Adobe After Effects info site, brochure and demos. The After Effects Production Bundle (Mac/PC) is available through resellers; a feature comparison of the standard and production bundles is available at learnDYNAMICmedia. After Effects User Forum -- this is the main forum for AE information, questions and answers. Quite unorganized, but lots of good tips, plus search function. You can set preferences to show new posts as a seperate link. Adobe Customer Support gateway -- Solutions for many common problems can be found quickly by searching the Adobe Customer and Tech Support databases. Adobe Magazine, free to addresses within the U.S. and Canada, features a regular Q&A section and occasional features on AE. There are back issues available on Adobe's site. See for example, "Big Change for the Small Screen" in the Summer 1997 issue; or "The Full Gamut," by Bruce Fraser, on RGB spaces in Photoshop 5. AE's Quick Reference Card, also part of the Windows help files, is a great tutorial in itself. Stepping through each shorcut will familiarize you with all of the program's features (check the manual too). Using shortcuts can speed workflows by large magnitudes. Think of the geometric shortcuts as PARTS: Position, Anchor point, Rotation, opaciTy, Scale. If anyone is interested in developing After Effects plug-ins ("it's really not that tough to write a plug-in if you know C" or can partner), they can get the AE SDK from Adobe. The SDKs contain contact information, and basic development questions can be answered before the $199 Adobe Developers Association membership charge is invoked.   After Effects Forums and Lists AE The After Effects List Serv. This is the most active area beside the Adobe forum: as of January 1999 there were over 1010 subscribers. The digest mode is advised. This page also sports an interface to search posts. Worldwide Users Groups' AE Forum. There are a variety of forums and articles at the WWUG; you can register for prizes too. postforum -- Macintosh digital video resources, includes an AE forum that works fine for PC users too. The postforum can even sends you notices of replies and digests of posts! AE Platter -- a Hotline server (at aeplatter.softmotion.com; this is NOT the Web) where you can download things related to AE. Light traffic now, but has potential. "On the AE platter only registered users will be able to upload, download, chat, browse in the folders etc. Non members (Guest) can ONLY view the News info. The AE Platter will NOT be published on any tracker. The only way to get an account will be to send an email to: AEplatter@softmotion.com Include the following info in the email: Full name: (We will not accept nicknames, it's a lot nicer to know who you are chatting with) Login:(Any name or word you can come up with) Password:(Any name or word you can come up with) Once your request is processed we'll send you the AE Platter IP address and you can log in. Please allow a few days before you get your reply, we expect a lot of accounts requests as we are 1010+ members on the AE-List." Shark's After Effects Yahoo Club began in October 1998. Since it is new there's little traffic due to competition from the list and established forums.   User Groups MGLA (Motion Graphics Los Angeles) is an LA user group for motion graphic artists. Send all correspondence, such as job openings, special offers, email address changes, and proposals for demos to: MGLAmail@aol.com. The New York City After Effects User Group "is a monthly gathering of digital video professionals and enthusiasts. Members show tapes, share tips, and get sneak previews of great new stuff." Check out their job listings and other board items. The Seattle AE and Media 100 Group meets regularly; contact Reg Harris for more information. The Sydney AE User Group holds meetings at The Computer Graphics College in East Sydney. Email John Dickinson for more information. AE users in France try to get together at times too. Contact Jean-Luc for more information. The Toronto After Effects User Group has formed and hosts a discussion forum web site; contact Todd Hallam thallam@cgocable.net for more information.         Copyright © Rich Young 1998 comments or suggestions welcome at RYoung097@aol.com Synesthetic Media Connections Many thanks to the SFSU Multimedia Studies Program for hosting this site.