Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book, VERY advanced, January 14, 2007
Somebody famous once said, "I do not know what I do not know." Before I read "Encyclopedia of Visual Effects," I didn't realize how little I actually know about what's involved with creating both advanced and basic visual effects.
As a complete amateur, I've been working with Apple's Final Cut Pro for about 5 years and Motion since it released a couple years ago. In doing so, I've barely scratched the surface of what this powerful video software can do.
"Visual Effects" is an excellent resource for somebody who wants to dig deep into the power of the effects that are possible with video software such as Shake, Motion and Adobe After Effects. If nothing else, this book gave me a newfound appreciation for the massive amount of hours it takes to create the professional video effects seen in Hollywood movies.
The lessons in this book contain a wealth of step-by-step instructions for creating the type of "eye popping" effects seen in movies like Star Wars, Harry Potter and War of the Worlds. Also included are valuable lessons on fixing mundane--but important--things that most people would never notice unless they weren't done correctly . . .things like shadows for computer generated objects, color correction and lighting angles.
Although the tutorials are relatively easy to understand, most are quite time consuming. It was fun getting my first taste Shake via the trial version included on the DVD-ROM (along with other trial software). However, I must admit that I only actually worked through about a fourth of the tutorials in this book simply because of the time involved. Even though I didn't finish all the lessons, I came away having a much better understanding of working with complex compositing, filtering and all that other cool stuff.
If you want to really take a dive into powerful visual effects, this is a terrific resource. But be prepared to devote A LOT of time to learn the material in this book. You'll learn what every professional videographer knows: there are lots of wonderful techniques available to create marvelous visual effects, but even after you've learned the techniques, producing great work takes many, many hours of tedious work.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well worth the wait..............., December 13, 2006
Certainly not everyone that purchases a book in the Apple Pro Training Series is a professional, but one would hope that a pursuit of professionalism is the purchaser's goal. I have had this book pre-ordered for many months. I can honestly say that after returning from India on a month-long project, it was my pleasure to find Encyclopedia of Visual Effects awaiting me, and it has greatly exceeding my expectations. Why, you might ask, and fairly so.
I have had other compositing works on my library shelf for years, including Brinkman's "The Art and Science of Digital Compositing". I have hungered for more, in the same manner that causes me to rent the DVD version of a movie so I can see behind the scenes. Finally, the authors of this book have given us a broad selection of simple and complex effects seen in modern media, with various options for recreating such effects. I have found the methodologies to be well explained, and the variety of effects to be balanced and thorough.
With respect to the software emphasis tilting toward Shake, the authors have very carefully explained in the Introduction their three-fold reasoning. It would be difficult to argue this reasoning, regardless of one's favorite or most commonly used software platform. The simple fact remains that no software package is best for all things, but certain packages rise to the top for their abundance of benefits. I would be disappointed in any author that would withhold their honest opinion based on the experience which gives them a published platform to begin with. In purchasing such publications, we all seek to grow in our skills, knowledge and abilities through the wisdom and experience of the authors. The Encyclopedia of Visual Effects will delight anyone who open-mindedly seeks improvement in their compositing skills by studying the most clearly demonstrable techniques offered by Shake, balanced by examples using relevant, alternative methods via After Affects and/or Motion.
Where appropriate, the authors have objectively pointed their readers to other resources offering more thorough treatment of important but tangential subject matter, such as color correction. I appreciated the wisdom of not diluting the value of this book by saying too little about too much. Rather, clear graphics, straightforward techniques, specific examples, sample files, and a writing style that any compositor will be comfortable with have been carefully crafted to provide us with value in an excellent resource.
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17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Misleading Title, December 6, 2006
The book should be titled "Encyclopedia of Visual Effects for Shake (and in rare instances Motion and After Effects.)" I would say well over 90% of the book's "how to" section is dedicated solely to Shake. Since I primarily use After Effects, the book wasn't as helpful as I would have hoped. If you do buy this book I suggest you flip through it first before you buy it or order it online.
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