The Genesis Project

After Effects Tutorial: Basic Toolbox Series

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:49:08 -0500

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.

Have you given the Soundbooth beta a try?

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:29:55 -0500

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.

A big Kuler update - color picking made easy

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:29:44 -0500

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.

Wonder How To? Me too.

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 09:44:46 -0500

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.

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

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:47:49 -0500

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.

AENY: a new place & logo

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 07:01:16 -0500

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

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:06:37 -0500

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.

Premiere Tip: Using subclips

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:34:16 -0500

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.

Checking in with Adobe's Customer Stories

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:05:14 -0500

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.

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #3 is live

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:12:59 -0500

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

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:32:56 -0500

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.

NYC event tomorrow - still time to register!

Wed, 28 May 2008 13:42:35 -0500

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!

Tue, 27 May 2008 10:14:35 -0500

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

Tue, 20 May 2008 00:37:29 -0500

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.

New Mocha AE tutorial available

Mon, 19 May 2008 07:33:03 -0500

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.