The Genesis Project

After Effects Tutorial: Basic Toolbox Series

2008-07-02T15:49:08Z

After Effects can do just about anything - trust me, I've seen talented people do it. However, for mere mortals like myself, I know that I have a few tools in my toolbox that I can use to create a variety of different looks from a simple animation.

]]> Unfortunately, YouTube doesn't show the detail needed in animation so it's up to you to download the project file and preview the quality that's there. Hopefully, the video isn't so crappy that you can't get the basic idea.

I've decided that this has the potential to be a series and so (hopefully!) this is the first of several offerings to give you the idea about specific filters and effects that you can use to create different motion backgrounds and animation elements.

The project file is pretty straightforward and I'll let you dig into it. Given time (a most precious commodity right now!) I will try to write it all up since I haven't done so in quite a while. In the meantime, let me breakdown the seven animations included in this project.

Basic Toolbox #1: This is the basic animation and underscores how vast and cool Fractal Noise can be. Repeat the mantra with me, "Fractal Noise is your friend!" Very good. You'll also notice that the Find Edges filter can be used to great effect and moreover it highlights the idea that you can use a single effect more than once to get different results. Tritone and Glow round out the list of indispensible filters that you should know about. Please note that I applied a simple wiggle expression to the glow threshold to give it a undulating feel.
Variation #1: This just shows the same animation with a mask, illustrating the fact that you can take any motion background and populate other elements like a lower third or transitional wipe.
Variation #2: Mr. Mercury is just plain fun, which is why I did it. Gives it a liquid like look with shine and did I mention it's fun? I played with the parameters a bit (gravity and type) to give it a different look
Variation #3: CC Fast Blur... Gotta have it. Use just horizontal or vertical to create something neat. Add Emboss to make moving brushed metal. A must have for any AE user.
Variation #4: CC Kaleida. Pretty straightforward right?
Variation #5: Scatter gives you a pointalism look and I include it as something a bit different
Variation #6: Film strip is still a popular effect in the right place and so knowing when and how to apply the Motion Tile effect will allow you to make this a snap!

I whipped this up in less than an hour and it should illustrate the idea that all you need to be successful with After Effects is an imaginative mind and a little free time.

One final note - if this is something you want to see more of, please comment and let me know. The goal of any blog like this is to provide information, content and tutorials that appeal to users. If I'm missing the mark, please let me know! So, take the hint, and please comment! ;-)

Here's the project file: Basic Toolbox #1

Have you given the Soundbooth beta a try?

2008-07-01T18:29:55Z

When it comes to software, I generally take it for granted that people know about it and use it if they're interested in it. It's the world I live in (software) so perhaps you can understand why I am surprised when people don't know about something new from Adobe.
]]> Several weeks ago, Adobe posted a public beta version of Soundbooth. With this version, you not only have multiple tracks but several exciting new features such as volume matching. A better way to describe volume match is automatic volume control. So, if you're a video or animation person who doesn't want to be bothered with dynamics, compression, limiting and the like, this is a perfect feature for you!

The other thing I want to point out and hope you will try is the Speech to Text function. This will actually transcribe your audio and save the resulting text as metadata in the file! Pretty amazing and its getting a lot of response. Metadata is the future and being able to create metadata (relavent information about the asset) without manual entry is going to be a huge deal.

So, if you haven't given Soundbooth a try yet, I encourage you to download it from the Adobe Labs site. It works on both Intel Macs and PCs, so you've got no excuse!

A big Kuler update - color picking made easy

2008-06-28T04:29:44Z

The team working on Kuler has done it again. Recently, the group updated the AIR version of the application and added some new features. If you're tired of spending time trying to pick some great colors for your next design, you should read on.
]]> John Nack already mentioned the Kuler application, but it is definitely worth mentioning again. In case you haven't heard about it, it's a wonderful community application that will help you pick collections of colors. The new AIR version adds the ability to push the selected color swatches to a specific application like Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. So, if you haven't given this nifty little application a try, download it today. Or...if you're a crazy color picker, you might even submit a few for the rest of us!

Click on the "Get the kuler desktop" link on this page

Of course, you can visit the online version as well.

Wonder How To? Me too.

2008-06-21T14:44:46Z

Everyone is always looking for training content on how to learn software products like After Effects. It's one of my most common questions I receive when I'm meeting customers. It doesn't matter if it's the guy who is editing his baby videos as a hobby at night or its ABC in NY - they're hungry to learn more.
]]> The real problem in my opinion (based on my highly scientific methods and procedures...not) is one of time. More often than not, we don't give ourselves enough time to sit thru the videos, digest what they're teaching and then apply the technique ourselves. It's a bummer, I don't have any clear answers for you.

