Advertise here via BSA

I recently discovered a tool called Better Touch Tool which allows you to set what multi touch gestures do on your trackpad, magic trackpad or magic mouse in your mac applications, for example in Final Cut Pro X. I got playing around with this, using pinching to zoom in and out and various multi touch gestures to try different keyboard shortcuts.

Along with this app and seeing apps like iMovie on the iPad got me thinking about what the future of editing will be. In 10 years will we still be using the old keyboard and mouse or will we be fully touch based, chopping clips with a gesture, trimming by pinching and exporting by grabbing our timeline and pulling it off the screen?

The layout of the traditional editing application has even been challenged recently by Final Cut Pro X, changing the traditional track layout to a single main storyline, some say this works better, some say this is worse.  Either way it’s proved there are alternative ways to the standard traditional edit layout.

How do you use your multi touch products? and where do you see the future of the editing interface?

Advertise here via BSA

In the motion graphics industry the goal is always to build cool things as simply as humanly possible. Whether its to make your project easier to work in or change … Working smarter and not harder is kinda a no brainer.

It’s the bane of every mograph artists existence when he or she builds a project only to realize the things that took all that time and effort could be solved with a plugin or script some super genius made. And in the C4d industry people are sharing the love everyday by developing things that not only speed up the workflow, but they share or sell that noise so the masses can be equally awesome. Here is a list of plugins that myself and some totally rad friends of mine (which you should follow on twitter, I’ll link them below) use on a regular basis to stay sane.

SHOW ME THE PLUGINS

First on the list is the Kern Effector (link) … This piece of magic allows the user to kern MoText (and only MoText) in C4d rather than importing an Illustrator spline and having to adjust in another program to correct things. It’s super easy to use (… here’s a linkie poo to to show how awesome this is) and the last awesome thing is it’s free

SAY WHAAAAAA

Yes majority of the plugins I’m about to describe to you are 100% free (BUT you SHOULD throw these people some spare cash because it’s just good karma) …

SHOW ME THE PLUGINS … AGAIN

Next on the roster is Hangover (link)… Now before you wander to the bar to drink away the pain, set this little bad boy up to send you either an e-mail or text (growl) notification to let you know the render finished or totally failed. The email portion is totally free but to get iPhone notifications you’ll need to purchase the Prowl (linkie) for 2 bucks. Both methods are super rad, so if you want to essentially “set it and forget it” this is a great plugin for you. It’s also fo FREE!

For the client that wants animated arrows (ugh arrows) the ArrowMaker plugin (linkie) is pretty much a one stop shop to streamline that process. Pretty much you just have to make your spline or Illustrator path and click the ArrowMaker plugin button. It give you the option to extrude, add to a mograph cloner and add a spline to deform to automatically. Once you do that it’s up to you to animate that start and end growth. This awesome plugin is also free.

Now if your a fan of deformers (like I am) you’re gonna love this … The bend deformer is a great and powerful tool but sometimes setting that thing up is kinda a pain in the butt … ESPECIALLY if say for example your object isn’t zeroed out and just sitting on the floor. The PyBend plugin (linkie) automatically sets a bend deformer to the selected object regardless of where it is or how it’s rotated. It will create the boundaries based on the object, but once it’s set up tuning it to work perfectly is pretty damn simple. Still Free. (FYI this plugin just upgraded to be more awesome but version 2.0 will cost some cash)

But what if your like “well Mike the bend deformer is cool but want to use a bulge deformer” I would tell you to not interrupt daddy whiles he’s talking and to use the EasyDeformer plugin (linkie). It does the same thing as PyBend plugin but you have the option to apply a Bend, Twist, Bulge, Shear and/or Taper deformer. Price = $0

The next piece of C4d magic is the Solo Plugin (linkie) … You know how you can solo layers in After Effects so you can either focus on one thing or to speed up your RAM previews, we’ll guess what, this is kinda like that. The Solo Plugin allows you to add a solo tag to your object so you can solo an object with a simple mouse click (no more clicking the traffic lights of 50 f&@*in layers) and bring it all back with a second click. This plugin does go a lot deeper (check the pixellab for more deets) but it’s definitely an invaluable tool to any mograph or 3d artists arsenal especially if your working with complex scenes. El Freeo

I’m finding that I use the ground plane to help keep all of my animations flat and a little more “organized” more and more with my last few projects and this little ditty came in handy. It’s called “Drop To Floor” (linkie) and this plugin sets the selected objects minimum y coordinates to 0,0. It also respects the objects size so it will never break the ground plane. These guys also make a bunch of other plugins (also all  buttons have ninjas on them … How cool is that!) that you guys should check out (linkie) and see what works for you … this plugin is free.

