Customer Reviews

Creative After Effects 5.0: animation, visual effects and motion graphics production for TV and video

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Angie's instructional materials and projects will definitely help you learn how to begin using AE5's 3 major new features: 3D, Expressions, and Parenting. Tracking and keying get thorough treatments. She also offers some background in the history and craft of animation as well as advice on how to nurse a project through the creative mill from concept, storyboard, client pitch, and revisions.
The work is not without flaws but, compared to the other After Effects resources in print, this is a valuable book to have on your shelf, in my opinion. I enjoyed it very much.
I've got every AE resource in print, I think. Two or three of them were complete wastes of paper and you can probably find my opinions of them ...
For beginners, I always recommend Adobe's CIB for AE5. After slogging thru those projects either Angie's book or Creative Motion Graphics would beq worthy followup. For the advanced power user, there is no question that the Meyer's two books are THE standard reference pieces. For additional inspiration, another approach to effects design, and some lighthearted whimsy, Angie's book comes in a decent third place.

You can see an extensive review of Angie Taylor's After Effects 5.0 book that I have written at ...

david bogie, boise ID

This book is good. Although it could possibly be a little advanced for most people. Especially absolute beginners. The author, because she's had several years of experience and has got the program down to a fine art, mistakenly expects the same level of technical expertise from her readers. She also doesn't explain herself very well, which makes it difficult to follow. A few little words such as "Let me show you a few examples", for instance would differentiate between doing the exercise, which you think you are, and being given examples with which to observe. Instead of getting yourself tied up in knots not knowing what you're supposed to be doing. After each chapter you're expected to put what you've just learned into your own project and be able to draw upon the same level of technical expertise as the author. Which in most cases ordinary folks aren't going to be able to do. This makes for a frustrating reader experience. It's like the educator who rattles off the subject at 90 mph, and then can't understand why the students can't keep up (as one of the acknowledgement contributors listed on the back cover, has a habit of doing, and then stands back in amazement as the students drift away). Be prepared to use your initiative (several files are missing from the cd), have patience and possibly read the book twice in order to get the best from it, and you wont go too far wrong. It's also an early example of the short & concise, to the point, generation of books we've all been looking forward to. That hopefully will quickly replace the fat bloated, time consuming, long winded volumes we've all had to painfully endure in the past. In this respect Angie Taylor leads the way.

When i first got the AE,i just opened them,felt totally stupid and after 1 minute i closed them and i swore never to open them again ( sounds familiar to you? )...until i bought Angie's book on AE.It's basically an excellent book,you start off with simple things and you even learn the intimidating stuff like scripting, expressions,parenting and 3D with total ease (i never even dare to dream about scripting...).The book is far away from those dull&boring "computer" books with just plain theory and no practice.So if you wanna learn AE,look no further,just go and get this book!

Creative After Effects is a no non-sense, fact-filled and easy-to-read book, period. It definitely should be a required resource in any animator or videographer's library, especially for those who are beginning in the field. Unlike many books that get bogged down in technical jargon, Taylor remains steadfast in her approach by building upon the information presented in earlier chapters and expanding one's knowledge base in an enjoyable, logical and orderly progression.

The book is further complemented by a CD ROM and Web site that contains projects referred to in the book, resources for working through the exercises, pertinent articles that offer relevant information that could not be presented in the book and some free stuff. It's also an enjoyable experience when you finish a book and feel that you've gotten your money's worth: I've gotten my money's worth from this one.

This book is very useful and when I came across a problem I was having, I emailed Angie and she promtly replied. I found her 3d to be very well presented and I love the step by step. I hope she writes another. This book is a fine addition to my collection and I have learned alot. Thanks Angie...

I am torn on this one... While I feel that there is a lot that Angie and her associates who contributed to the book are able to teach people through the method of "one continuous project," I feel that about half of what she talks about isn't relavant to the majority of people using AE in the real world. In the capacity that I needed the book..(for help in learning the changes with version 5 like 3D and parenting etc. - sections SHE didn't write by the way) I found it impossible to go to look up something in the index, flip to a chapter and not have to wade through meaningless information before I found what I was looking for. Maybe some people bought the book to learn from start to finish EVERY aspect of an independant (and most likely personal) project. But where I work, storyboard artists and motion graphics artists are doing two very different jobs. If I wanted to learn how to storyboard, I would have bought a book on storyboarding... On the other hand, she gets very thorough when discussing other things like some of the technical information - which it seems is what she's best at.
Oh, another thing... I have no desire to "do my own project" over the course of the book. I know that some people might find this useful if they are just starting out and don't have too much to put on their reel...but c'mon...I barely have time to read the book, much less do an entire project. I have to sacrifice time for other things (laundry, etc.) to make time to learn the changes...as with most people working in this field...If you're on a project...you're already not getting much sleep. And if you're not, you're looking for work. Good luck making time to do a "madonna style" video...

I realize that some people are probably looking for this kind of tutorial style book...and I am not knocking it because I don't think it will help you learn...but for those of us who are a few years into AE and want to brush up or learn about more complex changes for the new version...I think there are other books that are more concise.

I have read many books on after effects (well just about all that are out on after effects) and this one leaves little to desire. It lacks any real direction and seems to be used more to "brag" about what projects people have worked on in there portfolio. I found very little useful information in the book. The examples were poorly written and illustrated and most of them were very simple to begin with. I would not recommend this book unless you are just interested in what people have done with after effects

This book is a great jump start to new ideas. Taylor takes you through several projects and offers a lot of insight along the way. I was turned on to this book after seing her present live. The book is filled with character and a joy to read. Every chapter contains great ideas and techniques that you just won't find elsewhere.

I've worked for a number of years as an Avid editor and have used After Effects for a variety of things, but have usually had a staff Graphics person to handle the heavy lifting. As a result, I found a had numerous holes in my knowledge base. I decided to go back to the basics and I have found Angie's book to be a great tool for filling in the blanks. It serves as a wonderful foundation for the newbie and also does a great job of filling in the gaps for someone like me. The tutorials are clear, concise and very enjoyable. Angie brings a great bit of fun to the process (including some delightful footage of her dancing). Also, Angie draws on other subject matter experts in certain areas, to ensure effective communication of the topic (esp. the chapter covering expressions, which can be a daunting aspect of AE and often goes untouched by most users). Great tutorials, fun projects and thorough explanations. Well worth the purchase price.

Perfect technical and detailed informations about After Effects as an animation tool. Angie is a really good teacher and must be creative. But unfortunately the tutorial samples in the book arent so professional or creative. Well the book is still a great course for AE rookies although based on version 5.0