If you are new to After Effects and want to get up to speed quickly, The After Effects Apprentice was created just for you. With 11 core lessons plus a hip final project that pulls it all together, you'll learn how to tap this program's vast potential- whether you want to create motion graphics for network television, corporate communications, or your own work. Fully updated to cover After Effects CS4, this book presents a professional perspective on the most important features a motion graphics artist needs to learn in order to use this program effectively. You'll learn to creatively combine layers, animate eye-catching titles, manipulate 3D space, key and stabilize a shot to place it in a new environment, and use effects to generate excitement or enhance the realism of a scene.
Taught by Trish and Chris Meyer, principals in Crish Design (formerly known as CyberMotion), an award-winning motion graphic design studio.
Adobe Production Premium for Final Cut Studio Editors
In Adobe Production Premium for Final Cut Studio Editors you will learn how to put the Adobe Production Premium toolset to use throughout your production to realize astonishing efficiencies and creative opportunities. Adobe's CS tools are the perfect compliment to Final Cut Studio, with tools that improve your preproduction, production and postproduction capabilities in leaps and bounds. Move seamlessly between the toolsets -- always using the best tool for the job with the real-world practice that you get in this guide.
Taught by By Larry Jordan, Apple-Certified trainer in digital media with over 30 years experience as a television producer, director and editor.
The After Effects Illusionist
The After Effects Illusionist contains recipe after recipe that allow you to harness the full power of the native plug-in effects in the After Effects application. In a step-by-step manner, author Chad Perkins guides you through the creation and application of each and every native plug-in effect available for use in the AE toolset. The book also shows you how each can be used optimally in your media project, when and why it makes sense to use each, and also how to combine multiple effects.
Taught by Chad Perkins, Adobe Certified Instructor and Expert in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat, After Effects, and Premiere. View All Training Book Titles in our Store
We received an email from Adobe today that was quite interesting, with the subject line CS4 and Matrox & Premiere 4.2 & Adobe Story. It's from Dave Helmly, North American DMO TechSales Manager. He said:
As many of you know,over the past several weeks, Adobe has been working with the 3rd party I/O board vendors and their current CS4 drivers. This has been a joint effort between these companies and Adobe. CS4 introduced a number of changes ranging from 64 bit memory addressing to I/O calls and so on.
The recent Matrox Axio & RTX driver is working quite well with only a few minor issues for Windows users. We are highly recommending that Windows users upgrade to Vista64 (or Win7 64 when released) & 8GB or 16GB of RAM. Matrox is continuing to make improvements to their driver. Make sure to periodically check their website for updates.
He goes on to say that they are working on a Premiere 4.2 update that should be out next month. The update will include several fixes and support for Native AVC-Intra Import. We'll let you know when that is out.
Then there's Adobe Story, which I posted a link to a couple of weeks ago. Download the beta for free at Adobe Labs. I saw a short demo at NAB and it looked extremely useful for anyone in video production.
There's been a lot of chatter lately about compatibility with Snow Leopard but it looks as if the CS3 owners are in the clear. You can still find out what's new in CS4 at the Adobe Creative Suite Web Premium seminar on CS3 vs. CS4, Wednesday, September 23, 2009 from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM US/Pacific. Register here. Even if you're already a CS4 user it might be really useful to find out more about those features that you haven't had a chance to check out.
InfoWorld has tested the Adobe CS3 apps in Snow Leopard and says they work fine, which I'm sure is a big relief to those of you running CS3 who want to upgrade to Snow Leopard but heard that Adobe will not support CS3 in Snow Leopard.
Which is what I think Adobe was really trying to say: The company notes it has not tested CS3 on Snow Leopard (and doesn't intend to), so it's not guaranteeing -- "supporting" -- CS3 on Snow Leopard. Adobe could have chosen better wording.
If you want to upgrade to Adobe CS4, we have a bundle special that expires today! Adobe CS4 Bundle Upgrade Sale - Save $100 when you upgrade from an earlier version of Adobe Creative Suite, Production Studio, or Macromedia Studio to Creative Suite 4.
The Foundry RollingShutter is a brand new plug-in tool for After Effects and Nuke, which tackles image-distortion problems often experienced by users of CMOS cameras.
Rolling shutter effects are commonly found with video cameras employing CMOS image sensors, which record every frame line-by-line from top to bottom of the image, rather than as a single snapshot of a point in time.
Buy a license of RollingShutter in August and we'll give you a second copy absolutely free. You could run RollingShutter on both your After Effects and Nuke systems or workstation and laptop at the same time... or give the 2nd copy to a colleague or friend?
Free Imagineer mocha shape Plugins with Purchase of motor or mocha
Purchase a full version of Imagineer mocha or motor and receive mocha shape for Final Cut Pro and mocha shape for After Effects FREE! Includes cross-platform floating or node-locked versions of the standalone software.
