After Effects and Photoshop: Animation and Production Effects for DV and Film

Rating:
Summary: Good but not great
Review: This book is definitely not for beginners. Good concept and it teaches you how to approach things differently, but I wonder if it was just my copy. It seemed that every tutorial I done skip key points!? Only after looking at the actual AEP on the disk was I able to figure out what I was missing. You can't follow it by trying to upload the indivial layers yourself or you'll surely get lost at some step. I'm no beginner, nor am I a professional, but I think when you include tutorials you shouldn't leave out key elements. Also it was definitely made for the Mac user, which isn't a problem for me, but like I said it's definitely not for beginners. I'll give it credit for what you can do if you open the AEPs in After Effects. This shouldn't be your only book on this subject though. I recommend Photoshop CS for non-linear editors by Richard H. and also his quick tips book on After Effects. Good book though, I use it for reference only not a learning tool.

Rating:
Summary: A video producer's "must-have".
Review: As a video professional who uses After Effects and Photoshop almost every day in the production of training and promotional videos, I thought I had a pretty good working knowledge of both programs. I was wrong. Jeff Foster's wonderful new book has opened my eyes to the real potential of both of these programs. From the very first chapter I started learning powerful techniques and features I was previously unaware of and how to use tools I had previously used in ways I never considered before. Personally, I learn best by working through hands-on projects, and this book is brimming with in-depth, highly creative tutorials. Jeff explains every step in detail and more importantly, why you are taking them. It is obvious Jeff is an accomplished professional, and he shares not only the After Effects techniques, but also the subtle nuances that raise a project from satisfactory to exceptional. After Effects has always been a favorite program of mine for 2-dimensional animation. But this book has shown me what a powerful 3D program it is as well. There are great chapters on blue-screen, rotoscoping, using mattes, adding photo-realism to your animations. And the projects are just plain fun. I can't tell you how many times I found myself working through a tutorial, previewing the animation, and just stopping to say "wow!" and to consider how I might use that technique in my own work. I have bought several After Effects books over the years, but this is by far the best I have read. If you are brand new to After Effects, you may be a little frustrated as Jeff assumes you have a basic knowledge of the program. But if you are an After Effects and Photoshop user looking to refine your skill and become a true professional, this book is for you. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: Connecting the dots, frames, layers, etc.
Review: As much as the individual product documentation helps you learn the individual programs, it takes a book like this to really enable you to focusing the power of all these packages on DV and animation projects. It's a great resource for someone who is more familiar with using film make the conversion to digital video.

Rating:
Summary: I could not have done it without this book!
Review: I am currently in production on a small budget documentary trying to do big budget effects and this book made it all possible. If you want to greate that 3d depth feel to your photos( a la "Kid Stays in the Picture"), you need this book. If you want to pull a key out of the most terribley shot green screen footage, you need this book. And if you want to create custom transitions between footage and more, it is all possible with the help of Jeff Foster's expertise. Because of what I learned from his various chapters I am now employed for the next 3 years!

Rating:
Summary: Very 'not great'
Review: I'm an Afx user and found this book painfully basic. I bought it because it was recomended for high-end users which I'm sorry to say is a lie. The 'keying tutorials' arent even tutorials; they're just examples of what you can do with 3'rd party Plugins. If I wanted a demonstration in how to download plugins I'd visit my local Crack site, thank you very much.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome Effects and Animation Techniques!
Review: I've been learning Adobe After Effects over the past few years, but I've never mastered the secrets of the timing of animations or simple special effects - until I got this book! I've already been able to apply some of the techniques to projects I'm working on and have learned more in the two weeks I've had this book than I did in years of digital video and design classes!

This book is NOT for beginners though! You must have a working knowledge of Adobe Photoshop and After Effects to navigate the example projects - but everything else you need is on the jam-packed DVD-ROM that comes with the book! I've been able to reverse-engineer a couple of sample After Effects project files that Jeff has provided to see exactly how the timing and control of animated layers were working. There's no guessing or frustrations when you can review the actual source files used in each chapter!

If you want to learn more about how the special effects you see on TV or in the movies are done - especially on affordable desktop software that Adobe makes, then you'll want to get this book!

Rating:
Summary: Super quality, organized, highly useful and creative
Review: Short answer: I liked the way the book was conceptualized, written and organized so well that I requested that the book become the standard text for the class that I teach on After Effects in a college level course at a national college.

It could be adopted across the company and likely will.

It is easy to read, follow and learn using this book, despite the advanced nature of the topics covered. If much of this powerful Adobe application has been mysterious to you, this is the book that could explain how to push it to new levels in your own work. It will change the way you look at After Effects and add new tools to your creative toolbox.

Rating:
Summary: A book that will make impact to the motion graphics industry
Review: This book is just terrific. A book that I had been waiting for. A book that worths my time and effort to read, to learn and even to memorize for good.

It is well organized, containing 60+ exciting examples and guiding you step by step. The examples are found in the companion DVD and they work. (You need to have Affect Effects 6 and Photoshop CS versions to execise the examples and need some basic knowledge of both applications.)

I learn real techniques and tricks in making Hollywood style special effects, cartoon characters and motion. I learn making skywalker movie over Manhattan sky. I learn practical usage of garbage matte, rotoscoping and keying in compositing images. I learn how to make motion movie out of one still picture. I learn coloring old movie, changing moving or still objects within an existing movie footage. I learn from this book the subtle power of Adobe's After Effects (3-D capabilities), Photoshop and ImageReady. I can go on and on. You can check it yourself by first looking at the exciting movies out of these project examples.

This book will become a classic and is going to make impact to the motion graphics industry. This is my dream book.

Rating:
Summary: Skip this one if you have any knowledge of After Effects
Review: This book pales in comparison to the Trish and Chris Meyer books (Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects). The tutorials are redundant and don't go beyond very basic concepts. I teach After Effects at a local college, and will not be recommending this book to my students.

Rating:
Summary: Jeff Foster-Knows His Stuff
Review: Wow! I really hate to slog through technical books, but Mr. Foster's "After Effects + Photoshop..." is truly a delight! From cover to cover I found helpful, clearly written techniques and tricks, along with lots of juicy colorful images to keep me interested. Since I've co-authored two books on Adobe Illustrator, I can relate to the challenge of making difficult information a breeze for the reader to understand. Good work!