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Re:Show HN: I built an After Effects for dummies by michaelaubry on Tuesday August 04, 2020 @05:59PM (#24054938)
This means a lot. I have spent some time getting it down. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears haha.

I agree with the templates. I am trying to allocate my time wisely and I think expanding that will be major.

I am drawing up a way to make it even easier for people to create amazing videos.

When you click "add new video" I plan to make it interactive and guide you along every step.

Your options will be

Do you want to create a video

- from scratch - from a template - for your podcast - for your product - for your brand

Based on the selection I will walk the user through an simple experience. Have them upload their assets, select a vibe, enter some information, etc. Then generate the video data and put it on the timeline.

I am doing sales, customer support, engineering, and design. So once I can get some runway I will be able to roll it out.

To be honest I hate sales and marketing. I just want to build, and if I can get to ramen profit. Then I can pay people to do what I hate.

Re:Show HN: I built an After Effects for dummies by ghj on Tuesday August 04, 2020 @10:20PM (#24056654)
Make it easy to create /r/highqualitygifs style memes and it will probably market itself!
Re:Show HN: I built an After Effects for dummies by amitheonlyone on Wednesday August 05, 2020 @04:10AM (#24058379)
So it is pretty intuitive to use. But when I tried to export, it asked for sign up. So I signed up and I was taken to the dashboard where I couldn't find the story I was working on till then. :(
Re:Show HN: I built an After Effects for dummies by michaelaubry on Wednesday August 05, 2020 @04:28AM (#24058491)
Interesting. I think I know why. I did a huge migration and forgot to test that step.

Thanks for reminding me. Sorry that happened. Happy to give you a month for free if you can see yourself becoming a user.

Re:Show HN: I built an After Effects for dummies by bigiain on Tuesday August 04, 2020 @07:58PM (#24055819)
> I agree with the templates. I am trying to allocate my time wisely and I think expanding that will be major.

Maybe worth trying out some "Create and share templates in your free plan, earn upgrades to 3 months worth of Pro plan when 5 other users create with your templates!" kind of crowd sourcing and network effect thing?

Re:Show HN: I built an After Effects for dummies by addandsubtract on Wednesday August 05, 2020 @05:40AM (#24058876)
Are the people creating templates interested in this product, though? If I was a creator, I'd rather want to sell a premium template and get a percentage of each sale – or if they were included for free in the premium plan, then a kickback from the premium plan sales.
Re:Show HN: I built an After Effects for dummies by michaelaubry on Wednesday August 05, 2020 @04:27AM (#24058477)
Love this idea.
Re:Show HN: I built an After Effects for dummies by eganist on Tuesday August 04, 2020 @07:04PM (#24055450)
Two questions based on that last sentence:

1. Are you going to do the sales grind until you find a CEO and sales team who can do that for you?

2. Would you be comfortable in a CTO role, letting a CEO handle the non-technical but knowing they could very well be determining what you should focus on strategically?

Re:Show HN: I built an After Effects for dummies by michaelaubry on Wednesday August 05, 2020 @12:53AM (#24057361)
Yes if it is needed and makes sense for the company to thrive I am not married to any set way.

I do have a vision for this product and it would have to be the right fit.

I keep an open mind though.

Re:Show HN: I built an After Effects for dummies by aerovistae on Tuesday August 04, 2020 @10:30PM (#24056702)
I'm curious, did you use some kind of library for the little thumbnail videos under "Try a Template" or code it yourself?
Re:Show HN: I built an After Effects for dummies by michaelaubry on Wednesday August 05, 2020 @12:51AM (#24057344)
So I re-used some code from inside the app.

I built the ability to grab and scroll inside the timeline. Then I converted it to a re-usable component.

I'd be open to open sourcing it.

Re:Show HN: I built an After Effects for dummies by Technetium on Wednesday August 05, 2020 @02:59AM (#24058007)
I eagerly await an open source release. Fantastic work!
Re:Show HN: I built an After Effects for dummies by murukesh_s on Wednesday August 05, 2020 @07:15AM (#24059459)
man.. huge respect. you did an amazing job here. i have build products almost on my own and know the pain. i know exactly what you mean by blood, sweat and tears :). good luck. hope it takes off well.