HitFilm 3 Express Special Edition - free 'Star Wars'-style effects

Among fun news this week is the latest FREE version of the effects/editor Hitfilm Pro, HitFilm 3 Express Special Edition, which will be available for a limited time only. The Hitfilm crew is celebrating the release of the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens.

Read the rest at PVC...

Glitches, damage, & distortions in After Effects

Glitchify for After Effects + Glitchify sounds, from Mikey Borup and Cinema Spice, joins a growing number of tools and tutorials that help Adobe After Effects users create digital glitches, damage, flickers, TV distortions and the like.

Glitches, damage, & distortions in After Effects at PVC collects a sample of tools and tutorials that may help create them.

For an unspecified time, the Glitchify bundle is available for 50% off through School of Motion and the plug-ins only for 20% off through Mikey Borup.

The Surface Book: is it really twice as fast as a MacBook Pro?

Microsoft has released their Surface Book laptop, dubbed the "MacBook Pro Killer" by some in the press. Apparently, Microsoft claimed that the Surface Book is twice as fast as a MacBook Pro, but now that we're past the feel-good atmosphere of the announcement, we might look closer at what's actually being offered.

BTW, the answer is no, though it is more interesting than the new MacBook & iPad Pro combined! Read the rest at PVC in Microsoft Surface Book: is it really twice as fast?

The Future of After Effects

Adobe is near releasing the "IBC" update to video apps in Creative Cloud 2015, which itself was just released in June, so community attention is turning towards future features for After Effects.

See The Future of After Effects: feature requests, nodes, GPU at PVC for comments by After Effects product manager Todd Kopriva on the general direction of AE, including interesting hints on the future of nodes and GPU rendering, as well as info on a new initiative by Sander van Dijk to open discussion of feature requests for AE.

Creative Cloud video updates at IBC 2015: a summary

Adobe has revealed updates to its pro video apps in Creative Cloud, though a specific release date was not shared. Adobe will also be showing the new features at IBC 2015 in Amsterdam for the next week. By the way, a separate bug fix update for Premiere Pro CC was released, which may have its own issues for some.

Creative Cloud video updates at IBC 2015 at PVC collects the overviews, video, and details links. This is just the announcement stage though, so 3rd-party perspectives aren't available yet.

After Effect’s puppet tool meshes and "digital beauty" treatments

Imagineer Systems posted a new tutorial, mocha and After Effects Puppet Tool. It uses the mesh warping capabilities of After Effect’s puppet tool along with captures of secondary soft tissue motion in a set of multi-planar tracks, to place a complex animation onto a moving person.

The new Face Tracker in AE should make some of this easier. See intros by Evan Abrams and Chris Meyer on the Face Tracker, as well as Adobe AE CC 2015: Face Tracker and mocha AE: An Overview from Imagineer systems.

These and additional "digital beauty treatments" and cosmetic fixes in post-production – basic and advanced – can be found in Cosmetic fixes, blemish removal, and skin retouching in post-production at PVC. 

Zoom while dragging in Adobe Premiere

While direct manipulation of UI elements may not be favored by NLE power users, sometimes it is faster. One example is moving a short clip or still using the =/- keys to zoom the timeline during the move.

For specifics, see Adobe Premiere Quicktip: Zoom while dragging at Pro Video Coalition.

Getting started: beginning After Effects

The beauty of Adobe After Effects is that it's approachable for simple tasks and at the same time has a feature set capable of producing complex film quality effects. In the olden days we had to walk miles through snow to pay for After Effects tutorials, if there were any, but now there's tons of worthy free stuff. The biggest gotcha with this material for beginners might be the new previewing features expected in the 2015 version of After Effects CC.

General sage advice is to start at the beginning, but knowing Photoshop and Premiere or Final Cut gives you a big head start. And remembering to "divide & conquer," that is subdividing tasks into doable chunks, will keep progress moving.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Read the article at Pro Video Coalition, Start At The Beginning In After Effects.

Flicker removal in Premiere Pro and After Effects

Although flicker has had its uses in experimental film, in video flicker can induce epileptic seizures – although it's mainly just annoying.

Removing flicker is often easy but can also be quite vexing with certain combinations of out-of-sync lights, electricity, and cameras found in time-lapse and slow motion footage. For discussion of some of the issues, tutorials, and 3rd-party plug-ins, see Flicker removal in Creative Cloud and beyond at Pro Video Coalition.

In the meantime, here's some Philip Bloom in Premiere Pro CC:

Next Adobe Creative Cloud video tools at NAB 2015

At NAB 2015 next week, Adobe plans to preview the latest features coming to Creative Cloud pro video apps. A webcast from the NAB 2015 show floor on April 16 is also planned. The webcast will provide a chance to see highlights of the release and chat in real-time with presenter Jason Levine and #TeamAdobe.

Read the rest at Pro Video Coalition... 

Project Candy creates a Look from the colors of an image.

Chromatic aberration roundup at PVC

A few years ago there was a spate of interest in chromatic aberration -- fixing footage containing the color fringing, but mostly creating it for motion graphics and VFX realism. Now, Quba Michalski has a new tutorial & preset (and donate button) in Chromatic Aberration Rig. 

Read the rest in Chromatic aberration: creation and fixes with After Effects at Pro Video Coalition.

[fix for PVC]

Nebula construction in After Effects @ PVC

[PVC refreshed]

Nebulas can be created several ways in After Effects: with "cards in space" of real images, or generated by Fractal Noise or 3D particle systems, commonly fractal-displaced particle arrays like Trapcode Mir, Form, Hitfilm Atomic Particle, and other particle systems.

Read the roundup at  Pro Video Coalition:
http://www.provideocoalition.com/nebula-construction-in-after-effects

Flashback: 'Almost Human' Circuitry

Last year, Andrew Kramer of Video Copilot visited Japan to speak at a Video Copilot Seminar 2014 hosted by Flashback Japan.

...see their video (only 11 months later) at ProVideo Coalition in Flashback: 'Almost Human' Circuitry from Video Copilot.

Shockwaves in After Effects at PVC

Andrew Kramer has been the most enthusiastic provider of footage and tutorials on creating shockwave effects in After Effects, and recently Daniel Brodesky created something similar, using Trapcode Particular instead of Fractal Noise for the base of the effect. There are a few other resources too, more explosion-related examples, but much of what's been published is outdated or no longer available.

...read the rest at Pro Video Coalition in Shockwaves in After Effects.

At PVC: Premiere Pro News Notes #12

There's another collection of news on tutorials, tips, and related tools assorted with Adobe Premiere, Premiere Pro News Notes #12. There's a bit more about audio this time, though AEP is still playing catchup on Premiere news.

70+ After Effects roundups

Here's a list of AE Portal topic roundups on PVC through 2014. Many of them have been updated since their initial release.

Alt link: http://www.provideocoalition.com/ryoung/a-roundup-of-after-effects-roundups

On PVC: Premiere Pro News Notes #11

There's another collection of news on tutorials, tips, and related tools assorted with Adobe Premiere Pro at PVC:

Premiere Pro News Notes #11.