The Complete Guide to Creating Photoshop Filters By Dave Nagel
I realized some time ago that it's simply too difficult for new readers of our publications to go hunting through the tutorials archives here to find all of the parts to our Filter Factory tutorial series. To date there have been six parts--two specific tutorials on generating 3D effects, one on customizing the interface of completed filters and three general pieces on working with the Filter Factory's expressions, functions and operators to generate effects. To this we now add our seventh and final part and conclude the series.
...Read More »
Torpedoed by Subtitles By Diana Weynand, James Alguire and RevUpTansmedia
A video or film project's titles provide crucial information to the viewer, whether it's the opening and closing credits identifying a video or film, the principals involved (the talent and production crew), or lower thirds, the nouns of video, identifying the people, places and things being viewed. Subtitles play a significant role, particularly in editorial or documentary work, in a number of ways. Subtitles make clear, speech or dialog that is difficult to hear or understand, as when people mumble or use unfamiliar dialects; provide language translations for viewers to better understand dialog in foreign languages, especially if the video is produced in a language not native to the viewer; and to make your film or video more accessible to viewers with hearing impairments.
...Read More »
Transitional Animation By Diana Weynand, James Alguire and RevUpTansmedia
Final Cut Pro X provides a number of interesting ways to animate video elements in the Viewer and Timeline to provide complex visual effects. But do you know how to create quick and simple animations just by using transitions? The beauty of this technique is its simplicity. No complex motion paths to adjust, no messing about with untold keyframes, just add a transition and set the timing and you're off to the next project.
...Read More »
Choosing Boris Continuum Complete for a New System By Jeremiah Hall
I switched from Final Cut Pro to Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 last summer, and three projects later, I'm still happy. But when I wrote my original article, there was one thing I never considered - losing my existing plug-ins I used in FCP. Every editor has plug-ins, some we use daily, others we only need to pull out once in a great while. After Effects and Premiere come with some pretty useful ones, but once in a while I need something a little more specialized.
...Read More »
Using the Vegas Pro color scopes By Gary Rebholz
Vegas Pro software features four sophisticated video scopes that you can use to analyze your video and gain insight into color correction filtering that you might need to do in order to achieve the best results possible. In this article, I'll talk about each of the four scopes and give you some examples of how they work and how you might use them to improve the look of your videos.
...Read More »
Understanding Video Compositing By Gary Rebholz
One set of compositing controls remain largely unexplored and underutilized by perhaps most Vegas Pro editors. The composite mode options give you a wide range of control over the look of your project, but many people don't understand how they work. So in this article, we'll take a look at some examples that will help you understand how composite modes work and how you can use them to enhance your projects.
...Read More »
Updated: 300+ Free After Effects Tutorials Mega List
After Effects has always been a popular topic for our writers and editors. We thought it would be helpful to list - with direct links to them on our After Effects Channel - the more than 300 different After Effects tutorials we have so far. In this list are After Effects training videos, After Effects hands on tutorials and techniques, and lots of After Effects Quick Tips. All professional quality, and all free! Enjoy!
...Read More »
Five Media Composer tricks you can't live without By Kevin McAuliffe
I've been an editor for a long time, and Media Composer has been one of my tools right from the start, and over the years, I've come across some good tricks to help enhance my workflow. Some might be obvious once you see them, but others can be a little bit more "hidden". Here are five of my top five "tricks" for Media Composer.
...Read More »
Neo 3D Tutorial -- Muxing 2D CineForm clips for 3D By David Newman
Cineform CTO and co-founder David Newman demonstrates a brief tutorial for those getting started with 3D. This explains how to take separate Left and Right eye CineForm AVI or MOVs and multiplex them into a single CineForm 3D clip.
