Best books and dvd to buy 4 AE! at DVinfo.net

Marcus Martell · October 31st, 2009, 11:53 AM

Which are the best dvd-books for AE?I remember somebody suggesting Christiensen book.....
what about you guys?

thx

Steve Kalle · October 31st, 2009, 06:04 PM

Hope I can help as I have been trying to learn AE CS4 for the last 8 months. I started with Lynda.com - its only $25/month and has a ton of video training for AE and other software.

fxphd.com - more like a class as you sign up for a semester. I am signing up Monday for their October semester for one AE and 2 Cinema 4D classes. I have seen some of their other AE classes and their 'teachers' are great at explaining what they are doing.

Why do you want to learn AE?

Gregory Gesch · October 31st, 2009, 08:41 PM

Hi Marcus. A great place to visit is:
VIDEO COPILOT | Professional After Effects Tutorials, Plug-ins & Pre-Keyed Stock Footage
which has very good basic and advanced tutorials and a great forum.
I would also very highly recommend:
Amazon.com: After Effects Apprentice, Second Edition (9780240811369): Chris and Trish Meyer: Books
and their other book 'Creating Motion Graphics' is more advanced and also great (I have found, and still find them, easy to understand and indispensable). Hope that helps.

Tripp Woelfel · November 1st, 2009, 07:22 AM

Although I cannot say that I have found the definitive AE book, "Creating Motion Graphics" by Trish and Chris Meyer is excellent. It can be used as a training text, which I have done. It also is very helpful as a reference.

I have a hard time keeping the mechanics of masks in my head. When I need a refresher, I can go to the book and get quickly back up to speed.

It's a great book that I view as well worth its cost.

Steve Kalle · November 1st, 2009, 05:08 PM

Thanks Gregory. Dummy me forgot to mention one of the BEST - Videocopilot.

Andrew Kramer is sort of an AE God. His Twitch plug-in is awesome and so are his stock video and audio.

FYI, Chris Meyer is the host of many AE series on Lynda.com.

Marcus Martell · November 10th, 2009, 08:22 PM

Ok i'm ordering AE apprentice but i was wonderin what about CHRISTIANSEN book?

thx my friends

Jarred Capellman · January 6th, 2010, 07:13 PM

For me the best way was to see an effect in a movie and then trying to duplicate it in After Effects, by searching through message boards and by trial and error. Call it the programmer in me, but I've learned so much by that method over the last 9+ years.

The After Effects Illusionist was very good if you want a book though, it went through all of the built in the plugins and some very creative ways of utilizing them without having to go spend tons of money on plugins.

Jim Andrada · January 7th, 2010, 12:25 AM

Another vote for FXPHD. Great classes, very responsive instructors. Unlike a regular DVD the instructors reply to questions on the forum and in one case I asked an instructor if there would be a class on tracking shots in Syntheyes when there were occluding foreground objects and he added a segment to the class to cover it.

Eric Lagerlof · January 10th, 2010, 11:52 AM

I own the Meyer's AE books from 5 years ago, since then they've divided the content up into more volumes. But to this day, no other software book has matched what they did, and I'm assuming still do. AS you get more experience you may want to go to a local bookstore and check out their other volumes, they really are great both for learning and for reference.

The Christiansen books are in general a bit more advanced, but Mark is very good, especially at things like compositing and keying. He'll tune you up in areas like how keyers use different ways of working with RGB values to pull keys, etc.

Like Lynda.com there is Total Training.com, run by Brian Maffitt who, along with the Meyers, used to be THE AE guru. I don't know who does the online training now, but it's bound to be good. And Kramer over at VideoCopilot does have great tut's, though you should probably have a good basic orientation before tackling may of them.

