John Dickinson interviews Chris and Trish Meyer, pioneers of desktop video and authors of Creating Motion Graphics, After Effects Apprentice and other books. Watch the interview here.

Labels: Chris and Trish Meyer, John Dickinson

John Dickinson interviews Peder Norrby on his latest episode of Unplugged. Peder is the man behind the Trapcode Plug-ins. This is a really interesting interview, very insightful, and even more impressive when you consider it was recorded from across the world, with Peder in Sweden and John in Australia. Isn't the internet amazing?! Imagine doing this on a Commodore 64! Enjoy.

Labels: John Dickinson, Trapcode

John Dickinson of Motionworks does a fantastic interview with Robert Sharp of Digieffects. Robert talks about himself, his days at Terran, and his brother's Colin and Jason Sharp of Toolfarm and his work in founding Toolfarm. And they say some nice things about me! Thanks! So Robert goes on to discuss acquiring Digieffects and all of the Digieffects plug-ins in detail, as well as the new Camera Mapper. Check out the interview here.

If you want to try out the Digieffects plug-ins, head over to our Free Demo Downloads page.

Labels: DigiEffects, Digieffects Camera Mapper, John Dickinson

Red Giant Text Anarchy now includes GridSquares and GridLines effects (formerly Digital Anarchy's Geomancy). In this tutorial John Dickinson shows you the basics of using these fantastically useful particle effects.

Buy Text Anarchy | Try Text Anarchy for FREE!

Learn more about Text Anarchy in our Plug-in Finder

Labels: John Dickinson, Red Giant, Text Anarchy

Get the fantastic Making It Look Great training series as downloads! The popular and proven Making It Look Great video workshop series has been designed to answer that question. Throughout these in-depth DVD workshops, professional motion graphics designers demonstrate techniques essential to their daily work and give the design decisions and rationale that support them.

The featured projects are demonstrated step-by-step from start to finish, giving priceless insight into what it takes to design and produce professional broadcast motion graphics.

Making It Look Great 1 with John Dickinson has been available as a download at Toolfarm for a while. Design and Production Techniques for Adobe After Effects and Zaxwerks ProAnimator.

Making it Look Great 2 with Alan Shisko - Design and Production Techniques for Adobe After Effects and Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator Pro.

Making It Look Great 3 with Harry J. Frank - Design and Production Techniques for Adobe After Effects, Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator Pro, Trapcode Particular and Trapcode Form.

Making It Look Great 4 with John Dickinson - Design and Production Techniques for Adobe After Effects, Zaxwerks ProAnimator and Zaxwerks 3D Flag

So why would you want a download, instead of a DVD? Here are a few reasons:

• No wait for shipping
• No shipping costs, which is especially great to our international customers who can get hit with large shipping costs
• No tax on downloads!

Labels: 3D Flag, 3D Invigorator, After Effects, Harry Frank, John Dickinson, Making It Look Great, Particular, ProAnimator, Shine, Trapcode, Trapcode Form, Zaxwerks

John Dickinson of Motionworks has put together this 17 minute Red Giant Magic Bullet Frames video tutorial.

• Buy Magic Bullet Frames
• Magic Bullet Frames information in our Plug-in Finder
• Download a free demo of Frames

Labels: John Dickinson, Magic Bullet Frames, Red Giant, Tutorial

Oh, this is a fun one! Keith Larsen & Alan Spaulding of Plugged-In talk to loads of people. Check out this crazy guest list!

• Greg Clarke, Intelligent Assistance
• Michele Yamazaki, Toolfarm
• Jim Kanter, Digital Film Institute
• Michael Horton, LAFCPUG
• Frank Capria, XProve & KingPin Interactive
• Andrew Marcus, Buck & Buck
• Anne Renehan, Apple
• Gary Adcock, Studio37
• Mik Vitti, VittiPhoto Productions
• Chuck Whitlock, AJA Video Systems
• Jon Thorn, AJA Video Systems
• Nick Rashby, AJA Video Systems
• Dan Berube, BOSFCPUG
• Brian Maffitt, Total Training
• Steve Martin, Ripple Training
• Ben Kozuch, Future Media Concepts
• Christopher Phrommayon, Apple
• Gene Czarnecki, CZAR Productions
• Daren Dochterman, BetaFive.com
  
• Stephanie Joyce, SmartSound
• Rob Birnholz, Absolute Motion Graphics
• Don Peebles, Apple
• Bob Donlon, Adobe
• Terry Curren, AlphaDogs
• Anita Engleman, Adobe
• Douglas Spotted Eagle, VASST
• Larry Jordan, Larry Jordan Associates
• Jerry Hofmann, JLH Productions
• John Dickinson, Motionworks
• Ko Maruyama, MGLA
• Chris & Trish Meyer, Cybermotion
• Kiki Stockhammer, NewTek
• Rich Lenoce, Middlesex Community College
• Ramy Katrib, Digital Film Tree
• Carey Dissmore, Carey Dissmore Productions
• Kevin Monahan, SF Cutters
• Steve Jobs, Apple
• Jon Higgins, Northeast Utilities Corporate Communications
• Lacey Girard, Northeast Utilities Corporate Communications
• Daina Dodge, Northeast Utilities Corporate Communications

Labels: Adobe, Apple, John Dickinson, Ko Maruyama, Podcast, SF Cutters, Total Training

Guests this week include:

Listen now!

