Apple Pro Training Series: Encyclopedia of Visual Effects (Apple Pro Training)

Book Description

This is the ultimate recipe book for visual effects artists working in Apple Shake, Adobe After Effects, and Apple Motion. An impressive lineup of Hollywood and independent effects pros have pulled together this compendium of the coolest and most useful effects from A to Z ("Adding Clouds" to "Z-Depth Effects"). The book includes everything from practical everyday commercial techniques to breakdowns of well-known shots from blockbuster films. Readers learn to create light sabers from the artists who created them for Star Wars Episode 3; learn to freeze time from the wizard who invented the effect for The Matrix; and learn to create matte paintings from the pros who did them for Lord of the Rings. Coverage includes rotoscoping, painting, warping and distortion effects, dramatic lighting, adding lightening and fire, matchmoves, 3D CG integration techniques, advanced blue- and greenscreen techniques, and much more. DVD-ROM included. Foreword by Ron Brinkmann.

Customer Reviews:

Provides the building blocks to VFX with Shake........2007-06-27

Four stars. A fifth star would have been earned for a better indexing or cross-reference. Otherwise a top notch, very informative book.

I have experience with film making and with Editing on Final Cut Pro. I was new to VFX, but I'm not anymore after reading this book!

Having seen Shake in action, I wanted to learn more. This books focus on Shake and the fact that a trial version ships with the book is the reason I bought it.

This book is a reference book. It explains, in detail, terms used in the VFX industry (clean plate, matchmoving, etc.) that any filmmaker or budding VFX artist will need to know if even just to communicate clearly with VFX professionals. The entries in the book are punctuated with walk-through tutorials that show you how to accomplish (in Shake) the specific effect. This is a good thing.

I had a project on my suite that needed some pretty hefty FX work. This book armed me with the right concepts and understanding so that I could plan the steps I'd need to take to accomplish the FX. In my case it was turning the request to "Make that person a ghost" into build a clean background plate, rotoscope the actor, invent a ghosty look, and then put it all back together. Until I had read the book and understood the individual steps involved, I didn't know where to begin.

Overall, this is a very informative reference book written in a witty and accessible style. It is VERY Shake oriented, which is, again, WHY I bought it. This is the kind of book an FX pro (or newbie) will reference many times as they work on future projects.

Fine book.......2007-06-07

I was already aware of most of the topics covered in this book, but it helped understand them better and be able to explain accurately to anyone asking. Its also well updated to current industry standards. its in no way complete as an Encyclopedia, needs future voulmes to do that.
In short-A text book for every student of visual effects.

Cons: The DVD files can be accessed only in a MAC (not for PC).

A most complete textbook for VSFX..........2007-03-08

My humble congratulations to the authors who have teamed up with Apple to bring us (my Visual Effects Dept. students and I) a most complete textbook. In my opinion, this book rates in the current top five of all serious resources in the teaching & learning of Visual Effects at the College and Graduate levels. In addition to that, for those of us teaching compositing and matte painting, I would rate this book as the current number one textbook on these topics. A must-read, for a serious student of the Art and Craft of Visual Effects.
Deepest respects,
Prof. Tan TASCIOGLU,
Professor of Visual Effects, Savannah College of Art & Design
SCAD-Atlanta campus.
(Review posted: March 2007)

great reference material.......2007-02-24

great book for beginner to intermediate level vfx artists. the book works exactly as the title says, as an encyclopedia or a reference on how to approach specific problems/challenges that a vfx artist usually faces in production.

Good Contribution.......2007-01-29

For those reviewers who are complaining this book does not cover Adobe After Effects or Final Cut Pro should consider one major fact: the title. It's an Apple book dedicated to Apple software. After Effects (strangely enough) is NOT an Apple product. Furthermore, Shake is Apple's premier visual effects software, and promoting it is in their interests. People are glued to either Final Cut Pro or After Effects (I find both endearing and quite wonderful), and Shake is left out in the dust, even though it offers many aspects other software cannot.

In any case, the book doesn't cover EVERYTHING but it does enough. If you want a step-by-step guide to all the possible effects, I suggest you write your own book after years of experience. Or, you can spend $500 for a collection of books which will undoubtably cover many of the same topics.

This book is a good find. Won't disappoint you if your expectations aren't unreasonable.

