Ever wondered what Adobe After Effects plugins are? If you are familiar with, (and a big fan of) sophisticated cinematic visual effects that are smooth and crisp, then you have stumbled into the beautiful world of motion graphics. The most popular software out there is Adobe After Effects now in CS5.5 designed to transform moving images for theatres, living rooms, personal computers and even mobile devices. It’s a more improved version of After Effects CS5 by Adobe.
Adobe After Effects allows you to play around with 2D and 3D combinations for elements, or integrate both in equal composition without having to switch modes or undoing and redoing the work you have come up with so far. There is no need to set up additional elements to add dimension to an existing layer, thanks to the use of default cameras and lights.
A 3D camera data import is also a new addition to this version as it allows imports from a 3D camera and other data, including extracting camera information and export. This could also be done using a third party addition. It also allows multiple 3D cameras per composition, and follows the user’s definition of cameras by giving specific angles, lens length and other parameters identified by keyframe the user prefers to work with. Control how light intensity falls across 3D distances like how it does in the real world with the light falloff feature. Steady your footages with the warp stabilizer, it is one of a kind and is dependable.
If you decide to add some plugins, after purchasing After Effects, there are free options to go easy on your pocket, and to boost your projects. Scott Frizzle, a broadcast designer already 15 years in the industry developed Quaker, a plugin to stimulate earthquake effects. Another free and useful plugin is Normality 3, which is powerful in itself by letting the user light up 3D works through advanced relighting techniques. And there is no need to switch environments, as this can be done directly in the environment the object or scene is in. One great free After Effects plugins download is Buena’s Swatch Buckler which gives a floating palette that can allow the user to grab colors from, which is easier and useful compared to trying to remember color codes and eyedroppering every twenty seconds. One of the best after effects plugins is Gridlon’s free plugin that can speed up rendering and preview times by 100%, saving more of the time for other equally important tasks. For the conscious editor, Matrox’s WSIWYG is handy when viewing the work done so far on a separate monitor to have a feel of how it would look like on an actual television for more precise editing. This gives space for improvement before submitting your hard worked projects. This is for those who prefer doing intense color correction or pinpointing precise motion tracking on roto work. The Omino Suite is a collection of unique, basic tools, and is time saving too. The Colorizer adds a little color to the footage for a sharper image, diffusion is a color matcher. Squares reconstruct the image and feedback improves and stimulates bad tv signals. Sphere map helps with distant star fields and the like, and you can create a retro halftone effect through Halftone.
These are just some of the plugins for After Effects CS5, CS4 and CS3 that are made available for After Effects Users, and more will be available. All that’s needed is a little patience and knowing what you need.
Know your Adobe after effects plugins, and use them wisely. These could add spice to your project’s details for eye-catching effects.
