Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects: Essential and Advanced Techniques, 4th Edition (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: render settings, vector paint, composition settings, After Effects, Effect Controls, Interpret Footage (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

From my earliest days using After Effects, I owe much of what I know to Trish and Chris Meyers classes and books. Alex Lindsay, ex-ILM/JAK Films, Chief Architect, Pixel Corp

Motion graphics and moving images are essential to communicating in a memorable way. Trish and Chris Meyer are masters of their craft and are uniquely qualified to guide anyone learning Adobe After Effects. --Michael Coleman, Product Manager, Adobe After Effects

Review

"From my earliest days using After Effects, I owe much of what I know to Trish and Chris Meyer's classes and books." -Alex Lindsay, ex-ILM/JAK Films, Chief Architect, Pixel Corp

"Motion graphics and moving images are essential to communicating in a memorable way. Trish and Chris Meyer are masters of their craft and are uniquely qualified to guide anyone learning Adobe After Effects." -Michael Coleman, Product Manager, Adobe After Effects

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 704 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press; 4th edition (November 12, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240810104
• ISBN-13: 978-0240810102
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #56,585 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An After Effects "Tour de Force" - Trish & Chris' best AE book yet!, November 6, 2007

By	Kenneth Calhoun "StockTradingSuccess.com" (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Combining both editions of their prior works in this all-new updated version for CS3, Trish and Chris have outdone themselves yet again in this splendid, comprehensive AE motion graphics masterpiece.

Packed with all-new examples and much tighter, more professional editing than earlier works, this latest from the Meyers is their best work yet. The bonus chapters on DVD are a generous addition, as are all the extras and clean layout of the book.

Compared to their earlier books, this one flows even better, with an astounding array of new content and step by step tutorial content that can easily help you boost your After Effects compositing skills quickly.

This book absolutely "sparkles" with professionalism and depth. It's one of the top 5 software books I've read, of hundreds. It really is quite a masterpiece, and can help accelerate your AE production skills immensely.
Another plus is all the detailed, advanced subtleties and professional "tricks of the trade" that haven't been revealed until now, in this volume.

Trish and Chris, you folks have set the bar higher for how to "do it right" for stunningly powerful software books, and I was really impressed with it, from reading through it today. I'm looking forward to working through the tutorial examples to help boost my AE skills even further, and salute your professionalism and depth of expertise, explained in crystal clear examples throughout this "must have" AE reference work.

Great job! Everyone should go buy this book now - it's the best in class for AE books (and I've read 'em all). Wonderful work on this. A++++

Regards,

Ken Calhoun

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Updated and revised for Adobe After Effects CS3, December 28, 2007

By	Diane Cipollo (Editor at BellaOnline.com) - See all my reviews

This is the fourth edition of the Motion Graphics with After Effects book by Chris & Trish Meyer. It has been updated and revised for Adobe After Effects CS3 and contains many new sections on your favorite software features including The Graph Editor, layer styles, puppet tools, vanishing point, pixel motion and color management. The DVD is packed with bonus chapters and project files. This new edition is quite extensive, as is the software it covers, and the authors have concentrated on teaching their readers how After Effects "thinks" as well as sharing many tips and shortcuts to increase productivity.

The first few chapters get you acquainted with the user interface and introduce the production process for creating a project or "composition". Then you begin to learn the basics such as animation layers, 2D Bezier motion paths and transformation keyframes. As you would expect, keyframes are the basis of animation in After Effects and the authors concentrate on several Keyframe Assistants such as Motion Sketch, Exponential Scale, Smoother and Wiggler.

With the basics under your belt, the authors move on to more advanced animation techniques such as editing and sequencing layers, removing layers, hot keying and managing multiple layer comps. However, it isn't enough to just create layers and keyframes. You want your animation to be as realistic as possible. The authors teach many techniques for this such as motion blur for smoother motion and blending modes for combining layers. Masking and transparency is the next subject to tackle. The authors teach several techniques for creating and working with masks and stencils to add transparent areas in your animation.

It is difficult to go anywhere these days without seeing 3D animation such as the new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie from 20th Century Fox or The Coca-Cola Company's Polar Bears. The authors cover the basics of working with 3D animation such as scale and perspective, cameras and lighting. After Effects has some nice default cameras but the authors also teach you how to customize your own, as well as use lighting to illuminate layers, add color casts, cast shadows and project images from one layer onto another.

Besides animating images, you will undoubtedly need to animate text and apply special effects. The authors cover many aspects of these topics including how to replace the background behind the subject of your animation. You can do more in After Effects than animated preexisting graphics. You can also create your own graphics inside After Effects and the authors teach you how to use the shape layers, Brush and Clone Stamp tools, onion skinning and the Puppet Pin tools. Finally, the authors move on to advanced topics such as building complex animation with nesting and hierarchy, adding audio and audio effects and rendering your comp with advanced rendering techniques including Collapse Transformations and Continuous Rasterization.

Both Chris & Trish Meyer have been working in the real world of motion graphics for over 15 years and work at the CyberMotion motion graphic design studio in Los Angeles. They co-authored After Effects Apprentice and write the Motion Graphics column for DV magazine.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars After Effects , March 8, 2008

By	E. M. (TX) - See all my reviews

Advanced After Effects Motion Graphics is for the editor with some AE miles under their belt. It is not really a beginner book, but does start you off slowly with great step by step instruction. However, you will eventually need this book but buy it together with the Meyers' After Effects Apprentice which starts you off in the AE wourld. Any of the Meyers books are just what you need to learn AE. Highly recommended!!