Ten creative artists with a strong Twitter presence.
An artistically rendered Twitter logo.
This article first appeared in MotionArray.com. This is a summary.
If you are a motion graphic designer or just interested in the art form, here are 10 mo-graph artists that you should definitely be following on Twitter.
NOTE: The article linked above has videos from each artist, along with a longer description.
Motion capture doesn’t need to be expensive when you first start.
Image courtesy of Todd Blankenship.
This article first appeared in RocketStock.com. This is a summary.
After spending the past few months learning 3D, one of the biggest challenges (after making a decent looking 3D scene) was animating. Well, there are two good ways to do this. The better solution, yet requires a pretty serious investment, is using a motion capture suit. As for the no-budget option? I’ve turned to animation libraries from sites like Mixamo and Rokoko Motion Library.
If you want to get started learning motion capture for free, check out these free tools and assets. You can even see them in action in this video from Am I A Filmmaker?, where you will see the progression of learning motion capture with some really cool examples.
https://www.theinsidetips.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Tips-Logo-700x150.jpg00Larry Jordanhttps://www.theinsidetips.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Tips-Logo-700x150.jpgLarry Jordan2021-04-14 01:30:002021-04-14 01:30:00Tip #1561: How to Get Started in Motion Capture - FREE
Two new products enable colorists to improve their look.
(Image courtesy of color.io.)
Color.io just launched Photon 3D Color Grading and Match, both designed to enable colorists to create the visual looks they need.
Match is a free image color matching app that can copy colors of any image with one click. Use machine learning to create your own color grading presets and instantly change the color of your images with one powerful, simple-to-use web app that runs directly in your browser on match.color.io.
Photon is a new, revolutionary way of working with color. It’s easy to use and has powerful features that make it possible for anyone to create professional color grades. Whether you’re an artist, photographer or cinematographer, Photon will help you get the most out of your work.
Available as standalone software for macOS and Windows with optional OFX connector plugin for Resolve.
https://www.theinsidetips.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Tips-Logo-700x150.jpg00Larry Jordanhttps://www.theinsidetips.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Tips-Logo-700x150.jpgLarry Jordan2021-04-13 01:30:002021-04-09 17:04:24Tip #1567: A New Way to Create Color "Looks"
Perfection is impossible. Instead, ask better questions.
A TV test chart from before you were born – the days of black-and-white TV.
Wikipedia defines a reference video monitor as: “Broadcast reference monitors must be used for video compliance at television or television studio facilities, because they do not perform any video enhancements and try to produce as accurate an image as possible.
Alexis van Hurkman wrote an excellent blog on how to pick the right color grading monitor for your projects. While this was written in 2012, it is still worth reading.
My friends, we are making ourselves crazy. To a certain extent, this is necessary. We are professional colorists, and we require excellence in our display technologies. However, in the pursuit of excellence, we have been set to the task of achieving a pinnacle of perfection, while being given imperfect tools.
It seems to me that shopping for a color critical display is similar to being an audiophile—you can make yourself crazy searching for the Nth degree of perfection. Unlike audio technology, displays are subject to a concrete standard; Rec 601, Rec 709, or P3 dictating the gamut, and a gamma setting that depends on your specific application (more on that here), and a specific peak brightness measured in foot-lamberts (more on that here).
Speaking as an end user, display calibration is a frustrating field to follow. The frustration is thus: you’re told to adhere to a standard, and theoretically that’s cut and dried. Here are the numbers, make the display match the numbers. In practice, getting your display to match those numbers is a pretty challenging task, and different probes and software do this differently, and the results have minor deviations from one another, and then everyone gets to quibble about whose delta-E is smaller. (Crudely put, delta-E is the measured difference between what your display is showing, and what is should be showing, during a controlled calibration procedure.)
Smile… I am a huge fan of Alexis’ work. If you are trying to figure out what the important questions are to ask, this is a blog worth reading.
https://www.theinsidetips.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Tips-Logo-700x150.jpg00Larry Jordanhttps://www.theinsidetips.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Tips-Logo-700x150.jpgLarry Jordan2021-04-13 01:30:002021-04-09 17:05:22Tip #1566: What is a "Reference Monitor?"
Colors shift, especially with different playback platforms.
Image courtesy of Oliver Peters.
This article, written by Oliver Peters, first appeared in ProVideoCoalition.com. This is a summary.
Read through any of the online forums and you’ll often see this common concern: “Why doesn’t my export look the same in QuickTime as it does in Premiere Pro?” This tends to be more common with Mac users than PC users, but it happens with Windows, too. The underlying assumption that they should match is a fallacy and Oliver explains why in this article.
Let’s start with displays. If you line up a CRT monitor, an older flat-panel plasma, and newer LCD, LED, and OLED displays, then you would be very hard-pressed to get the same image to match identically across all displays, even with calibration.
