combustion vs after effects

[mikeh]

Any thoughts on this...i'm thinking of picking up the latest combustion.
mh

[joconnell]

After effects 8 is due soon so wait another month or two.

[dbuchhofer]

after using both casually (Read as: Professionally, but not as primary job) for the past few years, I personally like most things better about afterfx. (Combustion 2->3 and afx 6.5)

working with and adjusting footages and the sheer unadulterated pain that is combustion text put me off of it real quick. Theres a few things i miss, but not nearly enough to make me want to dust off that CD.

my thoughts.

[panthon]

What do u want to use it for?

[mikeh]

What do u want to use it for?

i do AEC stuff exclusively...drive-bys, flyovers, walkthrus etc. My intention was to use it to adjust the animations (import the files-renders from max/viz to combustion) and other stuff like add text.
mh

[studioDIM]

There's nothing that is done in AE that can't be done in a way or the other in combustion, and the reverse is true, mostly, as well.
The interfaces are VERY different.
And also the image types supported, and the ways they are supported.
A glaring example is the RPF format (HDR format, with multiple channels, in practice just like an EXR without compression/compaction, and with a fixed maximum amount of channels, instead of a free number of them).
In combustion you can import an rpf with the proper channels, and get 2.5D moblur and/or DoF done in realtime with a single, native, combustion filter.
In AE the same thing has to be achieved in a slightly more convoluted way (possibly splitting the channels out) and /or with a third party filter.
Painting, keying and general rotoscoping is also very very powerful.
Nothing in AE comes close to the power, and speed, of the combustion painter, for instance, or to the flexibility and solidity of the keyer(s).
Or so i found in production.
For motion Graphics, i guess they're on par, with AE winning the prize here for immediacy, especially for new users.
AE7 also crashes a hell of a lot on me for no apparent reason, when doing simple stuff with plenty of ram left and no odd filter, nor OGL acceleration, on.
Combustion has bugs, but it's mostly stable by now (4.0 + SP).

In the end, give both a try on the same project, possibly taking some more time to digest the combustion interface (read the manual, it's very clear about it), since it's not similar to the known Photoshop one, and make your choice...

Lele

[mikeh]

Lele,
Thanks for the insight. I had tried to get into AE years ago and hated the interface and hated how convoluted things seemed to be...this was a long time ago.
About a year ago I watched a demonstration of combustion and loved the interface, loved the layout...it seemed that this was the way it should be.
mh

[panthon]

It´s well-known that Lele and me prefer Combustion for architectural animations, but i will add that i have seen some users of photoshop and premiere who quickly grasp the AE interface and have real problems with combustion. So, if u come from this background, give it a thought.

If u plan to work with RPF, there's no doubt about the choice: combustion. AE implements it poorly and getting the same u get in combustion easily would take a lot of thinking in AE.

One thing that worries me is the evolution. While AE has seen a lot of huge revampings which greatly enhance its set of features, combustion has been frozen for a while, no word on new versions yet...That has made me look into other possibilites like fusion, which i think is great, just in case. However combustion's current features are more than enough for architectural purposes!

[DanielBrew]

Hi mikeh,

I was in the same situation a few months back and this thread helped me http://www.chaosgroup.com/forum/phpB...ic.php?t=17341 . Though what panthon and Lele have said here sums it up pretty well.

I went with Combustion in the end because of its tighter integration with Max and that it does RPF motion blur staight out of the box.

Dan

[studioDIM]

Lele,
Thanks for the insight. I had tried to get into AE years ago and hated the interface and hated how convoluted things seemed to be...this was a long time ago.
About a year ago I watched a demonstration of combustion and loved the interface, loved the layout...it seemed that this was the way it should be.
mh

Yes, i noticed that if shown even a simple demo, the combustion (flame/inferno as well) interface becomes a second nature to most users.
Add to this that it really shines when using a tablet and pen (on top of your mouse should you feel like, of course), and you'll likely know why me and Panthon love it
There is a set of tutorials on dvd out there, even if it's for combustion 2 or 3 it's worth a go: it will have you production-ready in no time.

Lele