Download a Free Trial of mocha or motor, or mocha shapes here, and see how these incredibly useful products can speed up your tracking and roto workflow!
The long wait is over! Well, almost. Tuesday, August 4 at noon, Nucleo Pro 2 will be released. This is a free update for all Nucleo Pro 2 customers.
Steve Forde, CEO of GridIron says:
I do want to explain why it took us so damn long. Short answer - Flow. Flow is almost as complex as building an entire Operating System. It was a huge project - and took us much longer than we had anticipated. However, the wait was worth it. The number of users telling us how important Flow is to their workflow is more than justification in my mind for why it took so long.
I also want to post that it won't happen again. Now that Flow 1.0 is complete - the focus is on maintaining all our applications to be current with the most recent releases of the tools you use. In short - it won't happen again.
Thank you again for your patience - and please let us know how your NP2 experience in CS4 is!
I know what it is like to be spread thin over a couple of big projects. I think we can forgive them!
Stay tuned to Toolfarm.com for the latest news on GridIron and all of the plug-ins you care about!
Basic Training for Adobe CS4 Production Premium is a great way to maximize your new investment while keeping the learning curve to a minimum. It's so good at what it does, Adobe should consider bundling future volumes with their Creative Suites — if they did, the lazier of my colleagues would have to find something else with which to fill my voice mail and e-mail inboxes...
I walk you through how to remove your Adobe apps from your computer. This is hopefully something you don't have to do right now, but if you're experiencing major bugginess or maybe you bought a better faster stronger computer, this information is crucial.
Highly anticipated application for creative professionals has new features for workgroups and direct access from Adobe Creative Suite 4
OTTAWA, Ontario, June 29, 2009 - GridIron Software, the leading provider of workflow and performance tools for creative professionals, today announced that GridIron Flow, the first-of-its-kind visual workflow manager, is now shipping and available for immediate purchase. GridIron Flow gives creative professionals and workgroups the ability to see, access, and share all their project files in one simple, elegant interface. The product, which has been lauded by industry influencers and beta users as a "must have" productivity application, now includes even more features.
"We’ve waited a long time for this day, but the final product was worth the wait," said Steve Forde, CEO of GridIron. "Thanks to a world-class development team and the thousands of beta testers who not only thoroughly tested the software but helped shape the final version, Flow is a product that will help all creative pros, whether they work alone or as part of a group, become more streamlined and productive. No more lost files, no more accidents, no more all-nighters."
GridIron Flow has been used by thousands of creative professionals since the public beta of the product was released in February 18, 2009. Users have experienced how the software provides a unique and total understanding of each project being worked on and allows them to track all the components of a project, regardless of where the files are located. With instant access to any file or version needed, creative professionals can get a lot more done in a lot less time—without having to do anything differently.
The shipping product also debuts several new features that further expand the power of Flow. Share Maps allows groups of creative professionals using multiple computers to view the same workflow map across the network, no matter where files are stored or who created them. Another new feature, Adobe Creative Suite 4 Flow Flash Panel, provides users access to Flow directly from Adobe CS4 applications, offering yet another way to streamline the creative process.
"The ability for Flow to be accessed directly within Adobe CS4 applications via the new Flash Panel is impressive because of the value it brings users," said Johnny Loiacono, senior vice president and general manager, Creative Solutions Business Unit, Adobe Systems. "CS4 already delivers significant increases in productivity and Flow takes that to an even higher level. It is a product that most of our Creative Suite customers will find valuable."
Key features of the product include:
Workflow Maps - Visual interface shows all project files and how they are connected
Share Maps - Allows multiple users to view the same workflow map across the network
Adobe CS4 Flow Flash Panel Provides access to GridIron Flow directly in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign or Flash
Real-time Asset Tracking - Tracks the connections between project files in real-time
Visual Versioning - Accesses the complete history of a file and allows the user to revert to any version
Visual Search - Finds any file, even if it's offline, and shows how it fits into a project
Foolproof Packaging - Gathers and updates all files automatically, keeping the package current
Time Tracking - Automatically records how much time was spent on a file or project
"We have many creative pros, working on multiple projects at any given time within Ogilvy Group UK, on a variety of different platforms and for a host of clients. From a production POV, I am always looking for technology that will improve productivity and make output more efficient," said Neil Evely, Chief Technology Officer, RedWorks Broadcast. "We were blown away when we saw GridIron Flow - it is an ideal addition to our software portfolio and is the perfect fit for our new Broadcast hub. Plus, the fact that it requires virtually no training to use means the company can start reaping the benefits immediately."
Product Availability
GridIron Flow is available for immediate purchase from GridIron's website at http://www.gridironsoftware.com/store/. A single user license is $299 USD, with a three pack also available for $399. Flow is currently available in English but will run on French, German, Italian, Spanish and Japanese operating systems. Fully translated versions of GridIron Flow will be available shortly.
