I’ve started studying Adobe After Effects. I’m currently reading Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects, Vol. 1: The Essentials (3rd Edition, Version 6.5) by Trish Meyer and Chris Meyer. I’m only up to page 20 because the first chapter is a complicated tutorial with a lot of steps to follow. Hopefully, the rest of the book won’t be so time consuming. The book was written for Adobe After Effects 6.5 but I only have version 6.0. However, I was able to find an upgrade on eBay so I’ll soon have the correct version. The only missing features I’ve noticed are some text effects.
Adobe After Effects is a very sophisticated program with a lot of features and control panels. It is enough to make your head spin when you first open the program and try to figure out how to use it. You really need to go through a guided tutorial to begin to realize its capabilities and to figure out how it works. I think it requires a real commitment of your time to master this software.
Fortunately, the video sharing site YouTube gives me considerable incentive to learn video production techniques. The web site has become very competitive with many vloggers now experimenting with special effects like green screen chroma keying. You can learn a lot by asking vloggers about the software they use and following up on their recommendations. There are also many tutorial videos being created on how to improve your videos.
