Description:
Version 5.5 of Adobe After Effects is much more than an incremental upgrade. By improving on existing features and introducing new ones, the After Effects development team has again created a must-have version for the professional After Effects designer. After Effects 5.5 Magic takes the intermediate to advanced user through a tutorial tour of some of these features, while reinforcing important older tools.Featuring chapters written by such After Effects luminaries as Fred Lewis, Patrick Siemer, and Dan Ablan, to name a few, there are chapters on film resolution, logo animation, combining 2-D and 3-D layers, motion tracking, and several chapters on live-action compositing. There are also chapters on creating stylistic video distortion and creating and exporting animation for the Web in the form of Flash (SWF) files. The last third of the book is focused on one of After Effects' most powerful features: expressions. Since expressions are perceived as "programming," many AE designers tend to shy away from them. However, mastering expressions can add a whole new level of design and animation that simply isn't possible without them. Mark Christiansen has written five chapters that explore expressions, starting with their basic usage using point-and-click techniques through more advanced techniques that use custom-written code. Mark has done a terrific job of explaining the fundamentals, techniques, and various applications, and these chapters are worth the cost of the book. Books in the New Riders Magic series are written by experienced authors discussing advanced features, and target advanced users. Each book offers clean design, concise writing, full color on every page, and countless illustrations. After Effects 5.5 Magic is a worthy member of this important series and a valuable addition to the AE designer's library. --Mike Caputo
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