After Effects Apprentice: Real World Skills for the Aspiring Motion Graphics Artist

I just finished this book. I recommend it highly. I first used the "Adobe After Effects Classroom in a book" and thought I had learned a lot until I began working the "Apprentice" book. "Apprentice" is detailed, highly organized, and the lessons were very easy to follow. For someone who wants to learn After Effects I recommend starting with After Effects Apprentice and don't bother with the Adobe Classroom book, which I found to contain numerous errors that made the lessons difficult to follow. Apprentice contained very few errors and that ones I did find did not inhibit the lesson.

I have bought over 32 books in the last year on various subjects related to After Effects and other video software tools. Out of these only 2-3 really stand out, and this book is one of them. It covers quite a bit and it layed out quite well and easy to read. I was so impressed with it, I came back and bought the PDF version for the road. If you are looking for a good book on After Effects, do not pass this one up.

I am enrolled at a local community college and the teacher is using this book. I would highly recommend if you are (like me) new to after effects. It does a great job of providing you with side notes about the application and how to use it effectively. If you do the additional items at the end of each chapter you will really have a good grip on this program. A+

As advertised, this book is a great introduction to motion graphics design and After Effects. The Meyers are both great artists and great teachers. They really understand how to present both the theory and the practice of building compelling motion graphics. I'll be using this book for my intro video post production class in the fall, but the name is a little misleading. After Effects users who consider themselves proficient, but aren't familiar with all the ins and outs of the application can benefit from the book as well. I've been using After Effects professionally since version 3, and I've learned a lot from this book.