Book Description

An investment approach that unlocks the secret of market patterns
Based on over forty years of combined author experience as portfolio managers and financial advisors, Divorcing the Dow presents a timely framework for understanding and investing in market cycles. Authors Jim Troup and Sharon Michalsky believe that the Dow Jones Industrial Average is no longer a relevant indicator of market performance; in fact, they feel that watching the Dow may actually obscure indications that the financial markets are poised to experience a boom that dwarfs anything seen before. Based on in-depth research and field-tested in their own successful management of millions of dollars in personal and corporate assets, Divorcing the Dow introduces investors to a revolutionary paradigm for assessing the markets and making investment decisions. Troup and Michalsky's approach focuses on analyzing patterns of productivity as a way to anticipate market cycles and investment potential-and with this book they've outlined how investors can begin to recognize these patterns themselves. Divorcing the Dow provides investors with a new framework for thinking about financial markets and gives readers specific investment techniques to anticipate the market's direction and identify companies poised for sustained productivity and long-term growth.

Jim Troup (Sarasota, FL) is First Vice President, Financial Consultant, Portfolio Manager, and Corporate Client Group Director at Smith Barney. A twenty-four-year finance veteran, Troup has worked with leading investment firms including E.F. Hutton and Merrill Lynch, and lectures extensively on portfolio management and asset allocation.

SHARON MICHALSKY is First Vice President, Financial Consultant, Portfolio Manager, Corporate Client Group Director at Smith Barney, where she began her career nineteen years ago. She has attended The Wharton School and is the guest speaker at many professional forums where she lectures on investment methodology and portfolio management.

Customer Reviews:

Reviewer mistake.......2006-08-23

To the person who said there was an error on page 162: the authors were describing an example of how a mutual fund manager could manipulate numbers in order to play the "past performance game." The authors state that the average ANNUAL return is 25%, which is correct. This was simply an example of a fund's manager skewing numbers to make a fund more attractive.

Better to read (or reread) a classic!.......2003-06-30

While Divorcing the Dow highlights some tried and true criteria for selecting individual equity investments, e.g. to focus on leading companies that dominate vital growing sectors of the economy, it also falls prey to a "new logic" approach that can be very misleading, especially to beginning investors. Worse, the authors don't understand a fundamental rule of financial arithmetic. On page 162 they discuss a hypothetical investment manager that turns a portfolio worth $100,000 into $200,000 in one year, and then loses half that value the next, resulting in an end year value of $100,000. The authors suggest that the "average return" from this is 25% (the arithmetic mean of +100% and -50%). Clearly, if we began and ended with the same dollar value, the average annual return is 0%, which is the result calculated by the geometric mean, the correct method to use in computing growth rates. A 25% average annual return on $100,000 would result in a portfolio value after two years of $100,000 X (1.25^2) = $156,250. The authors and their editors should know better. In my opinion readers would be far better served by such classics as The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham, A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel, or Contrarian Investment Strategies, by David Dremen.

Provoking Examination of the "Financial Markets".......2003-04-12

Divorcing the Dow provided a provoking examination of how we have historically defined the financial "markets". This book challenges the reader to re-define how we have used outdated measurements to forcast future market conditions. The authors have presented a new and fresh approach to evaluating the next financial revolution! After a 3 year bear market, I feel more optimistic than ever before!

Wow, what a book!.......2003-04-11

Finally a positive outlook.

The authors'extensive research and easy read format makes it hard to put down. Divorcing The Dow constitutes information from the past that can be used as a road map for future investing. The research alone is worth the price of the book.

Thank you for such a great book in these uncertain times.

The First Good Night's Sleep In Years!.......2003-03-25

After watching a goodly portion of my portfolio melt away over the past few years, I was not only sleepless with anxiety but also furious at my financial advisor and at the financial community and corporate America in general. When I found and read this remarkable book, "Divorcing the Dow," I understood WHY the majority of the so-called financial "experts" were and continue to be so completely off-base, living in and advising on outmoded investment vehicles, as their clients' hard-earniend dollars go swirling down the drain! I likewise saw clearly how to intelligently and safely invest my remaining discretionary funds for maximum results in terms of my future goals.

I cannot underestimate my sense of relief and also my gratitude for this lifechanging book. The authors have done a prodigious amount of research. More than that, their brilliant conclusions appear to be sound and right on target. This is a one-in-a million book that should be a must-read for anyone who wants to see their savings grow the most effective way possibie. It is also, to my mind, a must-read for every single individual in the financial community. To NOT read this book is to remain in the dark ages of investing, and to lose out on the opportunity to profit enormously from the new investment culture that is right in place sight but invisible to those stuck in the status quo. I read constantly, and I can tell you that this book is the absolute best of the bunch - the real thing.

