Systems

Introducing the Centrica Carnivale

A 3-part video tutorial looking at advanced 3D animation in After Effects

By ChrisZwar | August 19, 2009

3D or AE? How about 3D using AE!

At the beginning of 2006 I created a conference opener for Centrica that looked like it had been made with a 3D animation package, however practically everything was created using only After Effects. This is part one of a three-part series that looks back at the Centrica Carnivale animation and demonstrates the techniques that were used to create the distinctive 3D look. While not intended to be a detailed step-by-step tutorial, the series looks at all aspects of the project- from the initial client brief through to final delivery and gives insight into the "real life" stages of an After Effects project. Read More

8 Comments

RED Build 20 Torture Tests

Exposure latitude tests reveal perhaps too much about the RED ONE

By Art Adams | August 15, 2009

I've learned more about how cameras work by learning what the RED doesn't do. But, with every software build, it does more. Build 20 looks to be the best yet... but it's not perfect. Read More

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Abel Cine offers New Mattebox System for Canon 5D Mark II

Not just for cops anymore, custom donuts are mandatory for the Canon 5D

By Art Adams | August 05, 2009

On a recent shoot with the Canon 5D Mark II I lamented the lack of properly-sized donuts. Now, thanks to Abel Cine, I lament no more. Read More

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After Effects Apprentice Video Tutorial #8

Setting up the motion tracker/stabilizer.

By Chris and Trish Meyer | August 03, 2009

Earlier this year we 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.This tutorial will help you get started with setting up the motion tracker and stabilizer built into After Effects. Although this video uses AE CS4, the tracker's controls have been largely unchanged over the last several versions, so this will also be of use to those using other recent vintages of AE. The tracker in AE is much-maligned (and AE CS4 now comes bundled with mocha for After Effects as an alternative), but once you know the secrets of how the track points work and how to set its options, it works fine for a large variety of shots.(Note: For those who are hearing-impaired, lynda.com has added Closed Captioning to these tutorials. They are available here. We are also in the process of creating video training for all of the After Effects Apprentice lessons; they will also appear on lynda.com. 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.The content contained in After Effects Apprentice - as well as the CMG Blogs and CMG Keyframes posts on ProVideoCoalition - are copyright Crish Design, except where otherwise attributed. Read More

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NorCal Digital Cinema Society Meeting Tonight, 6pm

For those who didn't get the message via the Cinematography Mailing List or Facebook, the Northern California chapter of the Dig

By Art Adams | July 23, 2009

We'll take a close look at the Canon 5D, see a lot of footage, hear from Canon rep Tim Smith, and see a demo of the Panasonic GH-1 presented by Ilya Friedman of Hot Rod Cameras. Read More

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You’re never too old (or too smart) to learn something new

The new FXPHD term has started and I'm excited I finally signed up

By Scott Simmons | July 14, 2009

If you've never heard of FXPHD then you're either new to this whole film / video / production / post-production world or you just haven't been paying attention. I've been following the course offerings for quite a while now but have never signed up for a term ... until now. The July 09 term is starting this week and I am very excited. Read More

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Making It Look Great 6 Review

Training for Cinema 4D and After Effects is "Cool Stuff" Indeed!

By Chris and Trish Meyer | July 07, 2009

Unless you've spent the past few years hiking the Appalachian Trail, you'll be aware how much 3D animation has infiltrated the broadcast motion graphics world. Not so long ago, being an accomplished After Effects artist was enough to land a good job, but now employers and clients are also looking for good 3D skills (and in this economy, anything that increases the chances of landing a plum job can't be ignored). Surveys by us and others indicate that Maxon's Cinema 4D is the 3D program of choice for After Effects motion graphic artists. In case there was any doubt, Cinema's MoGraph module sealed the deal. In our report from NAB, we blogged how small studios are successfully integrating Cinema and After Effects, so how fortuitous for us that Cinema master Tim Clapham has released a fabulous training series on just this subject. Making It Look Great 6: Design and Production Techniques for Cinema 4D and After Effects is the latest release from John Dickinson's company Motionworks. As Company Director of LUXX (and before that, HYPA), Tim Clapham' credentials are impeccable - so you know that this will be the best $89 you've spent in a long time... Read More

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Please label tapes and disks: An open letter to DPs, camera ops, DITs

Just a simple label of format and frame rate will tell the editor a lot about what is on the tape or disk

By Scott Simmons | June 26, 2009

Man, there are a lot of high definition formats out in the world today. Just to spell them out would be a dizzying array of letters and numbers. 720p, 1080i, 23.98, 30p ... this list could literally go on and on so I won't even attempt a partial list other that what I have above. Just take a look at this HD format chart. That's a lot of different formats and it doesn't even take into account the different flavors of a particular format that camera manufacturers often come up with on their own.With that in mind this PVC post is an open letter to all DPs, ACs, camera ops, DITs, anyone and everyone associated with the camera department to please label their tapes and hard drives with the usable, relevant information of shooting format and frame rates, codecs and cameras so post-production will at least have an idea of what is being handed to them. Read More

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Black Glimmerglass and Hollywood Black Magic Filter Tests

A camera assistant extraordinaire puts two new lines of diffusion filters through their paces

By Art Adams | June 23, 2009

World-class camera assistant Mako Koiwai recently shot a camera test with two new sets of diffusion filters: Black Glimmerglass from Tiffen and Hollywood Black Magic from Schneider Optics. He compared them to diffusion filter sets that he has in his own collection, which includes Tiffen Soft Effects and Schneider Classic Soft filters. Read More

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Diffusion Confusion

What you need to know about glass filters in the digital age

By Art Adams | June 16, 2009

Digital filters are awesome for post image manipulation if you have enough bits to throw away. Glass filters, though, work at the highest resolution possible, in the camera head itself, and you'll never have a better image to tweak than that. Read More

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Tiffen tests new no-ND IR filter for EX1/EX3/F35

Crisp clean blacks, and only a half-stop light loss, make this new filter a winner

By Art Adams | May 19, 2009

The broadband dyes used in the Sony F35, EX1 and EX3 sensors work wonderfully well in most regards. They allow us to capture subtle hues of color that electronic cameras have not been able to capture in the past. Unfortunately this comes at a price: the red dye passes a little too much light at the edge of the visible spectrum, so the cameras see red in some places where our eyes don't. Read More

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Optically White Balance the RED with Schneider CTB Filters

Get the red out--and put some blue back in!

