3D MODELS
You may have thought we forgot about a free plug-in we were developing last year. Well we didn’t forget, we just had other things to focus on. However, I’ve been finalizing this matte-generating and refining tool and it’s release is imminent.
This plug-in isn’t going to make people like you but it will certainly help with your matte adjusting needs. Oh, and people will like you more too!
For anyone using CC Particle World instead of Particular, you may know that Particular’s Turbulent Field is not available. This feature allows random 3D displacement of a particles position. A similar effect can be achieved with Particle World by adding a TURBULENT DISPLACE effect. It works best with smaller particle and it has some limitations because it is only 2D but it is a nice way to get away from “perfect” particle movement.
Related Topics:
Fire Title Project — Uses Turbulent displacement
Dark Energy & Electric Energy — Uses Turbulent displacement
Fire Burning Project — Complex Fire Project
Related Tutorials:
A long time ago, I made a tutorial on simulating reflections over a watery surface which I had to revisit recently. I cleaned the project up a bit and now you can use it as a template with your own video. Play around with the displacement map and you can get some interesting results.
Here’s another test using some recycled graphics 
In this example the layers rotate around the middle of each piece, instead of the center of the comp as in the previous example. This makes each piece seem self-contained as if rotating in mid-air. The process is definitely the most interesting part of this experiment, I can’t wait to show you.
I’ve also simplified this technique so that setup can be done in only a couple of minutes. That’s exciting!
Stay tuned for more details.
I was surprised to see an article on Digg.com that featured After Effects on the front page. Usually it’s a bunch of posts about cats using Photoshop or drawing cats with Photoshop and occasionally cats teaching Photoshop but it’s pretty cool to see some good old fashioned After Effects. I say Digg it!
Here is a video of the experimental project I showed you earlier in the week. I’m still working on the technique and streamlining the process but I have a feeling there is a tutorial in the works.
For now, I’m preparing a big website announcement that you don’t want to miss. It could be waffles, it could be pancakes… or something even better!
The random lens blur effect was created using Twitch; one of our custom tools for After Effects.
UPDATE: Tutorial Online
Well… only one ring but it is golden. Just wanted to point out how much of a difference your color palette can make on a design. These colors are similar to the ones used by Troika Design for the TNT graphics and they sure picked some beautiful ones.
Don’t be afraid to try some creative variations in your own work.
In this new tutorial we will build a chrome ring in After Effects with an elaborate particle wipe. You’ll learn a new expression and build an anamorphic lens flare. The tutorial uses Trapcode Particular but I also show you how to set it up with CC particle world as well. And, I promise no references to The Ring!
Reminder:
The music and sound FX are from: Pro Scores and Designer Sound FX.
Check out our great Tools and support the site!
I don’t know what this is but it took a long time to make and rendering was really slow. What could it be? Some crazy test? A new production company logo? Perhaps a new tutorial idea? I’ll post a video when it is done. I’ll tell you it was created in After Effects and every piece is an individual AE layer.
AND, the background has a gradient!!!
We don’t get much rain in Southern California but today it poured. Luckily I had my audio gear handy and I recorded a few high quality clips for your stormy productions.
Our standard License applies.
Some of you may have noticed our mobile site now includes access to all 84+ tutorials and basic training in a small podcast form. The brand new tutorials (like the one coming out in a few days) will be added a week or two after they launch on the site. They seem to work best on Apple flavored phones but some people have been successful with other mobile devices.
The mobile forum has a few more functions like “edit” and we are adding even more so you have something to do while sitting in meetings.
I think our homepage automatically directs you to the mobile version of the site or just type m.videocopilot.net
Here’s a another free project that utilizes various masking techniques to create a friendly heart design.
Today is of course Valentine’s Day and I want to remind everyone to do something nice for someone special in your life. Could be your wife or girlfriend, mom or grandma, even your sister.
Now, if you don’t celebrate Valentine’s day… DO something nice anyways. Just don’t do something nice for your friend’s wife… that gets a little tricky.
See you Monday!
Depending on your source, there are about 195 Countries and 61 territories spread across the planet not including lost or fictional cities.
According to our web statistics and my astrology skills, Video Copilot has been viewed in 224 Countries and territories throughout the world.
I think it’s incredible to live in a time that makes this kind of connection possible and I’m glad to be part of such an amazing community!
Despite working on some TV shows, I don’t actually get to watch very much television. Something you may not know about me is that I am a big Law & Order fan, mostly of the older cast but some of the new stuff is pretty good. Lucky for me, the cable network TNT plays tons of reruns all day long.
So, earlier this year I noticed network graphics had changed, and the new ones were simply amazing. It seems the design studio TROIKA created the incredible work that very much inspired me. After playing around with the concept, I realized there were a lot of great techniques that I thought would be useful to share. Although the original design seems to use a lot of 3D, I’ll be using just After Effects with a little bit of Particular in the upcoming tutorial. Release date will be soon.
Even the metallic ring is built in After Effects.
The music and sound FX are from: Pro Scores and Designer Sound FX.
Check out our great Tools!
The mobile version of Video Copilot is now online! It’s not going to change the world but it may give you something to do while you’re waiting around town.
One day I was sitting in my doctors office and realized the blog and forum were a bit slow to load over a phone network. I talked to my developer Patrick and said “Let’s make a mobile version of the website!”, he promptly asked “What’s a website?” After sorting that out we moved forward.
The challenge was to make the blog and forum easy to read and load quickly from mobile devices. Our forum is currently set up with PHPbb and there isn’t a mobile template available so we had to “recreate” the layout and port the information. We brought over essential buttons and function but left out some of the clutter. Same goes for the blog.
The tutorials are really secondary because of the practicality of following along on such a small screen and load times are inevitably long. I decided to select 10 of the shorter tutorials plus the entire Basic Training Series. We may add additional tutorials in the future if things pan out.
Just type http://m.videocopilot.net from a mobile device and your in!
Here’s a fun project file that adds an anamorphic stripe and star around the standard AE lens flare. The layers are linked to the position of the Flare, so everything moves together. You can change the color from the “FLARE” solid effects control to create a golden sun or even a red sun. Have fun, just don’t look directly at it.
Download Project File (AE CS3)
In other news, I feel much better and I won’t need the computer speech program after all.
Although I’ve been a little under the weather this week, I still spent a healthy amount of time developing content and ideas for the site. 2009 is going to hold many surprises and more tutorials than any other previous year. Not to mentions the products in development will blow your mind! Possibly in a literal sense… wait, that’s too obvious. Oh well.
Now if my voice doesn’t come back soon, I’ll have to type everything up and use one of those computer speech programs. Not a bad idea…
There are definitely more interesting things going on around here (can’t say more) but here is some cool news for people with internet phones or within walking distance of Radio Shack. Our web developer Patrick is finishing up a lite version of your favorite video website so you can check us out on the go. We plan on offering some of the shorter (10-20 min) tutorials in a smaller iPod format but mainly it will be a great way to check the blog and possibly forum, if we can sort a few things out first.
I’ll let you know more soon.
