Datasheet

36 chapter 1 ■ Setting Up a Composite
Interview: Michael Coleman,
Adobe, Seattle, Washington
Michael Coleman graduated with a degree in business economics from Seattle University.
He went on to work as a graphic designer, visual effects artist, and compositor for such
companies as Aldus and Will Vinton Studios. In 1999, he joined Adobe and helped redesign
the Adobe Creative Suite. In 2007, he became the product manager of After Effects.
Adobe Systems Incorporated was founded in 1982 by John
Warnock and Charles Geschke. Although its initial products
were PostScript tools and digital fonts, the company has gone on
to develop a wide array of desktop publishing, digital imaging,
digital editing, and compositing software. As of 2009, Adobe
had grown to over 7,000 employees with offices in San Jose,
Seattle, Orlando, and San Francisco as well other cities in the
United States and abroad.
LL: What are your duties as product manager?
MC: The product manager position has many facets, but my
main responsibility is to define the product strategy and to
ensure that After Effects meets our customers’ needs. I spend a
lot of time talking with customers. It’s important that I immerse
myself in their concerns, from business trends to the gritty
details of production workflows. The After Effects team takes
its inspiration from an understanding of what our customers
need. Staying close to our customers gives us confidence that
every version of After Effects will help our customers be more
creative and more productive. If we do this one thing and do it
well, everybody wins.
LL: Over its 15-year history, what have been the most significant changes to After Effects?
MC: If you go back and use After Effects 1.0, you can animate your content in nested, hier-
archical, high-definition compositions, but you might spend some time looking for the time-
line panel. That’s because it didn’t have one. The timeline came in version 2.0 and would
certainly be one of the more significant early changes. Since then, I would say that 3D
compositing with cameras, lights, and shadows was a huge leap forward. And 32-bit color,
painting tools, and the animation engine for text and shapes have also opened up a universe
of creative opportunity.…
After Effects CS3 logo
Michael Coleman
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