Aetuts+ – After Effects Tutorials

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  Simulate a Realistic Sniper Scope Perspective – AE Plus

  My tutorial deals with a VFX shot that’s easy to attempt but hard to master: A convincing looking sniper scope view.
  I will outline the assets that I provide in Photoshop and the principles of accomplishing the intended outcome. In After Effects I’ll make use of pre-compositions, motion tracking and some easy expressions. For clarity’s purpose I’ll get into details about optical phenomena when necessary.

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  Form a Unique Transition

  In this tutorial we are going to reveal how to create a cool particle transition between 2 videos using Trapcode Form. We will cover the importance of layer maps while using this plugin as well as how to create a stylish displacement of the particles.

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  Making Your Color Scheme a Whole Lot Kuler!

  Adobe Kuler is a great resource for color themes that is perfectly integrated in all Adobe CS4 software – except for After Effects. But this has changed now.

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  The Best Sound You’ll Ever See!

  Satya is back with a new tutorial that will help you look as good as you sound. This technique has many options so sit back and learn how to create an attractive visual generated from your audio spectrum.

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  Terminate Your Footage With Expressions

  Sep 21st in VFX by Ben McEwan If you’re wanting to help to save Sarah Connor then maybe this tutorial will give you an insider’s perspective on what to do. Ben McEwan has created a 3 Day Series crammed full of useful expressions to create the UI found in the Terminator.

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Nettuts+ – Web Development Tutorials

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  11 Classic CSS Techniques Made Simple with CSS

  We’ve all had to achieve some effect that required an extra handful of divs or PNGs. We shouldn’t be limited to these old techniques when there’s a new age coming. This new age includes the use of CSS3. In today’s tutorial, I’ll show you eleven different time-consuming effects that can be achieved quite easily with CSS3.

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  20 HTML Forms Best Practices for Beginners

  Working with XHTML forms can be somewhat daunting; they not only use some niche HTML elements, but also blur the line between static content and user interaction. Let’s review some things to remember when creating your next form.

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  Search Engine Optimization 101

  Your website may be top notch but what’s the use of an online presence if no one can find it? In this quick start guide to search engine optimization we’ll review an assortment of tactics to increase your page ranking.

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  How to Design and Code a Flexible Website

  In this tutorial, we’re going to be designing and coding a simple blog-style web-page. We’ll pay special attention to making our design flexible and accessible by using clean and simple XHTML and CSS. This tutorial is aimed at beginners, and anyone looking to improve the accessibility of their web designs.

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  Getting Clean with PHP

  Data security is important and often undervalued by designers, developers, and clients alike. Since PHP 5.2.0, data sanitization and validation has been made significantly easier with the introduction of data filtering. Today, we’re going to take a closer look at these filters, how to use them, and build a few custom functions.

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Psdtuts+ – Photoshop

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  Render a Cereal Box Cover from Scratch Using Photoshop’s 3D Tools

  Hi everyone! This time I’ve got for you a fun tutorial, we’ll create a cereal box design from scratch, using only Photoshop. We will render several fruit flavored cereal loops using the Photoshop’s CS4 Extended 3D tools, apply textures to the loops, bump the surfaces and mock-up them into a real 2D image. Are you ready?

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  Create a Big Air Event Poster with Photoshop and Illustrator – Psd Plus Tutorial

  We have another Psd Plus tutorial exclusively available to Plus members today. If you want to take your Photoshop and Illustrator integration skills to the next level, then we have an exciting poster design tutorial for you. Learn more at the jump!

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  Create an Intense Movie Poster in Photoshop

  Designers love to be critical about movie posters, and while you may think you have better ideas about how to sell a movie to an audience, how many times have you actually tried doing it? In this tutorial, we’re going to create a poster for a fictional movie called “Fugitive.” The movie is meant to be a suspenseful thriller that features one’s escape under the cover of darkness, despite man’s attempt to capture the lone hero. Thin and cheesy plot? Check. Awesome opportunity to better your PSD skills? You got it!

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  How to Create Eroded Metal Text with Photoshop

  In this tutorial I’ll show you how to create an eroded metal text effect. Throughout this tutorial we’ll make use of various drawing techniques, channels, and patterns.

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  Add Fantastic Color to 3D Text – Part I

  This is the first part of a two part series. Part two will be released tomorrow. In this piece you will learn how to bring a simple text to life and place everything in fantastic, colored and glowing 3D space. Some neat techniques covered here will allow you to bring your art to the next level. Don’t miss it! There are two parts to this tutorial: Part I and Part II.

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Vectortuts+ – Vector & Illustrator

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  How to Create a Golden, Vector Compass in Illustrator

  In this tutorial I will take you through the steps and techniques of creating a golden compass. For this tutorial I’ve used just Adobe Illustrator and a heavy dose of ingenuity.

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  How to Create a Yellow Submarine Icon with Gradient Meshes – Vector Plus Tutorial

  We have another great Vector Plus tutorial available exclusively for Plus members today. If you want to learn how to use gradient mesh, pattern brushes and other advanced Illustrator tools to create a shiny submarine, then we have an awesome tutorial for you. Learn more about this tutorial at the jump!

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  Build a Promotional iPhone App Website Wireframe in Fireworks

  Fireworks is a great tool for creating a wireframe and while it doesn’t work perfect with Photoshop, you can export over there and then build off your wireframe. We’ll cover the design process of creating a wireframe for an iPhone application website in Fireworks. For those of you not familiar with this program, it will be a good jumping off point for using it to wireframe your web design projects. This is a multi-part series and will be fun! Here is Part I of and Part II.

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  How to Create a Caramel Ripple Effect

  In this tutorial, we will create a hot chocolate caramel effect using some distort tools and the 3D revolve tool. This is a simple and effective technique to obtain a quality vector ripple effect quickly. Here we go!

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  How to Create an Energy Saving Bulb in Illustrator

  Here we’re showing how to create an energy saving bulb with the help of the Illustrator’s Mesh Tool. At the beginning it could be quiet hard to work with, but if you get used to it, it’s fairly simple.

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Activetuts+ – Flash, Flex & ActionScript Tutorials

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  Create a Unit Converter Application for Flash Lite Enabled Devices

  Flash Lite is an implementation of the Flash runtime for mobile phones, consumer electronic devices, and Internet-connected digital home devices. According to Adobe, the number of Flash Lite shipped devices will reach 1 billion in 2009 and more than 2.5 billion by the end of 2010, so if you are a Flash Developer it is important to know how this technology works and how it differs from Flash Player for the desktop.

  In this tutorial I’ll guide you through the basics of Flash Lite using the 1.1 version; sacrificing features, but ensuring compatibility.

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  Build a Mini Golf Game with ActionScript 3.0

  In this tutorial I´ll show you how to create nice Mini Golf Game with ActionScript 3.0. We´ll work with Event Handlers, Functions and also the Timer Object which is a really cool feature in AS3.

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  AS3 101: Loops

  Welcome back to AS3 101, the fifth edition! At this point, you should be comfortable with the concepts of variables, functions, conditionals (branching), and Arrays. Not only should you be comfortable with the concepts, but you should also be fluent in how ActionScript 3 implements these concepts.

  For this fifth episode, we’ll be adding to that catalog of skills the various looping structures found in AS3. You’ll find some dependencies on the information learned in AS3 101 Part 4, on Arrays, so if you’ve skipped that one or need a refresher, please review that tutorial before continuing with this one.

  For our final project, we’ll combine loops and arrays, to make a simple shoot-em-up game.

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  Improve Your Memory With an Away3D Game

  In this tutorial we’ll build a 3D memory game. Along the way we’ll look at adding variables and mouseEvents to Away3D objects. Let’s get started..

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  Build a Photo Viewer Using Flex and the Flickr API

  In this tutorial you will learn how to use the as3flickrlib library to create a Flash Flickr photo viewer.

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Phototuts+ – Photography & Post-Processing Tutorials

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  Photography Kick-start Guide: Adjusting Your Camera’s Settings for the Photo You Want

  Cameras vary in terms of functions offered. There are differences from one brand to the next and even from one model to another of the same brand. By necessity, this tutorial will have to generalize but let’s try to de-mystify some of the more common settings found on cameras today, what they mean (to the camera) and how to use them.

