The Genesis Project

If you'd like to see the first part, you can find it here

With the Adobe break coming up, I thought I'd try and at least finish summarizing the more interesting tutorials and bits that came up in 2007.  My hope is that this is a good post to bookmark for a visual summary of some of the tutorial content.  So, on with the post!

We left off at #8, so lets keep it going.

9) A couple of Photoshop tutorials.  Photoshop is an essential tool and I love to talk about it, but I sometimes feel guilty on posting tutorials about it because there is SO MUCH stuff out there and nearly all of it is better than mine.  Nevertheless, I think that looking at the basics are useful to some (the stats prove it.) and so I'm lumping two basic Photoshop posts togeter as #9. 

Cereal Box Snacks - Photoshop Basics Yes, I've got a weird sense of humor...

Layer Styles 101

10) I like creating lower third animated graphics even if I'm not that good at it.  Still, this is another good example of how to put several different features together from After Effects to create a nice look.

Lower 3rd's are cool

11) With Adobe's Connect technology we have a platform for making e-Seminars both easy to do and informative for people who show up virtually.  One that got a great response was a basic motion graphics workshop with the idea of creating a generic slate.  All of the goodies including project files are included in this and most of the tutorials I post.

After Effects 101 Tutorial

12) Here's a Premiere Pro video tutorial that I did with Connect as well and recorded.  It's somewhat dull in the sense that I did it on keyboard shortcuts, but I think they (keyboard shortcuts) are so important, that I'm including it here in my best of list.

Premiere Pro Keyboard Shortcuts

13) Tracking in AE - this tutorial took a while for me but I thought it worthwhile.  The download size of this one is a little bigger, because I had to include some video, but it's still pretty manageable.  This is deeper tutorial, but a great skill to keep at the ready with After Effects.

After Effects tracking

14) Another planet tutorial - this one takes the next step and puts the moon around the earth.

Strange Planets revisited

15) Information Slate - Another generic motion graphics project.  This one taught me that a lot of times how I approach a project or tutorial could be wrong - there is an easier way to do it.  In this project, I left the wrong way I started for you to look at and possibly learn from.

Information Slate

I sincerely hope that these tutorials and informational bits have been helpful to you. I'll look to continue the idea of beginner based tutorials in this blog as well some exciting new mediums we'll be unveiling next year! Stay tuned and happy holidays!

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 01:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

If you glance at my stuff with any regularity, you know I'm a pretty big fan of the Adobe Media Player and the AIR platform.  Well, the applications are starting to get some real legs to them and if you haven't given AMP (Adobe Media Player) a try yet, then now is the time.

Remember that both AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) and AMP are both based on Flash so we're not installing some weird stuff - safe for the whole family. ;-)

Visit the Adobe Labs site and have fun!

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 06:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've not done that for this one and hope you can forgive me, but I think it still serves a purpose. Here's the main idea: You can use text to create animation elements inside of After Effects. Dive into the small little AE project file and look into what I did.  Here's some misc notes

• The background layer started with the words 'clever text' and with the Chaotic preset applied
• I then applied three different blur effects to the text to create a unique look.
• I added an identical text layer and used the animation capabilities to show off some of it's capabilities.  Pay particular note to the range selecter - it throws people off, but if you start to play with it, it is a lot of fun and opens the door to a lot of creative looks.
• Blur is your friend and when applied creatively, can make things completely different

One final note, I started off trying to imitate a look on the big screens of our annual sales conference.  I failed but had this happy accident instead - it's all good! ;-)

Happy holidays,

Dennis

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 06:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been at the Adobe 2007 Sales and Marketing Conference and before I jump on a plane to get home, I wanted to post up this simple After Effects project file for you to use.

I'm not including step by step instructions this time as I think most of it is pretty straight forward even for beginners. I like to open it and digest how some of this was done many times, so I hope you'll do the same.  This project uses text animation, shape layers, layer styles and animation presets.

The most interesting thing that I gained out of it was how not to do it.  You'll see that I had two versions and the one had all kinds of 3D on it that didn't have any net result on the animation.  That forced me to rethink it and recreate it in a 2D environment. My conclusion is that you don't need 3D necessarily when executing on your idea.

The included PSD file was my original idea that I brought into After Effects to use as a reference. 

As always, I'll decry any artistic ability and leave it to you, a creative person, to do something truly beautiful with it.

