treapor

Well a lot of people don't get that compositing has the same basics as image editing (photoshop). The only diffrence is that you have 24 pictures per second instead of 1 overall, and dealing with the problems that come with moving cameras. So the absolut basic is learning photoshop, after that After Effects is the best thing. Seeing as it is so similar to Photoshop.

And to be honest, everyone I know in the business have cracked/pirated softwares for personal use. Is one of those non moral life hacks.

What do you personally think is the most astonishing thing about the universe we live in?

Awesome.. Is your own software a compositing application? (if you are aloud to answer)

I can imagine, what have you used it for? 2D and prep? I have worked as a compositor for a while but have never used AE for things other than motion graphics. The movies I have worked on have used Nuke, it fits better in our pipeline. Ones you get the hang of nuke it is very effective.

After Effects is great to start with, a lot of tutorials and easy to get the hang of. But If you want to get in serious and professional vfx, after effects does not keep up. You should look in to these programs,

3D: Maya, Modo, vray(rendering)

Compositing: Nuke