Steve Whatley's After Effects Cookbook

Siggraph 2008 and Crazyhorse Effects

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:11:11 -0500

Siggraph was great this year. Myself, if you caught me, I was in both Intel and HP booths showing Production Premium and some cool After Effects demos I created for HP's new 30 bit monitor. I also had a great surprise visit by Paul Graff from Crazy Horse Effects (formerly of Digital Backlot).

The film and effects crowd (and Paul Graff) was loving this new HP Monitor, 30 bit RGB LED technology, check it out on HP's website.

The show was busy, size wise down a bit from last year but busy crowd and seemed more focused on film/fx crowd than students like it has been in the past.

Sapphire Plug-ins ver 2.03 now available

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:58:53 -0500

Plugins for After Effects are a favorite subject of mine, and I am excited to share the news that GenArts has released version 2.03 of their Sapphire plugins. These have become industry standards for anyone serious about effects work. They have been used in movies like: X-Men3, Spiderman and commercials galore. I have included there demo reel here and a basic overview as well.

Adobe Maxon Power Integration Tour Movie

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 03:10:27 -0500

The tour is going well, San Francisco, Vancouver and Seattle yesterday. People interested in Cinema 4D and After Effects integration are learning a great deal from this tour, and expanding their services by looking at the unique and seamless workflow offered by Adobe Production Premium. Here is a sample of just one of the Broadcast News open pieces...I will be posting a few tutorials from this tour over the next week. The C4D tutorials will be on the Maxon site. Check out the Flash video

Quicktime 7.4.1 and Flash export from Encore

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:05:53 -0500

Well, maybe I spoke too soon. For the most part, my previous post about QT 7.4.1 was accurate, but after launching Encore on the Mac, I found an issue with Flash export. The Windows version of Encore has no problem with Flash Build feature.

QT 7.4.1

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 19:10:04 -0500

I am now running Quicktime 7.4.1 on my MacBookPro and After Effects and Premiere Pro seem to be running fine. Qt 7.4.1 addresses the issues when using After Effects with QuickTime 7.4. This release is recommended for Adobe customers who are using QuickTime 7.4.

Basic 3D layers, lights and Cameras

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 15:38:34 -0500

This is the podcast I did for Terry White's Creative Suite Podcast, It is all about 3D layers, light and Cameras in After Effects. There is also some information on my upcoming tour The Adobe Maxon Power Integration Tour which will show how to integrate 3D files from Maxon's Cinema4D into your workflow. This is a very cool tour and well worth your time. I will be posting video of the tour in small segments so those who don't make it can see the tour. Enjoy!

Photoshop CS3 Extended Animation Movie

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:00:48 -0500

Play Movie

Here is a quick look at something cool you can do in Photoshop Extended to create hand drawn animations using the new Video Layers feature.
This was created by Michael Coleman the After Effects Product Manager....a man of many talents.

It is included in the Samples folder of Photoshop CS3 extended.

After Effects 8.0.2 update is ready

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:31:57 -0500

The After Effects 8.0.2 update is ready to download. There are some cool fixes in this update, namely native support for import and editing from Panasonic's P2 format....without transcoding or rewrapping. For all you Leopard fans, it adds support for you as well.

Quicktime 7.4 - Don't Upate yet

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:23:42 -0500

Wait a while before updating to QT 7.4. It introduces serious incompatibility with After Effects and Premiere Pro. Adobe is working with Apple to resolve the issue and I will post any news soon as I hear something.

I know downloading/renting movies from Itunes is cool, but just wait.

Adobe-Maxon Power Integration Tour 2

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:20:03 -0500

I am proud to say we are back on the road again with the Adobe Maxon Power Integration tour...ROUND 2 We missed a few of our favorite cities last year so we are coming to them in 2008. We loved doing this tour and from your feedback, you did too! This tour is all about Two Powerhouse Packages - One Dynamic Workflow. The Power Integration Tour demonstrates how you can enjoy increased speed and efficiency in your production pipeline by combining the power of Adobe CS3 Production Premium and MAXON CINEMA 4D. The Adobe/MAXON workflow is the proven choice for top motion design studios worldwide. Oh...and did I mention $60,000.00 in prizes.

New Book from Chris and Trish Meyer

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 11:29:54 -0500

Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects, Fourth Edition is out now and of course is required reading by all and anyone who uses or wants to use After Effects. It covers Essential and Advanced Techniques, including After Effects CS3.

After Effects and P2

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 12:11:06 -0500

the P2 format is all the buzz lately, and our new support for it in Premiere Pro CS3 begs that question...when in After Effects.

Shape layers project file

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:38:03 -0500

Last post I put up a movie showing shape layers using 3d layers, I got requests for the project file so here you go.

click the link below to download the file.

Download link

Shape Layers updated Movie

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 14:35:57 -0500

sorry it took me so long, felt a re-do was necessary to show shape layers as 3d layers. Hope you like it.

I will post the project if anyone is interested, just let me know.

Download file

New After Effects CS3 Books

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:54:06 -0500

2 great new After Effects CS3 books

After Effects Classroom in a Book from AdobePress: 473 pages with a CD with lesson materials and extras. Chapters cover basics and more plus new features, 14 chapters in all. Included is a great chapter on 3D layers, cameras and lights, as well and the new Puppet tools. Let's not forget, this book is one of the building blocks for taking the Adobe Certified Expert test (ACE) exam.