While my review covers some of the major changes in the software, these are the most compelling reasons to consider the latest version. There are also some workflow changes that have been made to the application which animators will appreciate.
Although it is a brief examination of 3 elements of the upgrade - Mograph2, Rendering, 3D data export, they dramatically enhance the design, animation and production experience of any 3D animator, especially those who develop material inside the workflow of a Hollywood-style design shop.
This upgrade, cloaked in a dot-5 moniker, really deserves much more credit. This is a substantial reworking of the tools professionals use every day, those tools on which a successful job depends upon.
It is without hesitation that we recommend a MUST BUY rating for this software, especially for owners of previous versions and/or 3D artists in animation design.
Please welcome Ko Maruyama in an official capacity on the Toolfarm Expert Forums. Ko is a man that needs no introduction, but I have some space here, so why not!
You may know Ko from Ninja Crayon, DMN, DMA\LA, his training or 50 other places. He's an After Effects and Cinema 4D Guru and now we're privileged to have his expertise at Toolfarm Expert Forums. Hit 'em up! What are you waiting for?!
Digital Media Artists / Los Angeles (DMA/LA) is an association for professionals creating imagery for video, film, and other media using desktop tools. MGLA was formed in August 1997 through the merger of several previously-existing groups. DMA/LA is an extention of that - continuing in 2008. DMA/LA's area of discussions are not restricted to a specific hardware or software solution, understanding that an artist often has to employ 2D, 3D, and other digital tools to realize their vision - and that artistic inspiration can be universal.
Lineup: Q&A with Tom Luth / SonicFire SmartSound / Trapcode Horizon / Chevon Hicks - HeavenSpot
7:00 - 7:30 Q&A with Tom Luth
In addition to a short Q&A session, DMA's Tom Luth will show off the bit of title design that we missed last month.
With the new version soon to be released, Stephanie Joyce will be presenting a sneak peek for us at DMA/LA. If you're a motion graphics artist or producer, you'll want to be sure to see the new features.
Stephanie will be demonstrating all the amazing new features in SmartSound Sonicfire Pro 5. Building on the recent success of their Multi-Layer Music and the famous Mood Mapping® feature, the new Sonicfire Pro 5 does things you never imagined possible with library music. Want to move a music beat to align with an event in your video? Come check it out.
Presented by Sean Safreed of Red Giant Software (site to all Trapcode, Magic Bullet, Knoll Light Factory Pro, Instant HD and more), Trapcode Horizon is the latest offering from Peder Norrby for After Effects users. Taking advantage of some simple steps, AE users can create scenes that, well, stretch to an unending horizon.
8:35 - 8:55 Break
Get to know some of the other members, grab a snack or drink in the lobby, or ask the presenters some of those questions you didn't want to raise your hand for.
9:00 - 9:50 Chevon Hicks : Heavenspot
Chevon will be presenting some of the company's recent work for FOX's NASHVILLE which will incorporate both motion graphics for promo and interactive. It is a great case study on a newly emerging trend, where the website design took an interesting influence on the broadcast look.
TOMORROW: Tuesday, January 15 - Gallery Theatre at Barnsdall Art Par, 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., Cover charge: FREE courtesy of Adobe Systems
From Ninja Crayon: On the heals for the opening day of the MacWorld Conference and Expo in San Francisco (Monday, Jan. 14), DMA/LA (formerly MGLA) will be having its first meeting of 2008 - not to mention its first meeting under the new name: Digital Media Artists / Los Angeles - on Tuesday, Jan. 15.
As any long time MGLA member can tell you, the first meeting of the year is usually big and this one fits the bill. As early as May of last year you may have heard of MAXONÂ’s " The Power Integration Tour" for 2008, a joint road show with Adobe Systems Incorporated where motion graphics artists will learn how to bring their vision to life with blockbuster visual effects and compelling motion graphics for film, video, DVD, the web, and mobile devices. A quick glance at the show dates, set for next summer, may have even left you feeling anxious to see what MAXON and Adobe have to show. The third Tuesday of January, the wait is over.
Our good friend Ko Maruyama made this cool icon for the 3D Forum, where he fields loads of questions on Cinema 4D and other 3D applications. Stop by anytime and ask about Cinema 4D, modo, 3DS Max, Maya or whatever might be on your mind. And thank you Ko for the cool art!
From Ninja Crayon: Next Limit Realflow is possibly up for a Scientific and Technical Achievement nomination from The Scientific and Technical Awards Committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Read Ko Maruyama's blog post about it. We wish the folks at Next Limit the best of luck!
Using Cinema 4D and Mograph? Ko Maruyama has built a tutorial movie for Toolfarm that explains some tips on working with Mograph text and streamlining your workflow. In the end, he brings it into Photoshop.
