Film Competencies Search Results

How To: Morph targets in 3DS MAX with WoW characters

The silent film era ended long before anyone had conceived of something like machinima, so your machinima movie had better have some talking! This movie will teach you how to use morph target in 3DS MAX to give your imported World of Warcraft characters facial expressions and animate their mouths to make them appear to be talking. You'll also learn how to make your model sneer, smile, and perform other facial actions.

How To: Use Biped to do motion capture in 3DS Max

Causing World of Warcraft characters to do what you want them to do in your machinima film can be a major challenge. Motion capture is one useful tool that you can use to solve the problem. This video will teach you the basics of using the Biped plugin for 3DS Max to animate WoW characters with motion capture data. Give your models the realistic stride that they've deserved all along.

How To: Create Star Wars style titles using Premiere Pro

The scrolling, synopsis-giving titles of the sci-fi epic Star Wars might be the most famous set of titles in the history of cinema. All most people need to see is deep space and yellow letters to immediately think of Star Wars. This video will teach you how to make similar titles for your own films using Adobe Premiere Pro. This is MUCH easier than what the Star Wars staff did to make the original titles, so fire up your computer and make your own!

How To: Make a blood burst machine for film

Alright, so you have some fake blood, and you want to use it in your movie. Unless you are showing a wound after it has happened, and if you want to do anything depicting people getting shot, you are going to have to find a way to make the blood "shoot" out of the wound when it happens. This video features instructions for making a homemade blood burst machine that you can use to make your actors spurt blood when they get shot, sliced, or whatever else you plan on making happen to them.

How To: Get started using Holomatrix in After Effects

Many science fiction feature films and TV shows feature holographic communication and interfaces. Red Giant Holomatrix allows you to easily recreate that effect with just a few clicks. This clip, in particular, addresses how to make those few clicks as a complete and utter newcommer to Holomatrix. Whether you're new to Adobe's popular motion graphics and compositing software or a seasoned video professional just looking to better acquaint yourself with Red Giant Holomatrix, you're sure to be ...

How To: Make a military-style night vision goggles prop

Night vision goggles are one of the iconic pieces of equipment of the modern military. Getting a real pair is prohibitively expensive, especially if you just want to use it as a prop in your film instead of actually seeing at night. This video features instructions for making your own set of prop night vision goggles for cheap, giving any action or spy movie that you are making a much more modern, authentic feel. Also, now your characters can see at night, opening up all sorts of potential sc...

How To: Make the Perseus sword from Clash of the Titans

For the proud fantasy weapon enthusiasts among you who does have the privelege of access to blacksmithing equipment, making a cardboard-and-clay replica sword is a fun and safe alternative project. This video demonstrates how to make a replica of the sword Perseus uses in the iconic and recently-remade film Clash of the Titans. Any practicing hobbyist should have all the necessary tools. The video makers website has very detailed step-by-step instructions to accompany the video here.

How To: Use FX to shrink yourself into a miniature village

Rick Vanman reveals the secrets to professional video effects using your own computer software. Position your model houses into a setup of your liking. Take a picture of the houses with a digital camera using the macro setting. Edit your picture in Photoshop. Disguise any unwanted objects with the cloning tool. Separate the foreground and the background of the picture into 2 different layers. Film yourself in front of a green screen. Key out the green with your video editing software. Using y...

How To: Create dotted lines in Photoshop

In this tutorial Photoshopuniverse describes how to create dotted lines in Adobe Photoshop using the brush palette. First create a new blank document in Adobe Photoshop. To open brushes palette, go to menu Window - Brushes. By adjusting spacing and hardness of brush under Brush Tip Shapes menu you can draw desirable dotted lines. To get uniform circled dots uncheck Shape Dynamics box. By holding the shift key click and drag to get a straight dotted line. To create bullet holes or perforated h...

How To: Mask in Adobe After Effects

Get started using Adobe After Effects with the help of The New Boston! This beginner's tutorial is bound to answer the many questions you have about the popular digital motion graphics and compositing software. The main purpose of After Effects is for film and video post-production.

How To: Translate FCP titles to subtitles in DVD Studio Pro

One of the best features of Apple's Final Cut Studio is the disc designing feature DVD Studio Pro. With its ability to create high-end DVD masters, you can easily make discs for your indie film, or maybe even a professional movie. DVD Studio Pro is tightly integrated with Final Cut Pro and Motion, rendering the projects into DVD format without encoding to intermediary formats.

How To: Set up a handheld Zacuto Letus35 Elite on an HVX200

In this demonstration, you will see how to build an HVX200 up with a Zacuto Letus35 Elite DOF Baseplate and Backfocus kit in a handheld setup. These three videos will show you how to build the HVX200 setup from nothing, start to finish. The first step to setting up the package is the baseplate, just like most cameras. If you want, you can even add a monitor to the setup to see what you're doing when filming.

How To: Convert a Super Wide Polaroid camera into a pinhole

Watch this video and learn how to convert a Super Wide Polaroid camera into a pinhole camera. This conversion will also work for super shooter and colorpack cameras. Strip down the camera, "chop" the body and prep to recap for a super wide angle pinhole camera. This project works for cameras that accept 3.25 x 4.25 polaroid and fujifilm instant pack films.

How To: Use iMovie HD 06

iMovie is the basic video editing software on MAC computers, the iPod Touch 4th generation, and the iPad 2. If you're new to film editing or just new to the program in general, this iMovie tutorial is a great introductory course to the program.

How To: Make a 3 part mold and use paste laminating systems

Check out this video to learn how to use the paste laminating system and three part mold-making techniques. This is an advanced process that is not for beginners. This process is for working on medium to large projects, this is a labor-saving process for those who need a large, strong tool in the least amount of time possible. This video also demonstrates three-part mold construction. This process can be used in automotive, mechanical, fine art and film special effects uses.