The Magic Bullet Cosmo plugin from Red Giant does a fantastic job of quickly covering up those unsightly laugh lines and crow’s feet on your talent. This plugin seeks out areas in your footage containing values found in skin and then gently blurs the area careful not to affect sharp details like eyes. Like Mojo, it’s a great way to get the job done quickly. Simon Walker takes you on a tour of this new tool.
Quba Michalski‘s new tutorial shows you how to mimic the old look of stop motion with After Effects layers. He’s also created a free collection of presets which you can download at his site.
“This collection of presets will allow you to easily add subtle imperfections to the movement of objects in your scene, emulating animator errors that are a staple of stop motion animation. Using 6 different expression sets, you will be able to apply and control glitches in movement, rotation and timing of your objects as well as simulate changes in camera position and exposure.”
The folks at Rampant Design Tools show you how to make a messy text reveal using built-in effect Simple Choker and some stock elements.
In case you missed it: Harry Frank uses The Foundry‘s Camera Tracker, Primatte Keyer, Trapcode Horizon and Trapcode Particular to change the environment of a clip.
“Guest host James Zwadlo continues the After Effects: Effects A-Z series, demonstrating After Effects’ Card Wipe effect.”
I was pretty surprised to find out how robust this effect is… for a card wipe transition that is. Watch it a Motionworks.
While not a complete fix, this technique will help you obscure unwanted dirty lens dust specs on your footage.
Chris Meyer reveals some strange behavior which can crop up when using non-uniform scale and parenting on the same layers. In this free Lynda.com video available at the ProVideo Coalition, Mr. Meyer saves the day and offers a solution. Check it out here.
“Generate realistic textures such as Steel Plates, Bricks, Clouds, Granite, Wooden Planks, and Rock with the Boris Continuum Materials Unit! The textures are procedurally-generated to ensure smooth render at any scale. Each filter provides a variety of animation parameters including controls for the color, width, height, and other aspects of the material. Many of the filters let you add 3D detail to the material surface and include lighting controls. Apply the materials as realistic surfaces or use them as animated organic backgrounds. Each filter includes presets that make using the materials a point and click operation – even for complex animations.”
The guys over at Rampant Design Tools made this nice sky replacement tutorial but it doubles as a fantastic first introduction to using Mocha. If you haven’t bothered messing with Mocha yet, this video will definitely get you started.
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