Adobe® After Effects® CS6 Visual Effects and Compositing Studio Techniques

Introduction

If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired—with enthusiasm.

—Vince Lombardi

Why This Book?

This book is about creating visual effects. Specifically, it dives into the art and science of assembling disparate elements so that they appear as part of a single, believable scene. When people ask me what exactly the book is about, I tell them that it shows artists how to make a shot assembled on a computer look as if it was taken with a single camera. It also hints at how to make an ordinary shot extraordinary, without destroying the viewer’s willing suspension of disbelief.

The subject matter in this book goes well beyond the obvious—and what is well documented elsewhere—and deep into core visual effects topics. We look closely ...