Regardless of the actual package, any of the options out there opens up a whole new world of options. Consider the possibilities:

• Video Titles
  Tired of your video titles being nothing more than flat text? Do you want them to have some depth and weight? Look no further.
• Flying Logos
  Does your client want something bold and dramatic? Something that says "I want to be like the NFL, but I don't have the same budget?" Do they want to dive through their company name and watch as the sunlight glitters off their textured-to-fit surface? Though this falls outside the realm of packages like After Effects, 3D software like Maya and LightWave are made for just this sort of thing.
• Compositing
  When people think of compositing an object into a video scene, the first thing that pops to mind is either a velociraptor mauling an entire wedding party, or something similarly silly. The truth is that most compositing is far more subtle.

Imagine this: It's the climax of a short video. Jack confronts Jill in a field near a local airport. He pleads with her to stay, but Jill won' have it. "I need to spread my wings!" she says. Jack realizes then that he's lost her, and he cries like a baby. Fade out. Now, as shot and edited, the scene is perfectly fine... but all we see behind Jill is blue sky. "Gosh, I wish I could have had an airliner taking off in the background," the direc tor grouses. "Nothing too big, but enough to help drive home Jill's choice." Of course, he didn't have the budget to hire an airliner, and none of the takes that had a plane were any good, so he had to settle on the shot with plain blue sky. Not anymore. Now he can have virtually any airplane that he wants taking off behind Jill. Any of the big 3D packages listed in this article can do the work, and do it well. Of course, that's an example using a 3D object. What else can be done?

• Want to remove a distracting person from the background of a shot? Either paint the person out of existence with After Effects, or create a wall that didn't exist in the original shot and cover the person up completely.
• Want a full moon tracking across the night sky? After Effects can add one seamlessly. (Of course, if you need the camera to leap into the sky and rush to the moon's surface, well, you'll need one of the other packages.)
• So those B-B guns you used for your action videos don't come off as real, even after adding in digital muzzle blasts? No worries. Add in virtual bullet casings that go flying to the ground behind the actor.

All of this power comes at a cost. In order to get the most out of any of these packages, be prepared to invest a lot of just learning how to use them. These are complex pieces of software, and the learning curve is often so steep as to be vertical.

Fortunately, there is a large number of resources available to help the neophyte ease into the animation world (See Hello? A Little Help Here? sidebar). It's getting easier to do complicated animations, but expect to spend some time bending the old noodle as you wrap your head around an entirely new corner of video production.

This isn't the first time that a powerful new product was moved into the market space. Non-linear editing revolutionized the entire video production field. It took time to understand those packages and their capabilities, but in the end it was worth every hour it took to do so.

The next revolution is here. Embrace it. You'll be glad that you did.

Tony Bruno has been making independent films for four years, is an occasional actor, and makes his living as a professional technical writer.

The following concepts are universal to the digital animation packages on the market today:

Keyframe Animation - The ability to animate an object from one specific (or "key") moment in time to the next. Just define the key frames; the software does the rest

Motion Path - The path that an object travels in a scene. This can also include the "camera," if it's necessary to simulate the movement of the original video frame.

Particle Effects - A method by which dynamic elements like smoke, water, fire, or even dust are created.

Mesh - A 3D model of an object to be used by an animation package.

Primitive - A basic 3D shape in an animation package. These usually consist of the common shapes like a cube, sphere, or pyramid, as well as others.

Fortunately, the online 3D modeling and animation community is very welcoming to newcomers. Check out the following sites and their forums for tutorials and tips.

• LightWave Group
  www.lwg3d.com
  Focuses on NewTek's LightWave product. Includes tutorials and a helpful user forum.
• High End 3D
  www.highend3d.com/maya/tutorials/
  Tutorials and discussion forums that focus on all packages, including Autodesk's Maya.
• Creative Cow's Forums
  www.creativecow.net
  A terrific place to start your After Effects journey.