CoSA — The Company of Science & Art

This site is a historical repository about CoSA and its offspring, After Effects. CoSA was founded in June 1990, acquired by Aldus Corporation in July 1993, which in turn merged with Adobe Systems on August 31st 1994.

PACo (The PICS Animation Compiler) was started in September 1990 as an internal tool for streaming unlimited-length animations with synchronized sound from CD-ROM, on multiple platforms. It shipped as a commercial product (PACo 1.0, and as QuickPICS 1.0 bundled with other apps) in May 1991. PACo Producer 2.0 shipped in February 1992.

In April 1992, the “Lort” prototype was started as an attempt to convince corporate investors to fund the project. In June of that year, “Egg” started as a smaller project, since we were unable to find any willing investors for Lort.

Six-page afterword from Chris & Trish Meyer’s Creating Motion Graphics
covers 1990-2002

CoSA Lives; the story of the company behind After Effects

PACo Producer box front & back
1991

  

After Effects 1.0 brochure
1992
After Effects 1.0 demo reel
1993

MacUser Eddy Award for Best Special Effects Program and Software Product of the Year
January 1994

CoSA 15th Reunion
time-lapse
2005


making of: 
After Effects 20th Anniversary movie
2013
AE 25th Anniversary
2018		 Nice roundup in ProVideo Coalition

After Effects’ Academy Award

February 9th, 2019

As part of the annual Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented a Scientific and Engineering award (Academy plaque) to five developers for their contributions to After Effects in the area of motion graphics for film.

Transcript of acceptance-speeches.
After Effects codenames & credits Selected versions and the people who worked on them