Take your After Effects projects to the next level by mastering its third-party plug-ins. Whether it's keying and compositing, adding particles of swirling smoke to a composition, or importing XML files from Final Cut Pro, third-party plug-ins can greatly enhance your After Effects capabilities. From sexy effects and graphics enhancements to workflow automation and file conversion, it's all covered in this lavishly illustrated, full-color book.Coverage of hundreds of essential third-party plug-ins is provided, showing you when, why, and how to use each plug-in. Plug-ins for color, style, effects, distortions, warps, transitions, lens flares, text and graphical elements, and more are all covered in depth.

After Effects (AE) is the most commonly used application in the postproduction field. It is commonly referred to as "Photoshop on wheels." AE is the dominant application of its ilk with an estimated user base of 1.25 million users. A plug-in is a computer program that interacts with a host application to provide certain functionality to the software. The right one can dramatically expand the look or sound of a video project. 3rd party plug-ins are programs developed by companies other than the company that developed the software's OS. After Effects has extensive plug-in support, and a broad range of 3rd party plug-ins are available (several hundred), such as particle systems for realistic effects for rain, snow, or fire, tools for cropping footage or adding motion blur, twisting and shattering layers in 3D space, and much more. Surveys show that the vast majority of AE users heavily use 3rd party plug-ins, and this trend has and will continue to increase. This 4c book is the first to cover how, when, and why an AE user should use a specific 3rd party plug-in. From sexy effects and graphics enhancements to workflow automation and file conversion, it's all covered.The DVD features video tutorials, plug-in demos, video interviews with vendors and users, as well as video samples of the plug-ins. Also available is a free companion website with rolling plug-in updates, links to sample movies on YouTube, and more.