
The main difference between the two applications is that some of the effects, advanced particle simulations and 3D model capabilities have been removed.īut, fear not, one very good reason to start with the free version (other than it being free!), is that you can then add in specific elements that are of interest to you – say the Colorist pack, or Pro Light Flares pack – purchased individually from the Hit Film store, rather than paying for the whole kit and kaboodle at £234/$299 for the Pro version, in one gulp. The little brother of Hit Film Pro 3, the very recently released Hit Film Express is a free version of the composting, editing and grading application.

In the hour long tutorial video above, Joey from School of demonstrates the difference between the layer-based compositing mindset of After Effects, and a node based compositor like Nuke. Also the pricing varies considerably across the apps, with a year of After Effects costing about £200/$240 compared to a year of Nuke which will set you back £3040/$4860! Or in the case of Hit Film Express – the entire application is free!ĭepending on the level of the industry you’re looking to work in – Nuke is an essential learn if you’re serious about becoming a full-time compositor, where as After Effects is a fantastic multi-purpose tool for anyone looking to get some compositing, motion graphics or animation done, you’ll want to check out different tools.

If you’re looking to beef up your technical and creative chops and get stuck into some serious compositing work, you’ll want to investigate one of these 5 applications – Hit Film, After Effects, Nuke, Fusion and Scratch – which all ship with a free trial version you can download and play with, to test the waters.
