Archive for the ‘3D + Animation’ Category

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After Effects Technology Preview: Part 4

Published by | Friday, April 26th, 2013

Better blurring, snapping, scaling, and more

In this final blog about some of the new features Adobe has revealed for an upcoming version of After Effects, I turn my attention to some small enhancements that fans have long been waiting for and that promise to save users a lot of time.

Layer snapping

Some of the best new features in After Effects don’t necessarily affect the images you see on screen, but make life easier while you’re working with those images. One such feature is the new snapping behavior in After Effects. It lets you easily align an edge, corner, center point, or even mask vertex of one layer with a similar (or dissimilar) feature of another layer. It even works in 3D, including finding the center of an extruded 3D shape, and snapping to individual letters in a per-character 3D text animation. This will make building virtual worlds and objects much easier in After Effects.

Snapping in After Effects

Muybridge sequence courtesy Dover

 
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After Effects Technology Preview: Part 3

Published by | Friday, April 19th, 2013

Warp Stabilizer VFX and 3D Camera Tracker enhancements

Next in my review of significant new features that Adobe has revealed for an upcoming version of After Effects, let’s look at enhancements to the Warp Stabilizer and 3D Camera Tracker tools already available in After Effects.

Warp Stabilizer VFX

Many treat Warp Stabilizer as an apply-it-and-done stabilization effect. Now it looks poised to become a serious visual effects tool in its own right with the ability to take on many of the tasks you might have previously reserved for a motion tracker.

For example, in addition to stabilizing footage, you will now be able to reverse a stabilization. That means you can stabilize a shot for the sake of applying effects to it (including the After Effects Paint tool, which is rendered as an effect), and then reverse the stabilization to restore the original camera movement to the affected painted shot. The camera motion calculated in the original, unstabilized shot can also be applied to another layer to composite it onto the original.

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After Effects Technology Preview: Part 2

Published by | Friday, April 12th, 2013

Refine Edge: A new way to deal with hair

As you no doubt know by now, Adobe has started to reveal some plans for its next generation of pro video tools. I’ve had the privilege of working with a pre-release version of Adobe After Effects, and recorded two hours of lynda.com training about it. In this blog, I’ll give you an overview of the Refine Edge tool, an important addition to the Roto Brush technology that will make rotoscoping hair and other soft, detailed areas much easier than ever before.

Roto Brush and Refine Edge

The Roto Brush tool in After Effects has been significantly upgraded with the addition of a companion Refine Edge tool. To review, Roto Brush allows you to make a series of general paint strokes defining the foreground and background areas of an image (such as an actor over a complex background—in other words, not green screen). With this information, as well as judicious tweaking of its propagation parameters, Roto Brush then detects the edge between the foreground and background, and creates a matte. When used properly (as demonstrated in my course After Effects Apprentice 13: Paint, Roto, and Puppet), it can greatly reduce the labor involved in cutting elements out of video.

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After Effects technology preview: Part 1

Published by | Friday, April 5th, 2013

Adobe has started to reveal some plans for its next generation of pro video tools. Using a prerelease version of After Effects, I’ve recorded two hours of videos for lynda.com to keep you ahead of the curve. Over the course of a few blogs, I’ll fill you in on some of the interesting features that are on tap. First up, the new integration between After Effects and CINEMA 4D.

Live 3D pipeline between After Effects and CINEMA 4D

A couple of weeks ago, Adobe and MAXON issued a press release announcing a “strategic alliance … to bring creative professionals new levels of digital media content creation.” Buried inside that release was the intriguing statement that “As part of the alliance, both companies are expected to collaborate and engineer a pipeline between Adobe After Effects software and CINEMA 4D to give users a seamless 2D/3D foundation.” Now we can finally see what they were hinting at.

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How to approach migrating from AutoCAD to Revit

Published by | Friday, March 8th, 2013

When I’m teaching Autodesk Revit to new users, I frequently get asked: “Why isn’t <fill in the blank feature> more like AutoCAD if both products are by the same company?” It’s a perfectly logical line of reasoning. Autodesk is the maker of both AutoCAD and Revit. But to understand why your favorite feature in AutoCAD isn’t in Revit, or is included but works differently, it’s helpful to understand the history and focus of these two products.