...Read More »
Shine in Vegas Pro By Jeffrey P. Fisher
Confession time. This tutorial's subject remains one of my favorite effects to use with titles. The essential look is to animate a light streak that travels across the surface of the title. You've seen this a million+ times, yet it's still an effective way to add a touch of pizzazz to otherwise static graphics.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Colorizing black and white objects By Chad Perkins
In this clip, host Chad Perkins discusses how to colorize black and white objects, footage, and effects. He covers hue, saturation, and lightness. He applies tint to the footage to remap white to a color and black to another color. He also works with tri-tone, which enables you to map the midtones; color balance to colorize an object that has a lot of gray in an image.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: The color balance effect By Chad Perkins
In this clip, host Chad Perkins looks at how to change the actual color in footage, also known as color grading in the film industry. Chad uses the color balance effect in the effects and presets panel in After Effects to change the feel of a clip by adjusting its colors. He discusses a bit about color theory, discussing the color values of video, red, green, and blue.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Luminance Correction By Chad Perkins
In this clip, host Chad Perkins looks at how to correct luminance, or brightness problems in your footage. He shows you the color corrections panel and discusses the auto levels and other auto effects, but also works in the levels effect, detailing the histogram which shows what is going on in your image, shadow areas, mid tones and highlights of the histogram.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Slowing down and speeding up video By Chad Perkins
In this clip, host Chad Perkins covers the task of slowing down and speeding up video. He details how to slow down video footage and work with the stretch values in a clip, which expands the duration of the clip, or shortens the duration of the clip. He also works in the Time/Stretch dialog box, and the Time Warp effect as well.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Applying video transitions By Chad Perkins
In this clip, host Chad Perkins shows how to apply video transitions in After Effects, which is a bit more complicated than applying video transitions in a video editing application. He shows the transitions category in After EFfects, and details how most transitions work in After Effects, detailing the parameters and transition completion, wide angle, feathering the edge, and so on.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Applying video transitions By Chad Perkins
In this clip, host Chad Perkins shows how to apply video transitions in After Effects, which is a bit more complicated than applying video transitions in a video editing application. He shows the transitions category in After EFfects, and details how most transitions work in After Effects, detailing the parameters and transition completion, wide angle, feathering the edge, and so on.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Replace footage already in the Timeline By Chad Perkins
In this clip, host Chad Perkins details how to replace footage that you've already edited. He shows how to replace a clip with another clip, and the problem is he's already color corrected the footage and removed the green screen footage, and edited and trimmed the clip in the timeline. He then shows how to delete and replace a layer, and selects the footage that will be used to replace what is in the timeline.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Trimming video By Chad Perkins
In this clip, host Chad Perkins covers trimming video before you add it to your composition. He shows how to trim video in the footage window, shows how to preview and trim the video in time. He shows how to set an in point and an out point. He also shows how to use the ripple insert edit button and the overlay edit button.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Trimming video By Chad Perkins
In this clip, host Chad Perkins covers trimming video before you add it to your composition. He shows how to trim video in the footage window, shows how to preview and trim the video in time. He shows how to set an in point and an out point. He also shows how to use the ripple insert edit button and the overlay edit button.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Trimming Layers By Chad Perkins
In this clip, host Chad Perkins takes a look at the Trimming project and talks about video editing in After Effects. He shows how to start footage, trim footage, and how to trim the in point of a clip. He also shows how to move a video clip on the After Effects timeline, how to set a video to a layer marker, and how to bring two layers to the beginning of a project.
...Read More »
Maya 2009 New Features: Making Particles Look Different By George Maestri
In this clip, host George Maestri details how to make your particles look interesting and different. He goes through some of the attributes in the particle system to actually show how you can affect the way that it looks. He defines the different tabs in the particle system, such as a spray, nucleus, which is the physics controls of the particle system.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Video Concepts By Chad Perkins
In this clip, host Chad Perkins shows how to create a brand new composition from scratch, and in so doing, will teach some of the essential concepts for working with video. He details the presets, how they are divided into categories, the difference between NTSC and PAL, and to ensure that you create your projects based on the broadcast standard where you will show your video. He also discusses how video must behave based on the settings.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Video Concepts By Chad Perkins
In this clip, host Chad Perkins shows how to create a brand new composition from scratch, and in so doing, will teach some of the essential concepts for working with video. He details the presets, how they are divided into categories, the difference between NTSC and PAL, and to ensure that you create your projects based on the broadcast standard where you will show your video. He also discusses how video must behave based on the settings.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Reading Timecode By Chad Perkins
In this clip, host Chad Perkins details how to read and understand timecode. He shows the display of timecode and shows how to read the timecode, from left to right, hours, minutes, seconds, and frames. He shows how to advance in time as well, how to scrub the time display right or left, and how to go to a specific frame.
