Adobe After Effects
This is by far my most used piece of software and it’s my personal favourite. It is a professional Motion Graphics Design suite as well as being excellent for postproduction and VFX. It is a programme that I have been learning since the age of 11 and I am still learning to this day. I use this on an everyday basis and it is one of the most complicated pieces of kit I use, however, I enjoy the challenge of learning. It is constantly being updated bringing more ways to edit and new techniques along with it!
Adobe Illustrator
Throwback to June 4th when I started my first day at Blue Whale Media, I said to Lewis that I couldn’t stand illustrator and that I much preferred Photoshop, flash forward to the present day and I cannot understand how I managed to get through University without using Illustrator as it goes perfectly hand in hand with After Effects. I much prefer to use this than Photoshop as it is faster and much more versatile. This is also something that I use on a daily basis to create things such as leaflets, roller banners and graphics prepped for videos.
Adobe Photoshop
Although above I state that I prefer Illustrator to Photoshop, it does have its uses and I have to respect how far it has brought me through the years. When working with JPG and PNG images, Photoshop is miles better as it’s able to compress file sizes better. However, the main problem I have with Photoshop is its speed, it’s incredibly slow and therefore incomparable to Illustrator, although I do have to use it on a regular basis.
Maxon Cinema 4D
Something that I have not used since being at Blue Whale Media, Cinema 4D is a very powerful and render intensive 3D software. It links directly with After Effects and uses 3D technology to create ultra-realistic images, providing they are modelled and textured correctly. In a way, I am glad I only use Cinema 4D in my spare time as it is very addictive and render intensive. A 4-second video can take over 24 hours to create depending on the frames per second.
Adobe Character Animate
Something fairly new to myself is Character Animate. It is something that I have been learning how to use that animates characters to imitate what you are doing on a webcam.
If layered correctly in Illustrator/Photoshop, then the character will copy whatever you do on a webcam and it will also talk with accuracy. Stay tuned for our animated characters in 2019.
Adobe Premiere Pro
My final choice on this list is something that I use but not very regularly. I mainly use Premiere to edit sound and make sure it is as crisp and clear as it can be by removing any background noise. It is something that I find a lot easier to do than in After Effects.
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