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  Mastering the Art of Black and White Photography

  In the early days of photography, photographers had no choice but to shoot in black and white, as it was the only available medium. Then, in 1936, the invention of kodachrome gave colour photography to the world. But black and white photography didn’t die off, instead it flourished. Modern black and white photography at it’s best is art, and many photographers regard it as the purest form of photography.

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  Freezing Time: 80 Inspiring Examples of High Speed Photography

  In our last roundup, we covered a selection of amazing HDR images. This time we move onto something completly different, with stunning high speed photography. These images freeze time, and allow us to observe scenes that the naked eye would struggle to capture. It’s definitely worth a look for some great inspiration!

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  8 Tips for Taking Sports Photos Like a Pro

  Are you looking to shoot better sports photos, and make an impact? Sports photography presents you with many opportunities to capture dramatic and vivid imagery that will last a lifetime. No other medium presents you with heart-pounding action, vivid color patterns and unique shooting opportunities.
  The steps and guidance featured in this tutorial cover a broad range of areas – from perfecting shutter speed, to making sure you don’t miss the action.

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  How to Photograph Waterfalls

  Waterfalls are some of the most beautiful natural features you will ever get the opportunity to photograph. But though they can look simply stunning, photographing waterfalls is not easy to do well. How do you avoid your photos being too dark? How do you deal with clipping in the water? How do you compose your photos to capture the authentic beauty of the scene?
  In this tutorial, nature photography expert Steve Berardi shares his best tips for photographing waterfalls.

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Cgtuts+ – CG Tutorials

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  Model and Texture a Posh Living Room Scene in Maya

  In this tutorial you will go through the process of modeling and rendering a Living Room in Autodesk Maya. You will also learn to use Mental Ray (along with the new architectural materials), create realistic fur, and implement studio lighting to create nice and soft shadows and highlights.

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  Using Splines to Add Detail to Your High-Poly Model in 3ds Max

  Splines are an often-overlooked aspect of 3ds max when it comes to game art. Most people know that you can use a spline for a wire – but you can also use it for things like grooves, whole objects like handles, and even text! In this tutorial, we’ll take a look at some of these advanced ways that splines can be used to save a lot of time on tasks that would otherwise have to be done by hand.

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  Create a Rocky Video Game Terrain in Blender

  In this series of tutorials you will learn how to create a finished environment for Blender’s Game Engine. The main focus of the series will be texturing and lighting, with the use of some custom 2d filters to enhance the result.

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  Model a Photorealistic Swiss Army Knife in Modo

  Subdivision modeling is an extremely powerful tool that can allow you to add high levels of detail to your models in a relatively short amount of time. In order to use it effectively, however, one must know when, and more importantly, when not to use it. In this three part, beginner to intermediate tutorial series, professional Modo artist, Matt Braeley, will demonstrate how to model a photorealistic Swiss Army knife, using polygonal and subdivision modeling in Luxology’s Modo 302.

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  Build an Advanced Drifting Car Rig in 3ds Max

  In this advanced level tutorial, you will learn all of the steps necessary to build a fully functioning car rig in 3D Studio Max. This rig features working suspension, steering and body roll, as well as some functionality for drifting and powerslides. You will learn how to set up internal functionality through links, constraints, expressions, and parameter wiring. The final result will be a robust rig with easy, and accessible controls.

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Audiotuts+ – Audio and Music

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  Introduction to Polyrhythms

  The usage of simple, common time (4/4 time signature, where there are four beats to a measure, and each quarter note gets one beat) is pervasive in Western popular music, including rock, blues, country, folk, pop, and various forms of electronic music including many sub-genres of house and trance music. The four-on-the-floor mindset can be difficult to escape, but every musician and composer can benefit from a study of rhythm that includes a wider variety of time signatures and rhythms.

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  How to Design Reeses and Hoovers

  Have you ever wondered how your favourite dance music producers create those amazing sounds that make you jump on the dance floor? Well, it usually takes a lot of experience and a huge amount of time spent on experimenting and processing sounds a ridiculously high number of times.

  But it’s quite hard to reach the stage of experimentation if you don’t even know the basics behind some kind of sounds often heard in dance tracks. This tutorial will teach you how to design from scratch a DnB trademark, the reese bass, and how to reproduce the infamous hoover sound, introducing you to the technique of resampling.

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  A Beginner’s Introduction to Home Recording

  Home recording technology seems to get better and cost less every year. It puts power in the hands of ordinary people. You’ve probably found this article because you want to get into home recording.

  Most of our tutorials here at Audiotuts are at the intermediate or advanced level. And that’s OK, because you won’t be a beginner forever. But we do have some more basic tutorials and articles aimed at the beginner. This article will refer to many of them, and hopefully give you an overview of what’s involved in getting into home recording.

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  A Basic Guide to Subtractive Synthesis (Part 1)

  This screencast is the first tutorial in a series on synthesis. This first installment shows a basic guided tour of Subtractor in Reason and covers oscillators, filters and envelopes.

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  Is the Public Capable of Recognizing Quality Music?

  Can the average music listener recognize quality? Can they distinguish a virtuoso from a mediocre musician? Can they recognize a “hit” that will still be esteemed a masterpiece in a hundred years? Does “popular” mean the same as “quality”?

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The Interview:

First of all, Thank you very much for doing this & Can you briefly tell us how did you get into the industry?

It was a very gradual process. I had a college major in Audio production and at that time, I was an audio engineer at a studio. It’s like in the mid-90’s where we had an All-in-one ‘Media 100′ production facility if any remembers what it is. So, I got into doing both Audio and Video production there and since my background is more technical, I gradually moved from doing Audio into Video Mastering and then into Video Editing and finally started using After Effects. It was version 3.1 and I don’t even think the term ‘Motion Graphics‘ was coined yet.

What did you think has changed from the mid-90’s to the current day in terms of the industry?

It’s pretty much the same thing, there are same design principles people always implement and we are still complaining about the render times. The video resolutions increased on par with the computer speeds (From 640×480 to today’s HD) and the designs got more complex. Other than that, I don’t see a major shift in the industry.

Being an experienced freelancer, Can you tell us how did you deal issues with your clients?

You just have to show them various solutions and explain your idea behind it. More accurately, it depends on your role in the project. If you are an animator, the real challenge is to take the design and make it look good and animate it 30frames per second, which is where many people run into problems. Being an Art Director, it is hard to come up with ideas, but it is easy to make changes later on. For the animator, it is very difficult to bring those changes into life. So I guess, you have to deal with the situation depending on your role in the project.

Freelancing or Working for a studio? What do you like doing more?

(Laughs) The grass is always greener. Sometimes, it feels good to freelance & work all the time with higher pay and some other times, I just feel like punching the clock and enjoy the stability. You just have to appreciate the good things you have and stick to the decisions you make. I decided to go freelance long time ago and it has been good so far. But I am no longer young and keeping my health in mind its very hard to keep on doing it.

Did you ever try to use a different program other than After Effects?

I remember when Apple Motion was announced, I thought it will considerably change the industry, especially after seeing how Final Cut Pro took a huge chunk of market share from Avid and Premiere to become the de-facto editing standard. So I tried using Motion for a while, but it lacked many features back then. Even today, it lacks many features compared to AE. There are a dozen compositing applications out there,but AE has a strong hold on the Motion Design industry. On the bottom line, AE has the complete toolset for a freelancer as a hybrid Compositing/ Motion Graphics application.

How did you come up with an idea to do Video Training on AE Expressions?  Do you have any prior programming/scripting background?

Interviewer’s note: for readers who don’t know about it, check that out. It is the training series that started everything for me.

I had experience in every defunct programming language out there and back in the early Commodore days, you really have to program something to use computers as they aren’t that complex and functional. I guess that indirectly helps, but other than that I don’t have any prior programming or more accurately javascript experience. When Adobe introduced expressions for AE, I started playing with and spent most of my time researching it.

Yeah, I reference it even today, you really explained everything in a great detail!

