CapCut and Adobe After Effects are two entirely different apps that provide different image and video editing tools.
While you can expect to take around a week or two to become an advanced user of CapCut, the After Effects app is a whole other beast.
It takes upwards of a few months or even a year to get good at After Effects. That’s because After Effects has many more tools and is much more complex than CapCut.
But don’t take my word for it – check out my in-depth guide below to get a grasp of After Effects’ true complexity!
Summary: While it may take just a week or two to become proficient in the CapCut app, learning Adobe After Effects can take months or even a year due to its complexity and extensive range of features.
After Effects is a much more advanced tool than CapCut, offering seamless integration with other Adobe applications and a comprehensive suite of features, including 2D and 3D animation, visual effects, and more.
To learn and master After Effects, resources like School of Motion, Motion Array, Video Copilot, Adobe After Effects tutorials, MotionWorks, ActionVFX, and Creative Cow can provide valuable tutorials and guidance.
CapCut Vs. After Effects Complexity & Tools
To understand the massive difference between CapCut and After Effects, I’ll create two lists, one for CapCut and one for After Effects, listing their tools and features.
CapCut Main Features:
- Effects (video and body effects)
- Overlay
- Stickers (auto lyrics, add text, text template, stickers, draw, etc.)
- Text
- Audio
- Split
- Speed
- Animation
- Style
- Delete
- Remove Background
- Volume
- Extract Audio
- Edit (rotate, mirror, crop)
- Filters
- Adjust (exposure, shadow, temp, hue, vignette, fade, grain, etc.)
- Enhance
- Mask
- Replace
- Stabilize
- Opacity
- Voice Effects
- Copy
- Reverse
- Freeze
- Graphs
- Green Screen
- Fast Motion
- Slow Motion
- Zoom-in and zoom-out
That’s about it. If you have experience with video and image editing tools, you’ll realize that CapCut is slightly more than basic in editing.
Let’s have a look at After Effects!
After Effects Main Features:
- 2D Vector Animation
- Basic 3D Animation
- Character Animation
- Kinetic Topography
- UX/UX Mock-Up Animations
- Visual Effects (including everything from CapCut and more)
- Workspaces
- Projects and compositions
- Importing Footage
- Text and Graphics
- Drawing, Painting, and Paths
- Animation, Keyframes, Motion Tracking, and Keying
- Transparency and Compositing
- Layers, Markers, and Camera
- Expressions and Automations
- Adjusting Color
- Effects and Animation Presets
- Immersive Video, VR, and 3D
- Views and Previews
- Rendering and Exporting
- Seamless integration with Adobe Audition, InDesign, Lightroom, Premiere Pro
Simply put, there’s no comparison between CapCut and Adobe After Effects. So, the time it takes you to learn to use CapCut is irrelevant to your experience learning After Effects.
However, it’s also important to note that you may not need all of After Effects’ tools for your projects. If you want to learn the basics, it won’t take too long.
Mastering it is another topic, though. Think of Adobe Photoshop and how long it takes for someone to become an expert at using it for more advanced projects.
Now transfer all that effort into After Effects, and you get a general idea about its complexity.
Where Can I Learn About Using After Effects?
Various platforms teach you how to use After Effects and eventually master it. Here are some of them:
- School of Motion is arguably the best motion design school in the world. You’ll learn not only the basics but advanced training until you become a master motion designer
- Motion Array offers great tutorials
- Video Copilot is great for beginners and advanced users
- Adobe After Effects – Essential and advanced concepts learned straight from the source
- MotionWorks – Tutorials, training, and tips, many of which are free
- ActionVFX
- Creative Cow
I recommend using several sources to pile up free studying material. YouTube tutorials are also great research for most users!
If you have any questions, just leave a comment below and I’ll be around soon.
