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October 29, 2009

Adobe Beginner Classes #30 is live!

and really, the only thing I can say about this one is FINALLY...

I had some trouble with our web system and so this should have been posted a week ago.

In this episode, I dive into the technique for creating the smoky look of the text disappearing.  It's not entirely intuitive at first, but once you get it, it rocks!  Hat tip (and big thank you) to Andrew Kramer for this technique.  Read on to view the tutorial and/or see a short clip with the finished animation.

Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes #30 is live!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 6:09 PM | | Comments (0)

October 8, 2009

Adobe Beginner Classes #29 is live!

This looks to be another four part series.  The first part here is covering some of the building blocks, but trust me they are still very interesting! Click Play below and view the final composition and then read on for some more detail.

Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes #29 is live!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 4:16 PM | | Comments (0)

October 6, 2009

Adobe Beginner Classes #28 is live!

...it's been online for a while and I'm rather proud of this one...

I enjoy all of the content creation I get to do - from Twitter, to this blog to Adobe TV.  Yet, some bits are just more memorable to you than others and Episode #28 is one of those for me.


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Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes #28 is live!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 5:59 AM | | Comments (2)

September 28, 2009

Adobe Beginner Classes #27 is live!

The conclusion to several running episodes happens with #27.  In this one, we take our painted box, our 3D cube and our fog and put it all together to do a quick animation. Anti-climatic?  No way - watch the tutorial and download the project for yourself and play around with it.

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Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes #27 is live!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 9:45 AM | | Comments (0)

September 10, 2009

Adobe TV gets a new look

Adobe TV has just updated their website and with all the changes, it's a great time for me to shamelessly mention the best show on there for video, especially After Effects: Adobe Beginner Classes!  Be sure to add me to your library and also do a roll over on the episode #'s to get a description of what you'll get.  I'll be looking to change up the episodes names soon to be more descriptive.  Regardless, give it a look and don't forget about the Adobe Media Player as well.

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 7:46 AM | | Comments (1)

September 2, 2009

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #26 is live!

I've been in a flurry of creative activity and hopefully, these are useful things to the community. In this episode, I'm continuing to build towards our finale, which I think is the next one.  Read on to see the video and get the details...

Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #26 is live!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 3:56 PM | | Comments (4)

August 26, 2009

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #25 is live!

Hey there everyone.  Blogging away on supposed vacation time - I need some help. We'll keep this one brief.  Episode #25 is online and available for your perusal.  It's pretty short and to the point, so it's easy to digest and consume.  In it, I take our Photoshop texture and quickly create a 3D box by utilizing a script from AEScripts.com

From there, we'll put it all together in the next episode and hopefully the result is something you like. 

Read on for the embedded version of the tutorial.

Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #25 is live!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 1:49 PM | | Comments (0)

August 20, 2009

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #24 is live!

If you've looked with envy at particular textures and wondered how they were created in Photoshop, then this is the episode for you!

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Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #24 is live!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 10:34 AM | | Comments (0)

August 14, 2009

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #23 is live!

I've held true to my promise to not do everything about After Effects! Huzzah! 

In this one, I go in and show you how easy it is to create gradient wipes for use in Premiere Pro.  We don't always use transitions, but when we do, it's nice to have something new and fresh. Custom gradient wipes can be the ticket!  I hope you'll give it a view and tell me what you think.

Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #23 is live!" »

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

August 12, 2009

Steve Holmes on Artbeats.com

Steve Holmes has always been one of the more powerful AE artists who has been able to successfully marry great design in a fun tutorial and instructive setting.  Steve build up his 'brand' by being one of the principal instructors for Total Training for several versions and now has turned up at Artbeats.

Artbeats and Mr. Holmes have already teamed up in several tutorials, so this probably isn't totally new to many people.  Nevertheless, click here for the link.  From there you can subscribe via iTunes if you're so inclined.  I've watched a couple and they're fantastic as you would expect.  Good stuff - go get it.

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 6:30 AM | | Comments (2)

August 6, 2009

Adobe Beginner Classes #22 is live!

Oi Vey! As quickly as I finish episodes, Adobe TV is publishing them!  In this episode, I turn my attention to the fun of Photoshop in recreating something that has been central to Photoshop since the very beginning - the colored eye.

Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes #22 is live!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 9:47 AM | | Comments (0)

August 4, 2009

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #21 is live!

As promised in an earlier post, here is the Adobe TV episode detailing how to build up this motion graphic element.  As I suggested earlier, I think this would be a great repeatable element to mix up with photos or video.  As always, I value any comments you might have and suggestions for other episodes.  Click to read more to see the video or download the Adobe Media Player

Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #21 is live!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 4:30 PM | | Comments (0)

July 31, 2009

Energy Ball and VFX tutorial

over at VideoCopilot.net

Really interesting and of course, using things that I would never think of - which is a great way to learn new things in AE! Andrew used a couple of fairly mundane plugins to make a pretty plausible energy ball.  Go take a look at the link above.

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 7:46 AM | | Comments (0)

July 29, 2009

After Effects Tutorial: Sophisticated Simple

...or at least it looks sophisticated to me!

This project is going to be Adobe Beginner Classes #21, so in advance of learning all of the steps, here's the project so you can break it down.

Continue reading "After Effects Tutorial: Sophisticated Simple" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 7:27 AM | | Comments (1)

July 28, 2009

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #20 is live!

In this episode I take up the topic of Rotoscoping.  I give full credit to Pete O'Connell as the source of information but I try to break it down a little bit further.  Watch both and let me know if I was helpful at all! 

Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #20 is live!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 4:32 PM | | Comments (1)

Do you want FREE tutorials? Then check out Adobe Media Player

I've blogged on this several times before, but I know that new people are always discovering the Adobe blogs, so I periodically will repeat myself by posting again on resources that may not be known to everybody.

Continue reading "Do you want FREE tutorials? Then check out Adobe Media Player" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 9:57 AM | | Comments (0)

July 21, 2009

Boxing Promo from John Dickinson

John is one of the top AE guys from down under and I had the privilege to meet him briefly at NAB this year (at least I think it was NAB!)  John just connected with me on Twitter and as I returned the favor, I started browsing his website.

Continue reading "Boxing Promo from John Dickinson" »

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

July 16, 2009

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #19 is live!

