When comparing Animation Desk vs Adobe After Effects CC, the Slant community recommends Adobe After Effects CC for most people. In the question“What are the best tools for prototyping mobile interactions/animations?” Adobe After Effects CC is ranked 14th while Animation Desk is ranked 19th. The most important reason people chose Adobe After Effects CC is:
Ae is the de facto standard for motion graphic design.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Quick sketch
Great for light sketches, and some drafting for your animation.
Pro Free to use
Some features may require purchases but the app free as is, and works fine.
Pro Works on different platforms
It supports almost every major platforms, so working on iOS, Android, and Windows devices is not a problem.
Pro Photoshop compatible
Supports PSD file import/export, can export your draft to Photoshop easily for further works.
Pro Great for motion graphics compositing
Ae is the de facto standard for motion graphic design.
Pro Huge amount of resources
Because of the popularity of Ae, there are a plethora of tutorials, presets, plug-ins, etc that can be used.
Pro Extensive plug-in support
After Effects has extensive plug-in support. A broad range of third party plug-ins are available including solutions for particle systems, 3D environments and grading.
Pro C4D Lite & Cineware integration
After Effects CC includes a Lite version of MAXON CINEMA 4D, a 3D modeling, animation and rendering application.
Pro 3D camera tracker
Pro Speedy and comfortable UI
After grasping what panels do what, the workspace feels safe and comfortable. And the timeline moves and shows things how you would expect it to.
Pro Works well with other Adobe software
This program is made to interact very well with the other Adobe production apps like Premiere Pro, Soundbooth, Photoshop and others. You can dynamically link with a set list of Adobe software so when you update something in Ae it will update in other software accordingly.
Pro Subscription / cloud-based model
Ensures you always have the latest version of the software. Allows saving preferences in the cloud, so you can load them on a different machine. You can even sync setting from a different user.
Pro Subscription based model
You constantly have the latest software that is updated regularly.
Pro Ray-traced and extruded text and shapes
Cons
Con Android version is not as extensive as the iOS version
Some of the options that are present in the iOS version of Animation Desk Cloud aren't integrated in the Android application. For example, features such frame labeling isn't available.
Con Doesn't include any mobile prototyping specific features
Con iOS free cloud version has no sound options
Con No true 3D environment for compositing
Con No real-time features
Con Costly
The Adobe subscription costs are quite steep for anybody on a shoestring budget.