Q: What is Adobe After Effects? A: Adobe After Effects software is the industry standard for creating motion graphics and visual effects for film and broadcast. It is also widely used to enhance other videoproductions, to create DVD motion menus, and to produce animated web graphics and Macormedia® Flash® Video. Adobe After Effects 7.0 is available in two editions, Standard and Professional, to meet the needs of motion graphics designers, visual effects artists, and other creative professionals who produce content for film, video, DVD, and the web. Q: What are the top new features in Adobe After Effects 7.0? A: After Effects 7.0 includes over 100 new features designed to boost your productivity and expand your creative options. They include: Redesigned, unified user interface—Work within an elegantly redesigned interface featuring workspace panels that dock and group for optimal organization, eliminating overlapping windows. Save custom workspaces, control UI brightness, and more. Graph Editor—Create precise animations with the new Graph Editor, which offers complete visual control over keyframe editing and easy synchronization of animated properties across layers. High Dynamic Range (HDR) color support—Match the behavior of color and light in the real world with new 32-bit HDR color support. Achieve photo-realism by compositing in 32-bit- per-channel floating-point color. (Professional edition only.) Timesaving Animation and Behavior Presets, plus project templates— Produce great-looking animations quickly using hundreds of fully customizable Animation Presets, including presets for animating text, effects, transitions, backgrounds, and behaviors. Use included project templates for DVD motion menus and motion graphics backgrounds. Accelerated, high-fidelity OpenGL support—Experience real-time performance with advanced OpenGL 2.0 capabilities, including support for blending modes as well as motion blur, anti-aliasing, track mattes, high-quality shadows and transparency, and accelerated rendering of common effects. Use OpenGL for accelerated final renders. Pixelmotion and Timewarp—Slow down and speed up footage with smooth, crisp results and minimal artifacts. Timewarp analyzes pixel motion to create more accurate in-between frames. (Professional edition only.) Adobe Bridge—Simplify the everyday tasks of asset management with Adobe Bridge, which offers powerful ways to browse and search digital assets, preview and apply presets, work with metadata, manage files, and run batch processes. Expanded file-format support—Take advantage of new support for HDV, Flash Video (FLV), Camera Raw, OpenEXR, AAF (Professional edition only), 10-bit YUV (v210), and 32-bit TIFF and PSD formats. Unmatched Adobe integration — Experience an efficient Adobe workflow: Import Adobe Photoshop® and Adobe Illustrator® files with attributes preserved, and, in Windows®, import Adobe Premiere® Pro projects, add motion to static Adobe Encore DVD software menus, export After Effects projects as Adobe Premiere Pro projects, and more. Macromedia Flash Video export—Streamline the process of encoding video and audio for your Flash projects with new FLV export. For more detailed information about these and other new features in After Effects 7.0,refer to the Adobe After Effects 7.0 What's New document, which you can find at www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/newfeatures.html. Q: How much does After Effects 7.0 cost? Where can I buy it? A: Adobe After Effects 7.0 Professional is available for an estimated street price (ESP) of US$999, and After Effects 7.0 Standard for an ESP of US$699. Customers can also purchase After Effects 7.0 as part of the new Adobe Production Studio; for information, visit www.adobe.com/products/productionstudio. Customers can upgrade from Adobe After Effects 3.0 or later to After Effects 7.0 for an ESP of US$199 (both Standard and Professional editions). Customers can upgrade from any Standard edition version to After Effects 7.0 Professional for an ESP of US$499. Users of After Effects Standard (3.0 or later) can upgrade to Adobe Production Studio Standard for an ESP of US$749 or to Adobe Production Studio Premium for an ESP of US$1249. Users of After Effects Professional (3.0 or later) can upgrade to Production Studio Premium for an ESP of US$1249. Please note that prices are approximate, subject to change, and do not include taxes, shipping, or other related expenses. You can purchase Adobe After Effects 7.0 from Adobe Authorized Resellers or at the Adobe Store (www.adobe.com/store). For pricing outside of North America, go to your local version of the Adobe website or check with your Adobe Authorized Reseller. Q: I'm interested in the new Adobe Production Studio. Can I upgrade from After Effects? A: Yes, you can upgrade from After Effects Professional or Production Bundle 3.0 (or later) for the estimated street price (ESP) of US$1249, saving more than US$1100 over upgrading After Effects and buying the other products separately, based upon ESP. Or, you can upgrade from After Effects Standard (3.0 or later) to the Adobe Production Studio Standard for an ESP of US$749, saving more than US$400 over upgrading After Effects and buying the other products separately, based on ESP. Please note that prices are approximate and do not include taxes, shipping, or other related expenses. Q: What's the difference between After Effects Standard and After Effects Professional? A: After Effects Standard provides the essential 2D and 3D compositing, animation, and effects tools you need to bring a new dimension to your work. After Effects Professional adds 32-bit High Dynamic Range (HDR) color support, timewarp, motion tracking, keying tools, distor- tion effects, network and grid rendering, scripting, and much more. If your business doesn't yet require these additional features, get After Effects Standard now for its core tools and then upgrade to After Effects Professional later. Q: I recently bought a copy of Adobe After Effects 6.5. Can I exchange it for version 7.0? A: Customers who purchased