This review is from my heart - I know how I have suffered, watching my money - including money I inherited from my parents -just evaporate. Read "Divrocing the Dow" more than once. Give it to everyone you know. I did. I have also sent a copy to my financial advisor...and if he doesn't "get it" I am picking up my portfolio and moving on.

Book Description

During the past decade many countries in the world have experienced droughts, with severe impacts on water urban supply systems. Because droughts are natural phenomena, water utilities must design and implement drought management plans. This topic was selected for the International Course on Drought Management Planning in Water Supply Systems, which took place in Valencia, Spain, on 9-12 December 1997, and was hosted by the Universidad Internacional Menéndez y Pelayo (UIMP).
The contributions in this book have been carefully selected and presented in four sections:

Introduction
Water Supply Systems Modernization
Drought Management in an Urban Context
Practical Cases (Israel, USA, Italy, Spain)

To achieve a well-balanced approach, authors were invited from academia as well as from consultancies and water utilities, and have wide experience in the subject. The book is mainly aimed at water supply engineers, working in utilities and consultancies.

Book Description

Selective cytoplasmic organelle and protein targeting has long been thought to constitute the sole determinant of cell polarity and complexity. This view has been changed, however, by the discovery of differential subcellular RNA distribution patterns. Over the past decade it has become clear that selective mRNA sorting and translation contributes to an accumulation of cognate proteins at discrete cellular sites. In this book, various systems are discussed (e.g. Xenopus oocytes, mammalian brain, invertebrate nervous system) in terms of RNA trafficking, RNA-targeting sequences (cis-elements) and RNA-transporting proteins (trans-factors), activity-dependent translational regulation and the significance of the cytoskeleton for neuronal function and plasticity. It also discusses nucleocytoplasmic export of mRNA and viral RNA as another example of subcellular RNA kinesis.

Book Description

Paperback. The section entitled Horizontal and Vertical Small Scale Structures in the Middle Atmosphere contains fifteen papers which deal with the dynamics or the effects of dynamics in the Earth's middle atmosphere. Data is presented for all altitude layers between the troposphere and the lower thermosphere using ground-based, balloon-borne, rocket-borne and satellite experiments. Initial results from the CRISTA instrument of the Space Shuttle mission STS-66 are included which measured trace gas emissions from the middle atmosphere with very high spatial resolution in all three dimensions in order to derive dynamics parameters. Small and medium scale dynamics are included in models of the middle atmosphere which are presented in the theoretical papers.

The second section, Advances in Optical Remote Sensing of the Upper Atmosphere, reviews recent advances in optical techniques for remote sensing of the upper atmosphere: twelve papers

Book Description

This book was designed to show scientists and engineers how to use Mathematica to solve scientifically interesting problems in a variety of disciplines. The book covers all the major features of Mathematica—e.g. graphics programming, writing packages, and the new features in Mathematics 3.0. Exceptionally practical in approach, it draws application from "real-life" situations in physics, mathematics, and engineering.

Customer Reviews:

Somewhat dated....but still useful.......2002-02-09

Since this book was published, Mathematica has come out with version 4.1, which makes the book somewhat dated, since it is written in 3.0. However, it could still be of benefit to someone who wants to use Mathematica for more specialized tasks in science and enginnering. Some of the Mathematica code in the book is given for problems that are not usually discussed in books on Mathematica. It could serve as a supplement to a course in Mathematica if one is willing to put up with its being out of date, since there are many interesting exercises assigned at the end of each chapter. It would not be too difficult to update the book to Mathematica 4.1. Practicing scientists interested in using Mathematica for visualization could use the book as a handy reference.

Chapter 1 begins with a short review of how to use Mathematica and then the author jumps right into the Riemann zeta function. He gives a fairly lengthy discussion of this function, complete with graphics and Mathematica code. He uses both his own code for the function as well as the built-in function Zeta to illustrate the properties of the Riemann zeta function, particularly its zeros. He shows how the choice of grid spacing can hide the singularity structure of this function, if not chosen finely enough.

