A laser light show is possible to replicate with the diffraction grating effect. Different laser effects can be created using a variety of materials: small motors and diffraction grating pieces, and mirrors. It's possible to create searchlights, crystal balls, spring patterns, a Galvanometer effect, and a spider web. Watch this video circuitry tutorial series and learn how to replicate professional laser show techniques for recreational use at home, or as an accompaniment to music or any pseu...
This After Effects tutorial covers how to use the keylight plug-in when working with green screen footage. The keylight plugin makes it easy to remove the subjects from the green screen background. This saves time and makes it easy for you to get working on compositing your effects and other After Effects projects.
This week, Indy Mogul, Erik shows how to recreate the effect of someone crawling out of a TV. Just like in that scary movie The Ring. It's actually not expensive, just about $30. You will need scrap wood, poster board, tape, and flat bright green paint. Watch this video film special effects tutorial and learn how to make the effect of someone crawling through a television.
Learn how to shatter a stack of bricks with your bare hands... in After Effects, of course. Part 1 of 2 - How to Shatter bricks with your bare hands in After Effects.
This tutorial will teach you how to recreate a teleport effect using only plug ins that come with After Effects instead of Trapcode's Particular or other add ons.
Learn how to make a paper rip effect in After Effects. You'll need to do a bit of Photoshop work as well.
Ben and Paul show how easy and effective it is to cook up some great vomit effects using a strip of blue photographer's paper and a tin of pumpkin. Oh, and Adobe After Effects.
In this Adobe After Effects tutorial Tony Reale shows you how to create a ghost effect for your films.
Learn how to use the filter effect with a DJ mixer and a CDJ. It's important to explore the full effect of each effect by combining it with other controls. The filter will transition between the bass, mid, and treble or top levels of the music.
Have you ever wondered how there could be so many Agent Smiths appearing at the same time in the Matrix trilogy? Or do you want to wow your friends with a magic trick that you haven't even begun to learn? In this video tutorial you will learn how to create cool clone and levitation effects for your videos using Adobe After Effects.
Jeff Schell demonstrates how to use the Write-On video effect in Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 to create the illusion of text being "hand written" on the screen, one letter at a time. The key to this effect is animating the position of the Write-On effect, by creating keyframes in the Effect Controls panel.
This tutorial is for users familiar with After Effects 7 who want to start learning CINEMA 4D. It shows you how to take advantage of the FULLSCREEN mode, and changing the hotkey to tilde (~) just like After Effects 7.
In this NEW CS3 version, InDesign's transparency effects become even more powerful. InDesign borrows some of our most favorite effects from Photoshop. In this episode we'll take a look at the new Effects Panel.
Mashed potatoes and baked potatoes are delicious, but SO tired. Serve your family something new and satisfying for dinner tonight by preparing these fanned russet potatoes. Brushed with oil for an extra crispiness and for color, these fanned potatoes are great served alone or alongside a juicy meat dish.
In this tutorial, we learn how to paint a water drop effect on your RC cars. This is very easy to do but very easy to mess up as well. Make sure you are careful while you are doing this so results come out well. First, grab your color change paint and spray a coat of it on the car. Let this dry, then grab a spray bottle of water and spray water onto the paint on all sides at different times. Then, take your paint and put a light spray over it. Once finished, let dry and do a heavier coat (aro...
There are a lot of techniques out there for how to cook the perfect steak, from flipping it multiple times to applying a spice rub or dry brine to aging the beef. But it turns out that there's a super-easy way to make a great steak at home, and all you need is a good cast-iron skillet and some salt.
When it is too hot to use an oven but you want to have a dessert for a summer party, you can very easily make your own no-bake cake out of watermelon, whipped cream, chopped almonds, and fresh fruit.
Mass Effect 2 may have been around for a whole year... but not on the PlayStation 3. And last Tuesday, January 18th, PS3 gamers finally got their hands on a copy of the critically acclaimed RPG. Actually, this is the first time any Mass Effect game has been available on the PS3, making this a historical event for BioWare.
Pixel Perfect is the "perfect" show to help you with your Photoshop skills. Be amazed and learn as master digital artist Bert Monroy takes a stylus and a digital pad and treats it as Monet and Picasso do with oil and canvas. Learn the tips and tricks you need to whip those digital pictures into shape with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. In this episode, Ben shows you how to create a magical enchanted dagger in Photoshop.
We don't always have a tripod handy when we need to grab some footage for our latest video project, but shaky footage can ruin an otherwise great video. Thankfully, After Effects has a 'stabilize motion' tool that you can apply to your recording to prevent headaches brought on by a shaky camera.
Into special FX? Check out this video for a lesson in green screen. Watch and learn how to use green screen in After Effects. You can use green screen to make incredible visual effects for your videos and short films.
