The Genesis Project

As I mentioned in my last post, I often notice ads, videos, etc as I am traveling around the country and recently I noticed the new American Idol campaign with contestants superimposed on iconic buildings or bridges around the US.  There's not much difficulty to doing it, but you need to know your selection tools and probably some masking.

In casting about for a proper example, I was pleasantly given a timely example when yesterday on the radio I heard that Johan Santana was coming to the Mets.  One of my many flaws (really) is that I am truly addicted to baseball and when I heard that Johan was coming to the Mets, I whooped it up in my rental car.  The icing on the cake was that I was doing it in Atlanta, where the division rival Braves reside.

Anyway, here's a look for you and I'll try to deconstruct it for you in a future post.

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 6:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

As a rule, ever since I joined Adobe I've always kept an eye out on all kinds of design, content, video, etc.  I'm always looking at it to not only admire (or sometimes deride) the design, but to figure out how it was done. Today's tutorial is one such example that beginners and intermediate Photoshop users will enjoy.

Last week, I saw something in the New York subway from a radio station and I literally thought, "This would be a cool tutorial for people."  So, here you go.

Here's the PSD file (somewhat large) and a PDF with the step-by-step instructions.

As an aside, I typed this on a flight down to Atlanta and I received for Christmas a pair of the Bose Quiet Comfort headphones and gave them a spin on the flight down. They are EXCELLENT! Not only do they sound excellent, but they come with a variety of connectors for the mobile business person including airline headphone connectors.  The sound deadening function works terrific and I was surprised how much ambient sound there really was in the airplane!  The size of them while manageable is not the best, but hey, you can't have everything!  They will be accompanying me on all of my flights from now on!

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 6:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Wel, if you've read my blog at all, I've pointed out various sites, people and training resources that are available and will continue to do so.  Check out the archives in the resources category over the past year if you'd like to get a head start.

Last night at AENY we had another great crowd (too crowded some might say) and afterwards people are coming up to talk to the various speakers and myself to chat.  Ayato Fujii presented himself and mentioned his website.  I took his card home.  Well this morning, I hopped over to his website and saw some of his stuff - very nice. He's got over 50 basic lessons that are layed out very simply.  He does expect you to have a basic understanding of After Effects and in some cases there are third party plugins. It is still good stuff.  Check it out at http://www.ayatoweb.com

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 7:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Michael Coleman, who is Product Manager for After Effects has posted some important information about the new release which includes P2/MXF support.

Coleman's Blog Entry

Also, Dave Helmly got the scoop on me and listed the other fixes in the release as well.

Helmly's AE entry

This important release DOES NOT coincide with the release of Quicktime 7.4.  Unfortunately, this QT release has some problems with AE and rather than hold up our release any further, we went ahead.  We're hopeful that the Quicktime team will address some issues found in a subsequent update, but in the meantime, I would steer clear of the latest release of QT.

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 7:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Perhaps its some sick Adobe gene inside me that wants to figure out stuff for you, or perhaps point out how easy some of these looks are.  Anyway, I'm watching the game's commercials and I see a beer commercial (surprise!) and it's using a simple tracking effect for a text layer and I'm like, "Okay, I'll make a mock beer commercial."  But, being a New Yorker, I have to give the Giants some serious props for their victory on Sunday, so here you go.

Here's the the key area on how to track the text, it's so simple, I don't feel the need to write the whole thing up.  Simply use the Animate wing menu beneath your text layer to animate the Tracking parameter on Adobe After Effects.  Add a little sound track from Soundbooth and voila - instant broadcast looks.

Download the Project file

If you're looking for that particular font, it is "Cracked" and you can get it at DaFont

Congratulations to the NY Giants on some spectacular play off performances.

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 8:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is a win-win for everybody concerned.  If you're ready to switch to Adobe products, we're making it easy for you... If you need to get some additional tools to use with your Avid system, we're making it easy for you.

The deal is pretty straightforward.  Go to the link below and you can download the PDF that outlines your choices and the rebate form.

Adobe special for Avid users

Basically, you purchase a new box of Production Premium or Premiere Pro, and you can get either $500 back for Production Premium or $300 back for Premiere Pro by itself.  Make sure you look at what is required to qualify for the rebate and the post mark date. 

So, if you've been holding out, here's one more reason to look at Production Premium... Of course, I still think the best reason is that it's so much fun, but I'm perhaps a bit biased....just a bit! ;-)

Dennis

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 4:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We've got a great line up of speakers and technology for our January meeting.  It will be one to remember and I hope that you'll join us if you're around NY on January 24th at the Pratt Institute on 14th street.  You can get all of the details at the AENY website

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Most of the guys are going, "Wow, cool!"  The ladies on the other hand are probably going, "Ewww!"  I tend to lean towards the latter, because I have to clean it up in the end.

Why am I doing this? Adobe has some great stuff coming out later this year and I've been asked to contribute.  Hopefully, you'll find this stuff not only exciting but also very useful!

Along the way, I've been having a blast learning the ins and outs of Ultra CS3.  It's a fun program that offers some very unique looks and capabilities that you can't get easily with any other program.

Here's a larger picture of the setup if you're interested.

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 7:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Gary and the gang over at Videoguys.com do a yearly review of the top 10 most influential products over the past year. I'm happy to say Production Premium CS3 took the top spot over some very worthy competitors.  Check it out at Videoguys top 10 for 2007

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

If you're a Mac soccer mom, a photo hobbyist, a person who loves Photoshop but doesn't want to spring for the big version, a person who likes iPhoto but yearns for something deeper, than you'll be happy to hear that Adobe is bringing the latest version of it's popular Photoshop Elements package to the Mac.

