Come out to the Great Lakes Broadcasting Conference at Michigan MAB and stop by Toolfarm's table. Michele Yamazaki from Toolfarm will be presenting at 8:30am on Creating Great Keys and at 10:15am on After Effects Plug-ins that you need now. Come out and meet Michele and Alicia and get some questions answered about plug-ins. The conference runs today and tomorrow. More info on the conference.

Labels: Event, GLBC, MAB, Toolfarm

Please help us by taking this short GPU survey, designed to help Digieffects and Red Giant learn more about After Effects users GPU setup. It will take less than 5 minutes and you have the opportunity to win a copy of Digieffects FreeForm AE, Red Giant Magic Bullet Suite or Digieffects MegaSuite! Thanks for your help!

Labels: DigiEffects, Red Giant, Survey, Toolfarm

Michele Yamazaki from Toolfarm will be presenting at MAB, the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Great Lakes Broadcasting Conference and Expo in Lansing, MI, on March 3. Toolfarm will also have a table in the expo center.

Seminars:
Creating Great Keys: 8:30am-9:30am, March 3, 2010
After Effects Plug-ins You Need Right Now: 10:15am-11:15am, March 3, 2010

MAB's Great Lakes Broadcast Conference & EXPO (GLBC), March 2-3, 2010 at the Lansing Center. The Lansing Center is located at 333 E. Michigan Ave, Lansing, MI 48933.

Labels: Event, Toolfarm

This is a question that we get quite often at trade shows and other events. Quite often at these events, we're there representing the manufacturer of the software, so it may seem a bit strange.

Think of Toolfarm as an extension of the manufacturer's sales force. We sell most products for a bit less than the vendor, but it would cost them much more for extra staff, advertising, etc. We both make a profit and it benefits the customer in the end. It's what you might call a "Win-Win" situation.

1. Because Toolfarm represents over 1,000 products by several hundred vendors, we will give you unbiased opinions. Just email us and we will give you our true opinions on which products would be best for the job.
   
   Quite often, you may not need a plug-in, and we'll tell you that straight up. Hopefully that honesty will bring you back as a customer next time when you really do need to buy something.
   
   
2. We answer the phone. There are several companies who don't use the phone to communicate with customers. It's true. We do. 415-462-1982. Feel free to put us on speed dial.
   
   
3. If you have a question about a product you bought and we can't answer the question, we can get an answer from the vendor for you quickly. What can I say, we have clout!
   
   
4. Our #1 priority is taking care of our customers and handling support questions quickly. We return emails as quickly as possible, usually within an hour or two during the work day.
   
   
5. We often have exclusive sales that we've set up vendors, sales you will not find elsewhere. Make sure you signup for our mailing list for our bi-weekly newsletter, become our Fan on Facebook, or Follow us on Twitter to find out what sales are coming up. They often come up very quickly so I'd recommend all three!
   

Labels: Facebook, Toolfarm, Twitter

On Friday, December 18th we will be giving away 3 secret Red Giant products to 3 lucky Toolfarm twitter followers!


To enter, simply follow us on twitter (@toolfarm) and tweet the following:

"Toolfarm is giving away 3 Red Giant Plug-ins on Friday, 12/18/09 at 12pm PST. Follow @toolfarm & RT this to Enter!"

How easy is that? We hope you are enjoying all of the Secret Santa Freebies so far. Good luck!

Labels: Red Giant, Secret Santa, Toolfarm, Twitter

If you missed the eSeminar yesterday, you can watch it here.

What you missed:

• Steve Whatley of Adobe going through some aspects of After Effects and importing Premiere projects in to AE.
• Harry Frank showing some cool tricks in Trapcode Particular
• Michele Yamazaki of Toolfarm with a quick look at Red Giant's newest plug-in, Magic Bullet Mojo.

Labels: Adobe, Magic Bullet, Magic Bullet Mojo, Particular, Red Giant, Toolfarm, Trapcode, Webinar

Date: Thursday, October 22, 2009 from 6:00 PM - 10:00 PM (PT)

Location: Adobe
601 Townsend St
San Francisco, CA 94103

Register here to attend!

SFMOGRAPH is just around the corner, with our next meeting happening on Thursday, October 22nd, from 6:30 pm - 9:45 pm at Adobe on Townsend in San Francisco.

