We have chosen the prize winners at random and will be contacting them via email shortly. If you entered your contact information to win the G-Technology 4TB G-RAID drive or Michele Yamazaki’s “Plug-in to After Effects” book, keep an eye on your inbox!

Top Ten Plug-ins of 2011, in order:

Adobe After Effects Plug-ins:

• 1st: Trapcode Particular
• 2nd: Red Giant Magic Bullet Looks
• 3rd: Boris Continuum Complete
• 4th: Video Copilot Optical Flares
• 5th: GenArts Sapphire
• 6th: Red Giant Magic Bullet Colorista II
• 7th: The Foundry Keylight (Included in AE)
• 8th: Trapcode Shine
• 9th: Imagineer Systems mocha
• 10th: Noise Industries FxFactory Pro

Final Cut Pro Plug-ins:

• 1st: Red Giant Magic Bullet Looks
• 2nd: Boris Continuum Complete
• 3rd: Noise Industries FxFactory Pro
• 4th: GenArts Sapphire
• 5th: Automatic Duck Pro Import/Export FCP (Note: Now Available for Free)
• 6th: Singular Software PluralEyes
• 7th: CoreMelt Complete
• 8th: CHV Plug-ins
• 9th: SmartSound Sonicfire Pro
• 10th: Zaxwerks ProAnimator

How do you use music in your video and film productions? Win one of two copies of the SmartSound Sonicfire Pro with Final Cut Pro Deluxe Bundle, given to two randomly selected respondents who answer all the questions. a $249.85 value. It includes 2 discs – Core Foundations and A New Era – plus a $99 album coupon. We’ll be collecting responses through Friday, October 2, 2009.

Learn more about SmartSound products in our store

Here’s a little tutorial I did about using SmartSound Sonicfire Pro and Final Cut Pro.

Tutorial: Using SonicFire Pro with Final Cut Pro from Michele Yamazaki on Vimeo.

Michele Yamazaki from Toolfarm shows you how to create a custom soundtrack for your video in Final Cut Pro using SmartSound SonicFire Pro.

Tell us your greenscreen or keying horror story! Enter to win Professional Keying with Keylight and the book Greenscreen Made Easy. All instructions are in the video. Important: Tag your video with the word ‘Greenscreen’. To do this, upload your video and click “Edit Video” to edit your tags. Due date is Friday, April 10, 2009. Good luck!

FxFactory Awards 2008 contest entries will be judged according to their creative use of FxFactory plug-ins and overall impact of the video material. Submissions will be accepted starting December 15, 2008. The deadline for submission is January 15, 2009. Winners will be announced January 21, 2009.

Get the details here.

What’s that? You don’t have FxFactory? Try a free demo today!. It runs in After Effects CS3/CS4, Final Cut Pro and Motion. It requires Mac OS 10.5 and an Intel processor.

Buy FxFactory | FxFactory in Toolfarm’s Plug-in Finder

The Adobe Design Achievement Awards celebrate student achievement reflecting the powerful convergence of technology and the creative arts. The competition – which showcases individual and group projects created with industry-leading Adobe creative software – honors the most talented and promising student graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, animators, digital filmmakers, developers, and computer artists from the world’s top institutions of higher education.

Submission are now being accepted through June 5, 2009.

Submit a Link + Submit a Movie + Submit a Topic
http://mgfest.com/09/call.php

[ Easy ] Submit a Link
Simply enter a link to a video you think is really good!

Online voters will select the top videos in several caregories. If your video is selected you will reveive a free badge to the Motion Graphics Festival.

[ Medium ] Submit a Video
Send us a DVD of a video you made. Late Entry Deadline: Dec 19, 2008

Send us your finest minutes, your dreams realized, your fictions animated, your adventures recorded, your sweat and passion woven into something of beauty, and we will take it to audiences across the country. Selections will be screened during the 6th annual Motion Graphics Festival tour in Chicago, Boston, Austin, Atlanta and Washington DC.

[ Hard ] Submit a Topic
Suggest a presentation topic, performance or installation.

