The Akihabara innovation machine brings us yet another intriguingly intricate work on a niche subject – although the topic at hand has been deconstructed to a puddle of moe any of all ages can enjoy.
As you can see, this work comes sporting a nice “All Ages” sticker, although don’t let that lead you to believe this is a mere novelty piece. This doujin is actually very in-depth on using a certain piece of well priced software entitled After Effects which is part of the Adobe Master Suite, a package of creative digital design and arts programs. Wikipedia describes After Effects as “a digital motion graphics and compositing software published by Adobe Systems, used in the post-production process of filmmaking and television production”.
This doujin is definitely no joke – it legitimately covers topics of the expensive, industry standard software ranging from the basics, custom effects, and motion graphics with comprehensive yet easy to understand instructions and kawaii moe visuals. Quite clearly, a lot of effort was put into devising such a useful yet attractive work. The book is printed in full color, and even goes so far as to include an interview with the author of the work itself.
Other than introducing AE-tan, the book contains relevant articles on animation alongside added insight on some additional topics purely for ensured understanding.
Having personal experience working with the Master Suite, we can definitely say this book is a steal – it is truly painful to not have such an excellent reference available outside of Japan. The book teaches you much about this incredible software in a fun, wholehearted fashion which many, specifically otaku, can relate with. Similar texts on After Effects are the expected, long, dull, lifeless tomes which lead the reader in a full circle around the intended areas of learning.
Of all the interesting doujin works we’ve seen out of Akihabara, this one is by far our favorite.
Aug 23, 2011 @ 10:50 CDT
I’ve been hearing more and more about AE lately, seems pretty new to me really. When I do digital, I prefer PS and AI, simply because its what I’m used to. Maybe I’ll give it a shot and torrent it sometime after my hand gets better.
Aug 23, 2011 @ 12:23 CDT
I think you’re confusing something. AE, PS and Illustrator each serve their own purpose. Especially if you realize they come from the same company. You don’t need to know them just for the sake of it, or just because one is better. AE is more common for video-editing, Photoshop is for photomanipulation, and illustrator is often more used for typography and vectorization.
Aug 23, 2011 @ 17:05 CDT
And who says I can’t use all three in conjunction?
Aug 23, 2011 @ 17:17 CDT
Didn’t say you can’t, in fact, many people do. But I thought you were thinking that AE is something like PS or Illustrator.
Jul 20, 2012 @ 21:01 CDT
And people wonder why Asians are smarter.