In other news my article “La Grande After Effects Tutorial Roundup From Elsewhere” is at AEtuts+.  Make sure you check it out!

LINK HERE

Learn How to Create a Light Rays Custom Effect from Scratch by Jorrit Schulte – A custom effect is special kind of preset that looks and behaves like a plugin. It allows you to save a special recipe of plugins and keyframes into something that you can reuse with ease. Jorrit Schulte has been producing a bunch of these very useful custom effects and providing them for free at http://aenhancers.com. In this tutorial he breaks down how to create the incredibly popular light rays effect and how to package it all into a custom effect.  LINK HERE

Maltaannon has a cool video exploring the features of Zaxwerks new product SERPENTINE
LINK HERE

Forging Fire Studios has a new tutorial called “Swallowed By Light”.  Takes a lens flare and it kind of swallowed a text layer.  Looks similar to a TV turning on or off.
LINK HERE

Trish and Chris Meyer’s new book After Effects Apprentice has ANOTHER free tutorail… a Gentle Introduction To Expressions for you to check out.
LINK HERE

Dean Velez’s Motion Graphics Lab has a Writing With Water tutorial.  Simulating a write on effect with water flying everywhere.
LINK HERE

Red Giant TV Episode 19 is from Eran Stern of SternFX.com.  Taking the inspiration from the new Star Trek movie, he teaches you how to create the transporter effect.
LINK HERE

Carl Larsen has a killer tutorial over at Toolfarm on replacing the horizon on a shot to use with Matte Paintings or stuff like that using Mocha.
LINK HERE

One more from our buddy Carl Larsen… the second half of the Tracking a Child Series over at the CreateCow.net AE Podcast.

LINK HERE

Aharon has a tutorial that I missed a couple weeks back… It was a follow up to Better Compositing with LightWraps… very cool stuff.
LINK HERE

FINALLY Harry has a new tutorial up… and its pretty freakin awesome.  Reverse Shatter Effect In AE, heavily reliant on Expressions and uses some Adobe Illustrator.
LINK HERE

Video Copilot – Ancient Titles
Very cool tutorial showing an alternate way to make a real looking drop shadown, and make particles only appear where light “would actually” be in your scene.  LINK HERE

Video Copilot – Soft Shadows 3ds Max
check out how to create soft shadows using a specific light array, as well as animate letters individually for a cool looking animation.   Also VCP is having a sale on their products… 20% off this Monday, coupon: HOLIDAY.  LINK HERE

In this 3 tutorial series we’ll look at how to build a glass shatter effect using Illustrator, After Effects and Cinema 4D. This section includes capturing the template in After Effects, creating paths in Illustrator and setting up imported splines as polygons in Cinema 4D.  LINK HERE

In this lesson we will learn how to use Maya 8+’s History to create an interesting effect.
LINK HERE

In this lesson we will learn how to transfer a UV set between two polygon objects that do not have the same number of points in Maya 8.5+  LINK HERE

In this lesson we will learn how to spice up a boring animation with squash and stretch in XSI 5+.  LINK HERE

In this lesson we will learn how to use lofting to create a NURBS mesh in XSI 4.2+.  LINK HERE

Creating a Teddy Bear in Blender Part 2

LINK HERE

Working with Curves in Blender

LINK HERE

Go over different shadow options and create some creative renders.  A quick method to adapt the “Soft Shadows” concept introduced by Andrew Kramer…but in Cinema 4d.  LINK HERE

Leather is one of the most used materials in the field of Furniture design. Especially for design of sofas or couches. It is quite easy to obtain a good leather material.  LINK HERE

This is an automated method that I discovered on how to create stairs. The technique can be used in any software. I hope it helps! LINK HERE

In this tutorial you will learn some of the basic concepts behind animating on a computer.  These principals can be applied regardless of the software package you prefer.  LINK HERE

@ PVC – Over on Artbeats.com, we’re starting a trio of articles on the use of color: basic color theory, ideas for how to select a workable color palette, and techniques for remembering and easily applying your chosen colors throughout a project. This month is the article on basic color theory, including some basics on picking colors including combinations that do or don’t work for text. LINK HERE

Ever used the caching that is available in certain tags and objects for Cinema4D?  Here is an introduction to the Point Cache Tag and Point Cache Deformer.  For this tutorial I thought I’d record a short movie.  LINK HERE

Looking on “Crashing Meteor” tutorial in Vue 7- Understending how it’s working, Advanced function editor, Adjusting settings…. LINK HERE
Also check out the Lighting Tutorials: Underwater & Make It Glow

Go over and check out FXGuideTV for the NAB coverage of the new version 2.0 of Trapcode Particular!  There are tons of new features for you to look forward to in the summer release.

LINK HERE

Don’t mind the villian-esque picture of Mark Christiansen, it is a shot taken from part of Eric Escobar’s Plugins Won’t Save You speech on MacVideo.TV.

