After Effects CS3
by Daniel Niland (www.graphictraveler.com)

Let me just say, this program is amazing! I have been using Adobe products like Photoshop and Illustrator for many years, and I have always wanted to buy After Effects. I will say that After Effects is a very complicated program as a result of just how powerful it is.

The first thing I did after installing the program was to sign up for Adobe's Total Training Online. This service is essential for new After Effects users, and they have some very thorough, easy to follow tutorials. After only a few hours with this program I was able to create a great animation.

If you have used any other Adobe Creative Suite products, you might be familiar with the idea of a saved workspace, which lets you set up all the windows or palettes you use for a given type of project and then save it so you can easily switch back and forth depending on what you are doing. In After Effects, you can do even more with your workspace. As you are working, if you want to expand a certain palette like the timeline, or compositions, all you have to do is mouse over it and click the tilde key. Clicking tilde again restores your workspace. You would be surprised at just how useful this can be!

One of the greatest features of After Effects is it's compatibility with the rest of the Creative Suite programs. As an illustrator and animator I work with very complex layered source files, and After Effects lets me import Illustrator and Photoshop files in a number of ways. I can import complete layered files, create composites, or select individual layers. Plus, After Effects lets me perform all sorts of edits to those layered files right in the timeline, or using composites.

Another very useful feature is the extensive integration of keyboard shortcuts. When I am using multiple input devices like trackballs and tablets, I rely heavily on keyboard shortcuts to work more efficiently. After Effects has integrated some very intuitive keystrokes, and buttons like insert and return have intuitive special uses depending on the context. Keystrokes can also give you instant access to specific parameters in the timeline layers without having to scroll down and expand multiple menus to find the parameter you want, like "p" for position and "s" for scale.

After Effects is a must-have program for anyone who is serious about creating compelling animations, movies or motion graphics.