No matter what level you're at with your After Effects work, it's always a good idea to keep up with industry leading blogs. So to get your feed reader started, I asked our VideoHive blogger Michael Capitelli to put together 6 great sites, plus I've added a summary of Michael's own Inside the Hive blog, which makes 7 Must Read After Effects blogs.
1. Inside The Hive
The VideoHive blog is home to outstanding blogger Michael Capitelli who runs down daily posts on a variety of topics related to motion graphics, After Effects and production.
4 Must Read Posts:
- From Concept to Camera: How a Commercial Happens
- Creating the Killer Edit
- Getting your Portfolio Ready for Primetime
- 4 Online Film Schools to Enroll in Today (Because they’re Free)
2. Steve Kilisky's Dynamic Media Blog
Straight from the horse's mouth, this is the blog run by Steve Kilisky, Senior Product Manager for Adobe After Effects. It's updated sporadically, but I figure the guy's kinda busy. I think this intro from his post on February 27, 2007 sums up the blog better than I ever could:
"For the last 10 years I've lived, breathed, and outfitted my wardrobe with After Effects. Some might say After Effects is more than just a software tool and that it is a drug (FXTC),a cult, or a religion; for me its been a way of life. This is one of the reasons I created this blog."
3 Must Read Posts:
3. Pro Video Coalition
Pro Video Coalition is like the super group of video blogs, combining the work of Adam Wilt's Camera Log, Mark Christiansen's Production Values, Mike Curtis's HD for Indies, Steve Hullfish's CUT.N.COLOR, Chris & Trish Meyer's Creating Motion Graphics, and many more top notch blogs and a team of contributors. Chances are, if you're like me, you've probably learned from Chris & Trish in their "Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects" series, so following this blog for their posts alone makes it a worthwhile read. If only Chris Cornell were there to play lead guitar...
3 Must Read Posts:
- Tip: Render Faster & Smarter in After Effects with BG Renderer
- Unlearning by Example
- Tip: Create Cinematic Motion Blur in After Effects (and in life)
4. General Specialist
All things After Effects from Swedish designer Jonas Hummelstrand. Jonas does a great job here keeping you updated on the latest adobe patches, working with the RED camera, codec comparisons, and a little bit of D.I.Y.
3 Must Read Posts:
- Watch and Embed YouTube Clips in High Quality
- Importing RED (.r3d) Files Into After Effects CS3 and Premiere Pro CS3
- ProRes 422 Codec Finally Cross-platform (Sorta...)
5. Redefinery
Jeff Almasol, Quality Engineer on the After Effects team also engineers up the redefinery, an After Effects script library, with scripts free for you to download. This is the same guy behind the scripts featured in the Mark Christiansen books. He also takes requests, so if you had something in mind, feel free to ask.
3 Must Read Posts:
6. Motionographer
Industry-standard Motionographer is like the "Who's Who's" of motion graphic design. Featuring articles, samples, reels, and more, you can catch up on what your peers are doing and envy in some of the awesome talent that is out there.
3 Must Read Posts:
7. Video CoPilot
Andrew hosts the very popular Video CoPilot Show featuring tutorials of Hollywood-style effects with After Effects. The companion blog talks about those tutorials (naturally) but also contains a wealth of knowledge about video and After Effects in general, as well as chronicles his proverbial rise to the AE Guru hall of fame.
3 Must Read Posts:
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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )Emin April 14th
Hi, thx for these tips, but the last link from Video CoPilot is wrong.
( )Collis Ta'eed April 14th
Hey Emin, thanks for that! That’s fixed!
( )Jonas Hummelstrand April 14th
I suggest you switch out Steve Kilisky for the current product manager Michael Coleman’s blog: http://blogs.adobe.com/keyframes/ and the Help/documentation guys Todd Kopriva’s blog: http://blogs.adobe.com/toddkopriva/
Also, I must confess I haven’t had any time to update my own blog for months. Shame on me…
( )peewee1002 April 14th
Video CoPilot has to be my favorite. I use it all the time.
Plus the presets are great as well.
( )Andrei April 14th
also, redefinery, not refinery
(great article otherwise)
( )redefinery April 14th
yes, what he said.
(redefinery, all lowercase. thanks.)
( )sanki April 14th
this one here is quite important to i think http://maltaannon.com/
( )lzx917 April 14th
very useful
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Greg April 14th
Nice work
( )Joe April 14th
Good blogs, however Video Copilot ought to be nearer the top of the list
( )David Wood April 14th
VIDEO COPILOT RULES!!! The others are ok.
( )Devin April 14th
These are some really great sites, Thanks for them.
( )Topher Welsh April 14th
Nice… its like you read my mind! These are all on my Check Daily list in my delicious bookmarks… hahaha
Killer list!
( )George Fencefield April 14th
These are on my frequent visited websites list, as well as Nick Campbell’s blog ( http://greyscalegorilla.com/blog/ ). Maltaannon’s (Jerzy Drozda Jr) website has incredible tutorials as well, but it hasn’t been updated for weeks now.
( )Alex C. April 14th
I’d also add Creative Cow. There are some good resources there as well!
http://library.creativecow.net/tutorials/adobeaftereffects
Other than that, great post!
( )Irving April 14th
Video Copilot is definitely ace. Saw a few hollywood movies who used their Evolution package videos in their opening credits. pretty neat.
( )Ben Eshagpoor April 15th
Don’t forget John Dickinson over at http://www.motionworks.com.au/
( )Jim Hines April 15th
This one rocks it also.
http://aescripts.com/
( )Topher Welsh April 15th
Or perhaps VisualFXtuts.com? hahaha *shameless plug*
( )Arvin April 15th
Great, just added Grayscalegorilla, and redefinery! Most of the others I already subscribe to, or isn’t really my cup of tea.
Videocopilot definitely the best though.
( )Shane April 16th
Great roundup. Wasn’t aware of many these.
( )zlodeyfx April 16th
nice new website free after effects projects – http://www.fxoffice.net
( )Jose Arrebola April 16th
Video tutorials AE in Spanish, from basical to advanced level
http://aftereffects.260mb.com
( )Jose Arrebola April 16th
Hola, os invito a descubrir mi website con tutoriales de After effects en Spanish, empieza por un nivel muy básico y va subiendo el nivel hasta temas avanzados.
After Effects Spanish
http://aftereffects.260mb.com
Espero vuestras opiniones. Un saludo.
( )pev April 16th
Video Copilot is NO. 1!!!
Thanks!
( )Rodney April 17th
Just to add on the list….. checkout
http://www.ayatoweb.com/ae_tips_e.html
they are a bit advanced but workable.
( )JM April 20th
Tragic. Forgot this guy: http://maltaannon.com/category/articles/
Otherwise, nice list.
( )Faakher April 20th
How can you forgot http://www.maxafter.com from Shoaib Khan.
otherwise Nice Post
( )norquanny May 17th
eh.. luv it
( )Zewkeymn June 1st
nice! i’m gonna make my own blog
( )aql1987 June 2nd
还有中国的，火星时代！！谢谢！！www.hxsd.com
( )Faw June 9th
1. Inside The Hive
( )4 Must Read Posts:
–
None of the links work
gfxsplatter June 20th
great blogs out there =)
( )ElenaLisvato August 4th
my God, i thought you were going to chip in with some decisive insght at the end there, not leave it with ‘we leave it to you to decide’.
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( )Bill Bartmann September 13th
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A definite great read…
-Bill-Bartmann
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