How To Use After Effects Masks As Custom Splines For Text Extrusions With Boris Continuum Complete 6
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A Conversation with Evan Sussman
We don’t often post this type of thing here, but you could help a young filmmaker win the contest of a lifetime… and he’s EXTREMELY talented. Evan Sussman’s film short, Escape, is a fantastic voyage into a freedom from the stresses of modern life. It is a contender for a $30,000 prize from The Doorpost Film Project. If you like the film, please vote for it!
Evan talks about how he created the film, including the special effects, working with expressions in After Effects and using Trapcode plugins. Read the full interview here
I’m Presenting at the Ferris Video Festival April 3
I’ll be running a session on Greenscreen and Keying (mainly keying tricks) at the Ferris video Festival on Friday, April 3.
The Ferris student chapter of MCA-I is hosting its 9th Ferris Video Festival on Friday, April 3. The event begins at 10:00 AM with a keynote presentation by Angela Prater, a graduate of the program who will speak on Diversity Online. She will present the awards for the high school award winners. Following the ceremony, there will be concurrent training sessions from 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM on a range of topics including the RED camera, Animation in Video Production, Copyright Issues, Special Effects Makeup, Greenscreen tricks, Music Video Production, After Effects, the HD Workflow, and Women in Film and Television. Members of the MCA-I Mid-Michigan chapter will be among the presenters. Everyone is invited. Admission is free. The event will be held in the IRC building which shares a parking lot with the football field on the mother campus in Big Rapids, MI.
Here’s the full schedule of the breakout sessions, from 11am-1pm.
- Copyright Issues — Denise Glassmeyer, Young Basile Attorneys
- Special Effects Makeup — Dawn Butler, fxmakeupbydawn & MCA-I
- Red Camera Demonstration— Jeff Hamlin, Lansing Community College
- Animation in Game Design – David Baker, Ferris State University
- Green Screen – Michele Yamazaki, Toolfarm & MCA-I
- Women in Film and Video – Serenity Sherie, Detroit Women in Film and TV
- Music Video Production – Chavell Crofford, Vellis Productions
- HD Workflow – going Tapeless – Glen Okonoski, Ferris State University
- After Effects – Andrew Tingley, Creo Productions
- Unions in a Production Environment – William Minihan, IATSE
On Saturday April 4, also in the IRC building room 120 on the Big Rapids campus, the Television and Digital Media Production Program will host a PA Bootcamp from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. The P.A. Boot Camp will provide more than just an overview of what is expected of production assistants on both film and video sets. MPA instructors Jax Baker and Mitch Nyberg will engage students with demonstrations, hands-on activities, form usage exercises, and give a review of set/client etiquette. Students will gain job search tips from a panel of production professionals during an informative discussion on local production companies, unions and film organizations, and the resources they offer. The training session is open to the public for $40 and for students at a reduced rate of $35. Seating is limited.
Messing with the Template
The starkness just wasn’t doing much for me, so I installed something else. I’ll be messing with it a bit so if you notice anything weird, yeah, we know. Enjoy the ever changing show!
Toolfarm Twitter Account
Do you Twitter? Follow Toolfarm on Twitter.
I’ve had a personal account on Twitter that I’ve been posting sales information, new products, and that kind of thing, but now get updates from Toolfarm without hearing about my cats or my daughter’s birthday parties 
.
Now, get lightning fast updates on sales, just as they’re being announced, new products and updates, live microblogging from NAB and even some product gossip (When is Final Cut Studio 3 coming out anyway?). We can also answer quick questions you might have via Twitter (with a limit of 140 characters of course!)
Most Common Animation Mistake In After Effects and How To Fix It – Wobbly Keyframes
Nick Campbell has some advice up at his blog Greyscale Gorilla. Most Common Animation Mistake In After Effects and How To Fix It – Wobbly Keyframes. This is a problem that we all come across at one time or another and if you’re a newbie, you may not know how to get around this. Watch carefully!
Nick’s advice?
Step One: Select the offending Wobbly Keyframes.
Step Two: Right click and select “Keyframe Interpolation”
Step Three: Set Spacial Interpolation to “Linear”
Acrobat 9 Critical Update!
I know this is an AE blog, but most of you are running Acrobat or Reader also. I received an email from Gary Hohler, Adobe Specialist, saying that a critical vulnerability has been identified in Acrobat Reader 9 and Acrobat 9 and earlier versions. This vulnerability would cause the application to crash and could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system.
Adobe recommends users of Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9 update to Adobe Reader 9.1 and Acrobat 9.1. Adobe has updates for Adobe Reader 7 & 8 as of March 18th. In addition Adobe plans to make available Adobe Reader 9.1 for Unix by March 25th.
Download Updates Here
- Adobe Reader users update to Adobe Reader 9.1
- Acrobat 9 Pro Extended users on Windows update to Acrobat 9.1
- Acrobat 9 Pro users on Macintosh update to Acrobat 9.1
Adobe categorizes this as a critical issue and recommends that users apply the update for their product installations.
MyToolfarm Greenscreen Contest
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!
Professional Keying with Keylight Now Available!
The long awaited Professional Keying with Keylight training is now available for download in Toolfarm’s store. This is the latest release from Toolfarm’s Expert Series. In this training, Angie Mistretta takes you through pulling tight and clean keys with Keylight from the Foundry. She shows you how to overcome problem areas such as wispy hair and areas of different texture on the edges. She also shows some great tricks of the trade for making a believable composite. The training is for all user levels. A greenscreen shot and background plate are included so you can play along.
Professional Keying with Keylight training is now available only at Toolfarm for a mere $39!
About the instructor: Angie Mistretta has her Master from Academy of Art in San Francisco where she learned from instructors who had worked on blockbuster films such as Star Wars. She is now working at Pixar, a company which needs no introduction.
Here’s a trailer for the training:
This Week’s Most Interesting Tuts from Elsewhere
Topher Welsh, a contributor here at the AE Freemart, has a great list of new AE tutorials up at AE Tuts+. check it out.
