Great After Effects Resources

Here are some great resources for you After Effects users!

XScriptorium - After Effects scripts, expressions, presets, and projects

1001 Adobe After Effects Tutorials - compiled by Filmmaker IQ

The After Effects Channel on Adobe TV

Design Rhythmic Motion Typography in After Effects

In this tutorial you'll learn how to create animated typography synchronized with musical events (lyrics). You'll learn how to fit your typography to a rhythm, add dynamic animations and use the camera and motion blur to create a high-end final effect. This tutorial showcases a technique that is highly sought after in motion graphics today.

From AE Tuts+

588 Free Film Contracts and Forms

This one comes to us from our good friends at L.A. Shorts Fest - Filmmaker IQ has compiled a great list of free film contracts and forms from all over the 'Net.
Upon examination of the list, it seems that a lot of the contracts came from another site, FilmContracts.net - another great resource you ought to bookmark.

Variety: ACE honors Avid's Media Composer

From Variety:

"In an announcement that combines kudos to one company, a jab at another and a warning flare for producers, the American Cinema Editors board of directors is honoring Avid's Media Composer software with the org's first-ever ACE Technical Excellence Award."

Read the rest here:

30+ High Quality Metallic Texture, Pattern, Brushes and Photoshop Tutorials

This one is for you 3D modelers, texture artists, and Photoshop fanatics. Hongkiat.com has published this list of textures, brushes, and tutorials all having to do with metal.

VFX artists might also find it of use, particularly for elements such as bullet holes and the various metallic grunge textures.

Check it out here.

Inspiration: Rugby

A student just recently showed me this one and I was blown away. (Thanks J.D.!) CG Society put together this great article on a VFX-intensive Snickers commercial produced by BBDO Moscow, Sky Films in Toronto, and a German post facility called Unexpected. The article includes some great info about how they produced the spot, including fantastic breakdowns of the various elements - live action, CG layers, particle systems - that went into each shot.

Read the full story here.

ATLAS/CERN Multimedia Contest

CERN, the world's largest particle physics laboratory, birthplace of the World Wide Web and home of the famous Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has a great opportunity for DV students! The ATLAS/CERN Multimedia Contest features great prizes, including Adobe Production software, a trip to the LHC, and an internship at CERN. The deadline is July 31, 2009 - so don't delay.

Check it out NOW!

Featured Project: Pirate Booty

This week's featured project is a "two-fer" - a short film AND its "making of" documentary.

"Pirate Booty" was created by Team UAT for the Phoenix Film Foundation's annual 48-Hour Film Challenge during the summer of 2006, and it went on to be an Official Selection of the 2007 Phoenix Film Festival.



"48 Hour Film Challenge Documentary" chronicles the team's efforts from Friday night's kick-off, through 48 hectic hours, and finally to a last-minute by the skin of the teeth delivery on Sunday - and features great interviews with a crew of students who have since gone on to graduate and take jobs in the film and video industry.

Build a Car Racing Scene from Photographs

In another great tutorial, Greyscale Gorilla (aka Nick Campbell) teaches you how to create a stylized 3D car racing scene from a simple 2D photograph using After Effects' 3D compositing tools. This one is long, so it's presented in 2 parts: Part 1 and Part 2

After Effects Tutorial - Build a Car Racing scene from Photographs Part 1 from Nick Campbell on Vimeo.

After Effects Tutorial - Build a Car Racing scene from Photographs Part 2 from Nick Campbell on Vimeo.

Science of the Movies

Science Channel has begun airing a cool new series called "Science of the Movies" that every DV student should check out. Recent segments have included a trip to Panavision for a look inside cameras and lenses and a discussion of film vs. digital with Oscar-winning DP Dean Semler. While it's really made for people who know little to nothing about filmmaking, it still manages to include some really interesting facts for the seasoned DV enthusiast.

"Science of the Movies" airs at 10 pm on Thursdays.

Or, you can check out some video segments on Science Channel's website.