If you want to get some experience with After effects this book will walk you through most of its features. I finished this book in one week, but it is fairly time intensive. In the book you create a project adding parts using what you've learned from each chapter. This approach works well because it gives you experience with creating a complete project from start to finish. I also found the book useful as a reference. If I remember using a particular feature I can usually find it quickly in the book when I need it.
Eleven lessons span the production of a single piece, from importing elements from other programs, to assembling these and other pieces into a final composition, through rendering for broadcast. Step-by-step guides walk you through each phase and plenty of screen shots help keep you on track.
This book is ideal for someone who has installed After Effects and toyed with it, but doesn't really know where to go from there. It expects some familiarity with the computer platform you're using, as well as some familiarity with external applications that use After Effects, such as Premiere, Photoshop, and Illustrator.
While an excellent book for beginners, it offers little information on using Expressions, and virtually nothing on audio filters. While After Effects is rarely used for tweaking audio, an appendix on the power of Expressions would have been welcome.
Looking at the finished product might seem a bit intimidating, but the team of authors are accomplished motion graphics professionals and have put together a solid body of work. While the early chapters seem wordy and visually boring, the pieces begin to fall into place once we begin rendering movies and using these movies as elements in a greater whole. Overall, the Adobe After Effects 5.0 Classroom in a Book is a valuable course in learning to harness the power of this impressive application. --Mike Caputo
Careful, complete introduction
Having written training material myself, I know how difficult it is to write for every contingency, considering everything a novice might do wrong. The authors of this book have done a great job at presenting instructions clearly and completely, so that even an absolute newbie at After Effects like myself can follow every lesson. Various checkpoints allow you to verify that you are on the right track. The lessons are very clear and easy to follow, and I appreciate the continuity in presenting an entire project throughout the book, so that I feel I am really accomplishing something. After just a few lessons, I feel that I am grasping what After Effects is all about.In general, these series of books are a great way to get hands-on experience with highly technical products, and I recommend them enthusiastically.
Lacks variety in content
Disappointed with this text because of the single project through which this publication teaches After Effects. Compared to previous AE: Classroom in a Book books (earlier versions of After Effects) in which multiple creative projects unfolded as the learner used the tools, After Effects 5.0 teaches the program through one long project. The authors clearly guide the learner through important aspects of After Effects. However, if you are seeking a learn-and-do book that exposes you to a range of creative uses for After Effects, this book may be a disappointment.
after effects 5.0
i have read all the other reviews. interesting points made by all who have taken the time to review. this is the 1st book i used to learn A.E. i had NO A.E. experiance and was out to expanding on my adobe premiere knowledge. so basicly i was coming in blind folded.for the first 3 chapters i agree with that one review, "they should have called the book, freaking out in a book!" after the 3rd chapter things started becoming more clear. at first it seems that all your doing is clicking, right clicking and you don't really understand why your doing it? your basicly doing so just because the book said so. i wanted to learn after effects to enhance my DV work. wanted to create motion graphics in my videos.
if your absolutely new to after effects i would recomend this book to get you started. at the end of the book i was very comforatable in moving around in the program. i knew where everything was and what they did. i truly beleive those who really want to learn this complex program, "WILL" learn it. again, the beginning was frustrating BUT after about the 3rd chapter i started enjoying it. biggest thing is just to stick with it. read it, if you dont understand something, read it again until it sticks.
after your done this book and can move around fairly well in the program. i would THEN recomend trish and chris meyer's after effects book (creating motion graphics). after completing BOTH books you will be well on your way.
i ONLY rated this book 3 stars because the purpose of the book is to teach new comers how to use the software. at some points i found the book wondering off in to complex projects. EX: using motion cameras etc........ most beginners do NOT use motion cameras. you have to learn to crawl before you can walk!
all in all the book is an EXCELLENT way to get started. i do, however, feel that after completing the book a person must continue with their studies to fully understand after effects. there is just so much to know and do, classroom in a book does NOT cover everything.
hope the review helps someone!