After Effects Expressions

I was expecting a bit more from this title.On the whole it was a very help full book and I am more than glad I bought it. I think the most important thing I got out of this title was a new way of thinking about what expressions are and what they do. That at the most basic level all an expression does is generate a number that affects the parameter the expression is connected to, and that that number simply replaced what you would enter manually if you were keyframing. At some point while reading a light bulb just went off in my head that expressions can also be thought of as a node based way of hooking up parameters similar to expresso in Cinema 4D, and that maybe in the future AE could implement a node based interface to replace expressions.1. The scope of the book really isn't about explaining the nuts and bolts of the after effects expressions language, it is more about a very basic overview of what is possible with the language. I was expecting more in the way of what was included in the language and what those commands actually did. After reading this I can definitely see the help files making more sense.2. To many screen shots that didn't really help the flow of the example. I found myself skipping two to three pages of the book at a time because they just included screenshots that did nothing in the way of explaining anything. ie. Here is a picture of a fish on the left side of a comp, now here is a picture of the fish on the right side of the comp.3. There is also a lot of forward referencing of more complicated expressions that you are told to just ignore to explain the more basic ideas of what he is trying to get across, this wasn't a huge thing for me because of past experience with action script but I could see that being a huge problem for someone who is literally a beginner.I am giving it 4 stars although I would give it 3.5 if there were that option.

Expressions, ActionScrip, JavaScript are all daunting for a newbie. Most instruction books are tough because they seem to be experienced coders explaining code to other experienced coders. In reality you need to learn a new language while learning a new way of thinking. This is as friendly a way to step into deep waters of scripting as I've seen. Marcus Geduld has written his lessons as simply as if they were designed for the 4th grade. (well maybe 8th). My only problem is that the online companion project files are not as promised.

This book is a great introduction to expressions for After Effects, is written in such a didactic way that it really makes it easy for someone without any experience at all to immediately start understanding how expressions work and then jump into more complex ones that will greatly improve your workflow.The only reason I'm giving it 4 stars is because there's this link that's supposed to supplement the book, with exercise files and examples and it's been down for a long time now. I contacted the publishing company and they never replied.

Going into After Effects Expressions from Toolfarms expression series, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I can tell you this is where you need to go for your start. I knew a little, but starting over from scratch and following Marcus from beginning to end did wonders for my understanding of expressions. You'll walk away from this book completely prepared to take apart any code you find on the internet, or in your projects. The foundation of basic knowledge in the first half is more than you'll ever need to ramp up your workflow, and then he takes you to the complex, which in my opinion though confusing at first, really opens your head up to what the possibilities are. If you are at all interested/in need of, knowledge of expressions, this is where you should start

Good Book, the subject of after effects expressions is well covered but there is some annoying things, that's why I give only 3 stars- there's too much boring basic explanations about code syntax, code element meaning , etc... I think that if you are at a point to work with a so sophisiticated software as after effects, you don't need 2 or 3 full pages with "orange=2 banana=5 and orange+banana=7" kind of explanations before to manipulate real code.- it's impossible to open the downloaded project files with a PC !!! the files are macIntosh only ! it's a shame !Otherwise, the book is good

This is the best book I know of to learn expressions. There are a few typos here and there, and the expressions language has been updated slightly since this book was published. But besides that, this book is great because it gives you such a deep understanding of the language and makes it very easy to understand important concepts.

Amazing book for people that wish to understand the mechanism behind the expressiions. However the book is slightly and some of the rules has changed. Hopefully the writer will nake an updated version

This was the only reference I could find which dealt with the subject in detail. Other AE coaching texts only make very brief reference to expressions. The writer's style is quite entertaining. He assumes that we are not mathematical genius and shows you that you do not need to be one. The exercises are clear and cover the subject thoroughly, make sure you down load and patch in the errata. Unfortunately there are more errors not covered in the errata. A very useful AE help text.

Last night I spent an hour writing an expression that allowed a wheel to turn at the correct speed while travelling along a curved bumpy path. Now, it took a long time to do and a fair amount of thought, but it's something I'd never have even dreamt of a month ago.The book is excellent, although the chapters are a bit on the long side (I like to be able to finish one chapter in an evening) and I wouldn't buy it unless you've a basic understanding of After Effects.That said, I knew next to nothing about programming before buying the book. I now have an extremely strong foundation to writing scripts and (more importantly) understanding the scripts of others.Yes, the going is tough at times, but this has to be the most user friendly book I've ever read on After Effects. A perfect beginners introduction to JavaScript.

This book is a good introduction to using expressions in After Effects. The author explains himself very clearly, and gives lots of examples. However, a lot of the book is taken up with explaining how basic programming works (e.g. loops) and explaining basic maths (e.g. how a sine function behaves). The author only covers a few of the many pre-programmed expressions that After Effects now contains. I would recommend this book to a user of After Effects who has little experience of programming. For someone more experienced it is useful to read it quickly to get the hang of JavaScript syntax, but you probably won't be referring to it often.

Have to say, this book is exactly what I was needing to get past the block that was expressions. It is taught here in a manner that makes you want to learn more and more about the possibilities whilst being detailed and clear which is pivotal for this technique because of how precise expressions occasionally need to be typed! It is told in a fun way (as fun as it can be) and cannot recommend it more highly! great book and important too!

I put learning expressions off for a while, finding them intimidating. Luckily the author seems to have been in the same position at some point and as a result this book very carefully and clearly explains all you need to know to start utilising them in your work. Its very good - occasionally he labours the point but that is far better than going too fast. Couple this book with Dan Ebberts excellent website and you'll be well away.

The only negative about hte book is that the downloadable link for the projects are out of date, the publisher having changed, and the ebook hasn't been updated. The new publishers have not responded to requests for an updated link.