I have FCP suite so should I dive into motion or learn after effects to make myself more employable?

I think that depends upon the employer ... both are incredible programs, though of the two (shock, gasp) I think After Effects is easier to learn. Especially if you already have some experience with photoshop. However, it\'s pretty common for employers nowdays to buy final cut studio and be done with it. Our office is a prime example ... even though I personally prefer After Effects, we don\'t have it on any of the office workstations. The other issue to think of is the workflow. With Motion, you have a tightly integrated workflow between all of the apps you need to produce your projects (vis. FCP, LiveType, DVDSP, and Comnpressor). In many cases you can get away without rendering out our motion graphics peices, and that saves not only hard disk space, but also time. If you have motion already, learn that and then move on to AE ... you\'ll find a lot of the same concepts apply, so it\'s not a terribly difficult transition.

Hi guys, i started using motion when i bought FC Studio but now i have found you can do a lot more with after effects. It\'s easier to work with files from 3D programs and AFX has Cameras and lighting that can be animated in a 3D space which open a lot of doors to creative animations. If your serious about learning one of these apps, go straight to After Effects

Well, I believe the two programs are different in the way you approach certain things. In my view, I would not disregard any of the two, but focus a bit MORE on one. This will give you options to choose in your project. A good way to start is by creating a short sequence using both programs. Download the AE free for 30 days, spend those thirty days developing and learning, and then you can make an informed decision what works for you. Cheers & good luck. Hisham

[quote:5259]I have FCP suite so should I dive into motion or learn after effects to make myself more employable?[/quote] I personally find that Motion and Shake make a much stronger combination. Then again, I always wanted an Inferno but could never afford one. After I stepped up to a Quad G5 and Kona 3 I don't even think about Inferno anymore. Ironically, the new Linux based FFI systems use the AJA cards. In L.A. more studios are replacing their Avid systems with FCP. If you make a killer demo reel no one is going to care what software you use, but if you already have skills on the software that's being used in-house (and a lot of facilities use Shake) then it's a plus. I'm guessing at NAB this year in April there are going to be some big announcements from Apple in regards to compositing software and the whole FCP suite. I have nothing against Adobe, but the reality is FCP Studio and Shake have a much stronger presence in post production facilities than Premiere Pro. Not to mention, Steves Bayes, who is one of the key developer of Media Composer and who worked at Avid for 8+ years, joined Apple in 2006 (I think) and is Product Manager of Final Cut Pro. What does that tell ya? Regards, Mark

Yes I would tend to agree with Mark above. I used Premiere Pro since its inception to number 2.0. I liked it was fast, easy to work with. I think it's perfect for wedding jobs. I switched to Final Cut Pro (suite) about two years ago. The main reason was because I could not keep the PC running. I spent more time technical supporting my high-end PC than I did doing any work! My PC spent more time in the shop then it did in front of me! I had that PC setup from scratch for video editing. It had lots of RAM, killer graphics card, dual processors etc. but I couldn't keep it running! I don't know if it was combination of premiere Pro and the PC, or just my luck but if it wasn't getting the virus, it was getting some other error message coming back. I started to notice that all my questions on the Adobe forum were technical questions and not really about the software! But lots of people were getting the same error message is coming back! Finally I sold the two year old machine for less than half of what I had invested in it and the SAME DAY, I bought a G5 Mac + 3.5 GB of RAM. Now I do all my video work on that, but I still have a regular PC only because of one application that appears to work better on a PC than on a Mac which I'm using right now "Dragon dictation" -- I love this application -- you simply talk and it types faster than you can talk! It's about 90% accurate, never make spelling mistakes although sometimes it substitutes the wrong word. Mac has something similar but anyone I have spoke to, even Mac dealers told me that it is not something you would be happy with. So I simply keep the two separate. Video work goes on the Mac and day-to-day work goes on the PC Of course you can run both on one machine "virtually" but I don't like that idea because that means that a virus could infect the virtual PC inside the Mac which might render them both in the shop! The G5 is a beautiful machine with its futuristic looks and liquid cooling! It's really quiet and Mac's simply don't get viruses! On my regular PC however I will say that I switched the virus protection to AGV antivirus protection and it's been running very well with maybe one or two exceptions -- far less than the four when I was using Trend Micro antivirus software. Not only was AGV free but it works better than a subscription to the trend micro which is about $80 a year. Trend micro actually directed me to a site to clean my machine but when I got to site, their own software told me not to open the site because it was known for viruses! But since I was talking to them on the phone and they were advising the step-by-step, I opened the site anyway at which point the entire PC locked up and there was no way to turn it on or off I had to pull the cord and take it to the shop and reformat the entire drive! Prior to that they actually tried to send me a patch and again their own software said don't open the attachment because it has a virus! The free AGV has worked 90% effectively for my regular PC. [As you can see with Dragon dictation you tend to write a lot more] In the last year however apparently Adobe has released a Mac version of Premiere Pro. Maybe the combination of Mac and Premiere Pro would make a nice combination But you really can't go wrong with Final Cut Pro suite. It's a one-time investment but this week comes with everything you need including Motion and Shake. Another thing I'm finding out about Shake for instance is that although you start to learn how the program works, still doesn't make you an artist! At this point, after spending hours on tutorials, I figured out the basics of Shake (advanced composites program used in the making of King Kong) But just learning the basics is far from being able to make it sing like an artist which is where I'm trying to go with it now. Best, M/

Motion is a better design tool, but After Effects is in many ways a better production tool for motion graphics. Motion was designed for the editor to easily create good motion graphics with little training, and After Effects is geared toward the professional motion graphics artist who has more training. Both have advantages and disadvantages compared to the other and it is well worth learning both if you want the most capability.