Go check it out LINK HERE

From Ko Maruyama at Ninja Crayon

This project file is from R9 days (2005)

… but it still works in the core package of R11
(even tho’ DIRT isn’t around anymore)
[Read More]

In this GSG Cast, Nick goes through how to use the Bloom tool from CSTools. The Bloom tool automates animation of objects “blooming” into the scene with rotation and scale.
Download the scene file and follow along
Download the CSTools Here
Watch all of the CS Tools Tutorials

Adjusting Pivot of Components
In this lesson we will learn how to move pivot points inside XSI 4+.
Pivot points are important for interacting with your objects they define the object’s center. Moving the pivot point is a useful modeling technique. Topics covered in this tutorial: Adjusting pivots of objects,  Accessing and adjusting pivots of components LINK HERE

Smooth Skin Weights Tool in Maya 2008+
In this lesson we will look into Maya’s Smooth Skin Weights tool to see how it can be used to quickly fix deformations on a bound mesh.

LINK HERE

Split Edge Ring Tool in Maya 7+
In this lesson we will learn about the Split Edge Ring Tool.

LINK HERE

Architectural Materials in XSI 6+
In this lesson we will learn about the mental ray architectural material in XSI.   The architectural material is great for simulating many different surface types. With the numerous parameters included in the architectural material, you have much more control over every aspect of the final result. This material even has built-in ambient occlusion.  LINK HERE

UVs in Maya and XSI
In this lesson we will learn the difference between UVs in Maya and XSI.   When a primitive object is created in Maya, it automatically gets assigned UVs. However, in XSI the UVs have to be created manually. UVs tell XSI where a texture should be applied to, so they are an important part of the texturing process.  LINK HERE

In this video tutorial, Creative COW contributing editor Carl Larsen shows you how to use the track a child expression to create an interesting title sequence in Adobe After Effects.

LINK HERE

From Abduzeedo.com  -   Hi, my name is Pascal Verstegen, aka Enkera from Noa Studios. In this tutorial i’m going to explain how easy it is for any photoshop users out there that create a lot of effects-added branding to transform their work into a great and simple animation using After Effects, presumably to spice up your client presentation or intro to your website.

LINK HERE

In this two part series, David Torno shows you how to track and composite a face onto another body using After Effects and Mocha AE. Learn some of the tricks and hurdles you may have to deal with when trying to produce this type of effect. A sad bit of news though, Bea Arthur died yesterday, April 25th, 2009. She will be missed R.I.P. Bea…  PART 1 PART 2

This is a series of tutorials on modeling the band Disturbed’s logo in 3Ds Max.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Maxon’s Cinema 4D now has a Youtube Channel!  Go and check it out and make sure that you SUBSCRIBE.

From IrvingLing.com – Tip of the day: From Adobe Illustrator to C4D
:::::C4D TIP: to transfer your path from Illustrator into C4D, save your work in Illustrator as a Illustrator 8 or lower file. Then just simply go into C4D and open the Illustrator file like how you would normally open a file.  Your path should show up as a spline and from there, you can work in altering the path points however you like::::: This is another piece I made a while back using C4D and added a few ink splashes at the back. I wanted to finish the series on my portfolio designs.
I drew the chinese character (which btw, means Ox) in Illustrator and imported it into C4D.

From IrvingLing.com – Freebie: 4 C4D Ribbon Render Pack 1 Welcome to my first freebie giveaway! Here I have 4 C4D Ribbon Renders available for download. There is no restriction for the files used and so you can use them for whatever you create. I made 4 renders for pack 1 but I can assure you that Pack 2 will have more renders in it.   Because C4D is an expensive program and not many people have them, here is the first of the many C4D render packs containing shapes, models, etc. If you want a certain shape in a 3D model, do leave a comment and I’ll try to add it into the next pack.

Metallic Text with After Effects

How to create a polished metal text effect using After Effects.

Continue Reading

This shows an easy to replicate way to capture the entire light rig of a scene and save it our as a high dynamic range image for use in Mudbox 2009. This enables you to get lighting that you never thought possible with a little thought and preparation.
LINK HERE

In this tutorial, Aharon Rabinowitz shows you tips and techniques for creating interesting fire and water-based effects. This free After Effects tutorial is a must see for anyone who’s interested in transition effects!!!!!  GET A FREE SMOKE VIDEO CLIP TO FOLLOW ALONG WITH AHARON FROM OUR BLOG Topics covered in this free video tutorial:  Nesting and Pre-composing, Displacement Maps, Luma and Alpha Mattes, Gradient & Linear Wipes, Transition Effects, Looping Footage, Adjustment Layers, Text Treatments
Launch tutorial

From Cinema4Dvids.blogspot.com

Heres a BRAND NEW video tutorial on modeling a replica light saber. This wont be a 1:1 copy and to some hardcore fans may not even be up to their standards. But lets face it people your here to learn just as much as I am so i hope you have fun and enjoy it.

LINK HERE

Irradiance Particles and HDRI Rendering

In this video taken from our “Rendering with SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.II: mental ray” training product, we will get to see how to use the new irradiance particles indirect illumination algorithm and combine it with image based lighting using HDRI rendering.