Now, lets hope the weather cooperates with me today and delivers me home to the family!

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 09:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

All of the people below make me say, "I wish I was as half as good as they are."  To me, that's my seal of approval and I hope you enjoy these terrific resources as we close out 2007 and move into 2008.

These are in no particular order and I'll leave it to you to visit them.  Several of them are free which makes them even better...

Dean Velez - His site is the Motion Graphics Lab and his life is all about After Effects.  He has a number of lessons and is now developing content for sale.

Video Copilot - Andrew Kramer is got talent oozing out of his skin.  Andrew specialty is visual effects, though he's got a lot of material on motion graphics as well. His Video Copilot site is a must see.

Aharon Rabinowitz - Aharon is a good friend and the real brains behind AENY.org.  He also happens to be a very talented guy in his own right.  Aharon has his own company - All Bets are Off and is also an active member at Creative Cow If you've got iTunes (and you do), be sure to subscribe to Aharon's After Effects podcasts - they're must views...

Lynda.com - Lynda.com is an online cornucopia of training goodness. If your thing is getting training online when you have time for some nuggets of knowledge, Lynda is a great place to look.

Total Training - The Encyclopedia Brittanica of After Effects and many other Adobe products.  Their DVD's are about as comprehensive as they come and a good resource to have.  After Effects is one of their flagships and they've got about 60 hours worth.

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 07:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

If you comb through my archives or met me at an event, I hope that you'll get the sense that I'm honest - I'll speak about Adobe's warts as well as the enabling, engaging technology that makes us famous.  That being said, I am also a cheerleader and I confess that I can do the 'rah rah rah.' 

It still doesn't take away from the fact that I truly believe that Adobe 'gets it,' and what I saw today is proof positive.  I get excited when the PM's show me stuff and I think of the customers that I've talked to that will benefit from this - and they're a lot of them.  Adobe gets it and I am pleased to represent them.

CS2 was awesome, demonstrating to our competitors what integration is really about.

CS3 is even better, never resting on our laurels, pushing the envelope and creating truly cross platform software bundles for any workflow.

What's coming? Not sure, but what I've seen is a great start.  Couple that with what we've got from products like AIR, Brio, Share, Connect, Kuler, AMP, and on and on...Not sure what I'm talking about?  Visit the Adobe Labs website and spend an hour there digesting all of the technology that is available TODAY.

Final note - the more I look at it, the more I think that AIR is going to be very special.  Like a Photoshop, Acrobat or Flash special...A potential 'change your world' special.  It's the rich interactive experience that everyone is talking about - without the confines of a browser. Tell me what you think.

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 02:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

During the course of the year, I've posted on many different subjects and topics as well as created several 'how-to's' and I thought it would be a good time to give everyone a single link to find (or discover) some of the 'best of'' during the past year.  This post will focus on the best tutorial content. If I find there is reason for doing some other topics such as 'livliest discussion', etc., I will post again under a similar heading.

So, read on to grab some of the tutorial content that got a lot of downloads and comments...

Okay, so I hope that many people will find this beneficial as they dive into the world of Adobe.  Most of the tutorials here are based around After Effects, Photoshop and Premiere Pro (probably in that order). This may change a bit as we move into the new year, but for now, here's our list.

1) Chewed up, ripped up, distorted, disturbed text in Photoshop - I love the current design ideals that show text as something less than pristine and clean.  It's easy if you have a font that is already prepared, but what if you don't?  Well, you take a look at my tutorial don't you? ;-)  Disturbing Text

2) Putting the basics together in After Effects - This won't be the last time I do something like this, but for a beginning effort, I think this is pretty good. My basic assumption is that many people are terrified of After Effects (it's okay, you can admit it, I did!).  So, I have created (and will continue to create) tutorials that are understandable by a larger creative audience to help you start utilizing the power of After Effects.  Basic Animation

3) Here's one I forgot about but think is good - Basic 3D inside of After Effects.  I should create a movie of this one and post it on the article, but essentially, it's a humble (very humble...) attempt to introduce beginner and intermediate users to some of the controls of 3D inside of After Effects.  It uses just a simple Photoshop file to do it.  Check it out at Flying Ducks

4) Sometimes I do what I like to call "quick hits."  Sometimes I don't think something needs a PDF file to print and read - you just need the file.  Well, here's a Photoshop file with a reflection on it.  Very simple and easy to do. Reflections