October is all about inspiration, the seasons are shifting. Its getting cold out there, and you need creative energy and sweet animation to keep you warm. We will be sharing new tools, new films, and tutorials for your viewing and learning pleasure.

Colin Sebestyen & Alexander Tarrant: Will be sharing their short animated film, Catalog # FG -430-7: A Field Guide to Standard Signs in Urban. This film is part of the Twenty 120 Film festival, we will be playing selections from the 2009 Twenty 120 Festival. www.twenty120.com along with a Q&A with the two artists.

Alexander Tarrant is a director at UP Creative, Upper Playground's creative agency in San Francisco. UP Creative provides documentary and animated films, public art campaigns, event planning and branding strategy for select clients and social change.

Colin Sebestyen is a multi-discipline digital artist residing in San Francisco. He has worked as a motion graphics artist is several Bay Area shops: Gunshop, Little Red Robot & Bonfire, as well as freelancing for clients such as Apple, Venables Bell & Partners, Aesop Rock, and Upper Playground. He is currently motion graphics lead at Cobra Creative and also instructs graduate studies in motion graphics in the school of VFX / Animation at the Academy of Art University. He also engages in homebrew bike riding and Sunday park attending.

Using Blender for Motion Graphics: In this session Paolo Ciccone will demonstrate how to integrate Blender 3D in the Motion Graphics artist's workflow.

Blender is one of the most sophisticated, usable and approachable 3D modelers in the market. It's available for all major platforms, and can be used for modeling 3D elements to enhance existing footage, or to create full virtual sets. It has sophisticated animation features and fluid simulation that simply cannot be ignored.
Paolo will show how Blender can be used by anybody to add real 3D elements to compositions and how to integrate Blender within After Effects.

Paolo Ciccone is a veteran of the software industry having spent almost 30 years as a software engineer. For the past 9 years, he has dedicated himself to 3D modeling and compositing. His last project is a series of training classes on Blender and After Effects slated to start later this year.

Stash Media 2009 Short film screening & giveaway: Our Brand New sponsor Shash Media and Magazine is sharing the best of short animated film selections from their 2009 DVD. We will be offering an exclusive SFMOGRAPH discount coupon for 25% off all Stash Media, and Screening incredible works from the likes of:

Shilo, The Mill, Blur, The Embassy, The Blackheart Gang, Rushes and others.

Prizes: Of course we couldn't let you go home without the opportunity to walk away with a months rent worth of goods! We have an incredible group of sponsors that make SFMOGRAPH possible, so when your in- between meetings and looking for that special tool to make your project incredibly indelible, visit www.digieffects.com, www.redgiantsoftware.com, and www.toolfarm.com. You needn't look any further.

We better see you at the next meeting. SFMOGRAPH is where all the sickest artist gather to rub elbows, but it only happens once every other month. Don't get left in the dust. RSVP, meet your peers, learns something, and maybe even make a new friend who doesn't mind that you work fifteen hour days behind a console, because they do too.

Labels: DigiEffects, Red Giant, SFMograph, Toolfarm

Charlotte Animation Visual Effects + Motion Design aka CAVEMODE has their next meeting on October 20 at Limerick Studios in Charlotte, NC. Toolfarm and Digieffects are both sponsors of the group, as well as Focal Press and many other companies.

• CAVEMODE “Demo Reel” presentation
• Guest speaker: John Lemmon, John Lemmon Films
• Project Breakdown: Zach Chambers & Eric Hurtgen, Art Directors, Creative Services at INSP
• Studio Spotlight: Limerick Studios
• Door prizes by Toolfarm, Digieffects, Focal Press, Artbeats, Peachpit and Boxx
  

If you're in the area, check them out and do a little networking. Hopefully you'll win a door prize!

Labels: CAVEMODE, DigiEffects, Event, Toolfarm, User Group

We're doing some debugging on the site for browser compatibility and we'll be running some tests. You may notice some weirdness, on the blog and main site, but our store will function just fine (everything should function fine, actually). We'll put it back as soon as we have everything working properly. Thanks!

