Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Creative professionals seeking the fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to learn Adobe After Effects CS6 choose Adobe After Effects CS6 Classroom in a Book from the Adobe Creative Team at Adobe Press. The 15 project-based lessons in this book show readers step-by-step the key techniques for working in After Effects CS6 and how to work efficiently and deliver in the widest possible range of media types.

In addition to learning the key elements of the After Effects interface, this completely revised CS6 edition covers new features, including the Global Performance Cache, 3D Camera Tracker, Ray-traced 3D rendering, variable mask feathering, tight integration with Adobe Illustrator, rolling shutter repair, Pro Import files from Avid Media Composer and Final Cut Pro 7, improved mocha AE workflow, and more.

"The Classroom in a Book series is by far the best training material on the market. Everything you need to master the software is included: clear explanations of each lesson, step-by-step instructions, and the project files for the students." -Barbara Binder, Adobe Certified Instructor, Rocky Mountain Training

Classroom in a Book®, the best-selling series of hands-on software training workbooks, helps you learn the features of Adobe software quickly and easily. Classroom in a Book offers what no other book or training program does-an official training series from Adobe Systems Incorporated, developed with the support of Adobe product experts.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Getting Started (p. 1)
• About Classroom in a Book (p. 1)
• Prerequisites (p. 1)
• Installing After Effects (p. 2)
• Optimizing performance (p. 2)
• Restoring default preferences (p. 2)
• Copying the lesson files (p. 3)
• How to use these lessons (p. 4)
• Additional resources (p. 4)
• Adobe certification (p. 6)
• 1 Getting To Know The Workflow (p. 8)
• Getting started (p. 10)
• Creating a project and importing footage (p. 10)
• Creating a composition and arranging layers (p. 15)
• Adding effects and modifying layer properties (p. 18)
• Animating the composition (p. 24)
• Previewing your work (p. 31)
• Optimizing performance in After Effects (p. 34)
• Rendering and exporting your composition (p. 34)
• Customizing workspaces (p. 34)
• Controlling the brightness of the user interface (p. 36)
• Finding resources for using After Effects (p. 36)
• Checking for updates (p. 37)
• 2 Creating A Basic Animation Using Effects and Presets (p. 40)
• Getting started (p. 42)
• Importing footage using Adobe Bridge (p. 43)
• Creating a new composition (p. 45)
• Working with imported Illustrator layers (p. 47)
• Applying effects to a layer (p. 50)
• Applying an animation preset (p. 51)
• Previewing the effects (p. 54)
• Adding transparency (p. 54)
• Rendering the composition (p. 55)
• 3 Animating Text (p. 60)
• Getting started (p. 62)
• About text layers (p. 64)
• Creating and formatting point text (p. 64)
• Using a text animation preset (p. 67)
• Animating with scale keyframes (p. 70)
• Animating using parenting (p. 71)
• Animating imported Photoshop text (p. 73)
• Animating text using a path animation preset (p. 77)
• Animating type tracking (p. 79)
• Animating text opacity (p. 81)
• Using a text animator group (p. 82)
• Cleaning up the path animation (p. 85)
• Animating a nontext layer along a motion path (p. 87)
• Adding motion blur (p. 89)
• 4 Working With Shape Layers (p. 92)
• Getting started (p. 94)
• Adding a shape layer (p. 96)
• Creating custom shapes (p. 98)
• Creating stars (p. 104)
• Incorporating video and audio layers (p. 108)
• Applying a Cartoon effect (p. 109)
• Adding a title bar (p. 111)
• Using Brainstorm to experiment (p. 114)
• 5 Animating A Multimedia Presentation (p. 118)
• Getting started (p. 120)
• Animating the scenery using parenting (p. 121)
• Adjusting an anchor point (p. 125)
• Masking video using vector shapes (p. 126)
• Keyframing a motion path (p. 130)
• Animating additional elements (p. 133)
• Applying an effect (p. 137)
• Creating an animated slide show (p. 140)
• Adding an audio track (p. 145)
• Zooming in for a final close-up (p. 147)
• 6 Animating Layers (p. 150)
• Getting started (p. 152)
• Simulating lighting changes (p. 156)
• H Duplicating an animation using the pick whip (p. 158)
• Animating movement in the scenery (p. 160)
• Adjusting the layers and creating a track matte (p. 164)
• Animating the shadows (p. 168)
• Adding a lens flare effect (p. 170)
• Animating the clock (p. 172)
• Retiming the composition (p. 174)
• 7 Working With Masks (p. 182)
• About masks (p. 184)
• Getting started (p. 184)
• Creating a mask with the Pen tool (p. 187)
• Editing a mask (p. 188)
• Feathering the edges of a mask (p. 192)
• Replacing the content of the mask (p. 193)
• Adding a reflection (p. 195)
• Creating a vignette (p. 200)
• Adjusting the color (p. 202)
• 8 Distorting Objects with the Puppet Tools (p. 206)
• Getting started (p. 208)
• About the Puppet tools (p. 212)
• Adding Deform pins (p. 212)
• Defining areas of overlap (p. 214)
• Stiffening an area (p. 215)
• Animating pin positions (p. 216)
• Recording animation (p. 220)
• 9 Performing Color Correction (p. 224)
• Getting started (p. 226)
• Adjusting color balance (p. 229)
• Replacing the background (p. 231)
• Removing unwanted elements (p. 236)
• Correcting a range of colors (p. 238)
• Warming colors with the Photo Filter effect (p. 240)
• 10 Building 3D Objects (p. 244)
• Getting started (p. 246)
• Building a 3D object (p. 248)
• Working with a null object (p. 259)
• Working with 3D text (p. 260)
• Creating a backdrop for 3D animation (p. 267)
• Nesting a 3D composition (p. 268)
• Adding a camera (p. 269)
• Completing the scene (p. 272)
• 11 Using 3D Features (p. 276)
• Getting started (p. 278)
• Animating 3D objects (p. 279)
• Adding reflections to 3D objects (p. 280)
• Animating a camera (p. 282)
• Adjusting layer timing (p. 283)
• Using 3D lights (p. 284)
• Adding effects (p. 288)
• Adding motion blur (p. 292)
• Previewing the entire animation (p. 293)
• 12 Working with the 3D Camera Tracker (p. 296)
• About the 3D Camera Tracker effect (p. 298)
• Getting started (p. 298)
• Tracking the footage (p. 301)
• Creating a camera and the initial text (p. 302)
• Creating realistic shadows (p. 305)
• Adding ambient light (p. 307)
• Creating additional text elements (p. 307)
• Locking a layer to a plane with a null object (p. 310)
• Animating the text (p. 312)
• Adjusting the camera's depth of field (p. 315)
• Rendering the composition (p. 316)
• 13 Advanced Editing Techniques (p. 318)
• Getting started (p. 320)
• Using the Warp Stabilizer (p. 320)
• Using single-point motion tracking (p. 325)
• Using multipoint tracking (p. 331)
• Creating a particle simulation (p. 336)
• Retiming playback using the Timewarp effect (p. 346)
• 14 Rendering and Outputting (p. 352)
• Getting started (p. 354)
• Creating templates for the rendering process (p. 355)
• Creating templates for output modules (p. 359)
• Exporting to different output media (p. 363)
• Appendix (p. 375)
• Index (p. 376)