Vegas 5 Equivalent to Premiere+Adobe After Effects

[iKwak]

Hello, I have a copy of Premiere 6.0 and currently looking for After Effects 5.5 to go along with Premiere.

But I was wondering if I should take the Sony Vegas+DVD 2 (student discount) route and learn that software from scratch....

or

continue using Adobe Premiere 6.0 and purchase a copy of After Effects 5.5.



My main concern is, will Vegas 5 do everything Premiere+AE can do? Or must I purchase a third-party plug-in with Vegas 5 to be equivalent (in terms of motion graphics and visual effects) with Premiere+AE?

[Skynet107]

Not a chance in hell. Adobe AfterFX 6.5 is a high-end application with loads of features. The mask tool options alone in AfterFX are far beyond anything Vegas can hope to do. AfterFX is a serious program that produces first class quality output. I have not seen anything for less than a thousand dollars that comes even close. The text tools in AfterFX are also great, the myriad of filters and effects are extensive. The way AfterFX treats layers is very very powerful, you have full control of each layer to add filters, motion, fades etc. the possibilities are endless. AfterFX also fully supports the alpha channel in PSD images, a huge plus. AfterFX is easily Adobe's best program.

HOWEVER, AfterFX is not a serious video editor. It has basically no tools for cutting, joining, editing etc. it is for composite work and adding effects to existing footage. It needs to be teamed up with a true video editor like Premiere or Vegas. Personally I left Premiere behind and use Vegas among other editors. Don't get me wrong I love Vegas but it has no chance of replacing AfterFX.