For more information about the company and its products please see the links below:
For more about GridIron Flow - http://www.gridironsoftware.com/Flow/ To visit GridIron's blog - http://www.gridironsoftware.com/blog/ For additional multimedia - http://www.gridironsoftware.com/gridiron/mc.html
About GridIron Software GridIron Software is the leading provider of workflow and performance tools for creative professionals. Founded in 2002, the company’s mission is to help creative professionals be more productive while maintaining full control over the way they work. The company’s newest product, GridIron Flow, is a groundbreaking visual workflow manager that keeps creative professionals and workgroups streamlined and informed. GridIron Software’s product line also includes GridIron Nucleo and GridIron Nucleo Pro 2, tools that help users manage their After Effects workflow. For more information on the company, please visit www.gridironsoftware.com and subscribe to the GridIron Software blog at http://www.gridironsoftware.com/blog/"
Dave Helmly, North American DMO Sales Manager for Adobe, sent us a link to a technical overview video he created for editing with Red 1.7. He has had a lot of request to do this demo on Vista64 since he used OSX on the last RED video. Again, it works excellent on either platform.
The video is a step-by-step walk-thru and runs about 45 minutes. In this video, he used section markers at the lower left corner to help guide you through it.
Limited-time offer. Save $100 when you upgrade from an earlier version of Adobe Creative Suite, Production Studio, or Macromedia Studio to Creative Suite 4. Hurry, offer ends August 31, 2009. adcs4up
The 4.1 update for Premiere Pro CS4, announced at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference in April, has been released. Aside from bug fixes and performance improvements, the 4.1 release gives Premiere Pro greater support for projects authored in Avid Media Composer, and files in the MXF-wrapped IMX format. With the 4.1 update, Premiere Pro can import files in the VOB format used in DVD publishing. Also, the 4.1 release gives greater support to the REDCODE plugin, used for importing files from RED cameras into Premiere Pro.
Dave Helmly, North American DMO Technical Sales Manager at Adobe, emailed us about the new Adobe CS4 video updates: After Effects 9.02, Premiere Pro 4.1, Media Encoder 4.1
The new CS4 video updates will be available late tonight/Friday morning and contain several new updates and several critical fixes for After Effects.
Some of the new features are:
Major Speed improvements for Media Encoder (new support for RED)
New RED R3D workflow & Raw setting panel
Avid Import & Export (We are currently testing FCP Export)
DVD/VOB support (edit directly off the DVD !)
Faster/smooth AVCHD playback
Faster project loading
New Frame Export
And more......
Adobe also showed several things at NAB 2009 that they have cooking in the Adobe Labs and are planning to beta test a few of these new features this summer. The plan is to make these available on the Adobe Labs site.
Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 4.1 offers further RED camera compatibility, Avid interoperability and improved performance
Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 version 4.1 provides a host of updated compatibility that advances Adobe's leadership in enabling open, flexible post-production workflows, including improved interoperability with RED camera and Avid software workflows and broader support for leading post-production hardware such as AJA, Blackmagic and Matrox video cards. This new, faster version of Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 will be available in late May 2009 via the Adobe updater and from adobe.com at no charge for customers of Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, CS4 Production Premium, and CS4 Master Collection software. Learn more here.
On Artbeats.com: Grayscale Shootout - Alternate paths to better monochrome results. Chris and Trish Meyer's blog, CMG Keyframes, has an interesting pdf on Artbeats.com about their favorite techniques for making pleasant grayscale images from video. Download the pdf
Aspect Ratio Calculator from Digital Rebellion. Very useful. Did you know that HDTV 1080 has an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 (16:9) and has 2,073,600 pixels? Hey, I wasn't going to count them all!
There's a new After Effects Toronto User Group called After Effects Toronto (AETO). They're next meeting is May 20. Check 'em out if you're in or around Toronto.
Layers Magazine has the Fourth Annual Layers 100 Wicked Tips, including 10 tips each for Premiere Pro, After Effects and Photoshop CS4. Good stuff! (via Todd Kopriva)
There are several specials that are ending by April 30 (I know, can you believe April is almost over! Wow, how time flies!) Here's the list:
Red Giant and Trapcode NAB Specials - Save 30% on all products including bundles, upgrades and even academic. Ends Midnight PST April 29. That's tonight, folks!
Digieffects NAB Deals - Digieffects MegaSuite Half off and Save $100 on New Digieffects Freeform! Expires April 30, 2009.
Imagineer NAB Deals - Save 25% on all Imagineer Products Through April 30th!
Next Limit RealFlow 4: - Through April 30, 2009, upgrade your Academic version to the full standard version for 50% Off!
Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator for Photoshop - 3D Invigorator is available for an introductory price of $149 USD through April 30, 2009. It is regularly priced at $199 USD.
