Saber: a FREE After Effects plug-in

Saber is a new FREE After Effects plug-in from Andrew Kramer and friends at Video Copilot.

After a few hiccups, the free filter is now available.  VCP Saber can be used to create energy beams, lightsabers, lasers, portals, neon lights, electric, haze, etc. -- using the built-in beam, or using text or custom masks.

Saber is dense with features far beyond AE's ancient built-in Beam effect. There more info at Video Copilot or in Saber: a new FREE After Effects plug-in from Video Copilot.

77 free color grades for AE

Unseen here, Facebook users can "like" Dropdrop.com to get the free template "Cassidy Bisher's Color Grades for AE." The package includes 77 comps; just drop in video underneath the adjustment layers + effects, or substitute a video placeholder.

Cassidy also has many After Effects tutorial videos available on Vimeo that support his AE templates at Dropdrop.com. Here's an example of his work that was liked by Particular creator Peder Norrby:

Free plug-ins: Colorista Free, LUT Buddy + AE Flame

Still phasing in a transition to ProVideo Coalition -- here's the latest:

Colorista Free and LUT Buddy and AE Flame: free plug-in for CS4 & CS5.

Meanwhile on Aetuts+, check out Parenting: Basics + the Jump Parent.

Sinedots II: free filter upgraded for CS5

Last October Philipp Spöth, aka Frischluft (maker of Lenscare and FreshCurves), released a free CS5 version of Sinedots II.

The filter is more popular in the Photoshop world, but it should appeal at least to those who miss AeFlame, the open source plug-in stuck in 32-bitland. There is a nice (if long) AE tutorial video available: Generate a Dynamic Morphing Background Design with Sinedots by Stefan Surmabojov at AEtuts+.

DV Rebel Tools for free

Note: Red Giant released Colorista Free, which is pretty much Colorista 1.
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Prolost is celebrating the release of e-versions of The DV Rebel’s Guide (review) by giving away updated versions of the DV Rebel Tools scripts included with the original edition of the book. For many more details, see Rebel's Guide on your iPad or Kindle, DV Rebel Tools For Free.

Here's Stu's tutorial for DV Rebel Tools and a recent color correction session that also features their use (and still hoping for Colorista Free):

DV Rebel Tools Free for After Effects CS5 from Stu Maschwitz on Vimeo.

07 - Color Correcting Food with Magic Bullet Colorista II from Red Giant Software on Vimeo.

Free After Effects webinar April 5

Studio Daily is hosting a free After Effect webinar, Save Time Creating Visual Effects in After Effects with GenArts Sapphire:

"Join creative director Marcello Grande, from WESTERNIZED Productions, and host of SFMOGRAPH, as he walks you through some recent projects and shows you how to save time and have fun creating visual effects using GenArts Sapphire in After Effects.

Marcello will be explaining how to use Sapphire Textures, Convolve, Defocus and Z Glow. He will also be showing some 3D relighting techniques that take advantage of Light 3D, a Sapphire tool that allows you to relight a 3D model within After Effects to make on-the-fly decisions based on your AE scene. Ask him questions about his technique and workflows during a live Q+A at the end of the tutorials."

This free webinar is sponsored by GenArts, and is planned for Tuesday, April 5 from 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. ET / 9 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. PT.

Frozen in time, a free Particular project

Peder Norrby posted a free CS4 AEP of his Trapcode Particular experiment Frozen in time, which uses a Light Emitter driven by a wiggle expression, Aux particles trails that are frozen in time using a Physics Time Factor. Here's a render:

Frozen in time from Peder Norrby on Vimeo.

Colorista Free: in the works

Red Giant Software is planning to release Colorista Free, according to Stu Maschwitz on Twitter:

"Colorista Free won't have all the features of Colorista II of course, but it will do most of what Rebel CC does. CDL compliant."

For more info on other versions of the Colorista plug-in, see Red Giant, numerous posts on AE Portal, and especially Prolost on Colorista over NLE 3-way CC (what led to the creation of Colorista).

