Introduction
in order to better help smart people who don’t yet understand the fundamentals. Huge changes to the book this time around are thanks to two new contributors: Dan Ebberts and Jeff Almasol.
What’s on the DVD Two of the biggest additions to this book unfortunately did not make it into print due to page constraints. Jeff Almasol’s Scripting chapter is the Appendix, found on the disc as a PDF. It is the most accessible resource available on this complicated and much feared topic, walking you through three scripts each of which builds upon the complexity of the previous. Scripting provides the ability to create incredibly useful extensions to After Effects to eliminate tedious tasks. Several of these are included in the redefinery folder as exclusives to this book. In order to focus on more advanced and applied topics in the print edition, Dan Ebberts kicked JavaScript fundamentals to a special JavaScript addendum also included as a PDF. This is in many ways the “missing manual” for the After Effects implementation of JavaScript, omitting all of the useless web-only scripting commands found in the best available books, but extending beyond the material in After Effects help. If you want to find out more about some of the plug-ins and software mentioned in this book, look no further than its DVD-ROM. For example, the disc includes demos of . Andersson Technologies’ SynthEyes (3D tracking software) To install the lesson files, footage, and software demos included on the DVD, simply copy each chapter folder in its entirety to your hard drive. Note that all .aep files are located in the Projects subfolder of each chapter folder on the disc, while .ffx files can be found in the Animation Presets subfolders.
. Red Giant Software’s Magic Bullet Looks, Knoll Light Factory Unmult, Knoll Light Factory Pro, Key Correct Pro, Magic Bullet Colorista, Trapcode Lux, Trapcode Horizon, Trapcode Form, Trapcode Particular, the brand-new Warp and more. . ReelSmart Motion Blur and PV Feather from Revision FX . Lenscare and ZBornToy from Frischluft . Erodilation and CopyImage from ObviousFX
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