Saturday, February 16, 2008

After Effects 8.0.2 Interpretation Rules Issue

If you’ve created your own rules, they’ll be ignored in 8.0.2 - but you can get them back…

Normally, when you install a minor update to After Effects, it does a pretty good job at remembering your previously-installed plug-ins and the such. That said, there is an exception in the case of the 8.0.2 updater. This version writes a brand-new interpretation rules file that alters how it handles some YUV color space files. However, it does not merge in any changes you may have made to the previous interpretation rules file. Fortunately, it doesn’t delete your file; it just sets it aside.

Click here for an Adobe Tech Note on what’s going on, and how to work around it.

Motion Graphics •
Post Production •
Visual Effects • (0) Comments • • Permalink

Friday, February 15, 2008

Favorite Technical References

When you need to settle an argument, there’s nothing like the facts.

The video industry has saddled us users with some truly ugly numbers to deal with (such as 720x480, 29.97, and so forth) when working with digital video. Making matters worse, these numbers are often misquoted or misunderstood.

Thankfully, there are a few web sites out there with some truly valuable, correct information on digital video standards. Here are the sites we refer to most often when we need to know the inside scoop:

Distribution •
Hardware •
Production • (0) Comments • • Permalink

Saturday, February 09, 2008

The Second Revolution in Desktop Video

It’s harder to make money this time around.

If you’re reading this blog hoping to learn - with post-humus apologies to Douglas Adams - The Answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything (view on Amazon), I’m afraid we may disappoint you from time to time: We don’t know all of the answers. But sometimes just asking questions is important, because it starts the discussions which eventually lead to the answers.

One question that’s floating around these days is “How the heck do I make money creating video content for the web, such as podcasts?” Indeed, it seems there is more money in teaching podcasting than in podcasting itself!

Budgeting •
Distribution •
Motion Graphics •
Production • (0) Comments • • Permalink

Friday, February 08, 2008

Motion Graphics concepts demonstrated…on a trampoline.

Video training at its finest.

This isn’t new, but we just stumbled across it, and thought it would provide some comic relief going into the weekend. It’s a live, one-take, in-front-of-an-audience music video (for the song “zZz is playing: Grip") that is also a demonstration of common motion graphics techniques and video transitions, performed by folks on a trampoline. Ya gotta watch it more than once to pick up all the details, like the musicians on the left and right (the drummer on the left is also the singer), and the person painting the progress bar in real time underneath. Hang around until the end to see that it was indeed in front of an audience.

Motion Graphics •
Production •
Visual Effects • (1) Comments • Most recent comments by: Scott Gentry, • Permalink

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Financial Advice for Small Businesses

You gotta eat to be able to create…

Although you may aspire to be a motion graphics artist - with emphasis on the word “artist” - in reality, you also have to be a businessperson. Many overlook (or knowingly avoid) this little detail when they enter the field.

Today there was an excellent article in the Business section of the Los Angeles Times providing important cash flow tips for small businesses, including topics such as getting money up front, billing, and extending credit to your clients. You can read it here; you may need to register with the site to gain access.

Business • (1) Comments • Most recent comments by: S�ren Christensen, • Permalink

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Motion Blur Musings

Managing motion blur is important both for shooters and for animators.

A fellow user recently asked about problems he was having with motion stutter when slowing down 24p (24 frame per second, progressive scan) footage. This led to a series of musings about using motion blur - including some new options in After Effects CS3 - that we thought would be good to share.

Motion Graphics •
Post Production •
Visual Effects • (2) Comments • Most recent comments by: Chris Meyer, Alan Smithee, • Permalink

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Adobe/MAXON Power Integration Tour

Who doesn’t like free food, prizes, and information?

We have long been fans of Cinema 4D as a 3D package for motion graphics artists, both for its feature set (including the powerful MoGraph module) and its very tight integration with After Effects. We focused on this integration in Chapter 38 of Creating Motion Graphics 4th Edition (an excerpt from that chapter can be downloaded here ).

Last year Adobe and Maxon did a joint tour touting this integration. They had so much fun, they’’re doing it again this year. The first event was at the January 2008 DMA/LA meeting; the tour proper kicks off February 26 in San Francisco - see the full list of cities and dates below.

Motion Graphics •
Post Production •
Training •
Visual Effects • (0) Comments • • Permalink

Friday, February 01, 2008

Pardon the Interruption: UPS Musings

Newer computers need larger-capacity UPSs to keep running.

We’re having the hardwood floors in the office refinished. They brought in a huge electric sander that didn’t even have a plug; they wired it straight into the circuit breaker panel. Needless to say, every time they turned it on, the lights dimmed.

This brings up the subject of battery backup power for your computer workstations, commonly known as a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). In short, you should have one on each computer, keeping it and your drives alive when the power blips. You can’t work all day off of them (unless you have a truly huge one), but they’ll keep you up long enough to hit “save” - rather than suffer through a data loss.

We used to have UPSs in the 450 to 650 VA (volt-amp) range. They were fine for our Mac G3s and G4s. Things weren’t so rosy when we started getting multi-processor G5s a few years back: One power blip, and everyone was dead. We’ve had to move up to supplies with at least a 950 VA rating. Higher ratings mean longer running times, plus more future-proofing for when you buy an even more powerful (and power-hungry) computer in the future.

These beasts are a lot less expensive than they used to be, especially if you buy refurbished models. We get ours from UPS For Less, where used units are dirt cheap - roughly $100 for a 1000 VA unit (normally $500+) is a common price. Replacement batteries (which you will need every few years) can be had from a number of places; just Google them.

Here’s a dark secret about most UPS devices: The power they output is not as “clean” as the outlet on the wall; they fake the sine wave of the alternating current. This isn’t a problem with computers, but can cause noise in sensitive audio devices. If this is an issue for you, look for supplies that say they have a “true” rather than “simulated” sine wave output.

Hardware • (0) Comments • • Permalink

Page 1 of 2 pages  1 2 >