Check out the new blog show on creating real volumetric light!

Other than being holiday sick, I had a chance to shoot some greenscreen plates in the ol' Video Copilot studio to test some hologram FX I've been experimenting with. So far the only thing missing is the hologram...

At least we have a cool futuristic table and now it just needs some 3D graphics or something! Actually what's more interesting is a new technique I'm developing to create 3D volumetric light for the hologram projector.

For those interested we shot with a Canon C100 and a 24-100mm lens. The small light Dustin is holding is actually a color controlled LED light that is quite handy for VFX shoots. We are going to be doing more on set VFX this year and try to bring you tons of behind the scenes action so stay tuned!

Hey what's up! Another year of doing what we love and pushing the limits of our imagination. It's been great to be part of this community every single year and share experiences and ideas with so many of you. I'm forever thankful for this opportunity and look forward to an even more intense year in 2014!

My oldest daughter and I have been spending a little time in After Effects and I talk her through her own ideas. The other day, she wanted to make a candy cane (in 3D of course) and it was not as easy as it sounds! She really likes the "Sun" plug-in too! Oh, she really is my daughter :) As soon as the other kids get older, I'll be putting them to work but until then!

But for now, let's all try to find some time to be with family and friends and of course you guys are no exception.

Happy Holidays from the Kramer's and everyone at Video Copilot!

The future is here! Our community-built Future City pack is now available. I want to personally thank everyone who contributed and submitted their work for this pack.

Sorry it took longer than expected, we had a lot of files to sort through and optimize to work in Element and organize into one place but here it is!

Download Future City Pack and Information

The pack contains a variety of 30 buildings to create stunning futuristic city sky-lines inside Element 3D. Some models feature high resolution textures and others have lower resolution and work better for distant buildings. Experiment for best results! Remember be thankful to all those who worked on these!

There is a lot of variety and you can even user the Element 3D replicator, you can create some fun combinations like above.

NOTE:
Be sure you are running the latest version of Element 3D V1.6

I just stumbled upon this spectacular reel of visual effects work for the film Stalingrad. The simulations of smoke and fire take it to another level.

What's even more impressive is the amount of work that went into this video just to show all of the layers and work that went into. C'mon! Look at those camera swings!

While not quite as impressive, you ca check out our Advanced Training Seriesyou might be able to see how some of this is possible combining Fume FX with 3Ds Max and compositing in After Effects.

See Tutorials