This is the ultimate recipe book for visual effects artists working in Apple Shake, Adobe After Effects, and Apple Motion. An impressive lineup of Hollywood and independent effects pros have pulled together this compendium of the coolest and most useful effects from A to Z ("Adding Clouds" to "Z-Depth Effects"). The book includes everything from practical everyday commercial techniques to breakdowns of well-known shots from blockbuster films. Readers learn to create light sabers from the artists who created them for Star Wars Episode 3; learn to freeze time from the wizard who invented the effect for The Matrix; and learn to create matte paintings from the pros who did them for Lord of the Rings. Coverage includes rotoscoping, painting, warping and distortion effects, dramatic lighting, adding lightening and fire, matchmoves, 3D CG integration techniques, advanced blue- and greenscreen techniques, and much more. DVD-ROM included. Foreword by Ron Brinkmann.
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
Good reference book, January 24, 2008
By
J Donaldson (IL)
Overall I would say this is a great reference book for the budding effects artist. However, if you are looking for a text that will teach you basics and walk you through how to apply concepts, this isn't the book for you. This book is merely a simple encyclopedia of basic terms and concepts that relate to the world of digital effects. Although some of the concepts are bit outdated and have been replaced by newer and more efficient methods and work-flows, this is still a valuable resource. Another unfortunate side effect is that the book is based around the Shake model. However, as you may know, Shake is slowly moving out of circulation after having been dropped from Apple. Still, a good general encyclopedia of broad concepts and ideas that relate to digital effects.
Tons of information!, October 20, 2007
By
A J Day (Cape Town, South Africa)
I know some may disagree, but I find this book aptly named. I use it less as a course and more as a referance book. It's one of those "bedside" manuals you can just pick up and open anywhere. It contains tones of great information that is of relevance no matter wether you are running "Shake" or not. Some of it is above me but this never worries me as one day it won't be and that's the day you say "wow, this was really money well spent". Sure, this book leans heavilly towards Shake and if you use Shake it is VERY helpful. But I was doing a Key in After effects and remembered a tip on chroma bluring from a "Shake" section of the book ... helped enormously. Great Book. Highly Recomended.
Provides the building blocks to VFX with Shake., June 27, 2007
By
Andrew D. Fraser (Austin, TX USA)
Four stars. A fifth star would have been earned for a better indexing or cross-reference. Otherwise a top notch, very informative book.
I have experience with film making and with Editing on Final Cut Pro. I was new to VFX, but I'm not anymore after reading this book!
Having seen Shake in action, I wanted to learn more. This books focus on Shake and the fact that a trial version ships with the book is the reason I bought it.
This book is a reference book. It explains, in detail, terms used in the VFX industry (clean plate, matchmoving, etc.) that any filmmaker or budding VFX artist will need to know if even just to communicate clearly with VFX professionals. The entries in the book are punctuated with walk-through tutorials that show you how to accomplish (in Shake) the specific effect. This is a good thing.
I had a project on my suite that needed some pretty hefty FX work. This book armed me with the right concepts and understanding so that I could plan the steps I'd need to take to accomplish the FX. In my case it was turning the request to "Make that person a ghost" into build a clean background plate, rotoscope the actor, invent a ghosty look, and then put it all back together. Until I had read the book and understood the individual steps involved, I didn't know where to begin.
Overall, this is a very informative reference book written in a witty and accessible style. It is VERY Shake oriented, which is, again, WHY I bought it. This is the kind of book an FX pro (or newbie) will reference many times as they work on future projects.
Fine book, June 7, 2007
By
Rohan Rego (Jakarta)
I was already aware of most of the topics covered in this book, but it helped understand them better and be able to explain accurately to anyone asking. Its also well updated to current industry standards. its in no way complete as an Encyclopedia, needs future voulmes to do that.
In short-A text book for every student of visual effects.
Cons: The DVD files can be accessed only in a MAC (not for PC).
A most complete textbook for VSFX..., March 8, 2007
By
Tan Tascioglu (Atlanta, GA)
My humble congratulations to the authors who have teamed up with Apple to bring us (my Visual Effects Dept. students and I) a most complete textbook. In my opinion, this book rates in the current top five of all serious resources in the teaching & learning of Visual Effects at the College and Graduate levels. In addition to that, for those of us teaching compositing and matte painting, I would rate this book as the current number one textbook on these topics. A must-read, for a serious student of the Art and Craft of Visual Effects.
Deepest respects,
Prof. Tan TASCIOGLU,
Professor of Visual Effects, Savannah College of Art & Design
SCAD-Atlanta campus.
(Review posted: March 2007)