I tried to look at it as somebody who doesn’t have any experience in scripting and come from a complete design background. I really spent a whole year doing the training, explaining everything in detail so that anyone can understand the purpose of expressions and how they can become an invaluable set of tools for the daily work. Lot of people aren’t interested or scared to use them. So my goal was to make them more accessible to the community and every designer out there. I also priced it very low in order to make it affordable to everyone. Mark Coleran once told me that I under-priced the product, but I wasn’t that upset since I was trying to help the community.

Graymachine was one of the first few sites that had AE training. But today, there are numerous websites offering all kinds of tutorials, which many of them are free. So what do you think of this phenomenon ?  Do you think it is helping the community or deluding the spirit of it?

Brian Maffit was interviewed by John Dickinson on Motionworks, and he was asked a similar question i.e., there is so much free content out there on the internet and how do people who make a living on training survive? I guess I fall in the same category too. Free tutorials are usually more specific, whereas training series are usually comprehensive covering many concepts. For example, my training series on expressions, it covers almost every expression available in AE at that time, along with comprehensive introduction to scripting in design. But these days, I see overlapping of various concepts and ideas between tutorials, but I guess it benefits the community in a way since it introduces many new users and creates new markets.

What suggestions do you give to people who are about to come to the industry?

If you are talking about Motion Graphics, you really have to focus on the design aspect..well more like explore as much design as possible irrespective of the medium. Be it print, web, paintings, TV spots whatever new comers should really observe the composition, design, color, timing etc., of various artworks. When you start observing them, your whole perspective on design changes in a gradual process. It’s more like how you interpret things and what makes something look good. There are many subtle things that actually make difference like a little Depth of Field, slight color changes, etc., At the same time, knowing the right tools is also important.

Another important thing related to the tutorial community is, people just get caught up in the whole end product and often forget the purpose of the tutorial. I usually get comments like ‘the end product doesn’t look that finished’ etc., I tell them that the whole point of the tutorial is to teach you something that might be useful for you to make such finished products.

With various programs getting more & more complex everyday, How do you see the future of Motion Design?

That is a very tough question. It’s hard to predict something in this era. Like, when Flash came out, it literally changed everything on the web. All of a sudden everything started looking vector and clean. Technology always has a huge impact on design in general. It’s kinda like the Youtube phenomenon, you never know until something new pops up and everything changes. But, I can say that we have a better understanding motion design now than a few years ago. Similarly, the design gets more complex with a better understanding and better use of technology in the future. It only sets the bar higher and higher.

What do you say about Trapcode plugins? I find it very hard to believe that all of them were coded by one person! Do you think they have become a vital necessity?

If you are talking about Trapcode Particular, Yes. I think Particular is almost like it’s own program except that everything happens through a single layer. I released a training series long time ago and whenever I meet Mr. Peder Norrby he thanks me for the series and I thank him for the plugins. Everyday I discover something new in Particular. Coming to Trapcode Form, it is still in it’s 1.0 release and I can’t wait to see all the amazing things that are about to come in the future. I hope we continue to see some great things from Mr. Norrby.

Can you tell us about the future of Graymachine?

I have some project only training stuff and other project files right now, but I am working on a library of Motion Design elements which will be a great addition for Motion Designers and Video Editors. It should be coming out in October. I also have some training ideas, especially integrating Cinema 4D in the workflow etc., There are many tutorials on Cinema 4D, but they are highly specific which makes it really hard for somebody on a deadline to learn the program. I am still working on it right now and I will release the details later on.

If you come out with the training, I will be the first customer since I think you are a great teacher and I learned a lot from your expressions training series. Thank you very much for your tips and sharing your ideas and I hope to see you again!

No Problem, you are always welcome.

Interview

RSS readers: click post title to view interview at Aetuts+.

City & Forest Sunset Time Lapse

This beautiful time lapse was shot from a high altitude, overlooking mostly forest, but some visible urban elements down below. The stunning angle helps provide a perfect view to capture this brilliant sun set time lapse with clouds passing overhead. As a little added bonus, the first few seconds of this shot show a very classy, real, lens flare!

$8 – More Details & Video Preview

Winter Forest

Stunning and tranquil shot from deep inside a forest during winter. Great angle and composition here, clearly showing the Sun’s rays breaking through the trees to highlight the falling snow. Come Winter, I could see this being a clutch video to use is practically any project.

$6 – More Details & Video Preview

Beach With Big Rocks

A very relaxing, slow paced beach shot. It appears to be a cool day during low tide. The rocks are the clear focus in this one, but the beach in the back with the waves pouring in help break this shot up, and really capture the moment.

$6 – More Details & Video Preview

Cascade Waterfall

This is a fantastic shot, from the bottom of a waterfall. Crystal clear water, and great scenery help make this shot super calm, and a great addition to any nature themed production. The fact that it loops only makes this stock file even better. I wouldn’t be surprised if I walked into someone’s house and saw this looping on a TV, or computer as a screen saver.

$6 – More Details & Video Preview

Climbing Landscape

This larger than life shot is made up of a number of unbelievable elements. Not only does this cave appear to be high in the mountains, which by the way, look fantastic in the background. But the big kicker here is the silhouette of the cave, and the person practically climbing upside down, from what appears to be a very high surface!

$6 – More Details & Video Preview

Sun, Field & Clouds

I couldn’t refrain from adding this little shot to the list. Be it short, this shot has a huge impact. The vibrant green in the rolling hills, or bright blue from the sky above really captivate the viewer. This would be a great cut shot for a short film, or production.

$6 – More Details & Video Preview

High Quality Earth Animations

This set of animations was made with such a high level of quality, that I feel like it was pulled from a Science based television network. What makes this even better is that the realistic nature of these videos coupled with the perfect camera moves really compete with those pro animations one would expect to see on TV. This is really a must have for any science based project.

$15 – More Details & Video Preview

Light Bulb

A super realistic set of animations featuring light bulbs flying forward. Great depth of field applied only adds to the realism. Author Felt_Tips really went big on this one, setting up the animations so that they can be easily customized by cutting and moving around to allow the end user a bunch of different options when compositing. Have the bulbs fly at the screen, fly away from the screen, get to a certain point and stop, the sky is the limit.

$10 – More Details & Video Preview

3D Rings

An oldie, but good from Triworks. This video is one part of a pretty robust set of these animations. With a high-tech feel, this would make any ident really shine. Perfect as just a background, or usable as an element. The quality is top notch on this one. Oh… and it also loops seamlessly!

$8 – More Details & Video Preview

Beautiful Natural Bliss

Natural Bliss is one of those animations that just make you happy. The elements all fit perfectly together, and each one compliments the other. This would really be great as a background to some titles, or the beginning sequence to a DVD Menu.

$8 – More Details & Video Preview

Dream Membrane

One of Bushido’s classic files. Dream Membrane is a hypnotizing animation, that would be a perfect overlay element. Drop it over any subtle background and you can really enhance the feel of the project! Loops seamlessly, and use the Screen blending mode to get rid of the background.

$8 – More Details & Video Preview

Spectrum

Spectrum is one of those projects that don’t come around too often. The quality here is unmatched. Featuring tons of places to put video or images, not to mention perfectly matching text for each cut and a fully working audio spectrum to top it all off. This project is superb!

$30 – More Details & Video Preview

Urban Destruct 2

This project delivers such a high impact. With a very urban feel, it starts out slow, but quickly builds to be a very robust, and complete opening sequence. Plenty of spots to fill in your own text along with some video that pop out of shipping containers. I am still waiting for the day I go to the theater and see this as the opening titles for a feature film!

$30 – More Details & Video Preview

Photo Album 2

This file was chosen for a few reasons. It’s ability to present a bunch of images in a very clean manner being one of them. But the real winner for this file is the level of quality. Every element of this digital desk has been meticulously composited into the scene. All color matched perfectly, making this project look like a real environment.

$30 – More Details & Video Preview

Photographer Presentation

This project provides its buyers with a super trendy, high-impact way to present images. Perfect for any city themed project, or great for a model or photographer. Featuring a bunch of image screens that can hold stills or footage. The camera perfectly carries the viewer through the slideshow, with little flashes and sounds to help captivate even further.