October 31st, 2009, 11:53 AM	#1
Marcus Martell Trustee Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: spain Posts: 1,202	Best books and dvd to buy 4 AE! Which are the best dvd-books for AE?I remember somebody suggesting Christiensen book..... what about you guys? thx

January 6th, 2010, 07:13 PM	#7
Jarred Capellman Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Maryland Posts: 68	For me the best way was to see an effect in a movie and then trying to duplicate it in After Effects, by searching through message boards and by trial and error. Call it the programmer in me, but I've learned so much by that method over the last 9+ years. The After Effects Illusionist was very good if you want a book though, it went through all of the built in the plugins and some very creative ways of utilizing them without having to go spend tons of money on plugins. __________________ Motion Blur Studios - Canon XL H1, XL2, nanoFlash, 2xFS-4 HDs, Custom 9TB RAID 10 Array HPT RocketRaid 4320, GeForce GTX 480, Adobe CS5 Production Suite

October 31st, 2009, 06:04 PM	#2
Steve Kalle Trustee Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 1,554	Hope I can help as I have been trying to learn AE CS4 for the last 8 months. I started with Lynda.com - its only $25/month and has a ton of video training for AE and other software. fxphd.com - more like a class as you sign up for a semester. I am signing up Monday for their October semester for one AE and 2 Cinema 4D classes. I have seen some of their other AE classes and their 'teachers' are great at explaining what they are doing. Why do you want to learn AE?

October 31st, 2009, 08:41 PM	#3
Gregory Gesch Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Brisbane Australia Posts: 114	Hi Marcus. A great place to visit is: VIDEO COPILOT \| Professional After Effects Tutorials, Plug-ins & Pre-Keyed Stock Footage which has very good basic and advanced tutorials and a great forum. I would also very highly recommend: Amazon.com: After Effects Apprentice, Second Edition (9780240811369): Chris and Trish Meyer: Books and their other book 'Creating Motion Graphics' is more advanced and also great (I have found, and still find them, easy to understand and indispensable). Hope that helps.

November 1st, 2009, 07:22 AM	#4
Tripp Woelfel Trustee Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: North Conway, NH Posts: 1,745	Although I cannot say that I have found the definitive AE book, "Creating Motion Graphics" by Trish and Chris Meyer is excellent. It can be used as a training text, which I have done. It also is very helpful as a reference. I have a hard time keeping the mechanics of masks in my head. When I need a refresher, I can go to the book and get quickly back up to speed. It's a great book that I view as well worth its cost.

November 1st, 2009, 05:08 PM	#5
Steve Kalle Trustee Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 1,554	Thanks Gregory. Dummy me forgot to mention one of the BEST - Videocopilot. Andrew Kramer is sort of an AE God. His Twitch plug-in is awesome and so are his stock video and audio. FYI, Chris Meyer is the host of many AE series on Lynda.com.

November 10th, 2009, 08:22 PM	#6
Marcus Martell Trustee Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: spain Posts: 1,202	Ok i'm ordering AE apprentice but i was wonderin what about CHRISTIANSEN book? thx my friends

January 7th, 2010, 12:25 AM	#8
Jim Andrada Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Tucson AZ Posts: 2,211	Another vote for FXPHD. Great classes, very responsive instructors. Unlike a regular DVD the instructors reply to questions on the forum and in one case I asked an instructor if there would be a class on tracking shots in Syntheyes when there were occluding foreground objects and he added a segment to the class to cover it.

January 10th, 2010, 11:52 AM	#9
Eric Lagerlof Major Player Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Pacifica, CA Posts: 348	I own the Meyer's AE books from 5 years ago, since then they've divided the content up into more volumes. But to this day, no other software book has matched what they did, and I'm assuming still do. AS you get more experience you may want to go to a local bookstore and check out their other volumes, they really are great both for learning and for reference. The Christiansen books are in general a bit more advanced, but Mark is very good, especially at things like compositing and keying. He'll tune you up in areas like how keyers use different ways of working with RGB values to pull keys, etc. Like Lynda.com there is Total Training.com, run by Brian Maffitt who, along with the Meyers, used to be THE AE guru. I don't know who does the online training now, but it's bound to be good. And Kramer over at VideoCopilot does have great tut's, though you should probably have a good basic orientation before tackling may of them.