Solar Panel Maker Moves Work to China

The New York Times reports on the invisible hand of the free market in Solar Panel Maker Moves Work to China:

"Aided by at least $43 million in assistance from the government of Massachusetts and an innovative solar energy technology, Evergreen Solar emerged in the last three years as the third-largest maker of solar panels in the United States.

But now the company is closing its main American factory, laying off the 800 workers by the end of March and shifting production to a joint venture with a Chinese company in central China. Evergreen cited the much higher government support available in China."

Read the rest at the NYT...

'Priori Incantatem' effect: Harry Potter wand duel

AEtuts has a 3-part tutorial by Ben McEwan, Engage In A Harry Potter “Priori Incantatem” Duel. That's the wand energy duel effect; parts 1 and part 2 are up so far [part 3 added later].

Part 1 looks at "matchmoving our shot and using the data to create a 3D camera inside of After Effects, as well as starting to create the particle animation. Along the way, we’ll also go through a few quick tips on how to speed up workflow by using expressions to automate animation."

Part 2 explores "how lights work alongside Trapcode Particular to give us more control of the direction of the particles’ motion. We will finish off the animation of our particle effects, and create the beams of magic squirting out the end of the wands."

[update: Part 3 takes "a look at making the effects fit into the shot. We will make our particles glow and give them a bit of color, as well as adjusting brightness, matching grain and adding heat distortion. There are a lot of possibilities for extending the effects in this shot, I encourage you to explore these ideas further and leave a link in the comments section below."]

In addition to the “Priori Incantatem” effect, AETuts previously posted Create Harry Potter Titles by Robert Holtby and Creative Cow posted an After Effects tutorial by Michael Park on how to Create the Harry Potter lumos effect.

Beyond these, Andrew Kramer has several AE tutorials involving energy effects (for example 3D Light Casting), and Mark Christiansen's sample chapter Pyrotechnics: Creating Fire, Explosions, and Energy Phenomena in After Effects from his book After Effects Studio Techniques might be handy for further explorations.

Create the Harry Potter lumos effect

Michael Park shows you how to create a Harry Potter "lumos" wand effect at Creative Cow. This effect seems popular on YouTube if you want to challenge Fred, but with the added bonus of tips on After Effects tracking, a zoom blurred Lens Flare, and homemade animated chroma hoop without 3rd party filters.

To turn the lumos off, you won't "need a miracle" or have to invoke a goddess of the night (Nox) -- just turn the eyeball off in After Effects.

Enough energy to melt glaciers

via Alexis Madrigal... is this picture from Grist of an ad "for Humble Oil (which later merged with Standard to become, yes, Exxon). It may win the All Time Millenial Award for Maximal Irony. It’s from a 1962 edition of Life magazine, available on Google Books..."

Note: from the New York Times, "California regulators on Wednesday approved the nation’s first energy efficiency standards for televisions, requiring their electricity consumption to be cut nearly in half by 2013."

"Energy Drink" tutorial for After Effects

Artbeats now has both parts of Eran Stern's "Energy Drink" tutorial, which "takes you step-by-step through designing a 3D object using Photoshop Extended, animating it in After Effects and adding a reflection." The second part shows how to add a particle explosion and a "pendulum" animation of text.

Unfortunately, original viral version of Ideocracy's Brawndo has ruined energy drinks for some people:

3D Light Casting with Andrew Kramer

Video Copilot has a new After Effects video tutorial by Andrew Kramer, 3D Light Casting, that uses only built-in AE filters.

"In this jam-packed tutorial we will build an energy ball that emits natural light onto the road’s surface. Plus, we will be utilizing ‘reverse-tracking’ to lock the 3D effects in-place, while maintaining the original camera movement in the exciting final shot."

Plant plastics for photovoltaics

CNET's Green Tech is reporting that plant plastics based on cotton and castor beans can now serve as photovoltaics' protective coating. It's hoped this will be a more sustainable solution than DuPont's formula composed of polyvinyl fluoride.

The residual biomass in bioplastics might also provide a source of ethanol.