How To: Use the XML project file format in After Effects CS4

After Effects CS4 allows you to save any After Effects project in an editable text format known as XML. This tutorial will show you how to use the XML file format to modify and dynamically update an After Effects project without having to run the After Effects CS4 application. Using XML format After Effects files is a great way to save time and maintain flexibility by using a simple text editor to make changes. Use the XML project file format in After Effects CS4.

How To: Get started with Trapcode Lux After Effects plugin

Lux is an After Effects plug-in that simulates the "visible light" phenomenon of light in a dark or foggy environment. Use Lux to create incredibly realistic visible light sources for spotlights, flashlights, headlights, or stage lighting of all kinds within After Effects. This tutorial will show you how to get started with Trapcode Lux in After Effects. Get started with Trapcode Lux After Effects plugin.

How To: Use Trapcode Starglow After Effects plugin

This software tutorial shows you how to use the Trapcode Starglow plugin for After Effects. Add Hollywood glamour to text or shapes with the fast-rendering Starglow plug-in. With multiple colors and point and shimmer controls, the star power is all at your fingertips. If you have never used Starglow in After Effects, this tutorial will get you started. Use Trapcode Starglow After Effects plugin.

How To: Import images with transparency into After Effects

In this software tutorial you will learn how to manipulate images in Photoshop to remove the background and then bring that transparent background image into After Effects without loosing the transparency. The Photoshop section covers the use of the Magnetic Lasso tool and Quick Mask to remove a background. With the image adjusted, you will learn how to import your new image into After Effects with preserved transparency.

How To: Create animated frozen titles in After Effects

This After Effects tutorial will show how to create a nice, smooth animated text effect, which turns your icy font into a frozen font. This is a great animation that can be easily learned, whether you're an AE pro or novice. Laurence Grayson chills out as he shows you how to create this ice texture effect, glassy text and a frozen text animation - all using just the standard effects that come in CS3, CS4 or CS5.

How To: Create custom particles in After Effects

Are you getting better at using After Effects and finding that you want to create your own custom particles instead of using the default ones? Then this video is for you. It will show you how to create custom animated particles which can be used to create all manner of cool effects like the one created as an example for this video. Don't keep using clublets of particles, make them do what you want them to do.

How To: Make a pulse or pulsating wave effect in After Effects

Making really attractive titles for your films is just one of the way that you can dramatically improve them using After Effects. This video will help you make them by showing you how to create a pulse or pulsating wave effect from whence your titles can emerge. They look great, and will make your movie (especially horror or sci-fi movie) look much more professional right from the beginning.

How To: Use World of Warcraft model viewer with After Effects

World of Warcraft, or Wow as it is affectionately known, is the most popular MMORPG of all time. In the wake of all of this popularity, WoW characters have become a popular subject for machinima, movies made within video games. This video will teach you, the budding machinima filmmaker, to use a piece of software called WoW Modelviewer with Adobe After Effects to incorporate your favorite WoW characters into a video.

How To: Create a Bourne Ultimatum flashback in After Effects

In this video tutorial, Creative Cow leader Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how to create the flashback look as seen in the film The Bourne Ultimatum with some extra touches and hints in Adobe after Effects. Sooner or later, you're going to need to be able to make that flashback film look, so pay attention. Create a Bourne Ultimatum flashback in After Effects.

How To: Use displacement maps in After Effects

In this 3-part series on Displacement Mapping, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz covers the basics of using this effect in both After Effects 6.5 and 7. This highly detailed tutorial will get you started on distorting your footage with displacement maps. Please note, you must have After Effects PRO to do these effects. Use displacement maps in After Effects - Part 1 of 3.

How To: Create a lightning bolt effect using After Effects and the Trapcode Suite

The Trapcode suite is a set of plug-ins for After Effects that allow video artists to create a variety of effects for inclusion in video and film productions. This particular guide demonstrates the power of Trapcode Particular and Trapcode 3D Stroke. Specifically, Wes Ball from OddBall Animation reveals how Trapcode was used in the creation of 'Eye of the Storm' - a music video by Lovett which can be seen here.

News: Space Invaders Transcend 8-Bit World to Attack Planet Earth

Those persistent alien beings from Space Invaders have finally abandoned the confines of their video game quarters, setting their crab-like eyes on the destruction of Earth. And it's up to one man to save the fate of human kind as we know it—Jeremiah Warren. Equipped with his trusty Atari CX-40 joystick, the lonesome savior battles the descending alien invaders, destroying them one by one with his laser cannon, right from his own bedroom window. See the battle below. The filming took about th...

How To: Disintegrate Objects at Super Speed (You Will Need: Sandpaper & After Effects)

Largely self-taught, Ryan John Kothe is an animator working out of Auckland, New Zealand. After picking up some rudimentary After Effects skills, he went on to create an impressive portfolio of beautifully rendered stop-motion animations with a distinctly tactile feel. Curious about the process behind Worn Out—Ryan's depiction of objects disintegrating in fast-forward (shown below)—we contacted him for a brief Q&A on the techniques behind his work.

How To: Create cartoon animation with After Effects

A lot of people use Flash for 2D cartoon animation, but Adobe After Effects is another great tool to create some very cool cartoon animation. This how to gives you a clear idea of the steps to take to use AE as a cartoon creation device. This short video tutorial will demonstrate how to properly export character animation from Flash and import it into After Effects to combine with background and foreground elements. It also gives a handy trick of how to duplicate a character animation clip to...

How To: Make a 3D holographic iPhone in After Effects

Learn how to create a video of holographic images appearing from an iPhone, using video footage and After Effects software. The basic elements used here are the built-in motion tracker (although you can also use the Mocha tracker bundled with CS4) and creating icons within After Effects with simple partially-transparent solids.

How To: Loop still images to fake a 3-dimensional movement over a surface

In this tutorial, After Effects is used in actual realtime to create a video comp that simulates a forward three-dimensional movement. Several images are arranged into a layered, three-dimensional composition, and a single image is tiled into a surface pattern that is offset tilted and scrolled forward indefinitely. Several additional elements are also mentioned to add realism and depth to the forward scrolling movement, including foreground elements, background images, camera shake, camera p...

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