$20 – More Details & Video Preview

Focal Media Pack

Focal, has always been a big boy on VideoHive. Mainly because it brings so much to the table. Providing a project but also a bunch of stock textures, all seamlessly woven into this grungy, yet trendy project file. Text and graphics can easily be swapped out, making this project super easy for the buyer.

$20 – More Details & Video Preview

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Icons by SmashingMagazine and Kailoon

Morten won:

• Software: 1 x Trapcode Suite 2009 (worth $899)
• Training: 1 x Class On Demand Complete Training for Trapcode Particular (worth $95)
• 1 x Toolfarm Trapcode 3S Training (New Release) worth $39)
• 1 x Trapcode Form Training with Harry J. Frank (worth $24)
• Plus membership: 1 x 1 year Plus membership (worth $117)

1st Place Winner

RSS readers: click post title to view winning video at Aetuts+.

2nd Place Winner

Second place went to Justin Brown who won a 1 year Plus membership!

Toolfarm Made This Possible

This competition would not have been possible without the generous support of Toolfarm, one of the web’s best places to buy official After Effects Plug-ins, great video training and other VFX tools. Visit Toolfarm to say thanks!

Honorable Mention

These other entries were also quite impressive and worth mentioning….

19 Spectacular VFX and Design Studios

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  Digital Domain

  Digital Domain has 65+ film credits under their belt and are one of the pioneering forces in the visual effects industry. In operations since 1993, and founded by some of the greatest icons in the industry, Digital Domain has set the standard for photo-real humans and visual effects in movies, commercials and video games. One of my favorite things about this company isn’t the fact that they have won tons of awards, its their website. It is jam packed with making-ofs, VFX breakdowns, credits and tons of more information on all the projects that they tackle.

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  Süperfad

  The masterminds behind the “Now Network” Sprint ads and the ever popular Durex “Get It On” series that swept the internets a couple months back, Superfad is an amazing brand driven design and live action production company. Their style is fueled by the wide range of culture and the brilliant minds that they employ. They are always trying to come up with blow-you-away designs, and have fulfilled those needs for some of the worlds top companies with their award winning creations.

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  Troika

  Troika is probably my favorite branding and identity creation company. They have an amazing reputation for creating some of the more talked about network branding and television identities that you probably see on a daily basis. They handle FOX, ABC, Comedy Central and ESPN just to name a few, but if you hit up their website, their client list, just does not end. Watching their demos for each network, show really spark your imagination to create some amazing stuff. Andrew Kramer even has a tutorial to create the awesome TNT network logo reveal on Video Copilot. When you click over to Troika’s site, click to the About>Studio section and see what this killer studio is all about.

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  Prologue

  Prologue seems to sprout in some shape or form whenever I write an article. Not because I love their work (which I do), but the fact that what they create blows me away time after time, when I search for pieces to feature, they always seem to be one of the videos that catches my eye. Working on film as well as television branding, Prologue is absolutely one of my favorite companies to watch. There work has been featured on some of the biggest movies lately as well as the MTV Movie Awards, about a month ago.

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  Blur

  Blur is a team comprised of around 90 people ranging from animators, modelers, riggers, compositors and so on. With motion capture inside their studio, it makes an optimal location for production of game trailers and 3D animation in general. Owned by Tim Miller, a huge graphic novel fan, they have taken on a lot of gaming and graphic novel adaptations such as a Heavy Metal sequel, and the amazing trailer for Star Wars: The Old Republic, which was recently debuted at E3.

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  Digital Kitchen

  One of our fellow authors here at AEtuts, Nick Campbell works at the famed Digital Kitchen as a Motion Designer. Digital Kitchen is an awesome post studio which has worked on a bunch of main title projects for some awesome shows such as True Blood, Rescue Me, and my newest favorite show, Dexter. Their work ranges from title sequences to commercial production, and everything the produce never disappoints.

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  Imaginary Forces

  These guys deal in everything and anything you can dream up. Visual effects for Terminator Salvation and Minority Report along with title sequences for Dollhouse and Gossip Girl are just a few of the projects they have graced their creative talents with. Their work is continually featured on Motionographer.com, as are many of the talented post houses on this list, so it is hard to miss their work when it is displayed.

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  MK12

  This Kansas City based design firm has taken on some amazing projects such as the visual effects for the latest James Bond movie, as well as a ton of other commercial, branding and television identity pieces. Specializing in motion design as well as visual effects, and perusing around their site will definitely get your creative juices flowing.

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  Onesize

  Onesize is focused on motion graphics, animation, visual effects, and live-action direction and production for film and television. That being said, they are some of the best. Producing some very memorable spots and animation such as one of my personal favorite music videos of all time, “Anything You Synthesize” by The American Dollar, their work is internationally seen, and employs freelancers around the world. Members of their team teach at universities like Hyper Island in Sweden, or speak at festivals like OFFF and FITC.

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  Buck

  Buck is an agency with offices on both sides of the United States, and employs creatives with a broad range of culture and works with vast range of clients based in the advertising, broadcast, retail and entertainment industries. Our own Evan Schaible had the pleasure of interviewing one the Art Directors at BUCK, Christopher Lee. You can revisit that interview here.

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  Psyop

  With a slogan such as “Persuade, change and influence” and borrowing the name from the U.S. Governments Phycological Operations program, Psyop is a company with the creativity and ingenuity to get peolle talking about what they do, and how damn good it looks. Psyop creates print, animation and branding campaigns, and are one of the leaders in their realm of multimedia design. With a client list of some of the world’s most prestigious companies, such as Mercedes Benz, Guiness, MTV HD, Audi and Coca Cola, Psyop never ceases to amaze.

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  Blacklist

  A division of Psyop, Blacklist is a group of international and up and coming directors and animators which is led by Executive Producer Adina Sales. Like Psyop, it is also based in New York. Their work is edgy and sometimes even a bit experimental. They have produced pieces for Fuse TV, Zune, and Nike dealing mostly in visual effects and motion design. Blacklist’s artists and directors have been featured in Stash, CG Channel.com, and Motionographer.com.

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  Trollbäck + Company

  Using live action and motion graphics with a mix of narratives gives Trollbäck an distinctive reputation for being the company to go for compelling and innovative campaign creation for the advertising, broadcast and entertainment industries. They are a company that prides themselves on the ability to create an immersive, compelling story with any project they take on, whether it be a rebrand or a title sequence. With a client list such as HBO, CBS, and the New York Times Magazine, there is a reason why they are one of the leaders in this business.

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  The Mill

  In 2007, Shots magazine name The Mill “The most-awarded FX company in the world”, and with Oscars, and BTAA awards under their belt… it couldn’t be more true. With locations in London, New York and Los Angeles, and “Mini-Mills” scattered around the UK, they are able to service any client, anytime, with whatever they may need. They have created some of the most memorable visual effects, too many to name, just have a look at their reel and you will see what I mean.

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  Stargate Films

  I like to prowl around the Stargate Films website quite a bit, they always have a ton of content to keep me busy and spark my interest. They have worked on the visual effects for some of the biggest shows on television including Heroes, Grey’s Anatomy and Knight Rider, and winning an handful of Emmys in the process.

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  The Moving Picture Company

  MPC is probably one of the most prestigious post production facilities in the world. With three network-connected facilities in London, Santa Monica and Vancouver, they have tackled and produced some of the largest visual effects projects in film such as all of the Harry Potter movies, and most recently over 250 shots for “Watchmen”. They also handle visual effects and computer animation for the advertising, music and television industries. Their website is jam packed full of making-ofs and VFX breakdowns, so make sure take some time with this one.

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  Stink Digital

  Stink Digital, the nerdy little brother of the larger Stink, are the ones responsible, along with Tribal DDB Amsterdam, for the Philips “Carousel” spot that has been tearing up the VFX realm the last month or so. They are an all-around team of developers, flash devs, designers, directors, animators, and film producers who side by side produce polished works for display in film as well as the internet.

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  Rhythm & Hues

  Rhythm and Hues is a full fledged post studio that deal in character creation, matte painting, live action, game production, and visual effects. It seems like R&H is always dipping their fingers in the latest productions to hit theaters, such as “Land of the Lost” and “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.” They always seem to blow everyone away with the visual effects they put out, even winning an Oscar for Achievement in Visual Effects for their work on “The Golden Compass.”

