Welcome to episode 7 of the After Effects ExtendScript Training series. This week we will be creating new comps and folders as well as creating Nulls, Solids and Text layers.

After discovering Atomos back in January of 2013 at the San Francisco Supermeet, I was intrigued by the Ninja-2 especially when I realized a pending firmware update for the 5D Mark III would make it compatible with the Ninja-2.  

This portable field recorder and... ]]> 2013-05-15T01:29:00+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/mspencer/story/archiving-final-cut-pro-x-projects-and-media http://provideocoalition.com/mspencer/story/archiving-final-cut-pro-x-projects-and-media#When:13:23:00Z

This week on MacBreak Studio, Steve Martin from Ripple Training talks about archiving your projects in Final Cut Pro X.

Once you've delivered your edit to your client, they've approved it and you've been paid, how do you go about saving that project and storing it... ]]> 2013-05-14T13:23:00+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/pvcexclusive/story/after-effects-extendscript-training-ep-6 http://provideocoalition.com/pvcexclusive/story/after-effects-extendscript-training-ep-6#When:23:38:00Z

Welcome to episode 6 of the After Effects ExtendScript Training series. This week we will be learning to collect data from multiple assets into an Array() via a loop. We are also going to learn how to set various values of comps, layers and properties via ExtendScript.

In this inaugural post of my new question-and-answer column, I tackle two kickoff queries about video scopes from colleague Scott Simmons, who thoughtfully saved me from having to come up with something on my own. If you have a question about color grading, postproduction workflow, or any interesting intersection of production and post, send it my way at ahurkman@procoalitions.com. I'll answer via this column as time permits.

It’s been an eventful few days in and around the general world of film and video post-production. If you haven’t heard (but of course you have) Adobe made the decision to move all of their software licensing to the cloud, their Creative Cloud, and charge $50 a month to access to everything they make. No more paying some $1,500 up front for the Production Premium and having a box shipped to your door. While it would be nice to have a less expensive monthly access to only those video-centric apps (I’m never going to use Dreamweaver, InDesign or Muse among others) you really do get a lot for that $50 (check out the pricing page for other price options that could lower your monthly bill to Adobe). 

On May 20, 2013, attendees of Allan Tépper’s Bogotá, Colombia seminars will learn about: Cameras, Internet TV & progressive multicam studios, and Responsive (self-adaptive) websites. The camera seminar will not only cover how to choose the best cost-effective... ]]> 2013-05-09T13:47:00+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/cmilby/story/nab-2013-the-blackmagic-production-camera-4k-blackmagics-4k-king http://provideocoalition.com/cmilby/story/nab-2013-the-blackmagic-production-camera-4k-blackmagics-4k-king#When:08:15:00Z

Blackmagic Design uleashed a campaign of "shock and awe" with the announcement of not just one but two cameras at NAB2013.

In this video, HDSLRShooter talks to Kendall Eckman about each surprise package, starting with the... ]]> 2013-05-08T08:15:00+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/cmilby/story/nab-2013-the-blackmagic-pocket-cinema-camera http://provideocoalition.com/cmilby/story/nab-2013-the-blackmagic-pocket-cinema-camera#When:00:35:00Z

At NAB 2013, Blackmagic Design offered two big suprises, and while the Blackmagic Production Camera 4K was a surprise, the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera was the show stopper. We're still reeling from the implications of this tiny titan, and how it may shape the future of... ]]> 2013-05-08T00:35:00+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/mspencer/story/text-animation-in-motion http://provideocoalition.com/mspencer/story/text-animation-in-motion#When:13:08:00Z

This week on MacBreak Studio, I show Steve Martin from Ripple Training a few tricks for animating text in Motion.

