Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects, Volume 1: The Essentials (2nd Edition, Version 5.5) [Paperback]

Trish Meyer (Author), Chris Meyer (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Overall, these books are fantastic and as far as I’m concerned they should come in the box with After Effects. -- Adrian Thompson, CGFocus.com, on the Meyers' three After Effects titles

Product Description

Master all the core concepts needed to use After Effects 5.5 on a daily basis, including transformations, keyframing animation, editing layers, masking, track mattes, stencils, nesting, precomposing, transfer modes, effects, adjustment layers, and rendering, plus the major new features Parenting, 3D Layers, Cameras, and Lights. In addition to the new topics, owners of the first edition of CMG will benefit from the updated coverage of such key features as transfer modes, masking, and collapsing transformations. Beginners and students will enjoy the new first chapter, which takes them on a tour through After Effects in the form of creating a mythical television show opening title sequence. The CD includes free plug-ins and keyframe assistants from Boris FX, Walker Effects, Digital Film Tools, The Foundry, Digital Anarchy, and DigiEffects plus inspirational footage from Artbeats, Digital Vision, and EyeWire to experiment with.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 417 pages
• Publisher: CMP Books; 2nd edition (September 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578201144
• ISBN-13: 978-1578201143
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #835,864 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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  Books > Computers & Internet > Digital Photography & Video > After Effects

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, November 23, 2002

By	Jay Rogers (Buda, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects, Volume 1: The Essentials (2nd Edition, Version 5.5) (Paperback)

This is a book about THINKING in After Effects. It's one of the best software tutorials I've ever read because it is written from a production point of view. It's not a catalog of features and effects, nor is it a series of technical monographs grouped by functionality and interspersed with a few screencaps (*cough* after effects 5 bible *cough*). It's grouped by things you need to accomplish in production and written simply & clearly with copious full-color screen grabs. Sidebars handle technical detail, workarounds, and asides. What Trish and Chris are doing you is guiding you through work habits they've garnered in 10 years of working with this app in a relaxed, conversational way. Thumbs Up!

Hint for reading this book: When you start each chapter, read all the sidebars and callouts first as a warmup, then go back and read everything.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An eye-opening, full-color reference and tutorial, November 8, 2002

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects, Volume 1: The Essentials (2nd Edition, Version 5.5) (Paperback)

Now in an updated and expanded second edition which covers version 5.5, Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects Volume 1: The Essentials is an eye-opening, full-color reference and tutorial written for Adobe "After Effects" users of all skill and experience levels. "Learner friendly" step-by-step tutorials effectively teach the reader how to exploit the animation capabilities of the software from layering, to learning how to represent motion paths and velocity, to masking, track mattes, and lighting in three dimensions, and more. A superb "how-to" self-teaching and highly recommended reference for aspiring computer artists and digital video makers, Creating Motion Graphics With After Effects is accompanied with a CD-ROM containing a completed user-oriented and accessible tutorial enhanced with hundreds of movies, stills, objects and audio clips, as well as the tryout version of Adobe After Effects 5.5 for the Macintosh or Windows.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book available for beginners, October 8, 2005

By	S. Johnson (OR United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects, Vol. 1: The Essentials (3rd Edition, Version 6.5) (Paperback)

I was a new user of After Effects, and had never used an animation program before. (I do most of my work in Photoshop and Premiere.) After buying two books from the local Borders (including Bolante's "After Effects 6.5") and browsing through a few others, I was about to (1) sign up for a class, or (2) give up. Good luck learning from most of the AE books out there; I couldn't.

So I began searching through the reviews on Amazon and came across "Vol. 1: The Essentials." It deserves the excellent reviews it's received. I'm no longer getting an ulcer trying to learn this program; the Meyers' approach is very logical, the step-by-step tutorials are fantastic, and some of the special effects included on the CD-ROM might be useful future projects.

If you're a new user, save yourself a lot of money and frustration and start with Meyers. This is the book to buy.