No Entry Fee. Just let us know what’s on your mind. Our three themes are: New Motion, New Sound and New Media. Be a presenter, performer or panel/discussion leader. We are looking for presentation topics, technologies, abstracts, essays, performances, art installations, events, groups, conceptual meanderings and just plain smart fun.

Apple will post the list of required elements for entries in the 2008 Insomnia Film Festival. Then you and your team will have the next 24 hours to make and upload your 3-minute movie. That’s the easy part.

Register by November 13 to participate. The Festival begins November 15.

Learn more and register here!

The Visual Effects Society (VES) is now accepting online submissions for the 7th Annual VES Awards Show on February 21, 2009 at the Century Plaza Hotel in Beverly Hills. The deadline to send in submissions is December 5, 2008. Rules and Procedures can be found at www.vesawards.com.

Among the various changes this year are the addition of “Outstanding Animation in an Animated Motion Picture,” “Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project” and Matte Paintings categories. The Models & Miniatures and Special Effects categories are also back by popular demand as well.

“We are extremely happy that our members are so energized about this years awards!” said Jeffrey A. Okun, visual effects supervisor on the soon to be released The Day the Earth Stood Still and Chair of the VES Awards Committee. “With the return of some categories and the creation of a few new ones to reflect the ever changing face of our industry, this year should prove to really show that visual effects Artists not only break the boundaries of what can be done but do it with a skill and artistry never before seen,” Okun added.

The annual VES Awards show honors the most outstanding visual effects in film, television, animation, commercials, special venue projects and video games.

The categories open for submission are:

1. OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A VISUAL EFFECTS DRIVEN FEATURE MOTION PICTURE
2. OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A FEATURE MOTION PICTURE
3. OUTSTANDING ANIMATION IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE MOTION PICTURE
4. OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A BROADCAST MINISERIES, MOVIE, OR SPECIAL
5. OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A BROADCAST SERIES
6. OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A BROADCAST PROGRAM
7. BEST SINGLE VISUAL EFFECT OF THE YEAR
8. OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL
9. OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT
10. OUTSTANDING REAL TIME VISUALS IN A VIDEO GAME
11. OUTSTANDING PRE-RENDERED VISUALS IN A VIDEO GAME
12. OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN A LIVE ACTION FEATURE MOTION PICTURE
13. OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE MOTION PICTURE
14. OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN A LIVE ACTION BROADCAST PROGRAM OR COMMERCIAL
15. OUTSTANDING EFFECTS ANIMATION IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE MOTION PICTURE
16. OUTSTANDING MATTE PAINTINGS IN A FEATURE MOTION PICTURE
17. OUTSTANDING MATTE PAINTINGS IN A BROADCAST PROGRAM OR COMMERCIAL
18. OUTSTANDING MODELS AND MINIATURES IN A FEATURE MOTION PICTURE
19. OUTSTANDING MODELS AND MINIATURES IN A BROADCAST PROGRAM OR COMMERCIAL
20. OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN A FEATURE MOTION PICTURE
21. OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN A BROADCAST PROGRAM OR COMMERCIAL
22. OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING IN A FEATURE MOTION PICTURE
23. OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING IN A BROADCAST PROGRAM OR COMMERCIAL
24. OUTSTANDING SPECIAL EFFECTS IN A FEATURE MOTION PICTURE
25. OUTSTANDING SPECIAL EFFECTS IN A BROADCAST PROGRAM OR COMMERCIAL
26. OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT

Last year’s event attracted more than 1,000 visual effects artists and celebrities as the VES honored Steven Spielberg with its Lifetime Achievement Award. For the upcoming awards, VES will hand out the Lifetime Achievement Award to legendary producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall and also honor Phil Tippett with the Georges Méliès Award for his pioneering work in the field of visual effects.

T

Check out The Nobody Hole for information on how to enter. There are thousands of dollars worth of video and music prizes for the best entry. Prizes include goods from Digieffects, Red Giant, Noise Industries, CHV Plugins and limited edition music from Sum… and more. Download one of three short audio tracks and build your vision of the music. Create. Enter. Profit.

The top three finalists will get to go to San Francisco where a winner will be selected, as well as the People’s Choice. The deadline for all entries is Friday, September 5, 2008.