Labels: Toolfarm

From Chris Bodaglo of AE Toronto:

We're very excited to announce that Toolfarm's own Michele Yamazaki will be coming up to our next user group meeting. (http://www.aeto.ca)

Place: 156 Augusta Ave., Toronto, Ontario (Map)
Date: July 22, 2009
Time: Doors open 6:15 pm. First presentation starts 6:45.
Presenter: Michele Yamazaki from Toolfarm will be giving a demo on Keying & Compositing in After Effects

Register here:
http://www.aeto0722.eventbrite.com

Door Prize Raffle:

• Toolfarm has given us 3 prizes. One on AE Expressions featuring Harry Frank, Keylight Training and Trapcode 3S Training, both featuring Angie Mistretta.
• Imagineer has given us the very excellent companion to AE. Mocha V2 and the Mocha shape plug-in.
  

...and a whole lot more!

Hope to see you there.

Our second meeting is now online @ http://aeto.blip.tv/ (Flash/AE integration and using Scripts in AE)

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/chrisbo12

Labels: Event, Imagineer Systems, Toolfarm, User Group

Join us at Postapalooza 2009. If you're interested in After Effects, Trish Meyer is teaching AE in Michigan and I'll be teaching AE in Indiana. Jem Schofield and Mike Milkinson will be sharing their FCP Skills, as well as Craig Frankenstein and Steve Julin (event founder and coordinator).

Michigan: Thursday Oct. 15th and - Friday Oct. 16th - (Download Michigan Brochure)

Indiana: Monday Oct. 19th and Tuesday Oct. 20th - (Download Indiana Brochure)

The conference is very limited so register now!

Sponsors include Toolfarm, Noise Industries, CoreMelt, Artbeats, Red Giant, Boris Effects and more!

Labels: After Effects, Final Cut Studio, Postapalooza, Toolfarm

The Cambridge Motion Graphics Festival begins March 5th, 2009  in Harvard Square with 4 days of Workshops & Art Showcases by  internationally recognized artists, including: Shepard Fairey,  Nine Inch Nails, Addictive TV (Slumdog Millionaire), The Mill,  Digital Kitchen, Dvein, Trollback & Co, Robert Rich, Passion  Pictures, Animal Logic, David Lobser, Peter Kirn, superDraw  and more.

This 4-day conference in the fast moving field of design technology has opened it's Art & Entertainment events for only  $7. Rather than charging the typical $500-$1500 conference fee,  the Cambridge Motion Graphics Festival encourages participants  to spend their money on new books, DVDs and software, offered  at a discount rate during the events.

Festival Sponsors include: Create Digital Motion, Oat Creative, Maxon, Lumen Eclipse, Future Media Concepts, GenArts, Stash DVD Magazine, DigiEffects, VidVox, Boris FX, Livid Instruments,  Toolfarm.com, The Chicago Convergence, All City Technology,  Sterling Ledet, Resolume, Garage Cube, Lift Motion Design,  The Brattle Theater & Clif Bar.

Festival Schedule + Registration::

MGFest.com/09/Boston/

Labels: Boris, DigiEffects, GenArts, MGFest, Toolfarm

Toolfarm.com now the world's largest online sales and support community for motion graphics and visual effects plug-ins

Toolfarm.com now the world's largest online sales and support community for motion graphics and visual effects plug-ins

San Francisco, CA- February 19, 2009- Toolfarm.com, Inc., the leading source of content, community and commerce for professional visual effects and motion graphics plug-ins, today announced the acquisition of assets of Pluginz.com. Pluginz.com was a full sales and service shop for digital media professionals. A complimentary offering to the Toolfarm.com product sales, service and information network, the acquisition of assets from Knowedge Market, Inc includes the Pluginz.com network of URLs, and is a natural step in growing the popular Toolfarm.com one-stop shop service.

"Our unique value-add among resellers within the content creation market is our exceptional customer service. We offer more than just a list of plug-ins to buy, we provide outstanding sales support. Online help forums, detailed technology briefs and reviews, and a constant stream of industry news help our customers make informed decisions on investing in technology, and the tools to do their job," says President of Toolfarm.com, Jason Sharp. "The acquisition of the Pluginz.com gives us an opportunity to expand the overall offering for the Toolfarm community and better service our customers with a more diverse range of plug-ins to choose from along with the technical team to help them during their decision making process and beyond."

About Pluginz.com

Pluginz.com was a source for plug-ins and other tools for digital artists and an online resource for information about digital content creation. Pluginz.com was a part of the larger network which includes bedagi.com, editingutopia.com, post601.com, 3dplugins.com, and vfxplugins.com. The site served as an online community uniting software users and developers, and was an indispensable resource for digital artists seeking the information, service and feedback they needed to evaluate and select digital tools and to build their presence in the marketplace.

