Today is another day of filming for Action Essentials 2: High Definition, and we have been working all weekend building contraptions to safely create the elements for the team and the camera. One of the things we built is an acrylic (plexiglass) cage to protect the camera from falling debris and water blasts etc. The crew has been awesome and everyone has been contributing ideas and solutions to make this the amazing new product. I even have an orange bucket to sit on that says "director".

Finally!

Here is what the crowd really looked like at AENY! Actually, in the beginning of the meeting I asked everyone to "boo" the stage so that I wouldn't feel so nervous. It didn't help :)

Check out some pics from the meeting. Thanks to Jim for getting these online for us and the anonymous photog.
Flickr Gallery

PS, In case it wasn't clear, I set this scene up as a joke for the blog. Not only did I think it was funny but I thought it was great that everyone there went along with it.

In this in-depth tutorial, you will learn how to create a vast 3D city in After Effects using images from real buildings. It's Friday and I hope everyone has a good weekend!

Watch Tutorial

High Resolution Image

You may also notice that our Plug-in Twitch was used on the video sample to give the city a flashy look.
Twitch Product Page

Still inspired by my trip to New York, I decided to make a graphical 3D city in After Effects using flat planes and images. It's not 'photo-realistic' but it has a nice stylistic look; great for motion graphics or background elements. Keep your eyes out for a tutorial...

I should be honest and let you know that it is pretty slow to render such a complex scene even on my dual Pentium 3! Yar' be warned!

One of the things I did in New York was walked around the city shooting pictures of various textures and surfaces. Every block is different and I was able to capture some very cool stuff. I haven't gone through them all but here are a few choice selections for everyone. You can use them commercially but our standard license applies.

Download Now

New tutorials will be coming next week; right now, there is a lot to catch up on after being gone for a week. Please be patient as cool things are in the works.