cmg_keyframes

After Effects Apprentice Free Video: Rendering a 4:3 Center Cut Movie from a 16:9 Composition

2012-05-21T16:53:50Z

As we mentioned what now seems like ages ago, we spent a year and a half creating an extensive, multi-course video training series based on our popular beginner’s book After Effects Apprentice. The introduction plus one or more additional videos from each course are available for free preview; we re-posted here on PVC the videos that contain tips and instruction you might find useful. Well, the series is done, and we’re off writing the next edition of the book. But before we go, we had one last video to share with you, which may be of interest to any After Effects user who still has to create both 16:9 and 4:3 versions of their compositions.

After Effects Apprentice Free Video: Using Parenting to Animate Layers as a Unit

2012-05-15T16:41:33Z

As we mentioned awhile back, we’ve been busy the past year and a half creating an extensive, multi-course video training series based on our popular beginner’s book After Effects Apprentice. Buried in the shuffle of the release of After Effects CS6 is that we concluded this series with a 3+ hour course dedicated to that book’s Final Project. Several movies from this course are available for free preview from lynda.com; we’d like to share those with you here - including this movie that demonstrates using parenting to group together a set of 3D layers.

After Effects Apprentice Free Video: Working with Nested 3D Compositions

2012-05-08T03:47:55Z

After Effects Apprentice Free Video: Copying Paths from Illustrator to After Effects

2012-05-01T17:33:38Z

Buried in the shuffle over the announcement of After Effects CS6 is that we concluded the video training series for our book After Effects Apprentice 2nd Edition with a nearly 3.5 hour course dedicated to that book’s Final Project. Several movies from this course are available for free preview from lynda.com; we’d like to share those with you here - including this movie on how to reveal Illustrator artwork by copying its paths into After Effects masks.

After Effects CS6 Tutorial: Exporting 3D Camera Tracker Data to Cinema 4D

2012-04-27T19:03:52Z

One of the major new features in After Effect CS6 (which we previously previewed here) is a built-in 3D Camera Tracker. Rather than track a specific object or point, the 3DCT automatically tracks hundreds of points in a clip, and uses that information to reverse engineer where the camera was during the scene. This opens up all sorts of interesting workflows.

After Effects CS6 Tutorial: Targeting Properties in the new Ray-Traced 3D Engine

2012-04-25T21:28:40Z

In our preview of After Effects CS6, we spent a lot of time discussing the pros and cons of the new ray-traced 3D rendering engine, which includes the ability to extrude and bevel text and shape layers. When you start playing around with it, initially it may seem that you have only one color and set of Material Options for the entire layer. In truth, Adobe has provided a back door to go in and change the color and every material option - including amount of transparency and strength of reflections - for the front, sides, back, and bevels individually.

After Effects CS6 (P)Review

2012-04-12T04:10:38Z

Upon the release of After Effects CS5 in 2010, Adobe tried an interesting experiment: Part of the After Effects engineering team was split off to start work on major new features for CS6 with a 24-month time horizon, while the rest started work on AE CS5.5 before joining their compatriots in 2011 to also work on CS6. In addition, Adobe has a separate Dynamic Media Advanced Product Development Group, which has produced such major new features as Roto Brush (CS5), Warp Stabilizer (CS5.5), and the new 3D Camera Tracker (CS6).

As a result, After Effects CS6 is an important new release that has something for nearly every AE user. We’re going to explore a number of those features here, starting with the most visible new one - the Ray-traced 3D rendering engine - and then moving onto the 3D Camera Tracker, Rolling Shutter Repair, Variable Mask Feathering, the Global Performance Cache, and other interesting bits. We’ll be sharing pros, cons, preferred workflows, gotchas, and a number of tips that we hope will get you up to speed with this new release.

After Effects Apprentice Free Video: Exploring Shape Effects

2012-01-31T13:06:25Z

As we mentioned awhile back, we’ve been busy the past year and a half creating an extensive, multi-course video training series based on our popular beginner’s book After Effects Apprentice. Each course has two or more movies that are free for all to view; we’re re-posting those videos here on PVC to make sure you don’t miss them. In this movie, shows how to alter your basic shapes using dedicated shape effects.

After Effects Apprentice Free Video: Drawing Parametric Shapes

2012-01-27T16:31:09Z

As we mentioned awhile back, we’ve been busy the past year and a half creating an extensive, multi-course video training series based on our popular beginner’s book After Effects Apprentice. Each course has two or more movies that are free for all to view; we’re re-posting those videos here on PVC to make sure you don’t miss them. In this movie, Chris shares a number of tips and tricks for creating parametric shapes.

After Effects Apprentice Free Video: The Puppet Starch Tool

2012-01-12T22:15:11Z

As we mentioned awhile back, we’ve been busy the past year and a half creating an extensive, multi-course video training series based on our popular beginner’s book After Effects Apprentice. Each course has two or more movies that are free for all to view; we’re re-posting those videos here on PVC to make sure you don’t miss them. In this movie, Chris demonstrates using the Starch tool to clean up problems that can appear when creating Puppet distortions in After Effects.

After Effects Apprentice Free Video: Eraser Tool Modes

2012-01-08T01:36:20Z

As we mentioned awhile back, we’ve been busy the past year and a half creating an extensive, multi-course video training series based on our popular beginner’s book After Effects Apprentice. Each course has two or more movies that are free for all to view; we’re re-posting those videos here on PVC to make sure you don’t miss them. In this movie, Trish discusses the different Eraser tool modes - Layer Source & Paint, Paint Only, and Last Stroke Only - and demonstrates when to use each.

After Effects Apprentice Free Video: Tracking with mochaAE

2011-12-03T22:03:51Z

As we mentioned earlier, we’ve been busy this year creating an extensive, multi-course video training series based on our popular beginner’s book After Effects Apprentice. Each course has two or more movies that are free for all to view; we’re re-posting those videos here on PVC to make sure you don’t miss them. This movie provides a quick start on how to use Imaginer Systems’ mochaAE - a powerful 2.5 planar motion tracker that comes bundled with After Effects (but which has a quite un-After Effects-like user interface).

After Effects Apprentice Free Video: Performing a Motion Track

2011-11-28T01:45:49Z

As we mentioned earlier, we’ve been busy this year creating an extensive, multi-course video training series based on our popular beginner’s book After Effects Apprentice. Each course has two or more movies that are free for all to view; we’re re-posting those videos here on PVC to make sure you don’t miss them. This movie shares our mental process when we approach a piece of footage to track.

After Effects Apprentice Free Video: Creating 3D Objects using Adobe Repoussé

2011-11-21T16:00:38Z

As we mentioned earlier, we’ve been busy this year creating an extensive, multi-course video training series based on our popular beginner’s book After Effects Apprentice. Each course has two or more movies that are free for all to view; we’re re-posting those videos here on PVC to make sure you don’t miss them. This movie explains the ins and outs of using Adobe Repoussé to create 3D objects that may then be imported into After Effects.

After Effects Apprentice Free Video: Understanding Axis Modes

2011-11-14T16:00:45Z

As we mentioned earlier, we’ve been busy this year creating an extensive, multi-course video training series based on our popular beginner’s book After Effects Apprentice. Each course has two or more movies that are free for all to view; we’re re-posting those videos here on PVC to make sure you don’t miss them. This movie explains the differences between the three axis display modes in After Effects.