The history part is easy. AutoCAD is an original Autodesk product, developed and sold by Autodesk. A small start-up company created Revit and Autodesk acquired the software over a decade ago. Autodesk has since enhanced Revit in many significant ways, and along the way has even incorporated some features from AutoCAD when and where appropriate. However, there are vast differences between the functions and tools of AutoCAD.

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The power of previsualization… what is “preVIZ”?

Published by | Friday, February 1st, 2013

The power of preVIZ

PreVIZ is short for “previsualization.” It’s a technique that allows filmmakers to quickly visualize parts of a script to solve problems and inform planning and execution prior to a costly production phase. Oftentimes, this process creates momentum and excitement and helps you determine where to allocate your creative and financial efforts.

What if you had a looking glass into the future of your projects? What if you could help uncover what projects your firm would work on and what they’d look like? I discovered something amazing by watching several behind-the-scenes documentaries of my kids’ DVDs. This insight helped me identify an opportunity for a new type of design group at my company. I realized that filmmakers had developed a language and a methodology for creating their movies and telling their stories. I learned that the same process could be used to design anything from a website, product, service, or business strategy. Storytelling the future seemed like a very valuable proposition.

I was discovering the power of preVIZ.

I’ve been a designer for almost 20 years. Design has taught me how to frame problems to help build a team, launch a service, or create a product. But I’ve often wondered: How do you better decide what to design? How do great companies decide what not to design? I’ve since discovered that previsualization is one of the most impactful approaches to position a design discipline inside of a project or company context.

Here are a few examples:

Sequential narrative: For web and app designers, you might call this a prototype. The difference is that you previsualize an application or website even before you decide to create one. Allowing the stakeholders to commit to a “story” or a customer narrative is influential in decision making.

Headlines of the future: This simple exercise works for all kinds of disciplines. Basically you write a hypothetical headline of the future to emulate the reaction of a product or service you haven’t even designed yet. It’s like starting with the desired response and working backward. Quoting an influential publication or a target customer is valuable to establish a project’s “global north.”

A video vision: Think of this like the value proposition and explanation of what you all could build together, or in some cases, the battle cry for a production team. Our team did a video for eBay Motors Garage when they decided they wanted to create a global social network for vehicles. The video was created before the project was even in production.

Here are a few disciplines that can benefit from using previsualization in their work:

  • Software/web developers: Visualizing a software architecture, algorithm, or engineering “approach,” for example, a touch interface previsualized from the consumer publishing group Bonnier, which inspired thousands of conversations about the future of magazines.
  • Illustrators: Putting an illustration in context can extend a commission from a project to an entire campaign.
  • Animators: Using a simple animatic can upsell your involvement in the project and show a director your editing and storytelling skills.
  • Product designers: Showing how a product may feel or behave in the physical form helps in the entire process from concept development to production.
  • Photographers: Using previsualization can help you plan, budget, and staff a photo shoot or production.
  • Managers/directors: Managing the creative process in any capacity, you get insight into how to better staff, budget, and produce your project by allowing it to be previsualized.

I took my curiosity for previsualization a bit further. I approached lynda.com as an author. I was interested how other industries previsualize their products and services. I wanted to learn more. I knew that design tools had evolved to provide more iteration into the creative-making process, but I was curious about how they were using these tools to rehearse their future. I decided to seek out experts in other fields of design, like automotive, product, and film and video.

And so our journey began. Richard Koci Hernandez and I have partnered on a number of lynda.com titles. We started by offering what I call “life skills” for designers, launching Pitching Projects and Products to Executives. Soon after, we added the The Power of PreVIZ at BMW Group DesignworksUSA’.

I’m thrilled to launch our second installment in the PreVIZ series. The Power of PreVIZ at One & Co explores how previsualization is used in product design. One & Co founders unpack their process and give examples on how they create products, furniture, and mobile phones for HTC.

Leading designers increasingly turn to preVIZ to model their concepts and processes.

