… for Visual Effects

Tip #1653: Create Landsharks Using Free Software

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

The best part is this can be created using free software!

Image courtesy of Moviola.com.

Topic $TipTopic

Moviola.com has a video tutorial on how to create landsharks – those nefarious beasts that keep tearing up our streets.

Specifically, the tutorial tracks in Meshroom, animates in Blender, and composites in Nuke Non-commercial —all free downloads.

Here’s the link.


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… for Visual Effects

Tip #1654: Add Fonts to Photoshop

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

There’s no such thing as “too many typefaces.”

Image courtesy of DesignBuckle.com.

Topic $TipTopic

Feeling like your graphics need more oomphf? DesignBuckle.com created a tutorial on how to add fonts to Photoshop.

This tutorial shows how to add or import fonts into Adobe Photoshop, along with a link to an in-depth tour of fonts in Adobe Stock.

Here’s the link.


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… for Visual Effects

Tip #1655: The Path to MoGraph (FREE)

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Free 10-day course teaches the basics of motion graphics.

Joey Korneman, courtesy of SchoolofMotion.com

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School of Motion has created a free 10-day online course that provides “an in-depth look at what it takes to be a Motion Designer. Along the way, you’ll learn about the software, principles, and techniques used in the field through in-depth case-studies and tons of bonus material.”

Presented by Joey Korenman, founder of the SchoolofMotion.com, “The Path To MoGraph” is a free 10-day course where you’ll get an in-depth look at what it takes to become a professional Motion Designer. You’ll get a tour of four very different Motion Design studios. Then, you’ll check out the creation of an entire real-world project from start to finish; showing you the software, tools, and techniques that you’ll need to know to break into this industry.

Here’s the link.


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… for Visual Effects

Tip #1626: Defying Gravity in “Passengers”

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Image courtesy of Columbia Pictures: “Passengers.”

Topic $TipTopic

GridMarkets hosted Fabian Nowak, VES award winning Houdini artist, in a webinar last week during which he discussed how he created the gravity scene in “Passengers.” 

In the webinar, Fabian talks about the research that he invested into the shot and how the CG and live action elements came together.   As is often the case, there were many unexpected challenges to overcome in order to produce this iconic shot.  Fabian describes the approaches that he took to “keep making forward progress” in the face of adversity . . . something we can all learn from.

EXTRA CREDIT


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… for Visual Effects

Tip #1635: Converting “Terminator 2” to 3D

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

1,800 artists, 8 months, tens of thousands of rotoscopes.

Detail from converting “Terminator 2” to 3D. (Courtesy of VFXVoice.com)

Topic $TipTopic

This article, written by Ian Failes, first appeared in VFXVoice.com. This is a summary.

James Cameron loves stereo. After also championing the stereo conversion of Titanic a few years ago, Cameron’s latest 3D re-release is Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The 1991 film was first re-mastered in 4K, before receiving the stereo treatment from Stereo D (part of Deluxe).

Before the stereo conversion could take place, Deluxe’s Post and Restoration Services Group, housed out of EFILM, scanned the film at 4K on a custom wet gate scanner. “The wet gate liquid conceals and reduces most base and emulsion scratches,” explains Deluxe’s Allan Tudzin. “The technology submerses the film frame into liquid, making the scratch invisible to the camera.”

The Post and Restoration Services Group also removed dirt and repaired scratches. The manual ‘dust busting’ procedure took hundreds of hours to clean the 4K scans back to their original pristine condition, but it was a necessary step since the 3D conversion process essentially involves rotoscoping thousands of images in every frame.

The mandate from Cameron, notes stereographer Yoichiro Aoki, was simply to “make a great 3D experience,” while also keeping things as realistic as possible. That, adds stereo supervisor Russell McCoy, meant maintaining good internal shaping for all the characters, particularly Arnold Schwarzenegger as the now-good T-800 Terminator.

Incredibly, that effort took around 1,800 artists about eight months to pull off. “It sounds like an exaggeration but it’s not,” says McCoy. “With a project that spans eight months, everyone gets a shot. And since there has to be so much detail and so much work put onto these shots, breaking it up into small teams just doesn’t work.”

The article continues with more details on the process, along with trailer and featurette videos.


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… for Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Tip #1627: Adobe Updates Premiere & Audition

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Monthly update cycle continues for Adobe.

Adobe Premiere Pro logo.

Topic $TipTopic

Last week, Adobe updated both Premiere Pro and Audition. Here’s what’s new.

Adobe Audition

  • Audition now runs natively on Apple M1 systems providing improved performance for recording and mixing high-quality audio content, such as podcasts, broadcast, sound design, audio restoration, and more. Notable gains include faster mixdowns, audio effects rendering, and near-real time updates in the Spectral Display Editor.
  • The new Loudness Meter in both Audition and Premiere Pro provides industry standard ITU-based loudness monitoring for broadcast, podcast, and streaming media content. The new Loudness Meter, which will replace the previous Loudness Radar, transparently measures program loudness for full mixes, single tracks, or buses and submixes.
  • Strip Silence is a much-requested new feature which allows users to identify and remove silent or inactive regions in recorded clips, without losing synchronization in multitrack audio. Use this feature for cleaning up voice recording, interviews, and preparing multi-track edits, such as podcasts or audio documentary content.

