Bring your vision to life with blockbuster visual effects and compelling motion graphics in Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional software. Work with sophisticated tools and enjoy tight integration with Adobe's leading design applications while you deliver stunning work to virtually any media type. Design from scratch or jump-start projects from hundreds of fully customizable presets and templates--all from within a streamlined interface. 
An elaborate animation made up of multiple variations on a six-pointed star is easy to create; the Repeater feature makes it possible to offset variations on a theme. All properties of the shape can also be keyframed. |
Layer Styles can transform the look of text with just a few clicks. Here, Outer Glow and a Drop Shadow add visual interest and dimension. Styles can be toggled on and off, even animated. |
Just a few examples of what is possible with per-character 3D text. |
Create Motion Graphics and Visual Effects with the Industry Standard
Take your inspiration to new heights: Create beautiful, sophisticated animations and effects more effectively than ever with Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional. Whether you design from scratch or jump-start projects from any of the hundreds of customizable templates and presets, the latest version of After Effects lets you exceed expectations with less effort. Use innovative new features like Shape Layers, the Puppet tool, Brainstorm, and Clip Notes to design, animate, and review with greater creative freedom.
After Effects is available as a standalone product, or as a component of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Production Premium and Master Collection software. Eliminate rerendering and move easily between After Effects, Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 and Encore CS3 software using Adobe Dynamic Link, part of Production Premium. Adobe Creative Suite 3 Production Premium is a complete digital video production solution in which Adobe After Effects CS3 provides the ability to generate animations and composites of all kinds, from stylized motion graphics to realistic visual effects. Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection combines the powerful components of Production Premium with those of Creative Suite 3 Design Premium and Web Premium.
Whether you are a motion graphics designer, visual effects artist, video editor, or a designer of rich media for the web, Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional lets you:
Innovate visually--Unleash your creative vision with responsive controls and amazing effects. Animate freely and with even more flexibility using new Shape Layers and the new Puppet tool. Use the new Brainstorm interface to naturally evolve animation variations based on parameters you choose.
Maximize your time--Deliver your best work on schedule. The intuitive interface in Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional lets you accomplish even the most complex tasks faster while keeping you focused on your vision. Enhanced multi-core and multi-processor support enables faster renders; powerful integration allows you to move quickly and efficiently between After Effects and Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended, Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, Adobe Flash CS3 Professional, Adobe Illustrator CS3, and Adobe Encore CS3.
Design for tomorrow, today--Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional delivers on tomorrow's challenges today, with flexible tools that anticipate the future of design and animation. Work with tools that enable you to deliver professional results on virtually any type of media. Create QuickTime and Flash video for the web and work with a wide range of formats from HDV to OpenEXR, H.264, and Camera Raw. Ensure output quality for an array of supported mobile devices. After Effects is available for Intel and Power PC Mac, or for Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Vista.
Audience benefit
Motion graphics and visual effects professionals--As a professional in your field, you need to meet tight deadlines for clients who demand the highest quality productions. Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional helps you reach peak performance and realize your vision with the industry's leading compositing and animation tools for creating stunning motion graphics and visual effects. With improved performance and tight integration with other Adobe applications, you'll get there faster, moving quickly and efficiently between After Effects and Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended, Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, Flash CS3 Professional, Illustrator CS3, and Encore CS3, while getting the best performance from your hardware.
Video editors and producers--When budgets are tight and clients are on a deadline, Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional offers an intuitive, easy-to-learn interface along with powerful tools to enhance your production values. Tight integration with Adobe's other professional video applications means you can get great results quickly, and when you need to jump-start projects without sacrificing quality you can use the new Brainstorm feature or customize any of hundreds of timesaving, professionally designed presets and templates.
Flash animators and graphic designers--Work with state-of-art animation tools inside a familiar Adobe interface and enjoy unprecedented integration with Adobe Flash as well as other Adobe applications you already use, including Photoshop and Illustrator. Graphic designers can import Photoshop and Illustrator files with layers, transparency, and blend modes intact to bring still imagery to life. Flash animators can import and output SWF or FLV files with alpha channels and cue points.
New in Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional
Shape Layers
Easily create and animate vector graphics with new Shape Layers. Add and animate strokes, fills, gradients, and vector effects. You can convert text into shapes and animate them just like any other shape type.
Puppet tool
This new, fast, and intuitive animation tool lets you squash and stretch images or text to bring it to life as an animated character. Use Motion Sketch to record the position and speed of your puppet movements, the Starch tool to stiffen areas of the character, and the Overlap tool to control the depth of elements of your puppet.
Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended integration
Enjoy a streamlined workflow with support for importing layered Photoshop images that include video layers. Sophisticated Photoshop Layer Styles can be easily modified or animated within After Effects. Import Vanishing Point data from Photoshop into After Effects to build 3D compositions automatically.