All-New Settings for Adobe Encore, Adobe Soundbooth, Apple Color, Apple DVD Studio Pro, Apple Motion, and Apple Soundtrack Pro
Contour Design has released new ShuttlePRO and ShuttleXpress drivers with optimized settings for Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium, Apple Final Cut Studio 2, and Avid Liquid 7. The driver includes new settings for the following video editing, audio editing, and graphics applications:
Adobe After Effects CS3 & CS4
Adobe Encore CS3 & CS4
Adobe Flash CS3 & CS4
Adobe Illustrator CS3 & CS4
Adobe Photoshop CS3 & CS4
Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 & CS4
Adobe Soundbooth CS3 & CS4
Apple Color
Apple DVD Studio Pro 4 &
Apple Final Cut Pro 6
Apple Motion 3
Apple Soundtrack Pro 2
Avid Liquid 7
ShuttlePRO V.2 is designed for ergonomic integrity and maximum productivity, allowing one-handed access to 15 fully-programmable buttons, a jog knob, and a spring loaded shuttle wheel. At the head of the ShuttlePRO are nine programmable buttons complete with crystal clear removable keycaps for intuitive labeling and ease of reference. The inner ring or 'jog knob' at the center of the ShuttlePRO rotates a full 360° to provide precise frame-by-frame control while the outer black ring or rubberized 'shuttle wheel' facilitates fast forward and rewind. In addition, the jog and shuttle can be configured for many other purposes including scrolling, volume control, and sequencing.
Modeled after the award-winning ShuttlePRO, the ShuttleXpress offers a professional multimedia controller at an attractive price. Packed with five oversized buttons, a jog knob, and a shuttle wheel, the ShuttleXpress is a full multimedia control surface in a compact design. Use it alone or simultaneously with a ShuttlePRO for enhanced cooperative control.
If you were a student and bought the academic versions of Adobe software, you can upgrade it to CS4, just like you bought a regular, full license.
Upgrade any Adobe program to CS4 now and get Digieffects Simulate: Illuma and Digieffects Simulate: Camera for free through next Friday, March 6. ($198 value).
There are also a couple of upgrade deals where you can save $100-$200 on Adobe upgrades. These deals expire February 28. See the post about the Adobe deal for all of the information.
If you upgrade any Adobe CS3 product or bundle to CS4 at Toolfarm and you will receive a free copy of DigiEffects Simulate: Illuma and Simulate: Camera, a $198 value entirely for free.*
Please note: Special introductory prices on Path 2 upgrades ends February 28, 2009.
Check out Adobe Creative Suite Video Podcast with Terry White, who is a fellow Michigander. The newest podcast features special guest Steve Whatley. Learn how to use Mocha in After Effects CS4
If Adobe Update Manager hasn't taken care of this for you, you can do it manually by going under the Help Menu > Updates. Alternately, download the Mac update or Windows update from the Adobe site.
There are many fixes in this update, including the Puppet Tool, the Illustratorlayers importer, the Exposure effect, and stability of 3D object layers from Photoshop. They've also added Red Camera support. Here's a movie about that from Adobe TV.
Kevin Schmitt has an article about After Effects CS4 benchmarks at DigitalMediaNet. Leopard vs. Vista. If you're a Mac user, you may not want to read it. "Cripes, the Mac OS X version of After Effects is absolutely smoked again, and the results are slightly worse than last time in places."
On The Genesis Project blog Dennis Radeke says: "During this episode, I use a couple of presets along with a little Turbulent Displace and CC Vector Blur to make something cool."
Check out this free video tutorial from Lynda.com AE CS4: New PARs (Pixel Aspect Ratios) (pops). He gets pretty technical, but man, this explains a lot.
NVIDIA recently came out with the Quadro CX which is OpenGL GPU accelerated for Adobe CS4. I'm not a hardware person, but if you're an Adobe CS4 user, this will speed up render time and working in Photoshop, Premiere Pro and of course After Effects by 4x. The NVIDIA card and CS4 have a symbiotic relationship. Adobe CS4 has built-in acceleration for the NVIDIA Quadro CX.
In After Effects specifically, you can play with the camera's Depth of Field with true interactivity because it's OpenGL GPU accelerated. I don't know about you but that's one thing that always slows me down. It allows you to render not only the main composition but the entire hierarchy of precomps through GPU excelleration. The new AE CS4 effects, Turbulent Noise, Cartoon and Bilateral Blur, also render at lightning speeds.
The cherry on the top for me is the inclusion of Elemental's plugin. This plug-in makes h.264 encoding just plain fast. To me, if you do H.264 encoding, than you should just get this card for the software. It's fast, its GPU enabled and its designed for CS4. What's not to like?
I can tell you what is not to like... it is Windows only! If you're on Windows, check it out. If you're on Mac, hopefully NVIDIA will make one for you and me. I don't see myself getting a Dell anytime soon :-)
The second plugin package in the Simulate series mimics camera and projection artifacts
Wilmington, NC - November 18, 2008 - Digieffects, a developer of popular visual effects software plugins today announced that it has shipped Simulate: Camera, a plugin package offering a specialized collection of effects for mimicking camera and projection artifacts. All Digieffects plugins support Adobe CS4.
