Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com:The most experienced professionals in any field are the first ones to say there is always more to learn. Often, the best way to learn is to be a fly on the wall while watching a peer. Chris and Trish Meyer have given After Effects users a unique and wonderful opportunity in
After Effects in Production, allowing us to look over the shoulders of some of the best motion-graphics designers in the business and watch and learn as they go through the creative process. Unlike the fly on the wall, though, we have the chance to occasionally put down the book and practice what's been learned.
In the tutorials section, the authors break down the process of creating broadcast-quality motion graphics into a dozen step-by-step tutorials. Each tutorial focuses on or introduces a particular feature, and often builds on features that were introduced in a previous tutorial. The enclosed CD-ROM includes all 12 project and media files (and the final rendered movies), giving the reader the chance to build the project from scratch or carefully dissect a project that's already built.
Case Studies, a far smaller section of the book (but equal in value to the rest), explores, breaks down, and dissects After Effects projects that are on the air or on the Web, including work from such studios as Belief, ATTIK, and Curious Pictures. While less step-by-step oriented, one gets the chance to learn why each project was handled the way it was, rather than how.
As an added bonus, the CD-ROM includes numerous free plug-ins from such vendors as Pinnacle, Media 100, Boris, Trapcode, and the Foundry for both Mac and Windows versions of After Effects. There's also plenty of bonus material to read and sift through in the form of PDF files--additional tutorials, tips and tricks, and project templates.
After Effects in Production is a must-have book for any user who intends to grow into a serious designer, or for the serious designer who simply intends to keep on growing. --Mike Caputo
Product Description:
Take your After Effects skills to a new level! Twelve step-by-step tutorials, designed by industry professionals, explore a variety of creative approaches as they teach useful design concepts and production techniques.
Updated for After Effects 6.5, this new edition covers the most significant Version 5 and 6 features including 3D space, cameras, lights, parenting, text, animation presets, paint, and expressions. Each carefully structured project presents the "why" behind the steps, so you can adapt these techniques to your own designs and motion graphics work. All contain timeless concepts that will be of use for many years to come.
After Effects in Production also contains six case studies of commercial projects created by award-winning studios such as ATTIK, Belief, Curious Pictures, The Diecks Group, Fido, and the authors' own studio, CyberMotion. These detail the integration of After Effects, 3D programs, live action, and a variety of animation techniques, revealing the artistic concepts behind the spots as well as the inventive techniques used to execute them. The enclosed DVD contains QuickTime movies of each of the final animations, allowing you to step through them frame-by-frame so you can examine them in detail.
Take your After Effects skills to a new level! Twelve step-by-step tutorials, designed by industry professionals, explore a variety of approaches as they teach useful design concepts and production tricks.
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
Atomic Cafe is the ONLY good tutorial lesson in this book., May 24, 2008
By
S. Boughner (Youngstown, OH)
I bought this book hoping to learn more about After Effects but unfortunately, the only good tutorial that really teaches you about the program is the Atomic Cafe because it goes over importing Layered Photoshop Documents, Illustrator files, and Quicktime movies. All the other lessons in the book are a huge disappointment. I don't like saying that because I think Alex Lindsay does an admirable job with going into great detail about Multi-Pass rendering techniques. Check out his tutorials and teachings at Pixel Corps or DV Garage. You won't find much detail here. That is not to say that the book is not without its merits; I love how the Atomic Cafe lessons teaches the fundamentals and techniques of nested compositions, as well as complex effects. If you really want some good After Effects tutorial lessons, then check out Trish and Chris's other books which do a little better at giving you the information.
good resource, January 10, 2007
By
A. Campbelli needed this book for school, and it did the job i learned tons of effect tricks through this book.
absolutely useful and worthwhile, May 28, 2006
By
Chris F. Chamberlain (San Francisco)
if motion graphics is your thing, this is a fantastic resource. Nobody more clearly explains the basic concepts of layering, nesting, timelines, footage, transformations, masks, precomposing, stencils, track mattes, transfer modes, keyframes, rendering, resolutions, plugins, working with audio, and much more.
The "Creating Motion Graphics with AE", and "After Effects in Production" must be considered the best of the best, even for those who may be using other products such as Apple Motion, or Combustion, etc.
Highly recommended, as is having plenty of time and some decent hardware.
The tutorials are a blast ! Go thru them all (this takes awhile folks) and you begin to get the idea....motion graphics is fun !!!
After Effects in Production: A Companion for Creating Motion Graphics , January 15, 2006
By
Al Perez (Wilmington, MA)
This is an excellent resource for After Effects. The "Meyers" Have always produced great learning materials and this is another proof positive of that.
"Professional" learning experience, April 24, 2005
By
Paul Diosomito (San Francisco, CA USA)
After I bought after effects the software had little interest for me. I never new that broadcasting and such could be such fun. Did a lot of editing for animation studies with this tool. Looking forward to buy the next book when I'm finish with this. Recommended for advance users.