It's been a while since I've been able to get any time to do some Adobe TV shows, which is too bad.  I have a great time putting them together and I'm usually learning something to boot. 

Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #19 is live!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 3:45 PM | | Comments (2)

July 14, 2009

My personal 'Ultimate, Awesome!' resource compendium (Part 2)

One of the neat things about Adobe products is that there is so much to learn about and so many ways to learn.  As stated previously, I wanted to create a complete list of all of the awesome tutorials and resources in the world.  However, that's just an impossible task - so I decided just to post some of my favorites on the ones that I've used at one time or another.

Continue reading "My personal 'Ultimate, Awesome!' resource compendium (Part 2)" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 8:40 AM | | Comments (0)

June 5, 2009

Some thoughts on Premiere Pro 4.1

I'm back in the blogosphere!  My absence has been punctuated by visits to the likes of HBO, CNN, FOX and many more. Broadcast is alive and well but my entries have consequently suffered. 

In my absence, Premiere Pro version 4.1 has been released.  It's a terrific release and I wanted to give some thoughts, miscellaneous tidbits and point people to some resources to learn more.

Continue reading "Some thoughts on Premiere Pro 4.1" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 10:21 AM | | Comments (2)

May 19, 2009

A wealth of free tutorials at DMN

You ever have a week where there's nothing you'd like to do more than sit down and use your favorite software on a nice Mac or PC and think up cool stuff and ideas? Yeah, me too and I'm having one this week, but unfortunately business calls!

Ah well, it's okay. In the absence of regular posts, let me offer up to you these tutorials by content digital portal - Digital Media Net I came across this this morning and was very pleased to see so much material and resources available for Premiere Pro (and many other Adobe applications). So, if you haven't visited them in a while, give 'em a look this morning and tell me what you think.

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 8:34 AM | | Comments (0)

May 13, 2009

Searchable video now available for you to create!

It looks like we've taken another small step forward in making video searchable on the web easier than ever before.  Recently, a page on searchable video was updated to include a downloadable excerpt from a book on making video searchable and a SWF player that you can use to embed your video with the search ability. 

Continue reading "Searchable video now available for you to create!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 9:38 AM | | Comments (1)

May 1, 2009

Adobe Beginner Classes - Camera Shake is live!

Well, I had thought I had run out of tutorials on Adobe TV and was thinking that I needed to come up with a few more when I looked this morning and saw that another one had been posted.  This is my most recent 'boot leg' episode and basically takes a note from a recent Video Copilot tutorial where I thought Andrew glossed over some of the more basic ideas.  Leave it up to a simpleton (me) to try and simplify some great ideas.

Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes - Camera Shake is live!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 6:29 AM | | Comments (0)

April 15, 2009

Great Keylight tutorial product available from Toolfarm

The good folks at Toolfarm.com sent me a copy of a new product of theirs and I have to say it's terrific. It is a tutorial on the inner workings of Keylight, which is included with After Effects. I don't often have the opportunity to do REAL production work and when I have, it's never been with green screen stuff. So, I'm somewhat of a novice when it comes to pulling a great key.  Angie Mistretta does a nice job of outlining a METHOD to use Keylight as opposed to how to use the software.  It was clear and easy to understand and not too long - just right.

Get a look and find out whether the price ($39.00) is right for you after you watch part of it.

Toolfarm Keylight Tutorial

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 2:52 PM | | Comments (0)

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #17 is live!

I can barely keep up with the Adobe TV team - they're throwing the content out there as quickly as I can make it! ;-)

Read more to view the tutorial here or visit Adobe TV and click on Video Professional to see this episode.

As always, I'll recommend the Adobe Media Player as the best overall experience - it allows you to save the content locally to your hard drive so you can view it at your leisure and refer back to it anytime! Get the Adobe Media Player

Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #17 is live!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 10:58 AM | | Comments (1)

April 14, 2009

Stop the 3D text insanity!

Okay, trying to get 3D off the brain and it isn't working.  The fact is, I keep coming back to the 3D text project that I've recently done in After Effects (thanks to better AE people like Danny). 

Continue reading "Stop the 3D text insanity!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 4:26 PM | | Comments (0)

Metadata tutorial in Adobe's Development Center

This has been mentioned on a couple of other blogs already, but it's worth pointing out again.

Dan Ebberts is one of AE's great scripters and expression writers.  He's also a terrific friend of Adobe. He recently did a very nice, clear tutorial on XMP Metadata and how to use it with Flash.  In the tutorial, he also touches on Premiere, OnLocation and After Effects.

XMP metadata tutorial  and while you're there, be sure to visit Dan's site as well: Motionscript.com

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 12:40 PM | | Comments (0)

April 7, 2009

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #16 is live!

During this episode, I bring it back to one of the most tutorialized things about Photoshop in existence, namely Layer Styles.  For the beginner, it is essential that users get a handle on this aspect of Photoshop.  For the intermediate, this might present some new ideas on some of the tools available to you.  Along the way, I give some props to NAPP for a trick I picked up years ago. Read on to access the video or download the Adobe Media Player to start saving your favorite ABC episodes for review anytime.

Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #16 is live!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 1:54 PM | | Comments (0)

April 3, 2009

Good tutorial on Particles from Videomaker

Often people think of particles as a means of creating cool motion graphics, add explosions and such, but many people don't consider that you can use it to create some non-typical visual effects.

Continue reading "Good tutorial on Particles from Videomaker" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 11:24 AM | | Comments (0)

March 18, 2009

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #15 is live!

I've written about the experience I had at an NLE 'shoot out' some time ago...  Well, I finally got around to doing a video on it and I hope that you'll join me for a 14 minute overview of what I did and how it has impacted the way I think about Premiere Pro.  Read on to get the whole story.

Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #15 is live!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 4:00 PM | | Comments (0)

Interesting Tutorial from Layers Magazine for After Effects

Layers magazine comes from the people over at NAPP which focuses on Photoshop, but the Layers magazine offers content on just about all Adobe products.  Today, I saw a new little tutorial on After Effects with Illustrator that I thought was worth mentioning here.  So, click here...

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 3:56 PM | | Comments (0)

March 6, 2009

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #14 is live!