Simulate: Camera includes the following effects:
Archive:A straightforward "film degradation/contamination" type effect.
Overexpose: An excellent way to add a sense of dynamic to otherwise stable and predictable footage.
Destabilize: An effect that is useful for emulating a practical camera shake.
"These effects, like many of the latest releases and upcoming releases from Digieffects are designed to be straightforward, affordable, every-day usable staples of visual post production.", says Robert Sharp, President of Digieffects.
Simulate: Camera, as with all Digieffects software launched after January 2008, has the following two unique features which will appeal to customers.
Randomizer: The Randomizer is part of the Digieffects custom User Interface. When clicked, multiple parameters within the interface will simultaneously adjust causing completely new results. Once a customer sees a look they like, they can use that as a starting point and manually tweak the parameters to achieve a specific effect. This serves as a massive timesaver for our time-pressed customers.
Presets: The unique aspect of the Digieffects presets is their portability. Once you've saved your effect parameters, these can be moved between supported host applications.
About Digieffects Digieffects is a developer of popular visual effects plugins for Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro and Autodesk Combustion. The company has been in the business since the beginning of the "plugin revolution" which dates back to 1996. Over the years, Digieffects has had great success with software products like Cinelook and Delirium and is proud to call thousands of film and video producers all around the world its customers and friends.
The San Diego LightWave Users Group will have two exciting presentations this Saturday. The meeting will feature presenters Stephen Burns and Roger Cotton who will dedicate their presentations to the new features in Photoshop CS4 for the LightWave 3D artist.
One of the most significant upgrades in CS4 is its 3D engine. Come and see how the new 3D features will revolutionize your workflow when it comes to integrating your 3D LightWave object into Photoshop CS4 3D layers.
Furthermore, we will focus on creating and editing UV maps in LightWave by Roger Cotton. Come and discover the importance of using UV maps and how to effectively create them in LightWave to control the texturing of your model. Finally, Stephen Burns will present how effective Photoshop CS4 will utilize LightWave UV maps and allow you to edit them with all of Photoshop's traditional painting tools.
This is a not to miss meeting. Details on the location and time are as follows:
Date: Saturday November 15, 2008 Time: 11:00 am - 2:00 pm
Free Update of Knoll 3.0.2 is the First Digital Anarchy Product to be Released for Vista x64
San Francisco, CA - September 24th, 2008 - Digital Anarchy, known for its high quality creative software in the Photoshop market, today announced the full compatibility of their popular Knoll Light Factory plugin with Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Windows Vista 64-bit (x64). Photoshop CS4 64-bit is streamlined to take advantage of the faster performance and better memory handling that Vista x64 supports. Digital Anarchy’s Knoll plugin, which enhances the lighting in Photoshop images to produce dramatic or natural effects, takes advantage of that speed and performance increase with version 3.0.2.
Jim Tierney, president of Digital Anarchy, said, "Photoshop CS4 is a big release for Adobe and Vista x64 offers the potential for greatly accelerated performance. The performance bar keeps being raised with the ever increasing size of digital images and incredible but processor intensive new CS4 features like Smart Filters. Making certain that our entire product line for photo manipulation performs well in Photoshop CS4 has been an important priority for us."
Digital Anarchy's other Photoshop products have been fully tested to support Photoshop CS4 in both Mac and Windows 32-bit environments. These Digital Anarchy plugins will be updated for the Windows 64-bit environment in Q1 2009.
Knoll Light Factory 3.0.2 for Photoshop CS4
Improved performance: Version 3.0.2 supports 64-bit Windows (Vista x64).
Better usability: Version 3.0.2 has UI improvements and bug fixes.
Photo-realistic lighting effects: Used in films and TV to produce realistic lens flares and lights.
Real-Time Preview: The main Preview Window now supports real-time manipulation, as well as the ability to resize and zoom in/out.
100+ Light Presets: There are now 110 great starting places when looking for that special flare.
16-bit Color Support: Light effects now render out to higher bit depths, which reduces banding and outputs better looking glows and gradients.
Mac Intel compatible: Full support of all new operating systems.
All sales and support questions for Knoll Light Factory for Photoshop CS4 should be directed towards Digital Anarchy at digitalanarchy.com. All improvements, except Vista x64 support, are supported in Photoshop 7.0 and higher.
About Digital Anarchy
Digital Anarchy is a privately owned company in San Francisco that creates high-quality creative software for professional photographers, Photoshop artists and graphic designers. Since 2001, our tools have solved a wide range of design issues, from masking out bluescreens for commercial still photography to generating custom lighting effects. Digital Anarchy products work in conjunction with Adobe Photoshop, PS Elements, and related design applications. For more information, please see the company's website at www.digitalanarchy.com or call 415-586-8434.
