Category Archives: VFX

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!

Life of Pi and Rhythm and Hues and Why I Went Green

If you’ve been living under a rock these last few days then you probably haven’t heard. But if your on Twitter/Facebook  and follow anyone who’s VFX related, then you’ve probably seen the green profile picture.

Mine is below:

HS [Converted] copy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You will also see this image on my profile pictures for Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

The green is a protest. It represents a lot of things. The company behind the “Life Of Pi” Visual FX, Rhythm and Hues went bankrupt on February 11th 2013. According to boxofficemojo.com ”Life Of Pi” made $583,700,798 worldwide. It’s sad to me that the company that made this all possible is now going out of business, filing for bankruptcy.

On sunday “Life Of Pi” won several awards for many things, among them was the VFX team. The cast of “The Avengers” introduced them, which took longer then they were given to actually accept the award.

What we want is a union, a guild something. Please join me in changing your picture and spreading awareness to those who may not know.

For more information on the subject, here’s some sites to check out:

http://prolost.com/pi

http://effectscorner.blogspot.com/2013/02/oh-mess-were-in.html#.US0vJuugnYE

http://vfxsoldier.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/a-day-without-a-vfx-pro/

http://sg.entertainment.yahoo.com/news/why-vfx-artists-protesting-054600152.html

Update: (02-26-13)

Twitter is going crazy about this, which is awesome! Check this out:

https://twitter.com/search?q=%23vfxunion&src=hash

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 Next Tues!

Hey guys,

For those of you who follow close VFX and motion graphics news, you’ll probably know that Video Copilot’s Element 3D will be available next Tuesday! What an exciting announcement! It will be available for $150 at launch and two other “packs” will be available for $100 each or two package deals one for $200 and one for $250. (Find out more about pricing here)

(Okay so for those few who are not in the loop) Why it’s exciting:

This will revolutionize your workflow, I mean really, revolutionize. You don’t have to go fussing around in a 3D program to get everything you need and have (very) long render times.

Speed (My Oh My, It’s Fast!):

Element 3D was built on usuability and designed to be quick. Although it doesn’t have ray-traced reflections (objects reflecting each other) it is insanely fast! It will run on most GPU’s even 3-4 years old! (For a short list of some of the GPU that are supported click here, expect a longer list soon).

Originally promised before 2012, it has had serveral major adjustments and adaptions to make it is what it is today. And honestly, this wait was worth it.

Now, I don’t see this plugin being particurally useful for VFX, as it cannot do raytraced reflections and has a few other downsides to a real 3D program, but for motion graphics, it will rock.

So the short answer:

Buy.

Now, I don’t think that I will be buying the $200, or $250 packs right away. I might just end up paying a little more and waiting. I want to see how much value they actually add… Although they do look pretty cool, (I am not going to lie) I want to wait and see what the general consensus is.

To find out more about Video Copilot’s new plugin Element 3D, click here. I would assume that a lot more content on Element 3D will come out both pre-launch and post-launch including more info about the Animation Engine. which was not previewed in the general overlook video.

What about you? Are you going to buy it? Will you wait? I want to hear from you, leave a comment in the comment section below about how you feel about Element 3D.

Looking forward to next Tues!

 

Future Soldier – Released Video!

Finally the moment you have been waiting for: The release of the video entitled “Future Soldier”.

Enjoy!

Unleash Your Fingers

Today’s inspiration is called “Unleash Your Fingers.” It’s an ad by Samsung, and was made in France. It looks great and shows the use of plexus, I also really like how the music relates to the visuals. Here is where you can see more plexus examples and where you can buy it!

 

Adobe CS6 Production Premium Preview

You can find all the new changes here.

For a very in depth look check out Vinhson Nguyen’s post about it.

Enjoy

AE Tutorial – 3D Earth HUD

Interested in making a 3D earth completely inside of AE? Check out my lastest tutorial on how to here. Here is the project file.

Enjoy!

VFX Shot 1

As promised here is the first VFX shot. You can watch it here.

Stay tuned for more soon.

Its Been A While…

It has been a while since my last post, this is from the film I am currently working on (currently untitled) and the VFX shots are taking a long time to figure out/track. I will be posting this video in the coming weeks, as I finish each shot.

Stay tuned!