VFX artist Roger Bolton has worked on films including The Lord of the Rings, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and Kingdom of Heaven. He has also created effects for his own use -- in this case, a wide variety of 2D and 3D VU meters, automatically animated by the audio in your project. He now offers these 8 plug-ins to artists using Final Cut Pro, After Effects and Motion -- with no watermarks, no time limits, no price tag. Read more...
Here's a sneak peek at the 3 newest DVDs in the Creative Cow Master Series, training even artists can afford.
• Film compositor Pete O'Connell shows you secrets of advanced rotoscoping that will save you hours, even days, on your toughest jobs.
• Eran Stern has quickly become one of the Cow's most popular authors; here he presents tutorials for real-world motion graphics that you can start using right away.
• And Aharon Rabinowitz, host of the world's most popular AE podcast and a true master, leads you through AE CS3.
The Creative Cow Master Series offers some of the industry's best-selling training DVDs, and its very best values. But this isn't a sales pitch. Nope. We're just offering you the opportunity to see what some of the most talented graphics and animation artists in the business have been working on.
Besides, you don't want to miss the trailers, do you? Learn more...
Yes, it's still winter for half the world, but here in Bessie's meadow, the summer blockbuster movie season has officially begun. Studios are trotting out new editions of popular titles, so who is Bessie with argue with that? So, like some of the summer blockbuster sequels, a number of the COW's most popular tutorials are also just too big to fit into one episode. Other times, public demand can only be satisfied by more, more, MORE! Okay, and then there are the people who just get busy and forget to check back for part two...or three...or four. Don't sweat! We've gathered the freshest sequels for you here, all in one place.
This isn't all of them by any means, but here are many of the newest ones....
Everybody wants to know: what's Final Cut Server? And if they know the answer (hint: very, very big deal), they want to know if it actually works. Who better to ask than people actually using it? The answers provided will change as the situation does, but this is where you'll find the Creative Cow's Real-time Report on Final Cut Server. Read more...
Creative Cow Contributing Editor Dylan Reeve says that the EX1 is another Sony breakthrough. Along with a truly pro camera in a small camera, the XDCAM EX offers format and workflow advantages previously unseen. Dylan will show you how the camera works, and how the footage works with your favorite NLE, while also looking ahead to the PMW-EX3. Read more...
Apple Automator is a tiny application included with Mac OS X with big power. It quickly and easily creating custom workflows based on the work you actually do - no programming required. Its the perfect way to handle those pesky repetitive tasks in FCP. Do something once, then let Automator take it from there. This handy little tool can make the difference between keeping and losing your sanity -- and making or missing your deadline. Read more...
Fix it in post? This article shows how to BUILD it in post. Here in April, as March Madness ends and the NBA Playoffs begin, the Cow's Bill O'Neill shows how he combined greenscreen, 2D graphics and 3D compositing in a remarkable promo for Big Ten basketball. This "Web Extra" from Bill's article in the Cow Magazine's "Commercials" issue shows you rough edits along the way, and shares some of the production secrets for building an entire world in post. Read more...
Creative Cow Leader Shane Ross is one of a very small handful of the world's most respected FCP experts. Over the course of years answering questions, he's compiled a real-world list of the questions that are truly the most frequently asked. He calls them Shane's Stock Answers. We call them the information you really need for working with FCP. Here in Part 3, he covers QuickTime issues, timecode management, P2 tips and much more, including one of the most frequently questions of all: how to open new projects in older versions of FCP. Read more...
DigitalFilm Tree's Zed Saeed has helped create pioneering digital workflows built around FCP, custom-designed for large-scale productions. Their biggest challenge so far has come on "The Forbidden Kingdom," an epic film partnering Jackie Chan and Jet Li for the first time -- with production and post in China, Korea, Australia, and multiple locations in the US. Here's a look at how they put it all together with FCP, Xserve, XML, Color, file-based workflows...and hard, hard work. Read more...
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