Can it do all of the VFX stuff I need it to? The motion graphics/animation part of it I'm sure is solid, but the VFX capabilities of AE is what's keeping me locked in - also the money I've invested into tools/plugins/extensions.

For example the Midnighters logo anim was a lot of shader work

some different colors and slight variations - It think the next step is to give the swirls, plumes and jets a bit more definition.

yeah let's just take that idea and push it to its limits then

I tried to change the refraction method I was going for to a cubemap instead of layered front and back faces and somehow ended up here so that's fine. The shit looks like a portal through time and space now and I'm okay with that all dice should look like that anyway.

using my time off to learn how glsl shaders work. still a long way to go but we're getting somewhere.