Chapter 2 is an overview of numerical methods in Mathematica. He begins with the problem of numerical integration by calculating the specific heat of a crystalline lattice using Nintegrate. The ability of Mathematica to integrate numerically nasty integrands, such as sin(1/x), is then investigated, with the problems with the singularity and convergence discussed in some detail. He also discusses numerical contour integration, which is not usually done in Mathematica books. The Duffing oscillator is treated as an example of solving differential equations numerically using Mathematica. Most importantly though the author shows how to solve partial differential equations numerically using Mathematica. Although performance issues in solving PDEs will appear in using Mathematica to do this, the author uses the built-in function NDSolve to show how one might gain insight into the behavior of solutions. He treats the case of sound waves in a pipe and the elastic string with fixed ends subjected to a constant transverse force. Then after a brief look at numerical sums and products, he treats the quantum mechanical problem of a particle in a one-dimensional well. The chapter ends with a consideration of the 3-body problem, including the restricted 3-body problem. The author's treatment is pretty good but he fails to discuss in detail the numerical instability of the orbits at large times.

Symbolic manipulation, the tour-de-force in Mathematica, is treated in detail in chapter 3. He gives as an example a very interesting simulation of a cyclotron, and shows how Mathematica can be used to efficiently do the algebra in this problem. He then illustrates how to use Mathematica to manipulate series, with series solutions of ordinary differential equations given the emphasis. Most helpful is his discussion on how to treat residues in complex analysis using Mathematica. The author also shows how a cavilier use of symbolic integration can cause problems with some integrands. Such a discussion is very useful in it flags the first-user of Mathematica or to the mathematics student who might be careless in using the built-in function Integrate. This is followed by a fairly detailed discussion of how to differentiate symbolically using Mathematica and how to do vector calculus. Anyone who has done the calculations in the solution of the Schroedinger equation for the hydrogen atom will appreciate the ability of Mathematica to make the arithmetic less painful, and the author shows this in this chapter. Then after a brief discussion of matrix algebra and simplification using Mathematica, the author moves on to a topic that is usually not treated at all in Mathematica books, namely integral transforms. He shows briefly how to deal with the Laplace and Fourier transforms. He also introduces the ability to do local scoping of variables using the Module command.

Chapter 4 covers Mathematica's powerful graphics capability. Most of this material can be found in other books, and in fact the absence of color in the book is somewhat disappointing given the author's heavy use of color directives when plotting functions in this chapter. He does however give a useful short discussion on how Mathematica samples a function to be plotted. A fun example of how to create a Smith chart using Mathematica is detailed by the author. In addition, he treats a physical problem of the spinning top. This is a problem that cries out for visualization when learning about it for the first time, and the author does a fine job of explaining its motion, including the Mathematica code for doing an animation. Unfortunately he does not discuss the solution of the spinning top using elliptic curves nor the case of the spinning top without a fixed point, which involves the use of hyperelliptic curves. Mathematica can be used effectively I have found to deal with these cases.

The last chapter is oriented more to matters in computer science, as the author treats data structures, namely lists, in Mathematica. He gives the reader hints on how to program in Mathematica efficiently, and how to use the built-in function Compile to improve program performance in Mathematica. He also illustrates the very powerful ability of Mathematica to do rule-based programming via an example of generating fractal images. Most importantly, he shows how to use Mathematica to solve partial differential equations using finite differences, another topic usually not done in other Mathematica books. A brief discussion of how to do tensor manipulation ends the chapter.

Book Description

Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges into Michigan presents over 300 pages of little known facts and witty dish on the Great Lakes State. With over 10 million residents, Michigan has no shortage of fascinating folklore and colorful characters. Porcelain partisans can read about the antics of the Kellogg Brothers, the first minimum daily wage, the world's only floating post office, the different flags that have flown over Michigan, and much more.

Customer Reviews:

Michigan.......2007-10-08

I bought this book for my wife who's born, bred, and buttered from the upper part of the lower penninsula..a fact of which she's quite proud. She says she enjoyed it very much and learned a lot of stuff about Michigan that she didn't know. She seemed to enjoy it so much that she had me buy a copy for each of her 6 brothers and sisters, two of whom have lived and still live in Michigan.

Good stuff, but some duplication.......2007-05-15

If you've got other bathroom readers, then you've already seen the longest articles (on GM, Buick, etc.) in this book. Most of the articles are new and up the usual Bathroom Reader standards. The crosswords were too difficult for me, though. I'm not sure I'd want to spend the kind of time in the bathroom that I'd need to do them.

Midwest Handbook.......2007-01-06

Having moved to Chicago from NYC last summer, I found this book essential reading. You'll learn why Midwesterners call soda "pop", what the difference is between northern and southern Michigan, and how the prohibition law relates to Canadian "trade". A must read for all history enthusiasts, as good as or better than the Bathroom Reader general article series. I also enjoy the New Jersey book and I'm going to start Texas soon. I recommend them to just learn more about the USA!

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