The NVIDIA Quadro CX is the accelerator for Adobe Creative Suite 4-giving you the ability to create rich, stunning content in a faster, smoother, and more interactive way.
A Faster Way to Work Don't sacrifice creativity to meet a deadline. Encode H.264 video at lightning-fast speeds with the NVIDIA CUDA-enabled plug-in for Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. Accelerate rendering time for advanced effects such as transformations, color correction, depth of field blur, turbulent noise, and more.
A Better Way to Work Your tools are key to your success. Experience fluid interaction with the Adobe Photoshop canvas for smoother zooming and image rotation. Accurately see what your deliverable will look like with 30-bit color or uncompressed 10-bit/12-bit SDI before final output. Easily work across multiple displays with NVIDIA nView advanced management tools for a smoother production pipeline.
A More Reliable Way to Work You can't afford system downtime. Quadro CX is engineered and optimized by NVIDIA to ensure your system works when you need it. Quadro CX is also designed and optimized for Creative Suite 4. Plus, additional free plug-ins will deliver ongoing feature and performance improvements to maximize your investment.
Want to check out the CS4 products before you buy them? Download them from Adobe and if you love them (which we know you will!) you can buy them at Toolfarm and we'll give you a serial number which will unlock the trial versions completely. You will not have to wait for them to ship to you!
When I say unlock completely... what does that mean? I had a chat with David Helmly from Adobe yesterday and he explained that many of codecs in the video suite are not in the trial version because Adobe licenses those codecs and can't put them in the trial. As soon as you put your serial number in, the codecs are unlocked and will appear.
Adobe is still working on getting all the trial versions up on their site, but you can sign up for notification about when they'll be ready.
Adobe After Effects New York (AENY) is an association for professionals and enthusiasts using Adobe After Effects and related software to create imagery for video, film, and other media. Formed in January 2007, AENY’s goals are to foster a community of After Effects users who wish to discuss industry experiences, share ideas, get advice, and keep up with the latest AE news and technology.
The group is co-run by Jim Geduldick, Dennis Radeke and Aharon Rabinowitz. John Kerr, Support Manager from Red Giant Software will present a new product that ties into After Effects CS4. Beth Manning, Corporate Sales Manager from Red Giant Software will also be in attendance. The night will feature a variety of users showing off their amazing work. Hope you can join us on October 23, 2008 in New York. For more information and location details, visit: AE NY User Group.
Milestone Release Radically Improves Creative Workflow Efficiency; Redefines Collaboration Between Designers and Developers
Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced the immediate availability of the Adobe® Creative Suite® 4 product family, the highly-anticipated release of industry-leading design and development software for virtually every creative workflow. Delivering radical breakthroughs in workflow efficiency - and packed with hundreds of innovative, time saving features - the new Creative Suite 4 product line advances the creative process across print, Web, interactive, film, video and mobile.
Customers can choose from six new versions: Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium, Design Standard, Web Premium, Web Standard, Production Premium and Master Collection. The combination of Creative Suite and the new capabilities of Adobe Flash® Player 10, also available today deliver new levels of creativity and expressiveness across media channels. Designers using the Adobe Creative Suite 4 product family will gain unprecedented creative control using the new expressive features and visual performance improvements in Adobe Flash Player 10 to deliver breakthrough Web experiences across multiple browsers and operating systems.
"Creative Suite 4 and Flash Player 10 introduce vital time-saving features, new levels of integration and the jaw-dropping innovations our design and developer customers expect from us," said John Loiacono, senior vice president, Creative Solutions Business Unit at Adobe.
"CS4 continues to fulfill our promise to customers to break down more barriers in cross-media workflows, while also providing new services and collaboration tools that help them manage complex client demands."
As part of the CS4 product launch, the largest in Adobe’s history, also available today are brand new versions of Photoshop® CS4, Photoshop CS4 Extended, InDesign® CS4, Illustrator® CS4, Flash CS4 Professional, Dreamweaver® CS4, Fireworks® CS4, Contribute® CS4, After Effects® CS4, Adobe Premiere® Pro CS4, Encore® CS4, Soundbooth® CS4 and Adobe OnLocation CS4.
Intuitive Workflows Improve Creative Efficiency A simplified workflow in Adobe Creative Suite 4 enables users to design across media more efficiently by making it easier to complete common tasks and move content seamlessly among applications. InDesign CS4 includes a new Live Preflight tool that allows designers to catch production errors and a newly customizable Links panel to manage placed files more efficiently. The revolutionary new Content-Aware Scaling tool in Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended automatically recomposes an image as it is resized, preserving vital areas as it adapts to new dimensions. An expanded version of Dynamic Link in CS4 Production Premium enables users to move and update content between After Effects CS4, Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, Soundbooth CS4, and Encore CS4 without rendering, saving countless hours in production. With deep XMP metadata support, the production workflow is simplified, resulting in online content that gives viewers new ways to interact with and search for video, while giving content owners new opportunities to track and monetize content.
