[Mark Samuels] "I just don't see how this can be industry standard."
Well, it IS an industry standard.
Let's assume for a moment that you cut in FCP; you're on a Mac, after all. FCP assumes that your primary chore is to adjust in & out points on clips, and put clips in a logical order. Nothing very fancy, and you can look at your cuts in real time. But what happens in FCP the moment you start applying effects and moving video on the screen? You have to render.
AE makes a different assumption: your primary task is to build motion graphics, create complicated effects and do compositing work with many pieces of video and still images at once. Hundreds if you want. That's nothing at all like an NLE, so it doesn't WORK like an NLE.
[Mark Samuels] "If I have to render every time I want to preview my work I will never finish anything because not only will it take too long but I will lose patience and give up on this programme. "
Well, you do have to render: AE renders EVERYTHING. Since you're new at this, you owe it to yourself to pay a visit here:
http://blogs.adobe.com/toddkopriva/2010/01/getting-started-with-after-eff.h...
...and pay close attention. AE rewards the individual who's willing to put in the time to learn the basics of the application -- and there are many basics -- and punishes the individual who blows the basics off... much as you're now feeling when you lost patience, while trying to use the application intuitively.
Dave LaRonde
Sr. Promotion Producer
KCRG-TV (ABC) Cedar Rapids, IA
