5 Free eBooks To Learn Adobe After Effects & Motion Graphics

A list of 5 best and free eBooks by professional mentors written specifically for learning Adobe After Effects and Motion Graphics.

To create dazzling Motion Graphics, artists around the world mostly rely on Adobe After Effects. It is widely used in TV and film post-production, creation of visual effects, and animation. After Effects is a part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud,

Learning how to use this software is not an easy task. However, there are several online resources to help you get started. Some of these basic courses are free while other professional ones will cost you a fortune.

But, there is another way to polish your After Effects skills without spending thousands of dollars on training subscriptions.

Free eBooks To Learn After Effects & Motion Graphics

Professional mentors have written eBooks specifically for learning After Effects and Motion Graphics. These eBooks cover a lot of other aspects as well that many online tutorials and courses never touch.

Therefore, we’ve come up with a list of 5 free eBooks to bridge the gap between what you can figure out by learning by doing and what you need to know to become a professional After Effects and Motion Graphics artist.

1. Motion Graphics In After Effects By Dr. Mathias Möhl

Mathias Möhl, the co-founder of mamoworld, authored this free eBook. He is known for developing tools and tutorials for the motion graphics industry.

The core mission of this free After Effects eBook is to give you a solid foundation in motion graphics and design.

Let’s take a look at exactly what this free eBook will teach you from start to end.

• Chapters 1 -4 will help you understand the essential basics of design, selecting good colors and fonts, how to layout your designs, and more.
• In Chapter 5, you will learn mostly about workflow and planning.
• Chapters 6 – 7 are about understanding the workings of keyframes, how to use them to create vivid animations and other principles of animation.
• Chapter 8 goes a step further and will teach you about Staging and Focus. How to attract the audience’s focus.
• Chapters 9 – 10 will teach you why and how objects deform and how to create these deformations in After Effects.
• Chapter 11 which is the final chapter in this book covers various ways to automate After Effects with templates.

Unfortunately, this eBook is not available in PDF format. You can read it online using a web browser. However, you can read it offline by downloading the browser version and using an ePub to PDF converter to convert it into a PDF.

2. After Effects Apprentice By Trish & Chris Meyer

The goal of this eBook is to teach you the most important core features of After Effects through a series of practical exercises.

It has been written by Trish & Chris Meyer.

Every lesson in this book is based on real-world experiences, showing you the right features for any given task.

You will start by learning simple animations, eventually working up to animating text, motion tracking, stabilization, and 3D models.

After Effects Apprentice eBook has been designed for a variety of users. From beginners and students to former users, this eBook will help raise the quality of productions.

In total, there are 12 lessons in this eBook starting from building your first animations to integrating and using 3D applications into After Effects.

3. Making MOGRTs By Jarle Leirpoll

Jarle Leirpoll is a filmmaker, motion graphics artist, and trainer based in Norway.

He wrote an eBook about making MOGRTs (Motion Graphics Templates) in After Effects for Adobe Premiere Pro. MOGRTs are also known as Premiere Pro Templates.

This book covers every aspect of the design process backed up by a lot of examples.

With MOGRTs, you can create stunning motion graphics for your projects with ease. You can even learn to write and use expressions in After Effects.

Making MOGRTs has hundreds of little code snippets (expressions) that you can copy from the PDF and paste directly into After Effects. This eBook is so informative that Adobe has made it available for free on its website.

4. After Effects Expressions Basics By David Alex

Authored by David Alex, this eBook explains the basics of using After Effects expressions.

You will learn what expressions are, how they work, and how to use them properly.

By the end of this book, you will be able to use some of the most common and useful After Effects expressions. You will also be able to expand your knowledge to a more advanced level.

David Alex’s eBook is based on examples, rather than teaching facts which makes it simple and very easy to understand.

5. How To Cheat In After Effects By Chad Perkins

We had a great time reading and following the cheats/tricks presented in this book by Chad Perkins.

Instead of going through and describing things as other eBooks in this list do, How to Cheat in After Effects tackles one trick at a time.

There are a few steps to follow which make this book worth your time. It is pretty simple and easy to follow.

However, this book targets people who already have a bit of knowledge in After Effects. An absolute beginner should first follow other eBooks listed in the article to learn the essential basics of After Effects.

This cheat format is ridiculously fun. You can jump around where you’d like to. For the most part, these little tips and tricks will enhance your workflow.

You’re going to love this free After Effects eBook.

Conclusion

Informative and valuable resources, tutorials, and courses are the first and foremost steps to learning After Effects and Motion Graphics.

You can find many of these learning resources on various online learning platforms. Enrolling in such professional courses will require a significant investment of both money and time.

However, the eBooks listed in this article are free, written by professional After Effects & Motion Graphics users, and covers a lot of other aspects that many online courses never touch,

Let us know if you find these free After Effects eBooks useful. You can share your experience in the comment section below!