Adobe After Effects

Adobe After Effects is a digital visual effects, motion graphics, and compositing application

 developed by Adobe Systemsand used in the post-production process of filmmaking and 

television production. Among other things, After Effects can be used for keying, tracking, rotoscoping, compositing and animation. It also functions as a very basic 

non-linear editor, audio editor and media transcoder.

Adobe After Effects is primarily used for creating motion graphics and visual effects. It allows

 users to animate, alter and composite media in 2D and 3D space with various built-in tools and 

third party plug-ins, as well as individual attention to variables like parallax and user-adjustable

 angle of observation.

After Effects and some non-linear editing systems (NLEs) are layer-oriented, meaning that each individual media object (video clip, audio clip, still image, etc.) occupies its own track. In contrast,

 other NLEs use a system where individual media objects can occupy the same track as long as 

they do not overlap in time. This track-oriented system is more suited for editing and can keep

 project files much more concise. The layer-oriented system that After Effects adopts is suited for extensive effects work and keyframing. Although other compositing packages, especially ones that employ tree or node workflows, such asNuke and eyeon Fusion are better suited to manage large volumes of objects within a composite, After Effects is able to counter the clutter somewhat by selectively hiding layers (using the Shy switch) or by grouping them into pre-compositions.

The main interface consists of several panels (windows in versions prior to After Effects 7.0). 

Three of the most commonly used panels are the Project panel, the Composition panel, and the Timeline panel. The Project panel acts as a bin to import stills, video, and audio footage items. 

Footage items in the Project panel are used in the Timeline panel, where layer order and timing 

can be adjusted. The items visible at the current time marker are displayed in the Composition

 panel.

After Effects shares many features with other Adobe programs, such as creating circles, squares

 and free form shapes that are defined by bezier curves. Like Photoshop and Illustrator, 

After Effects can import and manipulate many image formats, and filters and adjustments can be

 added.

After Effects integrates with other Adobe software titles such as Illustrator, Photoshop, 

Premiere Pro, Encore, Flash, and third-party 3D programs like Cinema 4D, Lightwave 3D, and

 Autodesk 3ds Max.