About Toolfarm.com Inc.

Founded in 1999, Toolfarm.com is the world's leading source of commerce for motion graphics plug-ins that also provides content, community and commerce for professional visual effects. In the past ten years, Toolfarm.com has served hundreds of thousands of professionals from all around the world who make a living working with digital video. Toolfarm.com continues to provide objective, timely information for users of Adobe, Apple, Avid, Autodesk and Sony applications including the related third-party plug-ins. In addition to competitive pricing, Toolfarm.com's free resources include the Plug-in Finder, free tutorials, blogs, newsletters, podcasts, industry news articles and press releases, user forms, compatibility charts and a recent new launch of "MyToolfarm", a professional video networking resource.

Corrections made Feb 22nd, 2009: The acquisition of Pluginz.com does not include Pluginz.com as a company, but rather the assets of it's URLs from Knowledge Market, Inc.

Labels: Press Release, Toolfarm

(Chicago, IL, December 1, 2008) - From the Rolling Stone playing at Soldier Field to the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremonies, video projection has become a touchstone for live performances. Chicago has long been a live music capital in the nation, and as the cost of video projectors fall, the business of music is changing.

"Video can now be 'played' just like a musical instrument can be played," explains Mason Dixon, founder of the Chicago Motion Graphics Festival, "the lights made for live concerts now project full-motion video, and live music performance software like Ableton Live now sports video capabilities."

The 2009 Motion Graphics Festival's will showcase the "Video Band" at it's Audio Visual Performance Showcase at the Chicago Cultural Center on January 25th from 6:30pm to 9pm. The showcase features some of the worlds best talent in this new mode of performance, such as Stoptime 341 (http://Stoptime341.com), the Chicago-based, touring video artist for the internationally acclaimed DJ Tiesto, and MFChicago the video artists behind Lollapalooza’s video accompaniment.

"What's really interesting to see now, is how new visual genres will form. How will the video that plays with a rock band be different than what is played with a country band?" Mason theorizes.

The technology behind video for bands has launched a number of online communities such as Create Digital Motion (http://CreateDigitalMotion.com) and VJ Forums (http://VJForums.com), new software companies like VidVox (http://VidVox.net) and Ableton (http://www.ableton.com), and even special stock footage sites such as VJ Loops (http://www.vjloops.tv).

The Motion Graphics Festival runs from Monday, January 19th to Sunday January 25th in various locations across downtown Chicago. Up to the minute information can be found at www.MGFest.com.

About the Motion Graphics Festival

In its 6th year, MGFest stands as the premier US event showcasing creative motion picture design. The festival presents a year-long, regionally focused program of events. The 5-city tour focuses on motion design, sound design, and film & video technology by hosting: art showcases, exhibits, workshops, classes, panel discussions, studio tours, theater screenings and industry mixers. The entire week of events costs only $7 to attend. Online RSVP required at www.MGFest.com.

Festival Sponsors include: The Chicago Convergence, Columbia College, Stash DVD Magazine, Maxon, Toolfarm, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Bridges Media Group, Lift Motion Design, Future Media Concepts, Create Digital Motion, Digieffects, Livid Instruments, Resolume, Boris FX, All City Technology, Lumen Eclipse, Sterling Ledet, VidVox, SXSW Interactive, Mac Specialist, Ableton, Harold Washington College, UnScene, and Clif Bar.

Labels: Boris FX, DigiEffects, Maxon Cinema 4D, MGFest Chicago, Toolfarm

We've just set up an events calendar of the happenings at Toolfarm. It's a Google Calendar, so if you're already using Google Calendar, you can copy over any of the events to your own calendar, giving you an quick reminder of sale dates and events. So far, there are loads of sales and a few upcoming events that Toolfarm will be attending or sponsoring.

Labels: Event, Sale, Toolfarm

Come check us out on Facebook. Be our friend (or BFF! LOL.). We're new to this Facebook thing so we'd love your input.

Labels: Facebook, Toolfarm

I've been on Facebook for a while, but we've now set up a Facebook account specifically for Toolfarm. If you're on Facebook, come by and check us out (well, even if you're not on Facebook, you're welcome to have a look). We're still going through the settings to put content up there, but it looks like it will be a useful method of communicating with our customers. It looks like you can share your stuff as well! We'd love your feedback too.