...Read More »
C4D QuickTip : MoSpline 01 By Ko Maruyama
MAXON's CINEMA 4D R11.5 is full of new features, including several new tools that you'll find in Mograph. In addition to the spline tools that were introduced earlier, MoSpline is a dynamic way of introducing creative spline data to your scene. For some projects, a little tweeking may be necessary. Here's how...
...Read More »
Complete Training for Tricaster Studio: Edit Media Tab By Faraz Ahmed
In this clip, host Faraz Ahmed covers the Edit Media Tab in Tricaster Studio. The Edit Media Tab is a full featured non linear editor. It completes the Tricaster Studio, making it a true studio in a box. He goes over the features of the Edit Media Tab, which is great to make intros that you'll play in the Live Production Mode, or you've taken something from the Live Production mode that you've put together and want to make some tweaks to it.
...Read More »
Complete Training for Boris Red 4: Red's Theory of Operation By Steve Oakley
In this video, host Steve Oakley discusses Red's theory of operation. He talks about how Red works versus other compositing applications. While some may try to use Red just like After Effects, because they share common elements, they may find themselves frustrated in this approach. Red is centered more around the control window.
...Read More »
Complete Training for Boris Continuum Complete: Common parameters and suggested workflow By James Rankin
Boris Continuum Complete 4 contains more than 160 filters that work directly in After Effects and Premiere Pro, BCC works in the effects control window using the standard After Effects Workflow. In this video, host James Rankin covers the common parameters and the suggested workflow for BCC in After Effects and Premiere Pro.
...Read More »
Basic Training for LightWave v9: Layout By Jarrod Davis
In this clip, host Jarrod Davis takes a look at LightWave's layout and goes over some of the differences and similarities as modeler. He details the taskbar and tabs, the different views in layout, including top bottom back, front, right left, perspective, light view, camwera view, and schematic view.
...Read More »
Class on Demand: Basic Training for After Effects 7: Creating the composition By Chris Vadnais
In this video, host Chris Vadnais takes a look at Adobe After Effects 7, start putting together the elements to start creating the composition. He shows how to import the files for the project, putting together the composition complete with music, Photoshop files, and more.
...Read More »
Class on Demand: Basic Training for After Effects 7 By Chris Vadnais
In this video, host Chris Vadnais takes a look at Adobe After Effects 7, giving an overview of the interface in this version, as well as some of the tools the program features, how to create a composition, safe areas, adding text to your composition, and more.
...Read More »
The Complete Guide to Creating Photoshop Filters
I realized some time ago that it's simply too difficult for new readers of our publications to go hunting through the tutorials archives here to find all of the parts to our Filter Factory tutorial series. To date there have been six parts--two specific tutorials on generating 3D effects, one on customizing the interface of completed filters and three general pieces on working with the Filter Factory's expressions, functions and operators to generate effects. To this we now add our seventh and final part and conclude the series.
...Read More »
Torpedoed by Subtitles
A video or film project's titles provide crucial information to the viewer, whether it's the opening and closing credits identifying a video or film, the principals involved (the talent and production crew), or lower thirds, the nouns of video, identifying the people, places and things being viewed. Subtitles play a significant role, particularly in editorial or documentary work, in a number of ways. Subtitles make clear, speech or dialog that is difficult to hear or understand, as when people mumble or use unfamiliar dialects; provide language translations for viewers to better understand dialog in foreign languages, especially if the video is produced in a language not native to the viewer; and to make your film or video more accessible to viewers with hearing impairments.
...Read More »
Transitional Animation
Final Cut Pro X provides a number of interesting ways to animate video elements in the Viewer and Timeline to provide complex visual effects. But do you know how to create quick and simple animations just by using transitions? The beauty of this technique is its simplicity. No complex motion paths to adjust, no messing about with untold keyframes, just add a transition and set the timing and you're off to the next project.
...Read More »
Choosing Boris Continuum Complete for a New System
I switched from Final Cut Pro to Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 last summer, and three projects later, I'm still happy. But when I wrote my original article, there was one thing I never considered - losing my existing plug-ins I used in FCP. Every editor has plug-ins, some we use daily, others we only need to pull out once in a great while. After Effects and Premiere come with some pretty useful ones, but once in a while I need something a little more specialized.
