One thing that I, as an editor, used to thrive on was stock elements. You know the “animated backgrounds”, or “film grunge” looks. There a lot of companies out there that produce them, but the problem with them is that they are “stock” elements. You end up seeing the same background element on different commercials on a regular basis, and once you’ve used an element a couple of times, even YOU don’t want to use it anymore because the element(s) become boring. What if there was a way to get unique elements, at a great price that can be quickly and easily altered for any project you might need it for. Digital Juice has the answer, and if you haven’t heard of their Motion Designer’s Toolkit, or checked them out in a while, you’ve been missing out on a gold mine.
I was a big user of Digital Juice stock elements a long time ago, and “rediscovered” them a couple of years ago, when I did a review of their Compositor’s Toolkit. I started doing tutorials for their products on Digital Juice TV, and was introduced to the Motion Designer’s Toolkit 1, a collection of “stock” elements that range from standard “Arrows” and “Brush Stokes” to the very unique like “Skylines” and “Tribal Displays”. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Yeah, so what, they’re still stock elements!”. Well, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Digital Juice has done something very different with the MDTK. They have provided not only the “animated” stock element that you can take of the disc using their “Juicer” application, but they have also provided (in many cases) an After Effects project, that shows you how it was created, and let’s you alter it to make it something different, but they have also provided (in many cases) an Illustrator file of the original element, before it was animated in After Effects. Basically what Digital Juice has done is give you free license to take one of the over 1700 elements, and create an infinite number of new elements from the vector file and After Effects project. As the first one out the door, the MDTK 1 was a mixed back of elements, but ones that you could easily see yourself using in a number of different projects.
Shortly after the release of MDTK 1, versions two and three hit the shelves, and this one got me really excited. These two kits were “tech” oriented, and had everything from circuit boards to source code (my favorite) to waveforms to meters. Over 3600 elements in the two packages, again, many of them with AE projects and AI files to take and alter to your liking.
If that wasn’t enough, now we have two new MDTK’s, versions four and five, and Digital Juice took things in a different direction with this one. MDTK 4&5 have a very “artsy” feel to them with elements ranging from watercolor “paint-on” effects and frames to ink wash animated animals, people, etc to watercolor drips and even thought bubbles.
Looking at the different MDTK’s from the first to the fifth, you can really see a progression from the “straight and narrow” elements to the “outside the box” artistic elements of the new kits. These elements are top of the line from the elements themselves to the packaging they come in. Now, I do want to point out something VERY important. Whenever Digital Juice releases a new product like this (these), they always have a great deal that goes along with it, and the release of MDTK 4&5 are no exception. MDTK’s are regularly $495 each, but for a limited time, you can get two for that price. That’s right, two for the price of one. What an awesome deal!
If you haven’t checked out Digital Juice in a while, you need to get over to their website @ www.digitaljuice.com , and check out the awesome products they make, and the deals they have. But I warn you, though, you wallet might never be the same!
Kevin P McAuliffe is a Senior Editor at MIJO, in Toronto, Canada. As always, you can send him an {encode=”kevinpmcauliffe@gmail.com” title=”e-mail”} or follow him on Twitter @ www.twitter.com/kpmcauliffe .
FTC Disclosure: I have not been offered any consideration or compensation from Digital Juice for the review/editorial of this product(s).