Look on the Bright Side | If it’s Cloudy, bring the Sun | Track, Comp, Perfection

In this tutorial, we look at how to do a complex sky replacement with Adobe After Effects CS5. We take a look at a variety of tools, including Tracking, Displacement maps, exposure, Refine Matte, Edge Blur, Colour Correction with Curves, and applying a vignette.

If you wish to download the project file for this tutorial, you can grab it here: SkyReplacmentTutorialv001.zip

If you have any comments or questions, please let me know!

Thanks!

A 3D Journey | Information Parity | Stereo Knowledge

This is a recording of a presentation I gave in October of 2008 on Frantic Films work on Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D.

There’s quite a few topics covered here including:

Post-vis, 3D tracking Stereo footage, Fluid Simulations, Creature design, Compositing Passes, Creature Rigs, Particle tests with Krakatoa, Cloth Simulations, 2D look Developlemt, and common problems with 3D Stereo Footage.

There’s a bunch of behind the scenes stuff here that normally doesn’t make it out of a VFX studio, so I hope you enjoy it!

Let me know if you have any comments of questions!

Thanks!

From Layers to Nodes | Mountain of Learning Awaits | Your Journey starts Here!

In this tutorial, we take a more in-depth look at node based compositing from the perspective of an After Effects user. If you are someone who has lots of experience with After Effects, and wants to get into using a program like Shake, Nuke, or Fusion, this will help you get on the right track.

In Part two of this tutorial, we take a look at an entire shot built in fusion, and break down the tools one by one, and replicate the shot in After Effects. Hopefully, by seeing how this shot is built in Fusion and in After Effects, it will help you to understand the workflow differences between working with layers and nodes.

In this 45 minute tutorial, we take a look at a final shot for the Open Cut 3.0 Challenge created with Fusion 5.3, and look at every tool involved in putting this shot together.

Compositing Love… | Every Single Node Explained | Details are the Key…

Here’s some links to topics and plugins that are refered to in this tutorial:

Learn why you should work in 16-bit and 32-bit modes, Advanced Photo Manipulation, and many other tips and tricks! This tutorial is meant for intermediate to advanced Photoshop users who want to take their knowledge to the next level! There’s lots of discussion in here about topics that aren’t readily covered in Photoshop tutorials, and I think you’ll be surprised by what you learn!

Advanced techniques | Taken to the next level | Your skills will increase!

Here’s a quick overview of a few of the topics that are covered:

Working in 16-bit and 32-bit mode:

• Why 8-bit is for suckers!

Advanced Transfer (blending) Mode 
Tricks and tips

Working Non-destructively in Photoshop

A preview of this tutorial can be seen here

Advanced Photo Manipulation

File Formats Explained!

A preview of this tutorial can be seen here

Photoshop Tips and Tricks!

What’s included in the Download?

I really hope that you enjoy this tutorial. I had a lot of fun putting it together. If you have any comments or questions about anything, send me an email, and I’ll try and answer it as soon as possible. Thanks!

Thanks!

The big transition | We look for the common ground | From layers to nodes

In this tutorial, we take an introductory look at node based compositing from the perspective of an After Effects user. If you are someone who has lots of experience with After Effects, and wants to get into using a program like Shake, Nuke, or Fusion, this will help you get on the right track.

In Part one of this tutorial, we take a look at the differences in importing footage in After Effects VS. a node based compositing application (in this case Fusion 5).

We also cover:

• Different frame rates
• Straight VS. Post Multiplied alphas, and explaining the difference
• Removing fields
• Setting pixel aspect ratios
• Looping your footage