The Genesis Project

As a frequent flyer on several airlines, not only do I know the flight attendent’s lines by heart (if you are unable or unwilling to perform the actions possibly required of you….), but I see a lot of TV and airline commercials as well.  So, I’ve seen a few of the airlines use text and move it along curvy paths.  Along those lines, or paths as the case may be, I propose to give you another AE101 lesson.  So simple, it doesn’t require a PDF doc. If you want the instructions, read on!

Continue reading “After Effects 101: Text on a path” »

Posted by Dennis Radeke on May 31, 2007 5:46 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 7 )

If you haven’t guessed yet, I’m from the NY/Metro area and I can honestly say we’re pounded by vendors left and right to go to seminars.  Ditto for LA.  It’s fun to go to them if you have a true interest in the product and can take a day off…or better yet – get paid to go!  However, what if you don’t live around a super metro area?  What if you’re the hot video professional in your area but you’re it and you need to be kept informed?  What’s a video professional to do???

Continue reading “Got E-Seminar?” »

Posted by Dennis Radeke on May 31, 2007 4:09 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

A quick hit as I’m traveling to NYC on the bus today (technology is amazing isn’t it?)

Previously, I mentioned Dave Helmly and his Tech Table blog and now I’d like to introduce you to a couple more on After Effects:

Michael Coleman is the new product manager for After Effects and his new blog is called Keyframes (Kudos to him for an incredibly cool blog title)  You can find him here:  Keyframes

Next, my traveling buddy and After Effects aficionado Steve Whatley has started up a blog as well that you’ll find handy.  I can’t speak for his cooking, but I can for his love of all things Adobe.  Check it out: AfterEffectsCookbook

Posted by Dennis Radeke on May 29, 2007 7:28 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

A quick hit here today as I’ve got to join an e-seminar at 1PM.

Dean Velez is the owner of the Anvel website and has posted 29 free AE projects from A-Z (really) that you can download.  Dean is a talented fellow and he loves to teach After Effects, so these are definitely worth a look.  TheAnvel

Also, just starting to go thru a couple of Andrew Kramer’s training content and will try to give more about it as I get thru it. Andrew is mostly about visual effects, so it’s a different take from something like Dean does.  So far, Andrew’s training DVD is excellent and he’s entertaining to boot.  Give his site a looksie.  Video Copilot

I’ll only add that both of these guys make me whimper into submission at their After Effects prowess.  Grrrr…  

Posted by Dennis Radeke on May 24, 2007 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 )

When I joined Adobe, one of the things I was immediately struck by was the amount of communication that you had to try and keep up on.  The amount of technology, the number of internal people that you had to know, etc.  One of my friends and coworkers called it, ‘drinking from the Adobe hose.’  By it, he implied that it was sometimes an overwhelmling experience.  Well, two years later, it’s no different and I found out just a couple of days ago that we just put up one of the exciting applications from the former Serious Magic company – Visual Communicator 3.

Continue reading “Visual Communicator 3 up on the Adobe Labs site” »

Posted by Dennis Radeke on May 23, 2007 9:40 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

If you meet me or see a presentation, you may hear me talk about one of my favorite things about After Effects: creating something out of nothing.  After messing with this tutorial for the last day or so, I still can’t really classifiy what this is, but I will say it looks very ‘plasma-like’.  Need some surreal fire or visual effect for super powers?  Then keep on reading…

Continue reading “Using Particles to Create” »

Posted by Dennis Radeke on May 21, 2007 7:24 AM | Permalink

Ahhhh, I love it when other people beat me to good ideas! Props to Jean Hauptman for spending some time digging into this.  One of the new features of After Effects CS3 (or version 8 if you prefer) is Shape Layers.  If you’re new to After Effects, this will be a feature that is both easy and fun to play with.  For motion element design, I think it will be one of the defining features that push design forward in 2007/2008.  Anyway, check it out at: DMN – Shape Layers

Posted by Dennis Radeke on May 18, 2007 11:58 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Ahh, the good ole’ days of 2001/2(?).  I remember them like they were yesterday.  The original iPod was (and is) the Sony Walkman of the 21st century and the commercials were the ultimate in cool.  How’d they do that cool silouette look?  Read on and find out!  Below are a few examples of taking your silouette video and adding some zip to it.

This tutorial is pretty straightforward. I’ve attached the PDF for you to download to help you create your own.

Download autotrace tutorial

This is a perfect example of why I’m passionate about the vision of Genesis Project – teaching people that After Effects is fairly easy and that some things that look hard are in fact quite easy.  Let me know if you agree or disagree.

Posted by Dennis Radeke on May 18, 2007 8:26 PM | Permalink

Dave Helmly has published his first entry on his blog, DAV’s TechTable, and you’ll want to check it out.  Dave’s blog will be focusing on hardware and technology and you’ll see from his first post, that he dives in deep!  So be sure to add this to your regular lineup of blog feeds!

Blu-Ray entry

Posted by Dennis Radeke on May 17, 2007 6:39 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Just like the Emergency Broadcast System, I am merely providing myself a test to see if I have successfully connected Contribute CS3 to my blog and to see if I can post this to the website…Time will tell!

Continue reading “This is a test…This is ONLY a test” »

Posted by Dennis Radeke on May 17, 2007 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )