In this Quicktip, Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how using Depth Maps to displace Trapcode Form particles can be used to create a 3D Point Cloud Representation of a city.
This tutorial was inspired by the brilliant Trapcode Form work of Jeremy Cox at Imaginary Forces, for the film “Terminator: Salvation,” which was presented at the June AENY meeting.
Thanks Jeremy! Oh… but we would love to see a full tutorial covering your workflow with C4D, PF Track, and AE, to final output…
Harry is arguably the most knowledgeable person on the planet, when it comes to the practical use of Particular. If you want to learn all there is to know about that essential plug-in, check out his new training DVD here.
FYI – We are giving away 2 copies of it tonight at AENY, along with several other Class on Demand titles (not to mention a boatload of other prizes).
From the publisher:Get up to speed with Red Giant’s Trapcode Particular 2 plugin through this series of informative and project-focused lessons. Explore emitter types and functions in-depth with motion graphics expert, Harry J. Frank. Go beyond generating your typical particle effect and learn to use Particular in new and interesting ways. After Effects project files are included so that you can follow along with the instructor.
Jayson Bosteder, of the After Effects Portland user group (AEPDX) just posted an awesome video. Come on New York AE users! Don’t you love us enough to make one too?
That’s great for the Photoshop market, but what does that mean to you as a video artist?
Think Print Resolution Style Frames: No more trying to render out a printable high-res style frame or still shot in AE when using Looks or Knoll. You now have access to these effects directly in Photoshop. Also, when working with designers who have to use Photoshop whil you use AE, you can pass your Looks from MB Looks to MB Photolooks.
Just want to let you know that Thursday night’s meeting may be cancelled, due to weather. It’s not clear yet how bad the snow may be, but if it closes down the schools, we won’t be able to have the meeting. Please keep your eyes on the AENY blog and our twitter account to know for sure.
We hope not to cancel, but we are at the mercy of the elements and the Board of Ed.
A new Making It Look Great training DVD from Tim Clapham:
Click Image to watch video.
This promo for our brand new MILG7: MoGraph Unleashed video training, was created using Cinema 4D and After Effects. The Out Now text bounces using MoGraph 2.0 MoDynamics, the sky was added in After Effects using Trapcode Horizon, and the colour grade was created using a combination of Magic Bullet Looks and Mojo.
Interview with our good friend Paul Babb – CEO of Maxon USA:
Click Image to watch an interview with Paul Babb.
Paul Babb is the popular and charismatic CEO of Maxon USA. In this Cinema 4D–focussed episode of Unplugged we talk about Paul’s early days, including a time in film and on the stage; then dive head–first into Cinema 4D and MoGraph and what makes it just the hottest 3D software out there right now. Plus plenty more!
Man – what a blast. This last meeting featured 2 presentations focused around character animation, but really covered design in storytelling as whole.
First up was Max Porter & Ru Kuwahata of Tiny Inventions. They showed us “Electric Car” a video they directed for They Might Be Giants:
They even let me hold the electric car! (I sent the picture to my AENY co-leader, Jim Geduldick, who was away visiting Adobe HQ, just to make him a little jealous that he missed the meeting).
Then Ru and Max they broke down their process for character and object design and animation. Some pretty hefty stuff and hard work for what looks to be so light and fun. They know what they’re doing. A lot of photoshop problem solving to bring their real world models into AE 3D. Also a lots of expression and cool character rigging. Not to mention all that cutting, pasting and sewing.
We’re working on getting a project file for you to play with (for the character rigging, not the sewing).
They also showed us a new piece their working on which focus on the Zodiac Killer, although the characters sill look like kid’s TV show characters (who area also modeled after Max and Ru, themselves). Check out their work at http://www.tinyinventions.com/.
Next up was Stephen Neary, in his 3rd appearance at AENY. He showed us Chicken Cowboy. A film that he descibed as a way for him to get back to the basics of storytelling:
After the meeting, Stephen mentioned to me that the cat was inspired by my cat ford who likes to be spanked. Yes. I have a cat that likes to be spanked. Please don’t ask me how we figured that out. It’s bad enough I admitted it here…
He also showed us and broke down his process for “Let’s Make Out” an animated short which will be a Jib Jab Valentines Day card:
And finally he showed us a project under development called Dr. Breakfast – A Serial (not Cereal) cartoon. It involved deer bathing a naked man with his eyeball hanging out. No really – it was funny as hell. It didn’t hurt that Steve did all the voices and sound effects live, so we could get the full experience.
OK… Ok… for those of you emailing us for you’re prizes from the January (tonight’s meeting)… when we moved the domain over to a dedicated server to host the site, I forgot to set up the Prizes email account.
