Jacquelin Vanderwood

August 1, 2000

Excellent, excellent book!!! What more can I say? It is very well written and illustrated with a wealth of knowledge that is unsurpassed in Adobe After Effects book circles. This book is so well done for a technical book, it is a pleasure to read and use. The authors have really created a quality book for a quality product. It's even been printed in color on top quality paper which makes  learning so much easier. Wish someone could write a book like this for JavaScript for us programming impaired individuals. I am so impressed with this book. It makes learning fun. Wish everyone would consider publishing books of this quality. If you're really serious about learning Adobe After Effects, you must buy this book and read it cover to cover. Your skills will never be the same. 

The book is accompanied by a wonderful CD chock full of tutorials and chapter examples, plus free plug-ins, some goodies, sources, and tech tips. I love this CD. It is so helpful. 

What's in the book you ask? Everything you wanted to know about After Effects. It begins with introducing us to the logic of After Effects. This aspect of any software is so important to learn before venturing into unknown territory. It makes learning the product so much easier. Part 1 covers getting started and animation with chapters on how AE thinks, customs and immigration, creating a composition, time and space, transformations, anchor points, and standard and production bundle utilities for creating and massaging keyframe information including Motion Sketch and The Wiggler. Part 2 covers layers with chapters on layer essentials, manipulating layers, stretching/reversing/blending layers, and motion blur. Part 3 covers modes, mask, and mattes with chapters on transfer modes, masking, track mattes, and stencils. Part 4 covers hierarchies and how to build them with chapters on nesting, pre-composition, and collapsing transformations. Part 5 cover effects with chapters on effects essentials, adjustment layers, applying solids, compound effects, standard effects, effects from the Production Bundle, color keying and matte edge tools. Part 6 covers type, Illustrator, and Photoshop with chapters on effects plug-ins, using Illustrator and rasterization, and working with Photoshop. Part 7 covers audio with chapters on the basics and effects. Part 8 covers time and tracking with chapters on time re-mapping, time-manipulating effects, motion stabilizer, motion tracking, and Motion Math. Part 9 covers format issues and rendering with chapters on footage, issues on footage, 3:2 pull down, D1/DV NTSC/PAL, working in wide screen and film resolution, the render queue and pre-rendering. 

Below are some samples from the CD:

I can't recommend this book highly enough. It is a very important contribution to After Effects. Fantastic!

Copyright 2000, Jacquelin Vanderwood, All Rights Reserved