After Effects vs DaVinci Resolve for Motion Graphics - Which One Should Designers Learn First?

Tutorials & How-To
1

I get asked this by designers wanting to add motion to their skillset and the answer has changed over the last two years.

After Effects - the established standard: the motion graphics industry runs on After Effects. Expressions, shape layer animation, text animation presets, integration with Illustrator and Photoshop files. The plugin ecosystem (Lottie export, DUIK for character rigging, Motion3) extends it into nearly every motion use case. If you want motion graphics jobs, AE fluency is expected.

DaVinci Resolve - the emerging alternative: the free version is genuinely professional-grade. Fusion (the compositing module) can do most of what After Effects does for motion graphics. The color grading tools are industry-leading. The video editing, color, and motion graphics in a single application saves the constant export-import between Premiere and After Effects.

The learning curve reality: After Effects has more tutorials, more templates, more community resources. When you’re stuck on something in AE, the solution exists on YouTube. DaVinci Resolve’s motion graphics resources are growing but significantly thinner. Learning speed is affected by available support material.

Where DaVinci genuinely wins: the price. The free version includes everything a designer needs to learn motion graphics. After Effects requires a $22/month subscription minimum. For a designer experimenting with motion as an adjacent skill, zero cost to start is meaningful.

My recommendation: if you’re committed to motion as a career direction, learn After Effects - it’s the industry language. If you’re a designer adding motion as a secondary skill for social content and portfolio presentation, DaVinci Resolve free is an excellent starting point.

What did you learn first and would you choose differently now?

2

After Effects first, no question, if motion graphics is the goal. The integration with the Adobe ecosystem matters in production. Importing Illustrator layers directly into AE with layer structure preserved is the workflow that makes asset-to-animation fast. That pipeline doesn’t exist with DaVinci.

3

Started with DaVinci because of the price and it was the right call for my situation. I’m a brand designer who makes occasional social video content, not a motion specialist. The Fusion module handles my title animations and simple kinetic type needs without a subscription.

4

@henry.nomad the Lottie export workflow is the AE-specific advantage that matters for UI designers. If you’re creating animations that ship in web or mobile products, After Effects to Lottie is the established pipeline. DaVinci doesn’t have an equivalent path to production code.

5

Expressions in After Effects are what separate “I can animate” from “I can build efficient motion systems.” The ability to write JavaScript-based behaviors that respond to layer properties, time, and user-defined controls is a level of motion design that Fusion approaches differently and less intuitively.

6

the tutorial availability point is the one that matters most for self-taught designers. when you’re learning motion, you’re stuck constantly. the difference between finding the answer in 5 minutes versus 30 minutes compounds over hundreds of learning sessions.