After Effects Apprentice – 2nd Edition
for After Effects CS4
ISBN: 978-0-240-81136-9
Paperback: 336 pages, full color, with DVD
Published by Focal Press, 2009

“After Effects Apprentice provides a strong foundation for the aspiring motion graphics designer or visual effects artist. It is an excellent resource to help users get up to speed in After Effects quickly and to maximize their creative expression.” – Steve Kilisky, Senior Product Manager, Adobe After Effects

After Effects Apprentice

2nd Edition for AE CS4

This is an archive if you are interested in the older 2nd edition for After Effects CS4.

For coverage of After Effects CC, we recommend the 4th edition (2016).

After Effects Apprentice is aimed at those who want to get up to speed quickly. This 336-page full-color book contains a series of 12 lessons with numerous step-by-step exercises that will introduce you to the core features in After Effects, including how to use them in the real world. You’ll learn how to tap this program’s vast potential – whether you want to create motion graphics for network television, corporate communications, or your own work.

The 2nd edition cover After Effects CS4, presenting a professional perspective on the most important features a motion graphics artist needs to learn in order to use this program effectively. You’ll learn to creatively combine layers, animate eye-catching titles, manipulate 3D space, key and stabilize a shot to place it in a new environment, and use effects to generate excitement or enhance the realism of a scene. Easy to follow step-by-step instructions take you through each technique, including projects that encourage you to express your own creativity. You’ll learn more than just the tools; you’ll learn skills that you can immediately put to work in your own productions.

Topics include how to:

Animate, edit, layer, and composite video and still images.
Manipulate keyframes and the way they interpolate to create more refined animations.
Use masks, mattes, stencils and blending modes to add sophistication to your imagery.
Create and animate shape layers and text.
Place your layers in 3D space.
Use tracking and keying to create special effects, such as replacing screen displays.

The print version includes a DVD containing all exercise source material and projects, an hour and a half of video guided tours, plus bonus chapters from other books. (Important: The Amazon Kindle version does not include the DVD. Also, CS4 project files may be opened in later versions of After Effects, but not CS3 or earlier.)

USER LEVEL: Novice–Intermediate

Errata

If you own After Effects Apprentice, we have an errata page that you might want to check out.

Book DVD

If a DVD that came with one of our books is damaged, please contact our publisher Routledge/Taylor & Francis (Focal Press) for a replacement (please indicate which book/edition you bought). Also contact our publishers if you bought a Kindle version and need access to the DVD files (proof of purchase required): https://www.routledge.com/info/contact