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Summary: If your serious about making a living using Ae
Review: I Have the videos ...I have the books, they are all collecting dust except for this one. Trish and Chris Meyer are the Ae guru's. I have been using Ae for about 2 yr.s and I have dramatically increased my income because of this book. Now all the :30 and 1:00 commercials I do are done in After Effects. I strongly recommend this book for an intermediate to experienced editor wanting to break into motion graphics and compositing. This book is guaranteed to raise your IQ (and could quite possibly help in raising your income).
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Summary: A to Y
Review: I was a beginner and this was all I ever used to learn AE. I left out the Z b/c obviously they must have left out a technique or two, but otherwise this is all you need to get up and running. Forget the videos others offer, they're a waste of time and money. There's plenty of online support and training offered from various user groups, some with FREE video clips. LES MEYERS get an A+++++ from this DV Editor.
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Summary: Essential for any after effects user
Review: I've been a long time fan of the Meyers' column on DV magazine, so when I heard they were publishing a book I knew it would be great. I think that this book and it's companion After Effects in Production should be in every motion graphics artists personal library. The tutorials are beautifully explained and illustrated. Even advanced users learn new ways of doing things. For what I've seen beginers can use it as a text book and follow it sequentially, for advanced users it's a great reference book that completly substitutes the original manuals.
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Summary: Perfect...
Review: "Creating Motion Graphics" is quite possibly the BEST aftermarket book for any software product I have ever used. Other authors would do well to take note of the Meyer's exhaustive coverage of every conceivable topic. What makes this book stand out is its focus on the "real world" aspects of AE, and not page after page of boring, un-inspiring step-by-step "tutorials" that just teach you what buttons to push. To use an old cliche, this book doesn't just give you "fish" (like the Classroom in a Book and that terrible "Real World After Effects" by Sherry London), it teaches you HOW to fish. The sections on effects, for example, explains what each effect does, but they go further by showing you interesting and novel uses of the effect that aren't entirely obvious (such as using the Polar Coordinates effect to "radiate" a text scroll).The Meyer's actually USE After Effects daily for "real" high-level projects, and as such they have uncovered all of the tricks, nuances and gotcha's of the product that most other people don't realize until its too late. CMG is like a compilation of all the great wisdom and tips from the AE mailing-list. Every page is filled with useful information. The attention to detail is mind-boggling. Just yesterday, in fact, I was tearing my hair out over some wierdness with Time-remapping that I couldnt figure out, so I decided to read "the bible" and learned of a obscure time-remapping "feature" which wasn't mentioned in the AE manual, and which was causing my remapped footage to not matchframe properly. This is the kind of thing that you can only figure out if you spend thousands of hours banging away at the program. There are hundreds of little gems like this throughout the book. A wonderful added bonus is an article by one of the original creators of After Effects (during the CoSA days), recounting the interesting history behind the development of the product. I can't imagine that there was actually a time when AE didn't have transfer modes and only allowed one effect per layer! I would agree with other reviewers that CMG is probably not the best book to start learning with if youre a complete AE newbie. It's hard to appreciate the true value of this book unless you've trudged through the AE Classroom in a Book and AE manual itself, and used the software for several "real" projects. This book fills in the gaps that all other AE references and "tutorial" books dont cover. And please ignore all the other whiny reviewers who give CMG a low-star rating because it only shows Macintosh screenshots and keyboard shortcuts. I'm a Windows AE user, and this doesn't bother me at all, because it has no bearing on the usefulness of the information. AE on Windows and AE on the Mac are nearly identical, as are the vast majority of keyboard shortcuts. If you're too lazy to do the simple "<command key> = <control key>" and "<option key> = "<ALT key>" conversion in your head, then I can't imagine how you can have the patience to even learn AE in the first place! Also ignore the whiners who complain about the lack of "whitespace" in the book. This is a rather petty, and even stupid thing to complain about, because considering how thick the book is, the "lack of whitespace" means you're getting even more information than you get in an offering such as Adobe's "Classroom in a Book"--which is annoyingly rife with whitespace. This book is about information, and not looking pretty on your coffee-table. Though I must say I am a bit surprised that Trish designed the type layout for the cover, as it seems very amateurish compared to her other work. The fact is, this book is absolutely invaluable to ANY After Effects user, no matter how "advanced" you think you are. Like the Brian Maffitt Total Training tapes, you'll learn things you never knew before even in the "basic" sections of the book. In short, get this book. It will be the best purchase you make in a long time.
