DV video is prone to jaggy edges and compression artifacts. BCC 6 AE's new DV Fixer will greatly improve the look of your clip without sacrificing image detail or quality. Watch how it's done inside Adobe After Effects CS4.
In this video tutorial, CreativeCOW contributing editor, Nelson Fernandes demonstrates a method to obtain a quick and dirty mask using the find edges effect combined with the auto-trace feature.
In this video tutorial, Creative Cow leader Michael Park shows you how to create a realistic 3d earth, complete with clouds and atmosphere, using only After Effects' built in effects. Special attention will be given to combining multiple instances of the CC Sphere effect to create unique layers with different specular properties for the land and water masses, as well as creating lights from urban centers on the night side of the earth.
In this tutorial, Creative Cow contributing editor Carl Larsen shows you how to remove chromatic aberration from your footage using Adobe After Effects. If you are wondering what chromatic aberration is, don't worry he explains that too.
In this 3ds Max tutorial, Michael Hurwicz provides an introduction to the View Cube and the Steering Wheel, new features in 3ds Max 2009 which make it easier to perform viewport navigation operations like orbit, pan and zoom.
In the Photoshop tutorial, Richard Harrington takes a look at making an alpha channel based upon the luminance in an image. Alpha channels allow you to store transparency in a graphic and transfer that transparency to another non-linear video editing program or compositing application and key or composite in real time.
In this Final Cut Pro tutorial, Richard Harrington takes a look at the gradient wipe transition. The gradient wipe transition is a highly customizable transition using greyscale patterns to create your own custom wipes.
In this Apple Color tutorial, Richard Harrington along with color expert Robbie Carman teaches how to use tracking to have vignettes follow a person around the screen to simulate a spotlight effect.
BCC Smooth Tone is an image restoration filter that smoothes out skin imperfections while maintaining image detail and contrast in areas such as hair and eyes. This video tutorial from Paul Ezzy goes over the basics of applying the filter to a clip in AE and provides a brief lesson on how to use PixelChooser to increase the filter's effectiveness.
In this tutorial, Creative Cow contributing editor Carl Larsen shows you how to approach a 2.5D rig removal shot using Photoshop, After Effects and the Mocha AE tracker.
In this video tutorial, Creative Cow leader Tony Ross demonstrates how to create a simple multi-video player in Flash using Actionscript 3. Also learn to have several videos use a single flv player.
In this episode, Aharon shares some tips for simplifying and working with 3D compositions. You will also get a look at some cool tools designed to easily distribute and arrange layers in 3D space, and that help in creating complex 3D shapes.
In this Apple Color tutorial Richard Harrington and guest Robbie Carman will use user defined shapes to form vinettes to perform a secondary color correction. Learn about where primary and secondary color correction really occurs in Apple Color and other tips and tricks.
In this Final Cut Pro video tutorial you will learn about using the 3-way color corrector with skin tones and how the color corrector behaves when adjusting the color of two subjects in identical scenes.
In this Episode, we will look at some very useful techniques for Trapcode Particular that will give you better control of emitter position in 2D and 3D. You will also learn how to capture the motion of your mouse (or stylus) to control emitter position.
In this Photoshop tutorial, Richard Harrington explains how to output a DV video signal directly to a SD video monitor from Adobe Photoshop using a digital video converter via firewire and video preview controls. This is a very helpful tool for making adjustments to your color correction for use in broadcast video.
In this two part video tutorial, Eran Stern reveals the first text trick in his series and shows how to design an audio waves animation with the After Effects Text Tool.
Some free tricks on how to use the color range command in Photoshop. Many people use the old method of utilizing the magic wand tool for selecting areas of color, the color range selection tool has more flexibility and control. Richard walks you through using this tool and shows some new features added in Photoshop CS4.
In this video tutorial, Eran Stern shows you a technique to enhance your tracking and compositing results by using Mocha AE and RG Warp Corner Pin plug-in.
Exploring the problems associated with blending images that have square and non square pixel formats. Learn about how to fix some of the blunders of pixel aspect ratio mixing and how Photoshop CS4 is trying to help solve some of these pixel nightmares.
In this tutorial, Creative Cow contributing editor Carl Larsen shows you how to build an expression-based vehicle rig that automatically calculates the rotation of its wheels based on the movement of the vehicle chassis.
In this video tutorial, Eran Stern demonstrate the creation of 3D shadows with After Effects built-in filters and compares it to the functions of RG shadow plug-in.
In this video tutorial, Creative Cow leader Michael Park shows you how to achieve that classic introduction to all of the James Bond films using only basic After Effects plugins.
