A Note from Lynda Weinman

It's been a great pleasure to dig back into my After Effects roots. While many people know me as a web graphics specialist, I started my creative life in filmmaking – specifically by creating special effects and motion graphics for television, music videos, industrial films, commercials, and motion pictures. My professional life in animation began around 1980, when my then-boyfriend owned an animation camera service. He introduced me to a world that I have never wanted to leave. I hate to sound old, but I remember the days before personal computers when people actually made physical artwork and shot it with analog cameras. While it might seem like a lifetime ago, the truth is that within the past 22 years a lot has changed. I don't think I could have fathomed that one little computer program named After Effects would one day replace an animation camera, optical printer, Moviola, and lightbox.

I started teaching After Effects with CoSa version 1.0, and the first place I taught it was at Art Center College of Design in 1991. It's quite possible that you've never heard of ACCD, but it is among the top art colleges in the world. It was amazing to see students from different disciplines create wonderful projects set to sound with moving graphics. I've been hooked on After Effects ever since, and the good news is that the program keeps getting better and better. To write a book on this software has been a dream of mine since those early days when I was first captivated by the magic and power of this product.

The Hands-On Training series of books is my brainchild, because I believe there is a need for this type of training in the computer book field. In my opinion, most people buy computer books in order to learn, yet it is amazing how few of these books are actually written by teachers. In this book, you will find carefully developed lessons and exercises to help you learn After Effects 5/5.5. There are many excellent books out on After Effects, but most if not all are intermediate to advanced. This book will help you build the strong foundation to approach the more difficult projects that you'll find in those books (many are listed in the Resource Appendix, at the end).

This book is written for beginning After Effects learners who are looking for a great tool to make motion graphics for web, cd-rom, dvd, video, or film. The premise of the hands-on exercise approach is to get you up to speed quickly in After Effects while actively working through the book's lessons. It's one thing to read about a product and another experience entirely to try the product and get measurable results. Our motto is, “read the book, follow the exercises, and you will know the product.” We have received countless testimonials to this fact, and it is our goal to make sure it remains true for all of our hands-on training books.

Many exercise-based books take a paint-by-numbers approach to teaching. While this approach works, it's often difficult to figure out how to apply those lessons to a real-world situation, or to understand why or when you would use the technique again. What sets this book apart is that the lessons contain lots of background information, advice, and insights into each given subject, which are designed to help you understand the process as well as the exercise.

At times, pictures are worth a lot more than words, and moving pictures are even better! When necessary, we have also included short QuickTime movies to show any process that's difficult to explain with words. These files are located on the H•O•T CD-ROM inside a folder called movies. It's our style to approach teaching from many different angles, since we know that some people are visual learners, others like to read, and still others like to get out there and try things. This book combines a lot of teaching approaches so you can learn After Effects 5/5.5 as thoroughly as you want to.

This book didn't set out to cover every single aspect of After Effects. The manual, and many other reference books are great for that! What we saw missing from the bookshelves was a process-oriented tutorial that taught readers core principles, techniques, and tips in a hands-on training format.

It's Craig's and my hope that this book will raise your skills in After Effects and motion graphics. If it does, we will have accomplished the job we set out to do!

—Lynda Weinman