almost to the point of conspiracy theory - to keep newbies out so people already in the industry have built-in job security.

For instance:

- menu options on many of the effects are ludicrously named and do not do what you expect them to (who came up with the name "Calculations"?

-effects that refuse to do anything until you change an obscure setting, and do not get me started on C4D, which is a joke

- the multitude of bugs...

That said, this is not the forum to be griping about the product's failings, you should take your thoughts and send them in a letter to Adobe.

BTW you should check out Premiere Pro, which is more of a straightforward video playing/editing application and is IMO vastly simpler to operate.  Good luck.

[R Neil Haugen]

The best place to go with complaints and suggestions for the operation and UI is here ...

Adobe UserVoice Bug /Feature form: https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911233-premiere-pro

Anything posted there goes directly to both the engineer's system and the collated list given to all upper managers to determine budgets, engineer's time, that sort of thing.

In fact, please do! post things over there ... the more the merrier!

Yea, the UI for Ae is a bit ... obscure ... and having talked with the engineers at NAB about this, they ( and some of the power-users standing around) can explain why it is what it is involving things not quite obvious to those not having used this for 15 years straight. Good points, many of them. Which does not at all mean that the UI needs to stay like it is.

So discussions of better UI ideas are always worth checking out.

Neil

[imeilfx]

Talking about UI improvemenf od one thing. Other is to use software not according to what's that software was designer for.

AE od not a media player do rachunku media player will be easier and better if what's you need is a media player.

AE od not a editing tool so od you need editing software - it will be better to use one f.eg. Premiere Pro.

And od we need to compare AE - please do that woth other pieces of software that was designer for three same tasks as AE. So we should compare AE with f.eg. Fusion, Nuke przy Flame ... After seeing Fusion node based interface ... you Wil quickly start loving AE and its interface.  

[R Neil Haugen]

I find UI discussions fascinating ... I've stood around and listened while some very power-AE users debated whether they'd prefer a more node-based look like Fusion, or the various others ... mind you, these are all guys & gals that can power-slam all the above apps, which blows my mind! ... but clearly, for all of them the general use of Ae is very different than if they go to the other fx apps on their machines.

So, yea, Ae needs its own UI ... but ... what does that look like? I've seen several folks do mockups that looked very interesting, and I think would make it easier for me to navigate. As said, fun to consider, and interesting to see the different ideas.

Neil

[Creepyman]

Alright. Thanks for the tip. Peace.

[Creepyman]

Yes, I agree. Layers over nodes. Adobe has that going for them. Thank you for replying. Peace.

[One&Done]

I HAD THE SAME THOUGHT EXACTLY! THEY NEVER UPDATE IT BECAUSE GEEZERS AFRAID OF LOSING THEY JOBS LOL

[One&Done]

AGREED! IT IS UNITUITIVE AF! IT IS FOR GEEKS WHO WANT TO FEEL SUPERIOR, NOT ARTISTS WHO NEED TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES!

[Mrtn Ritter]

The issue with such hate posts is, that they go right down the trash. This is a user-to-user forum and Adobe stuff is hardly around. Even if, they can only report bugs to the dev teams.

AE is not a software for geeks, who want to feel superior, but a software for professionals, who are willing to spend years learning and mastering their profession.

It's not very clever to blame the canvas, when you can't draw. You rather learn how to do it, or find another tool to express your art.

*Martin

[One&Done]

Coding is not Drawing.

[R Neil Haugen]

No, it isn't. If you want to draw, get a pencil/chalk/pen/brushes & paint, and a surface to apply them to.

Ae allows for a ton of complex working involving many moving elements that themselves can change according to the set choices. And for that work, using the what ... sort of Javascript? ... is very useful.

Tons of Ae users build libraries of 'code' they've copied from another comp, so they don't have to remember the stuff. But it is the building block of the complex work in Ae.

Along with the pickwhip, sliding highlighted values up/down, dragging in the viewer ...

Neil

[One&Done]

A true artist gets new ideas so quickly that they would never have time for this program. After Effects is a program for nerds to be delegated/directed on what to do by an actual artist.

Time is too precious to Render it Away.

[R Neil Haugen]

To me, you have such a narrow view of what is an artist. Amazed, really. As you would clearly not include most painters as "artists" then. Going over a section of a painting, redoing the mixing of pigments, the shading ... day after day ... nope, definitely not an artist!

Yet I know people who do incredibly beautiful and fascinating work in Ae. Definitely fine artists at their medium. By any standards I allow of course.

[One&Done]

To Me, there is a difference between an artist and a craftsman. However, this does not limit one from dabbling in another. Not all who paint are artists, just as not all musicians are artists either.

[One&Done]

I can see perhaps those who learned the software between '92-'95, prior to the advent of wysiwyg, may have come to rely or perhaps see adobe products as an ally artistically. However, 30 years of technology has made for many, more intuitive, breakthroughs in computer technology. It is absolutely absurd for Adobe products, such as After Effects, to still operate in such an unstreamlined manner. Especially a company that has such an enormous advertising budget!!! It could honestly be a rad program, but due to severe inadequacies in terms of efficiency, I feel the artistic community deserves better. Especially as time is man's most precious asset. 

[Mrtn Ritter]

Code is art, code can greate art, coders are artists in their own way. Just who never wrote a line of code will put it into the nerd corner. Many artist use software to express themselfes, "digital art" has emerged other the last decades. It's pretty huge to call them all as nerds. And how is a painter not a nerd in his own way?

On the other hand, AE is not known to be an artisic software. I don't know where this idea comes from (sorry if you really belief the ads). You can use AE to create art, as you can use needles to create a portrait. But nobody will see a needle as an artistic item. In other words: it needs an artist, to make art with AE.

You are right about the workflows and the underlying mechanic in AE. Adobe is superior and AE is a monopol software. They simply don't need to improve anything. And that's why the missed to include GPU support twenty years ago. They missed to include mutlicore processing ten years ago. They miss to include 360/VR environment today. They only add some fancy functionalities to keep people subscriping.

There are alternatives for certain applications, especially composition, tracking, roto, vtx and things like that. There are alternatives for parametic 2D animation, but none on the level of AE. The only competitor worth to keep track of is Calvary.

If you aim for a more intuitive, artistic workflow when it comes to animation, you should check out Animate and Harmony. For interaction, digital art, there are special apps available, too. AE might not be the software suitable for your needs. You can't blame a hammer for not being a screwdriver and a good artist always knows his tools.

*Martin

[One&Done]

I can see how a very attentative artist might be able to utilize such mediums.

I also definitely feel that some updates are definitely in order.

[Mo Moolla]

Best to research the software before trying it

After Effects isnt designed to just pay vids. Its far far more than that

VLC player ...plays all codecs and is easy to use

Best of luck

Mo