Editorial Reviews
Product Description:This is the only book in the After Effects market to focus exclusively on the creation of visual effects, and is a one-stop resource for anyone who wants in-depth explanations that demystify the realm of visual effects and how they were created, thanks to veteran author Mark Christiansen's friendly and accessible style. A thoroughly packed, informative read, this masterful guide focuses on explaining the essential concepts, features, and techniques that are key to creating seamless movie-quality visual effects. Users who are comfortable with After Effects will find a helpful review of After Effects fundamentals—managing footage, viewing and editing layers, animating type, and more—so they can learn how to work smarter and more efficiently. Readers of all levels will learn core techniques for effects compositing including color matching, keying, rotoscoping, motion tracking, emulating the camera, and concluding with using expressions in After Effects, written by contributor and expert Dan Ebberts. The final section of the book delves into creative explorations, demonstrating professional effects that readers might want to re-create.
Readers will also find comprehensive coverage of all that's new and makes this version of Adobe’s effects program such a boon to video pros of all stripes: searchable timelines and projects, Photoshop 3D layers import, the Cartoon effect, Imagineer Systems’ Mocha for Adobe After Effects, improved workflow for mobile devices, and more.
Throughout the book, beautiful full-color examples demonstrate what's possible, while the companion DVD offers demos of After Effects CS4, sample footage, and software plug-ins.
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
Great intermediate level After Effects book!, August 18, 2009
By
GameMaker (Portland, OR USA)
I am very very impressed by this book. I'm currently working on a video project for a course I am taking and I have to finish a number of shots with various motion graphics and effects. I'm familiar with After Effects, but certainly no master at it, so I wanted a book that focused on compositing and more advanced effects that the beginners training and books do not cover in sufficient depth. This book has come through for me big time! The thing I love about this book is that it talks about various topics and various approaches and tools within after effects you can use to solve those problems. It even talks about various suggestions for 3rd party plugins, in cases where the basic After Effects tools are lacking. It doesn't hold your hand, telling you what buttons to click, it assumes you know all that, or can figure it out. Topics in the book include keying, color correction, explosions, beam effects, smoke, fire, rotoscoping, and all kinds of other neat things. This one has definitely earned a permanent place on my bookshelf, and new status as my favorite After Effects books (and I have quite a few).
i heart this book, July 3, 2009
By
Salma Eldardirythis book - and it's previous editions - is THE BEST book for AE out there .. i've learned so many techniques through it ... and the best thing is that mark is explaining (Why) things are happening in this particular way instead of just (How to do this kinda of effect ) which -for me- is the best way to learn and be creative with ur work because u know wut's happening under the hood .. :)
this book is my AE bible ..
Excellent Learning Tool and an Easy Read, June 16, 2009
By
B. Moore (Berkeley, CA)
As a longtime digital artist relatively new to the After Effects arena and Compositing in general, I find this book to be an invaluable learning tool that I'm constantly referencing. It's very well written and manages to integrate both the artistic side and technical side of compositing and After Effects. It's not overly heavy on tutorials, which is nice, because those can be found anywhere online. Instead, the book explains by showing how and why using a certain tool or method is the optimal approach. There's often sidebars that explain the technical reasons as well.
Part of what I like most about the book is the tone of the author, Mark Christiansen. He's got a sharp wit, that's evident in his writing style and I caught myself laughing a few times which I can't say has ever happened to me while reading a book on software/design training. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking to beef up their After Effects skills and more specifically, those who want to learn compositing as an art form.
Your must have VFX companion book for AE CS4, February 27, 2009
By
J. Geduldick (NYC)
Mark does it again with his new book for CS4 packing a large amount of his great visual effects knowledge into this new edition. The forward by Stu Maschwitz alone is funny to " Who Brings the Sex" about explaining the " money shots " visual effects artists are expected to produce daily Backing this up the books has some scripting guru's like Jeff Amsol and Dan Ebberts to get your Java/Expression fix. This is definitely the book for the serious compositor using After Effects with real world examples and solutions from a real world visual effects artists/supervisor you can not go wrong with taking your time with this book.
The Chapters I found most helpful cover topics of 32bit HDR compositing and its complex underpinnings , the always tedious Rotoscoping and Paint and the section on Creative Explorations(Light,Climate and Pyro).
Mark also happens to be a professor at FXPHD.com where you can get even more of his compositing teachings. A+++ must have for your bookshelf.
Great book!, January 20, 2009
By
Dan RamirezI also own the CS3 book by the same author.
Highly recommended. Lots of detailed information to be found, both for After Effects and VFX/Compositing in general.
I could probably be categorized as an intermediate user and the book seems to be at the perfect level for me. There are probably better books for an absolute beginner, but everyone else will find a reason to keep it around, even the seasoned pros.