The dry spell for ABC episodes is over my friends and the proof is in the fact that I've now published a second Adobe TV episode in as many weeks!  (Now, I've really got to get started on that next one!)

Anyway, in this episode, we spend a little more time in the design (read 'obsessing') of some things you can do to make your 3D text pop inside of After Effects as well as taking a simple approach to animating it.

Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #14 is live!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 8:00 AM | | Comments (1)

March 2, 2009

AE Tutorial: Camera Shake motion graphics

Cameras, 3D and expressions are three things that I think the beginning AE user are afraid of.  In this simple tutorial, I tackle all three at once.  This project file is going to go up in a few weeks as an Adobe Beginner Classes "Bootleg" class but I thought I'd post the project file first in case some enterprising people want to pull it down and start noodling.

Continue reading "AE Tutorial: Camera Shake motion graphics" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 5:34 AM |

February 27, 2009

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #13 project file

After a long hiatus, Adobe Beginner Classes should be coming back online.  I've worked on a number of episodes and the first one is coming up today.  After Effects has been my muse yet again and so there is some amount of focus on it.  This episode will have the first of what ultimately became three parts on 3D text inside of After Effects (with no additional plugins).

Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #13 project file" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 8:27 AM | | Comments (1)

February 24, 2009

Adobe Beginner Classes coming on Adobe TV!

I've finished three episodes and trying to squeeze in some more in my spare time. These episodes are ones that I really like, because they focus on either something really cool, or something really necessary. 

I've found that creating these is much like your own work - sometimes the muse strikes you and you create some good stuff and other times...yawn...  When it's the latter, I don't publish anything and when it's the former - well, I hope you like it.

Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes coming on Adobe TV!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 7:09 AM |

February 19, 2009

New Adobe Beginner Classes coming up soon!

I've been extremely remiss in doing episodes, but the fact is Adobe has given me a different assignment this year and as a result, doing Adobe Beginner Classes has fallen off the map! 

Never fear!  I've got two episodes done (and I'm quite happy with them) and hopefully doing some more this week. 

As a refresher, you can get to my 'channel' by clicking here

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 9:39 AM |

December 23, 2008

An After Effects Christmas

With all respect to other holidays around this time, my house celebrates Christmas (hey, my blog is called the Genesis Project!) and so I wanted to post a simple animation that you can use to learn some basic things about After Effects.

Continue reading "An After Effects Christmas" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 7:15 PM |

November 19, 2008

Adobe Beginner Classes "Bootleg" Episode #3 is live!

Adobe AIR just went version 1.5 and Adobe Media Player is sure to follow. As always, I encourage you to watch this via the Adobe player, but if you can't wait, then here it is.

During this episode, I use a couple of presets along with a little Turbulent Displace and CC Vector Blur to make something cool. Really, that's all it is...it's just cool looking. Hope you enjoy.

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 2:36 PM | | Comments (0)

November 4, 2008

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #12 is Live!

Episode #12 is live via Adobe TV.

I hope you'll give it a look.  In this episode I cover Premiere Pro's Media Browser panel (cool) and Soundbooth's volume matching capabilities (even cooler!)

As an aside, I've had to forgo the green screen and Ultra work simply because it doubles the overall production time that it takes to produce these.  I hope to bring it back, but I don't think too many of you are overly anxious to see my mug all of the time anyway. ;-)

Here's a direct link: Episode #12

PS - I'll have another ABC bootleg episode coming out real soon. It's a fun little After Effect Project. Of course, I'll post it here for you to play with when the episode goes live...

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 3:44 PM | | Comments (1)

October 30, 2008

Free After Effects Plug-in and a great resource

Yeah, that word FREE really grabs you, doesn't it? ;-)  That's all right, it grabs me too.

During our AENY meeting, Aharon and Jim mentioned about a free plug-in that did 3D extrusion.  Sign me UP!

Continue reading "Free After Effects Plug-in and a great resource" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 10:31 AM |

October 24, 2008

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #11 is live!

'nuff said? Read on for misc. news

Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #11 is live!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 1:32 PM | | Comments (2)

October 16, 2008

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #10 is Live (and it's CS4)

I wanted to get this out to my blogging readers and mention that I did a quick "Top 10" After Effects feature on Adobe TV. I broke from my regular format because it was taking too much time and users like yourselves wanted to get some information on CS4...Who am I to argue with that? ;-)

So, take a look and let me know what you think. Enjoy...

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 3:29 PM | | Comments (1)

October 14, 2008

After Effects Tutorial: Recylcling Presets and adding a blur

I'm visiting the Savannah airport and thought to upload a quick blog entry. This quick After Effects project/tutorial is based on the simple idea of using one of the many blurs within After Effects to create entirely new motion backgrounds.

Video thumbnail. Click to play.
Click to play

Continue reading "After Effects Tutorial: Recylcling Presets and adding a blur" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 3:47 PM | | Comments (1)

October 6, 2008

Genesis Project responds to customer requests!

Some time ago, I posted Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #9 and along with it, made a request to ask what you'd like to see in terms of tutorials, information and the like. I received a few comments and wanted to quickly take the time to respond to some of them before it gets too out of date.  Read on to find out more.

Continue reading "Genesis Project responds to customer requests!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 9:33 AM | | Comments (6)

October 3, 2008

After Effects Tutorial: Reusing bits and nesting

I've had this comp kind of worked out for some time, but haven't had the time to write it up. Given that it's pretty easy, I've decided to let it out and hopefully get you intruiged and dive into After Effects a bit.  If nothing else, use the attached project file and substitue your own footage or stills.

Continue reading "After Effects Tutorial: Reusing bits and nesting" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 4:51 PM | | Comments (1)

Some AE fun with Trapcode's 3D Stroke

If After Effects is your thing, then you have a ton of plugins and already know about 3D Stroke.  If you're into dabbling, then you'll want to check this plugin out as a trial at your first opportunity.

Continue reading "Some AE fun with Trapcode's 3D Stroke" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 11:16 AM | | Comments (2)

September 26, 2008

MTV's Engine Room

MTV is one of those brands that screams, "I use After Effects!"  As for me, I wouldn't have it any other way.