However, I do have another resource that I stumbled on to yesterday and it's one that you should check out. The site is called wonderhowto.com and it's all about answering those kinds of questions. Now, I should say that this is not just about animation but about everything and I mean EVERYTHING so be warned! So, you might start by typing in something like After Effects or Photoshop in the search field. What you'll find is quite a diverse set of tutorials including some you already know about like CreativeCow.net and Andrew's Videocopilot. The fun stuff is the ones you discover like Indy Moguls. I sat through their entertaining video on how to blow up people in half and while it didn't cover After Effects, it did give me an idea of what to do for such a visual effect. So, give it a whirl and tell me what you think.

Wonder-How-To website

And of course, how could I mention blowing somebody up without including the video? It's funny and informative, but not for everybody.

Update: Premiere Pro & AVC HD revisited - a list of solutions

2008-06-16T13:47:49Z

AVC HD has been a topic that has dominated a previous post where the comments are really the topic as opposed to the topic itself. This post has driven a large portion of my overall traffic, which has been humbling as I'd like to see more of it go to my tutorials and content (hint, hint, sniffle.)... Of course, I dig getting people on the site at all, so what they hey - hit me wherever! ;-)

Gosh, haven't left the first paragraph and I'm already digressing...Lets see, ah yes AVC HD.

]]> So, Adobe.com has recently posted a list of AVC HD solutions that are compatible with Premiere Pro CS3 and Premiere Elements 4 (PC only). Many of these have been mentioned during the course of the previous thread, but I had promised to compile all of them and post them. A serious hat tip goes to Nick Lusty who pointed this link out to me. While I'd like to say that I should have known this was there, you only have to wander among the Adobe.com site a while to realize there are thousands of pages...and that's only the part that you see!

Here's the link: AVC HD solutions and workarounds Give it a read and then you can read below for my comments.

BMD Intensity Pro cards: I'm glad that they recommend this one as I do since it is an affordable I/O solution that gives you abilities beyond just AVC HD. It's also cross platform.

Shedworx; Haven't seen it, but it looks like an affordable transcoding solution.

Main Concept: Oh how long ago, did I mention this? Who would have thought the thread would still be going? It's still a viable solution, though compared to the BMD, it is a bit pricey...

Sony Solution: This is one that I would have loved to have mentioned before, but never felt comfortable about it. Sony has long been a customer who bundles Premiere Pro with some of their VAIO configurations and so, they provide a solution for PC owners. Now, if only they would sell the plugins separately!

Panasonic: I think I'm kind of bummed at these guys. I think they updated the download version so that 1.2 only works with Panasonic cameras and not anyone elses... Lame... However, the solution is FREE and quality is great, so if it fits your scenario, I'd go for this one.

Canopus: I just came across this one last week as I was looking at ProCoder again. It would be great if it could transcode to a higher res format that isn't Canopus, but still, it is a very good transcoder that you can use to create final outputs from Premiere Pro to other deliverable formats minus Flash 8/9. So, while it's not perfect, I do think its a decent choice.

Elecard: This is another pretty affordable solution and one that some readers have embraced. It's definitely worth a look.

Pinnacle Studio 11: Being a former Pinnacle person, I'm rather torn. I'm a loyal guy, even to former companies, but I've not been satisfied with Pinnacle stability. If you've got Pinnacle Studio 11, then I say go for it. As an aside, if you get a version working well with your given system, don't update it - stay with what works!

TMPEG: Another transcoding solution and a bit more expensive ($99), but it's been around the block and is supported by a host of video encoding enthusiasts (read, DVD rippers), so it's also worth a look.

iMovie: This is the other big one that I want to talk about. Many Mac people already have iMovie or iLife, but don't know that you can edit the captured footage in Premiere Pro. You can capture in iMovie and then bring it into Premiere Pro CS3 and edit away. Of course, you'll have to create a preset that uses the Apple Intermediate Codec with Premiere Pro but it is a piece of cake to do. So, this is a great (and possibly free) method for Mac users to get AVC HD going with Premiere Pro.

So, there you have it - a compendium of AVC HD solutions. It shows both Mac and PC solutions as well as solutions that work with Premiere Elements. It has free solutions, inexpensive solutions, hardware and software solutions. Did I miss anything? Probably. Are there other solutions out there that aren't listed? Again - probably. Still, this should present you a single point source that can help you evaluate what you want and need to do if you're editing AVC HD now and want to use Premiere Pro. Have at it.