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  Luma Pictures

  Luma is one of those studios that you don’t hear that much about them working on the visual effects in a lot of movies, but after you visit their site, you really realize that they play a huge part in movies such as “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and The “Underworld” series. Their 3D team has remarkable talent and their compositors are just as good. This is another one of those studios to watch because they are continually pumping out amazing peices of work.

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18 Inspiring Title Sequences

Most of the titles in this list came from Motionographer, WatchTheTitles.com and ArtoftheTitle.com, simply because they are the best resource for rounding up the greatest title sequences you can find on the net.

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  Prologue – OFFF 2009 Titles

  This first title sequence is by one of my favorite design companies, Prologue. It is the titles for OFFF 2009 in Oeiras, Portugal. With a military-esque look and deserted scenery, this is a great piece from Prologue Films.

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  Prologue – MTV Movie Awards 2009

  Another piece from Prologue that showcases their quirky weird style. I love how they took the people, and composited them with different heads according to the award that would be given.

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  Dvein – F5 Titles

  Dvein handled this title sequence for F5 2009 with a super low – almost no budget, and had very little time to complete the project. Good thing this is the kind of thing the team at Dvein strives for. Pumping out a killer title sequence, it shows the awesome style that Dvein has.

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  Josef Lee – The Days

  Except for the camera moving in 3D space, this is a great 2D animation in which almost everything is a flat layer. Watching this makes me think of how I would recreate it in AE using the puppet tool and a ton of layers.

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  Battery – Pause NYC

  The opening titles for Pause NYC by the Battery crew is a killer mix of thin metallic typography with very organic backgrounds. The combination creates an awesome sequence that has a truly unique feel to it.

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  Imaginary Forces – The Mummy III

  Because all of the artwork is animated on and off as though it were brushstrokes on a canvas, this piece has a very painter-ish feel to it. It has a great 2D feel to it, and has some great silhouetted characters and battle scenes in it.

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  Digital Kitchen – True Blood

  Warning! This video is NSFW (Not Safe for Work) and R rated. That being said, it’s one of my favorites in the list. Its got a creepy redneck southern feel to it, utilizing old looking footage and wierd timelapses like rotting fox corpses. Pure awesome.

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  Fake – Kid Svensk

  This sequence reminds me of a tutorial I saw once, but done so much better. It is an underwater scene with tons of bubbles flowing upward as the titles dissolve into the water.

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  Jaime Caliri – Madagascar II

  Lots of 2D paper looking animation in this one. The titles feature all the characters in the movie in the situations they get themselves into.

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  Various – 3:19

  One of the coolest title sequences I have ever seen is the ones for the film 3:19. Envisioned and created by Mucho Motion, Onesize and Rune. It takes your through a space-like environment with the titles of the crew and cast etched in the metallic workings of some kind of machine.

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  Shadowplay Studio – Juno

  Juno is the subject of tons of tutorial requests because of the opening titles and the unique way in which they are portrayed. Using a sketch type of animation technique it creates a very interesting drawn-on effect.

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  Reel FX – Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium

  This reminds me of walking through a toy shop or flipping through a pop up book. It really sets the stage for what the movie is about and what you are in for.

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  PIC – The Kingdom

  The only politically themed title sequence in this roundup, the opening titles for The Kingdom takes you through the history of U.S. involvement in Saudi Arabia.

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  Prologue – Dawn of the Dead

  This title sequence is actually the reason for this weeks’ article. Fellow author, Satya Meka shot me an email showing me this sequence, and I got hooked on title sequences. This one is freaky as hell, and if you watch the final credits as well, it gets pretty crazy once they hit the island. Oh, and the final credits are NSFW.

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  Digital Kitchen – Dexter

  Dexter’s titles are full of metaphorical macro shots depicting some macabre scenarios. If that was too much alliteration for you, it basically takes you through Dexter’s morning, as he eats his eggs, ties his shoes and all that, but the whole time it still has you thinking about the serial killer he is.

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  Jamie Caliri – The United States of Tara

  This piece was actually composited in After Effects, and has a true pop-up book feel to it. All of the characters and pieces were photographed as pieces of paper, then composited together to create the final scene.

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  Framestore CFC – Sahara

  I love one shot scenes when the camera is cotinuously moving without any cuts. Even though a lot of people hated the movie Sahara, I still thought it was actually pretty cool, and even before I was into motion graphics I found myself saying “those opening titles are pretty sweet.”

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  Perception NYC – Hulk VS. Wolverine

  I was searching for the opening titles of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, when I stumbled upon this beauty of a title sequence. It is for an animated movie, but I would have never guessed given the opening titles. I still recommend checking out the beginning of Wolverine if you can find it, though I couldn’t.

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Finally, it’s worth mentioning that Video Copilot’s Andrew Kramer recently created the titles for the new Star Trek movie but they are not online yet for viewing. You’ll have to go to the theater to see them for now.

16 Killer Demo Reels

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  Mark Coleran

  Mark is an amazing interface designer working on a ton of prestigious movies such as The Island, Children of Men and Mission Impossible III. His designs are both immensely futuristic and completely breathtaking to see.

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  Andreas Feix

  Andreas’ website Eclipse FX, has bunch of links to the work that he has accomplished, and the awards that he has won. He is a very talented compositor working on many productions including the internet fanflim, still in the making, Star Wars: Threads of Destiny.

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  Markus Gustafsson

  One of my fellow authors here on AEtuts+, Markus Gustafsson has a pretty sweet demo reel. Not only is he a great teacher, but you can see some of the subjects of his tutorials here, as pieces in his reel as well as some of the freelance projects he has done over the years.

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  Onesize

  This Dutch based studio deals in everything… motion graphics, visual effects, animation, and anything else you can throw at them. They have done some amazing work for Nike, MTV, G4, just to name a few, with a truly unique feel to their work. I actually found them from their work on The American Dollar’s “Anything You Synthesize”, a truly amazing music video.

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  Mutanthands

  James is a London freelancer, rocking a bunch of work for companies like VH1 and Nickelodeon, but what I really like about his work, is the 2.5d feel he gives it. A lot of the stuff you can tell can be created in After Effects, and has a great cartoony, paper-character feel to it.

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  CL-DEEZ

  This french motion design artist has a ton of work for websites and branding projects, working mostly with 2D motion design, with a dabble in 3D, as every good motion design artist should.

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  Josh Childers

  This reel here has a ton of 3D as well as some 2D, but all good artists have to broaden their horizons eventually. Josh shows you a great reason why. Working at tons of different studios as a freelancer, he has quite the reel put together.

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  Noble Assassins

  Rick Morris runs Noble Assassins as Creative Director and has a great mostly 2D reel, working on advertising material for television. I love reels like this, because it really shows you how far After Effects can go as a primary tool.

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  Nylon

  Nylon is run by three people: Jason Cook, the Creative Director, Bryan Lee, also Creative Director, and Joe Montalbano, EP. These three together produce some amazing work, which is very heavily reliant on 3D, and has an amazing colorful design appeal.

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  Chris West

  I’m not gonna lie, in the first five seconds of this reel I thought “what in the world am I watching?” but then Chris broke into the real stuff in which makes his real worthy of this list. He has a great eye for creativity, and his motion design and animation are really well put together.

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  Danny Yount

  Danny made it onto my Inspirational Typography list a while back and his demo reel now, will simply not be looked over without a mention. You have probably seen at least one or two of the clips in his reel on television or in flim sometime or another. Working at Prologue, he has worked on a ton of different movies, and has probably one of my favorite reels on this list.

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  Kyle Richtsfeld

  Kyle has a cool reel with a lot of the pieces made entirely in After Effects. He works in Vancouver, BC as a mograph artist and director. One thing you won’t see in his reel though (and the reason I wanted to include him in this list), is the work he did on the “California” music video for Hey Ocean… amazing use of typography simulating the inside of a catalog.