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Summary: Must Have for All Motion Graphics and VFX Artists
Review: No matter if you are a very experienced Motion Graphics or VFX artist, or trying to break into the Industry, this book is a great tool to have in your arsenal. I bought this book the second it was released, and it's been one of the best purchases I've made. I already own 2 other After Effects books, and this one is head and shoulders above the other two by providing complete, informative tips and suggestions for tools, including real world examples. Also the writing style and layout is visually and interesting to read. So many of these books, are very dry, making you want to quit immediately, but not with Trish & Chris, they engage, the ready, and make it visually appealing too. In fact so much of the book is in Full Color (read every page) that I'm surprised it isn't more expensive, the printing costs alone must be very high. There are lots and lots of projects that come with it. I haven't been through all of them yet, but those I have, were all top notch. My advice to everybody, this is it, this is the one, go out buy it, and you'll be happy. I'm giddy over it;) Barry Berman
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Summary: One of the best AE book I have seen.
Review: Clear ideas + Concept + instruction. Easy to understand and practice.
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Summary: Wow!!!
Review: Amazing book, it really uncovers the deepest places of After Effects. I've been doing Motion Graphics in high end applications without knowing that you can do it inside After Effects.
Smart buy.
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Summary: The most complete AE training I ever seen
Review: Here you learn techniques that you can't find in any other trainings. In my opinion, you will thank to God for this book, but for a beginner that knows nothing about AE, an video training (like the Adobe Total Training by Brian Mafitti, or Boot Camp by Taz Goldstein) is necessary first. It's very dificult to learn a complex software like AE, just with a book. It has almost 500 pages. But it's the best complement for a video training available in the market, because it focuses techniques that you'll never find anywhere. It's deep and very well done. I really don't know anyone that knows After Effects so deeply as Trish and Chris Meyer. Or at least others don't show it.
For an experienced user, the second book ("After Effects in Production"), more than an complement to this first, it's something unique. Imagine yourself doing the "Adidas Performance" television commercial and so other award winning productions. You can adapt these techniques to your own motion graphics work. Can you imagine how could this change your lifes? Thank you so much, Trish and Chris to share with us so much of your precious knowledge.
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Summary: WOW!
Review: This is probably the most amazingly useful computer books I have ever read. I already had the smallest amount of experience (I.E. I knew how to do basic editing [keyframing, applying effects, messing with parameters]) but there is SO much more to After Effects. This book, written by two beta testers who have been with After Effects since the very beggining (this fact is pounded into you as you read the book), presents perfect structure teaching you in perfect sequence with each chapter being cumulative, but not so much so that you cannot skip around. I am personally amazed at what this book taught me. I would say that it can, if the reader is dedicated enough, bring an absolute beginner (assuming you understand extremely basic computer concepts such as what RAM/Memory is...etc) to a firly advanced level. Also including an index, this book is good to keep around for reference. Pretty much anything you need to lookup at a later time can be done so with such ease. Yes, although this book is written based on versino 4.1 of After Effects, and it is taught with the Mac interface :| I learned with After Effects 5.0/5.5 (switched in the middle of the book, not that much of a difference) on Windows. If you are a beginner that has never even looked at the AE face, this book will not only get you started, but also give you a huge push. If you are an experienced/intermediate AE user, i would still suggest this book because it presents interesting ideas, concepts, and is good reference material. My recommendation is 5/5......I would recommend buying this book regardless of experience... -JeffMo
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Summary: I Get It Now!
Review: Okay, it took me a full semester in an After Effects only class to be able to open this book and do ANYTHING, but now I appreciate it.
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