After Effects CS5 Book

[Bubby Grub]

Hi Guys,

I have After Effects CS5 and I am looking at buying a book from Amazon, but there is a few available.
Can anyone suggest to me the best book to get which is easy to understand and follow, as I have never used it before. I have just been using PE7 and Photoshop for the past couple of years.
Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
Thanks in Advance

[Bob]

First of all, congratulations on getting After Effects CS5. It's going to open up a whole new world of possibilities.

Did you choose the Lynda.com bonus when you registered your copy? If so, there are some great training classes for After Effects there.

For a book, I'd recommend starting with "After Effects Apprentice" by Trish & Chris Meyer. The 2nd edition covers up through AE CS4, but that is not a problem as it is equally applicable to AE CS5. The new features and capabilities in AE CS5 are covered in Trish and Chris Meyer's other AE book "Creating Motion Graphics, 5th Edition" which has just been released. "Creating Motion Graphics" is probably the best overall book about After Effects out there, but resist the urge to skip "Apprentice". Later on, when you are ready for more advanced topics, we can recommend other books.

There are also some great sites for After Effects tutorials. My favorites are Video Copilot and Creative Cow.

[Bubby Grub]

Hi Bob

Thanks so much for your advice it its greatly appreciated. I saw the 2nd edition on Amazon, but when I saw it was CS4, I was not sure
if that was right or not.
But thank you I will go ahead and order it now. I must admit After Effects does look a little daunting, but I guess so does everything else right at first.
Anyway here goes.

[Chuck Engels]

And for about $25 you can watch as many Lynda.com tutorials as possible in 30 days.
They do a great job of giving you a running start and there are plenty of advanced/beyond the basics tutorials as well

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[momoffduty]

I ditto what Bob recommended. Actually that is what he recommended to me last year when I got AE. If you have the option for a free 30 trial at Lynda.com that will give you a jump start and the step by step Apprentice book is very, very good. If you have any questions on a specific effect I have notes & bookmarks of free tuts.

I've picked up some great tips just reading the Creative Cow AE forums.

[Bubby Grub]

Hi Cheryl

I have actually ordered the two books Bob recommended from Amazon, so I unfortunately have to wait for delivery.
Thanks for all the help, I only hope I can work it half as good as your videos.
Regards
Bubby Grub

[momoffduty]

Thanks Bubby. Your Photoshop experience will be a big help when learning AE. The first book's lessons gives you a basic overview of using AE. The second book is more indepth. The first book I followed all of the lessons and the second book I skipped around and use it for a reference. There are bonus chapters on the disc too. AE was frustrating at first because I was trying to retain all of the info I was learning. Too much! Now I use notes and go back to the book to refresh my memory on a specific task.

Congrats on your purchase, enjoy!