AENY: a new place & logo

2008-06-12T12:01:16Z

The After Effects New York meeting will be auditioning a new space since we've grown too large for Pratt. BTW - many thanks to Pratt for their great space and open friendship.

We'll be a PS41 which is at 116 West 11th street (corner of 6th ave) and the space can hold up to 400 people. Let's give the place a great first meeting!

As for the meeting itself, Jim has done a great job of lining up some terrific presentations.

Mark Coleran is a visual FX artist who has worked on a number of major films including the Bourne films and Alien vs. Predator.

John Montgomery is one of the founders of FXguide.com which is a great site and he's also done work for McDonalds, Disney and others.

In addition, we've got an official new logo. I think it's pretty spiffy. Give it a look and tell me what you think.

AE Tutorial: Using Text as a shape layer

2008-06-11T19:06:37Z

The included video here is spastic, almost distracting but it does show one way to easily create that kind of chaotic text that has been popular over the last couple of years.

]]> Flashing Shape Layers

Premiere Tip: Using subclips

2008-06-10T15:34:16Z

One of the things about the old Premiere 6.5 and earlier was the lack of ability to create clips from larger clips. We would mark an in and an out and take it to the timeline. That instance of the clip on the timeline was the only reference to that piece of video in the project. If I needed it again, then I would have to recreate the in/out or copy and paste the instance to the timeline again.
]]> Now, with Premiere Pro starting in version 2.0 and later, we have the ability to create a subclip. This is a virtual instance of the clip that exists within the project folder as opposed to the timeline. The advantage of this is multiple. Not only can you easily reuse the clip by dragging it from the project panel to the timeline, but you can also have the ability to edit it. The graphic below should spell it out for you.

Bottom line - if you're editing from a single 60 minute clip (a DV tape for example), then wading through the assets by using subclips is a terrific way to go.

Checking in with Adobe's Customer Stories

2008-06-06T20:05:14Z

I will plead guilty to the following - I don't go to Adobe's customer stories page very often. It could be because I am often aware of many of the stories going on or that I'm just inunated with other things, so that I rarely have the free time to watch them. That's going to change.
]]> Give it a look in the link below because you'll be surprised by all of the cool stuff that is there. Not only is there the big blockbuster stuff, but also some very interesting high profile stuff that isn't quite as mainstream as Superman Returns.

I just gave a quick watch to the Gene Generation piece and enjoyed hearing the director talk up how the movie was made with Photoshop and AE for the visual FX. The Madonna piece is also interesting. Some is newer and some a bit older, but there's no denying the conclusion - Adobe is a big part of video and film creation.

Adobe Customer Stories

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #3 is live

2008-06-06T13:12:59Z

Adobe Beginner Classes (ABC's) episode #3 is now officially live on Adobe TV. During this episode, we dive into the basic properties of After Effects and how to animate them. We take a look at keyframing and properties like position, scale, rotation and opacity. If you've wanted to get a tutorial that was the ultimate in basic After Effects, this is the one for you.

Getting back to content

2008-06-06T00:32:56Z

Last year, I was cranking out content, tutorials, posts, news bits and more on a regular basis. Somewhat unfortunately, I've been doing a lot of different work for Adobe in the past several months that has kept me from getting a regular rhythm to posting this year. I'm not complaining about these changes - I've been doing some exciting stuff... ;-) but I truly like to blog and provide some ideas and tutorials that can help people.
]]> So, next week is my first week where I don't have something huge hanging over me that must be taken care of immediately. As such, I will try and give some solid time to my readership and post up some stuff. Bits, thoughts and hopefully some simple things for you to play with.

The thing that most surprises me is that you're coming to the site more and more - my stats continue to expand...and not just because of my AVC HD post. New people find this blog and grab a hold of something and regular people keep coming back.

So, for all of your loyalty and trust, let me say thanks and hopefully we'll have some fun together next week with some content.

Cheers,

Dennis

NYC event tomorrow - still time to register!

