Adobe After Effects 4.1 Standard Upgrade from 4.0 Standard

After Effects 4.1, in spite of the one-tenth increment, is a majorupgrade from 4.0 and is light years ahead of the venerable 3.1. For thoseunfamiliar with the tool, here's what there is to know: there are few featurefilms, television-show title sequences, broadcast and cable shows, andtelevision commercials that make it through production without being touched byAfter Effects. It is the animation and compositing tool of choice among themajority of working professionals, and with good reason.

After Effects is a different program to different people. For some, it is a toolfor creating motion graphics for film titles. For others, it is a tool forcompositing layers of animation on top of live action. And, for still others, itis ideal for creating animated textures for backgrounds, or for use as decals ina 3-D application. It can import and export almost any type of graphic format,including QuickTime movies, AVI movies, TGA sequences, TIFF sequences, andanimated GIFs.

There are numerous new features with this upgrade, including a project flowchartview, where one can see diagrammatically how compositions and layers are beingused and which ones are nested in other comps. Also, RAM previews values ofeffects sliders can be customized, allowing for very fine control of any effectproperty.

An important new feature is Collect Files. Save a copy of the project file andall imported elements into a specified folder, and you're ready for archiving ortransporting to another site for rendering. Be careful with this action, though:if your project uses any large video clips, make sure you have enough free spaceon the destination drive to accommodate everything.

All these features (and the flexibility) come at a price: After Effects isreasonably easy to use for very simple work, but it requires some effort tomaster for professional-level output. Although the tutorials in the manual areenough to get one started, a good companion book for deeper learning isClassroom in a Book: Adobe After Effectsfrom Adobe Press.

After being idle for literally years (referred to as the "3.1 years"), After Effects has rocketed through a growth spurt and is maturing into a deepand respected program. For any serious film or video animator, motion graphicsartist, or compositor, this upgrade is a must-have.--Mike Caputo