LINK HERE

Working with ICE

Get a free look into the inner workings of ICE and production workflow in this video from the “Mastering the Art of ICE Volume I: Breaking the ICE” series.

LINK HERE

Overview of the ViewCube

3dsMax 2009 saw the introduction of the “ViewCube”. This useful tool can be used to quickly and easily change your view angle with the click of a button. In this video, we will look at how to use the ViewCube.

LINK HERE

Select Actions from the Hotbox

Probably the greatest feature of the Maya interface, the Hotbox, allows artists to access every tool in Maya.

LINK HERE

Tony at VFXSchool.blogspot.com has a free template for tracking markers:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ngeyydy2dow

Tony at VFXschool.blogspot.com has a free Motion pro Toolkit for all of you aspiring motion graphic artists!

Download: http://www.filesavr.com/motionprotoolkit

Hollywood Camera Work – Visual Effects for Directors  is a new DVD series coming out, but they have 4 chapters online for you to check out: How to Place Tracking Markers I & II, Crowd Replication, How to Receive Shadows and Light, and Shooting for Planar Tracking.

LINK HERE

In this lesson we will learn how to utilize the time-saving IPR render with mental ray in Maya.
Topics covered in this tutorial: Setting up the Render View to use IPR rendering with mental ray,  learning the difference between mental ray IPR and Maya Software IP.

LINK HERE

This week’s Five Second Project theme is “Hero”. Need an excuse to make something cool this week? Well, now is your chance. Use this theme to make a short motion piece and link it in the comments of this blog post. “Shout Box” submissions will not be found and will not be added to the channel. Please be sure to post a link in this post’s comments to ensure Nick seeing it.

It’s really great to see so much participation. Tell a friend about the five second projects and get them involved too. Don’t forget to push yourself to try something new every week. What about a new piece of software or technique you have wanted to try?

Bottom line… MAKE COOL SHIT!

Need some more help getting started? Check out Nick’s After Effects and Cinema 4D tutorials.

I know that you all wait everyday with bated breath to see if I include a new post that day, but life just sometimes gets in the way.  I have been writing more and more at other sites, including my newest article which debuted at AEtuts+ on Friday, The Venti AE Tutorial Roundup.  Go over and check it out!  as for the rest, of those non AE tutorials, well here they are…

In this exciting 46 minute tutorial we will build a furious procedural disintegration using displacement maps, turbulent displacement and CC particle world. Be sure to stay tuned until the very end for a fun bonus video…

Watch Tutorial Watch Final Video

Fake Liquid in Cinema 4D – While there are other ways to create this same look, there aren’t any that are easier to comprehend for the novice C4D user.  In this movie tutorial, I’ll demonstrate a simple way to create some fake looking watery liquid stuff.  An object, a spline and Path Deformer Pro will get you on your way.

LINK HERE

Fake Liquid in Cinema 4D #2 Mograph Splines – While there are other ways to create this same look, there aren’t any that are easier to comprehend for the novice C4D user.  In this written tutorial, I’ll demonstrate a simple way to create some fake looking watery liquid stuff using MAXON’s new module called Mograph.  You don’t necessarily need Mograph to take advantage of the tutorial, but this illustrates the ease of use.
LINK HERE

Fake Liquid in Cinema 4D #3 Using Spline Animations -

If you really want liquid simulation, you’ll need more muscle power than the standard geometry and simple spline manipulation, but this week, I’ll offer another method which might provide you with an alternative solution.

LINK HERE

Mograph Splines – New Cinema 4D Module -

While there are several tutorials on the Mograph installation CD which begins shipping this week, I thought that I would produce a small project file with a few of the tools that you can easily reproduce.

LINK HERE

More Techniques for Better Light Wraps
By Aharon Rabinowitz

* Create Vector Based Sunburst Rays
* Import into After Effects for Motion Graphics

» WATCH TUTORIAL

Paint Effects – Get Settings from Stroke – Video Tutorial Overview – This video will walk you through Paint Effects Get the settings from a stroke in Maya.

LINK HERE

Paint Effects – Share One Brush

Video Tutorial Overview

This video will walk you through Paint Effects Sharing one Brush in Maya.
LINK HERE

Paint Effects – Flip Tube Direction
Video Tutorial Overview

This video will walk you through Paint Effects in Maya.

LINK HERE

Paint Effects – Template Brush Settings
Video Tutorial Overview

This video will walk you through Template Brush Settings with Paint Effects in Maya.
LINK HERE

By Richard Harrington

Article Focus:
In this Photoshop tutorial, Richard Harrington shows how to perform depth of field blurring techniques using the lens blur feature in Adobe Photoshop CS4.

LINK HERE

“Creating a Pinbox: Part 1 – Modelling” by Rodrigo Paulicchi – In this two part tutorial on creating a pinbox model, I will show you how to go about modeling the main item from the frame to the pins, then I will conclude with showing you all how to animate it in part two. So let’s get down to it….