CALL US TOLL FREE: 877-809-8145

Labels: Boris FX, John Dickinson, Podcast

Zaxwerks ProAnimator Training: Making it Look Great 1 is currently the most popular product in our store. John Dickinson, everyone's favorite Aussie trainer, has created a new training clip that shows you how to work with Zaxwerks ProAnimator and 3D Invigorator Pro.

...and then buy the training. It's great. You won't regret it.

Labels: 3D Invigorator, John Dickinson, ProAnimator, Training, Zaxwerks

John Dickinson shows you how to use Trapcode Starglow and Shine in Final Cut Pro. He shows you some tricks about managing presets in Final Cut Pro.

Learn more about Trapcode Starglow and Trapcode Shine in our Plug-in Finder. These are multi-installer plug-ins meaning that you get the AE, Premiere Pro, FCP, Motion and Avid installers and your serial number works in all of them. How cool is that!

Labels: Final Cut Pro, John Dickinson, Red Giant, Trapcode, Tutorial

Zaxwerks ProAnimator Training: Making it Look Great 1 is here! In this in-depth video workshop, look over senior broadcast designer and After Effects expert John Dickinson's shoulder as he guides you step-by-step through real-world techniques for creating an impactful broadcast motion graphics promotion.

Throughout the lessons John not only demonstrates techniques he uses in his work as a broadcast designer, but also discusses many of the design decisions behind the techniques.

Watch the promo (pops) and then buy the training.

Labels: John Dickinson, Training, Zaxwerks

John Dickinson has done some training for Toolfarm's Expert Training Series and has a new series coming out very soon called "Making it Look Great 1: Design and Production Techniques for Adobe After Effects and Zaxwerks ProAnimator". It's the world's only ProAnimator video training. Don't worry, we will announce it as soon as it's ready. I can tell you that it will be available on DVD or as a download, which is great for those of you who are not in the US. Save a lot on shipping! We will break it down into chunks for easy downloading because it's a LOT of training content. It will be incredible. John is a talented trainer. Don't believe me? Think I'm just trying to sell you on it? Watch the promo.

Update: It will sell for $49.95 and is slightly over 2 hours of training.

Labels: John Dickinson, ProAnimator, Zaxwerks

John Dickinson just sent me the link to a video he just finished for Red Giant Software: Getting Started with Magic Bullet Looks. It's coming out soon. I can't say exactly when, but doesn't this get you excited about it! The interface and ease of use are unparalleled. It will be a lot of fun just to get in there and experiment.

And.... get this... the Standalone LooksBuilder will be given away for free! The free standalone works will still images like Tiffs and Jpegs and presets can be saved. The plug-in works with video.

We'll have more info soon so stay tuned.

Labels: After Effects, Avid, Final Cut Pro, Free, John Dickinson, Magic Bullet Looks, Red Giant

John Dickinson, a Toolfarm Forum Expert, has posted a nice tip at Zaxwerks Blog. Watch John's video tip. (Also, check out John's Creative Background Design Training Bundle.)

ProAnimator is a great plug-in for After Effects. I encourage you to Download a demo and take it for a test drive.

Labels: Creative Background Design, John Dickinson, ProAnimator, Zaxwerks

Ko Maruyama was one of the lucky attendees of John Dickinson/Zaxwerks Doom eSeminar on Sunday. John, as you probably know, is one of Toolfarm's Forum Experts^TM and has some incredible After Effects training through Toolfarm Expert Series.

Jim Geduldick, another of our awesome Forum Experts, and I were IMing this morning. He told me that John's eSeminar was really informative and John did an incredible job. Also, the attendees got 4 hours for the price of 2!

Read Ko's review at Ninja Crayon

Labels: Creative Background Design, Forum, Jim Geduldick, John Dickinson, Zaxwerks

Motionworks' first online seminar "The Doom Promo" will be held on July 14th. This will be the first in a series of live e-seminars presented by Motionworks in association with Zaxwerks, where you will get detailed insight into how John designs and creates various broadcast motion graphic projects. This session will focus on techniques for Zaxwerks ProAnimator and include tips on how to integrate your 3D logos and text with After Effects layers using plug-ins such as Knoll Light Factory and Trapcode Shine. Places are limited so register soon.

You're probably very familiar with John from the Toolfarm Expert Forums and from his awesome training series, Creative Background Design for After Effects.

