The Top Ten Things After Effects Users Love and Hate about Motion

Mark Spencer | 12/03- 07:07 AM

I teach Motion to a lot of After Effects users. Sometimes they end up in my class because they want to be there; other times their organization has sent them and they arrive kicking and screaming, ready for a fight. Either way, after clearing away a lot of misconceptions and getting them to actually use Motion for 3 days, I find almost every After Effects user comes away with a new respect for - and frustration with - this wonderful yet sometimes annoying application.

Red updates Scarlet/Epic specs - “Mo Bettah”

Mike Curtis | 12/03- 12:44 AM

...and a sweet deal for Red One owners UPDATED

Updated with exclusive charts and analysis Wednesday 1pm PST)
Red always talks about all specs, timetables, prices, etc. are subject to drastic change. So, they’ve already changed (read: “increased") the specs for the planned Scarlet and Epic cameras, and given a big wet kiss to existing Red One owners. Read on for the details after the jump.

Calibrated Codecs

Adam Wilt | 12/04- 05:08 PM

Use MXF media natively in FCP and on Windows; use FCP media on Windows and non-FCP Macs.

Need to use MXF media (P2 DVCPRO/50/HD and AVC-I, IMX, XDCAM) natively in Final Cut Pro, or in Windows NLEs? Need to play FCP-captured or FCP-generated Quicktimes with HDV, DVCPRO50/HD, or XDCAM/HD/EX content on Windows machines, or on Macs without Final Cut Studio? Check out http://www.calibratedsoftware.com/welcome.html.

Importers and codecs available singly or in bundles, from $60 - $110 (with free, watermarked demo versions so you can see if they solve your problems before you spend your hard-earned). I haven’t tried ‘em myself but thought I’d pass on the info, because if this is the sort of thing you need, you really need it.

(With a tip of the hat to Rich Young on the SF Cutters FCPUG mailing list for pointing these out!)

Brightness Issues with H.264 QuickTime Movies

Chris Meyer | 12/01- 10:21 PM

Solutions - good and bad - to a long-standing problem.

If you haven’t encountered this problem yet, you will: QuickTime movies re-exported from applications such has QuickTime Player Pro using the H.264 codec (a common format for web content) appear brighter than the original in some contexts - such as inside QuickTime Player on the Mac, or on a web page viewed by Safari - but not in other contexts such as QuickTime Player on Windows, or the stripped-down QT Player… more »

Square vs. Non-Square Pixels – Producing Video Podcasts

Richard Harrington | 11/29- 05:43 PM

Reshaping Video for the Web

Author and video podcaster Richard Harrington explains the difference between square and non-square pixels and how to make sure your web videos are properly sized.

Ease and Wizz

Chris Meyer | 12/02- 07:43 PM

Alternative keyframe interpolations for After Effects.

Virtually all After Effects users take advantage of the Easy Ease keyframe assistants. Applying them makes your animations elegantly speed up and slow down. But there are alternatives, right?

There are. Switching a keyframe’s interpolation to Auto Bezier, for example, will give half the ease of Easy Ease. You can also edit the keyframe interpolation handles in the Graph Editor, or Option (Alt) + double-click a keyframe outside of the Graph Editor to open the Keyframe Velocity… more »

Awesome Adobe Motion Graphics Research Project

Matt Jeppsen | 12/01- 05:45 AM

Please put this in After Effects immediately

An Adobe engineer posted a demonstration of a sweet little research project recently. It’s a simple, consumer-oriented method of accomplishing complex motion graphics tasks. Here’s hoping we’ll see it soon… more »

Animating a Sky Part 1 - Photoshop for Video

Richard Harrington | 11/19- 09:48 PM

Combining PS and AE to make videos from photos

Instructor Richard Harrington shows you how to add an animated sky to your still photos using Photoshop and After Effects. Part 1 of 2.

Animating a Sky Part 2 - Photoshop for Video

Richard Harrington | 11/30- 06:15 AM

Creating Moving Footage with Phtoshop and After Effects

Instructor Richard Harrington shows you how to add an animated sky to your still photos using Photoshop and After Effects. Part 2 of 2.

Final Cut Help - Animating Text with Keyframes

Richard Harrington | 12/01- 05:14 PM

Learn to animate Text in Motion

Join Apple Certified Trainer Mason Dixon as he shows you how to animate text with keyframes in Motion.