...Read More »
Using the Vegas Pro color scopes
Vegas Pro software features four sophisticated video scopes that you can use to analyze your video and gain insight into color correction filtering that you might need to do in order to achieve the best results possible. In this article, I'll talk about each of the four scopes and give you some examples of how they work and how you might use them to improve the look of your videos.
...Read More »
Understanding Video Compositing
One set of compositing controls remain largely unexplored and underutilized by perhaps most Vegas Pro editors. The composite mode options give you a wide range of control over the look of your project, but many people don't understand how they work. So in this article, we'll take a look at some examples that will help you understand how composite modes work and how you can use them to enhance your projects.
...Read More »
Updated: 300+ Free After Effects Tutorials Mega List
After Effects has always been a popular topic for our writers and editors. We thought it would be helpful to list - with direct links to them on our After Effects Channel - the more than 300 different After Effects tutorials we have so far. In this list are After Effects training videos, After Effects hands on tutorials and techniques, and lots of After Effects Quick Tips. All professional quality, and all free! Enjoy!
...Read More »
Video-Based Review of GridIron Flow 2.0 Essentials
Think of Flow 2.0 essentials as a visual Dropbox for media assets, with versioning and time tracking. Let's take a look at a project I have setup.
...Read More »
Five Media Composer tricks you can't live without
I've been an editor for a long time, and Media Composer has been one of my tools right from the start, and over the years, I've come across some good tricks to help enhance my workflow. Some might be obvious once you see them, but others can be a little bit more "hidden". Here are five of my top five "tricks" for Media Composer.
...Read More »
Neo 3D Tutorial -- Muxing 2D CineForm clips for 3D
Cineform CTO and co-founder David Newman demonstrates a brief tutorial for those getting started with 3D. This explains how to take separate Left and Right eye CineForm AVI or MOVs and multiplex them into a single CineForm 3D clip.
...Read More »
Shine in Vegas Pro
Confession time. This tutorial's subject remains one of my favorite effects to use with titles. The essential look is to animate a light streak that travels across the surface of the title. You've seen this a million+ times, yet it's still an effective way to add a touch of pizzazz to otherwise static graphics.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Colorizing black and white objects
In this clip, host Chad Perkins discusses how to colorize black and white objects, footage, and effects. He covers hue, saturation, and lightness. He applies tint to the footage to remap white to a color and black to another color. He also works with tri-tone, which enables you to map the midtones; color balance to colorize an object that has a lot of gray in an image.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: The color balance effect
In this clip, host Chad Perkins looks at how to change the actual color in footage, also known as color grading in the film industry. Chad uses the color balance effect in the effects and presets panel in After Effects to change the feel of a clip by adjusting its colors. He discusses a bit about color theory, discussing the color values of video, red, green, and blue.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Luminance Correction
In this clip, host Chad Perkins looks at how to correct luminance, or brightness problems in your footage. He shows you the color corrections panel and discusses the auto levels and other auto effects, but also works in the levels effect, detailing the histogram which shows what is going on in your image, shadow areas, mid tones and highlights of the histogram.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Slowing down and speeding up video
In this clip, host Chad Perkins covers the task of slowing down and speeding up video. He details how to slow down video footage and work with the stretch values in a clip, which expands the duration of the clip, or shortens the duration of the clip. He also works in the Time/Stretch dialog box, and the Time Warp effect as well.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Splitting a Layer
In this clip, host Chad Perkins details how to split a layer, cutting a video clip or any layer to different pieces, which is especially helpful when using B-roll footage.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Applying video transitions
In this clip, host Chad Perkins shows how to apply video transitions in After Effects, which is a bit more complicated than applying video transitions in a video editing application. He shows the transitions category in After EFfects, and details how most transitions work in After Effects, detailing the parameters and transition completion, wide angle, feathering the edge, and so on.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Replace footage already in the Timeline
In this clip, host Chad Perkins details how to replace footage that you've already edited. He shows how to replace a clip with another clip, and the problem is he's already color corrected the footage and removed the green screen footage, and edited and trimmed the clip in the timeline. He then shows how to delete and replace a layer, and selects the footage that will be used to replace what is in the timeline.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Trimming video
In this clip, host Chad Perkins covers trimming video before you add it to your composition. He shows how to trim video in the footage window, shows how to preview and trim the video in time. He shows how to set an in point and an out point. He also shows how to use the ripple insert edit button and the overlay edit button.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Trimming Layers
In this clip, host Chad Perkins takes a look at the Trimming project and talks about video editing in After Effects. He shows how to start footage, trim footage, and how to trim the in point of a clip. He also shows how to move a video clip on the After Effects timeline, how to set a video to a layer marker, and how to bring two layers to the beginning of a project.