120. Alien desert. For Vue 6 and 7
Creating dune world.
Tips and tricks with sun.
Steam punk flying ship from Peter Pohle. Get model here.
View Tutorial [english] | Mega Pack III.

Flaming Eyes -  2 Part Tutorial
Part 1 -  Learn the basics of motion tracking, and  learn how to use matte masks
Part 2 – Learn how to make a ring of fire using particle playground and learn how to use tracking data for multiple objects.

This tutorial and the one above it come from MurfInc.co.nr, or Minymurf  known on the VCP forums.

Here is a look at his first tutorial on creatinga  flying effect like in Heroes – LINK HERE

In this tutorial we will take an in depth look at many tools within 3D Studio Max. We will start by modeling a small container for our simulation, and then adding a very advanced shader to it. From there we will move to creating a dynamic and realistic animation utilizing Havoc’s Reactor. We will also take a look at lighting and basic scene setup for best results when dealing with FumeFX and PFlow. That will conclude part one of this tutorial. In part two (soon to come) we will look at the lock and bond operator from PFlow Tools Box 1, and the creativity extension for Max. We will also use PFlow to create a velocity based simulation within Fume. This is a good one so stay tuned. This tutorial like all of the others is best

viewed in its respective tutorial page.

Hey everyone!  I have been hard at work, setting up a green screen studio in my basement so that I can up the production level of the VLOGs.  I have some great ideas in mind… and the VLOGs are hopefully going to be a weekly thing once i get a schedule down.  In the meantime, you can check out the rad array of tutorials that I have been collecting this week, as well as read my weekly articles over at AEtuts+, as well as my latest – “A Concise Guide To After Effects Keyboard Shortcuts“.

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fineCG.com, a new site from Maltaannon, and his buddies at Polygon Studio are bringing you tutorials from all kinds of different aspects in the Visual Effects realm.   The first tutorial, called 3D Sport Animation, takes a 3D low poly model of a human and makes the whole body particles using Pflow and animates while it kicks around a soccer ball (football).  Check out fineCG.com HERE and watch the tutorial HERE and download the project files HERE.

Create a Breakup into Particles Logo Transition
Apr 13th in Motion Graphics by Lloyd
A very popular request is how to make a logo breakup into particles and reform into another logo. There’s many ways to achieve this and most of them require a full 3D application, but in this tutorial we learn how to achieve it all in After Effects using a 3D particle systems and a few smoke and mirrors.
Continue Reading
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In this tutorial, Nick takes a photo of a streetscape during the day and turns it into a night scene. He takes us through the steps of darkening and colouring the image to look like night, and then creates a light source to turn the street lamps on as well as giving the light a fall-off on the road below.
To download the project file for After Effects, click here. You will find an After Effects project file and a still image to work with.  LINK HERE

In this tutorial, Nick shows us how to use the ‘Corner Pin’ tool in After Effects to sit a piece of video in a billboard. He also demonstrates how to use motion tracking and masking techniques to successfully sit the new piece of footage on a moving billboard and behind tree branches.  It’s a versatile technique that can be applied to a range of uses including: replacing letters on number plates, putting signs on windows and replacing existing video footage on screens with other footage.  LINK HERE

How To Use After Effects Masks As Custom Splines For Text Extrusions With Boris Continuum Complete 6

A video by Michele Yamazaki

Download a free demo of BCC6 | Buy BCC 6 | Learn more about BCC 6 in Toolfarm’s Plug-in Finder

Create the self-filling cup effect in After Effects

This film editing video tutorial will show you how to create the self-filling cup effect in After Effects.
LINK HERE

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Free RockGen Plugin for Cinema4D by Robert Hitzer
Via NinjaCrayon – RockGen is a free Plugin for Maxons Cinema 4D. With this plugin you can easily create random rocks.The process of creation is very in intuitive, controlled by a few parameters. Also, RockGen creates Materials automatically. Those contain one of three included textures in different channels for creating a maximum of realism.
[Read More]
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Upgrade any Trapcode product to the FULL SUITE for only $399, or upgrade any two products to the FULL SUITE for only $299! The full suite includes all 9 Trapcode plug-ins; Shine, Starglow, 3D Stroke, Soundkeys, Lux, Particular, Echospace, Horizon and Form!  Have SHINE?  Get ‘em ALL for only $399.  LINK HERE
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IPR in Maya vs. Render Region in XSI

In this lesson we will learn about the powerful and fast Render Region feature of XSI.

Uses XSI 5.0+  LINK HERE

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ASHLI Bump Mapping in Maya
In this lesson we will learn how to use ASHLI bump shaders to make a low polygon mesh look more detailed in real time. We will also learn how to use the Surface Sampler to generate a normal map from a high-poly mesh.  LINK HERE

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Inserting Joints in Maya
In this lesson we will learn how to insert joints within a bound joint chain without negatively affecting the bind.
Uses Autodesk Maya 2008+

LINK HERE

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Maya and XSI Modules
Modules are groups of similar commands. For example, all of the modeling commands are under the modeling module. Try learning the shortcut keys of each module for a faster workflow inside XSI.

