Hot Software Posts
How To: Use displacement maps to create a staircase in Adobe After Effecs
This tutorial shows you how to take a 2-D image of a Persian rug and turn it into a fully 3-D staircase using the displacement mapper in Adobe After Effects. Displacement mapping is a versatile, helpful tool for any 3-D animator.
How To: Create a freeform terrain to fly over in Adobe After Effects
This tutorial shows you first how to create some basic outdoor terrain in Adobe After Effects. Then, create a camera effect which makes it look like your camera is slowly flying over the terrain using the FreeForm plugin for After Effects.
How To: Use loops and beatmapping in Sony Acid Studio
This tutorial shows you how you can use two features of Sony Acid - loops and beatmapping. These can give you a good deal more versatility, especially when you are working on a remix. This tutorial shows you how to use both.
How To: Create retro-style motion graphics for a sweet 1960's look with After Effects
Yeah baby! That's right, 1960's, retro style motion graphics. You want em, you need em and this tutorial with Angie Taylor of Red Giant TV shows YOU how to get them by using PlaneSpace, Text Anarchy, Trapcode Echospace and Warp! Shagadelic baby! Create retro-style motion graphics for a sweet 1960's look with After Effects.
How To: Create Favicon icons with png2ico's free icon software
Are you tired of using other people's services to create Favicon icons for yourself or your clients? This tutorial shows you how to use a nifty (and free) little program called png2ico to do it yourself! Download the software here.
How To: Create cool animation, line drawing & art FX with free Sony Vegas Plug-In
Tired up straight-up video images? Make your videos pop by giving them an array of cool treatments. Make your video look like a cartoon, or a line drawing, or a watercolor painting or just really bad dreams! With a selection of cool, free Sony Vegas effects you can do it all. Download the free FX plug-in here .
How To: Create a black & white 'cookie cutter' effect using Sony Vegas
Lights, camera and coolness! You've seen this effect in several music videos and it's time for you to learn the trick yourself. Using Sony Vegas you can create a slick 'cookie cutter' effect (essentially slicing up the screen with a B&W bar). Impress friends and family and rock your home music video world!
How To: Inlay and emboss a textured text logo with Fireworks (CS3, CS4 or CS5)
Lift up your text or push it back down with Firework's inlay & emboss feature. Works for FW CS3, CS4, and CS5. Don't be shy with your words, make them stand out! This same trick can also be used with GIMP and Adobe Photoshop.
How To: Use Dropbox to print from your smartphone or iPad anywhere
Need to print something but you're on the go and only have your smartphone or iPad with you? No worries! This tutorial shows you how to use a little app called Dropbox to print to your home printer anywhere, anytime, with any mobile device. Print THAT!
How To: Remove unwanted objects with the Spot Healing Tool in Photoshop Elements 9
Use the Spot Healing Brush Tool in Photoshop Elements 9 to remove power lines, trees, cars, even your Aunt Marge. If it's in the picture and you want it out, this simply tutorial will show you how to do it.
How To: Download CalCubeTimer for Rubik's Cube solving and create a desktop shortcut
Need a timer for your speedsolving? You needn't buy a Rubik's Cube timer, becasue there's one available on the web for free, and it's called CalCubeTimer (CCT). Get the newest version (0.9.6) here, then see how to create a desktop shortcut in Windows.
How To: Apply, control and manage effects in Resolume 3
Resolume 3 is a powerful program which allows you to edit both audio and video effects. This quick tutorial gives you a brief overview of the general effects feature, how you can apply effects and how you can eliminate effects altogether.
How To: Create fire, smoke and explosion effects using computer visual effects
This tutorial will work for most any 3D rendering program, such as Houdini, 3ds Studio Max or Maya. Learn how you can replicate the dynamic look of fire, smoke and explosions. Create digital fire and other fume effects with your computer.
How To: Replicate the Discovery Channel rebrand cube in Cinema 4D
Love the look of the new Discovery Channel cubic animation? The Greyscale Gorilla is here to help! After several months of experimenting, you can now benefit from his hard earned wisdom! Using Cinema 4D, you can make your own copy of this effect.
