Rating: 
Summary: just a little bit!
Review: Nice book. Not for dummies but intermediate users.
But unfortunately you cant find any words about "advanced" keying, matting, rotoscoping, color correcting, and motion tracking-camera matching... These are the most important elements of compositing. After Effects can really do that all but the book doesnt tell in advance. Only basic samples.
Some professional case studies in book dont have enough details to deconstruct the final projects, only briefs in secret. Well the book is perfect for midlevel users but not for advanced.
Well the writers are preparing a couple of book for the series. We hope they will be more specific and advanced.
Rating: 
Summary: Differences between First and Second editions
Review: Note from the authors: The first edition of After Effects in Production (2001, ISBN 1578200776) is now out of print. It was written for AE4.1/5.0, and the CD shipped with free plug-ins for OS9 and Windows.
The second edition is being printed now (December 2004) and has been updated for AE6.5, with free plug-ins for OS X and Windows. The 12 tutorials are essentially the same but where applicable they have been updated to use the latest working practices and keyboard shortcuts. For instance, we use the new Brush tool instead of the Vector Paint effect and the new Text tool instead of the Path Text effect. Also, the motion tracker was redesigned by Adobe for AE 6 so the motion tracking chapter was also overhauled. The 6 Case Studies are essentially unchanged.
The 2nd edition includes a DVD with a Tryout version of After Effects 6.5, along with additional free full-resolution footage from Artbeats and 12 Inch Design that was not included on the original CD.
To quickly locate the 2nd edition on Amazon, search for its ISBN number - "1578202647".
Hope that helps clarify the differences between the two editions.
Trish & Chris Meyer
Rating:
Summary: an excellent book. Buy it
Review: Nothing to say except you must have in your library. Full of real works examples in the Cd. Better than go to an expensive academic to improve your level in after effects. Excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Eye Catching & Informative
Review: There are plenty of reviews so I just wanted to comment on the "suggested progression" of preceding this book with "Creating Motion Graphics" by the same authors. There is no need to have gone through "Creating Motion Graphics" before using this book. At most,I'd recommend this book IMMEDIATELY after Chapter ONE of "Creating Motion Graphics" since this book is VERY step-by-step, and when one is just starting out, it is MUCH more helpful to go through several complete and broad projects to get ones feet wet(such as this book) than learning, in depth, a few concepts at a time, which is what you get in the first book if you go through chapters 2 and further. (You might be able to skip the first book altogether if you're already familiar with the adobe interface -- which I was NOT). After completing this book, THEN I'd suggest continuing in the first book at chapter 2 -- so that learning the concepts they teach in depth in that book have more meaning.
Rating: 
Summary: Rare gem
Review: There are plenty of reviews so I just wanted to comment on the "suggested progression" of preceding this book with "Creating Motion Graphics" by the same authors. There is no need to have gone through "Creating Motion Graphics" before using this book. At most,I'd recommend this book IMMEDIATELY after Chapter ONE of "Creating Motion Graphics" since this book is VERY step-by-step, and when one is just starting out, it is MUCH more helpful to go through several complete and broad projects to get ones feet wet(such as this book) than learning, in depth, a few concepts at a time, which is what you get in the first book if you go through chapters 2 and further. (You might be able to skip the first book altogether if you're already familiar with the adobe interface -- which I was NOT). After completing this book, THEN I'd suggest continuing in the first book at chapter 2 -- so that learning the concepts they teach in depth in that book have more meaning.
Rating:
Summary: Great book!!
Review: This book covers lots of tricks on AE. It has tutorials and "hands on" action. It lets you build some graphics and animations guiding you through including all the steps and it also explains why would you move, what to where and how. It comes with a CD with tutorials and about 5 free plug-ins. It also includes a try out version of AE for Mac and PC. It also tells you tricks to use on AE production bundle like "the wiggler" and the "vector paint" plug-in wich is more like a program than a plug-in in AE-PB (after efffects production bundle)
Rating:
Summary: A great help for the experienced or the beginners in A.E.
Review: This book is a real help for those occupied in the motion graphics desing field. A great combination of case studies and step by step tutorials. This book is not just a typical presentation of the A.E. features but a great companion that reveals the secrets, gives you tips and most of all opens the doors to get you into the real world of creating motion graphics. Just great!
Rating:
Summary: Chris and Trish Meyer have done it again!
Review: This book is absolutely wonderful. The tutorials are beautifully crafted and the case studies are extremely enlightening. There is a lot of good stuff in this book! The tutorials are somewhat complex (which is a good thing) but very easy to follow. Beginners might want to start with their previous book - Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects - because the new one assumes you at least know your way around the program. It would be impossible for even an intemediate/advanced user to go through this book without learning a LOT of new stuff.There is a lot to be impressed with here. Not only do you get to dive into some complex animations but the authors constantly point out little details to improve the look of the piece and its synchronization with audio. You come away with a feeling that you have not only learned a lot about the mechanics of creating a complicated piece but also something about the artistic side of motion graphics design as well. In addition, the CD (as with their previous book) is a treasure trove of goodies, including bonus tutorials and free plugins. One can only hope that this is the begining of a series of books like this...
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book!
Review: This is an excellent book, and a great compliment to Creating Motion Graphics with AE. This is a jam-pack book of tutorials. The content is excellent, and it covers everything from basic to advance. I only wish there is more them :)
Rating:
Summary: Please keep writing books
Review: When a new upgrade for a program comes out, most computer graphic authors just update their old book. Not these guys. This is a completely new book, that is everything that their old book wasn't. 'Creating Motion Graphics' was a thorough textbook for all the main features of the program. This book takes a different approach, offering 12 varied tutorials that help the reader master managing and problem-solving a project as well as learning version 5's new features. Version 5 features are covered very well. The examples of parenting and 3D and expressions are good pratical real world examples, not just -this how you can warp someones face digitally- like some authors do. There's also a case studies section at the back that focuses on projects from other graphic companies, which is great also. I particularly enjoyed the lesson on using After Effects to export a Flash Animation. If you don't have 'Creating Motion Graphics', I'd recommend that first, as all of its teachings are still valid (just no v5 features are covered). This book assumes a certain amount of experience, so if you're a beginner, classroom in a book would be more suitable.
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