Animating in After Effects with video footage

When animating in After Effects, instead of using a solid background, can I use a video as the background and have it playing while the character is moving? I can't see why it wouldn't work. I've saw people question about animating in Flash ect and bringing it in, but I need to animate within AF. Hope someone can help me out!

Hi Claudia.
Are you using "AF" to stand for "Adobe Flash" Or "AFter effects"?
If you are trying to composite character animation over a background in After Effects, yes, it is a fantastic application for it.
You can create many types of backdrops easily (and very easy to modify elements back/forth from Photoshop)
As for character animation, there are multiple standard tools within After Effects. There are also third party plugins that may help you.
One plugin that I like to use for character animation is DUIK. DuDuF R&D » Duik – DuDuF IK Tools
(free)
Another plugin that is excellent is Mettle Freeform http://www.mettle.com/tutorials-digieffects-freeform-freeform-v2/
($99)

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Lynn Diana wrote:
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Animating in After Effects with video footage

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