The Engine Room is like a version of the Iron Chef for Creatives.  It's available on MTVU and online

Continue reading "MTV's Engine Room" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 2:49 PM | | Comments (1)

September 19, 2008

After Effects Expressions resource

As I've said to co-workers, After Effects expressions is always one of my New Year's resolutions.  I grab bits and pieces along the year and am very slowly building up a little knowledge about what is possible with expressions.

Continue reading "After Effects Expressions resource" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 8:25 AM | | Comments (3)

September 9, 2008

ABC Episode #9 and a request for your requests...

Until now, all of the episodes have focused on content, features or aspects of Adobe products that I completely know backwards and forwards.  In the case of Episode #9, I confess that my skills with Illustrator are somewhat limited.  But...that is the whole point of doing the show and of course, the whole idea behind both the Genesis Project and Adobe Beginner Classes!  You see, it's about learning how to do things.  Are you afraid of After Effects and Photoshop?  Well, I was too! Episode #9 was a reminder to me of why I do what I do and it confirmed to me that it has value to you.  I hope you enjoy this show.

On that same note, there is only one more episode that I have cue'd up before the CS4 announcement - I will be taking a short break (perhaps intersperced with a bootleg here and there) to think up some new episodes. I would really, really, REALLY, REALLY like to hear your ideas on basic things you would like to learn.  After all, I'm doing it for you and not for myself. So take a moment, and make a comment here on what you'd like to see

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 6:56 AM | | Comments (5)

August 27, 2008

Adobe Beginner Classes Bootleg #2 is live!

UPDATED 8-27-08 - I forgot to post the AE project file in case you want it. Here it is... Displacement Tutorial

I cover displacement maps in After Effects as a simple way of mapping your images or video on moving sources with depth. 

Subscribe to Adobe Beginner Classes in the Adobe Media Player if you haven't already.

Cheers, Dennis ;-)

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 2:32 PM | | Comments (1)

August 22, 2008

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #8 is live!

As more and more episodes get posted, I will write less and less about each one...  I'd rather you just watch it and figure it out for yourselves! ;-)

Anyway, this one dives into Premiere Pro PIPs in a deeper way giving you the tools on how to create a sophisticated PIP look like "24" or the recent movie, Vantage Point.  As always, leave a comment here if you get the chance.

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 2:17 PM | | Comments (3)

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #8 is live!

As more and more episodes get posted, I will write less and less about each one...  I'd rather you just watch it and figure it out for yourselves! ;-)

Anyway, this one dives into Premiere Pro PIPs in a deeper way giving you the tools on how to create a sophisticated PIP look like "24" or the recent movie, Vantage Point.  As always, leave a comment here if you get the chance.

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 2:15 PM | | Comments (0)

August 7, 2008

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #7 is live!

During this episode, I give a quick tutorial on Premiere Pro and how you can use it to create a picture-in-picture effect.  This is often used in news and documentary workflows. Go get with the Adobe Media Player and make sure you subscribe to my feed - type in Adobe Beginner Classes in the search field and subscribe - yes, do it now! ;-)

Okay, enough self-agrandizing.  Take a look at the latest and hopefully you'll learn something fun from it.

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 2:19 PM | | Comments (2)

August 5, 2008

Ko's latest: Down and dirty AE tricks

Ko Maruyama is an experience AE artist out on the west coast and he also writes for Digital Media Net.  While I haven't met Ko yet personally, I do know him by reputation and in the community and he is an excellent teacher and community proponent.

Continue reading "Ko's latest: Down and dirty AE tricks" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 12:35 PM | | Comments (0)

August 4, 2008

After Effects Tutorial: Adjustment Layers and Track Mattes

Adjustment Layers as a term sounds very perplexing and perhaps just downright weird.  It sounds like I should be talking about Chiropractors instead of After Effects.  Nevertheless, adjustment layers are one of the most powerful tools for an AE artist and if you're willing to read through the attached tutorial, I give a couple of minor examples on how to harness the power of this under utilized feature.

Along the way, I will also show you a simple example on using Track Mattes - a wonderful tool displaying your video in unique shapes - in this case text.  Yes, video text is within your grasp and it's easy with track mattes!

Finally, I happen to show you how to use Motion Sketch as a means to input real-time position data into layers within your composition.

So, download the project file and come along for a triple whammy tutorial!

Adjustment Layer and Masks Tutorial

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 1:34 PM | | Comments (1)

July 31, 2008

Adobe Beginner Classes - Bootleg edition

Many Adobe employees are somewhat, for lack of a better description, "sick in the head" because they are so into creating content and what they do, that they play with their stuff on the weekends. 

Guilty as charged...

Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes - Bootleg edition" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 6:48 PM | | Comments (0)

July 25, 2008

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #6 is live!

You know the routine by now - right?  You should watch it via the Adobe Media Player because then the contents is yours to review whenever it's convenient for you.  Of course you can also watch it via Adobe TV and finally, you can get it by watching it right here.  As always, let me know any comments about what you like, don't like, etc. via this blog's comments feature.  Enjoy!

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 1:31 PM | | Comments (0)

July 18, 2008

After Effects Tutorial: Information Slate 2008

So, here I am in Indianapolis teaching teachers about Production Premium and I had a couple of hours to set up my assets in a Mac-centric lab.  Of course they had Final Cut Studio on the systems as well and because my 200gb hard drive is desperately full already, I have not been able to install a copy on my laptop yet. Where's that 2.5" terabyte drive when you need one? ;-)

Continue reading "After Effects Tutorial: Information Slate 2008" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 8:00 PM | | Comments (0)

July 17, 2008

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #5 is live!

I have to admit that we haven't been regular about getting these episodes posted on a two week basis.  I'm still working out the kinks but the good news is that you get a new episode this time after only a week!

This episode covers an extended bit on how to create better audio with Soundbooth and Audition as well as utilizing Photoshop's Actions panel to make certain video tasks easier.  You can watch it here, at Adobe TV or via the Adobe Media Player

Tell me what you like and don't like - it helps me and others to shape our tutorials to what you want to know!

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 3:54 PM | | Comments (1)

Free seems to be a theme

You guys love free, you scream for free... Sing it with me, "I scream, you scream, we all scream for"  Wait a second, that doesn't work here.

ANYWAY, I've noticed that entries like free After Effects plugins seem to get some traffic long after the post is valid.  The good news is that there is always a ton of stuff that you can dig around and get for free if you're looking for it.

