After Effects Apprentice

by Chris Meyer, Trish Meyer

If you're new to After Effects and want to get up to speed quickly, After Effects Apprentice was created just for you. With 11 core lessons plus a fun final project, you'll quickly get into the program and learn how to tap its potential - whether you want to create motion graphics for a network program, your company's video, or your own independent production.

In this book, you'll get a professional perspective on the most important features a motion graphics artist needs to learn to use this program effectively. You'll learn to creatively edit and combine layers, animate eye-catching titles, replace a screen on a computer monitor, place a studio shot in anew environment, manipulate 3D space, and use effects to generate excitement or enhance the realism of a scene. Easy to follow step-by-step instructions take you through each technique, including projects that encourage you to express it in your own way. You'll learn more than just the tools; you'll learn skills that you can immediately put to work in your own projects.

Topics include how
* Animate, layer, and composite images and text.
* Manipulate keyframes to create more refined animations.
* Use masks, mattes, stencils and modes to add depth.
* Manage layers to make them easier to coordinate.
* Add 3D to your animations.
* Use tracking and keying to create special effects.
* Includes new CS3 features; Shape layers, the Puppet tool, Brainstorm, and Per-Character 3D Text.

DVD All exercise source material and projects in AE7 and CS3, video guided tours, and movies of the finished projects.

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, Reference

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Chris Meyer is an Associate Professor at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He studies human interactions and teams in organizations with a focus on negotiation, motivation, and emotion. Chris, an award-winning professor, teaches negotiation and organizational behavior at the graduate and undergraduate level. Prior to his academic work, Chris held sales and management positions in several high-tech and start-up organizations.

Reviews

[Hugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Used this for class. I think we had a different edition with more pages, but I'm sure the info is basically the same. These are mind numbingly boring to read and the exercises are broken down step by step. You will learn something when you do them but I don't know if there's anything here you couldn't learn on YouTube.

[VampireNovelFan · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you know nothing about After Affects, this publication is what you want to buy. The tutorials are rich and colorful and have substance to them. While it gives you more of a skeleton understanding for how to use the program, you may be tempted (and are encouraged) to play around a bit and learn a thing or two for yourself. It also helps to have a DVD so that you can work through the exercises yourself.

[Helen Newall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book, which I still use, because even though I'm out of the starting blocks with After Effects, there's still much to learn. The authors have videos on Lynda.com which I also find to be the most useful of any. They are both skilled teachers. This is a must-have even though it's CS4 and AE is now at CS6. I don't think any AE novice could regret this acquisition!

[Lauren]

This is not exactly pleasure reading. It's required for class and that said, I'm learning a lot about After Effects...one day I may even become "adept"...don't hold your breath though...

[Antti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tolles Buch.