An upcoming tutorial will feature an awesome expression. This tutorial will hopefully be part of a bigger project. This will be known as “part 1″. Check back with us soon, to find out more.
Category Archives: Motion Graphics
Ion (New Video)
NAB 2013 Wrap Up
Well folks it’s that time of year again! NAB time! Where film and broadcast companies show off all that new fancy equipment. The big show down in Las Vegas, has tons of new stuff coming, I’ll try to cover most of it, but it’s hard to cover it all.
First off the big stuff:
Adobe – Cinema 4D integration
The one of the biggest announcements for me, will be the newly integrated C4D, and AE. This new plugin, called Cineware, lets you render and composite full C4D files in AE. Also the lastest version of AE will come with a new version of C4D, called C4D lite. This new version shouldn’t be anything new, just a more complexed demo, as it seems. Cineware will work within AE as a plugin, and comes with the standard list of effects in AE. For more info on Cineware, check here.
The next big announcement is (CS7 or CS6.5, I’m not sure what the naming of the product will be).
Of course there are general improvements to the software, but some big stuff in AE specifically. There is also new Speedgrade improvements, and pretty much all of the CS, but I will not mention them here, as it is too much to put in a single post. For more info on the other CS apps check here.
Back to AE: Remember CS5, and the Roto Brush tool, which would roto footage for you? Well, I’ve since tried it, and I prefer to roto things myself, granted this does take, on average, like 4x more time, but it is much more accurate. One of the huge things I’m excited about, is rotoscoping things that are hard to roto on your own, like a tree line, or hair. These things are a major pain! Well now, you (hopefully) don’t have to worry about that. With the all new “Refine Edge Tool” this should take care of rotoscoping out normally very difficult things to roto. You can watch the promo video for it here; Part One. Part Two. Part Three. Part Four. Of course there will still be issues, but all in all, I think it’ll work well.
Now, for all you folks running the creative cloud, this new release is great news! You don’t have to worry about paying for the latest and greatest at a full retail price. The price per month remains the same, and auto updates. If that isn’t cool, I don’t know what is!
Cameras (not in depth):
Of course, with NAB 2013, there are always new cameras. I will not go into too much detail here.
For a semi-professional camera check out the new Black Magic lineup. It’s pretty cool. Also the new $995 camera from BM is sweet!
For low end – (prosumer) cameras, check out Canon’s new T5i, or the cheaper, and very slightly different, T4i. You can also pick up the older T3i refurbished for $374 for just the body, and $442 with a kit lens (18-55 zoom). For more info on these camera’s check here.
Also I recently discovered a prosumer camera from Panasonic. It’s called the Panasonic LUMIX GH3. Long name, but an awesome prosumer camera. It shoots at 1080p/60fps, where the prosumer Canon’s can only do 60fps in 720p.
Of course there is more stuff to come, like Bullet Proof from Red Giant Software and much more awesome software! For more info on Bullet Proof and to sign up for the beta, check here.
That’s a wrap on the NAB 2013! Hope anyone who attended via the internet or in reality had a great time!
Latest Timeline Video; 3 Apps
Timeline, you say?
Where have I been?
Well, it’s February, and last time I posted I was working hard on Timeline. Over the last two months, I have been incredibly busy and have not had time to work on Timeline. I worked on a short local film as a DIT back in the end of December. Throughout January and February I have been going to school, polishing short films to be released, at some point.
Timeline will be an ongoing project as I get ready for release (at some point) and polish the back end code, and how the actual app works, looks, and runs. For know, I am not ready to release Timeline, or any new posts about it, so it will be on a temporary hold.
If you are into After Effects at all, you probably know that Element 3D got a free update to v1.5. The coolest feature (there are a lot) is the animated OBJ sequences. Animated OBJ’s would basically mean that you could make something, in lets say C4D, and then animate it, export it as an OBJ sequence, then add that animated sequence inside of AE and E3D. It will be cool to see what people put together with this new addition to such a great plugin.
I also just recently got a part-time job, so my posts could become less frequent.
