Distortion Pack

The Production Bundle version of Adobe After Effects offers all the core motion-graphics tools for compositing, 2D animation, and visual effects that are in the Standard version -- plus an advanced set of distortion, motion control, keying, and audio effects packs. With these powerful packs, visual effects artists can produce sophisticated compositions with the utmost efficiency and precision. Here's a brief look at each Production Bundle pack.

The Distortion Pack in After Effects offers two exciting new types of visual effects: Warping and the Particle Playground. You can warp images over time using the Bézier Warp, Mesh Warp, and Reshape effects; displace pixels from one layer to another using Displacement Map; or apply the Glow effect to create a diffuse halo along an object's edge. With the Particle Playground, you can animate a large number of objects (dots, images, or text) so that they move independently and yet produce a consistent group behavior. The Distortion Pack also includes Corner Pin, Lightning, Scatter, Ripple, Bulge, WaveWarp, and Twirl effects.

Key Pack

The Key Pack delivers sophisticated keying controls for producing precise composites. The Linear Color Key uses the RGB, hue, or chroma information you specify to create transparency from a key color. With the Color Difference key, you can produce combination mattes to control hard-to-key images, such as smoke, shadows, or glass. The Spill Suppressor makes it easy to remove key-color traces from light reflecting off a screen and onto your subject. Create clean mattes with the Simple Choker or more natural-looking mattes with the Matte Choker. And you can perform other specialized keying tasks with the Extract, Difference Matte, Color Range, and Alpha Levels keys.

Motion Pack

From reducing unwanted motion to creating natural-looking zoom effects, the Motion Pack delivers the tools you need to produce the highest quality animations. The Motion Tracker lets you isolate a moving element on one layer and precisely track it to a moving element on another layer. The Motion Stabilizer tracks a single element on a layer to stabilize unwanted motion. With the Wiggler, you can simulate more natural motion by adding random changes to any property over time. Use the Smoother to eliminate bumpiness and extra keyframes from a motion path.

Automate the creation of motion and effects by writing custom scripts with the Motion Math tool -- or run the Motion Math scripts included with After Effects. You can even simulate the accelerating effect of a zoom lens using the Exponential Scale tool, which converts linear scaling of a layer to exponential scaling.

Audio Pack

New to After Effects, the Audio Pack expands the range of high-quality audio effects you can incorporate into a composition. Add depth and character to a sound with Flange, or make one voice or instrument sound like many with Chorus. Apply Parametric EQ to isolate and fine-tune specific ranges of sound. With Reverb, simulate a spacious, acoustically live interior. Create simple tonal sounds (such as a doorbell) by applying Tone, or use Modulator to precisely control audio delay and modulation, creating echo and chorus effects. You can also enhance sounds by removing high and low frequencies with the High-Low Pass filter.

Windows 95/98 and Windows NT System Requirements:
Minimum: Intel486 or greater processor • Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows NT 3.51 or later operating system • QuickTime 2.1.2 for Windows (included) or later • RAM installed: 16 MB of RAM (Windows 95), 32 MB of RAM (Windows NT) • 80 MB or more of free hard-disk space for installation • Super VGA display card • CD-ROM drive
Recommended: Pentium or greater processor • Windows NT 4.0 or later operating system • 32 MB of RAM or more • 500 MB or larger hard disk • 24-bit or greater Super VGA display card

Macintosh and Power Macintosh System Requirements:
Minimum: 68030 or greater processor with a floating-point unit (FPU) • Apple System Software version 7.0 or later • QuickTime software version 2.1 or later (included) • 8 MB or more of application RAM • 80 MB or more of free hard-disk space for installation • High-resolution, 256-color or greater video display • CD-ROM drive
Recommended: PowerPC processor • Apple System Software version 7.5 or later • 32 MB or more of RAM available to After Effects • 500 MB or larger hard disk 2 monitors, 16" or larger, with accelerated 24-bit video