Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional Studio Techniques Review

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(More customer reviews)If you are interested in doing visual effects for any level of filmmaking, then you absolutely should have this book. After Effects has been used on everything from the smallest home movie to the biggest blockbuster motion picture, and Mark shows you how to get the absolute most out of the program.
I'm a visual effects artist who has worked on major films ("Sin City", "Evan Almighty", "Night at the Museum", "Golden Compass", etc...), and I work at one of the biggest VFX studios in the world. Alot of people in this industry believe After Effects is used only for motion graphics. That is completely incorrect, and this book will prove to you that After Effects is just as capable as any node-based compositing program, and in some instances even better. I personally have used After Effects on movies like "Austin Powers Goldmember", "Meet the Fockers", "Superbad", and tons more. I can't even begin to imagine how much time I would have saved if I had found this book prior to the last edition.
If you're an intermediate or seasoned AE user, no doubt you will still find amazing tricks and tips in here. I stood in a bookstore perusing the previous edition, telling myself I wasn't going to buy it, but after the 3rd or 4th time saying to myself "Wow, I didn't know you could do that in AE!", I took it to the cashier, bought it, and couldn't wait to get home to my computer to try some of the things out. I wasn't disappointed, and you won't be either.

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This is the only book in the After Effects market to focus exclusively on the creation of visual effects, and is a one-stop resource for anyone who wants in-depth explanations that demystify the realm of visual effects and how they were created, thanks to veteran author Mark Christiansen's friendly and accessible style. A thoroughly packed, informative read, this masterful guide focuses on explaining the essential concepts, features, and techniques that are key to creating seamless movie-quality visual effects. Readers will learn how to put After Effects to work to create the shots they need. Users who are comfortable with After Effects will find a helpful review of After Effects fundamentals--managing footage, viewing and editing layers, animating type, and more--so they can learn how to work smarter and more efficiently. Readers of all levels will learn core techniques for effects compositing: color matching, keying, rotoscoping, motion tracking, and emulating the camera. The final section of the book delves into creative explorations, demonstrating actual effects that readers might want to re-create. Readers will also find comprehensive coverage of all that's new in this upgrade. Throughout the book, beautiful full-color examples demonstrate what's possible, while the companion DVD offers plenty of sample footage and dozens of demos of the most useful After Effects plug-ins. .

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Special Effects: The History and Technique Review

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(More customer reviews)WOW! If you have even the smallest interest in special effects, filmmaking, or even general film history, you must own a copy of this brilliant new book - it's amazing!
Though at first I figured `Special Effects: The History and Technique' seemed expensive, I thought I'd give it a try since so few books on this subject are ever published. Also, because I am a film studies lecturer, I need to keep up to date with books that are published on the subject. It turned out to be the BEST BUY I have made in a long time.
The book starts with an `overview if the first 100 years of special effects' and perfectly summarises the first century of the commercial cinema. The author writes about the film pioneers, the formation of the studio system, the coming of sound, the challenge of TV, the changes in society and audiences - all the influences that affected the type of films that were made in each decade. He then gives a summary of the most important effects films of each decade and even includes profiles of important effects directors from Alfred Hitchcock to James Cameron.
Chapter Two teaches you everything you need to know about the basics of cinema technology - like how film and emulsions work, how cameras, lenses and projectors work, the physics of light and color etc. The author then explains the basics of traditional optical work and, with the help of fantastic graphic illustrations (there are hundreds of these thru the book), shows how an optical printer works and details the various bluescreen travelling matte systems and their variations like the Dunning Pomeroy Process and Sodium Vapor travelling mattes. There is a stack of examples and images from many films as well as interviews with people who worked on movies such as Terminator and Superman. The chapter then moves on to the history and science of digital technology - explaining how images are created and manipulated digitally with reference to many modern special effects companies and films.
Chapter 3 looks at models and miniatures. The Chapter explains how traditional models are built and filmed and gives formulas for things like camera speed, model size and scale. Examples from the earliest days until the current time are used. The chapter also explains how different types of miniatures are made and filmed - there's a section on boats and water, one on aircraft and flying and (best of all) one on miniature pyrotechnics. The chapter then explains how models are built in the computer and shows different CG modelling and painting techniques and interviews many masters of the process.
The animation chapter is the best of all. Every form and technique is covered in minute detail - from early cartoons, stop motion, go-motion as well as modern computer assisted cartoons and full 3D animation. There are profiles of films like King Kong and Jurassic Park and interviews with masters like Ray Harryhausen and Phil Tippet.
Chapter 5 covers matte painting from the earliest glass paintings to the latest amazing 3D computer generated environments in films like The Phantom Menace and Titanic.
The next section looks at special effects makeup - showing how to create anything from a scar to a huge animatronic dinosaur. All processes are covered in minute detail with explanations from experts such as Stan Winston and Jim Henson's Creature Shop. The chapter ends with a look at digital makeup in films like The Mummy.Chapter 9 looks at physical effects and talks about how to create wind, snow, rain - even fake glass. It also has a fantastic section on guns and explosions which tells you just how it is all done in films such as James Bond and Indiana Jones.
The next chapter was a great surprise - sound effects! I can't think of another fx book that covers this subject - even though the sound of a dinosaur is, of course, as important as what it looks like. The whole process of film sound is explained from recording, mixing and dubbing to sound design with profiles of experts such as Ben Burtt.
The final chapter looks at the future of cinema and special effects and considers formats such as 3D (full coverage of history and technique, IMAX, digital filmmaking and virtual reality.
Finally chapter 10 looks in detail at the effects and techniques of the top 50 effects films of all time- some people might not agree that these are the top 50 films, but those chosen are definitely some of the most important ones. The author details exactly how each film was made and who did what.
There is a good bibiography and a really useful glossary with every complicated film and special effects term explained with amazing clarity.
I cannot fault this book - it is probably as good as a few years at film school or a hundred nights at the movies. Anybody even slightly interested in movies and movie making should have a copy on their shelf - I will definitely recommend it to all my students as one of the few books that is worth buying rather than simply borrowing from a library. I've read my copy from cover to cover twice and will refer to it for years to come.

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Ever wondered how Harry Potter flew in that quidditch game? Ever puzzled over King Kong swatting down airplanes? Ever tried to figure out Spider-Man swung from building to building? It's all done with optical and digital effects, with miniature photography and animation, with pyrotechnics, animatronics, and even sound effects--and Special Effects: The History and Technique offers the definitive history of movie magic plus detailed technical explanations and diagrams. Packed with more than 500 photographs and profiles of such groundbreakers as George Lucas, James Cameron, and Robert Zemeckis, it is sure to appeal to fans of all ages. From A Trip to the Moon to X-Men 3, from The Lost World to War of the Worlds, from the 1933 King Kong to the 2005 King Kong, this stunning book reveals the magic of special effects.

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