Adobe Press Release

Photoshop Elements (PC) page

Happy Monday morning. Dennis

ps - isn't it absurd that a weekend makes the validity of this post old? Welcome to the Internet age...sigh... ;-)

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 6:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The big news on this release is the implementation of MXF in After Effects. This is huge for people that are using P2 footage and doing some compositing.  Jim from AENY has been playing with a beta and has been pretty happy with it thus far.  Since I don't have a P2 camera (hint hint Panasonic! ;-), I haven't taken the time to download it.  So... be patient a little longer and soon After Effects CS3 will have native support for Panasonic's P2/MXF format!

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 2:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I can't pretend to be an expert at film or even photography, though I am an avid learner.  Today, I stumbled upon a great tutorial on depth of field, which is a topic that both video/film and photography people can gain some insight to.  While this tutorial is 20 minutes long, it is pretty comprehensive, so I think worth the time.

Depth of Field may sound a bit geeky, but I guarantee that it's a topic that can help improve your craft be it still or in motion.

Depth of Field Tutorial

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 9:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Over the holiday break I created a simple birthday card for my son's birthday.  As I was doing so, I was thinking that it would make a good example of a VERY basic Photoshop tutorial. If you already understand Layers, Selection tools, gradients and layer styles, then this tutorial is not for you...unless you're a Mets fan.  If you're not familiar with some of the aforementioned Photoshop features, then pull up a chair and watch this simple 8 minute tutorial. Click on the link below to watch

BASIC Photoshop Tutorial

PS - Since I've already committed myself above - Let's go Mets!

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

I will be joining Matrox next Thursday (1/17) for two events showing off their hardware in conjunction with Production Premium CS3.  If you're on the bubble for either Adobe or Matrox products, this is a great opportunity to get in front of the manufacturers and ask us some questions as well as see what the buzz is all about!

There will also be stops in Illinois, Texas, Utah, Washington, Kansas and Ontario!  You can register for one of these events here: Matrox Hardware Advantage Tour

The following Thursday (1/24) will the first meeting of AENY in 2008.  After Effects New York is getting ready for a big 2008 and you can help us kick off the new year right.  Its a great environment for beginners and professionals alike and we always have some fun. Check out the website to learn about when and where: AENY.org website

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 9:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I haven't given this product a try, but we've talked to Matrox about bringing this product to Premiere Pro for some time and happy that it's now here.  There are some key features that the MXO has that make this an attractive product for monitoring, but in going through them, I don't know where to start so am kicking it back to you to read up on their website - there's a lot of information there for you to digest!

Okay, okay, a little bit of info would help...It offers an inexpensive solution to do HD monitoring as well as offer real time down convert to SD for outputing or monitoring on an SD system.  In addition to having support for Premiere Pro 3.1, it also supports After Effects.  The list of formats, frame rates and the like are pretty good and the shot of the I/O panel below gives you a good idea of what is possible.

Here is a picture of the I/O on the back is below.

You should visit their website to find out if this product might be for you and to get more details (there are a lot). 

MXO home page

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 8:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In no particular order, here are my resolutions...You know I'm not going to get thru all this don't you? ;-)

1. Change the look of this blog. You don't have to tell me that you don't come to this site for the looks! I'm not what you would call a 'web guy' and I'm more concerned about putting out content and information that people can use than a pretty site with nothing to show for it. However, I hope that Adobe will change over to a better blogging system (PLEASE!) or I'll figure out a way to make this look just slightly more inviting.  Chance of happening - 85%
2. Actually, use the tutorial content instead of just scan it:  I'll admit it, I get a lot of books, CDs, DVDs, magazines and online subscriptions to terrific tutorial content with the idea that I can peruse the offerings and make recommendations to customers.  Well, I'd actually like to learn more this year by sitting down and watching them instead of just skimming.  The problem as with most things for a forty something professional is the amount of time it takes.  Chance of happening - probably a lot closer to 0% than I'd like to admit.  Let's put it at 25%.  However, I expect I'll get a little more time than I did last year so it's still good. ;-)
3. Learn more products:  I really like learning, but it's like the one above - it's a matter of making time for it.  My new boss Terry White has asked us to make the time for it and I'll give it a real shot because here's the other thing:  I love learning.  If I could get paid to sit down and learn products all day, everyday, I'd be a happy man.  My main targets I am embarassed to say are Illustrator and Flash.  I know them a bit, but hey, I've got a long way to go.  Also up there would be learning a little programming/scripting, so I could become dangerous in the AIR environment (gonna be big!) and the Adobe Media Player. Since we're officially dreaming, I'd also like to spend some time learning the ins and outs of After Effects' scripting engine which is very powerful.  Chance of happening - about 50% partially.  I'd say AIR and AMP are about 0% for this year, but this is what New Year's Resolutions are all about...OPTIMISIM!!!
4. Tell more people, companies, educators, production houses, broadcasters, etc...about the value of Production Premium: Well, this one is pretty easy.  After all, it is my job!  However, I mention the obvious for two reasons.  First, I really believe in our product and so I really want to tell people about it.  Second, because my passion is genuine, I want you to know about it too and hopefully catch this fun infection! ;-) Chance of happening, 100%

So, there are four resolutions from a guy who doesn't normally care about making them.  I hope you find them entertaining and inspiring.  Hopefully, I'll achieve a number of them during the year.  I also hope to meet many of you over the course of 2008.  I'll be visiting New York even more this year, but also have Chicago, Los Angeles, Florida and Tennessee all coming up before the end of March.  I'll be posting when and where as we get closer to the days.  Have a fantastic and creative 2008!

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)