Free Boris Fx Glitters

BorisFx is offering a Free Boris Continuum Glitters "unit" for After Effects, Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, Motion, Final Cut Express, and Vegas Pro, according to their most recent e-mail newsletter. You're supposed to "Like" them on Facebook to get it: "You will receive a Facebook "Update" on January 3rd with a free Boris Continuum Glitters Unit download link." There's nothing on their website; it seems like they want you to sign up for the newsletter.

For a closer look at these filters, go to the Glitter Unit page.

Film Flash: free preset + tutorial for After Effects

Film Flash is a new free automated preset for After Effects "that bumps up the exposure of the footage to create a cool transition effects between two video clips. All you have to do is add a layer marker right at the point of transition, and Film Flash does the rest. The effect is highly customizeable and has many additional uses." (via @EdenExposito)

Created by Dan Ebberts and Aharon Rabinowitz, the preset is dynamic and requires no keyframes. It works with CS3 and later, doesn't require 3rd-party plug-ins, and works in any language version of AE. Here's a video tutorial; there's more from Aharon Rabinowitz on All Bets Are Off Productions:

Film Flash Preset Tutorial from Aharon Rabinowitz on Vimeo.

Spy Photo: free presets for After Effects

Spy Photo is a set of free presets for After Effects to help create the look of snapshots taken by a spy or private investigator. Created by Dan Ebberts and Aharon Rabinowitz, the presets are dynamic and require no keyframes. They work with CS3 and later, and don't require 3rd-party plug-ins.

Here's a video tutorial; there's more from Aharon Rabinowitz on All Bets Are Off Productions:

Spy Photo Tutorial from Aharon Rabinowitz on Vimeo.

Copy to Clipboard plug-in for AE

via @gutsblow is Copy to Clipboard plugin for AE, another free After Effects plug-in from Video Copilot. It's "not really ground-breaking" but the old one from ObviousFX wasn't updated for CS5. [In comments, Andrew Kramer says the copies are "screen pixels" so maybe not really 32 bpc.]

Sliced breakdown template for AE

Jake & Dan posted a free Giveaway: AE Comp-Fan Template for VFX Demo Reels (via):

"In their demo reels, compositors and matte-painters basically have to demonstrate their ability to build up different layers to create the illusion of a realistic environment, depth and perspective. The easiest way to do this is what we call a Comp-Fan or “Sliced Breakdown”. We are giving away the template we’ve created in After Effects for that purpose... [though] the template can be used outside of a reel."

You may also like Mike Cardeiro's script Trajectory and other 3D scripts at AE Scipts.

Graymachine: 17 free presets + tutorial

Here's an After Effects tutorial from Graymachine for Super Awesome Presets Volume 0001, a set of 17 free presets from Harry Frank (bullet formats, auto fade, pops, bounce, etc.):

Graymachine Super Awesome Presets Volume 0001 from graymachine on Vimeo.

'Movie Magic' template tutorial

Aharon Rabinowitz posted a Movie Magic Template Tutorial that breaks down his free Red Giant People template "Movie Magic" so you can alter the template for your own projects.

Movie Magic Template Tutorial from Aharon Rabinowitz on Vimeo.

Video Copilot offers free stock elements

Video Copilot has a free download of 100MB of stock elements for Free Stock-Pack Appreciation Day:

"This random collection of 20 stock elements and textures range from a night at the Air Show, to a burning Fuse and some stunning Time-Lapse clouds. Not to mention a little payback! Well… actually, video clips of money from around the world."

Just a token, but it comes with less apprehension than those mysterious free stock DVDs everyone has been offering.

Update: Weynand Training shares notice of a 7-Day Free Trial to VideoBlocks.com, for download of 20 clips a day during with access to over 30,000 video clips, backgrounds, effects, etc.

And of course Artbeats has free clips, currently new weekly.

Knoll Unmult: free AE filter

Knoll Unmult is the original free After Effects plug-in for removing black backgrounds and generating mattes, and is now available for CS3, CS4, and CS5.

