This is very cool, and very useful for making templates, especially in commercial, direct response and web video advertising. Make sure to subscribe to Creative Dojo on YouTube.
Expressions are amazing, and I wish I was better at writing them instead of just using them, and this goes through the expressions so you can get some information about how it works.
Charles Yeager at Premium beats has this article and the above video on organizing your After Effects Compositions.
Yes yes yes, cleaning up After Effects Projects is a must, and sometimes I wish that Template makers spent more time making theme easier to use and modify as I basically never use them exactly as intended. Anything to clean things up so if another graphics artist comes or even you after a break will be able to quickly figure things out.
MotionIsland has a blog post about 5 Free After Effects Chart Animations.
These are very useful for commercial or coroporate graphics work. Check them out and download them and donate if you use them!
Rich Young at PVC has released his August After Effects Roundup and I know I am posting this a bit late, but well worth a read.
Maxon has updated most of it’s apps, Cinema 4D to 25, Redshift, Trapcode to 17, he VFX Suite to 2 and included new plug-in Bang!, Magic Bullet to 15 and Universe to 5.
Trapcode 17 is updated.
Features the long-requested ability to work with Particular and Form in the same 3D space by bringing Form behaviors to Particular. The release also sees upgrades to the Flocking simulation with the addition of On Predator/Prey Contact and Team designations as well as improvements to system organizational capabilities in the Designer. Form also includes many quality-of-life updates and all Trapcode tools now support Adobe’s multi-frame rendering.
Includes the newly acquired Bang plugin, a fully procedural 3D muzzle flare generator that enables the quick and easy addition of muzzle flashes to your footage. Bang gives full creative control over the look of muzzle flares, including position, shape, color, decay and duration. Recent enhancements include more realistic Glows, Heat Blurs and Age Control refinements. VFX 2 also introduces compatibility with Apple’s Metal Graphics API for Primatte Keyer for optimal performance on supported systems.
Incorporates compatibility and optimization for Apple Silicon-powered Macs, as well as support for Multi-Frame Rendering (MFR) in Adobe After Effects. In addition, Cosmo, Mojo, Film, Renoiser now take advantage of Apple’s Metal Graphics API for optimal GPU performance on Mac.
Both Magic Bullet and Universe 5
now support Multi-Frame Rendering (MFR) in Adobe After Effects. *Denoiser has not been updated in this release.
The most intuitive 3D application interface just got even better with a new modern skin, user interface enhancements and an expansive preset system for optimizing your workflow. All-new Spline Import options allow users to easily use Illustrator, PDF and SVG vector artwork in their 3D scenes. Capsules allow anyone to tap into the power and flexibility of Cinema 4D’s Scene Node system, with plug-in-like features directly in the Classic Object Manager. And the New Spline and Data Integration functionality can be used to build powerful Capsule Assets.
A new rendering mode that provides near real-time rendering performance while using the same shaders, lights, and efficiently co-existing with the standard Redshift render engine in the same DCC and scene. Perfect for artists to use during the development process of a project or even final render if the project does not need the same amount of fidelity as standard Redshift.
II have been using Red Giant for years, still hate that you only get 1 install vs 2 you had before Maxon bought them, but there suite is still something I use almost every day.
Chris Zwar at the ProVideoCoalition has an awesome and in depth article on the Fractal Noise Plug In in After Effects. This is such a versatile plug in and this article should really help you understand and use it better than before. As it is a plug in that can be used for so many things.
Adobe has added Composition Profiler to it’s beta of After Effects as it announced in it’s BETA Forum. You enable it by clicking the snail in the lower left of the timeline window and it will show render times for each layer so you can can see the render times for each layer and know which layer is slowing you down.
This is very cool. Just a great feature so you can quickly see what is slowing you down.
A very useful lesson on adding randomization in After Effects.
You should check out the rest of ECAbrams videos on youTube as well.
I really need to dive more into expressions. I can use them and do some modifications, but I am not really an expert or good at creating my own, which is something that really can bring master levels of After Effects.
Jim Thacker at CF Channel has an article on Multi-Frame Rendering in the After Effects Beta.
This is super exciting, as After Effects has basically run at the same speed forever. It likely won’t be released fully until the next big trade show, where Adobe will move it from the beta channel.