Labels: John Dickinson, Training, Zaxwerks

John Dickinson, motion graphic artist and Toolfarm Forum Expert shows you how to create a versatile and pretty blurred light background. He employs a unique use of Vector Paint, Colorama and CC Radial Fast Blur (ships with AE Pro or CycoreFX) to create this gorgeous, etherial background.

Project files are included as well as a bonus project file which includes the Colorama preset. The documentation contains an introduction PDF that explains everything you need to know before diving in.

Creative Background Design Bundle

Save $10 on the bundle! Get the Creative Background Design Bundle now! Did I mention that it's available immediately in our checkout? Yep! They're very large files and you can download one lesson at a time if you have a slower connection to the internet.

The Bundle includes:

• Lesson 01: Basic Fractal Loop
  Make an etherial, undulating background in After Effects.
• Lesson 02: Award Night
  Make a realistic theatre curtain in After Effects.
• Lesson 03: Venetian Blocks
  Make interesting and varied background effects in After Effects.
• Lesson 04: Fractal Flower
  Create a gorgeous fractal flower and a cool variation, a hi-tech worm hole
• Lesson 05: Molten Cells
  Make an undulating molten lava background.
• Lesson 06: Rose Window
  Make a variety of Persian-style designs.
• Lesson 07: Vector Light
  Create a versatile and pretty blurred light background.

Labels: After Effects, Creative Background Design, John Dickinson, Training

Ko Maruyama has posted a blog entry at Ninja Crayon about the training that is available for After Effects and happens to mention three of our Forum Experts, Harry J. Frank, John Dickinson and Dean Velez.

Harry's training is available just this week and to say it's selling well would be an understatement! After Effects Expressions hits a niche where there is really not a lot of training and Harry's training is fun to watch and easy to absorb. It's downloadable immediately and is affordable at just $29 for 60 minutes of Expressions training. It is designed for the designer, not the programmer, and it will take your Expressiophobia away.

• After Effects Expressions 01: Introduction to Expressions Duration: 20 Minutes
• After Effects Expressions 02: Introduction to Arrays and Variables Duration: 20 Minutes
• After Effects Expressions 03: 3D Text Duration: 20 Minutes
• After Effects Expression Series 1 Bundle Duration: 60 Minutes

John Dickinson's Creative Background Design Series has also been very popular. John currently has six modules in his series and he uses some innovative techniques and explains several shortcuts that will help your workflow. John's training is just $5 a pop and great for the beginner or seasoned veteran.

• Creative Background Design for After Effects 01: Basic Fractal Loop - Free Sample
• Creative Background Design for After Effects 02: Award Night
• Creative Background Design for After Effects 03: Venetian Blocks
• Creative Background Design for After Effects 04: Fractal Flower
• Creative Background Design for After Effects 05: Molten Cells
• Creative Background Design for After Effects 06: Rose Window

Dean Velez puts out training through his company, The Anvel. His training, The Anvel Industry Training for AE is incredible. I showed my class some of the training last semester and they were completely into it. People actually stuck around until the end of class instead of bagging class after an hour ;-)

Just yesterday, Dean posted the following to our Expert Forum:

Hello Video, Film and Web guys and gals,

The Anvel has just posted 29 new royalty free and fully customizable After Effects 7.0 Professional projects ready for download.

The Projects all deal with Text and adding effects to text. They cover the letters A-Z ( Aura, Balls, Cosmic, Destroy, Electric, Extrude, Fire, Glimmer, Hose, Ice, Join, Killer, Laser, Magnify, Nature, Odor, Paint, Quartz, Road, Strange, Tear, Universe, Vile, Web, Wind, X-Ray, Yank, Zoom )

Some are render intensive...so prerender when you can.

Hope you enjoy them! and drop me a line to let me know which one is your favorite...mine is Killer.

Dean is always posting awesome free stuff every month or two, so you'd be doing yourself a big service to go to our forum and hang out. Ask some questions while you're there and guys like Harry and John will answer your questions.

Ko also mentions Aharon Rabinowitz's quality training. Aharon runs After Effects NY user group, which met last night and Toolfarm gave away Harry's new training at the meeting. I hear the meeting was great, with Curious Pictures showing their Disney Channel program, Little Einsteins ("Come on! Wave your arms to make our ship fly faster!" and so you can hear some Vivaldi... oh, I'm sure you've seen it!)

Labels: After Effects, Dean Velez, Free, Harry Frank, John Dickinson, Ko Maruyama, Toolfarm, Training

This is the sixth in the Toolfarm Expert Training Series: Creative Background Design with After Effects: Rose Window and it is gorgeous! John Dickinson walks you through a variety of Persian-style designs using Fractal Noise, Colorama, CC Kaleida and several other plug-ins. Simply beautiful.

Whether you're new with After Effects or have been using it since AE 3, you will learn some cool tricks and expand you're repertoire of quick effects.

Get some killer training for only five bucks! Get Lesson 6: Rose Window Now!.

Labels: After Effects, Creative Background Design, Cycore FX, John Dickinson, Toolfarm, Training, Tutorial