Optimal Production Search Results

News: Oscar Cinematography compilations

There was a fantastic compilation of best film moments shown at the Oscars in the late 1980's or so. I had thought it was an ASC or ISC production. As I recall it was set to music and both opened and closed with short segments from Citizen Kane, then proceeded to several hundred other short items more or less grouped by topic (falls, laughter, kisses, etc). It had a title something like Precious Moments or Precious Images or something like that about 5-6 minutes long and really excellent. If ...

How To: Snag Prime Seats at an NBA Game

There is no fan experience in professional sports quite like watching an NBA game live. Partly, this can be attributed to the combination of fluid teamwork and jaw-dropping athleticism the players exude in the form of size, speed, jumping ability, grace, and strength. What truly differentiates the NBA from the spectators' perspective, though, is the figurative nakedness of the players. While the NFL buries its athletes beneath pads and masks, the NBA presents its talent in shorts and a tank top.

News: Cocktail Blueprints

Below, two different sets of schematics for mixing cocktails: the first is the "Engineer's Guide to Drinks" designed some time in the '80s; the second is a set of sleek infographics for mixing the perfect drink, from Brazilian illustrator Fabio Rex.

News: Welcome to Dubstep!

Welcome to Dubstep everyone! This is a World dedicated to the howtos of Dubstep production. I will make updates around the genre and post them as blogs as well as build a database of howto videos on creating Dubstep music, resources and ideas.

News: Little known secret about TechNet Plus Subscription

Being in the IT field I have used Microsoft products for a long time. One of the secrets I have found is Microsoft's TechNet Subscription. With the TechNet subscription you get learning material, articles & news, but the biggest benefit is the software you have access to. For about $350 a year you get access to almost all of Microsoft's software in a demo form (non-expiring). You can't necessarily use this for production use in a business, but you can use it for "Testing purposes". I typicall...

News: BMW Makes Tron Car

Sorry Nissan Land Glider, the BMW Simple makes you look like a Granny car. This prototype truly feels like a car and motorcycle combined (plus it bears an amazing resemblance to the Tron light cycle). 

News: Make Optimus Prime Papercraft

Papercraft + Transformers = Fanboy nirvana. Papercrafting is enjoying a renaissance thanks to its nerd-love. Popularity of card modeling boomed during World War II when paper was one of the few items whose use and production was not heavily regulated. Micromodels, designed and published in England, were a popular source of military-themed modeling designs.

News: Resurrecting the Video Game Magazine: PC Gamer Digital

PC Gamer represents all that was awesome about games journalism in the '90s, now sadly diminished. Brilliant, funny, full of integrity, and solid print sales were always present, and with the tragic exception of the latter, still are. Video game magazines were hit harder than nearly any other magazine vertical when the internet began its uncoordinated, but inevitable assault on print media. Magazines are now struggling to find their place in a world filled with more competitors than paying cu...

Meatless Monday: Join the Revolution

Make My Mondays Meatless! One day a week join in on cutting out the meat! This Presidential initiative revived by The Monday Campaigns in association with Johns Hopkins, rolled out this program to the Baltimore public schools, then San Francisco went meatless and now celebrity chef extraordinaire Mario Batali and his fleet of fabulous restaurants said I'll play too! Now you too can help fuel this fire!

How To: Work with camera raw files in Photoshop

In this two part Photoshop tutorial, Richard Harrington takes a look at the camera raw files and the camera raw interface. Many video professionals do not know much about the camera raw interface because it is a technology mainly used by digital photographers. The key advantage to using with a camera raw file is that the data is usually stored in the picture more than you can normally see in a single exposure.

How To: Design lower thirds in Adobe Photoshop

This is a two part video tutorial. Be sure to click on Chapters 2 as well to get the full tutorial. Taking a look at the popular technique of designing lower thirds and the process it takes to design these using Photoshop. Photoshop is the perfect solution for this task with the ability to mix text, texture, graphics and logos to create compelling titles for your show or video.

How To: Build a 360 degree cube world with After Effects

In this four part video tutorial, Creative Cow leader Carl Larsen shows you how to create a 360 degree camera-aware environment in After Effects without the use of third-party plug-ins. In part two, build a title sequence within the 360 degree environment created in part one of this tutorial series. Part 3 shows you how to track a lens flare onto the surface of a 360 degree camera-aware environment without the use of a third-party plug-in. Part 4 shows you how to track a lens flare onto a 360...

How To: Bend strings on an electric guitar without finger ache

If you're a musician in need of some lessons, there's no better way to learn than with Music Radar's so-called "Tuition" instructions. Although the title tuition is misleading, this video class is anything but costly, because it's free, right here. Whether you're looking for help with your voice, bass, electric guitar, drums, guitar effects, piano, Logic Pro or production techniques, Music Radar is here to show you the way.