Tight integration with Adobe Flash CS3 Professional
Work more efficiently to create and edit Flash animations. Preserve vectors from animations created in After Effects for lean and clean delivery, and create Flash Video more easily. Import SWF files as vectors with alpha channels preserved, and batch render Flash videos with embedded cue points.
Per-character 3D text animation
Explore new text animation possibilities by making individual characters in your text--or an entire phrase--move and rotate in 3D space.
Brainstorm
Jump-start animations with Brainstorm, a new user interface that offers variations on selected design and animation parameters. Choose which properties and effects you want to explore, and Brainstorm will propose animated variations.
Complete color management workflow
Enable color management simply by selecting a Project Working Space. Doing so helps ensure the color accuracy of imported files as they are displayed and rendered and allows you to preview how footage will look on other devices.
Adobe Clip Notes
Streamline the review and approval process. Render your work into an Adobe PDF file that enables anyone with Adobe Reader software to make timecode-accurate comments. When you import the comments into After Effects, they appear as markers on the Timeline.
Enhanced performance
Harness your computer's processing power with new multicore and graphics acceleration plus disk caching so you can spend less time waiting and more time creating. Distribute rendering across your entire network to maximize output performance.
3D compositions from Vanishing Point
Export Vanishing Point data from Photoshop Extended, and then import into After Effects to automatically build a 3D composition from the 2D Photoshop image.
Additional Features
Innovative compositing and animation tools
Create high-impact communications by combining moving imagery, still images and graphics, text, and sound in 2D or 3D space and then animating virtually any aspect of each element.
Text and vector graphics creation and animation
Create text and vector graphics in After Effects using familiar Adobe tools, and then animate these elements to create visually innovative new motion graphics.
Extensive visual effects
Manipulate moving and still images using hundreds of effects such as stylize, distort, shatter, and time remapping. Create grids, radio waves, 3D particles, film grain, fractal noise, and more.
Timesaving tools
Start projects quickly with animation presets and behaviors when creating common animation elements, such as animating text in and out, creating synthetic backgrounds, and more. Use new Brainstorm to quickly experiment and refine designs using parameters you define. Learn fast with Tool Tips and training resources in the box and on the web, and streamline your review process with Clip Notes to create and import comments.
Comprehensive masking and keying tools
Control which portions of a layer are visible by importing, manipulating, and animating masks; flexible auto-tracing options and RotoBezier masks make it easy to get precise results. Key bluescreen and greenscreen mattes with the Academy Award-winning Keylight and a host of supporting tools.
Powerful motion controls
Animate graphics and text using the Puppet tool. Apply motion blur to produce more realistic animations, or use Timewarp to slow down and speed up footage. Precisely match the motion of source footage using Motion Tracker, and get the look of a locked-off shot using Motion Stabilizer.
Enhanced performance
Harness your computer's processing power with new multicore and graphics acceleration plus disk caching so you can spend less time waiting and more time creating. Distribute rendering across your entire network to maximize output performance.
Professional results for every media type
Compatibility with an extensive list of output formats lets you produce animated content for virtually any media, from the web and mobile devices to film and broadcast. Plus, After Effects CS3 Professional introduces color management tools to help make the color-correction process more predictable and preserve color fidelity.
High-fidelity color
Use standard color management tools with enhancements for film and video workflows.
32-bit 2D and 3D compositing and animation
Create high-impact communications by combining moving imagery, graphics, text, and sound in 2D or 3D space and then animating virtually any aspect of each element. Freely work with high dynamic range imagery in a color-managed workflow.
Per-character 3D text animation
Explore new text animation possibilities by making individual characters in your text--or an entire phrase--move and rotate in 3D space.
Complete color management workflow
Enable color management simply by selecting a Project Working Space. Doing so helps ensure the color accuracy of imported files as they are displayed and rendered and allows you to preview how footage will look on other devices.
Project templates
Use included project templates for DVD motion menus and motion graphics backgrounds.
Nondestructive vector painting
Paint nondestructively on layers to clean up footage, draw masks, clone elements, and create animations.
32-bit audio tools
Import 32-bit audio files mixed and mastered in Adobe Soundbooth or Adobe Audition software. Fine-tune audio levels precisely using VU meters with peak and clip indicators on the Audio panel.
Color accuracy
Take advantage of an end-to-end color management workflow to ensure color accuracy throughout your production pipeline.
Powerful masking and keying tools for creating video transparency
Control which portions of a layer are visible by importing, manipulating, and animating masks. Key bluescreen and greenscreen mattes with Academy Award-winning Keylight and a host of supporting tools to rival those available in any other application. Flexible auto-tracing options and RotoBezier masks make it easy to get precise results.
Video for mobile
Use new rendering options and preview in Adobe Device Central CS3 to help ensure your video will look great on an array of supported mobile devices.