5) Anytime a blogger uses the the most commonly used type of MP3 player - ala iP##, you get a ton of internet spiders chasing down your links and you get a lot of comments suggesting your manhood isn't what it should be and how to get some watches cheap...You get the idea.  Well, when I did this tutorial on recreating the original MP3 player commericial, I didn't know that.  Ahh, the innocence of my youth!  Anyway, here's a tutorial on it and it also happens to be the first time I used video from YouTube to give you a preview.  A certain MP3 commerical recreated

6) No doubt about this one - it is definitely one of the most downloaded tutorials of the year. Creating cool looks using particles.  This tutorials is probably one of the ones I am most proud of and many people seemed to agree.  Check it out Using Particles to create

7) So, if the above one got a lot of hits, this one is one that I thought would have had more appeal.  As After Effects CS3 rolled out, I discovered one little thing that I thought was new and important.  I used it to create this interesting short animation.  While viewing, you probably need to sing the Beatle's "Love, Love, Love" behind it. ;-) Using Shapes as Particles

8) Creating something out of nothing is one of the most satisfying and intriguing concepts to me in After Effects.  Here's my attempt at creating the Sun from nothing except After Effects.  The Power of the Sun

Having already put down 8 tutorials, I'm finding that I'll have to do a second part to get through the year's more interesting stuff.  I hope you will find these interesting. 

Let me also use this entry as a chance to ask what you'd like to see more of next year.  As I mentioned in one of my very first entries - I do requests if I know what they are.

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 01:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Besides the official Leopard compatibility, we were able to address several bugs and the list I received had about two dozen including some minor things on the titler and P2 workflows.

The update also includes Encore 3.0.2 update which also addresses compatibility and bug fixes.

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 03:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

John Nack, the Photoshop product manager has already blogged on this and you can get it here, but I had to mention it here as well as I am a long time fan of "drawing on the monitor."

I know I wasn't the only one who has mentioned the price of the Cintiq to them over the course of the years.  Last year at a show, I invited Jim McCarthy at Wacom to be a part of the booth and we had time to talk about a lot of great things including the CIntiq's price.  For those of you who aren't familiar the Cintiq is a high-quality LCD panel that you draw on. The only problem has been the price of ~$2,500.00.  Not exactly cheap for most of us.

So it was awesome to see in the above link a new Cintiq product that is under a $1000.00.  Yeah, it's only 12", but trust me, once you try one of these babies you will want one, even if you're not that good with pen and paper.

The Cintiq is a standard part of a graphics workstation in the broadcast graphics design and post production companies and it's easy to understand why.  But if you're a freelancer and squeezing out $2500 is a bit much, this news will be early holiday cheer. ;-)

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 07:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here's the link NY Times on Google

Basically, what intrigues me is that a software company that didn't exist ten years ago can now be so large that it can buy frequency to develop and launch it's own cell phone network.  Obviously, there are a lot of articles that you can track down and I'm only summarizing one possible scenario.

However, I see Google potentially offering a device that is A) as cool as the iPhone and B) offers Flash as part of the browser experience. That would (will?) be one cool device indeed.

If this fascinates you, you don't have to go far to get into more speculation.  For example, try www.google-phone.com

And what about Apple?  Maybe they will bid on the frequency spectrum?  Fun to watch and definitely good for customers in the end.

What do you think will happen?  Let me know with your comments...

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Recently, over the last couple of weeks, I have had a number of questions come at me about Production Premium's compatibility with Vista and whether users should be using it. 

For the record, Production Premium CS3 is and has been Vista compatible since we shipped: Production Premium CS3 System Requirements

These questions along with work that I need to do this week led me to spend some time bringing my Vista machine up to snuff and prompted me to start making it act the way I want it to.  So, I wanted to pass on a website and quick tips that I've picked up...

The first (and only) website I've needed to visit thus far has been TweakVista

I've been aware of it for some time, but today prompted me to dig in and start turning on or off those things that annoy me about Vista.

For example, to remove the dialog box that says, 'Hey, do you really want to do this?' I turned to the website and looked at the article "Disable UAC" which I believe stands for Universal Access Control.

Next, I looked up how to disable Windows Center for start up.  It's cool in the beginning, but geez, enough already right?

SO...if you've been wondering how to make Vista act and feel the way you want to, visit TweakVista and you'll hopefully have a faster and better PC in your future!

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 09:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)