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  Rhino

  Rhino is a very high end studio with some truly stunning pieces they have worked on. They are more on the visual effects realm of things, but I thought it would be worth noting here because it was so rad. I’m sure After Effects was used here and there for touch-up, but for the most part things are created entirely in 3D.

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  HUSH

  New York’s HUSH is run by Erik Karasyk, David Schwarz and Laura Alejo. Specializing in TV commercials, music videos and branding, the lastest reel from them is killer.

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  Craig Hubbard

  Chubbard, as his freelance design is called, has worked on a few tv shows doing spots and branding such as Criss Angel, VH1’s Charm School and the IFC Channel. He has got a really creative eye, and some very cool design pieces in his reel especially the running hand at the end.

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  Heebok Lee

  This guy has worked on some movies that would be a motion designer/comic book nerd’s dream. Spiderman, Superman, Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man… and his credits don’t stop there. I couldn’t think of a better reel to end the list with, but we have to sometime. Might as well be with something truly remarkable.

  View Demo Reel

Psdtuts+ – Adobe Photoshop

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  How to Turn Humdrum Photos into Cinematic Portraits

  There are a plethora of ways to treat a portrait for a myriad of uses, but that is for another feature. Let’s tackle adding drama or a cinematic quality to a regular, humdrum portrait. Let’s even throw in a little bit of faking HDR. That way if you work on a project that requires a stunning shot without the stunning photography, you’ll be able to cobble something together using your mad skillz!

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• 

  A Comprehensive Introduction to the Type Tool

  Who doesn’t know the Type Tool? This is maybe one of the most powerful and useful tools of Photoshop. We’ve all used it at least once, but do you know all its potential? That’s why I decided to write a comprehensive guide about Photoshop’s Type tool, including do’s and don’ts of the most important features of this tool.

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• 

  Create an Out of Bounds Fantasy Illustration

  Here is another illustration I have worked on with Toma Alin Gabriel. Worked on this piece with a lot of images and I would also like to thank the photographers for giving us permission to use their stuff. In this tutorial, we will take you through the process of creating a fantasy scene, make water pour out of a painting, make some sort of a absorption effect and end up with a really nice looking color. The main idea behind this surreal illustration is that we are actually in a painting and the painting on the wall is the real world, the world where our vulture tries to escape.

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• 

  How to Illustrate Type Using Cinema 4D and Photoshop – Psd Plus Tutorial

  We have another professional Psd Plus tutorial exclusively available to Plus members today. If you want to take your Photoshop 3D type skill to the next level, then we have an exciting tutorial for you. Discover how to render shapes into C4D to create mechanical looking pieces that you can use to construct awesome typographic works with!

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• 

  How to Create a Hellacious Flaming Skull in Photoshop

  In this tutorial, we’ll go through all the steps of creating a flaming skull in Photoshop. We’ll be using some images we shot ourself of flames, and a stock Designious vector skull to get us started. This tutorial covers some relatively simple steps and some clever photo manipulation techniques. Let’s get to it!

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• 

  How to Create Super-Malleable Effects with Colorful Lines

  These days colorful lines are one of the most malleable effects you can easily create in Photoshop. They simply fit everywhere and can look really awesome. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create these fantastic colorful effects using only Photoshop. I’ll show you how to compose illustration with these effects. Let’s get to it!

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• 

  How to Create a Grunge Style Illustration with Stains

  Inspired by the article “18+ Sources of Inspiration from Coffee, Ink, Blood and other Stains,” by Steven Snell, I decided to show my personal way of creating stain based designs in Photoshop. In this tutorial, we’ll grab a picture, apply several filters to it and obtain a monochromatic stain, which combined with stain brushes and a texture will transform into an eye-catching grunge result. Let’s get it started!

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• 

  Creating a Touching Story Scene in Photoshop

  I worked on this illustration especially for you with Ciursa Ionut, he is the founder of PSDBURN where he writes Photoshop tutorials. He started working in Photoshop many years ago when he began to utilize this great tool all the time. In this tutorial, you are going to create a story scene using photo manipulation and a lot of color adjustments.

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• 

  How to Apply Textures to Uneven Surfaces

  Applying texture to a flat surface, or flatly applying a texture across a whole image (as a means to age it or degrade it) is simple stuff. Realistically applying a texture to an uneven surface is much more hands-on (more so than simply overlaying a texture and changing the Blending mode).

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  Design Cool Game Graphics Using Displacement Maps – Psd Plus Tutorial

  We have another great Psd Plus tutorial exclusively available to Plus members today. If you want to take your game design skills to the next level, then we have an awesome tutorial for you. Discover how to use Photoshop tools to blend graphics, textures, and a Cinema 4D creature into an awesome game cover design. Learn more about this informative and advanced tut at the jump!

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Vectortuts+ – Vector & Adobe Illustrator

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  How to Create a Vector Illustration and Prepare it for Micro-Stock Sale

  This tutorial details a professional workflow for creating vector illustrations and prepping the artwork for these sites. I’ve also included a bunch of time-saving tools and tips as well. Let’s get started!

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• 

  How to Illustrate a LeBron James Cartoon Character

  Hello fellow vector artists, I am a cartoonist/illustrator who specialized in retro style vector cartoons. You can find more of my work and books at my web site. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how I use Adobe Illustrator to create vector cartoons.

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• 

  Learn a Professional Workflow for Illustrating a Comic-Style Header Image

  In this tutorial, we’ll review a professional workflow for illustrating website header images in comic style, which are destined to integrate into Wordpress themes. This is a great way to make your blog stand out and get promoted on the top web design galleries. Let’s get started!

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• 

  How to Create an Alarm Clock Icon

  With simple shapes and gradients, this easy tutorial will show you how to create an alarm clock icon. We’ll be using Illustrator CS4 for this tutorial, but those of you with older version should be able to follow along as well. Let’s jump into this tutorial, which beginning illustrators will find especially useful!

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• 

  Accentuating with Color in Vector Illustration – Vector Plus Tutorial

  We have another great Vector Plus tutorial exclusively available to Plus members today. If you want to learn how to control your shading and coloring with your vector art, then we have an awesome tutorial for you. Learn a professional workflow for creating color controlled vector illustrations, along with numerous other techniques!

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• 

  How To Make A Skateboard For Digital Printing – Vector Plus Tutorial

  We have another great Vector Plus tutorial exclusively available to Plus members today. If you want to learn how to create skate graphics with Illustrator CS4 techniques, then we have an awesome tutorial for you. Learn how to create skate graphics with shapes, lines, and patterns, and mount them on a board, then prep for digital printing!

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• 

  How to Create Exploded Isometrics

  Exploded isometrics are my subject in this third and final tutorial on the topic of isometrics. If you have not read either of the first two tutorials on isometrics, then I suggest you start with them: Basic Isometrics and Orthographics and Advanced Isometrics Using the SSR Method.

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• 

  How to Create Cartoon Characters from Everyday Objects – Vector Plus Tutorial

  We have another great Vector Plus tutorial exclusively available to Plus members today. If you want to learn how to create novel cartoon characters, then we have a fun tutorial for you. Learn how to create characters from everyday objects that work great for illustrated cartoon style posters!

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• 

  The Mechanics of Comics

  As an audience we accept comics for what they are; a medium, conveyors of information. What we less often realize is the technicality and process of how that information has been communicated to us. This is a good thing. When the artist gets it right, the comic book reader becomes immersed in what’s being told – not how.

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• 

  Create a Milk Bottle with a Funny Cow Label

  In this tutorial, we’ll explain how to create a 3D milk bottle. We’ll also cover how to create and apply a cute cow label to it. Let’s have some fun with this one!

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Nettuts+ – Web Development

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  How I Can Code Twice as Fast as You

  We’re all familiar with text expander programs; though I would surmise that the percentage of us who use them when coding is quite low. To change things up a bit, today I’m going to you how to create custom text-expander scripts that will save you a great deal of time. If you’re unfamiliar with such programs, you must watch this! After reviewing the screencast and tutorial, I’d love to hear how you save time when developing.

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• 

  How to Add Variables to Your CSS Files

  Let’s try something different on nettuts+ today. Any designer who has worked with large CSS files will agree that its major weakness is its inability to use variables. In this article, we will learn how to implement variables by using PHP and Apache’s URL rewrite mod.

