How To Create Animation In Affinity Designer

I'm a huge fan of the abundance in new-comers who are challenging the Creative Cloud. I've been using Sketch for years as my weapon of choice for UI, I recently began playing around with Affinity to replace Illustrator for icons and illustrations.

But I was wondering, is anyone taking a stab at replacing After Effects or do I really still need to keep that CC subscription to have a proper motion graphic tool?

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Trev Morris, 5 years ago

I suppose this all depends on your primary use of After Effects! If you're doing some heavy animation, stick with AE.. but if you're doing this for interactions, transitions of screens etc etc, then you could try Flinto/Principle (as suggested).

Alternatively.. you could use Keynote. Some may laugh, but I find it so quick to mock up an animation I'd like a developer to implement. Granted I use this a lot less than I used to now that Principle is around.
Joe Blau, 5 years ago (edited 5 years ago )

I wonder if people that work at Adobe are noticing these complaints. It seems like almost every week, there is an "Alternative to ". I'm sure it's negligible from their perspective, but it seems like there are lots of opportunities for new companies to grow.
- John P, 5 years ago
  
  My only complaint about AE is all the other crap I have to pay for to access it.
  
  if I had a choice the illustrator dev team wouldn't see a penny of mine and I'd only pay for PS and AE.
- Trev Morris, 5 years ago
  
  We are of the few - there are massive companies still subscribing to CC with little complaint... I guess because they've not been shown alternatives, or that they trust the big names to do the right job. I'm so excited to see what happens in the software industry over the next 2-5 years. Change is definitely a'coming.
Corin Edwards, 5 years ago (edited 5 years ago )

I use AE intermittently and I've always been incredibly frustrated by it's interface. I swear it was designed to be deliberately obtuse and to give power users a sense of accomplishment from deciphering it.
- Peter Nowell, 5 years ago
  
  That's true! I found that Flinto's ability to automatically interpolate between connected layers (especially basic shapes) in the Transition Designer, along with 3D rotations and super easy timing/easing tools allowed me to create more stunning animations in 2 day than a motion graphics animator could get through in a week. Sure, it doesn't support multiple keyframes, but you can fake that and get surprisingly far with groups and additional screens.
James Lane, 5 years ago (edited 5 years ago )

Check out Fusion 8 by Blackmagic. I keep meaning to give it a try, but haven't had chance yet. From memory, I think it's free?

Also, not entirely sure it could be useful for what you are trying to do, but in terms of something to substitute AE, it sure sounds like it!
Connor Norvell, 5 years ago

If you are on mac, check out apple motion. I have never used it personally, but It looks like a very comparable program to AE (though much simpler).

Look into if you can use it for motion graphics, but it has generally the same keyframing options as after effects.
- Greg Warner, 5 years ago (edited 5 years ago )
  
  I picked up Apple Motion to test and compare to After Effects, and for UI animations and other simple layer-based animations it's both powerful and relatively easy to use. The downside, compared to After Effects, I discovered, is Motion doesn't have quite as robust of export as AE + Media Encoder. I found a way to convert output videos easily enough with HandBrake (a nice open-source app). The other (bigger) downside is using, say, Affinity Designer + Motion doesn't give you the native vector import to work with that Illustrator + AE does, so you're kind of stuck there if you want to do complex vector/character animation. Motion's vector import support is rather sad. I'd love to see Serif create a cross-platform Affinity companion app for motion, but that's likely far down the road.
Kyla Medina, 5 years ago (edited 5 years ago )

Hype is great for UI animations and can output HTML. Adobe Animate which is Flash with HTML5 and WebGL support for interactive work. Even if you don't need that, Animate is better at manipulating vectors that AE.
Alexander Obenauer, 5 years ago

I've been wondering this a lot lately, the more I've been using AE. I would love to see the Sketch of After Effects. Naturally, as a product designer, I've had a lot of thoughts around how it could and should work.

But building something like that, while maintaining speed, is - I assume - a huge barrier to entry.
- John P, 5 years ago (edited 5 years ago )
  
  I would love to see the Sketch of After Effects
  
  That's like saying I'd love to see the fisher price version of the super computer.
  
  AE is a ridiculously powerful and extendable tool and Adobe's only true piece of professional software.
  
  AE as a tool is leagues beyond silly UI animations.
  - Alexander Obenauer, 5 years ago
    
    Does Sketch do everything PS does? No. But what it does do, it does arguably better. AE does a ton, all I'm saying is I'd like to have a few tools that cover some specific use cases better.
    - Jesper Klingenberg, 5 years ago
      
      I agree !!
      
      I think it's the wrong approach to try and build AE but with nicer and more intuitive UI. Instead I'd love to see someone figuring out how a new and much much simpler (and cheaper) tool could cater to a sub-set of the AE users.
      
      Who that sub-set of users are and what the exact use is, I'm not sure. Perhaps simple animations for web, or simple motion graphics. Thus leaving the hardcore animators who do heavy 3D work with AE.
      
      This is exactly what Sketch did - they realized there was a ton of UI designers who used PS in a totally hacked and non-intuitive way. So they branched out and created a tool specifically for them. But PS is still a fantastic piece of software for hardcore illustration/drawing/photo-editing.
- Daniel Fisher, 5 years ago
  
  Came here to post this! A more robust version of keynotes magic move, that lets you import straight from Sketch.
Cristian Moisei, 5 years ago

You haven't mentioned what you need it for - AE is indeed one of the most powerful pieces of software Adobe has made and it has few alternatives.
Jan Semler, 5 years ago (edited 5 years ago )

After Effects is a powerful tool and rock solid, except the recent versions which is kinda buggy in terms of cache playing. After Effects is way more than just animation. You can compose really heavy cinematic effects, 3D tracking, keying and so on. But i am with you there should be a cool alternative tool for motion design only, vector animation, puppet tool, easy export to svg animation, css animation. Not only the creation and manipulation of video files. There is at the moment nothing out there that i am aware of. I have searched heavily for an alternative but i am positive that we will see something like that in the near future.

But you may have a look on principle or flinto for mac for the creation of animated UI Designs for web or mobile.
- Jesper Klingenberg, 5 years ago
  
  Principle & Flinto looks promising for prototyping. So if someone would just create a similar kind of tool for vector animation it would be interesting.