Category Archives: Blog
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Holomatrix and the B-FLoT Factor
1 commentI love plug-ins. They do cool stuff. Trapcode Particular – Boo yah! Knoll Light Factory Pro – Awesome. But some of my favorite plug-ins are of the B-FLoT variety – as in the Big Fricken Lot of Time you Save by using them.
For example, Red Giant Planespace is probably my favorite plug-in. There’s no real [...]
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Holomatrix is Here!
9 commentsHolomatrix is here… but, alas, I’m not. I’m on my last day of vacation enjoying the beach. I’ll be telling you more about Holomatrix in the next few days, but in the mean time, check it out here, ad Red Giant Software.
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Death Eater Apparition Effect
1 commentThere’s a new tutorial at Red Giant TV that shows you how to create the Death Eater Apparition Effect seen in the Harry Potter films. It may not look exactly like it, but it’s a really cool result, none the less. Very interesting manipulation of Trapcode Particular 2.
Michael also covers some color correction techniques, as [...]
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I love the 80’s
6 commentsUPDATE: Video Rock is now available – get it here.
OK – that’s a terrible lie. When I was in the 80’s it was an awkward time. The chicks didn’t dig me. I wasn’t on the football team. I watched Dr. Who and Star Trek, and did lots of other geeky stuff. I was more of [...]
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Working a Film Shoot from 10,355 Miles Away
12 commentsLast Sunday night, this was my schedule:
7:00 PM – Dinner with wife and daughter at home, in NYC
8:00 PM – Film Shoot in Melbourne, Australia
12:00 AM – Back home and brushing my teeth before bed
I know what you’re thinking: I probably should have brushed and flossed right after I ate. I allowed unsightly plaque to [...]
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My Interview on Motionworks Unplugged
6 commentsHey folks – I had the pleasure of being interviewed by my good friend John Dickinson, of Motionworks, last week. In this up-close and funny chat, we discuss how I started in the industry and my years working with Creative Cow and now Red Giant Software.
I also talk about the online tutorial phenomenon, plus [...]
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Holomatrix is Coming…
11 commentsA new set of tools designed by Dan Ebberts and myself, and which will be published by Red Giant Software.
More info coming soon…
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WIP: Fly Into a Picture
12 commentsOne of the effects I’ve always wanted to pull off was flying into picture – similar to what was done in the opening credits of HBO’s Carnivale:
Some tarot cards are dropped on a table and then the camera flies into them revealing a full 3D (Well, 2.5D actually) environment. I’ve always admired it because it [...]
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The People I Work With (and Who You Should Work With Too)
3 commentsOver the years I’ve worked with a lot of people, and I’m at the point in my career where I can be a little picky about it. Aside from the team at Red Giant Software (which I am honored to be a part of) there are a few people and companies that I have really [...]
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Free After Effects Project File: Microscope
5 commentsYears ago (2006), I had planned to do a tutorial on creating a microscope look with After Effect. I put together a project file, but then got pretty busy with work. When I was finally ready to do it, Andrew Kramer had already done a fantastic tutorial on the subject, so I moved on to [...]
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Interview on AEtuts+
8 commentsAdam Everett Miller, the editor for AEtuts+, was in NY last week and asked to stop by my office to talk for a bit. I wasn’t expecting to be interviewed, but then the dude whips out a camera, and well… you know me. I’m an attention whore.
If you’ve got nothing better to do with your [...]
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Free After Effects Project File – Page Rip
8 commentsA long time ago, I wanted to do a tutorial on creating a page rip effect. People were emailing me about it, and while I managed to get the project file together, I never got around to the tutorial itself. Not sure when I will. But in the mean time, here’s the project file so [...]
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Free After Effects Project File: Old World Map
11 commentsA while back I did at tutorial for Creative Cow called Shape Layer Tip #3: Trim Paths. In that tutorial I did an old-school map animation using shape layers to create the animated red line. Recently I was asked to share how the map itself was created.
The short version is that I read a great [...]
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Audio in After Effects
5 commentsRecently I ran into a problem, where I discovered that Audio Levels in After Effects can’t work with expressions. I had never tried it in all the years I’ve been using AE. But for a tutorial I have planned, in which the video effects the audio, I needed to use expressions to effect my audio [...]
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The Art of the Editor
5 commentsI think it’s safe to say that, as animators, who focus on single effect shots, most of us tend to forget how important the final edit can be. While the work we do helps support an overall project, the editor has the repsonsibility of taking everything created for a project, and arranges it to tell [...]
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Mojo Rising – Magic Bullet Mojo
1 commentThe latest from Stu Maschwitz and Red Giant Software is finally here – Magic Bullet Mojo .
Mojo is a plug-in that allows you to easily create the film look seen in almost every action/sci-fi/blockbuster movie made in the last few years. The look is characterized by any non-skin toned colors being pushed it into the [...]
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After Effects: Effects from A-Z
1 commentRecently I heard about a series of tutorials being done at Motionworks, John Dickinson’s website. The series is called After Effects: Effects A-Z, and it’s an ambitious undertaking of going through every effect that ships with AE, and explaining it’s purpose.
There are several contributors so far – Maltaannon, Topher Welsh, Harry Frank, Eran Stern and, [...]
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Color Link Tutorial
4 commentsI just watched this tutorial by Eran Stern over at CreativeCow.net. It’s called Color Link. It’s a great tutorial with some simple techniques for working with Shape Layers. But Eran also shows the Color Link effect, which I had never used or even noticed before. Off the top of my head, I could have used [...]
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It’s All About Me
50 commentsPeople are always emailing me all sorts of questions – some of them a bit wierd and inappropriate, but most are more about my history – how I got started, some of the work I’ve done, any advice I might have…etc. There’s only so much time in the day, so I can’t often respond, or [...]
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Crowd Control Kicks Off the Teen Choice Awards
3 commentsRecently, our friend Harry Frank, of GrayMachine.com, used Crowd Control to kick off Fox’s Teen Choice Awards.
You can see the clip being used right here, in the first few seconds. Yes, that vector-like artwork is actually a video clip that Harry manipulated in Adobe After Effects to work with the color palette and style of [...]
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After Effects New York – August
1 commentLast week we had our 25th meeting of After Effects New York. I’ll say this with out hyperbole – it was awesome!
First up was Mixtape Club. - http://www.mixtapeclub.com
Too technical for the arts, too creative for the sciences; Chris Smith, Jesse Casey, and Michelle Higa knew they had to work together as soon as they [...]
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The iPhone 3GS as a Camera
8 commentsI know things have been quiet here, but I can promise you we’re working on some big stuff. But even I need a vacation once in a while – so me and the family headed down to Florida for some R & R.
Anyway, today I found myself surrounded by a flock of pink flamingos. I [...]
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Motion Tracking and Stabilization in After Effects
3 commentsIf you’re doing any motion tracking or stabilization work, I strongly recommend you check out Pete O’Connell’s NEW Creative Cow training DVD: Motion Tracking and Stabilization in After Effects.
Pete previously did a fantastic training DVD called Advanced Rotoscoping Techniques for Adobe After Effects.
I could sit here and talk about how these DVD’s teach you valuable [...]
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The Daily Show
12 commentsI’ve been doing this animation thing for a while, and while I’m not a fantastic artist, my one saving grace is that I work fast. Really, really fast. At least I thought so until I went to the Daily Show with John Stewart (my favorite show, and the only reason I take a few minutes [...]
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After Effects and Tron 1.0
12 commentsWatching the promo for Tron Legacy got me all excited and a little nostalgic.
So today I played around in After Effects with Trapcode Particular 2, and came up with this.
I smell a tutorial.
End of line.