Happy New Year to everyone! Let's kick this year off with some exciting news about Optical Flares. Our new lens flare plug-in will be available January 25 2010. That's going to be one bright Monday and you can be sure to see some in-depth demonstration of the amazing features very soon.

This going to be a big Year at Video Copilot!

In this tutorial we will create a reflective orb using only built-in After Effects plug-ins. The key to this tutorials is building a proper spherical map and utilizing the raytrace capabilities of the CC Sphere effect.

Watch Tutorial

Sample Video

I couldn't find the exact video I saw on TV but here is one of the promos for a show called Human Target on FOX. The design has a slick scope effect with some well-composited explosions and smokey hits that melt right into the design. This graphics package is a great example of using stock elements transparently within the design. In fact I didn't even recognize it until I combined curiosity with my DVR recorder and played it back in slow motion :) There was a more elaborate 3D fly-through in the version I saw but I thought I would share this one anyways.

Action Essentials 2 is our HD stock footage collection with over 500 elements that is great for compositing AND motion graphics!
More Info

To help with your holiday graphics, Save 40% on our design collection Evolution all this week.
UPDATE: Sale ended Friday. Happy Holidays!

Evolution is 100% downloadable and available after purchase!

For those customers who own Evolution, please enjoy this free project file for After Effects CS3 and CS4. The title design uses only 1 of the 155 elements and all you need to do is relink the one missing file with your Evolution collection. You may also need this font and possibly a snowcone.

Be sure to check out our other great products and gifts from the Video Copilot online store at everyday low prices! Your support keeps this site going and might also keeps Sam Loya off the streets (Maybe).

Visit the Video Copilot Store.

At Video Copilot, we do a lot of project-based tutorials but our goal is to provide useful techniques and tips that you can use on future projects as well.

I received a nice email from a customer regarding our Dynamic Bar Graphs Tutorial:
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I found you guys by watching your tutorial about creating dynamic charts in After Effects. I did a set of animated charts last year for one of our clients without a slick method like yours. Instead I created a dozen different 3DS animations. It was so painful...

I am about to start on a new project which will be LOADED with charts. Your technique will come in VERY handy.

Thanks Again.

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I know this technique is somewhat specific but after doing a fair amount of graphs in the past I'm glad it was appreciated by others as well.