Continue reading "Free seems to be a theme " »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 8:31 AM | | Comments (0)

July 15, 2008

After Effects - A free plug-in

I got this from Digital Media Net and so they deserve credit - Stu Maschwitz is really one of the top guys around in the world of After Effects and he evidently is also a scripting genius since he strung together a bunch of Cycore effects that are included with After Effects to give you a color correction tool with out putting out some coin.

Continue reading "After Effects - A free plug-in" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 8:35 AM | | Comments (2)

July 10, 2008

Adobe Beginner Classes episode #4 is live!

You know the routine by now, right?  You should watch it via the Adobe Media Player, but you can also get it by clicking here

If you're really not into clicking, downloading or saving up the tutorial goodness until later, then it's embedded (kind of) right here.

 

As always, let me know what you think and what you might like to see in the future.

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 5:03 PM | | Comments (2)

July 2, 2008

After Effects Tutorial: Basic Toolbox Series

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. 

Continue reading "After Effects Tutorial: Basic Toolbox Series" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 10:49 AM | | Comments (0)

June 21, 2008

Wonder How To? Me too.

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.

Continue reading "Wonder How To? Me too." »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 9:44 AM | | Comments (0)

June 11, 2008

AE Tutorial: Using Text as a shape layer

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.

Continue reading "AE Tutorial: Using Text as a shape layer" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 2:06 PM | | Comments (0)

June 6, 2008

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #3 is live

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.

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 8:12 AM |

May 19, 2008

New Mocha AE tutorial available

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.

Continue reading "New Mocha AE tutorial available" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 7:33 AM |

May 15, 2008

Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #2 is now live

Finally!  I apologize, but while I've had a number of shows done for over a month, the part of posting them is still somewhat of a manual process.  I am sure that it will improve but in the meantime, I'm glad to say that the second installment is up there.

Continue reading "Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #2 is now live" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 9:19 AM |

April 28, 2008

AE tutorial - another simple 3D Text example

Periodically, I throw a simple and easy project up here with little or no explanation. Today is such a day.

Continue reading "AE tutorial - another simple 3D Text example" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 9:50 AM |

April 9, 2008

Adobe TV = ABC = Adobe Beginner Classes!

So much to talk about here and yet so little time with NAB coming up this weekend.  Adobe TV is an exciting new chapter in how Adobe presents resources, tutorials, news and content to users and anyone who has an interest in Adobe products.

Continue reading "Adobe TV = ABC = Adobe Beginner Classes!" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 7:53 AM | | Comments (2)

March 26, 2008

AE Tutorial: Verizon Fios

In watching pre-season baseball on NY's local SNY, I am getting the same commercials quite often (work those sponsors hard!) and so after a while, it got on my brain. As I've mentioned before, when you work for Adobe, you tend to watch television in a different way than many people. So, when I see the Verizon Fios commercial again and again, I think of the ideas that I can communicate with Adobe products - in this case After Effects.

Continue reading "AE Tutorial: Verizon Fios" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 8:15 AM | | Comments (1)

March 19, 2008

Churches are broadcasting too...plus knitting TV

A couple of weekends ago, I spent some time at the Grand Ole Opry Hotel while the National Association of Religous Broadcasters (NRB) convened to talk about media.  With Easter coming up this weekend, I thought it a perfect opportunity to share about my experiences and thoughts from that show.

Continue reading "Churches are broadcasting too...plus knitting TV" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 11:09 AM | | Comments (1)

February 28, 2008

Discovery Channel Brand ID Tutorial

Yesterday I posted a working animation of a new tutorial that I was working on.  Well another late night and early morning have brought it to conclusion.  Click on to get the PDF tutorial and project files for our Discovery Channel Brand ID!

Continue reading "Discovery Channel Brand ID Tutorial" »

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

February 27, 2008

Discovery Channel remake - AE Tutorial

I've been spending time in the city this week and visiting a lot of the broadcasters this week as a run up to NAB.  In the evenings (late evenings!) I've continued doing email and also tutorials.  So, here's one that I will try to write up and post the project files in the near future.  In the meantime, enjoy this simple After Effects animation.

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 2:46 PM | | Comments (0)

February 22, 2008

Free AE stuff from Motion Graphics Lab

Dean sent out a message to me telling me about some new animations that he makes available to everyone.  Here's what he said:

"Hello Video, Film and Web folks,
I was messing around with some ideas for St Patrick's Day and came up with twelve different animations. There are Gold Coins, Rainbows, Clovers and even a Pot of Gold ready for download!
All 12 are free up until March 17th...and as usual they are royalty free and fully customizable."

Who doesn't like free? ;-)

Motion Graphics Lab

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 2:43 PM | | Comments (0)

February 15, 2008

AE tutorial: The Water Channel Slate

Here's another basic tutorial that tries to bring some new concepts and ideas together in a real world project.  I got this idea from two sources: First from an internal Adobe call that was demonstrating some new features on an upcoming product and secondly from a Creative Cow AE podcast that did a nice job on creating a fictitious movie title called, "The Smoke."

Continue reading "AE tutorial: The Water Channel Slate" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 8:32 AM | | Comments (0)

February 14, 2008

Will you be my AE Valentine?

I don't need much of an excuse to put something up here, so voila! - a Valentines animation!

Continue reading "Will you be my AE Valentine?" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 11:08 AM | | Comments (0)

February 12, 2008

AE project - Solar System

Some time ago, I published the video of a fly through of our solar system.  I have wanted to write it up with all of the how to's, etc. but honestly, this is one project that is simply too big to easily write up.  Despite that, let me say that this is stuff that is still fairly easy to do, just not so easy to write up.

Continue reading "AE project - Solar System" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 8:26 AM | | Comments (1)

February 11, 2008

AE tutorial: Destroyed in Detroit

Sometimes, things just work against you and I had one such experience last weekend.  I was visiting publisher and broadcaster Meredith in Des Moines and got stuck due to "mechanical failure" on multiple occasions. As a result, I got stuck in Detroit on Friday night.  So, what does a frustrated traveller who wants to get home to his family do?  He animates of course!

Continue reading "AE tutorial: Destroyed in Detroit" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 2:22 PM | | Comments (0)

January 29, 2008

Logo Creation tutorial with Photoshop

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.


