not for reference or help, just good for following their lessons
I had to buy this book for school.It's full of lessons you follow along with, using art and graphics provided on a CD. As far as reference or help with your own projects, forget it. Your better off googling your question. If following along is all you need then, it's a nice book. The puppet stuff is OK. That helped a bit in learing it.
I had a question about nesting, they said it was pg 19. They just tell you what it is, not how to do it. ( Creativecow.com had a video explaining it)
I would not recommend this book.
very good stuff to start the work with AE
This book totally fit my expectation. I'm a beginner in this theme and the lections and the descriptions are very clear and gave me a really good background to start my work with after effects. I can recommand this book for everyone, how will start the work with this software.
Neither comprehensive nor for beginners
I am totally unfamiliar with Adobe After Effects and based upon the title and experience with other Adobe Classroom in a Book titles, thought this would bring me gently into the After Effects universe.
Wrong. Totally wrong.
Rather than provide an overview of what After Effects does or is capable of, the book states "Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional provides a comprehensive set of 2D and 3D tools for compositing, animation and effects that motion-graphics professionals, visual effects artists, web designers and film and video professionals need. After Effects is widely used for digital post-production of film, video, DVD, and the web. You can compositer layers in various ways, apply and combine sophisticated visual and audio effects, and animate both objects and effects." That's it. That's the whole introduction to After Effects. Hardly illuminating and certainly not helpful to the neophyte.
The authors promises to teach the newcomer fundamental concepts and features - and it dispenses with that mission in a few inadequate pages.
Then it is on to learning the new features of After Effects CS3, which is what this book is all about.
But even that is not done well. Take for example these informative sentences: "You can pucker a shape by pulling the path's vertices inward while curving segments outward." There are no explanatory illustrations.
The lessons are nothing more than instruction lists with little explanation of what you are doing or why. The back cover declares "The fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to learn Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional". I don't think so. Not by a long shot.
Overall, a disappointment and not the way for a beginner to learn about the capabilities of After Effects.
Jerry
The Basics
Great book for walking through the basic, prominent features of AE. The included DVD is a definite plus.
Another Great Classroom in a book!
This book is well written and fun to go through. It's a "must-have" for anyone who wants to dive into AfterEffects.
(6 reviews)
