Peacefull !

Nice, AEtuts very good, ha ha ha

Hey tuts are very good no doubt but all are common..

great tut
thanks

pretty cool!

i think im deleting ae tuts from my book marks. or change the name to “learning common basic effects.” but im still deleting it. :’( ae tuts blows now. sorry. i expect greatness and i get a freaking sunset. it doesnt even look like a sun. it looks like an effect, ” the greatest effect is where you dont recognize it! “

nice.. but have to say that the sun goes the other way..

thanks for all tutorials you´re making. good

Nice effect, but I’ve personally banned Trapcode Shine from my AE install. For a long time it was my default “ughh this looks crappy, wonder what i can do to make it look better” plugin. Strangly it never really made it look better. LOL

Brandon….be careful in expression your opinion around here. Lots of people only want to hear the positive….even when things blow.

Now, I’ve never been hesitant to register a negative comment when the tutorial requires it. I will admit that this tutorial is….again….a basics. I don’t like seeing that the last 2 months or so around here has been pretty weak.

However….I kinda like this one. It is basic but there is a nice elegance about it. So, I will give James as hearty….”nicely done.”

However, that being said…..Adam…..seriously…..come on! Some advanced stuff please! Lloyd kicked off this site with one of the best tutorials it ever had. I know I have been one of the more vocally negative commentators…but look through the comments over the past two months. I’m hardly the only voice. There are so many fantastic graphics artists that frequent here….I can’t believe you can’t drum up business, especially when you guys are paying for tutorials.

We had a thread last week about all the title reveal contestants. Most were fantastic and any one of them would make for a great tutorial and I’ll say that seeing how a solid 60% of them are made would be better tutorials than anything we have seen recently.

Adam….

In thinking this over here, I just had a great idea and one that I think is not only sure to net this place some great tutorials but to get you more tutorials than you know what to do with.

Videohive and Revostock have some amazing project files done by some very talented people. Why not crank out a few emails to those creators and see if they aren’t interested in generating a few new projects catered to tutorials for this site. They would probably make some decent money AND generate it would be a great advertising tool for the stuff that they sell on their respective sites.

I don’t know…if it were me…I’d be going to the people that do this for a living rather than waiting for some wannabe “filmmaker” to crank out another building exploding with fire coming out of the window tutorial or someone else looking to rip off Andrew Kramer….

Just my 2 cents….

Hey negative nellies. Turn those frowns upside down! Instead of bashing the guy who spent a lot of time doing this tutorial and getting it selected by the peeps at AETuts.. we could identify the problem and look for a solution:

Let’s ask the fine makers of AETuts to have a system where there can be a couple of different levels like… “Advanced Techniques” and “Getting Started” or something. They seem pretty open to ideas on how to make the site more appealing to the different levels of designers out there.

That way… you don’t have to waste your precious time where you don’t want to waste it! (except to send the forum peeps a line)

Oh wait… they DO have that.

+)

I would key out the blue from the clouds and create another BG layer. Then put the sun behind the clouds since they are closer to us ya know… just a thought…. But good tut. Thanks

Exactly what i was looking for… thnx

Great tut

THAT WAS KINDA BASIC.

Like -J- said, I’ve never seen the sun in front of clouds!

Adam,

I think negativity is often misunderstood. There is negativity just to be negative…to attempt to tear something down for the sake of making yourself feel better….and then there is constructive criticism design to improve the process. If all we did here was come applaud and celebrate every tutorial regardless of how poor they are, what would be accomplished? Most likely a continuing decline in the product.

I speak my mind. Always have….always will. However, I think I attempt to have a “reason” for why I’m critical of something. I also believe I have a proven track record for applauding the great ones. I have also made recommendations in a couple of the tutorials and in at least one those comments lead to changes in the actual tutorial…the Animated Flower tutorial….http://ae.tutsplus.com/tutorials/motion-graphics/create-a-beautifully-animated-faux-3d-flower-scene/. This is why I really don’t care about what others say about my negativity. I want this to be the very best place it can be.

You seem to understand, Adam. As I said your tutorial this week…I do love your stuff. I am looking forward to seeing what you do with aetuts.

Adam….sorry…one other suggestion I have always felt has been lacking from here….a forum. Any change we could see a true forum added? It is great to make comments on the tutorial thread, but it would be great to have a place where we could share ideas about a number of different thing, like discussing a particular tutorial in greater depth, general After Effects discussions, suggestions for tutorials, etc. I know there are a lot of AE forums on the internet, but this place has garnered such a large following it would be great to be able to connect better with the users of this place.

Just a suggestion. Guess I’m full of them today!

Here is another suggestion….LOL…but this one is for those doing this tutorial (one I just thought of as I was giving Adam all my suggestion!)

When you sit down to do this tutorial, don’t just throw the cloud layer in.

Animate the layer as Aharon Rabinowitz does in this tutorial:

http://allbetsareoff.com/tutorials/creating-3d-cloud-motion-from-a-still-image/

It will give your clouds a better perspective and add a touch of realism to the comp and and a somewhat advanced technique to a basic project.

Un excelente aporte…………
muy bueno
GRacias…!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
un saludo desde BOLIVIA
gracias…………………

I never thought I would get so many negative comments. If you want advanced I can give advanced. I dumb down for the majority of the audience watching. Usually if you’re sooo experienced in AE, then you wouldn’t need to come to a tutorial site for step by step directions.