Text, like shapes, particles, replicators, cameras, and other objects in Motion, has a dedicated set of behaviors available for animating it in various ways. In... ]]> 2013-05-07T13:08:00+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/pvcexclusive/story/after-effects-extendscript-training-ep-5 http://provideocoalition.com/pvcexclusive/story/after-effects-extendscript-training-ep-5#When:19:52:00Z

Welcome to episode 5, this week we will be accessing renderqueue items, templates, outputmodules, as well as the file output name and path. I will also be taking the single item access approach from last week and will now show you how to access multiple items. To do this we will be... ]]> 2013-05-04T19:52:00+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/atepper/story/msnbc-mainstreams-the-radio-tv-term-rundown http://provideocoalition.com/atepper/story/msnbc-mainstreams-the-radio-tv-term-rundown#When:18:05:00Z

Although the word “rundown” is used in baseball and in common US English as a “quick summary of main points of information”, its very unique meaning in radio and TV production has been (up until very recently) unknown beyond media professionals. In fact, many media... ]]> 2013-05-03T18:05:00+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/cmg_keyframes/story/combining-cartoon-with-brainstorm http://provideocoalition.com/cmg_keyframes/story/combining-cartoon-with-brainstorm#When:15:26:00Z

Ever feel like you’re getting the same old looks out of Cartoon, no matter what you try? In this third and final installment of learning how to get better results with the Cartoon effect, we will show you how to combine Cartoon with the After Effects Brainstorm module to get unexpected looks out of Cartoon, including images that look like they were created with a fine pencil, fat markers, or a photocopy machine.

After an Open Letter in 2009 about the importance of using SFTP (Secure FTP) in order to have our passwords travel through the Internet encrypted, followed by two short articles about JVC’s GY-HM650 news camera, I am glad to report that JVC has now committed to adding SFTP to the GY-HM650... ]]> 2013-05-01T15:16:00+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/cmg_keyframes/story/enhancing-the-cartoon-effect http://provideocoalition.com/cmg_keyframes/story/enhancing-the-cartoon-effect#When:14:48:00Z

In this second installment of learning how to get better results with the Cartoon effect, we will go beyond altering Cartoon’s own parameters from their less-than-ideal defaults and explore pre- and post-processing the video clip getting the Cartoon treatment.

This week on MacBreak Studio, Steve Martin from Ripple Training shows us a neat trick for creating a "diskless" DVD straight from Final Cut Pro X.

Although DVDs are becoming less prevalent due to the rapid rise in web-delivered HD video, some clients still require them. Plus,... ]]> 2013-04-30T13:18:00+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/cmg_keyframes/story/using-cartoon-in-after-effects http://provideocoalition.com/cmg_keyframes/story/using-cartoon-in-after-effects#When:16:04:00Z

As we’ve mentioned before, we updated our After Effects Apprentice video courses last year. As part of adding and reorganizing material, some movies got cut. But we hate to see anything go to waste, so we’re reposting them here for free - including a three-movie set on using the Cartoon effect.

Cartoon may be one of the most unfairly maligned tools in After Effects. Some of that is due to burn-out based on the popularity of the this look a few years ago; a lot of that is due to the less-than-attractive default settings for Cartoon. But if you’re reading this, you know to go beyond the default settings - and learning those settings is the basis of this first movie.

Welcome to episode 4 of the After Effects ExtendScript Training series. This week we will be diving into the After effects Object Model structure learning the order in how we can access After Effects via ExtendScript. I'll also go over some helpful tips on preparing your script... ]]> 2013-04-28T04:21:00+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/atepper/story/canons-new-xa20-and-xa25-cameras-fulfill-wishes-from-my-open-letter-to-pro http://provideocoalition.com/atepper/story/canons-new-xa20-and-xa25-cameras-fulfill-wishes-from-my-open-letter-to-pro#When:14:43:00Z

Back in November 2011 (17 months ago) I published an Open Letter to pro AVCHD camera manufacturers. With their introduction of their new XA20 and XA25 cameras at NAB 2013, Canon has fulfilled some of the key wishes I had expressed in that Open Letter, in addition to making other improvements... ]]> 2013-04-26T14:43:00+00:00 http://provideocoalition.com/mspencer/story/using-behaviors-in-motion http://provideocoalition.com/mspencer/story/using-behaviors-in-motion#When:13:06:00Z

This week on MacBreak Studio, I talk with Steve Martin from Ripple Training about using behaviors instead of keyframes for creating animation in Motion.

Almost everything in Motion can be animated either with traditional keyframing methods or by using procedural objects... ]]> 2013-04-23T13:06:00+00:00