2008-05-28T18:42:35Z

The event is happening tomorrow and there will be a lot of fun things going on. If this the first you're hearing about this digital video event, then click here. We've got partners like Panasonic, Matrox, Maxon, Grid Iron, Blackmagic and AJA among several others. There will be vendors like MOTU that will be giving a first look at some new hardware. B&H will be there with special one day prices on Adobe Production Premium, so now is a great time to buy. Zoomin Online will be giving away free training to those who fill out a registration card - who doesn't want to learn about Photoshop and other Adobe products??? AENY will be there working for other companies, but again a great chance to meet the leaders and learn about the next meeting. Almost every manufacturer will be talking about what's new for them and finally there will be a technology preview from Adobe Systems. This will be a unique chance to get a sneak peak at some of the things Adobe is working on. If that isn't exciting, I don't know what is! Wait a second, I do know what is more exciting - prizes! Lots of things to give away at both sessions, so take 4 hours out of your day and choose either the early afternoon or evening slots. Check out my other post if you'd like to get more information on this event.

Soundbooth with multitrack!

2008-05-27T15:14:35Z

That's right, you heard it hear (or elsewhere on the blogosphere).

Regardless of how you heard about it, you'll want to check it out and get it from the Adobe Labs site. There's a bunch in there and a lot to explore, so give it a whirl and tell us what you think.

NYC Adobe event update - 5/29

2008-05-20T05:37:29Z

Adobe is extending an open invitation to join us and many other exciting vendors as we recap what went on at NAB. It's happening on May 29th, near B&H at the New Yorker hotel. Read on to get all of the event details and to register.

]]> But first a word from our organizer...me. I'm really excited about this and hope that you agree with me on the format of the event. Rather than have you come and hear about the latest from Adobe, while very cool and important isn't the whole part of the story. If you've read a few of my posts, you'll probably already know how strongly I feel about the importance of partners. After all, video production isn't about any single tool, much as all of us vendors might like it to be. You use a lot of tools in concert to create whatever it is you're doing. Thus is the genesis of my idea for this event - bring a bunch of partners together (some cooperative and some competitive) based on the idea of the Adobe ecosystem and present them, their products and whatever news and announcements they bring to you.

Additionally, rather than have the event be static where you sit and we talk, it is a twofold event. In one area, you'll have a large room where many of the vendors will present their products and workflows throughout the day in rapid fire 20 minute presentations. I hope that one of the highlights to these 20 minute demos will be a 20 minute technology preview demo of some stuff we're working on that I think you will find VERY helpful.

The other part of the event will be a 'mini-tradeshow.' Each of the sponsors will have a table in a foyer area where you can visit and talk to in order to get all of the answers to your questions. I don't think that anyone attending the event will necessarily be staying to watch all of the presentations. I think people will stay for several and also walk around the floor talking to the sponsors.

The event will have onsite representation from Adobe, AJA, Blackmagic Design, B&H, CalDigit, DigiEffects, GenArts, Grid Iron, Matrox, Maxon, MOTU, Wacom and Zoomin Online (aka Magnet Media).

http://www.eventsadobe.com/dvtools/index.html

As I've mentioned before, there will be a lot of prizes that are being offered. You see a lot of hardware companies and therefore it stands to reason that we'll be giving away a lot of hardware. I haven't tallied it up, but I'm confident that we'll have at least $10,000k in prizes to give away during the day. Say it with me, "Ssswwwweeeet!" Let it never be said that I didn't appeal to your desire for free stuff!

Lastly, while I've met many great people over the years, there are many more whom I haven't and I always enjoy when people take the time to come up and introduce themselves. Perhaps we've corresponded, or you've subscribed to this blog or even seen me at an event in the past. I'd love for you to walk up and say hello and introduce yourself. While I may seem scatterbrained on the day of the event, I am genuinely happy when someone comes up to say, "I read your blog", "You told me to come and say hi" or even "Adobe has ticked me off, let me tell you why!" Admittedly, the last one is my least favorite, but at least you're giving us the chance to change that perception or correct the problem. So, whatever the reason, I hope that you'll join us, become better informed and have some fun in the process....See you there.

New Mocha AE tutorial available

2008-05-19T12:33:03Z

While After Effects is generally terrific at most things there is always room for improvement (believe it or not). It's another reason why I'm always emphasizing the plugins and Adobe ecosystem. One area that Adobe After Effects is merely okay at is tracking. Point tracking is good for many things, but if you're doing corner pinning and perspective, point tracking becomes a bit trickier.
]]> One of a few tracking systems that are available is called Mocha AE from Imagineer Systems. They offer a 'planar' tracking system which is different than a pixel based one. Ross Shain, a friend of mine who works at Imagineer recently emailed me about a new tutorial he had done specifically around Mocha AE for After Effects users and so I am passing it on to you to evaluate. Give it a watch and perhaps a spin when you next need a tracking shot.

Mocha AE tutorial for After Effects

As a reminder, I did a short tutorial on After Effects tracking some time ago. I'll post the link to it when I have a better connection.