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Adobe After Effects vs Premiere

Adobe has created two excellent platforms to use for video creators in After Effects and Premier. The differences in the Adobe After Effects vs Premiere debate can sometimes be subtle, but there are also some profound benefits that one platform has over the other that it cannot be ignored.

The bottom line is this: After Effects and Premiere might be made by the same company, but they are tools that are used for two different purposes.

What You Need to Know About After Effects

Adobe After Effects was created to be a platform to work with digital motion graphics. It will also handle visual effects and compositing. It works well for shapes, titles, special effects and 2-D animations that may need to be added to a project.

After Effects is not designed to work with multiple clips simultaneously. It is a platform to use when you’ve finished with the editing of your video.

The real strength in After Effects is the ability to create masks that track through your scenes. That is why it is so easy to add effects and do compositing with this platform. When combined with the 3-D camera tracker, it becomes possible to duplicate camera movements in a scene so that new layers can be added with precision.

There are also After Effects templates available that can help you test out your skills to determine if this is the right platform to meet your needs.

What You Need to Know About Premiere

Adobe Premiere Pro is a video editing program. It is an excellent option for those who need to edit video clips or bring different clips together. The design makes it possible to remove extraneous video so that a precise final product can be created.

  • You can arrange clips with ease and then trim them.
  • It’s super simple to create transitions between your clips.
  • Multiple video clips can be put on the same track.

Like many editing programs, Premiere gives users an option to add some text to the video clips. Transitions can be created as well. Limited editing of audio is possible and there are some effects that can be added as well.

The real advantage of using Premiere is its timeline. This makes it a lot easier to keep track of where you are with your project so that the editing work can go smoothly. It can be used to create a multi-cam perspective so that angle changes or edits are super simple. You can sync your shot through multiple angles to make editing and compositing go faster than you would ever believe.

Both Platforms Offer Similar Features… With a Twist

Think about it like this. You could create a cover letter on Microsoft Excel when applying for a video editing position. You could then create a graphic spreadsheet on Microsoft Word that shows off some of your best work. The only problem is that doing so will take you a lot longer because Excel was built for spreadsheets and Word was built to be a word processor.

That’s what is going on with After Effects and Premiere. Some might say that the two platforms can’t really be compared because their end-goals are different. Both platforms do offer a few similar features, however, so for those who are just starting in video effects and editing, it is important to distinguish where the differences lie.

You can apply some control effects through Premiere, but the sheer number of possibilities that is offered in After Effects cannot be ignored.

You can also do some limited editing in After Effects, but because it lacks a comprehensive timeline, the work takes forever to finish. Every clip in After Effects would need to be on a separate layer for you to work on the project and that is a major headache.

The best option is to use both tools for your video editing needs. Use Premiere to edit your video and then use After Effects to polish it up so you can create a work of art. That way you don’t have to worry about what each option can “technically” do and focus on using the unique benefits that Adobe offers for both.

Adobe has made both available through the Creative Cloud for $19.99 per month each on an annual contract or $29.99 per month without a contract. You can also subscribe to the complete Creative Cloud suite of products for $49.99 per month and receive both.

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