Video Copilot BlogDaily Visual Effects And Motion Graphics
I just want to encourage everyone who visits here to watch ALL of the tutorials here. Even if you think you don’t want to learn about light sabers or slideshows, there is some great information in each tutorial that can be used in various creative ways. Plus 1 or 2 decent jokes… OK, there are no good jokes but some great tips! … OK, good tips. But still.
For example:
Tutorial 62 (Colorful Universe) includes a free 3D orbit preset that can be used to animate a 3D carousel of icons or pictures.
Tutorial 12 (Elegant Slideshows) teaches you to offset layers equally; this can be used to offset several muzzle flashes for a machines gun or possibly a nail-gun.
Tutorial 67 (Advanced Car Hit) can be used to create an Advanced Bus Hit. Think about it.
In this tutorial we will learn the key functions of 3D matchmoving software (boujou) and demonstrate how to export the camera data and set up the scene geometry.
Part 2 and 3 will follow but this should help you understand where we are going.
It seems there is a lot of interest in the new CS4 so I’ve been spending some time making demos for a few of the new features. I’ll post some stuff when I get a chance, I’ve been working on several new projects including a new DVD planned for November and the second part of the Meteor series. Until then…
So I’m a couple days late or so but I’m sure you’ve heard the news about CS4. Seems there are some solid features added and some great integration with flash and PS which will help a lot of people. Check out the Adobe product page for specifics.
Here are blogs to check as well.
http://blogs.adobe.com/keyframes/
http://prolost.blogspot.com/2008/09/ae-cs4s-best-new-feature-is-backwards.html
Admittedly I haven’t reached the depths of every new CS3 feature but Adobe maintains the core functions of the application so that even our very first tutorial can be followed with the newer versions. One thing I heard is that CS4 should work better with larger projects and I hope that is true.
If you look at the big picture, After Effects 6.5 has enough capability to create things that would stop time and newer versions regard this as well. After effects is a compositing application and it is up to us to build amazing things. No new feature is going to do that for us…
Of course all of our products work with future versions of After Effects if you plan on upgrading now or in the future.
For those without a 3D program who are interested in following along in just After Effects, I’ve uploaded the Street Explosion footage with the project download. You can find that on the tutorial landing page.
If anyone would like to kindly contribute a PDF tutorial for creating some street destruction in another 3D program like Cinema 4D or Blender, I’d be happy to post them here for everyone to learn from and thank you endlessly. Even the basic steps would be nice to get people in the right direction. I’d do it myself but I have to finish this sandwich and it’s been waiting a long time already.
FYI: The 3D tracking tutorial set will be out this month.
My favorite media and video player just recently updated and added some great features. Bottom line, it is the best. Plays every kind of video even FLVs. Get it!
I was reading a few comments today referring to the recent Meteor tutorial. A few people kept quoting me
“I’ll hit the letter SIX”
It was a mystery until I realized SIX is a number! What was I thinking 
In this new tutorial we will be creating 3d Debris and compositing in After Effects with smoke trails and dust.
This 2-part series is over 45 minutes long and absolutely FREE. So be sure to check out our great products, they are sure to give you an edge!
Here is a short excerpt from one of the upcoming tutorials on The Meteor.
(The first set will be out this weekend!)
The message is:
Even non-3D folks will benefit from understanding the workflow between AE and a 3D program even if you are primarily a compositor or dictionary salesman! It’s WIN-WIN.