Adobe is one of the largest, and most successful, computer software companies in the world, with a well-earned reputation for having some of the best video editing tools on the market.
With such a varied suite of programs to choose from, it’s important to know the differences between them and what tasks they can be used for in order to get the most out of your software. Today we take a look at two of the most popular, After Effects and Premiere Pro, to find out what makes them stand out.
The Basics
The first thing you should know is that while After Effects and Premiere Pro are two different products, they’re actually designed to complement each other, and they work best when used together. However, to put things simply, the main functions of both are:
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Premiere Pro – A video editing tool where you can combine and modify different types of media to create a video project
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After Effects – A compositing program that lets you add a huge range of motion graphics and visual effects to any video
You can technically edit a full video project on either platform, but you’ll get the most out of them when connecting the two together using Adobe’s dynamic linking software. This essentially allows you to make changes in one program that carry over to projects in the other.
Key Differences
Types of Media You Can Edit
Premiere Pro allows you to layer multiple pieces of media onto the same track during the editing process, letting you see exactly where everything is and at what stage in your video. After Effects on the other hand only has functionality for editing one piece of media per track. It is however a far better tool for editing still images that you’d like to slot into your videos, and the software has gained the nickname of the ‘Photoshop of Video Editing’.
Audio Editing
Pro is a highly optimized tool when it comes to audio. You’ll find features like standard mixing, audio repair, background noise removal, and auto-ducking to name a few. In contrast, After Effects is somewhat limited, featuring only volume increase and decrease options. It instead shines as a visual editor, and we’d recommend you cover any audio tweaks in Pro before switching over.
Visual Effects
While Pro has some pretty neat video editing tricks, this is really where After Effects starts to shine. The VFX specialist has a huge range of tools to choose from, including built-in planar and 3D tracking, motion graphics, animation production, and a range of effects like lighting and explosions.
You can even composite titles and other images onto your footage and blend them into the environment. Just one fun example is adding text to the top of floating water, watching it ebb and flow seamlessly. You could spend days getting to grips with all of the cool features on offer.
Workflow
Premiere Pro is the real workhorse of the two platforms, and the tool you’ll be doing the bulk of your editing in. You’ll find a detailed timeline panel, a feature-rich interface, and tools that let you edit and manipulate clips right down to the millisecond. For stringing together, a narrative timeline Pro is an absolute must-have, with tools like ripple editing, rate stretch, and much more.
After Effects has a less substantial user interface and is actually a little easier to get to grips with in terms of navigating. If Pro can be compared to baking a cake, then After Effects is naturally the icing and decoration that comes on top.
Price
Both platforms must be bought as part of a subscription, and they actually cost the same as each other despite providing different toolsets. Each cost $29.99 per month for those paying monthly, while annual subscribers see this reduced to $19.99 per month, which must be paid upfront in a $239.88 lump sum.
Integration
As well as working seamlessly with each other, both tools integrate well with all of the company’s products. If you’re going to be doing a lot of video production, you might want to get your hands on Adobe Media Encoder too so you can render your creations into multiple different formats.
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