AE Freemart

David Torno, who’s name you might remember from the Flight of the Conchords’ Ladies of the World video interview, has a new tutorial on his blog, called Grain Matching Tutorial.

Todd Kopriva of Adobe has a pretty extensive list of new features in After Effects CS4, which I know you’re dyyyying to know about.

Read his blog post here. (link fixed)

Are you excited yet?

Michele Yamazaki, Peder Norrby and Ko Maruyama (and Jim G. hiding in the back)

Studio Daily interviews Peder Norrby, Trapcode’s founder and developer. Read the interview here.

Peder says, “There is also a business-perspective: our goal is for our customers to wow their clients and make more money using the products than the cost of the products themselves, so it is turns out to be a very good investment for them. Good investments are always popular, and news of them tend to spread.” So, that’s his secret!

Adam Meisel emailed me about a site he created, along with Erik Frick, called Dear Adobe

Adobe has been very positive about their site and has gone so far as to respond directly to the After Effects Top 25 gripes. It’s a VERY entertaining read. Enjoy!

Hip hop artist Sumkid and I have been feverishly working on a video contest to promote his incredible hip hop opera, The Nobody Hole. The theme is perfect for the Halloween season! Get out your video tools and be prepared for some awesome music and the possibility of winning some fantastic prizes. The grand prize is worth $2,800, including prizes by Noise Industries, Digieffects, Red Giant, CHV Plug-ins, Professional Video Templates, Toolfarm, plus some music and magazines. We’ve never done a contest like this before but tell all of your friends!

Press Release - For Immediate Release

Dunn Deal Artist Sumkid Launches Video Contest for Pioneering Hip-Hop Opera, THE NOBODY HOLE

The Nobody Hole Video Contest Winner Receives Thousands of Dollars in video software, applications, music, magazine subscriptions and more!

Los Angeles, CA –Over three years ago in Brooklyn, NY, rising MC and songsmith SUMKID architected an album that was so wildly ambitious it spilled over into film, visual art and theater. This album, a Halloween hip-hop opera called The Nobody Hole, is what LA-based and Southern-bred Sum describes as “a crazy adventure of epic proportions and a tribute to the influences on my imagination; from The Wizard of Oz, and John Carpenter’s Halloween to R.A. Salvatore’s The Dark Elf Trilogy and Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street.” For the past three years, Sumkid has been gathering a cult following for the project, due largely to his Rocky Horror Pictureshow-esque Halloween event, The Nobody Ball, which combines live performance and visual art, a screening of The Nobody Hole’s “moving storyboard”, DJ sets, gift giveaways and food. However, Sum’s biggest dream has been to one day breathe life into The Nobody Hole via motion graphics or animation…..

Now, in collaboration with The Good Look, Toolfarm and MaxBumps.net, Sum is announcing a video contest that will challenge the world of designers and animators to give life to one vast imagination and help push the bounds of what hip-hop culture can achieve. The mission is easy: pick one of three song choices from the album, and make the best animated video you can (the choices are all under 2 min long). The grand prize winner will win thousands of dollars worth of prizes, including a mega-bundle of top-notch effects and post-production applications for the video nuts out there, music prizes courtesy of Dunn Deal and Sumkid, and magazine subscriptions courtesy of culture impresarios Swindle and Frank151.

“I like to think that The Nobody Hole is a brand that’s going to be as huge as Star Wars, The Matrix or The Lord of The Rings one day…and I’m looking forward to finding hungry and talented artists out there that can see that and be part of history with this contest. And hell, even if it doesn’t get that big, we’ll still have a damn revolutionary project on our hands,” says Sumkid, creator and writer of The Nobody Hole.

Sum, The Good Look and Toolfarm want to see what these graphics designers are made of. The Web site TheNobodyHole.com is loaded with details and a full version of the album for fans to listen to. It houses all of The Nobody Hole Video Contest official rules, prize information, and instructions on submitting and viewing videos. The contest begins today and submissions will be received until October 24th, 2008.

No purchase is necessary to participate and the contest is void where prohibited.

Through October 24th, all videos submitted during the 4-week promotion will be reviewed by Sum and The Good Look, who will choose the Grand Prize Winner. Viewers and fans will be allowed to vote and choose the 1st and 2nd runners up.

For more information about The Nobody Hole Video Contest, visit TheNobodyHole.com, TheGoodLook.net or shoot an email to thenobodyboard@gmail.com.

Ko Maruyama created this great new video tutorial for Toolfarm, How to Set Up a Simple Maxon Cinema4D Set Driver. Check it out!.

I’m back from IBC as the title says. It was a very good trip. I can’t really say I saw a lot of new products that blew me away, but I talked to a lot of new people. They were showing the new Adobe CS4 suite at IBC for the first time in public, which might have interested you. Of course, I can’t talk about it.

Are you signed up for the announcement on September 23?  September 23 is the big day for the announcement about Adobe Creative Suite 4, aka CS4. Register here to register to watch it live!

Toolfarm has a special deal for you! Save huge $$$ in our 48 hour promo for Motion08 Conference.

This offer is only available September 9 and 10th and starts at 12:01am MST on September 9, 2008 and runs through 11:59 pm MST, September 10, 2008.

The Motion08 Conference is in Albuquerque, NM, from October 12-15. motion is a unique event, focusing on the art of animation, broadcast design, title design, VFX and motion graphics. The event includes three-days of keynotes, panels, sessions, and our unique motion{u} extreme training. You might recognize the names of some of the speakers: Chris and Trish Meyer, Mark Coleran, Alex Lindsay.

To get in on this fantastic offer, you just need to use the following codes when you Register.

• promo code TF499MO :: {m}ticket - full-conference pass $499 (regularly $1099)
• promo code TF299MO :: {m}ticket :: student - full-conference pass $299* (regularly $499) *must be full-time students.

Today only, Wednesday, August 27, get NewBlueFX for Final Cut Pro at 50% off!

Digieffects Delirium - through this Friday, get it for only $99 (regularly $399!). It runs in AE, FCP, and more with a single serial number on a single computer!

Check out That MediaShow, a really great video podcast for VFX and Post-Production folks. It’s like reading a trade mag without all that work reading! It’s sponsored by fxguide.com.