The Art and Science of Digital Compositing, Second Edition: Techniques for Visual Effects, Animation and Motion Graphics (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics)

I've been doing video and 3D work for the last couple of years without really knowing how or why I do many things. This book gives me the source knowledge of the nuts and bolts of composisting that don't come in the directions for compositing software. I would consider this required reading for anyone in the video or 3D world. Serves as a great reference book as well.

The book is full of excellent photos and examples, too. The writer does a great job of building the reader's knowledge from review of basic photography to hard core compositing techniques. This book will live close at hand for a long time.

I started my career in visual effects around the same time the first edition was published and have referenced it constantly through out the 9+ years. I bought the 2nd edition for two reasons, my copy of the first edition was falling apart and nostalgia. I was not expecting much new information and was mostly just looking for an intact copy of the first edition with a few new tidbits here and there. I could not have been more wrong.

The second edition has so much NEW information in it was like reading a time capsule of the technological advances of the last ten years. There is not a topic or subject used in compositing that is not covered here. Only two books have sat on my desk my entire career, the first edition and the cinematographers manual. I have read many books available on visual effects, but none compare, honestly. The main reason for that is complete software independence, not partial, complete.

There is no other book that teaches you the raw knowledge you need to be an artist. Anyone can teach you how to push certain buttons of a specific app, this is the only book that clearly teaches you when to push them and why. Artists in today's marketplace need a deep core knowledge of what the software packages are doing so that they can easily switch to other packages. This is especially true in feature film compositing where the industry is at a point of impasse and there is no clear winner of the package wars, fingers crossed for NUKE ;). There is no standard tool anymore so the best way to stay employable is to know what this book teaches, the math, the science, the art.

This book is chock full of examples, color photos and production examples. Whether you've been at this for a while or are new to the art, own this book. Own it for years and years and years. Yes, it's more expensive then any other book on the subject but it is worth so much more then the others that it will pay for itself very quickly. If you already have the other books, sell them, get this.