Customer Reviews

After Effects Apprentice

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have bought over 32 books in the last year on various subjects related to After Effects and other video software tools. Out of these only 2-3 really stand out, and this book is one of them.
It covers quite a bit and it layed out quite well and easy to read. I was so impressed with it, I came back and bought the PDF version for the road. If you are looking for a good book on After Effects, do not pass this one up.

I am enrolled at a local community college and the teacher is using this book. I would highly recommend if you are (like me) new to after effects. It does a great job of providing you with side notes about the application and how to use it effectively. If you do the additional items at the end of each chapter you will really have a good grip on this program. A+

As advertised, this book is a great introduction to motion graphics design and After Effects. The Meyers are both great artists and great teachers. They really understand how to present both the theory and the practice of building compelling motion graphics.

I'll be using this book for my intro video post production class in the fall, but the name is a little misleading. After Effects users who consider themselves proficient, but aren't familiar with all the ins and outs of the application can benefit from the book as well. I've been using After Effects professionally since version 3, and I've learned a lot from this book.

Initially, I knew nothing about After Effects but after reading and completing exercises on just the first 5 pages, many of the After Effect fundamentals were well explained. The book is very well illustrated - both through quality of illustration as well as numerous pictures supporting the text. The examples to explain functionality are very practical techiques that have immediate application to my movies. I can find only two slight faults with the book: 1) the author is clearly using a Mac and sometimes finding functions being described is a little confusing since I use a PC. Also, the example files on the DVD (supplied with the book) sometimes have different filenames than that given in the book which makes finding the correct file difficult. These are little annoynances and pale when compared to the ease at which one will learn how to quickly learn to use After Effects in very practical ways. I highly recommend this book.

This book is a must have! I purchased this book from amazon.com and I just can't put it down! I was told by Richard Harrington that this book will 1.) Give you more than the basics but will also... 2.)DELIVER! and I must say that it has!... After Effects Aprentice should be bought by everyone that is new to AE... and Adobe should jump on this band wagon quickly! The pages and diagrams are (in color! and ) easy to understand for the new AE novice. I am having a great time with Lesson 6 "Parenting and Nesting". I was afraid of AE but not anymore. This book should be your first purchase, then the other Trish & Chris Meyers books should follow. I must add that there are other books that should be bought as supplemental tools such as: "Broadcast Graphics on the Spot" By: Richard Harrington, Glen Stephens and Chris Vadnais. There are other amazon members that will post more than my suggested list but all in all many will agree with me that this book is truly a Home-Run! You will not regret it... that's my promise to you.

I just finished this book. I recommend it highly. I first used the "Adobe After Effects Classroom in a book" and thought I had learned a lot until I began working the "Apprentice" book.

"Apprentice" is detailed, highly organized, and the lessons were very easy to follow. For someone who wants to learn After Effects I recommend starting with After Effects Apprentice and don't bother with the Adobe Classroom book, which I found to contain numerous errors that made the lessons difficult to follow. Apprentice contained very few errors and that ones I did find did not inhibit the lesson.

I wanted to be a step ahead of the rest before I entered into my first class dealing with after effects. This book did it in record time! I even finished the second book in the series before our first project. I learned the ins and outs and beyond, and I didn't know how to do anything with AE before hand. I HIGHLY recommend this book as well as it's counter-part!!!

Following the lessons in this book took my After Effects knowledge from *nothing* to *firm understanding*. I was interested in learning after effects so I bought this book. Being very reasonably priced, I was surprised to find the book was full of such amazing detail all throughout. The "tips," "factoids" & "gotcha" blurbs sprinkled around the margins instantly transform the lesson material to a real-world explanation of "what this means to me." Even the page layouts, with tons of clearly labeled screen shots, are quite inviting to learn from. (if you've ever tried to follow a boring book, full of boring text and no photos, you'll appreciate this one).
In short, get it or you won't "get it."

I have read several of the Meyer's books and they are excellent on the subject matter. If you have a desire to learn Adobe After Effects, start here and then move on to one of their books on motion graphics. Trust me, this book is more than worth the money.

I had used the Meyers' Bible "Creating Motion Graphics with AE" when I started using v 5.5 but had gotten rusty (I'm an editor first and foremost), and needed a learning tool that applied to v 7.0 and CS3. I have been even more impressed with this book. It avoids detailing tools I'm not likely to use in favor of getting into basic, everyday tasks right from the start. It also assumes I can make the leap myself from an example they provide to my own work. You work from the projects and media files provided on the DVD, so it's a complete, self-sufficient AE course. The Meyers' writing style is clear, informal, and imbued with years of experience doing the common tasks a video pro is likely to encounter. It's been a pleasure to get back into After Effects with the guidance of this book.