How To: Multi-clip edit in post production with Final Cut Pro
So you've filmed your scene using multiple cameras, and now it's time to sync them up into a coherent whole. This tutorial shows you how to take advantage of the multi clip edit feature in Final Cut Pro when you're in post production.
How To: Do different types of fading in Sony Vegas
This tutorial shows you several different types of fades you can use when working with Sony Vegas. Fades can add a little something extra to your web clips, slideshows and other media, and Sony Vegas offers several ways to customize your own.
How To: Kern and typeset in Cinema 4D
Despite a lack of native kerning tools for typesetting in Cinema 4D, it is possible with a little bit of effort. Letters and characters can be spaced individually using Mograph and the plane effector. Another solution is to first kern the entire block of text externally using Illustrator and Photoshop, and then import into Cinema 4D.
How To: Improve renders with Linear Workflow in Cinema 4D
Linear Workflow is automatically activated in new projects in Cinema 4D and is a feature to ensure that lighting falloff is rendered more accurately and realistically on light sources, textures and reflections. Greyscale Gorilla explains the concept in this demonstration video.
How To: Choose the right computer for design and compositing
Increased productivity in Cinema 4D (or other processor-intensive applications) does not always have a linear correlation wtih the speed of the machine that the work is performed on. Nick Campbell of Greyscale Gorilla explains what exactly it is that a fast machine allows one to do, what kind of machine to get, and what kind of work can one expect to do on it.
How To: Create a metallic 3D logo with Cinema 4D and Photoshop
Create a three-dimensional logo in Cinema 4D and Photoshop with realistic lighting, reflection and shadows. The render is created in 3D inside Cinema 4D using Mograph Text and a bend deformer, textured and lit for initial reflections, and polished in Photoshop with blending modes, blurs and curves. Greyscale Gorilla demonstrates in this informative hour-long video.
How To: Add dynamics to concave objects in Cinema 4D
In this tutorial, create concave objects in Cinema 4D such that particle objects behave and interact realistically with the concave object. The automatic setting for objects is configured in a way that simplifies calculation and speeds up rendering time. By changing the automatic setting within Cinema 4D, the physical properties of concave and curved objects are calculated more thoroughly and are rendered more realistically.
How To: Build a glass mesh softbody with dynamics in Cinema 4D
In this 41 minute tutorial, learn how to build a spherical glass mesh with softbody physical properties (and filled with round particles) that enable it to bounce without breaking in Cinema 4D. Nick from Greyscale Gorilla shows how.
How To: Simulate handwriting in After Effects
Learn to animate text in Adobe After Effects CS3 with this video tutorial so that it looks like it is being handwritten. This video tutorial from Matthew Butler shows three different methods of animating in After Effects CS3, the techniques can also be used in CS4 and CS5.
How To: Track a simple object in After Effects
Learn the fundamentals of position tracking in After Effects in this informative 5 minute tutorial from Patrick Carter. This video lesson involves attaching a text object to a moving cowboy on screen to demonstrate the basic transform tracking function.
How To: Take B&W snapshots with the Hold & Resume Spy Photo preset in After Effects
Create an effect in your video where the video footage is converted to black & white, pauses, and resumes playback in regular color. This effect is demonstrated by Aharon Rabinowitz with Spy Photo, a brand new set of free presets for Adobe After Effects.
How To: Simulate snapshots in After Effects with free Spy Photo presets
Simulate the look of snapshots in your After Effects video footage with Spy Photo, a free set of presets that dynamically automate and generate the effect. This 17-minute tutorial from Aharon Rabinowitz of All Bets Are Off demonstrates the features of this cool new addition, which includes camera sound effects and viewfinder overlays.
How To: Create slick floor reflections for crowds of people in After Effects
Create simple reflections in Adobe After Effects with keyed footage. In this video tutorial, Aharon Rabinowitz of All Bets Are Off demonstrates its use with video footage of both crowd and individuals. In addition, some potential issues with Collapse Transformations are also addressed.