Labels: Facebook, Toolfarm

You may be encountering slowness and/or problems connecting to portions of our website. Our store appears to be up and running as normal. We are aware of the issues and are working diligently to fix them. We apologize for any problems you may be experiencing; and thank you for your patience.

Labels: Toolfarm

San Francisco, CA, September 2, 2008 - Red Giant Software will sponsor the IBC Final Cut Pro Users Group meeting, which takes place on September 14, 2008 from 7 pm at the "Gashouder" building in the grounds of the Culture Park Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. To celebrate the show and the first annual Final Cut Pro user group meeting in Europe, Red Giant Software is offering a 30% discount on all products purchased from the company's online store from September 10-17, 2008.

Making a guest appearance at the user meeting will be Miguel de Olaso, whose successful production company, Red Lab (www.redlab.es), is based in Spain. Miguel is DOP and a RED ONE Digital Cinema Camera wizard. He will show footage shot on a RED ONE camera and give a talk on workflow featuring Red Giant Software.

Also at the meeting will be Philip Bloom (www.philipbloom.co.uk), leading UK filmmaker with over 20 years of experience. Philip has called Magic Bullet Suite Looks "revolutionary" and has high praise for the integration with Final Cut Pro. Additionally, Michele Yamazaki from Toolfarm will demonstrate before and after clips to highlight the effective application of Magic Bullet Looks for setting the mood of the footage.

Exclusive IBC 2008 Show Special

Red Giant Software is offering a 30% discount off any purchases made in the company's online store from September 10-17, 2008. Customers are required to enter Coupon Code IBC30 to receive the discount during checkout.

About Red Giant Software

Red Giant Software LLC (http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/) is a San Francisco-based company that develops professional tools for digital video production. Products are available as plug-ins for popular video editing and effects applications, including After Effects, Final Cut Pro, Motion, Premiere Pro, and Avid. All tools are based on
production-proven technology developed by visual effects veterans.

Labels: Final Cut Pro, IBC, Red Giant, Toolfarm

Toolfarm has begun a total site redesign/overhaul and we would love to have your opinions and feedback. The survey should only take about 10 minutes to fill out and if you give us your email address, you'll be entered to win Red Giant Radium Glow!

Note: The survey will close July 22, 2008.

Labels: Poll, Radium Glow, Red Giant, Toolfarm

Are you a non-English speaker or only speak a bit of English? Toolfarm has just installed a translation gadget from Google. It's on the right column of the newsblog and the store at this time and if it's seems useful to you, we'll add it throughout the site. I'm sure the translations will not be perfect but hopefully they'll help you get the information that you need. We'd love your feedback. Please leave a comment.

Labels: Toolfarm

That's right, free pizza, sponsored by your good friends at Toolfarm!

This Wednesday, June 18th 6:30pm at Adobe in San Francisco. Pre-register here. It's free but you need a badge to get into Adobe.

Adobe
601 Townsend Street
San Francisco, CA 94103 (map)
415.832.2000
Entrance on Townsend Street. Reception is on the 1st floor.

FEATURED GUESTS

Brian Diecks
A 16 year veteran of branding, strategic marketing + creative for the entertainment, lifestyle and the sports industries, Brian Diecks is an award-winning broadcast designer and creative director of television branding, motion graphics, promotion campaigns, main title design, show packaging, print collateral, packaging and interactive projects.
www.diecksgroup.com

Patrick Siemer
Former Directing Animator at the esteemed H-Gun Labs, and long time Pixar AE Animator Patrick Siemer walks us through his After Effects process in the creation of the Pixar short "Your Friend the Rat"
www.tapeandglue.com

RE:Vision Effects
Plug-ins of the month

Some photos from the last meeting

Matt Silverman leads the meeting.


Colin Sharp of Toolfarm holds the box for the first version of After Effects.


The space at Adobe.

Labels: Event, Re:Vision Effects, SFMograph, Toolfarm, User Group

Yep, that's right. I'll be at the Motion Picture Collective meeting demoing Boris Continuum Complete and maybe Boris Final Effects Complete if there is time.

From the MPC newsletter:

Toolfarm has been taking a proactive community approach to EFX for a while now with the Plugged-In podcasts, the Experts Forums and their great compendium of plug-ins & software. Michele is the VP of Marketing for Toolfarm and is hence responsible for the awesome, 50% off One Day Sales (I keep missing). If not for the pizza or the auction, you must make it a point to meet the Software Diva, the Effects Dignitary, Michele Y and her Boris FX demo.

