Moving to Combustion 2 from After Effects
Page 2 of 2
Main Differences
There are a couple differences here that lead to this category ultimately being a wash as to which program has the upper hand. Combustion's Footage Controls offer a ton of options from a single interface. After Effects, on the other hand, offers the essentials (which is just fine the vast majority of the time), but also gives you a huge timesaving feature by allowing you to copy (or "remember" in the AE lexicon) interpretation settings, which can be transferred to multiple clips in the Project window at the same time. AE also seems to be better than Combustion at guessing the field dominance and aspect ratio of clips you import, but this is an area where individual mileage varies widely. In a nutshell, AE is better at working with multiple clips, but Combustion seems to offer finer control over how your footage is interpreted.
Working in the various D's (2 and 3)
Both programs give you the option of working with comps in either "traditional" 2D space or that newfangled 3D space all the kids seem to be excited about nowadays. When all is said and done, though, neither one can magically turn your flat 2D assets into true 3D objects; instead, they give you a 3D scene complete with lights, cameras and the extra Z axis to place your assets into, but your footage stays flat as a pancake. There are still some very cool effects to be had this way, so it's definitely a welcome addition.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
Where is it?
In After Effects, 3D mode is activated for any 3D-capable layer through a switch located in the Timeline (fig. 11). Once 3D mode is active, any light or camera you may have added to your scene (through the Layer->New menu command) will actually do something, which is always good. In Combustion, 3D mode is activated either upon creation of your comp (fig. 12, left) or under the composite's Output tab under Composite Controls (fig. 12, right). You can switch from 2D to 3D mode and back again at any point, regardless of the program you're using.
 |
| Figure 11: This eensie-weensie box activates 3D in AE's individual layers. |
 |
| Figure 12: These eensie-weensie boxes activate 3D in Combustion's composites. |
Main Differences
Two main differences of note here -- one philosophical, and one performance-related. The philosophical difference is in the way each program approaches 3D mode. After Effects handles 3D on a layer-by-layer basis, meaning that you have to activate 3D mode on each layer you want to be 3D. This has the benefit of letting you mix 2D and 3D assets within a single comp, which is a very nice way to do things. Combustion's 3D space has to be chosen at the composite level, meaning that your comp has to be either all 2D or all 3D, but not a mixture of both. While there's technically no commingling of 2D and 3D in C2, there is enough control over how the 3D objects behave and react to other 3D objects that functionally, you can cheat a little and keep some layers largely 2D in appearance.
On the performance side, C2 is the clear winner in the 3D space, using hardware-based OpenGL to help render 3D previews. This is a huge advantage over After Effects, but it's a temporary one. After Effects 6, which has just been released, is supposed to use OpenGL very liberally during comp previewing and playback, so there won't be much of a discrepancy here before long.
Adjusting properties
If this were an episode of Sanford and Son, Fred Sanford might be clutching his chest and telling Elizabeth that he's comin' home right about now. In other words, THIS IS THE BIG ONE. Property adjustment, combined with time, is what differentiates "motion graphics" from just "graphics." This is also the aforementioned "big one" because this is the main area where Combustion's unusual interface really begins to shine. Yet again, After Effects and Combustion do many of the same things here, but vary wildly in the practical execution.
Where is it?
Whether you're specifically animating or not, both programs act as you would expect by letting you manipulate assets directly in the comp/Viewport windows. Select a tool, do your stuff, and you're set. Many times, however, you're tweaking numbers and dragging sliders in some other window to set properties. In After Effects, you can do this through the (in)famous "twirlies" in the timeline (fig. 13, left), or through the various menubar commands (fig. 13, right). In Combustion, this sort of manipulation is done exclusively through the Operator Controls panel (fig. 14), which is prominently located in the bottom right-hand part of the interface.
 |
| Figure 13: Menu or twirlie? So many ways to set properties in AE. |
 |
| Figure 14: The Transform Tab of Combustion's Operator Controls panel. |
Main Differences
There's a huge philosophical difference here, one which affects how you fundamentally work in Combustion. As you may have noticed by now, After Effects is a very timeline-centric program. A lot of important things are integrated directly into the timeline, from the overall property adjustment we're discussing now to mask adjustment to applying things like motion blur or frame blending. Combustion is a completely different animal. The timeline, while important, isn't the central element of the workflow as it is in After Effects. This distinction belongs to the Operator Controls panel, which we'll take a closer look at now.
Operator Controls -- Lord of the Manor, King of the Castle
If you're new to Combustion, it might be a bit disconcerting to open it up and have it look, at times, more like a 3D program than an effects and compositing program. I know I was a little thrown at first, and it's pretty much because the Timeline isn't right there up front like I was used to from all those years in After Effects. Once I started to work with Combustion, I found that I was drawing more on my experience in using LightWave with respect to animating and keyframes than my experience with After Effects, in that I only switched over to the Timeline when I needed to tweak a specific keyframe -- everything else I was doing with the time slider, Animate button, and the Operator Controls panel. This was directly due (at least for me) to the very smooth workflow of the Operator Control panel -- I found myself spending less time messing around with the timeline and all the various keyframes and more time looking directly at the Viewport. The interface is so powerful because it's so tightly integrated, and reconfigures itself as you work based on what you're doing.
 |
| Figure 15: The various Operator Controls sub-tabs in all their glory. |
Next I'll click the footage node for the open001 object, and the Composite Controls tab turns into the Footage Controls tab (fig. 16). This is a huge aspect of what makes Combustion's interface so tight -- C2 displays context-sensitive panels depending on what you've selected in the Workspace. So if I click on the Light object, it switches back to Composite Controls, except now I have a Light tab available (fig. 17). You get the idea by now. Seriously, once you've used this for a little while, it's soooooooo nice to have everything centered in the same place. Plus, to expand the usability of this space, you have access to the Timeline, Operators, Audio and Trackers tabs in addition to the specific controls for the selected item (fig. 18). It's quite possible to never have your mouse leave a single, relatively small rectangular region during a Combustion session with the way everything is situated and accessible.
 |
| Figure 16: What was once the Composite Controls is now the Footage Controls, depending on what's selected in the Workspace. |
 |
| Figure 17: Again, it has transformed, almost as if by some sort of black magic or sorcerer's spell. |
 |
| Figure 18: All the important stuff is right there in a row. |
Finally, we wrap up
Hopefully, this three-part "subjourney" through the main Combustion interface has, if nothing else, hopefully shown that while things may look mighty funky to AE users at first glance, all the tools you're used to are right at your fingertips. Ideally, you've also gotten an idea of just how streamlined and well thought out Combustion's interface is -- the more you work in it, the more you come to appreciate it. Next time...well, you'll just have to see what I've got in store for next time, so stay tuned!
When not fleeing the paparazzi or spending his vast fortune associated with the fame and notoriety of being a DMN contributor, Kevin Schmitt can be found with his eyeballs glued to his computer screen, attempting to use some of the hardware and software he rants so incoherently about. An award-winning animator, artist and multimedia producer, he is currently a freelance designer located in the enormously bustling megalopolis of Charlottesville, VA. Whether you're looking to "give him the business" of either the figurative or literal type, feel free to drop him a line. He's ready to believe you!
Prev 1 2
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
