When I first started using Final Cut Pro around four years ago, I searched high and low for knowledge on how to use the software to its fullest potential. Lucky for me, I happened to come come across Israel Hyman and his Izzy Video podcast and website. Through these methods, he taught me how to adjust color for proper skin tones, speed up and slow down footage, light properly when shooting green screen footage and so much more. Now, years later, Izzy is still around and better than ever. He has left his day job and become a full time video producer which means more content for us to learn ... Read More

Here’s a great tutorial by Harry Frank over at GrayMachine.com that shows you how to use ProAnimator and Invigorator within After Effects to create a stunning broadcast ID for a company of your choice. This is, of course, all part of the Making It Look Great 3 package that goes in detail on how to choose appropriate colors using Adobe Kuler; getting organic, flowing designs in your projects using Trapcode Flow and much more. I highly recommend this tutorial, and I highly recommend purchasing the Making It Look Great 3 package from MotionWorks. Author: Harry Frank Website: ... Read More

Here we are again for another Free Education Friday. FEF is where I scour the internet and try to bring you the best tutorials from around the internet. Today’s tutorial is another one by Andrew Kramer, founder of VideoCopilot.net. In this tutorial, Andrew shows us how to create amazingly lifelike 3D orbs made of glass entirely in After Effects. Yes, entirely in After Effects, and they look better than some orbs I’ve seen come out of software dedicated to 3D modeling. It’s an eye-opening tutorial that you need to see to believe. Author: Andrew Kramer Website: ... Read More

Here we have two different tutorials on the same website that allow us to do the same thing but in very different ways. Both of these tutorials allow you to create waveforms and both require Adobe After Effects to work in, but the first tutorial by Satya Meka doesn’t require any use of an additional plugin in order to get the results. It’s a fascinating tutorial that shows you what a designer can do without a plugin. Author: Satya Meka Website: http://ae.tutsplus.com Tutorial: ... Read More

Andrew Kramer does it again! This time he gives us Sure Target 2; a plugin for After Effects that gives you advanced control over the built-in After Effects camera. It has a ton of features including auto-camera rigging, inertia inheritance, auto focus, dolly control and much more. Check out the full feature list to see all the features. Of course, Andrew Kramer wouldn’t be who he was if he didn’t give us a tutorial explaining how to use all of these features in this free plugin. This is the point where you stop reading this post, go to Video Copilot and download the plugin, ... Read More

Here’s an amazing and indepth tutorial on creating a flowing liquid logo using Cinema 4D, Realflow and After Effects. It’s a beautifully done tutorial. In the authors own words: In this in-depth, 86 step tutorial, you will learn how to create a stylish liquid looking logo using Next Limit’s Realflow. Using Cinema 4D as the main 3D package, you will learn how to integrate Illustrator and After Effects to efficiently design, simulate, export, and render your final animation. Author: William Salas Website: http://cg.tutsplus.com Tutorial: ... Read More

Here’s a brilliant tutorial by Shoaib Khan at MaxAfter.com that shows us how to use the Trapcode Form plugin in After Effects along with some recorded footage to create a beautiful project in Running Man. Author: Shoaib Khan Website: http://www.maxafter.com Tutorial: http://www.maxafter.com/runningman.htm Software Used: After Effects, Trapcode ... Read More