The world of Apple displays.If you are working on a newer Apple iMac, iMac Pro, or Pro Display XDR, then you are using an image system calibrated for a different display profile. iMacs use the P3 D-65 color standard with the ability to go up to 500 nits of brightness. The only consistent reference you will ever have is how the image appears through AJA or Blackmagic i/o hardware to a reference display.
Adobe Premiere Pro’s working color space. SDR sequences in Premiere Pro are designed to use Rec 709, 2.4 gamma as the working color space for the timeline and viewer. There’s a preference toggle for display color management to compensate for the interface display that you are using.
Solving the problem? My recommendation is to turn display color management ON in the Premiere Pro preferences. This gives you a proper visual match between the timeline and the output to a reference display. Unfortunately this leaves you with the dilemma of the exported file. The simplest answer is to first export a “standard” file for broadcast use. Then add an adjustment layer to your Premiere Pro sequence and apply a Lumetri effect to it. Increase saturation and lower shadows slightly. Test to taste.
But, if we are posting to the web, social platforms make additional changes to our color that are beyond our control.
Let’s say you have a shot where the talent walks into an interior scene from the outside. Most cameras need to be white balanced for either daylight or interior and can’t adjust on the fly.
So, now you are looking at a shot in post that either starts blue and goes normal, or starts normal and goes orange. You can’t keyframe color settings, so how do you fix this?
Easy.
Cut the clip in the middle of the transition from outside to inside.
Color correct each side of the clip for the appropriate color.
Then, add a SLOW (4-8 second) dissolve between the two clips.
Because the action matches, the only thing the viewer will see is a smooth transition from an outside color grade to one for the interior.
https://www.theinsidetips.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Tips-Logo-700x150.jpg00Larry Jordanhttps://www.theinsidetips.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Tips-Logo-700x150.jpgLarry Jordan2021-04-13 01:30:002021-04-09 17:13:23Tip #1558: Change Color Grades Within a Shot
The Video Limiter is an effect that clamps white and black levels to “legal” levels. This means no white levels over 100% or black levels below 0%.
However, there are two significant problems with the Video Limiter you need to be aware of:
1. The default setting is wrong. The Video Limiter defaults to clamping video highlights to 103%. This is wrong. You need to change this to 100 IRE to be totally safe.
NOTE: While some broadcast outlets may allow IRE values greater than 100%, this should be the exception, not the default.
2. Worse, the Video Limiter properly clamps levels adjusted using either Curves or Color Wheels. But it does not clamp levels using the Basic Correction sliders. This, too, is a mistake. The Video Limiter needs to clamp all adjustments to gray scale, no matter where they are made.
Just giving you a heads-up.
EXTRA CREDIT
The Video Limiter is not needed when posting media to the web. But it IS needed for projects destined for broadcast, cable, DVD or many streaming services.
https://www.theinsidetips.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Tips-Logo-700x150.jpg00Larry Jordanhttps://www.theinsidetips.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Tips-Logo-700x150.jpgLarry Jordan2021-04-13 01:30:002021-04-13 01:30:00Tip #1557: Caution When Using the Video Limiter!
This technique would also work with gradients of other colors or shapes.
Custom curve settings (bottom) and the color results it created in a gradient (top).
I was messing with curves to create a screen shot for an ad promoting my new Color Techniques for Adobe Premiere Pro training bundle. What I discovered, totally by accident, is that this is also a great way to create custom gradients.
To start, I added a white-to-black gradient to the timeline. I created this in Photoshop; though you could also create it in Premiere.
Then, with the gradient clip selected in the timeline:
Switch to the Color workspace
Click the Curves text button
Select the color curve you want to adjust (Luma, Red, Green or Blue).
Option-click to create a keyframe in a curve, then drag the keyframe to a new location. As you do, you’ll see the color results reflected in the gradient.
EXTRA CREDIT
There’s no “right” way to adjust curves. Play with these and see what you can create.
When adding rain, be sure not to show sky or ground unless they look appropriately rainy.
Water Pane settings (top) and the effect applied to a clip (bottom).
Shooting video in the rain is rarely a pleasant experience. Fortunately, Final Cut offers the ability to add rain later, in post, where things are warm and dry.
Select the clip you want to add rain drops to, then apply Effects > Distortion > Water Pane.
This creates the effect of looking at the scene through a window with rain pouring down.
https://www.theinsidetips.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Tips-Logo-700x150.jpg00Larry Jordanhttps://www.theinsidetips.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Tips-Logo-700x150.jpgLarry Jordan2021-04-12 01:30:002021-04-12 01:30:00Tip #1552: Add Rain Drops to Your Video
We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.
Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.
Essential Website Cookies
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refuseing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.
We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.
We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.
Google Analytics Cookies
These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.
If you do not want that we track your visist to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:
Other external services
We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.
Google Webfont Settings:
Google Map Settings:
Google reCaptcha Settings:
Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:
Privacy Policy
You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.