Adobe After Effects 6.5 between January 17, 2006 (January 18, 2006, in Japan), and April 17, 2006 (April 18, 2006, in Japan), are eligible for a free upgrade to After Effects 7.0. Shipping charges may apply. This offer is available only through Adobe and applies to purchases made from Adobe or Adobe Authorized Resellers. You must provide a dated proof of purchase and your serial number when you place your order. Claims for this offer must be received by May 2, 2006 (May 3, 2006, in Japan). To qualify for upgrades, cus- tomers in the U.S. and Canada can call Adobe Customer Service at 800-833-6687. To contact Customer Service in other parts of the world, see www.adobe.com/support/intlsupport.html. Q: Can I try Adobe After Effects before I purchase it? A: A tryout version of Adobe After Effects 7.0 Professional, which expires 30 days after instal- lation, will be available from the Adobe website, at www.adobe.com/products/tryadobe. The tryout includes all of the features found in the full version of After Effects Professional edition with the exception of MPEG-2 encoding, Project Templates, and Adobe fonts. In addition, some of the Animation Presets may not work unless you own and have installedCycoreFX (these effects are included with the full version of After Effects). Trial versions of CycoreFX are available for download at: Mac: http://host.cycore.net/cycorefx/macosx/Cycore_FX_1.0.1_Demo_Mac.sit Wndows: http://host.cycore.net/cycorefx/windows/Cycore_FX_1.0.1_Demo_Win.zip Q: What operating systems does After Effects support? A: After Effects supports the latest platforms from both Apple and Microsoft, including Mac OS X software 10.3.9 (10.4.3 recommended for best OpenGL performance) and Windows XP Professional or Home Edition with Service Pack 2. For complete system requirements, visit www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/indepth.html. Q: Which OpenGL cards does After Effects 7.0 support? A: For a complete list of the OpenGL cards supported, visit www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/opengl.html. Q: Will After Effects 7.0 work well with my other Adobe software? A: Yes. Tighter integration with other Adobe products—especially those in Adobe Production Studio—is an important enhancement in this release because it allows you to work more efficiently. Import Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator files with attributes preserved, and, in Windows, import Adobe Premiere Pro projects, add motion to static Adobe Encore DVD software menus, export After Effects projects as Adobe Premiere Pro projects, and more. Among the biggest changes to After Effects 7.0 is theredesigned and unified user interface— shared with Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Encore DVD, and Adobe Audition—featuring workspace panels that dock and group, and task-oriented workspaces to match production needs. Enhanced OpenGL support provides accelerated interactivity and high-fidelity rendering. But there's much more than meets the eye: version 7.0 also delivers enhanced integration with other popular Adobe products, including Photoshop CS2 and Adobe Production Studio, so that working between Adobe applications is more efficient than ever. And with the addition of Adobe Bridge, available with other applications within Adobe Production Studio, browsing or searching digital assets (including working with XMP metadata) and previewing and applying new Animation and Behavior Presets is easier than ever. Q: What is Color Finesse from Synthetic Aperture, and how do I get it? A: After Effects 7.0 (Standard and Professional, retail, education, and upgrade versions) includes Color Finesse (in English only) from Synthetic Aperture, a professional color processing system that uses a 32-bit floating-point color space for precise adjustments. With Color Finesse you can fine-tune color corrections in HSL, RGB, CMY, and YCbCr color spaces, and take advantage of automatic color-matching and custom correction curves. You can monitor all color levels using Color Finesse's built-in waveform monitor, vectorscope, histogram, and correction-curve displays.The Color Finesse plug-in is located on the application DVD and needs to be installed separately. Q: What are the CycoreFX effects, and how do I get them? A: After Effects 7.0 (Standard and Professional, retail, education, and upgrade versions) includes bundled effects from Cycore (in English only), the original developer of Final Effects. Now you can add smoke and sparks to your compositions using Particle World blazing ray of light transitions using Light Burst and Light Sweep, or change all the colors in an image to just three hues using Toner. These effects are located on the application DVD and need to be installed separately. Q: What is Keylight, and how can I access it? A: Keylight is an Academy Award-winning green- and blue-screen keying tool from the Foundry. Included in After Effects 7.0 Professional (retail, education, and upgradeversions– in English only), it is located on the application DVD and needs to be installed separately. Q: What is X-Factor? A: X-Factor by GridIron is the new productivity plug-in for Adobe After Effects Professional 7.0 that uses the power of grid computing technology to speed preview processing and rendering. By supporting two nodes, it lets you preview processorintensive effects and high- resolution compositions much faster, allowing you to focus on being creative rather than waiting for your computer to catch up with you. Q: Are training materials included with After Effects? A: When you purchase After Effects you'll receive a DVD produced by Total Training that includes more than two hours of training on After Effects and Adobe's other video products. Q: Does After Effects support hyperthreading, dual-core processors, and multiprocessors? A: After Effects takes advantage of hyperthreading and offers support for both dual core and multiprocessors. Q: How can I stay up to date on the latest support info about After Effects? A: You can subscribe to Adobe Technical e-mail announcements at