LINK HERE
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Animating Water with Turbulence Displace in After Effects
In this lesson we will learn how to create a fake moving water effect using Turbulence Displace in After Effects.
Uses AE7+ 

LINK HERE
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This is chapter 4 of the nuke training series video. Maya is used to break down this project into proper pass structures for nuke. 
LINK HERE
This is chapter 5 of the nuke training series video. Nuke is show in regards to the separations of multi-channel EXR sequences. 
LINK HERE

This video covers a couple of the more prevalent user errors and their solutions. These errors aren’t due to Mudbox, but due to what could be termed ‘Pilot Error’.
LINK HERE

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In our latest 3dsmax video tutorial Michael Bauer shows us how to use wire parameters and limit controllers to rig lights in a scene.

LINK HERE

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Sketch Car - NEW
Cinema 4D • After Effects
• Sketch & Toon
• AE Set Matte
• Track Mattes/Object Buffer

WATCH

Welcome to the second tutorial in the “the basics” series.  In the previous tutorial you have learned the basics of the Cinema 4D interface.

In this tutorial you will learn how to add primitives to your scene, how to move your primitive around and how to change the size.  You will also learn how to use the different views and the coordinate manager.

Continue reading

119. Material mapping. NEW 4/9/2009 Vue 6 and 7
* Exporting terrain map.
* Creating map in photoshop.
* Importing map in to Vue. LINK HERE

In this tutorial we will review two Fusion plugins. One from Speedsix and the other from The Foundry. We will look at basic and advanced compositing techniques using BSplines, color matching and perspective matching. Using the amazing plugin, Tinderbox, we will replace the sky in our footage and composite it to look realistic. The example is unlike the result yielded from the tutorial, as the example is stylized while the result from the tutorial is photo realistic.  As always the tutorial is best viewed from the tutorials page. LINK HERE

n this PFlow training video we will learn to make a procedural dust cloud underneath of a helicopter as it lands. This tutorial was a welcomed request on the site, and it gives us a break from technical training in order to get into a more project based learning environment. This video is a real world challenge to which we are to find a solution, and we will yield some good results without using any third party plug ins.  LINK HERE

Episode 16: Better Compositing with Light Wraps By Aharon Rabinowitz

Software Used: 3ds Max & Mental Ray
LINK HERE PROJECT FILES

@ MaxAfter.com -28. The Tunnel

A quick technique of creating a cool futuristic tunnel in After Effects.  Use effects like CC Cylinder, CC Vector Blurr, Fractal Noise etc. to achieve it
LINK HERE

In this episode of Photoshop for Video, Richard Harrington takes a look at a new feature in Adobe Photoshop CS4 called content aware scaling. This feature allows a user to define a region or a graphic to scale or not to scale when the image is resized, giving tremendous flexibility to not have certain parts of a photo distorted when other parts are stretched.

LINK HERE

Having both FCP and Motion in Final Cut Studio means more options for effects creation with your video projects — and FCS integration makes it easy to work with them together. Having Motion projects sitting on your FCP timeline even helps keep your projects organized! Our man in Nepal, Jiggy Gaton, shows just how easy it can be to take advantage of it all.

LINK HERE

From Nick Campbell at Greyscalegorilla.com  – The first video in the CSTools series where I will go though how to use all of Chris Smith’s endlessly useful, CSTools. Today we talk about the 3D Stroke. A Cinema 4D Tool he developed to emulate the Trapcode After Effects Plugin, 3D Stroke.  LINK HERE.  The 2nd video in the series deals with CSTools -  Action Cam… LINK HERE
Download the CSTools Here

Watch all of the CS Tools Tutorials

Don’t forget about Nick Campbell’s aka The Gorilla’s 5 Second Weekly Projects over at GreyScaleGorilla.com.  Gives you a theme and sparks your imagination to MAKE COOL SHIT!

LINK HERE

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MaxAfter.com – 27. Knowing Earth

• Use bitmap and text layers to emit particles to achieve Knowing film effect
• Trapcode particular will read and emit particle text from the lava cracks
LINK HERE

Design an Awesome 80’s Inspired Title Animation

In this lesson we will learn how to use Rigid Bodies and Fluids together to create a dynamic popping cork.
Topics covered in this tutorial:
Setting up basic Rigid Body interactions
Changing the collision primitives
Learning how to use Fluids to move Rigid Bodies
LINK HERE

Tim Clapham was asked a question on www.fxphd.com on how to alternate between two colours on a set of stairs that someone had built.  He came up with three simple solutions that use the shader effector, the color shader and the multi shader.  Here is the file:

Nick Campbell has another GSGcast exploring even more aspects of Cinmea4D.  From Nick:  “Thanks to Chad Ashley at CGPOV, I finally understand how working in 2.2 gamma space can help achieve more realistic results. For the story, visit his post on the subject here.”
Download this Cinema 4D scene.  22gammascenec4d

In this Photoshop tutorial, Richard Harrington takes a look at the camera raw interface. Many video professionals do not know much about the camera raw interface because it is a technology mainly used by digital photographers. The key advantage to using with a camera raw file is that the data is usually stored in the picture more than you can normally see in a single exposure.

