Torn cardboard texture tutorial + letters

Shortformvideo has another quick and easy texture tutorial and project for After Effects, Torn cardboard texture, which creates a torn corrugated cardboard texture using just the standard tools in After Effects (CS3, CS4 or CS5).

Related tutorials include the original one from Brian Maffitt of Total Training, the free AE project from Aharon Rabinowitz -- Page Rip, a turorial by John Einselen -- Dynamic Paper Cutouts (with Turbulent Displace effect), and a kinda fuzzy Paper Rip Effect in After Effects from Michael Szabo. The last one, embedded below, uses Photoshop and After Effects (CC Page Turn) filter. The recent "Burning Edges" tutorial seems related too, but there don't seem to be AE tutorials using scans of ripped or torn paper.

BIGMIKEDESIGN: Paper Rip Tutorial from Mike on Vimeo.
Update: Laurance returns quickly wih a sequel, Torn-out cardboard letters,

A quick marble texture After Effects tutorial

Shortformvideo has shared a lot of tips and tutorials in just 5 months, and now has another quick texture tutorial for After Effects with AE Tutorial – Quick marble texture.

Who doesn't love free textures?

Topher Welsh collected "42 Sensational Texture Packages and Tutorials" in his latest for AETuts (h/t to Danner for the headline). Note that some of the references maybe sandboxed by Google Chrome with warning about viagra malware.

See also the Bittbox series Free Texture Tuesdays, Scientific American's "surface of reality", and other resources like CGtextures and planet textures found in previous posts on textures. [update: Lester Banks notes Texturelib, which has 3000 free textures + counting]

The Grunge Tutorial, recently resurrected by Harry Frank, shows one way to use textures in AE:

The Grunge Tutorial from graymachine on Vimeo.

Carbon fibre+ brushed metal in After Effects

In AE Tutorial – Super-quick carbon fibre effect, Shortformvideo shows you "how you can create a realistic carbon fibre texture in After Effects using Ramp and CC RepeTile. It takes a few seconds to create, and works really well in high-tech or motoring videos. You can also download the project file..."



Shortformvideo also posted a video of a classic technique that combines blur, noise and time control settings to create a brushed metal effect.



Update: also check out Deke’s Techniques #4: Creating a hammered metal background,

86 Digieffects filters for $99

Digieffects is selling it's first 3 sets of AE filter for $99 this week. That's 86 filters. There's a tryout and video overviews and tutorials if you want a quick look.

Free Texture Tuesday

Fallen behind on the accelerating treadmill that is modern technology, here's some free textures from the Bittbox series Free Texture Tuesdays. This series is by Caleb Kimbrough, who authors the texture blog Lost and Taken and co-authors PatternWall.com, a new site with all kinds of free seamless patterns.

Other resources like CGtextures can be found in previous posts on textures.

Update: see also textures from Michal Kotek.

AE 3D Earths with & without 'Knowing' lava

There are several tutorials to help you start to construct a rotating 3D Earth in After Effects, but do you know which direction to spin things to avoid the Sun rising from the West?

With Knowing Earth, MaxAfter gives you the project and a good start how to make lava cracks and falling particles similar to a shot in the current movie Knowing. (Quick tangent: see The Nicolas Cage Movie Plot Generator.)

If you want your Earth a bit more refined, Creative Cow has a tutorial that you can peruse, Creating a Realistic 3d Earth using only AE. In this video tutorial, Michael Park uses only effects built into After Effects: "Special attention will be given to combining multiple instances of the CC Sphere effect to create unique layers with different specular properties for the land and water masses, as well as creating lights from urban centers on the night side of the earth."

Maltaannon is also in the ring of 3D Earth tutorials with the variously titled Advanced 3D Planets / 3D Solar System. He planned to create a scaled solar system in 3D that you could fly through, so the 3D Earth tutorial might be just a small piece of the bigger project.

Of course there are several more. Jonas Hummelstrand (with map and texture links), The Genesis Project (with help from Aharon Rabinowitz), and Andrew Kramer also have planet Earth tutorials with projects. Kramer's Video Copilot crew has a variety of planet and related tutorials with projects. You may even find out something new in the old Total Training teaser Globe Grid. Earth zooms are also popular, and tutorials are provided by Video Copilot and Digital Arts.

There's also a tutorial for Apple Motion from Timesaver Tutorials for those stuck in a Final Cut Studio world, Rotating Earth. There are many more of these sorts of tutorials, even by NASA (in AE) using their own images, and some for Google Earth Pro.

You can even do 3D earths in Photshop CS4 Extended. Russell Brown CS4 shows how using real 3D objects (download textures here) in a more advanced tutorial he called Advanced 3D Eclipse Animation.

Most of the projects include textures but there are alternatives. Ever-popular Earth textures (various strings attached) can be found at JHT's Planetary Pixel Emporium (with C4D tutorials), Unearthed Outdoors True Marble-free version, and NASA's Blue Marble Next Generation.

Update: VideoCopilot has a tutorial similar to the one by MaxAfter, Dead Planet, as well as a calmer The Blue Planet in 3D.

Update 2: More earthy textures.

Free textures and the surface of reality

Making the Movie notes free texture resources and adds some textures of its own. More free textures can be found at David Torno's MacTex (see his recent Index post).

Ever popular Earth textures (various strings attached) can be found at JHT's Planetary Pixel Emporium (with C4D tutorials), Unearthed Outdoors True Marble-free version, and NASA's Blue Marble Next Generation. Tutorials for earth maps and textures were mentioned in a previous post, 3D Earths.

Of course there are now a ton of other free textures available on the web. One of the better resources that stepped beyond to layering was the Alcatraz-inspired "Surface of Reality" CDs from Alex Lindsay, which later morphed into the Surface Toolkit and expanded in several directions in the dvGarage Surfacing Series. The Grunge Tutorial by Harry Frank shows one way to use these type of textures in AE.

Basics for understanding the imitation of the surfaces of ephemeral reality can be found in "Digital materials and virtual weathering," Scientific American, February 2000 (PDF). Fun books on materials can be found at William Stout in San Francisco and Builders Booksource in Berkeley.

Update: Recycling an item on 3D surfaces from New Scientist:


Update: More than 60 Impressive Free High Resolution Textures and Backgrounds can be had though Photoshop Roadmaps.

MacTex offers free texture images

David Torno has a new blog called MacTex, "which comes from the words macro and texture. Basically a collection of macro photography images I've taken and will be taking in the future... They may come in helpful with your artistic creations in After Effects, Photoshop or what ever tools you use, and are 100% free for private or commercial use. They are offered as 2304 x 3456 JPG with no warranties / guarantees of any kind."

Update: a wide variety of free textures are available at CGtextures.com.