Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects: Essential and Advanced Techniques, 5th Edition, Version CS5

Don't be intimidated by the physical size and weight of this comprehensive volume. Once inside it's very reader-friendly, and I say that as a rank novice After Effects user. It's well-organized, crisply written and easily digestible for newbies like me without sacrificing depth and detail. Everything is covered. The exercises are focused, well thought out and take you smoothly, step by step, through each aspect of the software while putting your hands on every button, knob, switch and dial in the toolset. Almost no detail is skipped, which is remarkable considering how many nested nooks and crannies there are in AE's very dense interface. I'm using CS6, so it would be nice to have an updated 6th edition, but it's really not a problem, just a few small differences so far and I've been able to easily work around them.If I absolutely had to come up with a quibble, it would be that the book is printed on very nice coated paper stock, which makes it much heavier than if the pages were uncoated, and the ink is VERY prone to smudging, so I find myself going to rather tedious pains to place my fingers carefully when holding the book to avoid obliterating any of the text. I understand why they used coated paper, but it is a bit of a pain. I also would welcome a DVD-less next edition, preferring to retrieve project files via browser from an online server (and skip the plastic disk that has to be stored and disposed of someday, and can also be easily damaged).I have no problem recommending this book without qualification.

I have to say, before I read this book, I thought I had learned everything about After Effects. I have spent countless hours on the internet watching tutorials as well as doing my own experiments with getting desired effects in after effects. But I was required to buy this book for a motion graphics class, and to my surprise, there is a LOT of information in here covering ALL forms of after effects, even Mocha. I have to say what I thought to be 100% self-taught knowledge is now about 85%. There are a lot of things covered in here, such as path/mask interpolation, rendering techniques (after effects render farm!) and other things like the sort that are just NOT covered in tutorials around the internet.I am very pleased with the quality and coverage of this book. I highly recommend it for ANYONE looking to learn after effects. This book is designed to instruct beginners all the way to the most adept after effects users.

I have used "Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects" on many occasions. The book is essential to any professional or novice that is striving to step up their skills in After Effects. The book covers everything from basic edits to more complex topics such as integration with 3d applications and green screen effects. Plus, you get a CD that will help to guide you in the lessons. Who could ask for more.As a professional freelancer, I would recommend this book to anyone that is serious in getting a quality product that guides you through specific needs. If you are a professional like I am you will know the importance of having a reference book on hand to quickly help you when you reach a road block or simply forget how to do a technique. If you are a novice to After effects rest assured that you will have a firm grasp of the program after reading this book.

Great book, just don't buy it for the Kindle!!!!! This book has great information for both seasoned users as well as beginners alike. What killed me was the fact that the book has been purchased by a different publisher. The book has not been updated to reflect this change. The email addresses and web pages provided for you to get the files you need to complete the lessons are all incorrect. Once I finally got hold of someone (took a week) they informed me that they would have to send me a disk as they are not set up to make these files downloadable. They are happy to send me a disk. While this is all well and good I must admit I am a bit annoyed at having spent $44 only to have a book that is totally unusable for at least two week. False advertisement in my opinion.

Good material but I'd strongly go through the AE Apprentice 4th version from the same author before tackling this one. The book assumes knowledge and you will be lost trying to do the exercises if this is your first publication on learning After Effects. Also it is dated and many of the functions may have changed names so prepare to do a lot of Google searching for current terms. This is my third book on After Effects and I am finding myself having to stop and dig into the SOURCES folder to pull up certain objects the author is asking me to transform. The layers he is asking to change do not present themselves in the pre-built compositions in the timeline so you have to add them manually form the SOURCES folder if you want to complete the exercises in their entirety. Example: On page 53 Chapter 3 the tutorial asks to select the CP_Spaceman.tif layer in the timeline panel from the Ex.08_starter composition. Look at my screenshot and I only have the Ex.08_starter composition as a whole, there is no CP_Spaceman.tif layer visible in the timeline. Looks like this was a pre-composed composition so I had to go into SOURCES and put the CP_Spaceman.tif layer on top in order to complete the exercise. If you pre-comp a multi-layered composition you will not see the individual layers anymore in the timeline so I'm assuming this is what was done.

I am fairly new to video editing so I was apprehensive when I saw the enormous size of this book. However, this means that I can pick out the parts that are relevant to me at this time- and there are plenty. It is very well-written with careful, clear explanations of the procedures involved and an excellent DVD with images to try them out on. I really appreciate the style, too. It is sensible, but often with light-hearted remarks to encourage you when you might be having problems. My guess is you'll never need another book on After Effects CS5/5.5. This one has it all and is well worth the price.