Here’s another summary of the last week or so of news on After Effects — assorted tutorials and tools with Xbox Kinect mocap, text, 3D, expressions, and more.
Victoria Nece has 2 tutorials on Kinect MoCap Animation in After Effects, Part 1: Getting Started and Part 2: Motion Capture with KinectToPin, on using the free Processing app KinectToPin to capture Kinect skeletal tracking data for use with the After Effects puppet tool. Check out also A 3-D Animated Human Created Without An Animator, Using Just Kinect And A Camera from Fast Company. Here’s Victoria’s intro and steps beyond via FastCoDesign:
Catching up on Andrew Devis, he posted AE Basics 33: Options for Creating Text, AE Basics 34: Font Selection and Faux Options, AE Basics 35: The Character Panel, among others. Here’s his take on the Character panel (see also AE Help, and Deke McClelland on Optical kerning):
EFX Render Elements Z Depth Tools is new from AE Scripts. Here’s the demo, but avoid the audio:
VinhSon Nguyen posted 3D Transforming Text With ShapeShifter AE. There’s also several other recent tutorials of interest at AEtuts. Here’s the preview:
Michael Park posted a fourth tutorial in his Particular basic training series, Particular Basic Training Session FOUR: Sticky Snow, which answers a question on how to accumulate particles on a surface. For many more resources, see Creating snow in After Effects: A roundup on a popular effect. Here’s Parks:
Here’s Sesame Street: OK Go – Three Primary Colors, which follows Colors, the Aharon Rabinowitz demo of primary color (RYB) interaction in AE:
In After Effects On and Off Expression, Ryan Boyle shows you how to add an After Effects expression that will randomly turn on and off a layer’s opacity to create a blinking effect.
Computer arts posted 10 pro After Effects tips for the uninitiated.
David Torno posted Expression Shorts – Wiggle Only One Direction.
Jeff Foster discussed 2D Footage with a Stereo 3D Rig in After Effects CS5.5 at PVC. Here’s his example:
Evans Abrams continues the run of tilt-shift tutorials with How to Fake Tilt Shift Photography. In recent weeks Richard Bird posted Living in “Toytown” – Recreating The Tilt-Shift Effect in AE and Martin Ainsworth posted Lite Bite for After Effects: The Tilt Shift Effect. For more on this effect, see Tilt-shift photography meme and others at AE Portal archive. Here’s ECAbrams:
Production Premium and beyond
Adobe offered another in a series with Sneak Peek #3, on dashed and dotted in lines from PS Next. More recently came peaks at more exciting stuff on PSDtuts, Adobe Announces Even More New Features for Photoshop at Event in NYC, and a biggie from the PS team, Sneak Peek #4 on Content Aware move:
Pete Bauer guides you through a multi-cam editing sequence with Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 in Adobe CS5.5 DVi Workshop: MultiCam Editing:
Stop Motion Tutorial: A Motion Blur Trick is a short tutorial by Michael M Parks “detailing a method for creating a motion blur effect in stop motion. While it can be applied to any method for grabbing frames, such as iStopMotion, Dragon, or a digital camera. It calls for editing or compositing software as well, ” showing Photoshop and the old FCP.
Most popular journalism advice of 2011, Tips from a prize-winning solo video journalist and Tips for better stand-ups come via Advancing the Story:
Please note that these roundups are for quick review and comparison, and that there is almost always vital information from the originating authors at the links provided-and often free presets, projects, or stock footage too.