Mike Gondek takes a look at Total Training's AE 6

©2003 by Mike Gondek and CreativeCOW.net. All rights are reserved.

How does T3AE6 differ from T3AE 5.5?

The majority of content in the T36AE series is the exact same material as on the T3AE5.5 series. Don’t worry though, if you read my previous review, that content is excellent and is still invaluable information, every AE user should want to learn and utilize for decades to come.

In teaching After Effects I found it is one of the best interfaces and loved by students and professionals alike. Version 6 added great new features, which are covered very well in the new T3 series.

Total Training is a great company that produces some of the best product and they genuinely care about the consumer. When you get the package, there is a printed outline of all the chapters. T3 has made the chapters red that are new to After Effects 6. Below is a condensed version of the outline and the items in red are either entirely new or been updated for AE6.

SET 1: The Fundamentals			SET 3: 3D, Expressions, Text & Design
Disc 1:	Introducing the After Effects Interface Lesson 1: The Grand Tour Lesson 2: Introducing the Interface Lesson 2a: The Project Window Lesson 2b: The Clip Window & Palettes Lesson 2c: The Comp Window Lesson 2d: The Timeline Lesson 3: Keyframes		Disc 1:	3D Lesson 1: 3D Lesson 1a: Understanding 3D Space Open GL Lesson 1b: Cameras Lesson 1c: Objects, Lights & Materials Lesson 2: 3D Channel Filters
Disc 2:	Up to Speed Lesson 4: Motion Lesson 5: Compositions Lesson 6: Input, Output & Preferences Lesson 6a: Import New Photoshop Tips New Illustrator Tips Lesson 6b: Video Standards Lesson 6c:Output Lesson 6d:Preferences		Disc 2:	Expressions Lesson 1: Introducing Expressions Lesson 2: Wiggle Lesson 3: My Favorite Expressions Lesson 4: Tips & Recipes for 3D & Expressions
			Disc 3:	Text Lesson 1: Adding & Formatting Text Lesson 2: Basic Text Animation Lesson 3: Advanced Text Animation
SET 2: Animation & Special Effects			Disc 4:	Design Lesson 1: Animating Lines Lesson 2: Paint Lesson 3: Distorting Your Designs
Disc 1:	Animation Lesson 1: Basic Parenting Lesson 2: Character Animation Lesson 3: Masks & Autotrace Lesson 4: Mattes		SET 4: Compositing & Advanced Effects
Disc 2:	Effects Part 1 Lesson 1: Intro to Effects Lesson 2: Basic Effects Lesson 3: Intermediate Effects Lesson 4: Background Effects		Disc 1:	Keying & Rotoscoping Lesson 1: Keying Lesson 2: Rotoscoping
Disc 3:	Effects Part 2 Lesson 5:  Shatter Lesson 6:  Card Wipe Lesson 7:  Card Dance Lesson 8:  Colorama Lesson 9:  Radio Waves Lesson 10: Wave World & Caustics Lesson 11: Foam		Disc 2:	Compositing & Professional Tools Lesson 1: Motion Tracking Lesson 2: Plug-in Palettes & 3D Assistants Lesson 3: Color Adjustment
Disc 4:	Effects Part 3 Lesson 12: 3D Filters • New in AE6 Lesson 13: Shape Effects • New in AE6 Lesson 14: Noise Filters • New in AE6 Lesson 15: Color Filters • New in AE6 Lesson 16: Distort Filters • New in AE6 Lesson 17: Channel Filters • New in AE6		Disc 3:	Production Bundle Effects Lesson 1: Distortion Lesson 2: Audio Filters Lesson 3: Fractal Noise
Red text indicates new material

Is this for Me?

T3AE6 like an encyclopedia about AE, and benefits Beginning to Advanced users alike.

The first set is called the Fundamentals and is most interesting to beginning AE users, but also includes a few tricks for advanced users. Set 3 has Expressions and it is explained in such an easy, clear presentation that new AE users will be able to pick this up. Advanced users will learn the causes of problems, which Maffitt and Holmes have conquered for us. It is really nice to see that we were not alone in experiencing these problems and we also get the solution.

If you owned the T3AE5.5 series, than $549 might be a lot to spend, as you already own about 65% of the material. Unfortunately there is not a what’s new in After Effects 6 package or an upgrade price. If you can justify the cost, it is worth it as the new material is even better if that is possible. OK the new material assumes you already know the fundamentals so the pace is a little faster and they don’t make you do tedious tasks such as creating compositions.

Beginning users will be able to follow along with the provided projects files. Advanced users can learn the topics by just watching the DVDs. Intermediate users will probably open up a few of the project files.

Content and the Authors

You get 2 great presenters Brian Maffitt and Steve Holmes, of which I equally enjoy both their presentations and content. They both have a great sense of humor and many of the projects content are videos keying or manipulating themselves, but the topics are all professional issues.

Brian (aka “the Brain”) has a presentation style that is very clear, down to earth, and he really knows his stuff. He takes a topic like keying and explains every detail and ends it off by going over a realworld problem such as green screen reflection in the subject’s glasses and how to properly get rid of it. Brian does not avoid any topic or problem and will cover an issue making it sound logical. He unlocks the mysteries that we all encounter at some time and shows you a new way to overcome any challenge.

They say Steve is a descendant of the fictional character Sherlock Holmes, or could he possibly be related to another famous Holmes from the movies? In any case, Steve motivates with his creative style, and after watching his lessons you will want to create something totally new in AE that noone has done before. Steve takes the new basic shape circle filter, and turns it into something more exciting and useful than what I imagined Adobe intended it for. Steve takes topics such as 3D assistants and makes you feel comfortable with them and he pushes you into new creative territories.

Summary The only thing I don’t like about these guys is that they make me give up 5 cows yet again for providing the encyclopedia on AE. They seem to be only headed in the right direction with AE. The AE Fundamentals are so solid on these DVDs, I only see more Advanced AE topics in the future from these guys. This gets me excited about the future of T3 and hopefully even our great AE Cow forum leaders will also be motivated by their new timely content. I only ask one thing from them and that is to allow the skipping of the introductory chapter. It is nice but skipping would be better than fast forwarding 13 DVDs.