LINK HERE

Combine Speed Ramping and Masking – After Effects Training

LINK HERE

Combine speed ramping and masking in After Effects to create a broadcast quality video sequence featuring VideoTraxx HD, DJ Fonts & Editor’s Toolbox.

Motionworks – In this 30 minute tutorial you’ll learn techniques and workflow used in Adobe After Effects and Illustrator to create the dramatic effect of the Batman icon shattering apart revealing a bright light source behind. Plug-ins used include Knoll Light Factory, Trapcode Particular and Shine. Thanks to Ko Maruyama and Jonas Hummelstrand for creative input.    Watch Tutorial

Digital Tutors – Creating and Modifying Shapes in AE

Topics covered in this tutorial:
Editing shapes during creation
Adding options to a shape
Creating multiple copies on a single shape layer
LINK HERE
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In this latest collection of ZBrush video tutorials by Pixologic we will look into creating normal maps. We start off by creating a simple model in 3dsmax which we will then take into ZBrush to finalise.

To watch these videos we recommend using the VCL Media Player, Quicktime Player or Adobe Media Player click links to download.
LINK HERE

3Ds Max Lighting Series

Part 1

In this tutorial we’ll create realistic shadows with Mental Ray, from sharpen to soften.

LINK HERE

Creating Revealers with CTK Elements in After Effects

In this tutorial, learn to add a sense of mysticism to your project by using Compositor’s Toolkit smoke elements to reveal a background image, animation or video in After Effects.

LINK HERE
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Create a Breathtakingly Awesome Rain Scene – Day 2

Mar 25th in VFX by Alex Verlan

This is an awesome website by a great motion graphics artist in Bulgaria.  Only problem is his tutorials are all explained in Russian.  If you can follow though, you can watch the techniques used in the videos and figure it out… He has some great examples of stuff he has done…

LINK HERE

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This is Umesh Patel.  He shoots a ton of footage, hosts it on rapidshare.com and lets everyone download it for free.  The footage he has is really useful for learning 3D tracking, wire removal, stabilization and green screen techniques.

LINK HERE

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Digital Tutors – Animated Sweep Ribbon
In this lesson we will learn how to use an Animated Sweep to make a ribbon-wrapping effect.  Animation Sweep is a powerful way to create many curves quickly. By using a short MEL script to deactivate and activate the curves, it looks like our present is getting wrapped. Try using this technique to create other interesting effects!
Uses Maya 7.0+  LINK HERE

Digital Tutors – Animation Snapshot Trail
In this lesson we will learn how to use the Animation Snapshot tool to create a trail of objects in Maya.   Using Animation Snapshot will create geometry based on an object’s animation. By raising an object and rotating it in a circle we quickly create a DNA helix. Controlling the Animated Snapshot with an expression makes a cool animated trail. Experiment with this tool to generate interesting designs!
Uses Maya 7.0+     LINK HERE

Digital Tutors – Building a Soft Body Antenna
In this lesson we will learn how to use a Soft Body and an IK spline together to build a dynamically animated antenna.   Adding a Soft Body to drive an IK spline creates the follow-through motion of the antenna automatically. This is a nifty time-saver, because the antenna will animate itself. Soft Bodies with Goals are good tools to animate organic motion quickly, because they will always try to conform to your original model.  Uses Maya 7.0+  LINK HERE

Digital Tutors – Physical Sky Shader in XSI
In this lesson we will learn how to use a Physical Sky to simulate outdoor lighting in XSI.   The complexity of lighting an outdoor scene can be daunting. XSI has a simple solution to this problem: Physical Sky. This will not only light your scene, but will also create the coloring of the sky. Try creating a Physical Sky next time you need to light an outdoor scene!  Uses XSI 6.0+  LINK HERE
Digital Tutors – Working With Clusters in XSI

Topics covered in this tutorial:
Basics of Clusters
Naming a cluster
Applying deformers and materials to a cluster

Uses XSI 6.0+  LINK HERE

GreyScaleGorilla.com has a new After Effects GSGcast up…
Guide To Keyframes in After Effects:
Today, I will be going over the difference between keyframe styles. I concentrate on showing all the different styles of animation that can be done with only two keyframes.  Download the After Effects Project File to follow allong.
Topics Covered: Linear Keyframes, Easy Ease, Bezier Keyframes, Spacial Keyframing, Temporal Keyframing, Graph Editor, & Custom Animation.
LINK HERE
This new video tutorial shows you the basics of using BCC Extruded Text in Adobe After Effects. BCC Extruded Text belongs to the 3D Objects category of filters which is new to Boris Continuum Complete 6. These stunning OpenGL-based filters use vertex and pixel shaders that enable the generation of animated 3D shatter, bulge, bend, taper, twist, ripple, and wave effects. You can also create reflection or texture maps for the generated 3D text – from any image or video clip in the AE timeline.

