In this Final Cut Pro tutorial, Richard Harrington take a look at the elgato turbo.264. This is a USB add on device that accelereates the h.264 encoding you can do on your Mac. The turbo.264 comes with its own compression software with presets for iPod, iPhone, Sony PSP, AppleTV and YouTube.
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 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 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 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.
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 tutorial, Broadcast Designer Jason Brown will show you how to knock out a vector logo from Adobe Illustrator into a 3D logo in Maxons Cinema 4D. The tutorial also touches on basic texturing, lighting and animation.
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.
This software installation tutorial will demonstrate step-by-step the silent installation of Adobe Creative Suite 3 (CS3) Master Collection 15products. This semi-interactive tutorial will explain the silent installation process on a Windows computer. Silently install any Adobe Creative Suite 3 product.
This is art at its finest. Portland sculptor Ron Ulicny created this faucet sculpture that spews out Scrabble tiles. It's simply called "Spew". Genius. It's just one of the many sculptures he's made repurposing ordinary objects and materials into new and unexpected things.
Redditor Liktwo is a genius. It only took him a month after the release of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to realize that making the Dragonborn's helmet out of bacon was the best idea since...Jeeze, maybe of all time.
Now how's that for alliteration? WOO! Anyway, this has already made the rounds, but if you haven't seen it yet, check this out. When you take a low-slung four wheel bike frame, a crap load of PVC pipe, miles of duct tape and about 1,000 hours, you, too can drive a Porsche without the high insurance payments.
Refresh your wardrobe without buying a single new article of clothing. Yep, it can be done. Because who really has the money these days to splurge on new clothes? And no, you don't have to be a DIY sewing genius to work with what you already have. Sometimes it's a matter of simple improvements, like making your dingy white tank top look super white again, or fixing those embarrassing scratches on your formerly spotless leather shoes.
The yet-to-be released Augmented Reality Cinema app is sure to make avid movie fans across the world drool. The concept is genius and appears to be quite seamless as well: Simply install the app on your iPhone, take a stroll through your city (supported cities have not yet been released, but the video below shows London), and aim your phone at various locations to view movie scenes that have been previously shot there.
Video game makers have never had great name recognition amongst the American public. Shigeru Miyamoto, Cliff Bleszinski, and Will Wright are names most Americans can't be bothered to remember, whatever their contribution to games have been. Most people are familiar with their work, but fail to recognize them by name or appearance.
Luxirare is a site of mystery; the genius behind the intricate and painstakingly photographed projects remains somewhat anonymous, despite her culinary mastery, fashion pieces and e-shop being featured in the likes of Vogue, Lucky Mag, ABC, NBC, and the New York Times. Insanely stylish and original, Luxirare has been blogged about all over the web.
So very pointless, yet unquestionably spectacular. The best kind of "art" performs no other function than to delight the viewer, and Japanese YouTube user Denha's complex marble machines do just that. But are marble machines art? You can call them that—or toys, scientific contraptions, engineering feats—but however you choose to label them, the best marble machines are complicated, skillfully crafted, and driven by the principles of potential energy, kinetic energy and gravity.
Superb costumes generally fall into two categories; artfully crafted, time intensive, pricey facsimiles or the low budget option—ingenious, cheap and scrappy. When undertaking the admirable task of creating "one cool (or not) idea every day, for 365 consecutive days, from January 1st until December 31st", option two is most viable. And the most fun.
Aleksi of Instructables has a genius idea. Bike tires out of air? Not a problem. That big old car down the street has some air to spare. Just insert Aleksi's pilfering emergency bike pump into any random car tire (make sure you're out of eyeshot, a look-out may be necessary) and siphon away.
Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories has figured out a way to make an omelette inside the eggshell through a tiny, punctured hole.
We've featured lots of fun lollipop recipes (Pop Tarts, pie, and more), but ahhhhh!!! This is the best yet! Sorry, I really love pizza (c'mon, don't we all?). And bite-sized pizza lollipops sound perfect. Especially when you can sample lots of different toppings.
Colleges Aren't Just for Learning Our favorite bloggers have compiled a fantastic list of the Top Ten Most Legendary College Pranks. Lots of the legendary hoaxes and wacky pranks come from the notorious Pail & Shovel Party.... And the one's that seem more like impossible feats? Well MIT is certainly great at using their genius for laughs.
French Canadian filmmaker Patrick Boivin's Iron Man parody, featuring his own baby daughter, is absolutely impeccably done. The special effects look FANTASTIC.
The average cost of a wedding cake is $543, according to The Bridal Association of America. The more people you need to feed and the more elaborate you want your cake to be, the more it will cost you.
Nick Cave is the Willy Wonka genius behind the extraordinarily imaginative "soundsuits" pictured below.
This Adobe CS4 tutorial shows you how to use the dynamic linking features available in the Creative Suite. This tutorial will specifically cover how to work with Dynamic Link in After Effects, Premiere Pro and Encore. See how to exchange data between these Adobe CS4 programs without rendering and exporting intermediate files. Use Dynamic Link in Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4).