Celebrating 25 Years of After Effects

A look back to the start of After Effects, its current Hollywood success, and to the future of motion graphics and VFX

Lush vegetation, gory scenes, colossal dinosaurs roaming a prehistoric land. In June of 1993, Jurassic Park revolutionised the film industry with thrillingly realistic visual effects (VFX). After Effects had just officially debuted that January, and although version 1.0 was quite simple, it had the promise of being something great and was the only animation and creative compositing application that could provide the Jurassic Park team with what they needed.

The team on Jurassic Park used proprietary software to develop the virtual world. But it was After Effects that allowed the VFX team to combine aspects of 3D dinosaurs and 2D sketches to virtually preview movie scenes. This was due to After Effects’ unique capabilities to do quick-turn shots. _Jurassic Park _transformed the industry forever and went on to win a well-deserved Oscar for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing. It also was the catalyst to help the creators of After Effects strive to make the product what it is today.

Since 1993, Adobe After Effects CC continues to evolve and expand to meet the demands of the film industry. From Jurassic Park to Blade Runner: 2049, VFX teams have used After Effects to push compositing and post-production boundaries. Now, we’re celebrating the 25th anniversary of After Effects — that’s a quarter-century of After Effects helping you create movie magic.

After Effects has always been a leading tool in the industry. Used by Hollywood’s elite and the masses alike, it is a staple of post-production creativity. While the past 25 years have seen incredible advances, After Effects is better than ever right now. Today, it provides a powerful platform for creative experimentation.

Additionally, After Effects continues to help artists realise any design they can envision, and receive powerful recognition for that creativity — often in the form of prestigious nominations and awards . After Effects is the tool that most designers use to accomplish these notable works of cinematic art. Help us toast the incredible achievements of these After Effects artists by joining us on Facebook for two live-stream events with Motion Title Designers Danny Young and Eric Demeusy, and with Cantina Creative Co-Founder Stephen Lawes this Thursday, March 1.

25 Years of After Effects: The Art Behind Designing Award-Winning Titles

Join us for a live-stream conversation with Emmy Award winners for Outstanding Main Title Design, Danny Yount (The Grid, Six Feet Under) and Eric Demeusy (Stranger Things). They’ll discuss how they overcome design challenges and how After Effects helps transform their design aesthetic onto the big screen. We’ll take questions from the live-stream audience.

Date: Thursday, March 1
Time: 3-4 p.m. PST
Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/791009617765505/

25 Years of After Effects: Cantina Creative on their Oscar-Nominated Work

Join us live, as we interview one of the most talented creative teams in Hollywood. We’ll be chatting with Creative Director and Cantina Creative Co-Founder Stephen Lawes about his team’s post-production and VFX work. We’re looking forward to hearing about the secrets behind the motion graphics on Oscar-nominated Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. We’ll take questions from the live-stream audience.

Date: Thursday, March 1
Time: 5-6 p.m. PST
Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/568763496835775/

For After Effects’ 25th anniversary, we’re reaching out in many ways to connect the After Effects community. Find us on social media to discover tips and tricks with our 25-days of After Effects that will uncover some hidden gems in the software. Participate in trivia tweets about the history of the software and get a peek at the uniqueness of After Effects’ engineers and the unique (and fun) way they come up with code names.

We, on the After Effects team, know that creativity fuels the quality of your content. As artists like you push the boundaries of innovation and take your creations to the continuous next level, we’re determined to provide the necessary technology to meet those demands. Because — although we love what’s happened during the last 25 years — when push comes to shove, it’s the next generation of artistry that we can’t wait to see.

Celebrate 25 years of After Effects with us on social media_ and learn more about how the latest After Effects features can help you innovate your next creative projects._