So you've got a copy of After Effects and an idea of what this professional motion graphics and effects tools can do...but what can you really do with After Effects? How far can you push it? What are the best effects that you can create? What are the essential skills and techniques that you need to really make your creations stand out?

After Effects Most Wanted answers these questions in a refreshing and practical way. Looking at a wide variety of projects, the original artists tell you why, and exactly how they created their masterpieces.

The authors, all professionals who use After Effects to make a living, share with you the secrets of their successes and extend beyond that to give you the reasons why they did things the way that they did.

Moreover, the accompanying CD has their creations available at your fingertips and the simple, step-by-step instructions in the book show you how they created these pieces.

The projects covered are diverse, from a thought-provoking work by renowned and controversial artist Simon Tsyko, a work featured by Adobe in their motion gallery, to a television commercial for McDonald's and Coca-Cola by Peter Reynolds .

Other authors include: Joost Korngold (www.renascent.nl) and Chris James Hewitt, whose Relokation Ne is the featured work on the BD4D (By Designers For Designers) web site, Christian Darkin, a digital video journalist and author, and Mark Towse, who offers two pieces, one for TV and one for the cinema.

Without long, redundant discussions of tools and application packages, After Effects Most Wanted is a book that delivers the techniques, skills, and effects that will let you bring your creations to life.