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 CD offers demos of After Effects CS3, sample footage, and software plug-ins. After Effects CS3 Professional ships in April '07 and is $999 for the full version, or $299 for the upgrade.

Author Biography

Mark Christiansen designs, directs and teaches about video and computer graphics for films, television, and live events. Working at the renowned special effects studio, The Orphanage, he has created shots for numerous Hollywood films. Mark has also directed, produced, and designed live-event videos and created graphics for television documentaries. Mark has done extensive work directly with the After Effects development team on documentation and training, and has also created popular training classes on After Effects for fxphd.com In addition to two previous editions of this book, he wrote After Effects 5.5 Magic (with co-author Nathan Moody). He has spoken at SIGGRAPH and NAB and blogs at http://flowseeker.com