When I started the site over a year ago, I wanted to post once per day. Unfortunately, due to scheduling, and busyness, I could not. Ideally, I would like to go to one post a week.
I am also in the process of releasing another small short film (currently untitled), as well as another short film, which I am in pre-production for. You might even get to see some goodies (posters, etc) on the Facebook page, or on here.
A quick update on Souvenir, it will be taken down from the website, as it has been put on hold. In it’s place, will be another film entitled “Three Secrets.” We are currently in pre-production on this project as well. Right now, I am not ready to release any more details on this latest project, but all will be revealed soon.
That is all for now, please check back soon for more information on all these projects!
What’s Been Happening
Hello everybody,
I have a very busy schedule, but I wanted to post about a few things.
Timeline: Timeline has been pushed aside for now, that’s not to say its dead, no, far from it! But just not a current project. I will have more information about Timeline, once it gets closer to release, which we are no where near.
I am, however, very pleased and excited to announce the start of a short film, entitled ”Souvenir.”
There will be several more updates about this project in the coming months, right now, all I can give away is the title. You’ll just have to wait and see. You can find updates on our official Facebook page here, or check out some behind the scenes content here. You can also check out our official Twitter page here.
Website content change:
In the past I have posted things about news related to VFX and motion graphics as well as some inspirational content. I am not killing these ideas, simply cutting down a bit, probably many of you have noticed. My posts have been few-and-far-between, simply due to my schedule. Once I get more time on my hands you can expect to see more content coming your way. (As well as the above short film, and several other projects that are in the works.)
Other great things are coming, just wait and see.
So… It’s been a while…
Hello everyone! I have been extremely busy lately and so that’s why there has been a lack of posts in the last month.
Just wanted to update you on a few things that have happened recently (in case you’ve been under a rock, the last month).
Element 3D gets released!
Trapcode Suite 12 (and Trapcode MIR!)
Cinema 4D R14 gets released!
And finally Knoll Light Factory V3 is released, with the Red Giant Effects Suite 11!
Okay first up Element 3D: I haven’t actually got a chance to buy this yet. Although some cool stuff is getting made daily. Here is the Element 3D reel, released by Mr. Kramer himself. I really want this plugin and I’m sure in time I will get it. Just right now too busy to learn something new.
Next up, Trapcode suite 12: So if you hadn’t heard, Trapcode MIR (just) got released. I have had a tiny bit of time to play with this plugin and have to say, although extremely cool, the features do not seem as endless as the other plugins in the Trapcode suite. It feels like a strange (lesser) version of Trapcode Form, without any OBJ support. Not entirely sure what I will make with it, yet, although I have released a video using MIR and some AE lights.
Cinema 4D R14 just got released as well. With it, comes a new (Z-Brush like) sculpting tool. Read the full new features list here.
And finally Knoll Light Factory 3: Although I don’t own it (and never have) it seems like Red Giant just caught up (or are still a tiny bit behind) Optical Flares. Although there are some okay new features, it feels almost like a carbon copy of Optical Flares with less (useful) features. You can watch the full “What’s New” video here. You can also watch a tutorial on the new “lens designer” window, and also watch a tutorial on “Behaviors and edge reaction”
I should start to post more rationally then every month a half. Expect more posts soon!
Element 3D (The Extended Family)
In my recent post on Element 3D, I discussed my opinion on buying the additional packs that will ship for $100 each, or in separate packs, (which will be available for $200, and $250). (See full pricing options here).
Last night, Andrew released more information on the plugin and the “Extended Family”. This will include things like:
The Motion Design Pack, the Sports Pack, The Sound and Music Pack, The Fresh Food Pack, Projectile and Weapons Pack, as well as the Money and Casino Pack.
You can find the full details on the post here, and the poster here.
Can’t wait until Tuesday!
Creating Trapcode Planet
I recently posted an inspirational video called “Trapcode Planet“. With all the enuthasium that video got, the author of the video, Philipp Pavlov, decided to post a tutorial on how he made it. It doesn’t have sound, but you should get what he is doing based on the video:
Tutorial 1: Create Trapcode Planet from scratch step-by-step from Philipp Pavlov on Vimeo.