After Effects Apprentice Video Tutorial #7

We’ve recently released After Effects Apprentice (2nd Edition). The DVD-ROM that comes with the book includes an hour and a half of video tutorials that provide gentle introductions to major features inside After Effects. We are releasing these videos one per month here on PVC; they are also being made available on Focal Press’ web site - make sure you visit their After Effects micro-site for more related freebies.

Learning how to navigate 3D space can be one of the more daunting features to tackle in After Effects. In this seventh video, we demonstrate how to use the Camera Tools in After Effects both to move 3D cameras, and how they affect the Position versus Point of Interest parameters. We also show how these same tools allow you to customize the additional 3D views the user has access to, making it easier to view your scene from alternate perspectives. Tips include how to quickly switch between the different tools, plus how to use a 3-button mouse in conjunction with the new Unified Camera Tool introduced in After Effects CS4. And it will all take only 4 minutes of your time. Click on the Play Video link below, and enjoy!

(Note: For those who are hearing-impaired, Lynda.com has added Closed Captioning to these tutorials. They are available here. If you do not have a Lynda.com subscription, click here for a free 7-day pass.)

After Effects Apprentice was designed for students looking to learn After Effects from scratch, as well as those who do not use AE full time (such as editors or web designers). It starts gently with an introduction to keyframing, and progresses through the important features (such as masks, mattes, effects, text, audio, 3D space, shape layers, expressions, parenting, and building advanced hierarchies of compositions) until you end up keying, stabilizing, and compositing a shot in high def. The second edition has been fully revamped for After Effects CS4, and includes integration with Photoshop CS4 Extended and Flash Professional CS4.

Porsche Spot VFX Breakdown

Shot by shot, this breakdown shows all the steps required to pull off a single shot for “Porsche: Magnet,” a spec spot I shot several months ago for director Ian McCamey.

Two Creative Stop Motion Videos

The following two stop-motion videos are quite visually engaging and well-executed. They’ve been shot on a floor from overhead, the perspective and attention to detail is a striking effect. Be sure to watch the credits of “Sorry I’m Late” for a behind-the-scenes peek at how it was accomplished. Inspiring stuff.

After Effects Apprentice Video Tutorial #5

We’ve recently released After Effects Apprentice (2nd Edition). The DVD-ROM that comes with the book includes an hour and a half of video tutorials that provide gentle introductions to major features inside After Effects, such as text and expressions. We are releasing these videos one per month here on PVC; they are also available on Focal Press’ web site - make sure you visit their After Effects micro-site for more free chapters and tutorials.

In this fifth video, we provide a gentle introduction to expressions, showing how to use the pickwhip to easily link one property to another, modify that property using very simple math, plus recover from errors. We also show how to use two of the most useful expressions: “wiggle” (to randomize virtually any parameter), and “linear” (to easily convert between differing parameter ranges, such as degrees to percentage). Click on the Play Video link below, and enjoy!

(Note: For those who are hearing-impaired, Lynda.com has added Closed Captioning to these tutorials. They are available here. If you do not have a Lynda.com subscription, click here for a free 7-day pass.)

After Effects Apprentice was designed for students looking to learn After Effects from scratch, as well as those who do not use AE full time (such as editors or web designers). It starts gently with an introduction to keyframing, and progresses through the important features (such as masks, mattes, effects, text, audio, 3D space, shape layers, expressions, parenting, and building advanced hierarchies of compositions) until you end up keying, stabilizing, and compositing a shot in high def. The second edition has been fully revamped for After Effects CS4, and includes integration with Photoshop CS4 Extended and Flash Professional CS4.

Tiffen DFX 2 Digital Filters

Tweaking footage for your reel is a huge advantage. Here’s how to take your footage to the next level without taking on a second full-time job as a colorist.

Tip: Force an After Effects Render not to Fail

If you’ve ever tried rendering a composition made up of one or more large images - say, a single huge matte painting or several layers of 4k footage - you have probably encountered the dreaded Out of Memory error causing your render to fail. What to do about this?

NAB Tuesday: Getting Plugged In

Noise is everywhere in Vegas. Slot machines are mostly just noise, and everywhere there is loud music - we heard U2 at the breakfast buffet, AC/DC in the hotel restroom, and even the popcorn street vendor on the corner aimed his radio at the crowds walking past while a live band played across the square from him. Every party and event had loud music to create “ambience”, even when the attendees secretly (and not so secretly) wished the music was literally ambient music. The end result is that your voice is shot by the end of the day, making it near impossible to hold a normal conversation (let alone give a presentation the next day).

This year, the only peace and quiet you could find in Vegas was on the show floor. Gone are the days when you could only reach the Adobe booth in the South Hall by jostling through the gauntlet of what was the Apple and Avid booths, both trying to drown out each other from different sides of the aisle. If you were a golfer, you could have practiced your putting on many of the aisles this year - although Tuesday did feel busier than Monday and vendors at the Plug-in Pavilion reported a busy morning. We were among those hanging out, and here’s what we saw:

Face Replacement Part 2: ADVANCED

In part two of this series I’ll show you how to track and composite a face onto another body using After Effects and Mocha AE. Some more tips and hurdles, should be fun.

Page 1 of 11 pages  1 2 3 >  Last »