Two years since my journey started, I’m still learning about previsualization. I’ve since hired and built a preVIZ team at eBay, and have been honored to speak about what we’ve learned along the way. Our preVIZ team at eBay has since had a tremendous impact on the future of product strategy. We’ve employed new ways of working and new types of deliverables. It’s been exciting to watch.

Do you use previsualization in your work? We’d love to hear from you and how you use it in your work.

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Posted in 3D + Animation, Business, Design, Video | 1 Comment »

Share and share alike with AutoCAD WS

Published by | Monday, January 21st, 2013

Historically, exchanging Autodesk AutoCAD drawings with non-CAD-using clients was a challenge. That’s because viewing DWG files outside of AutoCAD required downloading and installing special software. For this reason, many clients preferred using PDF files to review design changes.

Nowadays, AutoCAD WS makes it easier for all stakeholders to participate in project collaboration, whether they have CAD software or not. AutoCAD WS is a free application offering virtually unlimited online storage for your project drawings.

Select File in AutoCAD WS

Visit www.autocadws.com to create an account and get started. After creating an account, uploading and managing files within AutoCAD WS is as simple as using a USB flash drive. To share a file, simply select it and press the Share button.

You can then enter the recipient’s email address, assign file permissions, and jot down a quick message related to the file. When finished, click the Share button.

Share DWG Files in AutoCAD WS

Another great part is your client doesn’t need an AutoCAD WS account to view the drawing. Within the email they receive will be a View Online link. Clicking this link will automatically launch AutoCAD WS allowing them to pan and zoom around the file.

Your client doesn’t have to stop there. Using AutoCAD WS they can work with the drawing by measuring, editing, adding comments, downloading, or printing it. And if your client is running the AutoCAD WS app on their smartphone or tablet, they can do any of these things on the go.

Editing AutoCAD DWG Drawings

If you and your client are both viewing the same drawing, you can engage in a “live collaboration” where you can chat, and edit the file simultaneously. During the meeting, AutoCAD WS will automatically archive the entire revision history, which allows you to restore the drawing to any prior version.

Using AutoCAD WS helps make your designs accessible to every stakeholder.

Interested in more?

• All courses by Jeff Bartels on lynda.com
• All 3D + Animation courses on lynda.com
• All AutoCAD courses on lynda.com

Suggested courses to watch next:

• AutoCAD WS Essential Training
• AutoCAD Essentials 1: Interface and Drawing Management

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Our team’s New Year’s learning resolutions, inspired and supported by the lynda.com library

Published by | Tuesday, January 8th, 2013

Although the New Year’s resolution lists that proliferate in late December are full of worthy goals, my favorite remains “learn something new.” This time of year, I like the theme of giving in to expansion over contraction, generosity over deprivation, and passion over willpower. The staff, authors, and members here at lynda.com know that our library is a great resource to have if learning is on your life list.

Although many of us on the Content team work in a specific segment of the library, we can’t help but notice the intriguing courses our colleagues are developing in other areas. This year I asked members of the team, acknowledged enthusiasts in their given fields, which areas outside their usual sphere of knowledge are capturing their interest. Here are their answers and some suggestions for where they might want to start (or where you might want to start if you share the same interest).

Morten Rand-Hendriksen, staff author, Web segment
“Over the holidays I want to power through all the photography courses in the archive. Because it’s been a long time since I sat down and really tried to improve my photography skills. I also really want to become a more creative designer/artist, so I’ll be looking into any course that helps me in that respect.”

Recommendation: If you can’t get through the whole Photography segment in one holiday week off, you might try Foundations of Photography: Composition to start. Ben Long teaches principles that definitely go beyond photography into general artistry.

Jess Stratton, staff author, Business segment
“I’d like to learn something for the sake of a hobby this year—getting back into playing the keyboard and recording it somehow, but I don’t know how to start getting it from my keyboard into the computer. I want to check out the course on recording music using an iPad.”