Indy Mogul Backyard FX is here with an awesome, cheap, special effect build that will have your audience jumping out of their seats. If you're a filmmaker on a budget you've got to watch this video and learn how to make a hole in the chest effect that look exactly like there is a hole in the actor's chest.
If you'd like to create a cool presentation with Flash, check out this video and the Flash plug-in flipdoo. Flipdoo allows you to build stunning flash flip books for both online and offline use in minutes. You don't need any additional software. Import your PDFs, configure book look & feel and publish. This is the best way to create digital ( electronic ) editions such as any type of publications, magazines, brochures and catalogues. Flipdoo Publisher is a Windows desktop application that hel...
A lot of people use Flash for 2D cartoon animation, but Adobe After Effects is another great tool to create some very cool cartoon animation. This how to gives you a clear idea of the steps to take to use AE as a cartoon creation device. This short video tutorial will demonstrate how to properly export character animation from Flash and import it into After Effects to combine with background and foreground elements. It also gives a handy trick of how to duplicate a character animation clip to...
Time lapse videos can be used to distort a sense of time around your subject, which makes them very useful special effects in documentaries. By using time lapse, you can show the transition from sunrise to sunset in just a few seconds, or slow down a drop of water hitting a table. The tools in Adobe Premiere can be used to create this effect, and the following tutorial shows you how to take your raw footage and turn it into a time lapse shot.
Start a complex animation that only has a few keyframes by using precomping! This is a simple yet powerful technique that can really open up your ability to get the most out of creating fun animations using Adobe After Effects.
Learn to create the popular dubstep "talking wobble bass" sound using Operator and Ableton Live. Dubspot Instructor and Ableton Certified Trainer Michael Hatsis aka !banginclude explains how to create this popular sound. By combining settings on Operators with the Ableton Live device Redux effect, this video takes you through the process and shows you how it's done.
Want to add a lens flare to your current animation or film? You can manipulate the picture using Adobe After Effects, and this tutorial shows you precisely how. Play around with the light, brightness settings and other tools to get a lens flare effect.
Mentalism and card magic work great together, as the trick that you will learn how to do in this video so eloquently demonstrates. It's called the Deck Divination Effect, and this video will show you the trick and then exactly how to do it for your next close-up magic show.
The greenscreen has allowed filmmakers to take us to worlds they never could have otherwise, but they can ruin a movie when used poorly. Watch this video for a guide to picking a screen, lighting it, and getting a good key for it using Final Cut Pro or After Effects.
The shrink ray as always been one of the oddest and least-useful sci-fi guns, but alien invaders seem to love them and so we'll keep seeing them. If you want to use a shrink ray in a film you're working on, watch this video. It will teach you how to first make a generic ray / laser gun, and then how to make an object shrink in After Effects.
Dance lead synth tracks with oscillator sync (osc sync) effects have powered some of the biggest pop hits of recent years, notably "Sandstorm" by Darude and "Poker Face" by Lady GaGa. In this video you'll learn how to use osc sync and other effects create a dance pop synth lead in Reason 4.
The iconic rap songs that Dr. Dre produced in the early 1990's were the best party rap songs of all time, and many were lead by a high-pitched synth melody that became the hallmark of Dre tunes. Watch this video to learn how to make a similar synth lead effect in Reason.
Want to create some really killer track effects for your project in Pro Tools? This tutorial covers how you can make your audio and instrumental tracks sit well in the mix, and add certain special sound effects to your final project.
You may not recognize the term "checker plate", but you've more than likely encountered it many times before. It's more commonly referred to as "diamond plate" and is the hardwearing, lightweight, non-slip metal stock with raised diamonds (or lines) that frequently adorn flight cases, stage decking and metal stair treads. This video will show you how to recreate that grungy look in After Effects.
PhotoKey is a cheaper alternative to Photoshop if all you want to do is work with green screen effects. This tutorial shows you the basic Chroma Key functions available to editors in PhotoKey, so you can start adding your own backgrounds and special effects.
Film Noir, or black film, is a type of film that can easily be attributed to classics such as the Humphery Boggart films of old (Maltese Falcon, King of the Underworld, ect.). If you're looking on how to create the effect yourself without a big budget, check out this video! John Hess gives you some basic tips to creating the effect with lighting and more!
In this clip, you'll learn a simple technique for generating a pitch sweep within Logic Pro or Express. For more information, including a complete demonstration and detailed, step-by-step instructions, and to get started using this effect in your own Logic projects, watch this free video Logic tutorial.
The lomograph technique in photography involves letting light bleed into the shot. Fortunately, you don't need expensive camera equipment to get this same effect. You can use the free GIMP software to create a lomo effect on any digital image which includes a lot of sky.
This video covers the Expo plugin in Ubuntu Linux, which is similar to the Exposé feature in Mac OS X. The Expo feature can be found in the Advanced Desktop Effects Manager. Once you enable it and tweak the options, you'll be able to view multiple workspace areas at once and manipulate your running programs between them. Check out all of the other desktop effects.
