QuSoft

I Make Things Move: My Honest Take on Motion Graphics Software

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I’m Kayla. I make little videos with words, shapes, and logos that move. I do this for work and for friends. Some days it’s a quick Instagram story. Some nights it’s a full ad with music beats and confetti. I’ve used a bunch of apps. Some make me smile. Some make my laptop sigh.

Here’s what stood out, and what tripped me up, with real stuff I made and sent out into the world.

What I Use Most (and Why)

I bounce between a few tools, because no one app does it all.

  • Adobe After Effects: my main workhorse
  • Apple Motion: fast and friendly for Final Cut jobs
  • Blender: real 3D when I need depth
  • CapCut (and sometimes Canva): super quick social posts
  • Lottie from After Effects: tiny app animations for the web

Most days I fire up Adobe After Effects for deep compositing, and when the timeline lives in Final Cut I jump into Apple Motion for snappy titles.

Occasionally I’ll scan resources like Qusoft to see which up-and-coming tools might edge into my rotation. If you’re curious about the deeper dive I penned on the subject, you can read it right here.

You know what? I didn’t plan to juggle this many. It just kind of happened as projects changed.

After Effects: The Big One I Rely On

I spend most of my week in After Effects. It’s not cute. It’s powerful.

Real things I shipped:

  • A 6-second logo bumper for a coffee shop ad. I used Trim Paths on a hand-drawn circle, a simple “wiggle” expression on the steam, and Easy Ease so it felt soft. Render was 1080p, and my MacBook’s fan went whooosh. It took about 6 minutes to finish.
  • Lower thirds for a local sports stream. I built one comp, then made a few precomps with team colors. I tracked a fast player with Mocha AE. It held pretty well, even with motion blur on.
  • A tiny app animation saved as Lottie. I made it in AE, used the Bodymovin plugin, and sent a JSON file to the developer. It was like magic. No heavy video file.

What I love:

  • Masks and shapes do what I want.
  • Keyframes make sense after a while. The Graph Editor helps. It looks scary, but it’s fine.
  • Tons of plugins. I used Red Giant Universe for a glow that didn’t look cheesy.

What bugs me:

  • It can get slow. If my comp gets messy, previews lag. Purging the cache helps. Closing Chrome helps more.
  • Color can shift if I’m not careful. I now check it on my phone before I send.

Here’s the thing: AE feels like a toolbox in a garage. It’s loud and a bit dusty, but it gets the job done.

Apple Motion: Fast, Smooth, and Kinda Fun

When I cut in Final Cut Pro, I hop into Apple Motion. It feels light.

Real things I shipped:

  • A title pack for a wedding video. I built it in Motion, saved it as a Final Cut template, and changed names and dates in the edit. Huge time saver.
  • Confetti particles for a graduation clip. One emitter. One texture. It looked happy. Grandma cried. I might have too.

What I like:

  • Playback is smooth on my M-chip Mac. It just runs.
  • 3D text is easy. Not fancy, but clean.

What I don’t:

  • Tracking is weaker than AE with Mocha.
  • Fewer plugins. If I want niche looks, I go back to AE.

Still, when I’m in a rush, Motion feels like a shortcut that isn’t sloppy.

Blender: When I Need Real 3D

I don’t live in Blender, but I visit.

Real things I shipped:

  • A spinning soda can for a short ad. I modeled a simple can, used an HDR light, rendered in Eevee, and sent PNG frames to AE for text overlays. It looked real enough that a client asked if I filmed it.
  • A simple Grease Pencil doodle line that wraps a logo. Very cute. Very fast.

Good stuff:

  • It’s free. It’s deep. It can look amazing.
  • Eevee renders fast, which helps my patience.

Tough stuff:

  • The controls take time. I forgot shortcuts. I kept a cheat sheet next to my trackpad.
  • Export is a step. I render image sequences and assemble in AE. Extra coffee helps.

CapCut (And Sometimes Canva): Social Speed

If I need a quick Reel or TikTok, I go here.

Real things I shipped:

  • A 15-second “new menu” tease for the coffee shop. Text whooshes, a masked latte pour, and one whoop sound. I posted at lunch. It did fine.
  • A Stories stack with bold captions. I made it in Canva, then added motion in CapCut. Fonts were easy to match.

Why it works:

  • It’s fast. It’s on my phone. No excuses.
  • Templates that don’t look corny if I tweak them.

Why it trips me:

  • Export can crush colors if I’m not careful. I now test a short clip first.
  • Keyframes are better now, but still basic.

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Real Workflows That Saved Me

  • Name things. “Shape Layer 27” is how I lose my mind.
  • Precompose in AE when a comp feels heavy. It cleans the mess.
  • For social, I build 1080×1920 first, not last. Reframing later hurts.
  • I export H.264 for web. ProRes if someone else will edit. Lottie if it’s for an app.

Small note: I once sent a square video for a tall ad. Oops. I fixed it fast, but yeah, check the size.

Things That Annoyed Me (But I Worked Around)

  • Long renders: I queue to Media Encoder while I answer emails. Or stretch. Or both.
  • Shaky footage: AE stabilizer helped, but it bent faces. I masked the subject and blended it. Better, not perfect.
  • Missing fonts: Canva swapped my font once. I uploaded my real file and locked it in.

Who Should Use What? My Quick Take

  • After Effects: You make motion a lot, and you don’t mind layers on layers.
  • Apple Motion: You cut in Final Cut and want fast, clean titles with a tiny footprint.
  • Blender: You need real 3D or a nice spin on a product.
  • CapCut/Canva: You want to post today and still look polished.

Little Wins That Felt Big

  • A looping Lottie micro-animation on a startup homepage. It loaded fast and looked crisp on my phone.
  • A scoreboard bug for a high school stream. I built it in AE, linked numbers, and a parent could read it from the back row.
  • A YouTube intro for a teacher’s channel. Five seconds, one whoosh, two colors, one happy teacher.

Honestly, those small jobs taught me more than big gigs. Short deadlines force clear choices.

Final Take

I don’t think there’s one perfect app. I keep After Effects open most days. I jump to Motion when I’m in Final Cut. I grab Blender when I need that extra depth. I use CapCut when speed wins.

If you’re new, start small. Make a bouncing ball. Make a name tag. Make it loop. Post it. Then try a logo reveal. Then try a track. Keep going.

Motion feels like cooking. Pick your pan. Keep the heat steady. Taste as you go. And hey—if the fan on your laptop starts to whirr, that’s just part of the meal.

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