Oh, they flatter me. I'm certainly can't take credit for the One Day Sales. Effects Dignitary.... I like that. Has a nice ring to it. :-)

The Moving Pictures Collective NYC's June '08 is scheduled for Thursday, 12 June 2008, 6pm-8:30pm at Pratt Manhattan, 2nd floor.

They have a full card this evening with a bunch of great plug-in developers and Sony's EX-3. The meeting will start promptly at 6:00pm with pizza. Seating is limited to first come, first serve, but the meeting is open to members, subscribers and their friends, so please join us.

Pratt's Manhattan campus is located at 144 West 14th St between 6th and 7th Avenues on the south side of the street. Best train stations are Union Square (4/5/6, Q/W + N/R), 1/2/3 at 14th St (7th Ave), the F/V or L at 14th Street (6th Ave) or the A/C/E at 14th Street (8th Ave). Google Map.

Labels: Boris, Continuum Complete, Event, Toolfarm

Microfilmmaker gives Harry's After Effects Expressions Training a 9.2/10 in overall score.

Craig Herron, the reviewer says:

If you are interested in learning expressions more fully, both bundles are a must have. This is the clearest, most useful tutorial on expressions that I have ever used. If you are curious about expressions and want to see if they are for you, then I would recommend starting with Bundle 1. Even if you decide that expressions aren't your preferred way to work, you can still follow the tutorials and use the results in your own projects to good effect.

• After Effects Expressions Series 1 bundle
• After Effects Expressions Series 2 Bundle

Labels: After Effects, Harry Frank, Toolfarm, Training

More Expressions Demystified... Written for the Designer

The latest volume of After Effects Expressions Series Bundle 2 came out last week and people are scooping it up. Harry has a way of explaining expressions so they are simple to understand.

Labels: After Effects, Harry Frank, Toolfarm, Training

Toolfarm, Inc., the leading third-party distributor of After Effects plug-ins and visual effects tools announced today an exclusive distribution agreement with Red Giant Software. Effective immediately, all North American Resellers will be directed to Toolfarm, Inc. to purchase Red Giant Software products, including Trapcode plug-ins. Dealers should contact Colin Sharp at Toolfarm for a log-in to the Toolfarm dealer site.

"With sustained strong growth and continued expansion as a community destination, we believe that Toolfarm has shown that they are a great resource for customers of all kinds. Red Giant Software has chosen Toolfarm as our North American distributor to help us provide timely information and service to resellers of all kinds and continue our success into 2008 and beyond," said Sean Safreed, Product Director and cofounder of Red Giant Software LLC.

"Toolfarm is pleased to assume the responsibilities of managing Red Giant Software's reseller channel. This is a great fit for the company and falls in line with our expertise in matching customers with the right tools for color correction, motion graphics, keying, and video enhancement," said Colin Sharp.

Labels: Red Giant, Toolfarm

More Expressions Demystified... Written for the Designer

Harry J. Frank, freelance motion graphics artist, instructor and Adobe Certified Expert, delivers another round of training for the Toolfarm Expert Training Series. The first After Effects Expressions Series Bundle 1 was so successful and had such positive feedback that Harry has continued with the next three lessons, aptly titled After Effects Expressions Series Bundle 2.

Lesson 4: Random Numbers and Strings

Harry explains how to generate and control random values, as well as working with and manipulating string (alphanumeric) values. This lesson takes your expression skill-set to the next level, teaching you to get beyond the basics and start programming expressions with depth. Using an interface screen design as the environment.

It is recommended that you complete Lessons 1 through 3 before exploring Lesson 4, or have a firm grasp on all of the basics of expressions (scalar and array values). Lessons 1-3 are available here.

Duration: 52 Minutes

Lesson 5: Expression Control and Probability

Harry takes expressions to the big screen, and focuses on a sample title design sequence that relies heavily on expressions. The concepts center around expression control: defining the expressions to be controlled by markers, keyframes, layer in and out point, layer length, as well as expression randomness and probability. The result is a series of very flexible and powerful expressions that create automated movement, jitter and intro/outro animation.. all without keyframes.

It is recommended that you complete Lessons 1 through 4 before exploring Lesson 5. Lessons 1-3 are available here.