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• 

  The 13 Most Essential Plugins for WordPress

  WordPress is a very powerful and flexible blog/content management system, but the thousands of plugins really help to extend the basic functionality. Here are 13 essential plugins that you should immediately install after finishing the WordPress installation.

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• 

  How to Build a Super Duper News Scroller

  This week, we’ll learn how to combine PHP, SimplePie, and jQuery to build a simple news scroller widget for your website. It’s much easier than you might think; so let’s begin.

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• 

  10 Challenging but Awesome Flash Techniques

  These days, most Flash developers know how to circumvent the multimedia platform’s short-comings and properly utilize its strengths. Here are some very clever Flash techniques that you can apply to your site, making them more useful, beautiful and unique.

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• 

  Design a Beautiful Website from Scratch

  Have you ever wanted to design a beautiful website but just didn’t know how? To be honest, a few years ago, that happened to me too. While browsing the web, I saw so many nice looking websites and wished I had the skills to create such designs. Today I can and I’m going to teach you how to do so too! Essentially, it requires a few Photoshop skills and an eye for detail. Through this tutorial, I will point out these tiny details which make a website design look beautiful. Fire up Photoshop and let’s get going!

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• 

  20 More Excellent AJAX Effects You Should Know

  Back in October we wowed you with 20 Excellent Ajax Effects You Should Know. The post went on to become one of the most popular ever published at Nettuts+. This time around we have twenty more equally excellent Ajax effects for you to know and love.

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• 

  How to Become a Freelance Web Developer

  Have you ever wanted to be a freelance web developer? Whether you’re working for the man or developing as a hobby, there are some tried and tested tips you can use to ease yourself into the life of a freelance web developer – even if you only do it part-time.

  So today we’re going to go over how to actually become a freelance web developer, and all that goes with it.

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• 

  The Best PSD to HTML to Wordpress Video Series Available: New Plus Tutorial

  Since I began running Nettuts+ nearly a year ago, the number one tutorial request I’ve received is for a PSD to WordPress screencast. Today, we’re releasing a complete series on our Plus site. Over the course of fourteen videos, I will personally teach you how to take a PSD design and convert first to HTML, and then to a dynamic WordPress site. This was a massive undertaking; I hope you’ll consider signing up if it interests you.

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• 

  Fun With CSS Shapes

  I bet a bunch of you don’t realize that we can create the illusion of shapes by using 100% CSS. By utilizing the border property in creative ways, we can make some really interesting polygons. In this week’s screencast, we’ll figure out a way to create speech-bubbles without resorting to background images.

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Audiotuts+ – Music & Audio

• 

  A Basic Guide to Acoustic Treatment

  After touching on the critical subject of acoustics and room treatment in a few recent tutorials, I felt it was fitting to create a basic guide to acoustically treating your work space. I get asked about this subject a lot so I’m hoping a run down of the essential technique and kit needed will be of some help to readers.

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• 

  The Process of Score Composition

  This tutorial marks the first in a series of tutorials on composition – specifically composition that might be appropriate for film and television. In this piece, we’ll talk a bit about the philosophy behind this particular series of tutorials, and get into the process of composition itself.

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• 

  Getting More From Your Tracks With Delay

  Delay is a simple device with a wealth of possibilities for adding interest and production value to your tracks. This tutorial will examine different ways that delay can improve the sound of your music and inspire creativity.

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• 

  Creating Run Machines in Reason’s Combinator

  Some of Reason’s most-loved patches are the Combinator’s [RUN] patches. These patches are very useful as the Combinator plays along with your song, often inspiring as song starters or templates. However, it is scary to turn the rack around and see hundreds of cables go from this device to that device. It’s not that complex; once you’ve figured it out you can make great background patterns and drum machine templates for your songs.

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• 

  Create Gated Sequence Effects with Ultrabeat

  Ultrabeat is Logic’s secret weapon when it comes to drum sounds, but it can also double as a extremely powerful gate sequencer. In this tutorial we’ll take one pad sound and create a complex layered sequence. There’s a screencast to follow along with!

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• 

  The Top 6 New Features of Cubase 5

  The new version of Cubase has landed with some pretty impressive new features that will be interesting to both new and seasoned users alike. Let’s take a look at a few ground-breaking features the new version has to offer and see if these latest additions keep Cubase up there with the other big guns.

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• 

  How to Create Excitement in Your Music With Tremolo

  Tremolo was always one of those plug-ins that my eyes completely skipped past. It wasn’t until some experimenting and tips from other composers that I began to see the potential behind this simple device.

  In this tutorial we’ll look at some examples of how tremolo can help you make some truly interesting and unique sounds, including several techniques used to create the final piece from the “How To Create a Compelling Ostinato” tutorial.

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  20 Ways to Keep Evolving as a Musician

  I started to learn to play music properly when I was twenty. I bought the books, practiced for an hour or two a day, and got some lessons. I could often sense my progress, but not always. There was something new to learn each day, and from time to time I could tell my playing jumped up to the next level. But that was over half a lifetime ago, and though music has always been an important part of my life since then, I haven’t always had the time to play regularly.

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  How to Achieve Good Translation in Your Mixes

  What is ‘translation’ and how does it relate to our mixes? A mix that displays good translation will play back well on a number of sound systems, with all its individual elements remaining clear and balanced. In this tutorial, we look at how you can achieve this with your own mixes.

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  The Producer’s Guide to Putting Passion Into Vocal Delivery

  “It’s in the can,” “On tape” and “It’s a wrap!” You all gather in the plush leather, shag-pile comfort of the engineering room and wait as the final touches are put to the mix. Anticipation is running high, everything is technically perfect, the rhythm tracks tock to the clock of the heart with precision and feel, perfectly locking in and connecting the bottom end to the mids and linking them to the highs with emphatic punctuation into an harmonious arrangement that captures the feel and energy of live.

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Flashtuts+ – Flash Design & Development

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  Build an Efficient Flash Decalsheet System

  I came up with the idea of creating what I call Flash DecalSheets from the stickers that come with model airplanes and have been using “Decals” to skin my own Flash applications ever since. A DecalSheet is basically one large image (.JPG, .PNG, or .GIF) that gets cut up into smaller images called ‘Decals’, which are Bitmaps and can be used anywhere DisplayObjects would usually be used.

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  Build a Dynamic Flash and XML Slideshow with Scripted Transitions

  Content updates in Flash can be difficult and time consuming due to the many steps involved. Simply reading content from an XML file means that importing new assets and recompiling the swf is no longer necessary. This tutorial will cover dynamically loading images from an XML file and then deal with inconsistencies in image dimensions using the GreenSock Tween Max animation library.

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  Create an Impressive Magnifying Effect with ActionScript 3.0

  In this tutorial we’ll create a magnifying glass effect, demonstrating use of the displacementMapFilter. The effect can be achieved in a relatively short space of time and with very little code.

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  Smoothly Animate a Character Using Motion Tweens

  In this tutorial we’ll see how we can create a caricature, split it into different layers then arrange the pieces properly as graphic symbols. Finally we’ll look at how easily we can smoothly animate the caricature by using motion tweens. This is a lengthy tutorial, so let’s get started!

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  Create a Dynamic Slideshow Using ActionScript 3.0 and HTML

  In this screencast I’ll show you how to create a dynamic slideshow using ActionScript 3.0 and how to grab the images from an xml file. We’ll keep the FLA empty except for the path to our Document Class and also create a custom class that will act as the engine for the slideshow. This is a file you can use over and over again, I hope you find it useful!

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  Build a Dynamic Flash Gallery with Slider Control

  In this tutorial, we’ll create a gallery which displays all image files in a given directory. A slider is used to browse easily through the images.

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  Create a Rain Effect in Flash Using ActionScript 3.0

  In this tutorial we’ll create a dynamic rain effect using ActionScript 3.0. The effect can be customized in many ways by just changing a few lines of code. Let’s get started!

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  Build a Dynamic Guest-book with XML and ActionScript 3.0

  Guest books are a great thing to enhance the online experience your viewers receive. The ability for the viewer to talk to you and others, respond to questions you’ve raised, comment on your work or just to socialize means a guest book is a must have for most web sites. Let’s see how we can build our own guest book with ActionsScript 3.0, XML and PHP.