...Read More »
Maya 2009 New Features: Making Particles Look Different
In this clip, host George Maestri details how to make your particles look interesting and different. He goes through some of the attributes in the particle system to actually show how you can affect the way that it looks. He defines the different tabs in the particle system, such as a spray, nucleus, which is the physics controls of the particle system.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Video Concepts
In this clip, host Chad Perkins shows how to create a brand new composition from scratch, and in so doing, will teach some of the essential concepts for working with video. He details the presets, how they are divided into categories, the difference between NTSC and PAL, and to ensure that you create your projects based on the broadcast standard where you will show your video. He also discusses how video must behave based on the settings.
...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 Essential Training: Reading Timecode
In this clip, host Chad Perkins details how to read and understand timecode. He shows the display of timecode and shows how to read the timecode, from left to right, hours, minutes, seconds, and frames. He shows how to advance in time as well, how to scrub the time display right or left, and how to go to a specific frame.
...Read More »
Creating Effective Reflections in Sony Vegas Pro
Here's how to add a mirror reflection that makes your titles and logos stand out. It's quick and easy inside Sony Vegas Pro and it looks great.
...Read More »
C4D QuickTip : MoSpline 01
MAXON's CINEMA 4D R11.5 is full of new features, including several new tools that you'll find in Mograph. In addition to the spline tools that were introduced earlier, MoSpline is a dynamic way of introducing creative spline data to your scene. For some projects, a little tweeking may be necessary. Here's how...
...Read More »
Complete Training for Tricaster Studio: Edit Media Tab
In this clip, host Faraz Ahmed covers the Edit Media Tab in Tricaster Studio. The Edit Media Tab is a full featured non linear editor. It completes the Tricaster Studio, making it a true studio in a box. He goes over the features of the Edit Media Tab, which is great to make intros that you'll play in the Live Production Mode, or you've taken something from the Live Production mode that you've put together and want to make some tweaks to it.
...Read More »
Complete Training for Boris Red 4: Red's Theory of Operation
In this video, host Steve Oakley discusses Red's theory of operation. He talks about how Red works versus other compositing applications. While some may try to use Red just like After Effects, because they share common elements, they may find themselves frustrated in this approach. Red is centered more around the control window.
...Read More »
Complete Training for Boris Continuum Complete 4: Working with Basic Controls
In this video, host James Rankin discusses the displacement map filter. He shows how to use the displacement map filter on a logo. He details how to use the layer menu choices, the map menu, and so on to create the displacement.
...Read More »
Complete Training for Boris Continuum Complete: Common parameters and suggested workflow
Boris Continuum Complete 4 contains more than 160 filters that work directly in After Effects and Premiere Pro, BCC works in the effects control window using the standard After Effects Workflow. In this video, host James Rankin covers the common parameters and the suggested workflow for BCC in After Effects and Premiere Pro.
...Read More »
Basic Training for LightWave v9: Layout
In this clip, host Jarrod Davis takes a look at LightWave's layout and goes over some of the differences and similarities as modeler. He details the taskbar and tabs, the different views in layout, including top bottom back, front, right left, perspective, light view, camwera view, and schematic view.
...Read More »
Class on Demand: Basic Training for After Effects 7: Creating the composition
In this video, host Chris Vadnais takes a look at Adobe After Effects 7, start putting together the elements to start creating the composition. He shows how to import the files for the project, putting together the composition complete with music, Photoshop files, and more.
...Read More »
Class on Demand: Basic Training for After Effects 7
In this video, host Chris Vadnais takes a look at Adobe After Effects 7, giving an overview of the interface in this version, as well as some of the tools the program features, how to create a composition, safe areas, adding text to your composition, and more.
...Read More »
Vegas Pro 10 Available Now