Adobe Creative Suite 4 brings 3D center-stage providing the ability to paint, composite, and animate 3D models using familiar tools in Photoshop CS4 Extended. Flash CS4 Professional now offers the ability to apply tweens to objects instead of keyframes, providing greater control over animation attributes. Also in Flash CS4 Professional, the new Bones tool helps create more realistic animations between linked objects. With a searchable library of more than 450 dynamically updated device profiles from leading manufacturers, Adobe Device Central CS4 enables users to easily test mobile content designed using many of the Creative Suite 4 products.
New and Expanded Services Extend Capabilities for Online Collaboration Adobe Creative Suite 4 now also offers a host of services for online collaboration. Adobe ConnectNow, a service of Acrobat.com, allows real-time collaboration with two colleagues or clients. Designers can also share color harmonies with Adobe Kuler. Other online resources include: Adobe Community Help for technical questions; Resource Central for accessing video and audio product-related news and tutorials, as well as Soundbooth scores and sound effects; and Adobe Bridge Home, a customizable resource for tips, tutorials, news and inspirational content.
Pricing and Availability Adobe Creative Suite 4 and its associated point products are immediately available through Adobe Authorized Resellers and the Adobe Store. To reward customers for staying current, Adobe is offering Creative Suite 3 customers moving to Creative Suite 4 a lower upgrade price than it offers to those moving from older, qualifying versions. For a limited time, a special introductory offer enables customers with older qualifying products to enjoy the same lower price with savings of up to US$200 off their actual upgrade price.
Adobe Flash Player 10 is available immediately as a free download for Windows, Macintosh and Linux platforms (including new support for Ubuntu 7 and 8) from www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer
Oak Park, CA October 20, 2008 - Digital Film Tools releases Windows 64 bit versions of EZ Mask v1.5, Light v3.5, Ozone v2.5, Power Mask v1, Power Stroke v1, Snap v2.5 and zMatte v2.5 for use with Adobe Photoshop CS4 64 bit.
EZ Mask EZ Mask is an easy to use interactive image masking tool capable of extracting almost any object in an image- even if you are dealing with fine hair detail, smoke, or reflections. The extracted object can then be combined with another image or individually filtered in Adobe Photoshop.
Light! Light can be added to a scene where none existed before just as if you were adding light at the time of shooting. Realistic lighting and shadow is introduced using the entire pattern/gobo and gel library created by Gamproducts, Inc.
Ozone Inspired by Ansel Adams' Zone System for still photography, Ozone allows you to manipulate the color of an image with incredible flexibility and accuracy using a Digital Zone System.
Power Mask Power Mask is the first realtime, interactive tool capable of extracting almost any object in an image- even if you are dealing with fine hair detail, smoke, or reflections. As you simply paint along the edge of the object to be extracted, either the mask or the final composite can be revealed instantly. The extracted object can then be combined with another image or individually filtered in Adobe Photoshop.
Power Stroke Power Stroke introduces a simple, interactive stroke-based interface to quickly and intuitively perform targeted adjustments. Instead of meticulously selecting regions or hand-painting masks, regions of interest are isolated by drawing a few simple brush strokes with adjustments then made only in those areas. Strokes can be assigned multiple adjustments and effects such as color correction, recoloring or desaturation, colorization of black and white images, blur, fill light for dimly lit image areas and Diffusion/Glow.
Snap Snap is an easy to use interactive image cutout tool designed to extract solid or opaque objects. Image cutout is the process of removing or isolating an object in a picture. The extracted object can then be combined with another image or individually filtered in Adobe Photoshop.
zMatte Intelligent blue and green screen keying that is easy to use, yet provides the tools you need when presented with a challenging shot- including DV and HD de-artifacting, color suppression, matte manipulation, color correction, edge treatment and light wrapping.
Digital Film Tools brings together the unbeatable combination of superior software designers, motion picture visual effects veterans, video editors and photographers. Add three Emmy Awards and experience in creating visual effects for hundreds of feature films, commercials and television shows and you have a recipe for success.
After Effects and Premiere Pro CS4 Compatibility Chart
From Red Giant: "We have been testing our products against After Effects and Premiere Pro CS4. For After Effects, some products are ready to go as is, while a few products will require a minor update for installer compatibility. Most versions of our software that are compatible with Premiere Pro will need an update due to changes in Premiere Pro." For full details, view the chart.
Tiffen Dfx v2 is Compatible with Adobe CS4. Now Dfx v2 is available for Adobe's new Photoshop CS4 as well as a stand-alone application for still images, specific plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop or Elements, Apple Aperture and the most popular video post-producton host software, such as Apple Final Cut Pro or Express, Adobe After Effects and Avid Editing Systems.
