Layers videos on CS5 roto, mocha, and Color Finesse

Layers Magazine has a CS5 Learning Center with a few intro tutorials for each main app in the Creative Suites, including After Effects tutorial videos by Rod Harlan on Interface Enhancements, Mocha AE Version 2, Roto Brush, and Color Finesse.

SF Cutters May 13: CS5, organize FCP, AJA + Big raffle

SF Cutters -- brought to you originally by the Option key in Final Cut -- is having a meeting next week on Thursday May 13th. The meeting is at Adobe at 601 Townsend at 7th in San Francisco.

This meeting is not free; sign up for access. Here's the current agenda:

• Karl Soule: on Adobe CS5
• Tery Williams: on AJA and Adobe CS5
• Chris Fenwick: returns on how to Organize your FCP Project
• Mitchell Rose: comic filmmaker
• Raffle: In addition to the regular raffle - see vendor list - there are TWO separate drawings for Adobe CS5 Production Premium & for an AJA Ki Pro

Trapcode Particular 2 training DVD preview + fire

Harry Frank announced that his new training DVD Complete Training for Trapcode Particular 2 is now available for pre-order. There are some video previews of the new training up now (along with 2 old ones) if you want to peak and plan.

By the way, @rymden notes a well-executed video of fire below made by Ramiro Fernandez using Trapcode Particular:




Note: more examples of fire can be found in Fire in After Effects round-up.
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Academy Award Winning Movie Trailer

Here's the funny Academy Award Winning Movie Trailer by Britanick, with appropriate type and sound design, via @hummelstrand:

Exodus from Final Cut to Adobe Premiere CS5?

Despite Steve Jobs e-mails saying "No worries. FCP is alive and well" and "Next Final Cut Studio Will Be Awesome", over on PVC Allan Tépper thinks that The exodus from Final Cut Pro to Adobe Premiere CS5 has begun.

An exodus of Biblical proportions could be slow in coming -- after all A.C.E. editors aren't targeting Premiere -- but there already are numerous reports of people testing the boundaries of what's possible with Mercury engine CUDA playback. Here's Allan:

"NAB 2010 came and went without a word from Apple regarding the potential future of Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Studio. Apple’s complete silence on this topic seems to indicate that Apple is much more focused on the consumer market, especially their mobile devices, and no longer on professional applications and hardware. ... Based upon private e-mails and conversations with editors yesterday, the exodus from Apple’s Final Cut Pro to Adobe’s Premiere CS5 for many began yesterday.

In the next few days and weeks, you’ll find audio interviews, both with editors who have made the switch from Final Cut Pro to Premiere CS5, and with Adobe officials who will describe the product, and answer my unusual questions."

Like Allan, AE Portal News & AE Portal do not receive sponsorship from any of the manufacturers mentioned, although they are welcome to do so!

Gimp Resynthesizer vs Photoshop Content-Aware Fill

As noted earlier, some of the features of Photoshop CS5 are available in the free open source app GIMP. Content-Aware Scale is called Liquid Rescale in GIMP, while Content-Aware Fill is called ReSynthesizer in Gimp. For a few details on these implementations, see More free Photoshop with Content-Aware Scale with the GIMP at Blender 3D Architect.

Even with GIMPshop to reorganize menus, GIMP would take some getting used to, but at least there are options for most platforms.

Today Slashdot and Viz World noted the blog of Portugeuse language website Ultradownloads that shows often decent if different results from both approaches testing several images. There are also YouTube videos of Liquid Rescale (aka seam carving) and Resynthesizer in action in GIMP. Here's an example from Ultradownloads:

Intro to Pixel Bender for Non-Programmers

Satya Meka has a new vudeo tutorial geared towards After Effects users on his Gutsblow website, Intro to Pixel Bender for Non-Programmers.

Update: see also a PB intro screencast by Kevin Goldsmith just after the CS5 release.