A similar filter shipped with AE CS5, but doesn't get installed by default; see Unmult for CS5: Pixel Bender 'Alpha from Max Color' for background on that Pixel Bender and how to do-it-yourself with channel filters. Here's a 3-minute excerpt from a recent tutorial that explains what Knoll Unmult does and how it works:



How to use the FREE plug-in Knoll Unmult, from Red Giant Software on Vimeo.

Free After Effects plug-ins: an inconvenient truth

FilmmakerIQ posted a new list of 55 Free After Effects Plugins, but unless you already know something about AE filters it could be rather inconvenient. For example you may think about trying Red Giant Software eLin, but you may not know that it's now unavailable and mostly superfluous. None of the entries tell you if there's a Macintosh or Windows or a CS5 version -- or if the entry is a Pixel Bender or effect preset.

A list of free effects for platform and software version would be welcome, but right now you'll have to do some digging. You could check Toolfarm's CS5 Compatible 64-Bit Plug-ins, part of the Toolarm Plug-in Finder, but you may not find free filters for CS5 there, like Video Copilot Reflect and Sure Target 2. AE Portal has an overview of AE filters labeled free by vendor and platform, but it's out of date.

Maybe the best bet is Mylenium's After Effects Plug-In Guide, which has an Alphabetical listing for Free. You can click on an entry to find what versions are available, though you're on your own finding the free filter through the vendor's main website. You may have to check the Discontinued list to see if it's been discontinued (like eLin). Mylenium also has a CS5 Compatibility listing, which can be missed if your browser page is not wide enough.

Even with Mylenium's help, you'd be missing some free "filters" if you skip the many free Pixel Bender, Custom Effects, or even Presets in After Effects.

By the way, if you haven't already noted them, check out FilmmakerIQ's 202 Adobe Premiere Pro Tutorials and 1001 Adobe After Effects Tutorials.

Update: see Free After Effects plug-ins for previous surveys of free filters before CS5. If you miss the Unmult filters, you might try Removing black or white from layer/footage, deMult/unMult at Motion Graphics Exchange.

Update 2: Unmult is now available for CS5, as is 'Alpha from Max Color', a Pixel Bender that ships with CS5.

commonsExplorer: a browser for Flickr + more

commonsExplorer is an experimental interactive browser for the Flickr Commons, a collection of pictures with "no known copyright restrictions." It provides a "big picture" of these collections with a single screen interface that reveals structures and patterns and encourages exploration.

commonsExplorer is a Java executable, so Windows and Linux users will need to have Java installed. The application requires a network connection, and may not work from behind a firewall or proxy.

Creative Commons has had its own search function for awhile according to a post at Google Operating System, which has a nice cache of articles on new features in Google Image search, which can filter for usage rights under advanced search.

For video, see Free Online Stock Video Footage | 9 Of The Best Public Domain Video Resources from WebTV Wire (one dropped out); for audio see Videomaker's compilation of royalty free sound FX and Legal Music For Videos from Creative Commons.

Update: via @juanmiguelsalas comes 15 Best Places for Designers to Get Free Stock Photos Online by Six Revisions.

Update 2: see Royalty Free Music For YouTube Videos at Who Is Matt, and Openfootage.net.

700+ pictograms, 60 free fonts, 30 vector packs

From maltaannon and others on Twitter:

• Pictodeck v1.0 is a deck of pictograms for Apple Keynote. It’s a collection of over 700 vector pictograms taken from four different sets: PICOL, Android Icons, Pictoico, Komodo Media, and Freshpixel.
• 50 awesome free fonts for professional design from Design Reviver
• 10 Awesome Free Handwritten Fonts from MyInkBlog
• 61 Fantabulous Fonts For Titles! from AE Tuts
  
• 30 First-Rate Vector Packs. Take Them. They’re FREE…. from Francesco Mugnai

For more, see the "Popular" posts of Smashing Magazine, which has made a cottage industry of these sorts of collections. One example is The Ultimate Collection Of Free Vector Packs.