Now with Layering & Masking An exclusive new feature offered in the Dfx Photoshop/Elements and Aperture editions is multiple masking and multiple layering capabilities without having to exit the plug-in each time. Our Standalone version offers you these features at $99.95. All editions are available for MAC or Windows. Now with over 2000 Filters & Special Effects Professionals and enthusiasts alike can now choose from a palette of more than 2,000 standard, exclusive and special effect filters that simulate Tiffen's award-winning optical equivalents. These can all be quickly and easily customized, then saved to a filter library for later use.
I was checking out the latest post at Adobe Premiere Pro Training blog and Stephen Muratore who is the Sr. Technical writer for Adobe psted an article about the newly consolidated help and support for Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. They are now using a Google search engine and have links to all sorts of resources, a forum, blog and so on. I recently learned how to use Premiere Pro, which I hadn't used in years, and I have to say, it's a great program. I find it very easy to use.
I'm sure you've heard that Adobe CS4 will be available soon and you can preorder it here. Are you excited? Oh, I'm excited!
Toolfarm customer can sign up for your exclusive FREE 7-Day All-Access Library training pass. The perfect companion for learning your Adobe Software.
You might want to hold off on your free trial because I just got wind that the Adobe CS4 training will start to be available in October (which unbelievably starts tomorrow!) To purchase any complete DVD Total Training program, visit our store.
Toolfarm has built the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Upgrade Mega-Matrix which makes it easy to find out which upgrades you need. There are a couple of upgrade paths for each product so we've made it simple and clear and all in one spot!
One thing we're great at is making lists! Our latest list in our Plug-in Finder is Compatibility with After Effects and Premiere CS4. Right now the list is a bit short, however CS4 won't be out for a month. In the next month we are going to gather ever bit of information we can about plug-in compatibility with the new CS4 products. Stay tuned!
Customers who own Boris Continuum Complete 5 AE, Final Effects Complete 5 AE, Boris RED 4.x, Boris FX 9.x, Boris Graffiti 5.x., or any Boris Continuum Unit will be eligible to receive free updates to Adobe CS4-compatible versions of their plug-ins. Free updates, if necessary, would be released following Adobe's CS4 release.
Ko Maruyama's blog, Ninja Crayon has a great write-up on the new features of AE CS4. Here's the condensed version.
Searchable timelines and projects and easier nested comp navigation
Compositions exported as layered projects Export compositions as layered, XFL format projects that can be opened and edited in Adobe Flash® CS4 Professional software.
Integrated workflow for mobile device authoring
Numerous interface and workflow tweaks
Dynamic Link between Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Soundbooth
Independent keyframing of x, y, z values, plus 3D compositing improvements
Cartoon Effect
Mocha for Adobe After Effects from Imagineer Systems
XMP metadata for asset intelligence
Also note that Adobe OnLocation now runs natively in Mac OS X as well as Windows.
I just tuned into the CS4 Launch Broadcast at noon EST. I didn't sign up for the earlier show because, well, it was early. LOL. If you didn't see the webcast here's what you missed... the play by play
12:00 - Loads of eye candy in the intro and some rockin' music.
12:02 - Clapping.... Shortcut to Brilliant and Shantanu Narayen, President and CEO is on stage announcing the show. He says it's Adobe's biggest launch every. He discusses how media is blurring between web and interactive and people want rich content. Hey, isn't the internet almost full?
12:04 - Video: People are viewing video online and Flash is more adequate than a former Microsoft solution. Customers/consumers want it for PC, mobile device, etc.
12:11 - Johnny Loiacono comes out to talk about CS4. Plays clip of talking to customers on the street. I wish someone would hand me a box of CS4! Turns out they're empty boxes. This feels like an infomercial. Show me some goods!
12:16 - They're still doing the 3 areas: Video production, interactive and print. They've worked on integrating all 13 products, 14 technologies (Bridge, Encore, Soundbooth, etc.) which are only available in suites. Seven services - hosted services like Kuler, Acrobat Connect. There will be 6 suites in 19 languages total.
12:19 - CS4 Summary... the areas that they've focused on in this release: Time savers, Integration, Innovation
12:22 - Video Production review of CS4 with Ben Grossman, Creative Director at The Syndicate, who worked on a Radiohead video and with Martin Scorsese. He likes Adobe.
12:26 - Hey, a new feature! Speech to text in Premiere Pro. I saw this at IBC and it's pretty dang sweet. I could've used this feature on a one hour training video I just edited. Fantastic time saver.
12:27 - Talking about Dynamic Link in PPRO and searchability in AE. They briefly talk about 3D in Photoshop, Mocha in AE, but don't show them. Awww...
Well, I mainly wanted to update you on the video. Glad they did it first! What are your thoughts on the new CS4 suite? Please leave comments or discuss it in our forum.
The After Effects Apprentice 2nd Edition
Adobe Production Premium for Final Cut Studio Editors
The After Effects Illusionist
Download the pdf
I just tuned into the CS4 Launch Broadcast at noon EST. I didn't sign up for the earlier show because, well, it was early. LOL. If you didn't see the webcast here's what you missed... the play by play