I always liked these sites to pick up new or faster ways to achieve the same type of effect. By no means is this tutorial out of this world with crazy expressions and multiple leveled effects, but it’s how to create that one effect that you could be a beneficial addition to your next AE project.

So be happy and if you don’t want to watch it, then by all means.. don’t.

GUYS FORGET IT!

You are not going to see any GREAT tutorial here

Please show me a dissent motiongrapher who would spend time and energy for just 150 dollars.

COME ON GUYS!
NOBODY!!!!

Someone who makes good tutorials:
1)Already works in the industry by charging per hour: “DON’T ASK THE PRICE”!!
2)He will post them on his own site where he can easily sell himself (e.g. Andrew Kramer)
3)He will make a DVD to get even more money (e.g. Gnomon)

NOW
I DO NOT EVEN WATCH THE TUTORIALS ANY MORE

I JUST READ THE TITLE AND DESIGNER’S C.V. (presentation) AND
I IMMEDIATELY KNOW WHAT IS INSIDE THE CAN!!!!

JUST PAY ATTENTION TO THE ‘HEAVY’ INTRODUCTION:
“He is just 22 yrs old designer, editor and FILMMAKER”

LIKE, LET’S SAY, Stanley Kubrick?
MERCY, MERCY, MERCY!!!!!

Well, I think there are plenty of options. You may watch or not. As a beginner I think that tuts sites are good options with some inspiring elements in certain tutorials. And better it is free, so why not?

Its very difficult to create an interesting and original tutorial. Currently; our field is very trendy amongst young dudes who have the enthusiasm but not necessarily the chops. They also tend to be interested in creating the big fun, flashy effects that are actually not often used professionally. Most of the stuff I do regularly at work would be considered too boring for a tutorial, but its critical to do it properly. Perhaps we could focus more on what workers actually need to do.

Great

its funny how the ones that are all talk…. no skills or are too chicken to put up their own work are the ones that criticize

Great tutorial . dont listen to these kids that want a new youtube video to imitate
keep doing your thing

Zingara . i agree 100% . thats how you can tell the youtube kids from the people that actually clock in every day to work on CGI (etc)

This Tutorial is very cool
Thanks very much
But I have a little suggestion that would make the sun animation behind the tree more realistic.
You can use the Obscuration Layer property in the Knoll Light Factory and use the tree layer as an Obscuration Layer, That would give you much much better result.
Thanks again for the great tutorial and I’m looking forward to see you in another one!
Cheers !

I was thinking the same thing while watching this tutorial, as a lot of these commenters have called out. But that all being said, a tutorial is a tutorial. It’s never going to be at everyone’s skill level. And will probably never please everyone. And I think the author’s bio at the top lets you know what you can expect. I think one commenter even said, “C’mon man, this obviously wasn’t meant to be photo-realistic. Sheesh.” When (as you can read at the top) it is described as being a “realistic sunset”. But to the author’s credit, he mentions in the tutorial that he likes to make things a bit “unreal”. Stylized is what I would call it.

As some further suggestions for people wishing to incorporate this technique, I would still say that the sun should be behind the clouds, the color of the sky should be tinted to better match a sunset look, and when the sun goes behind the tree it should interact with the brances and blow them out (as the author mentions, but doesn’t show, in the tutorial). I mean, if you’re going to do something, don’t stop there. Although having a tutorial author mention these things without showing them is a little counter productive. People should want to take the concept and creatively run with it, rather than immediately find better ways to do it.

As a VFX Supervisor, I was cringing when he roughly masked the photoshop file, precomp’d it, then scaled the tree without regards to resolution. I know it was blurred afterward a bit… but there are an awful lot of tutorials out there giving bad form like this. And in a real-life production environment, you will learn very quickly that certain things are a big “no-no”.

I fear I may now join Billy’s ranks of being labeled as a negative Nancy, but I fully agree with what he was saying about constructive criticism and only wanting to make this site better. I am not sure about the screening process on this site for tutorials, but there’s something to be said about sites that filter out content for the best user experience. I’ve been toying with the idea of creating some tutorials, but they would mostly be aimed at personal projects and issues I’ve had that I couldn’t find info for anywhere else on the internet.

One final note to James, the author… if you want to get rid of the edge artifact you pointed out in your tutorial, you may want to try scaling up the solid slightly that you have the light effect applied to, or even use the Motion Tile or Grown Bounds effect to extend the border of your solid so the edge is out of frame. The other thing I would suggest is to turn on “repeat edge pixels” when you use the Fast Blur effect.

Best,
-Robert

Hey! I would love to see Elvis Preley in one of your tut.

Nice tutorial…i think a bet is also to do something cool with basic tools (as my favourite designer does http://www.g30.net )…so brandon, there’s no need to forcely learn incredible stuff…all that you need is a good idea and design and nobody can teach you that.
and if you are searching for big learning, don’t rap in websites…pay you a good training course in a professional school…this is only my opinion, no need to flame…:)
and sorry for my english…:P

i have a problem with the tut: ive got ae 9.0. when i create the solid layer in black and lay the light effect over it for creating the sun.. the black background wont go away.. it stays there an the flare is over the black layer.. can someone help?

nice tut men!!!