In Premiere Pro

  • Text gradients are now part of the modern titling tools in the Essential Graphics panel. Users can apply gradients to add sheen to letters or colorful effects for text and titles.
  • Caption items in the Captions track now have the same label color options as other items on the timeline. Select Label Color Group to assign labels and colors for captions – and use the same keyboard shortcuts.
  • Simple edits with Caption items on the Caption track behave the same as traditional linked video and audio pairs. Selecting, moving, trimming, and blade edits will be applied to video audio and captions items simultaneously.
  • Canon XF HEVC performance improvements
  • Support for DirectX display technology on Windows

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… for Random Weirdness

Tip #1615: Screenwriting: Utopian Societies

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Drama can be built from utopias – just look for what can go wrong.

‘The Good Place’ (2016) CREDIT: NBC

Topic $TipTopic

Dysfunctional, dystopian societies are at the core for many films – BladeRunner comes first to mind. But utopian societies, where everything is “perfect,” are also film-worthy.

This article, written by Jason Hellerman, first appeared in NoFilmSchool.com. This is a summary.

As the famous maxim goes, “There are no stories in the village of the happy people.” A utopia seems like a great place to live. What could go wrong?

In fiction, we see people striving to create these perfect worlds, where things are fair for everyone. Utopia is a powerful world. Today we want to cover its definition, some examples in film and television, the specific tropes within the genre, and look at the characters that inhabit these worlds.

These kinds of stories almost always include a downfall. Either the society fails, or some of the mechanisms holding up the society are perverted by human nature.

When you’re working on a utopia, you need to think about how it exists and what other genres you’re bringing into play. Is it like Rivendell in The Lord of the Rings or is it more like Washington, D.C., in Minority Report?

The article provides utopian examples from films and TV with images and a brief analysis of each. For example, one of my favorite shows of all time is The Good Place. For those who have not seen it, the pilot takes place in a utopia where it feels like heaven. It’s the perfect place… but we’re following a gal who thinks she’s not supposed to be there…

It’s one of the more hilarious conceits in TV history, and the show builds on the real idea of what a “Good Place” should look like and also questions what kinds of humans should go there. It’s a really great way to subvert the expected tropes.

As you can see, the utopian story is actually really malleable, just a “perfect society.” You can use it to examine human flaws, existence, and even the way we structure our governments.

The idea of perfection and utopia might seem far-fetched, but the best writers know how to make them feel prescient in our society.


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… for Random Weirdness

Tip #1616: Top 50 Perfect Shots from Star Wars Films

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Nothing like a list of perfection to get a debate started!

A Hew Hope – dir: George Lucas, dp: Gilbert Taylor

Topic $TipTopic

This article first appeared in FilmSchoolRejects.com. This is an excerpt.

Clearly, someone had too much time on their hands. From A New Hope to The Mandalorian, they selected the 50 live-action Star Wars cinematic universe’s most perfect frames.

The Perfect Shot is as much about a beautifully composed frame as it is about how an individual shot makes us feel. The most perfect shots accomplish both, holding up in a vacuum while also transporting us back to our most honored experiences. Freshly updated for “MayTheFourth,” take a look at this link and see whether you agree or whether you can do better.

Link


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… for Apple Motion

Tip #1613: A Weird Effect to Cheer You Up

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Nothing like messing with text to create interesting backgrounds.

The Polar filter applied to text. Note that Polar to Rect is checked.

Topic $TipTopic

Here’s something weird – yet easy – to play with: the Polar filter.

  • Type some text – or use a Gauge, Gadget or Line
  • For text, apply a Gradient fill
  • Select the text in the Layers panel
  • Apply Filters > Distortion > Polar
  • Check the Polar to Rect checkbox

Done.

EXTRA CREDIT

To make this more interesting:

  • Animate the gradient colors
  • Apply a Z-axis rotation
  • Add Behaviors > Text Basic > Quiver
  • Apply a Blur

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… for Visual Effects

Tip #1614: BorisFX Releases Sapphire 2021.5

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

New version supports M1 Macs, more speed & more effects.

Image courtesy of BorisFX.com.

Topic $TipTopic

BorisFX released Sapphire 2021.5. Sapphire plug-ins let you create stunning organic looks unmatched by any host native effect tools. Key features include over 270 effects and 3000+ presets, a powerful Effect and Transition Builder, and integrated tracking and masking with the Academy Award-winning Mocha. Sapphire’s superior image quality, control, and render speed offers massive time-savings — allowing creatives to focus on what matters most, delivering an impact that keeps audiences coming back.

According to the BorisFX website, new in this version:

  • Native support for M1 powered Macs
  • Support for Adobe After Effects multi-frame rendering (currently in Adobe public beta)
  • Speed and interactivity improvements for the Sapphire preset browser
  • Improved Sapphire PanAndZoom with added internal image cache (Avid Media Composer only)
  • Lens Flare presets

New in the 2021.0 version:

  • Metal GPU-acceleration: The fastest render speeds on Macs
  • S_UltraGlow: The world’s best glow just got better
  • S_UltraZap: The most electrifying results ever
  • LensFlare Designer: More customization = More photorealistic flares
  • 45+ presets designed by artists & 10 new lens flares

Here’s a link to learn more.


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