Last week Andrew Kramer showed us how to put Particular aside and shoot the real thing. This week you can download 15 free HD (720p) clips of what he shot. Included is a tutorial with some ideas on what to do with your new footage. Click here to download the clips and watch the tutorial!

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Download the Freebies

If you haven’t seen the Demon Cam video, check it out on our Inspirations page.

It seems the competition to bring 3D to After Effects is about to increase with the upcoming release of a new plugin from Video Copilot called Element 3D. It’s a particle system which uses 3D geometry. With it you can bring in any .obj file and convert it into particles with amazing material options. In Andrew Kramer‘s first demo he shows us how we can create clusters of… asteroids, molecules, … abstract thingys. But as Andrew said himself, he’s only just scratched the surface with this first look. It’s somewhat been proven with Optical Flares, that when VCP puts out a plugin, they put it out right. There’s likely to be a ton of as yet unseen applications for Element 3D. (My prediction: Imagine buying a plane model from Turbo Squid, popping it into After Effects and making a particle stream set to orient to path. You’ve got a fleet of aircraft ready to interact with AE’s camera and lights!) Watch the demo here.

Video Copilot released a very handy script today which is great for cleaning up messy timelines. Andrew Kramer‘s Trim Compose script can take multiple layers and automatically pre-compose each of them. Now you’re free to heap on the effects, background layers, mattes and whatever else it is your cookin’ in each pre-comp keeping the main time nice and neat. Speaking of which, the new pre-comp layers in your main comp are given a close shave so you have a visual on where all the action is in each layer (no more long slabs of layer over layer). Get the script and watch the tutorial which also comes with some handy info on proxies here.

Andrew Kramer released a “walk-through” of how he accomplished a Tron text treatment which he teased us with last month. As usual, good good stuff. Watch the mini-tut and download the project file at VideoCopilot.net.

Very impressive new tutorial on Andrew Kramer’s site today.

“In this quick motion graphics tutorials we’ll create a natural light glow illuminating from your title onto a 3D surface. This tutorial also includes tips for generating a simple chromatic glow effect.”

Watch it here.

Andrew Kramer has posted a free After Effects title project which you can download at VideoCopilot.net. The project includes the necessary footage and the particles are from AE’s built-in effects. It also uses Optical Flares, but don’t fret if you’re not equipped. The text treatment is very impressive, even up close and that alone makes this a must have download. Get it here.

— John Stanowski

Video Copilot has just posted a free stock pack with a handful of video and texture elements. A couple of them look pretty handy. Download here.

— John Stanowski

Andrew Kramer‘s latest After Effects tutorial Blast Wave will show you how to blow things up and make ‘em look good. This tutorial relies heavily on explosive stock elements from the Action Essentials 2 stock library offered by Video Copilot. Don’t worry, you can use whatever you’ve got from Artbeats, Digital Juice or even Detonation Films (where you can pick up some stuff for free). Even if you’re not into explosions (eh?) you’ll still be able to peer into the world of visual effects compositing and see what it takes to sell a shot. Andrew’s explosion in this tutorial isn’t just one or two or even three elements slapped together—there’s a bunch, and a lot of care went into blending them together and with the shot. He built shockwaves from scratch. There’s also many tips on everything from masking and time stretch to color adjustment. What truly brings it all together is a long look at Mocha and how the explosion was made to fit with the shaky camera. You can download the project footage for free but you’ll have to get your own booms. Watch it here.

— John Stanowski

Andrew Kramer‘s latest vfx tutorial Depth Charge! will show you how to composite underwater explosions using stock elements. You’ll also learn about simulating underwater volumetric lighting and shadows, bubbles and debris and a look at a typical 3D/AE workflow.

- John Stanowski