How Long Does it Take for a CapCut User to Learn After Effects?

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 list of features. 

After Effects is a far more advanced tool than CapCut, offering seamless integration with other Adobe applications and an extensive array of features such as 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, 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.