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  Create an Attractive Flash Video Player

  In this tutorial FlashDen Top 100 author flashjunkie shows you how to create a slick Flash video player without typing a single line of code. The video player allows you to pause, play, scrub through video and adjust volume. We hope you enjoy this screencast tutorial!

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  Setting Up a Flash Development Sandbox

  Welcome to part one of the Flash Development Sandbox Tutorial! In this tutorial we’re going cover ActionScript development outside of the Flash IDE. As much as we would like to put it off, the day is coming closer and closer when we will no longer be able to write complex applications in Flash and will be forced to choose a different editor.

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The Beast Is Back

Evan Schaible interviews Chris Lee of Buck TV

I had a wonderful privilege recently to ask one of the industry’s finest a few integral questions. It is a great thing to see the inspirational work of those that we look up to, it is quite another to actually get to pry into the depths of their minds in order to see what drives that creativity, and what got them started down the path that is now paved with great design. Christopher Lee is one of those artists that add something fresh and unique to the industry, and it seems that his innovations in art never cease.

His clients include HBO, DirecTV, Ford, Old Navy, AT&T, and many other large and small companies and individuals. His fresh style keeps new clients coming, and old clients returning, as is evident by his website: www.thebeastisback.com. He is employed as the art director for Buck TV and travels worldwide because of his work. But enough with the fanfare and trumpets, let’s just get right to it because you, by this point, don’t want to hear me anymore. We will learn a great deal from Chris regarding inspiration, education, and many things that are important to only the serious artist.

1. Chris, from looking around your website, it is clear that your style is unique and clean, what is it that inspired your specific style of motion design?

The style that I employ in my motion work was the effect of a natural transition from my illustration style. Prior to Buck, I had no experience in the motion graphics field. I came into the studio with the confidence that I could add diversity to their team of designers. I’m in love with all forms of character design and when jobs requiring characters come along I’m definitely in my element. I’m also a fan of simple shapes, retro styling and vintage effects. The rare job does come along from time to time when I can use all of those things in conjunction with one another, but when parameters are limited, I try to find some way during my problem solving stage to incorporate at least one of those principles.

2. How do you gather your inspiration during those inevitable dry times? Some guys walk in the park, others watch a good commercial, so what does Chris Lee do when things dry up?

The fact that I have the means to create whatever my imagination conjures opens up a realm of possibilities. I’m inspired by that never-ending potential. When I work for clients either at Buck or in my own freelance illustration work, it is nice to kick back and indulge myself in the ideas I have been putting on the back burner. And believe me, that list gets longer every day.

3. I noticed that in your work for the Vancouver Olympics you did extensive 2D animation. This type of work can be tedious, and often times very slow. What is your workflow for a project like this? Obviously not from front to back, but what are the key points that you make sure and employ when taking on a project of this magnitude?

The main key point is to have a plan, ha ha. We had a tad over a month to do five minutes of animation with a team of about 6 people (including myself). It was a grueling process. 7 weeks, 7 days a week. To make it manageable, we decided not to freak out and follow all the normal steps for all animated pieces: schedule, storyboards, assigning scenes, etc. Since this piece revolved around a very specific style, a style that we actually had to emulate from the original creator of the characters (Meomi), I really needed to trust my freelance illustrators to adapt. Like South Park, all these characters were animated in Maya much to everyone’s surprise. My animators were absolutely amazing and required very little guidance. They got into the heads of the characters and gave them personalities that didn’t exist before this project. Once we had a rhythm going everyone ended up being completely self-sufficient which lowered the stress and increased productivity. All in all, if I had to pick a single key point that made this workflow a success would be the element of trust. I hand-picked the illustrators and animators I wanted on this project and I knew they would be able to come in and do what they do best.

4. Okay, in the times we are living in now, 3D has become an almost irreplaceable and unavoidable art. As a 2D artist, how is it working alongside, and integrating your work so closely with that of 3D artists?

Thankfully Buck attracts very 2D oriented work. When a 3D intensive project does come around, we have a really talented and versatile 3D force that can handle that on their own once style frames and art direction have been supplied. However, where I am most involved in terms of the 2D/3D relationship is when I need something rendered/modeled for a style frame. I had no 3D knowledge prior to Buck and now I know what specularity, occlusion, normal maps, Z-depth and UVs are, ha ha.

5. You are currently the art director for Buck TV. If any of our readers are seeking to get into a studio like that, what should they be sure to demonstrate in their reels or artwork?

Individuality. We see a ton of student work (both motion and non-motion related) that focus on a lot on trends. Trends are not a bad thing, but when one person’s reel has the same vibe as another and another, it is hard to differentiate that individual visual voice. However, I do understand that often artists come to Buck with a specific skill (i.e. animator, 3D generalist, compositor, etc). For people with those backgrounds, we have more experienced staff in those fields that know exactly what they’re looking for. To me, those reels just get “oooos” and “aahhhs” from me, ha ha.

6. In your experience, what are the greatest assets for someone to possess who is looking for job on staff with a studio?

Technical proficiency aside, you really have to be able to meld with your new team. If you’re a hot shot freelancer with an ego just as big, you might get a cold shoulder. As an “art director” I believe any pretense is optional. I prefer to be a leader and friend to my co-workers; offering wisdom when they need and a morale boost during those tough jobs and inevitable slow periods. There is never a shortage of jokes at Buck!

7. Many people think that the creative industry is all glitz and glamour, but there is considerable stress with tight deadlines and all sorts of technical and creative problems that daily need solving. How do you unwind after a day of trying to meet a deadline?

The thing is, there is always ANOTHER deadline to meet. But when I’m not forced to work after work, it’s all about spending time with the girlfriend. She makes the best desserts. I also watch a lot of HGTV. I’m an Amazon.com/eBay addict and always try to find something new to add to my wish list/watch list. Sometimes I boot up MAME and play one of my favorite arcade beat-em-ups like Final Fight or X-Men.

8. There are many young artists that are reading this interview, if you were able to give them the most important advice you know regarding the creative industry, what would that be?

You really have to love what you do every single day. If you tire or get bored or get impatient with moving your way up the creative ladder than this industry is not for you. I started from the bottom working at a tiny design studio in Sacramento creating brochures, hang tags, newsletters and logos for our non-profit clients for over five years. Those five years took me from a naÔve 18yr old kid in his first semester at Community College taking “Beginning Illustrator” in 2000 to a 23 year-old student seasoned in the print industry. The point I’m trying to make is to put in your time, both inside the classroom and out. No matter which school you decide to attend, it’s all about putting in the time. Homework is homework whether it’s a typography assignment or chemistry equations. What matters is how much you want to push yourself outside the classroom. How badly do you want it and are you willing to sacrifice lots and lots of time to achieve that goal? You should enjoy the journey, as the process of growing is often more rewarding than reaching its peak.

9. One last question, well, really two questions in oneÖ Who was the biggest inspiration to you as an up and coming artist, and what did you study in them that was so inspiring?

In 2004 at the very beginning of the budding designer vinyl toy explosion, a particular illustrator named Pete Fowler from the UK caught my eye. He had this series of characters called Monsterisms that was humorous and rich with its own mythology and even zoology. When I saw his work I said to myself “you know, I want to create a cast of characters like that.” Born were The Urbanites, which I used as my ticket into the art world and beyond.

I also find inspiration from time periods…moments in history that had specific illustration/design styles. I am inspired by the animation style of the 50s and 60s, Simple shapes and patterns that communicate really well. I love silkscreen and letterpress work. I like to make a lot of my stuff have an “old print” quality feel to them, especially in my personal work.

Thank you very much Chris for your time. It is great to be able to have practical tips and insight from such a talented artist.

Here is a good example of Christophers motion graphics work:

You can also visit the Buck website for more videos.

Examples of Christopher’s work can be found on his website, as well as a very intriguing show reel and examples of his motion graphics work. To contact Chris with any further questions you would like to ask there is a convenient contact form on his site. Until next time, my name is Evan Schaible.