The best books are probably the Meyer's (Trish and Chris). They have three out now on After Effects.

I'll be sure to pick one of those up. Is the "Adobe: Classroom in a Book" series good? They're going for $27 at Amazon right now; I'd pick one or two up if they're any good.

I've not used these books, but many have reported that Adobe's "Classroom in a Book" series is very useful.

Trust me to have an adverse opinion on Adobe's classroom books. I think they are just more of the same when compared to the AE manual.

I've only purchased two of the classroom series. Never again.

But that could just be me.

I recommend the Total Training DVDs over the books. Even at a higher price, they're a bargain compared to the books - even better if you split the cost with a friend.

I bought 5 AE books but ended up returning them all. I did think the Trish/Chris Meyer book was the best of the bunch, but I feel the DVDs are amazing learning tools.

After Effects 5 Bible
 

Hi, I have recently purchased the "After Effects 5 Bible" and it is a truly great book. Although was written for AE ver 5.0, it still has updated references to ver 5.5 (as the book has been written during that period). In my opinion, this book would still apply for ver 6.0, seeing that programs do not change that much between version).

This book really explains things in real life terms. There are two ways you can read this book: From start to end, or as a reference guide. I chose the latter which works great and I get fast results doing it that way.

As mentioned above, I am not sure if AE has changed dramatically in ver 6.0 from ver 5.0, but if so, then I guess you might have to look for a different book that covers that specific version.

Here is a link to the book at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...95837?v=glance

Hope this helps.
Jack

AE book - Chris and Trish Meyer
 

Hi all,

I know the AE books have been discussed a couple of times before and that they are very good and everything, but I was just wondering; do they also cover the things from AE pro or only the features of the standard edition? I couldn't quite find that on amazon...

They cover features in both editions and generally indicate when they've crossed into features only available in the Pro edition.

A good after effects book??
 

hi,
I have been working with after effects for a while now, im not that great i mean i kind of know what im doing, but i learned all of what i know on my own and through messing with tutorials at the begining, then moved on to my own things, but since i learned it on my own, i dont know terms and such, therefor its alot more confusing and harder to progress and get better as i go, what is the best book that i could find to help me out a little more with AE, and where could i find it? thanks

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/search.php?searchid=72598

(Do you realize that you wrote your inquiry as ONE sentence? ;-))

yes i do realize that, because i dont feel i need to take the time to correct grammatical and puncuation errors just for a simple question...oh well, it doesnt bother me.haha, but it said no search terms matched on that link, but..thanks anyway

Very strange our new site's Search seems to work differently than the old the link worked fine earlier anyway you get the idea Search this forum on "after effects" basically you'll find that Chris and Trish Myers' books are the best.

I have "How to Use After Effects" by Donna L. Baker and I think it's great but I don't know how it compares to the Myers' books.

I can vouch for the Meyers' books. They really are the best I've come across and I have access to a lot of multimedia books. Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects, Vol. 1 is a good start. I needed to learn AE for a project quickly (I had pushed FCP and Photoshop past their limit) and taught myself what I needed to know about the basics of the program from doing the comprehensive tutorial in chapter 1. Their writing style is informative and entertaining and they cover a lot of ground. Useful tutorials are sprinikled all around and they offer insight to the process of creating composites with AE. Vol. 2 (Advanced Techniques) is also very good. I'm waiting to receive the After Effects in Production book soon.

The After Effects Magic is also pretty good, but not as comprehensive as the Meyers' book. I look forward to the 6.5 version of the book. I've also convinced my boss to order the After Effects and Photoshop book by Jeff Foster. That looks useful.

In general, I've found that the DV series of books are the best of breed.

I can also vouch for the Meyer's books, but from a different perspective. I had been reading DV magazine for quite some time, and enjoying Trish and Chris's motion graphics articles in the back. I then was lucky enough to have my employer pay for me to attend Trish's Advanced Motion Graphics course at the American Film Institute. It turned out that the DV articles they were writing were just a warm-up for this course. Over 3 days, I gained a concrete understanding of every topic covered by Trish at DV, plus a thorough understanding of the interface, ingest and rendering issues and gotchas and shortcuts. I walked away from that training with a truly remarkable confidence in AE, as well as a CD full of tutorial projects and media to duplicate when I got back home.

Sometime later, I saw that "Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects" was coming out, and I purchased it ASAP. Lo and behold, it was very similar to the course I had taken, with Trish's instruction methods intact, and everything spelled out very clearly, with tutorial projects and media. It really felt like being in her class all over again.

My point is that Trish and Chris have created a master-level class in After Effects in (2) books. I really appreciate the style as well as the content, and I feel they are the best tutorial books I have ever read.