By Art Adams | May 12, 2009

The RED can capture some pretty amazing images in 5600k daylight, but it stumbles a bit when shooting in 3200k tungsten light. The Schneider CTB's help it get back on its feet. Read More

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It’s that time of year again - FCPUG Supermeet 2009

Don't miss out on the event of the year for FCP editors!

By Matthew Jeppsen | April 03, 2009

One of the best things about attending NAB each year are the people you get to meet. The conversations and experiences shared make the trip to Vegas all the more worth it. And certainly one of the best places to mingle with like-minded folks is the FCPUG Supermeet. There is an awesome lineup of presenters at the event, and I encourage you to consider attending. It will be held on Tuesday, April 21, 5:00PM - 11:00PM at the Rio Hotel Amazon Ballroom. Registration is just $15.00, and that includes 2 raffle tickets. It's one event that is at the top of my list again this year, and I look forward to seeing you there. Look for me, I'll be the prematurely-greying guy in a FreshDV shirt. A short list of topics follows... Read More

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Keyboard Manifesto

Change your default FCP (or any other) keyboard for more efficient editing

By Scott Simmons | April 02, 2009

When it comes to increased productivity and better efficiency while editing, saving time every place an editor can will help increase that productivity and efficiency. And we all know saving time is the client's favorite thing as saving time means saving money. My favorite time saver in Final Cut Pro has been to remap the majority of the default keyboard setup. Since I began using FCP way back around 1999, one of my earliest thoughts was that the default keys weren't very well thought out. Why do I say this? I first learned non-linear editing on Avid so of course I was used to that keyboard layout. But while you have been able to map Avid keys for as far back as I've been working on it, that hasn't always been the case with FCP. Early versions of FCP did not allow keyboard mapping at all. In fact, the earliest version of FCP didn't even have the ability to JKL scrub! When keyboard mapping finally came along, life in FCP was good. What is so wrong with FCP's default keyboard layout and so right about Avid's? First, think about how you rest your hands on a keyboard. This is assuming that as an editor, you try to perform as many tasks as possible using the keyboard. Many people do not and while there are lot of fast editors out there using the mouse (I've watched a many of them edit) I honestly believe one can work a lot faster the more the hands stay on the keyboard. And this is also assuming you are doing a lot of edit assemble work; the nuts and bolts of good storytelling before the fancy effects work (read: keyframing) begins. Read More

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Mysteries of Color and Light

What I learned after a year of developing the Kelvin Tile LED light, plus some other handy tips and tricks of light and color

By Art Adams | March 25, 2009

Between January 2007 and April 2008 I consulted for Element Labs on the development of the Kelvin Tile. During that time I learned a lot about color and spectrum. Someone on the Cinematography Mailing List's CML-Basics list asked a question about color rendition and broken spectrum lighting, which got me going on a riff that I will post here, with some embellishment. Read More

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Roxio Streamer: a free video streaming client for iPhone/iPod Touch

With Roxio Streamer, you can watch your content anywhere you have WiFi or 3G

By Allan Tépper | March 19, 2009

Roxio (a division of Sonic Solutions) has launched Roxio Streamer, a free application for the Apple iPhone or iPod Touch which allows you to do true video streaming of video files from your Mac to your iPhone or iPod Touch. It doesn't matter whether you are in the same home or building, or anywhere else on the planet where you have either WiFi or 3G access (3G, only with the iPhone 3G). Unlike downloading, true streaming will not fill up the iPhone's (or iPod Touch's) memory with the entire videos you watch. The videos you stream can be your own, those you have recorded with your TiVo, or with your EyeTV. Read More

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EX1/EX3 IR Filter Shoot-Out

The EX1/EX3 built-in Hot Mirrors suck. Or do they? One way to find out...

By Art Adams | February 26, 2009

The Sony EX1 and EX3 are great cameras for the price, but they do have some fairly obvious issues with IR/far red when used with neutral density filters in front of the lens. This test taught me far more, though, than just what filters to use to eliminate a color problem on these cameras: I learned never to make assumptions about how a piece of equipment works until I've tested all possible options. Read More

6 Comments

Fake Tilt-Shift Cinematography

I've seen this in stills and it's very convincing. Next week I'm doing to do it in motion.

By Art Adams | February 23, 2009

Traditionally used to create the illusion of impossibly deep focus, tilt-shift effects are now being used to do the exact opposite--with surprising results. Read More

7 Comments

F35 IR Filter Shoot-Out

We test IR filters from three major manufacturers to see which does what on the F35

By Art Adams | February 18, 2009

Technically the Sony F35 isn't sensitive to infrared, but it is sensitive to far red. The difference will save you a lot of money on filters. Read More

6 Comments

RED Hot Mirror Shoot-Out

We test Hot Mirror filters from three major manufacturers to see which does what on the RED

By Art Adams | February 11, 2009

Not all infrared or Hot Mirror filters are made the same, and not all work the same way on different cameras. In this test we looked at filters from Schneider, Formatt and Tiffen to see how they perform on the RED ONE. Read More

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