In this tutorial, Creative Cow contributing editor Carl Larsen shows you how to use the Pixel Bender Toolkit to create a recursive image set in Adobe After Effects CS4.
In this video tutorial, Creative Cow Contributing Editor Eran Stern will demonstrate building a reflection using After Effects built-in filters. He will also explore the RG Reflection plug-in.
Native P2 Editing in Final Cut Pro with MXF4mac. Creative Cow is a support community for digital video, video editing, and media production professionals in broadcasting, motion graphics, special FX and film. Creative Cow hosts tutorials in a variety of softwares including Adobe programs (After Effects, Dreamweaver, Flash, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Premiere), Apple programs, Autodesk, AVID, Cinema 4D, Sony Vegas, Zaxwerks, and much more.
In this video tutorial, Creative Cow contributing editor Grant Swanson demonstrates a quick, easy and very high quality bleach bypass effect right inside of After Effects. Understand what the term refers to and how to simulate it in the digital intermediate process or on digital video, using After Effects.
In this video tutorial, Creative Cow Contributing Editor Eran Stern will show you how to create a simple morph effect using time remapping and pixel motion.
In this video tutorial, Creative Cow Contributing Editor Eran Stern will show you how to create a fiery iris animation which has laser beams shooting from a girls eyes.
The independent film Juno featured one of the most distinctive opening credit sequences in recent memory. It has a wonderful handmade look - which it turned out was created by hand! Whether you have seen Juno or not, Cow leader Simon Bonner shows a much easier way to create unique, handcrafted looks, without the pain.
Here is a collection of the most sick, twisted, and disturbing film kisses. My favorite has got to be Luke kissing Leia from Star Wars... Incest at its best.
When one looks at the history of cinema, says The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan, the director-cinematographer dynamic is the key relationship, “as much as the director and the lead actor.” It’s the defining factor, he says, not only for how a film looks but “how it will be perceived as having been directed.”
Not in the mood for a sappy ending? Well, strap in because "Emotional Response Cinema Technology" lets your own body physiology control the movie music, the special effects, and even the movie ending. A collaboration between BioControl Systems, Filmtrip, and the Sonic Arts Research Center at Queen's University Belfast, the technology was recently showcased at the SXSW film festival in Austin, TX, where the newly minted horror film Unsound interacted with the audience through wires connected t...
Pop Art by Mr Whaite is a cool tumblr featuring a series of neon film posters for popular movies. The artist says: "I love neon signs—they’re hypnotic, sexy, sleazy and tacky all at the same time—and I’ve always thought it would be cool if cinemas used them to advertise films. So with that in mind, I thought I’d have a go at designing some animated Movie Neon. My first attempt is Ghostbusters—an obvious choice really, particularly as neon featured heavily in the video for Ray Parker Jr’s sing...
11/13 @ 10:00pm Cinefamily's 100 Most Outrageous Kills
LOOK AT ME ! LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! While we continue to prostitute ourselves selling shit to the masses, its good to remember the mechanism that makes it all possible. Just because its CINEMA doesn't mean we don't need television to get the message out. Had this have come out 7 years ago I would have sworn it was part of the ABC on-air branding.
For as much as Shane Hurlbut ASC's name is ostensibly everywhere right now for all the wrong reasons (re: Christian Bale, 5D challenge, etc.), as a cinematographer I think he's extremely talented. The photography and camera work in "The Greatest Game Every Played" are very underrated and the futuristic look he gave to "Terminator Salvation" is both stunning and unique.
One of our favourite movies of 2011—Manborg, which we saw at Toronto After Dark—has become one of our favourite movies of 2012 with its week-long run here in Toronto at the Royal. A gloriously funny pastiche of ultra-cheap kung-fu, horror and sci-fi, Manborg is also a perfect example of the DIY ethic: it wears its rough, hand-made edges proudly, and its intense roughness makes its devotion to ‘80s channel-100-at-3-AM crap-cinema ephemera even funnier. We had a chance to speak with director St...
Ikea Hacker features a nice Ikea mod: Romain turns the Ivar side unit into a camera dolly. "A few days ago, I found out that the Ivar 'wooden ladder' was perfect to use it as rails for my cinema dolly! I can now make some nice sequence shots with this 18€ accessory from Ikea."
Largely self-taught, Ryan John Kothe is an animator working out of Auckland, New Zealand. After picking up some rudimentary After Effects skills, he went on to create an impressive portfolio of beautifully rendered stop-motion animations with a distinctly tactile feel. Curious about the process behind Worn Out—Ryan's depiction of objects disintegrating in fast-forward (shown below)—we contacted him for a brief Q&A on the techniques behind his work.