Of course there is so much more that RE:Vision Effects does than this one plug-in, DE:Noise, but this is their latest plug-in and SIGGRAPH is the latest event.
Here's Pete talking a little bit about the plug-in. It can do much more than can be seen in 3 minutes. You can see more of it at the website - and more about RE:Vision Effects here at Toolfarm!
Okay, personal story here. I worked at a public radio station on a show promoting local bands. This was the early 90s, so they all sounded like Nirvana and Soundgarden. My on-air persona was named Barb Wire, a couple of years before that fine film starring Pamela Anderson came out. Another guy, Robin Banks (not his real name), bestowed that moniker upon me.
Ko Maruyama talks about the new RE:Vision Effects PV Feather rotoscoping plug-in for Adobe After Effects at DMN. Read the article here. There are some nice images and a video interview with Pierre Jasmine of RE:Vision Effects, shot at NAB 2007.
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.
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.
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:
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!)
Ko Maruyama has an article about Maxon at NAB, as well as a video with David Basulto interviewing Paul Babb, head honcho of Maxon. The video also shows some seriously cool animation. Check it out!
Paul Babb has been everywhere lately. He was interviewed on Plugged-In, the awesome new podcast presented by Toolfarm. Check Podcast #2 from NAB. His interview is first.
Check out Ko's new blog, Ninja Crayon. He talks about software and pop culture with other interesting tidbits. It's a very entertaining read and I totally dig the name. My daughter throws crayons like ninja stars occasionally, so I guess those would be ninja crayons? I'm sure Ko has a better definition.
"Time to Animate Everything" or "Bigger, Better, Faster"
Yes, you read that right! The first review of After Effects CS3. I had to wait until the clock struck midnight to post this and it was tough to wait!
WOW! I'm blown away. The new features Puppet, Shape, 3D Type and Brainstorm are killer. The Shape Tool is something I've been waiting for for a long time, Shapes like Photoshop. "BrainStorm can take your effect, or effects and derive a series of alternate options by modifying the various parameters in those effects and keyframes." The Puppet feature is a warping/morphing type of tool and Ko gives a nice Quicktime sample. Oh, and 3D Text.... I need to catch my breath!
Choose the front view. This will make things easy to see - later you'll be able to do this in any viewport, but it allows you to see what's going on.
Create a STAR SPLINE object. Star spline will allow you to set up the right number of points in the right area quickly and easily. Click the screen grabs for larger images in a new window (pops)
Set the number of points in the star to the number of points in the star you want to make. In the attributes window, set the number of points to 5.
Now that the Star Spline has been modified, make it editable by using the pulldown menu or simply use the "C" key on the keyboard to make the selected object "editable".
With the editable star object selected, open the STRUCTURE MANAGER. Select all of the points (these represent all of the points in the star (not the spikey points, the 3D vertices!) There should be 10 points (count '0' as one of the points). COPY THOSE POINTS (cmd or ctrl-C).
Create a polygon object. Note: this isn't a primitive shape, it's just an empty polygon object.
In the polygon object's structure manager, PASTE the point data from the clipboard.
Create a new line (you're making a new set of data for a new point). This point should have values of (0, 0, 0). The new point will be in the center of x,y,z.
With the POLYGON objet selected, and the points now pasted in the object's structure, you'll need to connect the points to create polygons. Note from the pulldown menu, the shortcut is to type (in rapid succession) M then E.
SEE MOVIE HERE:
Let's revisit the new point that was created in the center of the structure. Change the Z value to -50. This moves all of the newly created geometry out to meet the new position of the center point.
OPTIONAL EXTRA
11-opt. If you're going to see around to back of this model, you may want to add a symmetry object to easily recreate the geometry on the other side of this. Add the symmetry object while holding down the option key to add it as a parent to the selected object. Don't forget to switch the mirror plane to the correct face (this one is XY)
12-opt. Add a material. There are tons of presets that you'll find in the application. There are even more on the CD in the goodies folder. There are more yet online. Have suggestions for where to find CINEMA 4D materials? Check in at the Toolfarm Forum and let us know where your favorite material site is.
Here's the file if you need to get there in a hurry. DOWNLOAD .C4D FILE (R 9.6) Go through the steps to figure out how to make this, and you'll see how easy it is to make many other models using CINEMA 4D. NOTE: There is an alternate version of the model in the file using an array object. Click the READ ME objects for more information. Wanna learn more about C4D? Check out Cineversity Tutorials, now over 500 video tutorials www.cineversity.com.
Ko Maruyama has created some gorgeous Christmas bulbs with Maxon Cinema 4D and has a tutorial and the project files to share. This is the season of giving, after all. (I always wondered... why isn't every season a season of giving? It should be.)
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