LINK HERE

Create a Breathtakingly Awesome Rain Scene – Day 1 by Alex Verlan

So make sure you go check out my article over at AE.tutsplus.com and remember to check out all the rest of the articles and check back to the website every Friday to see my weekly article!

Additionally, I have been shooting some stock footage lately that is now up for sale on VideoHive.net.  I have 7 clips up right now, mostly stuff that I have shot around my house in Tacoma, Washington.

Places like the Puget Sound, Narrows Bridge, and other really cool looking places around my neck of the woods will be available for download very soon.  I also have an affiliation set up with the sites as well as the rest of the Envato Network, so make sure you click through THIS LINK for me!

In this After Effects Tutorial podcast, Eran Stern takes the next step in the science fiction classic and finalizes the promo by projecting graphics in space from a flying saucer.

Ross Shain’s Channel on Vimeo:

In this advanced tutorial, Ben Heusner of Curious Turtle details the workflow for removing an actor in After Effects.
Covers tracking, roto and mocha shape plug-in for After Effects.

LINK HERE

Pond5, who is one of the  friends on the links at the very top of the page at Toolfarm.com, has just launched their free clip of the week. Sign up for a free account at Pond5 and download it!

Also Check out AEFreemart.com for free stuff throughout the week for After Effects!

VideoCopilot.net – In this tutorial we will learn a fast method for fracturing a layer into multiple parts and distribute in 3D space. This 50 minute tutorial is also packed with all sorts of tips, tricks and a few stories too.

Watch Tutorial

Artbeats.com – Cartoonification

by Chris & Trish Meyer of Crish Design (www.cybmotion.com)

Tips for getting better results from “cartoon look” plug-ins.

Download this article

I am going to let AEPortal.blogspot.com report this one… Rich knows what he is talking about bettter than I do…

“Via Sebastien Perier, a top contributor to After Effects Community Help, is DuDuF IK Tools for After Effects, a free script that does Inverse Kinematics (IK). The script is from Duik Tools, a website in French (English translation).

Sebastien says it seems pretty decent, and that you can even add bones to puppet pins. For specifics see the Overview and Help sections.”

Link to article on AEportal.blogspot.com

The Adobe Beginner Classes Episode #13 and Episode #14 from Dennis Radeke show you how to extrude text into 3D in After Effects.

Episode #13

Episode #14

Download 3D Text Project File

Digital Tutors – Fixing Texture Distortion with Warp Image in Maya – In this lesson we will learn how to fix texture distortion without changing the UVs with the Warp Image command in Maya. Topics covered in this lesson: Creating a new UV Set, Copying UVs between Sets, Using the Warp Image command.
Uses Autodesk Maya 8.5+  LINK HERE

Digital Tutors – Working with Keyframe Handles in AE – In this lesson we will learn how to change animation using keyframe handles in After Effects. Topics covered in this video: Changing keyframe interpolation, How to read the interpolation line, Using the Graph Editor
Uses Adobe After Effects 7+    LINK HERE

Interested?  Go to GREYSCALEGORILLA.com, see what its about and MAKE COOL SHIT!

These two web pages will teach you how to do the Egg modeling.
Egg Primitive Plugin
Splendid Egg video tutorial
Point by point on blueprint method
And here is the subject on C4dCafé OK Lets get started on this one…

LINK TO BASE80.com

LINK HERE

Digital Tutors – Customizing the Modo Interface

In this lesson we will learn how to customize the user interface using Tabbed Viewports.  Topics covered include modifying viewport settings and creating a new tabbed viewport

Uses Modo 301+
LINK HERE

In this tutorial, Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how to take the Crowd Control Footage (or any 25P footage) and quickly conform it to 24 P (Film Frame Rate)  using eithe Adobe After Effects or Final Cut Studio. Also covered are some workflow tips for After Effects for quickly setting up Renders.

LINK HERE

Episode 12: Form Face – Part 2 By Maltaannon
In part 1 of this tutorial, Maltaannon showed us how to create an awesome push-pin 3D face, using Red Giant’s Trapcode Form. In part 2, he’ll enhance the effect by going deeper into Form’s properties, and doing some camera work.
Read More |  Watch Video |  Comment
Product(s) Used: Trapcode Form

In the latest collection of ZBrush Tutorial Videos by Pixologic we will show you all about ZSpheres and how to use them. Later on in we will put what you have shown you into use by creating a simple human, hand and quadruped models.
LINK HERE

Building an EKG graphic in Apple Motion 3

This tutorial takes you through the steps of creating a heart monitor graphic (also known as an EKG).

Instructor uses Apple Motion 3.0.2.

