Another purpose of using After Effects besides Video editing, VFX, and Motion Graphics. By the way, it’s an amazing tool for all that kind of stuff, is to use as an image editing alternative.
Using After Effects for image editing purposes it’s another way to go, instead of Photoshop, or other image editing software.
If you are not familiar with Photoshop or you have just started, you could read a previous post about HOW AND WHY TO LEARN PHOTOSHOP.
A lot of times I have been using After Effects for image editing stuff and the result was pretty cool each time.
In fact, when I work with 3D and rendering passes layers (individual layers with a specific purpose, like diffuse, ao, specular, reflection, etc.) 90% I work inside After Effects, to assemble and enhance the final image. However, sometimes I do make the most work in After Effects and then sent it to Photoshop maybe for some extra details like some final brush touches.
Why to use After Effect instead:
- If you feel more comfortable inside the software
- Take advantage of the powerful pre-compose feature inside After Effects. It works like a “group” function, but is more powerful and more dynamically
- Want to use all the Effects that the software has to offer. Many of them can’t be founded in Photoshop
- Want to use the Puppet pin tool, which again can’t be founded in Photoshop
- To take advantage of the powerful plugins integrated with After Effects, and use them for image editing purposes
- Also to take advantage of the timeline. This means, you can animate something through time and take more final images at the end
Common ground:
- Blending modes
- Color correction
- Typography
- Layers
- Effects – filters
- creation of vector shapes included pen tool
Cons of using it:
Of course, it has some limitations.
- The mask function inside Photoshop is more powerful than After Effects
- Although After Effects has a brush function that you can paint with, is not as powerful and intuitive as Photoshop
- selection tools do not really exist inside After Effects
Where to use it and where not:
Mostly proper for:
- general manipulation of an image
- for 3d work to assemble and enhance the final image
- for color correction purposes
Not proper for:
- advance image manipulation
- re-touching purpose
- for advanced photography matter
- for creating illustrations
Conclusion:
After Effects has its own advantage and limitation as it’s expected. Therefore in some areas is more powerful than Photoshop and in others, it’s not.
Most importantly, there is no black and white when to use it really. Probably the better approach would be to use it in conjunction with Photoshop to accomplish the final image. In that way, you can benefit from the strengths of both software.
In conclusion, my point was to show you how a piece of software can be used for another purpose as well. Whether you are going to use it or not it’s up to you and your pipeline.
