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Known Participant
September 24, 2012
Question

Best After Effects Book

  • September 24, 2012
  • 2 replies
  • 19775 views

Hello im searching for a good adobe after effects (CS5 or later) book. I have no experiance in ae and i want to create effects like, magic duels (heey potter) explosions and transformation effects. What do you think?

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    2 replies

    Pierre Devereux
    Known Participant
    September 25, 2012

    Hi,

    When I first installed After Effects, 7 months ago, I had never seen or heard of it before. I started with online tutorials while I waited to figure out what books to get as well. The tutorial links given by Szalam are a perfect place to start. The series by ANdrew Devis are absolutely brilliant - beyond brilliant in fact - somewhere in the realms of "awesome" - check out the creative cow site, as there are some new additions to the series available there.

    When it comes to books, I got as many as I could - starting with Classroom in a book series and learn by video series. I also got some books on Green Screen work etc. I did by "How to cheat in After Effects" by Chad Perkins - and whereas this is a great book, with some great shortcuts in it, I would suggest getting a better understanding through the other books first, as you might tend to rely on the "Cheat" recipies too heavily otherwise, and miss out on some great effects found through trial and error!

    Anyway, Peachpit is also a great resource as qell as Lynda.com.

    There, that should keep you going for a while - One last place you HAVE to bookmark is VideoCopilot.com.

    Hope that helps

    Pierre

    Szalam
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    September 24, 2012

    What do I think? I think you needn't limit yourselves to books only. There are some great resources online.

    Here is a good place to start.

    This is another good link.

    A full, in-depth tutorial series is here.

    And, if you must have a book, here are a bunch.

    Known Participant
    September 24, 2012

    Hey, i prefer having a book. From the link you gave me which one is better?

    Dave_LaRonde
    Inspiring
    September 24, 2012

    I would say that the Meyers' book is most helpful to the AE novice.  Make sure you get the book that matches your version of AE.