How To: Create realistic 3D cloud motion using a single cloud photo in After Effects
Use a 2D image of clouds to generate realistic video footage of 3D cloud motion. In this tutorial from All Bets Are Off, Aharon Rabinowitz demonstrates how to create this effect using a single 2D image of clouds and a few simple clicks.
How To: Create Poltergeist-style audio with Adobe Audition & After Effects
Recreate the scary effect in Poltergeist when the girl gets trapped inside the television using Adobe Audition, Adobe After Effects or any similar editing software. Harry Frank and Aharon Rabinowitz take you through the detailed tutorials step by step using a couple of different software methods.
How To: Create a wobble bass effect with Ableton Live and Operator
Learn to create the popular dubstep "talking wobble bass" sound using Operator and Ableton Live. Dubspot Instructor and Ableton Certified Trainer Michael Hatsis aka !banginclude explains how to create this popular sound. By combining settings on Operators with the Ableton Live device Redux effect, this video takes you through the process and shows you how it's done.
How To: Rotate video clip 180 degrees with Adobe Premiere
Learn to rotate a video clip 180 degrees (or any arbitrary angle measurement) using Adobe Premiere Pro in this tutorial. The audio portion is in Italian, however callouts have been added in English to make the tutorial easy to understand.
How To: Fake 3D and slow time in After Effects
Use After Effects to simulate a 3D stereoscopic effect, and remap time to speed up and slow down footage (a popular video effect used throughout the 2007 movie '300'). This tutorial from motion graphics designer James Zanoni shows you how.
How To: Create a beautifully layered 3D composition with After Effects
Using a layered photograph, chroma key footage and depth of field, prolific Italian designer Juri Ciana demonstrates precisely how to create a stunningly beautiful 3D composition with After Effects. In this informative video-only tutorial, depth of field and focus is utlized as critical elements that provide the various components of this video composition with a living vibrancy and dynamism.
How To: Animate a logo in After Effects
Learn to animate a logo in this rather casual (and occasionally cryptic) video demonstration that combines After Effects with audio portions in Sony Vegas. Much of the final product has already been rendered so this tutorial is essentially a walkthrough of the various parts of the project.
How To: Add realistic camera movement and color correction with After Effects
Increase the realism of your video footage with camera movement and color correction. In this video tutorial, Adobe After Effects is used to add realistic camera wiggle and shake to video footage from Call of Duty: Black Ops, simulating a handheld camera. In addition, the video tutorial also goes over some basic curve adjustment for color correction to give the video footage a unique look.
How To: Create 8-bit style icons in Photoshop
Create 8-bit style icons and portraits in Photoshop with this hilarious and informative video from the guys at eightbit. This video shows exactly how to make the whimsical low-tech icon-style images using Adobe Photoshop and a little bit of creativity.
How To: Make a beautiful 3D composite using only an iPhone, Panorama 360 and Cinema 4D
Having the latest and greatest professional equipment isn't always possible on a limited budget. Using only ingenuity and available equipment of his iPhone, Panorama 360 and Cinema 4D, Nick from Greyscale Gorilla shows exactly how it is possible to create a stunning, professional quality 3D composite.
How To: Export videos to Vimeo from Final Cut Pro
Vimeo is a fantastic way of distributing your video on the internet and making it accessible for people to watch. Watch this tutorial and learn how to use Final Cut Pro to prepare your completed video for compression and export to Vimeo.
How To: Convert 720p60 video into 24p and 24p slow motion
Evoke a dramatic effect in your 720p60 video by upsampling and converting to 24p and 24p slow motion, and adding a little bit of color grading with Adobe After Effects. This informative video shows the footage before, during and after treatment, showing the difference that this editing process can make in ordinary footage.
How To: Create "Predator"-style video camouflage in After Effects
Replicate the Predator-style video camouflage in After Effects by using displacement maps. This uniquely stunning and groundbreaking visual effect has been seen countless times in film and television to show video camouflage, invisibility, heat distortion, holograms, and static interference, among others. This video shows how to replicate this effect by using green screen footage, Fractal Noise and Displacement Maps, all within Adobe After Effects.