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.

25 great movies in black & white

Younger friends and family members routinely say they won't watch black & white movies. Contrary to what they may think, old films can be relevant and enjoyable today.

A list of only 25 American movies like this must be general, even if personal favorites. There are no films listed from Chaplin or Keaton, no classic horror, no silent films, no Japanese, Indian, Swedish, Russian, German, French, Italian (ok: one), or British (pretty much). There's not even too much in the way of film noir, Westerns, or gangsters. But these and similar films are well worth seeking out, or keeping an eye out for, even if you somehow feel repulsed by black and white. See the list at:

Black & white movies are good (really): 25 great movies in black & white

HitFilm 3 Express Special Edition - free 'Star Wars'-style effects

Among fun news this week is the latest FREE version of the effects/editor Hitfilm Pro, HitFilm 3 Express Special Edition, which will be available for a limited time only. The Hitfilm crew is celebrating the release of the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens.

Read the rest at PVC...

Glitches, damage, & distortions in After Effects

Glitchify for After Effects + Glitchify sounds, from Mikey Borup and Cinema Spice, joins a growing number of tools and tutorials that help Adobe After Effects users create digital glitches, damage, flickers, TV distortions and the like.

Glitches, damage, & distortions in After Effects at PVC collects a sample of tools and tutorials that may help create them.

For an unspecified time, the Glitchify bundle is available for 50% off through School of Motion and the plug-ins only for 20% off through Mikey Borup.

The Surface Book: is it really twice as fast as a MacBook Pro?

Microsoft has released their Surface Book laptop, dubbed the "MacBook Pro Killer" by some in the press. Apparently, Microsoft claimed that the Surface Book is twice as fast as a MacBook Pro, but now that we're past the feel-good atmosphere of the announcement, we might look closer at what's actually being offered.

BTW, the answer is no, though it is more interesting than the new MacBook & iPad Pro combined! Read the rest at PVC in Microsoft Surface Book: is it really twice as fast?

The Future of After Effects

Adobe is near releasing the "IBC" update to video apps in Creative Cloud 2015, which itself was just released in June, so community attention is turning towards future features for After Effects.

See The Future of After Effects: feature requests, nodes, GPU at PVC for comments by After Effects product manager Todd Kopriva on the general direction of AE, including interesting hints on the future of nodes and GPU rendering, as well as info on a new initiative by Sander van Dijk to open discussion of feature requests for AE.

Creative Cloud video updates at IBC 2015: a summary

Adobe has revealed updates to its pro video apps in Creative Cloud, though a specific release date was not shared. Adobe will also be showing the new features at IBC 2015 in Amsterdam for the next week. By the way, a separate bug fix update for Premiere Pro CC was released, which may have its own issues for some.

Creative Cloud video updates at IBC 2015 at PVC collects the overviews, video, and details links. This is just the announcement stage though, so 3rd-party perspectives aren't available yet.