Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects: Essential and Advanced Techniques, 4th Edition
by Chris Meyer, Trish Meyer
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Book Summary Information
Author: Chris Meyer, Trish MeyerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-11-12
ISBN: 0240810104
Number of pages: 704
Publisher: Focal Press
Book Reviews of Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects: Essential and Advanced Techniques, 4th Edition
Book Review: Just about everything you need to know about After Effects
Summary: 5 Stars
Winter is coming to Chicago. Lots of evenings at home ahead, while the temperatures drop and snow falls outside. Good time to (at last) learn how to use he After Effects program included with Creative Suite 3 (CS3). Since Adobe no longer includes anything that could be considered as an actual user's manual, a person hoping to learn the program on his or her own needs to turn to the web where there is a lot of good, but disconnected, material or a book.
"Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects: Essential and Advanced Techniques, 4th Edition" is an absolute gem. In 671 densely packed pages, husband and wife team Chris and Trish Meyer walk you through After Effects from start to finish. It is quite a trip.
There isn't much warm-up, no cuddly language describing the history of After Effects or silly jokes: the Meyers dive right into the interface and never stop. The approach is one power users and, particularly, power learners will appreciate. The book moves at a very fast pace and assumes you are very familiar with your computer, operating system and at least passingly familiar with other pieces of the Adobe Creative Suite. The authors suggest that those wanting a "more structured, tutorial=oriented approach" look at their other book, "After Effects Apprentice.
"Creating Motion Graphics" is essentially a textbook intended for teaching. The chapters are arranged logically and move very quickly. From an introduction to the interface, you are plunked into the After Effects concept of a "composition", the essential working environment and then into basic animation. There are few wasted words in this book. The examples - and there are many of them - are well thought out and all the material you need is provided on the accompanying CD.
The Meyers' writing style is well suited to teaching. It is direct and unconvoluted. The design really adds to the usability of the book as a teaching aid. There are numerous call-outs for tips, warnings and the occasional factoid.
This is a fast-track teaching tool, but that doesn't mean you'll whiz through it in a few days. After Effects is a program very rich in features and to their credit, the Meyers describe what appear to be all of them. It will take weeks, if not a few months, to work your way through this book and that is with the assumption that you are devoting a couple of hours a day to it.
With another Chicago winter about to begin, I have a pretty good idea of what I'll be doing while the cold winds blow outside. Thank you, Trish and Chris for truly putting a classroom on Adobe After Effects into a book.
Jerry
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Summary of Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects: Essential and Advanced Techniques, 4th Edition
Trish and Chris Meyer share fifteen years of real-world film and video production experience inside the critically acclaimed Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects. More than a step-by-step review of the features in After Effects, you will learn how the program thinks so that you can realize your own visions more quickly and efficiently. This full-color book is jammed full of tips, gotchas, and sage advice that will help you survive whatever your next project throws at you.Creating Motion Graphics 4th Edition has been heavily revised, reuniting the previous two volumes plus adding detailed coverage of new features introduced in After Effects 7 and CS3 Professional to form one massive, essential reference. The enclosed DVD-ROM contains source footage and project files for the numerous exercises which help reinforce each concept. The DVD also includes over 180 pages of additional information, including lengthy Bonus Chapters on Expressions and Effects.
Authored in CS3, also included is access to a free web chapter written for CS4.
* Free CS4 web chapter included with the book
* Mastering animation through the use of keyframes, motion paths, and the Graph Editor
* Blending imagery using alpha channels, masks, mattes, modes, and stencils
* Building groups and hierarchies through parenting and nested comps
* Extended coverage of type animation, paint tools and 3D space
* Advanced subjects such as keying, motion tracking, expressions, and video issues
* Includes over 180 PDF pages of bonus content on the DVD
* Extensive coverage of the new CS3 features including the Shape and Puppet tools, Brainstorm, per-character 3D text, color management, and more!
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