Last night I had a chance to hit the Maxon mixer at Spin. It was really great seeing people in the motion graphics and animation industry outside an AENY meeting, where I actually had a chance to talk to them (and drink beer). I had a lot of fun hanging out with Nick Campbell and Paul Babb (CEO of Maxon), not to mention the rest of the AENY regulars like the Diamond Brothers (sounds like a band). But really I enjoyed talking to a lot of people I had never met before. This was not an AENY event, but it was clear from speaking with the crowd that many of them heard about it through this website. In fact, there were a group of visiting Austrian design students who told me they come to this website to learn about what’s going on in the AE world. Shocking!
We currently have 2000 active members in our group, with almost as many twitter followers (follow us as @aeny!), and our meetings get as many as 350 people. That’s just crazy.
There are so many passionate creative pros in NY, and this group is all about them (and by them I mean YOU). I’m so proud of what we’ve become over almost 4 years, and I look forward to hanging out with all of you one Thursday night a month to kick some serious AE ass. I know that Jim and Dave feel the same way.
And of course we need to thank our generous sponsors, like Maxonand Adobe, without whom we would not able to pay our bills (and there are a lot of them) for room, equipment, transportation of equipment + Parking, Website hosting…etc.
Nothing in NY is cheap or free, but with the right backing it can be awesome! Thanks to everyone for the continued support.
For those of you who were asking about the video we showed at the opening of the last meeting – here is is:
A videogame invasion has hit Mt Hood and High Cascade! Check out Scott Stevens, Micah Hollinger, Chris Beresford, Tim Eddy, Ben Bogart, and Casey Wrightsman as they live life like it’s one big game.
Credits: knifeshowinc.com.
Music by Ground Up: groundupsounds.com
FYI – If you want to learn how to do the text at the opening (and I think some of the graphics like the Space Invaders) check out this Red Giant TV tutorial by Tim Clapham:
Our friends at Tiny Inventions have given a deep workflow breakdown of how they created their recent AE-animated film “Something Left, Something Taken.” Enjoy:
A little update before we post the August meeting information. The new Foundry tools I showed at NAB and also shared at the last meeting with Danny Princz will be available on August 10. Cameratracker and Kronos for After Effects CS5 product pages are live now with some information and examples with more to follow. Check out some of the Kronos and Cameratracker examples below. You can see the product pages here KRONOS AND CAMERATRACKER
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.