Recommendation: Garrick Chow’s iPad Music Production series is the place for Jess and like-minded musicians. The first course—iPad Music Production: Inputs, Mics, and MIDI—is a great place to start (although if you’re up for playing on an iOS device directly, the GarageBand installment makes making music on your iPad look really fun).

David Franz, content manager, Audio segment
“Social media marketing … I want my music to rock the world! :) .”

Recommendation: I’ve noticed David isn’t the only musician who knows that thriving in the music business requires a direct relationship with fans via social media. Until David develops that perfect course expressly for musicians, there’s great material for getting started in our Social Media Marketing with Facebook and Twitter course.

Mordy Golding, director of content, Design and Photography segment
“I’ve been teaching myself Processing—the computer language. I’m interested in finding better ways to visualize data.”

Recommendation: A few months ago, our Developer group released Interactive Data Visualization with Processing. Processing is a tool that can literally change data into (beautiful and useful) art.

Elinor Actipis, director of content, Rich Media segment
Doug Winnie, director of content, Web and Developer segment

Both Elinor and Doug mentioned sharpening their advanced Excel skills, particularly with respect to data analysis. (Is it a coincidence that our directors are all about visualization of data?)

Recommendation: Our Excel library is vast and valuable, but for data crunching, one of my favorite courses is Cleaning Up Your Excel Data with Dennis Taylor. Dennis has great tips for efficiently wrangling all those numbers into consistent tables, making analysis both easier and more accurate.

George Maestri, content manager, 3D and Animation segment
Matt Gilbert, associate content manager, Business segment
Jim Heid, content manager, Photography segment

These three content managers from three different segments all mentioned wanting to learn about ebook publishing and iOS apps as content containers.

George notes: “I had a few cartoon pitches that got lost in development when I was at the studios. I figure releasing them as books/apps would be a fun distraction.”

And Jim: “Ebook publishing is hot among photographers. And as someone who grew up with tape recorders, movie cameras, and cameras, I have a lot of “family assets” that I’d like to turn into a little interactive memoir for my family.”

Recommendation: We’ve got excellent courses on iBooks Author, iOS app creation, EPUB with InDesign, and using jQuery in your digital magazine. If you don’t know where to start, Digital Publishing Fundamentals runs down the options you have for turning your words and pictures into electronic works of art.

Links:
• iBooks Author Essential Training
• iOS app creation
• EPUB with InDesign
• jQuery
• Digital Publishing Fundamentals

Rob Garrott, content manager, Video segment
“I’m going to try to get into a bit of coding. I should probably start digging into web coding, but that’s too much broccoli, so I might start with Python. That is a core component of truly advanced 3D animation, and I’ve been afraid to touch it.”

Recommendation: (Mental note: Broccoli is the new spinach!) Many members are happy to jump into Bill Weinman’s Python 3 Essential Training course. For those who want to warm up their veggies slowly, you may try Simon Allardice’s Foundations of Programming: Object-Oriented Design course.

Links:
• Python 3 Essential Training
• Foundations of Programming: Object-Oriented Design

Cynthia Scott, director of content, Business segment
“Top on my learning wish list is the On Camera series.”

Recommendation: The first of this series, On Camera: Develop Your Video Presence, immediately had me thinking of uses beyond straightforward video (it also had me knocking on Cynthia’s office door to share how valuable I thought it was to Business folk). In the days of Skype-based job interviews and high-stakes video conferencing, many of Rick’s suggestions prepare you for time in front of any camera, not just those destined for edited, produced video.

Ben Long, author, Photography segment
Finally, since so many of my interviewee colleagues mentioned Ben Long’s photography courses, I thought it would be interesting to ask Ben himself what he might be interested in learning from the library in 2013. True to his polymathic nature, he mentioned several things from iPhone development to Maya to WordPress. But perhaps he summed up the width and breadth of the lynda.com library (and the voracious appetite of any lifelong learner) when he asked:

“And where’s that course for adding 12 hours to one’s day?”

When we release “Changing the Laws of the Universe,” Ben, we’ll be sure to let you know. In the meantime, there’s Time Management Fundamentals.

What are your New Year’s learning resolutions? Let us help you find the lynda.com courses to get you on your way.

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