How To: Perform pull-offs correctly on an electric guitar

If you're a musician in need of some lessons, there's no better way to learn than with Music Radar's so-called "Tuition" instructions. Although the title tuition is misleading, this video class is anything but costly, because it's free, right here. Whether you're looking for help with your voice, bass, electric guitar, drums, guitar effects, piano, Logic Pro or production techniques, Music Radar is here to show you the way.

How To: Avoid fret buzz on an electric guitar with techniques

If you're a musician in need of some lessons, there's no better way to learn than with Music Radar's so-called "Tuition" instructions. Although the title tuition is misleading, this video class is anything but costly, because it's free, right here. Whether you're looking for help with your voice, bass, electric guitar, drums, guitar effects, piano, Logic Pro or production techniques, Music Radar is here to show you the way.

How To: Play perfect open chords on an electric guitar

If you're a musician in need of some lessons, there's no better way to learn than with Music Radar's so-called "Tuition" instructions. Although the title tuition is misleading, this video class is anything but costly, because it's free, right here. Whether you're looking for help with your voice, bass, electric guitar, drums, guitar effects, piano, Logic Pro or production techniques, Music Radar is here to show you the way.

How To: Play pinch harmonics on an electric guitar

If you're a musician in need of some lessons, there's no better way to learn than with Music Radar's so-called "Tuition" instructions. Although the title tuition is misleading, this video class is anything but costly, because it's free, right here. Whether you're looking for help with your voice, bass, electric guitar, drums, guitar effects, piano, Logic Pro or production techniques, Music Radar is here to show you the way.

How To: Use and work with DOP forces in Houdini 10

This three-part series presents a look at the various forces in DOPs and how they work. This tutorial covers all the major forces except for the vortex, bouyancy and fluid forces. It covers both basic aspects and some more advanced techniques (animated masks, using RBD object position to drive a magnet force).

How To: Shade with point clouds in Houdini 10

This tutorial offers a look at using point clouds in shading, and the pcopen, pciterate, and pcimport nodes in VOPs. It also gives a further example of a POP network. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by this free video tutorial. For more information, including detailed instructions, take a look.

How To: Combine keyframe animation with DOPs in Houdini 10

This four-part tutorial series presents a look at how to combine traditional keyframe animation with DOPs simulation. This first part contains an overview of how DOPs differs from SOPs and how to examine DOPs data using the Details View. It then looks at the RBDKeyFrameActive node as a method for combining keyframe and simulation animation. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself wi...

How To: Use and work with surface shaders in Houdini 10

An introduction to building a surface shader in VOPs that combines an image texture with procedural shading. This is a rather longer set of videos than normal as it is a complete walk through of creating a shader. The videos are in total are roughly an hour long. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by this free video tutorial. ...

How To: Model a brick-wall rigid body collision in Houdini 10

A tutorial covering a classic rigid body simulation of ball crashing through a wall of bricks. The first two parts cover building a (procedural) brick wall, and the final two parts cover converting it into a RBD simulation. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by this free video tutorial. For more information, including detailed...

How To: Fret-tap the electric guitar like Paul Gilbert

If you're a musician in need of some lessons, there's no better way to learn than with MusicRadar's so-called "Tuition" instructions. Although the title tuition is misleading, this video class is anything but costly, because it's free, right here. Whether you're looking for help with your voice, bass, electric guitar, drums, guitar effects, piano, Logic Pro or production techniques, Music Radar is here to show you the way.

How To: Play power-piano guitar licks like Paul Gilbert

If you're a musician in need of some lessons, there's no better way to learn than with MusicRadar's so-called "Tuition" instructions. Although the title tuition is misleading, this video class is anything but costly, because it's free, right here. Whether you're looking for help with your voice, bass, electric guitar, drums, guitar effects, piano, Logic Pro or production techniques, Music Radar is here to show you the way.

How To: Play pentatonic legato on guitar like Paul Gilbert

If you're a musician in need of some lessons, there's no better way to learn than with MusicRadar's so-called "Tuition" instructions. Although the title tuition is misleading, this video class is anything but costly, because it's free, right here. Whether you're looking for help with your voice, bass, electric guitar, drums, guitar effects, piano, Logic Pro or production techniques, Music Radar is here to show you the way.

How To: Play super-fast blues guitar like Paul Gilbert

If you're a musician in need of some lessons, there's no better way to learn than with MusicRadar's so-called "Tuition" instructions. Although the title tuition is misleading, this video class is anything but costly, because it's free, right here. Whether you're looking for help with your voice, bass, electric guitar, drums, guitar effects, piano, Logic Pro or production techniques, Music Radar is here to show you the way.