Techniques feature include:  Paint Stroke Tool, Shape Styles, Keyframe Edit Tool.
LINK HERE

For Fanboys/Girls Everywhere – Star Wars Crawl in Apple Motion

This tutorial builds arguably one of the most famous title sequences in film history from scratch.  It focuses on accuracy to the original title crawl from Star Wars.

Techniques featured are:

Particles, Vector Graphics, 3D Camera
LINK HERE

Rotating Earth in Apple Motion

Earth as viewed from space.

Learn how to create a round, rotating planet Earth from NASA images.

Techniques featured are:

Sphere filter, lights, masking
LINK HERE

Create a Beautifully Animated Faux 3D Flower Scene

By Tan Wei Yan

Digital Tutors – PhysX Dynamics Engine

Check out the page with all the videos  by clicking HERE

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Check out Evan Schaible’s new tutorial on… you guessed it… Basic 3D Compositing.

LINK HERE

In this After Effects tutorial podcast, Eran Stern shows you the first step to create a retro design title animation for a fictional sci-fi movie.
Podcast Hosted by Eran Stern

LINK HERE

In this 3Ds Max tutorial Michael Hurwicz provides an introduction to the View Cube and the Steering Wheel, new features in 3DsMax 2009 which make it easier to perform viewport navigation operations like orbit, pan and zoom

LINK HERE
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In this 3Ds Max tutorial, Michael Hurwicz provides an introduction to the InfoCenter, a new feature in 3Ds Max 2009 which makes it easier to search and navigate documentation and other sources of information within 3Ds Max.

LINK HERE
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MaxAfter.com has a new tutorial that shows you how to make a heart rate ECG effect with Trapcode Particular.
- Create heart rate monitor in After Effects with particular
- Control the postion of particles with separate xyz
LINK HERE

Taken from AEPortal.blogspot.com: Alex Lindsay has his Greenscreen Primer Part 1 at PVC, which begins to show you the benefit of using video scopes to get a good key and maximize dynamic range.
Also good is Jonas Hummelstrand’s Greenscreen and Bluescreen Checklist and Mark Christiansen’s chapter in AE Studio Techniques, which covers the Keylight filter in After Effects and much beyond. A small portion of his info was released in book teasers, Color Keying in After Effects CS3 and a video presentation of Keylight.

Motionworks Cinema4D w/Alpha Channel Quick Tip

In this 3 minute video tip learn how to import footage with an alpha channel, apply it to an object in your scene, and have it play back in the timeline. Watch tip
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Digital Tutors – Using Bookmarks in Maya

This free tutorial explores using Bookmarks to create a faster Hypergraph workflow.  Bookmarks are a great tool because they record the placemtn of the viewport and the location of nodes in the Hypergraph.

Uses Maya 8.5+
LINK HERE

Digital Tutors – Outliner vs. Explorer

In this lesson we will learn about XSI’s Explorer, which is quite similar to Maya’s Outliner.  With it, we can easily check out the different objects in our scene and manipulate them as well.

Uses XSI 5.0+

LINK HERE

Digital Tutors – Finding Overlapping UVs with Shade UVs

In this lesson we will learn how to use Shaded UVs to find and fix overlapping UVs.  Topics covered in this tutorial include:

Reasons to fix overlapping UVs
Enabling Shade UVs
Uses Maya 8.0+  LINK HERE

Industry Insider with Cesar Dacol Jr.

Cesar Dacol Jr. has worked in the film industry for nearly 20 years.  Here we take a look at many of Cesar’s recent work and learn about the ZBrush tools and techniques he has been using.

Just click THIS LINK and then hit Industry Insider with Cesar Dacol Jr.
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Architectural Techniques using Projection Master

Sebastien Legrain, a master ZBrush artist shows you some very powerful Projection Master techniques he uses to create architectural and hard surface elements.

Just click THIS LINK and then hit Architectural Techniques using Projection Master.
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Getting Started With ZBrush

New to ZBrush?  These short tips and tutorials will help you get up and running with ZBrush fast.  It is recommended that you study these videos before moving on to more advanced titles.

Just click THIS LINK and then hit Getting Started With ZBrush.
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The Making of No More Wine with Simon Blanc

Simon Blanc of Blur Studios, shows you the tools he used to create his ZBrush work No More Wine.  Follow along step by step as Simon creates his base character from ZSpheres then continues to sculpt and paint

Just click THIS LINK and then hit The Making of No More Wine with Simon Blanc.

In the latest collection of ZBrush video tutorials from Pixologic, we will take you through the creation of a sword.

Click THIS LINK to download all 7 parts

In this short tutorial learn how to use After Effects’ Fast Blur, Turbulent Displace, Roughen Edges, Texturize, Displacement Map and Gradient Wipe effects to give text a grungy look.

Watch tutorial Download Project

In this recorded e-seminar John Dickinson walks through the techniques used in Adobe After Effects and Adobe Illustrator to create the silhouette look used in the award winning Bond Classic Bond teaser. Topics include working with green screen, preparing footage for clean vectorization and batch vectorization of sequences using Illustrator and Bridge. View Gallery post Watch e-seminar