Why This Book?

After Effects 6.5 Studio Techniques has a different focus than any other After Effects book: creating realistic visual effects. Other After Effects books focus predominantly on motion graphics, touching only briefly on topics that make up the core of visual effects.

Not only is this the first After Effects book to deal specifically with visual effects, but it is one of the few to discuss the creation of visual effects in detail, period. As I wrote, I wondered why. Why, with visual effects such a mature industry, do so few books describe exactly how to do effects that appear all the time, effects that no longer comprise someone's trade secret?

I was reminded of a similar code of silence in a bygone era of magic, nearly a century ago. Not movie magic but practical magic, the kind promoted at the Magic Castle, which is headquartered, coincidentally enough, in Hollywood.

One of the great novels of the decade is Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Random House). If you enjoy stories about magic in the days of Houdini, stories about the birth of comics, or just an extremely well-written novel, I highly recommend this Pulitzer Prize winner.