After exchanging only a couple of emails I could tell Tim is truly dedicated to learning everything he can about motion graphics and visual effects, and sharing that knowledge with the community. His articles will definitely be a treat to look out for. He is a welcome member to the Fuel family, and we are all glad to have him on the FYM team! Look for his articles in the next couple of weeks on FuelYourMotionography.com!

Via: Online Schools

Those are the 7 main features coming this Fall in the iPhone 4.0 update. All the features will be available on the iPhone 3GS and the upcoming iPhone 4.0 (due this Summer). Everything except the multitasking will be available on the iPhone 3G. Nothing will be available for the original iPhone. It’s time to upgrade.

Script Frenzy, for those who don’t know, is simply a challenge set up to allow anyone who wants to enter a chance to write a script. The contents of that script and how you choose to write it are entirely up to you; the Script Frenzy website and community supply the motivation and help when you need it. It’s as easy as that.

The rules to the challenge are simple:

1) To be crowned an official Script Frenzy winner, you must write a script (or multiple scripts) of at least 100 total pages and verify this tally on ScriptFrenzy.org.
2) You may write individually or with a partner. Writing teams will have a 100-page total goal for their co-written script or scripts.
3) Script writing may begin no earlier than 12:00:01 AM on April 1 and must cease no later than 11:59:59 PM on April 30, local time.
4) You may write screenplays, stage plays, TV shows, short films, comic book and graphic novel scripts, adaptations of novels, or any other type of script your heart desires.
5) You must, at some point, have ridiculous amounts of fun.

You don’t actually win anything except the knowledge you gained from the challenge, maybe a few new friends you made in the process and the feeling of actually finishing something; but if you are just looking for something or someone to light that fire and get you going, Script Frenzy and its community will be the place to do it. Definitely, check it out.

It’s worth it, especially for anybody who has been waiting for CS5 to hit the market. This release will be changing the Creative Suite and pushing it even further, adding new features to existing programs and adding even more programs to their line. Definitely put this date on your calendar as it will be an exciting day!

I have to admit, once I heard about the iPad I was not impressed. It seemed like a big iPod Touch with very little in terms of ingenuity; however, once I took a closer look, I couldn’t see myself owning any other device. It really wasn’t until a few days after the keynote was done and the internet fire was being died out that it dawned on me: the iPad wasn’t made to stand on its own; it was made to support your normal applications. I know, you’re thinking that’s nothing new. Steve Jobs told us this when it was released, but that’s exactly my point. I think we all overlooked it because we were thinking it was a device that would stand on its own. Nope. Let me explain what I mean.

Have you heard of or used the iPhone app that connects over WiFi to your computer and treats your iPhone like a trackpad? Now, imagine an app that, once installed, would connect wirelessly to your computer and do the same through Photoshop, but contains pressure sensitivity like a Wacom tablet. What if somebody created a stylus for such an app and the ability for you to see the current document you’re working on displayed on your screen. Now that would be an awesome app, and one that would be a great competitor to Wacom.

What about an app that holds all your favorite controls to your most used applications on your computer. For example, once you fire up After Effects you tap on an app on your iPad that connects wirelessly to your computer and up pops your effects panel

Now, let’s get something straight right from the start. I know I will always be going back to my desktop. Because of what I do, there won’t be a portable product (short of a MacBook Pro or other high end laptop) that will be able to suit my needs, but I don’t want to carry around a heavy device such as that, and I don’t like to work on the road (although, the benefits of being able to do so have crossed my mind). I’m not looking for a replacement device.

What I am looking for is a device that allows me to check my email and other documents and websites easily, show my work to my clients without carrying around a bulky computer that takes ages to start up, and will allow me to read and write articles and books on the fly. If I can do all that plus play games and all the other features that the iPad allows me to do, then hell yes it is worth it!

A lot of people think the apps will be the same as what’s on the iPhone, but with the better processor and larger screen real estate, there will be some bigger and better apps being developed. Let’s take a moment to think of the apps that could be, and already are being, developed for this device.

Apple will be releasing iWorks for the iPad on launch day, and if you saw the keynote you saw Phil Schiller using some advanced commands to manage his Keynote slides. We all know the processor in the iPad is more powerful, and as with any more powerful device, developers will begin to push the iPad to its limits. It won’t be far behind that we see photo editing apps such as Aperature, Lightroom and even a stripped down version of Photoshop itself on this device. Why stop there? Video takes up a lot of room, but I’m sure somebody will create a video editing app like we see on the iPhone. The possibilities are limitless.

But I must stress, what I see as the real deal breaker with the iPad is the possibility of developers creating secondary apps that assist their products on the computer. I don’t really think it will take over for the desktop or higher end laptops for most users, though the people who are looking for a lightweight device for casual browsing will be extremely happy, but I do think it it really does fit right in between.

As time goes by, Apple will push the device itself into new boundaries as well. We’ll begin to see that forward facing camera so that we can do Skype calls over the internet (there’s a third-party device already being developed). We’ll see a camera or camcorder on a new version of the iPad so that we can record all of our memories, and before you know it, you’ll wonder how you lived without one.

For all of you aspir­ing screenwriters–or just those who want to write and have an idea that would be bet­ter as a movie–there is a web­site for you. Script Frenzy is to screen­writ­ers and movie scripts as NaNoW­riMo is to novel writ­ers and full-length nov­els, and they both fol­low the same basic con­test rules mak­ing it easy for any­one to join in and start writ­ing. There’s a good rea­son behind that: they’re cre­ated by the same people.

Script Frenzy’s rules are as sim­ple: write a 100 page script in the month of April and you “win”. It’s really that sim­ple. There are no fees to enter, and you don’t really win any­thing; but, as we all know, the real prize is the knowl­edge you gain through the writ­ing process. Of course, there’s always the chance that your script can be picked up if it is good enough so get cracking!

Enough of this! Stop read­ing what I’m writ­ing about here and go to the Script Frenzy web­site, sign up and start lay­ing down ideas for your script. April is less than 75 days away.

Website: http://www.scriptfrenzy.org

As they state in their blog post, this move will finally allow us faster render times, to render heavier comps, and longer ram previews among other things. This is sweet music to the ears of any After Effects user, and with the move to High Definition from Standard Definition there’s no better time for this to happen then now.

One of the biggest things holding AE back in the past has been its support of the lighter weight 32-bit systems. Now that they aren’t catering to the less powerful 32-bit platform they can fully focus on pushing ahead in the 64-bit arena and give us all the power we need and want. It’s about time.

Article: http://blogs.adobe.com/keyframes/2009/10/our_next_release_64-bit_native.html