Speaking of After Effects, which is to video what Photoshop is to still photos, has its share of new 3D effects as well. There are several new 3D plug-ins for text animation in the Adobe Bridge (which provides a list of presets and ties all of the CS4 products together), and the motion tracking feature has been significantly upgraded. Viral election year videos employ a variety of simple motion tracking effects, and the new edition of After Effects can do this and more with ease.
A few years ago, a large brokerage house created a minor splash by digitally overlaying a cartoon effect on their commercials. Since then, a number of plug-in manufacturers have produced third-party products that produce this effect, but it's now built into After Effects CS4, along with several other new filters.
As I said, this review was based on a first glimpse of the beta version of these Adobe products, and there are several others within the CS4 lineup we haven't reviewed yet. Watch for a follow-up, after we put the final versions of these powerful applications through their paces.
If you find the multimedia content on the Web becoming richer and looking more detailed, it won't be a coincidence, as the tools available to shape them continue to become more powerful.
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Article comments
1 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
owning a recording studio was a serious capital investment...
It still is because while people can record standard quality audio in their house and make it accessible via mp3 on the web, the technology in the studio still moves forward. There will always be that separation because a regular consumer isn't going to spend the money on the latest technology available.