Continue reading "Logo Creation tutorial with Photoshop" »

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

January 21, 2008

AE Tutorial: Watching football make me think

Am I the only one who when he is watching TV is trying to figure out how things are done that makes them look compelling?  There was a time when I longed for the commercials to be over.  Now, I get as much enjoyment out of them as I do the programs themselves.

Continue reading "AE Tutorial: Watching football make me think" »

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

January 9, 2008

Photoshop Tutorial - The beginner basics

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 | | Comments (15)

December 20, 2007

Year in review - Genesis Project best tutorials (Part 2)

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!

Continue reading "Year in review - Genesis Project best tutorials (Part 2)" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 1:30 PM | | Comments (3)

December 19, 2007

Another text example in AE - Happy Accidents

As you can probably imagine, I have Adobe applications open all of the time and in the evenings and early mornings, I have a little time to fiddle and experiment.  Happy accidents are just that and I find that they can be instructive too. The flip side is that I feel compelled to complete a look and either record a video and/or type up a tutorial on how to create it. 

Continue reading "Another text example in AE - Happy Accidents" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 6:52 AM | | Comments (0)

December 14, 2007

After Effects Tutorial: Information Slate

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.

Continue reading "After Effects Tutorial: Information Slate" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 9:09 AM | | Comments (0)

December 10, 2007

Year in review - Genesis Project best tutorials (Part 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...

Continue reading "Year in review - Genesis Project best tutorials (Part 1)" »

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

November 29, 2007

Exploding Planets courtesy of Video Copilot

Over the past couple of months and in the spirit of my blogging mission (i.e - easy!) I've posted a couple of topics on "strange planets": showing how easy it is to make a planet and put it in space. Yesterday, I learned of another terrific free tutorial that is simply terrific, albeit more destructive - an exploding planet!

Continue reading "Exploding Planets courtesy of Video Copilot" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 6:42 AM | | Comments (0)

November 13, 2007

Strange Planets revisited - After Effects Tutorial

In an earlier post that I'll link you back to, I showed how simple it is to create a planet in space inside of After Effects. I took a 2D map of the Earth and turned our 3D world. However, one major thing I lacked - the Moon!  Well, thanks to my buddy Aharon Rabinowitz from Creative Cow, I can now present another Strange Planet tutorial - namely how to take the next step and integrate our satellite into our sphere of influence.

Continue reading "Strange Planets revisited - After Effects Tutorial" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 8:29 PM | | Comments (1)

November 9, 2007

Premiere Pro Tutorial: keyboard shortcuts

As a follow up to my e-Seminar yesterday on hidden gems inside of Premiere Pro, I was asked to publish a list of my favorite keyboard shortcuts.  So, after a foray into InDesign and Photoshop, I have this small PDF for you to print up and use the next time you sit in front of Premiere Pro.  Read on to get the doc and the details...

Continue reading "Premiere Pro Tutorial: keyboard shortcuts" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 12:59 PM | | Comments (2)

November 6, 2007

Hidden gems in Premiere Pro

That's the title of my upcoming e-Seminar this week. As with any professional editor, there is a lot of power under the hood: some significant, some less so. However you rate these little things individually, if you put them together, it changes your effectiveness as an editor. Click on to register for the seminar...

Continue reading "Hidden gems in Premiere Pro" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 11:07 AM | | Comments (0)

October 29, 2007

Tracking 101 in After Effects tutorial

Tracking is the process where you collect data on a particular point in video footage and then apply it to something else. Sounds boring, right?  I'm with you, but it is an essential tool for a variety of effects and looks that you see quite often. In this tutorial, you can get the basics on how to use After Effect's internal tracking tool.

Continue reading "Tracking 101 in After Effects tutorial" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 7:15 PM | | Comments (6)

October 24, 2007

Photoshop 101 Tutorial: Liquify

So I thought about Halloween some more and couldn't resist doing a quick demo on how to ruin your face, or should I say, ruin my own face... Click on Read more if you'd like to view an online tutorial.

Continue reading "Photoshop 101 Tutorial: Liquify" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 9:23 AM | | Comments (2)

October 23, 2007

Hey it's Halloween, so...

Got be straightforward here and say that I'm not a fan of Halloween.  I mean with a blog called the Genesis Project? ;-)  Or my 4 kids and too much candy?  Ugh...sugar highs and sugar crashes!

However, it being close to Halloween, what better time to mention a tutorial by Andrew Kramer, appropriately titled, "Demon Face Warp." This terrific tutorial will teach you a bunch about masks, tracking, liquify and a whole bunch more and it will make your friends look at you strange because you'll shoot the video of yourself (I admit, I'm tempted too!)

Continue reading "Hey it's Halloween, so..." »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 8:26 AM | | Comments (0)

October 18, 2007

My text is 'disturbed'

As I run around the country, I've come across some requests on how to do things.  One of these is how to distort, age, weather, rip up text. Before I head out on the road again today, I made a quick tutorial recording for you to view.  It involves Photoshop and Premiere Pro.

PSD+PROTutorial.jpg

Continue reading "My text is 'disturbed'" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 9:16 AM | | Comments (1)

October 12, 2007

Premiere Pro Keyboard Shortcuts Tutorial

I could be accused of a 'me too' approach on this, but after seeing Michael Coleman's excellent tutorials from his blog Keyframes: After Effects and Flash Tutorial I had to give the recording style he did a try. So, now we have this tutorial/test on Premiere Pro keyboard shortcuts.
PPROTutorial.jpg

Continue reading "Premiere Pro Keyboard Shortcuts Tutorial" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 3:15 PM | | Comments (1)

October 4, 2007

After Effects 101: Tutorial Content

Today's E-Seminar is/was a blast and as promised, here is the tutorial for you to download.  While you are here, take the time to bookmark me, or subscribe to Adobe blogs...there's a ton of good information to be had here. Read on to download the tutorial file.

Continue reading "After Effects 101: Tutorial Content" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 12:25 PM | | Comments (1)

October 1, 2007

After Effects 101 E-Seminar on October 4th

One of the most popular E-Seminars I've done so far was the After Effects 101 seminar which I did twice within the last year.  They were a lot of fun to do and the people who came had a lot of great questions.  It's now available as an onDemand seminar if you're interested...It's tough to navigate directly to it, but you can find it here: After Effects onDemand content

It turns out that there are a lot of people who want to learn After Effects or learn more about it.