Duration: 30 Minutes

Lesson 6: Audio to Keyframes

Harry creates an automated lip sync animation in After Effects using the Audio to Keyframes function, along with expressions. This is a very valuable and time saving technique that the author has used in several productions.

It is recommended that you complete Lessons 1 through 5 before exploring Lesson 6. Lessons 1-3 are available here.

Duration: 10 Minutes

All project files are included for all lessons, along with a Quick Reference Guide that summarizes the concepts and terminology explained in the training. You're not going to get this kind of quality training anywhere else and this series is ONLY available at Toolfarm.

Harry has been a Toolfarm Forum Expert from about the time the Forums went up and runs Gray Machine, a very popular motion graphics site with tutorials and samples of work. Harry is also half of the relaunched AE Freemart.

Labels: After Effects, Toolfarm, Training

Alicia VanHeulen, the newest Toolfarmer, has designed some beauteous new icons for the main sections of our store. What do you think? I designed the last bunch and never like them. New icons have been on the to-do list for quite a while!

Labels: Toolfarm

And we're not just talking about our logo! Toolfarm is a small company with an eco-friendly strategy. You should feel good about buying your software and plug-ins from us.

• Toolfarm's headquarters in San Francisco is solar powered. The energy use needle on the meter spins backward during the day!
• We like to provide software as downloadable. No packaging, no printed manual, no shipping. You get your software fast and the air is a little bit cleaner.
• We only send email newsletters. It cuts down on costs and saves trees, plus gives us a lot more time to get you the freshest news and information.
• We're all fervent recyclers. We recycle all of the cardboard, plastic, metal, batteries and computer components that we can.
• Most of the employees at Toolfarm belong to a CSA or Co-op. We feed our bodies and our minds with healthy, organic foods. It keeps us sharp so we can answer all of your tough questions and give great customer service.

Labels: Toolfarm

I'm trying out the Google Custom Search Tool on our site. It's installed on the News Blog and on the Store.

It searches the store, Plug-in Finder, news, tutorials, AE Freemart and anything on our site. It will help unify results and make things easier to locate. What do you think? Please comment.

Labels: Toolfarm

There is an audio interview with Craig of Craigslist on Wired's Blog. This might seem like an odd thing for me to post, but there was something about it that got my attention.

Craigslist is unstructured in it's approach to growth and features and the entire site has been built on customer feedback, with "no vision whatsoever". In the past couple of years, Toolfarm has branched out quite a bit, with our forum, training, Plug-in Finder (currently going through a complete overhaul), demos, a tutorial database (currently linking to 500 tutorials) and soon, we'll have a User Group HQ to join users and groups in a way like you've never seen. We also have a mega project in the works that we hope to have in beta by September. We are focused on giving the best customer service possible.

We're making strides to help our customers find solutions to their video and motion problems and give you all of the resources that you need. So, taking a queue from Craig, I want to reach out to our customers and visitors and find out how Toolfarm can respond to your needs.

If you have any suggestions on how we can improve or change or any comments, suggestions for training or even products you would like to see us sell please email me. Thanks!

Labels: Toolfarm

Keith Larsen and Alan Spaulding have episode 5 waiting for your ears.

Here is the run down:

Philip Hodgetts
Chief BuZZmeister, Digital Production BuZZ

Hot industry BuZZ with Philip. Visionary and Technologist Philip Hodgetts is the Managing Editor and primary host of Creative Planet's Digital Production BuZZ. He is co-developer of Intelligent Assistance and the Pro Apps Hub and the technologies that support them. Phillip talks about what is due to evolve from what was announced at NAB in Las Vegas.

Michele Yamazaki
VP of Marketing/Content Creator and Web Mistress for Toolfarm.com

Michele talks about what's new at Toolfarm, including Harry Frank's new training, After Effects Expressions.

Jerry Hoffman
President, JLH Productions, Denver, Colorado

During his 32 year professional show business career, Jerry has become an award winning theatrical actor, TV and film editor, writer, director and producer. He started his pro career as a theatrical producer, director and actor. He founded his first television and film production company in Los Angeles in 1978. During those years, he produced hundreds of TV Commercials, industrial films, as well as broadcast television shows. Currently, he is a partner in Bat-Mann Productions. Their clients range from product manufacturers to development of feature films, as well as industrial clients which include Merck Pharmaceuticals and the National Jewish Medical Research Center. Jerry has produced in excess of 600 projects. He was a beta tester for Avid, helping them develop the world's premier non-linear editing solutions. For the past couple of years he has been teaching part-time at The Colorado Film and Video Instructional Studios, a joint facility shared by the Aurora Community College and the University of Colorado at Denver in the art and craft of production and post production in a laboratory with 20 Final Cut Pro bays.

