Tidbit on YouTube buffering

a map of the Internet, from Wikimedia Commons

 
Last November AE Portal posted a quick exploration of How YouTube Works, which, even with a recent update on the "secret" algorithm, still left questions about caching unanswered. But actual explanations become apparent with a simple search word change to "buffering".

The best explanation of YouTube buffering mysteries was offered last summer by ArsTechnica in Why YouTube buffers: The secret deals that make—and break—online video, about how ISPs and video providers fight over peering agreements to "pass traffic from one to another and negotiations over caching services that store videos closer to people's homes so they can load faster in your browser." These issues will most likely be with us for awhile, given new Internet rules that will likely gut net neutrality (more from Boing Boing).

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Read more bits on YouTube buffering mysteries at PVC.

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We are always acting on what has just finished happening. It happened at least 1/30th of a second ago. We think we’re in the present, but we aren’t. The present we know is only a movie of the past.

– Ken Kesey

AE Easter eggs + hunt for a plabt egg

People are sometimes surprised discovering Easter Eggs in After Effects -- apparent oddities in the interface. Some of these have been around for a very long time... 

Take part in a new hunt at PVC in Easter eggs in After Effects: a new hunt.

brush

Behind the Scenes of ‘Adobe and the Frog’

Film Riot and Adobe have a slick little web ad for the new Creative Cloud NAB 2014 reveal. It was edited in Premiere CC, with the CG character rendered in After Effects CC using Element 3D, and color graded using Magic Bullet Looks.

Details at Pro Video Coalition.

Sneak peeks of CC Next for NAB

Adobe revealed new features in the video apps in Creative Cloud and will showcase these next versions at the NAB 2014 show in Las Vegas next week (schedule). Highlights of the reveal features, additional details, videos, and links to product pages, team blogs, and 3rd-party previews are at PVC:

Creative Cloud NAB 2014 Reveal: Sneak peeks of what's coming

Halftone techniques for After Effects at PVC

There's something new and some things old in Halftone techniques for After Effects at Pro Video Coalition.

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A halftone is an image or printing technique that "simulates continuous tone through the use of dots varying either in size, in shape or in spacing." In the Illustrator and Photoshop worlds, there's long lists of halftone filters, swatches, and compositing techniques used for printing and newsprint, comic, retro, and other effects. But the fun of After Effects is animation, and some techniques may not be immediately apparent without built-in filters.

If you've never used the Color Halftone effect in Photoshop, check out how a gradient is effected by the filter in Creating Synthetic Backgrounds in Photoshop:

Chromatic aberration roundup at PVC

[fix for 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.

Long shadows: adding dimension to flat design

The trend toward flat design hit big in 2013 with Windows 8 ("Metro"), iOS7, and website and logo redesigns by Google and others. As part of a general move away from skeuomorphism, Adobe application design elements “flattened out” after CS5. Flat and thin may be in, partly due to hi-res screens, but a missing dimension of "long shadows" added to flat elements became popular too.

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Read the rest at Pro Video Coalition in Long shadows: adding body to flat design in After Effects.