Continue reading "After Effects 101 E-Seminar on October 4th" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 8:15 PM | | Comments (2)

September 28, 2007

Dean Velez's latest - more great AEPs for download

Dean, perhaps more than any other designer out there, is the guy I wish I was - talent oozes out of his pores. I look at his latest work and understand how he does it (after all, he taught me some of his tricks when I was learning After Effects), but I just don't have his creative skills. 

Continue reading "Dean Velez's latest - more great AEPs for download" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 7:30 AM | | Comments (1)

September 22, 2007

Photo touchup 101 tutorial

This has been done a thousand times and probably better than I have done.  Nevertheless, I've included a PDF for you to download in order to get some of the basics for making good portrait pictures great by using a couple of simple techniques.  When you've gone through this, do a search for 'photo touchup tutorials' and see what you get.

Continue reading "Photo touchup 101 tutorial" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 8:51 AM | | Comments (0)

September 13, 2007

Lower Third example tutorial

I was on tap to do an eSeminar today (which you should still go to!!!) but my buddy Steve is doing it so I've got some content with no purpose...Ah, a blog entry - that's it!

Continue reading "Lower Third example tutorial" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 7:06 PM | | Comments (0)

September 12, 2007

Photoshop Video tutorial on Lighting

DMN has posted a tutorial on using Photoshop's lighting feature on video.  The end result was surprising to me and so I am passing it on to you.

DMN Photoshop tutorial

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 10:27 AM | | Comments (0)

September 11, 2007

Layer Styles 101 in Photoshop

For most of us, Layer Styles in Photoshop is about as basic as it comes.  It's a Photoshop fundamental and yet, terrific artists coax new looks out of them every day.  If you're just getting in to Photoshop, then this super brief tutorial is for you.
LayerStyles101.jpg Download Sample File and PDF

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 9:30 PM | | Comments (1)

August 12, 2007

The Solar System for Sunday viewing

This (for me at least) was a rather larger project for me to post than most of the others.  I might even categorize it as 'intermediate.'  Anyway, I have had the project done for a while, but haven't had time to type up an outline on how to recreate it.

I will post the files and an outline here in the future, but in the meantime, here is an example of how you can use After Effects to sail through the Solar System.  I also used Audition to build the soundtrack with some help from my friends at Digital Juice with their Sound FX library.  Enjoy!


Posted by Dennis Radeke at 7:23 AM | | Comments (2)

August 7, 2007

Cereal Boxes - it's how a twisted mind thinks

If that title does grab your attention, I don't know what will! Realize that I see New York newspapers that are trying for oneupmanship on each other with crazy headlines, which means you're likely to get the same from me - sorry...

Anyway, what am I talking about?  Well, when you start working at Adobe, you start to look at everything a little bit differently and consequently, you start to look and see things in a different way than the rest of society. Case in point, my eleven year old daughter said that I'm always commenting on the design ideals of the commercial/film/tv show rather than just watching them.  It drives the rest of my family crazy!

So, in looking at a box of snacks, I looked at the logo and said, "Cool, I bet I can do that!"  So here you go...

CerealBoxSnacks.jpg

Continue reading "Cereal Boxes - it's how a twisted mind thinks" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 9:23 PM | | Comments (2)

July 31, 2007

Using Text for Shape Layers

It's a busy time: I looked at the blog today and bam...a week went by! Production Premium CS3 is out there and the video team is going crazy dashing about the country (I'm typing this on a plane headed towards Orlando).  SOOO..during the delay at the airport, I whipped up something I've wanted to start exploring.  Read on if you're interested.

Continue reading "Using Text for Shape Layers" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 7:33 AM | | Comments (0)

July 13, 2007

The Power of the Sun...

As I mentioned recently, I'm trying to put together some new tutorials and one of them, Strange Planets, is proving to be rather large and so, I want to break it down a bit more by starting at the center: the center of our solar system that is...
Sun pic.jpg

Continue reading "The Power of the Sun..." »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 10:30 PM | | Comments (2)

June 14, 2007

Exploring Shape Layers

Yesterday, I was at this small show in NY called ProMax BDA which stands for Broadcast Design Association (I think). The event is a showcase for all of the broadcasters to tout their design ideals and work.  All of the big boys are there and it's quite interesting: especially the difference between what's acceptable here versus internationally.  The quality of people at this show was very high and it was fun to talk and meet with many of them.

So, I was there with Aharon Rabinowitz from Creative Cow and AENY.org and we're talking about Shape Layers...

Continue reading "Exploring Shape Layers" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 10:00 AM | | Comments (0)

June 11, 2007

A Hidden Gem (for me) in After Effects CS3

So there I was last week, biding my time at the Jersey Access Group convention and was noodling with After Effects CS3...interpretation - I was making awful stuff.  So, I was reviewing some other half baked compositions and then stumbled upon one of the most important new features in After Effects CS3 not mentioned in Adobe web pages.

You Tube is really letting me down today, but hopefully you see the video now...

Continue reading "A Hidden Gem (for me) in After Effects CS3" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 9:05 AM | | Comments (5)

June 7, 2007

Planet Earth in AE

I'm thinking that I'll do a couple of these here over time, but this initial one is as easy as can be.  Ever wanted to create the Earth not in six days but in six minutes?  Let me show you how and give you a project file

Continue reading "Planet Earth in AE" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 8:24 PM | | Comments (5)

May 31, 2007

After Effects 101: Text on a path

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 at 5:46 PM | | Comments (3)

May 21, 2007

Using Particles to Create

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 at 7:24 AM |

May 18, 2007

Auto-trace in AE: recreating the original iPod commercial

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 at 8:26 PM |

May 17, 2007

Interested in seeing Production Premium? Come see an e-seminar!

I'll be giving an initial look at some of the features of Production Premium coming up later in May.  It will be on Thursday, May 24th at 11AM PST or 2PM EST.  I'll be showing off some of the features of After Effects, Photoshop Extended, Premiere Pro and Soundbooth, time permitting. All you need is a decent web connection and an internet browser. Hope to see you there!