Douglas Spotted Eagle
"Spot" is a giant in the video and audio industries, having received Grammy, Emmy, DuPont, Peabody, and many other awards. His music is heard in a wide range of films from "Last Samurai" to "Star Wars-Ewok" cartoons.

Spot may also be found in the DMN, Sony, and DVInfo.net forums as a host on subjects from compositing to audio engineering. He also has won many awards for his documentaries, including "Toubat: A Journey of the Native American Flute" and "The Way of the Powwow." His Azee' Choo'nii'gii' is the first film produced in the Dine' language.
Douglas has authored several books, the first of which was published world-wide when he was 18 years of age. His technical books include subjects such as Apple's Soundtrack, Sony's Vegas, Adobe's Encore, and DV Basics, and co-author of "HDV: What You NEED to Know," and "Instant Vegas."

As a VASST trainer, Douglas has been around the world several times. Training in areas as diverse as Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Guatemala, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Sweden, Russia, England, Germany, France, Canada, Japan, he has gained a powerful understanding of what people want to know, and how they'd like to best learn it. A powerful speaker, an inspiration to the industry, and a doer rather than a talker, Douglas simply is wonderful to experience. Catch this guy where you can, because he never stays in one place very long.

Spot trains in the Sound Forge, ACID, Vegas, HDV, Power Production Techniques, and Streaming VASST classes.

Labels: Podcast, Toolfarm

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

We've been busily working on getting the Events Calendar up to date with user group meetings, film festivals, Adobe Events, Apple Events and training seminars.

If you have an event that you'd like us to list (related to media, of course), please email the details to michele @ toolfarm.com.

Labels: Event, Toolfarm

We've upgraded our server space and bandwidth in a big way. We have big plans for the future and with this extra space we can get things into motion.

If you notice anything that is not quite right on the site after our move, please contact michele@toolfarm.com. Thank you for your help.

Labels: Toolfarm

Toolfarm is moving servers and getting our own dedicated server. If you notice any wackiness such as missing images, we're aware of the issues and hope to have things ironed out as soon as we can. Thanks!

Labels: Toolfarm

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

New Toolfarm Web Site Launched

Toolfarm, Inc., the leading third-party distributor of After Effects plug-ins and visual effects tools today announced that it is now managing the forums for Red Giant Software, including Trapcode plug-ins, and just launched a new web site.

Quick Links to Red Giant Software Forums

• Magic Bullet Suite, Magic Bullet Editors, and Magic Bullet Colorista
• Trapcode Plug-ins (Published by Red Giant Software)
• All Other Red Giant Software Plug-Ins

Users can log onto these forums to get help from the Red Giant Support Team, Toolfarm, and some of the top motion graphics artists, including: Dean Velez—awarded two Emmy's for animation and has been nominated seven times for various graphics projects and Matt Silverman—Creative Director at Phoenix Edit, Effects, and Design in San Francisco.

Check out the Toolfarm site for other forums, including Adobe applications such as After Effects, Premiere Pro and Photoshop, and Apple Final Cut Studio, including Final Cut Pro and Motion.

The new Toolfarm web site provides a streamlined look and feel, plus offers a cleaner navigation. There is also a brand new database of tutorials at Toolfarm, which allows visitors to search by categories and see what is new or popular. The tutorial pages have been redesigned for better retention and new tutorials have been added. The free demos area has been re-programmed with stronger security features and updated with new demos. Plus, The Inspirations section is now broken into categories for easier reading. Harry Frank, of Gray Machine, has joined the Inspirations team to post the most interesting, creative and technical videos on the web.

About Toolfarm Inc.

Toolfarm.com, based in San Francisco since 1999, is the leading third-party reseller of After Effects Plug-ins and visual effects tools. Known also for distribution, publishing, service and training, it has become the de facto standard as the one-stop shop for Adobe After Effects Plug-ins as well as motion graphics tools. It also hosts a Plug-in Finder, an online database and search engine of all plug-ins for Adobe After Effects, Premiere, and Apple Final Cut Pro.

Labels: Plug-in Finder, Red Giant, Toolfarm