Here's a link for you: Video E-Seminars

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 1:48 AM | | Comments (0)

April 27, 2007

Design basics: A current style to imitate

Want to build the simple, elegant look of reflected images in Photoshop...read on...

Continue reading "Design basics: A current style to imitate" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 6:26 PM | | Comments (0)

Aharon’s got some great stuff

As you can imagine, I hit tradeshows fairly often (yes, sarcasm) and many times I get customers that come up to me asking, "How do I get started with After Effects?" or "What kind of training materials are there for After Effects?"

If this is you, then you'll want to read on and remember one key word - FREE!

Continue reading "Aharon’s got some great stuff" »

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 6:22 PM | | Comments (1)

April 25, 2007

Introduction to 3D in After Effects

Okay, I've been out of touch (or out of my mind from NAB) and so I apologize for not getting back on track earlier. Anyway, in an earlier post, I talked about working on some tutorials for you to download and chew on. Well, on the plane ride today, I was able to finish this one up.

This tutorial is my humble attempt to give you an introduction to After Effects and its 3D capabilities using just a simple Photoshop file. If you want to expand your repertoire in After Effects, this is one way to do it. It's a simple concept that you can build upon and hopefully build up a comfort level with an aspect of After Effects that can seem daunting at first look.

The basic idea of this tutorial is to build up a simple landscape scene and then move your camera through it. I threw in some flying geese(so homely you have to look at them!) and you're done.

The download is a little big (~8MB) but hopefully you'll find it worth it.

Basic 3D Composition

I also saw that Dean Velez posted one (a lot more in depth) at the Anvel.

Let me know what you think!

Dennis

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 5:50 PM | | Comments (1)

April 2, 2007

ABC Logo treatment in After Effects

ABC's logo treatment over the last couple of years have been all about some strokes zippin' around the ABC corporate logo. I've got to say that I really like it and certainly hope that it was done with After Effects. They've recently moved away from Quantel Paint Box to a Photoshop/After Effects workflow, so it's certainly possible.

More to the point, the strokes themselves reminded me of an AE stroke tip that Dean Velez taught me when he was with the Anvel. With Dean's permission, I've included his PDF lesson on creating a dynamic stroke within AE using TEXT. Wrap it up with a imitation RBC logo and an After Effects Project.

Check it out: RBC Logo Treatment

Dean's website: http://www.theanvel.com/

RBC Logo.jpg

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 12:11 PM | | Comments (2)

March 31, 2007

After Effects 101 Tutorial: Bringing the basics together

The basis of this tutorial is about taking a path from Photoshop (or Illustrator) and then using it within After Effects to create a simple animation background.

I've seen this a lot recently, so thought you might find it useful. The attached files are there with a little extra animation and a PDF to give you the essential instructions on how to make a path in Photoshop and animate it in After Effects.

The next version of After Effects will expand its shape capabilities dramatically, but even still, the tutorial here is an essential skill for After Effects users.

One last note - if you're pulling these down, let me know if they're useful or not. Also, feel free to ask for specifics.

Basic Elements Tutorial

embedded pic.jpg

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 1:17 PM | | Comments (14)

March 28, 2007

After Effects 101 Tutorial: Text Begone!

Here's an After Effects 7.0 project that is super basic and that will be the theme of some of my tutorials. You should be able to look at these project files and figure it out in a few seconds.

This one simply takes text and blows it up as a bunch of particles. Two layers, maybe ten seconds and you've got it!

Titles Begone

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 7:12 PM | | Comments (0)

March 15, 2007

Disturbing Text

No, it's not a left wing (or right if you prefer) political article, rather a tutorial for something that I see all the time. I have to admit, dreaming up the title of these posts is more fun than I generally should have. ;-)

I'm in New York City this week and just walking around and seeing the billboards posters, etc (media is EVERYWHERE in NYC) and more often than not, the treatment of the text has some kind of noise, distortion, texture, etc that makes it a little different than standard typefaces. You might think that these people purchase these typefaces that look like that - perhaps sometimes. More often, they use some version of what I'm showing you here and it's ridiculously easy, so give it a try and and add a very useful trick to your arsenal of Photoshop chops.

Disturbed Text Download

Disturbed Text.jpg

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 6:58 AM | | Comments (1)

March 6, 2007

I do requests - at least when I know them...

I get questions on how to do the 'glassy button' or the 'apple button' all the time. You know what I'm talking about - that ultra cool looking button that just screams, "Click ME!"

Anyway, if you're looking to do this, look no further. Here's a basic tutorial that you can download. I've included the original Photoshop file (done in CS3) along with a rudimentary PDF that shows you step by step. I'll be tinkering with exactly how much detail to give in these tutorials over the course of the next couple of months, so if you're looking for more or less, let us know.

Download file

Here's what the graphic itself:

Glassy Buttononline.jpg

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 4:58 PM | | Comments (2)

March 2, 2007

Creating TV Lines for images in Photoshop

Download file

Under the banner of 'be practical!, my hope is to provide some tutorials and tricks that beginners will find useful. Some of these are designed to encourage you to get your hands dirty, others maybe to show you 'how'd you do that?'

So the link above downloads a short PDF and example file of how to create old fashioned TV lines in Photoshop.

TVLinesExample.jpg

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 9:21 PM | | Comments (0)

Follow up...Let your yes be YES!

Download file

Okay, a month between posts is not typical and I think once I have the feel of this, you better hang on to your seats. For now though, I'm just trying to keep my head above water as this little thing called CS3 starts to ramp up...

So, I was at a show called NRB - National Religous Broadcasters. Not only was it a great bunch of people, but it was in Florida in February. How tough can that be? ;-)

So the long and the short of it is that I said I would start posting some the content and materials that I presented at the show and wouldn't you know it, people are asking about when! The answer is that I'm frankly new to blogging so even this post here is somewhat of a test to see if it works. The link above should let you see and save a PDF file that outlines some general technics for using Photoshop to create a pseudo church logo. The idea is to help people get started with Photoshop or perhaps teach you a couple of new things. If you've got ideas on tutorials that you'd like to see (remember - this blog is all about easy!) then post a comment and let me know.

Posted by Dennis Radeke at 3:47 PM | | Comments (0)