Now if your a mograph artist odds are you like to break shit (c’mon who doesn’t like breaking shit) then you are in luck because here are 2 FREE break shit plugins:

First up is Xbreaker (linkie) and this little slice of heaven immediately gives you the option of how many pieces you want to break your object in (randomly of course … if you want control of the chunks you might want to go a little knife happy with the knife tool … just saying). Once you customize the settings to how you see fit hit break now.

*Disclaimer* save before you do this every so often this can crash C4d and losing work always sucks … you’ve been warned.

Now it will automatically break the object, apply a crappy white texture, make polygonal selection tags AND put the object in a Dynamics tag. After that it’s all up to you

Second up is Thrausi (linkie) … It’s just like Xbreaker but you have some more options to customize your break. Like Xbreaker you’ll select the object and click the button and you’ll get a menu to set up your break, dynamics, materials and you can even bake the animation to save your self the headache of doing it later. Depending on your selections you’ll have a broken object in a fracture object to help animate later. You can download a free version but you can also buy a more advanced version for a little under 15 bucks (10 euro) and if you can afford 20 bucks you can get the bigger brother Catastrophe (linkie)

Next up is for the spline wranglers … It’s called Smart Outline (linkie). It creates an outline of a spline much like the “create outline” tool, but the plus is you can animate the offset and distance. Sadly its only accessible while editing a spline in pointmode so it is destructive (bummer) but hey … it’s free. Also the same site has some more free shit (linkie)

Wanna control your iTunes without having to leave C4d, now you can with iTunesCTRL (linkie). This gem creates a small dockable menu that allows you to change songs, pause and select playlist so you don’t have to click out of a project just to change that Lady Gaga, Nickelback or Coldplay song your too embraced to tell your friends you like (awkward look away) … still in freesville

So if your into matching colors and the Kuler scale is your friend the Blee plugin (linkie) links to the Adobe Kuler site and shows the color palettes that are on the site. After thumbing though em and you like one of them you can create materials (with the same color values and specular enabled) instantly … A nice add-on if you want to select your colors more accurately for free.

Now if you HATE animating multiple cameras (like I do) the SteadyCam Pro plugin (linkie) might be right for you. This used to be 100 bucks but now it’s free (THANK GOD) and it’s awesome … you can set up multiple cameras and with sliders you can use simulated steadycams (amongst other things) to tween or animate between them … By far a super rad camera and I use this plugin pretty much every day. This plugin is huge and it has multiple options, if you want more info a simple google search yields plenty of awesomesauce results.

The next bit of extreme awesome is Render Elements (linkie). Render Elements is a scene manager for C4d, even though that doesn’t sounds super cool or awesome. This plugin upon implementation will record all your camera, layer and render settings allowing you to set up multiple render settings in the same scene without having to save multiple versions (now thats rad) … The current beta version is 7.13 is ONLY available for mac and its compatible with version 12. Older versions are cross platform and work in versions 11 and 11.5. I could prattle on about how awesome this plugin is but I’ll let you discover its totally free awesomeness.

Now this is a recent find … it’s a script that automates unfolding polygons. A guy (slash god among men – https://vimeo.com/36915151) called Rown created this re-donk-ulous script that allows you to unfold polygons with extreme ease and control. It’s original set in german (if you speak german than you are set) but @wischie was nice enough to sacrifice his day and convert that sun’bitch to good ole ‘merican (a.k.a english) right here … It’s free but you should thank rown and @wischie for their hardwork.

Last but certainly not least is CSTools (linkie) … These are a set of plug-ins using Xpresso and UI objects that Chris Schmidt designed to speed up his workflow. In an act of awesomeness he’s sharing his labors with the world fo FREE. It’s a really amazing set of plug-ins and his site (linkie) has tons of information so get over their and check it out.

Some other awesome plugins that I’ve not yet found a use for but I downloaded them anyways … Selection Tools, Ivy Grower, Reeper X

And some more links to plugins I’ve heard about but haven’t explored yet … stab, NitroBlast, SplineGen, copy and paste polys, arch spline, Shadowcatcher, EnhanceC4d, Global Light Adjust, Control Center, multi target

WELL THE FREE RIDE IS OVER

Now I have only scratched the surface of the amount of free plugins that are out  but now comes to the shit that costs money. Depending on your discipline, skill level and job requirement some of these plugins aren’t necessarily for you but here’s what I use.

First up is PlaneSmart (linkie). PlaneSmart allows you to import a layered PSD file, then map the individual layers in Z space. With the imported file, you could then individually adjust or remove individual layers in Cinema. It’s excellent for mapping multiple images to magazines, photo mosaics, etc. Mike Senften did a great piece about it hurrrrr (linkie). Now you can only get this plug-in if your a Cineversity member which at first is 300 bucks (and 100 a year to stay active) but if you want to learn advanced C4d from the pro’s I’d recommend dropping the extra cash

For anyone that uses text or typography as a major staple of their work this plugin should be a no-brainer … It’s called Text Edge Effect ( http://c4dtools.net/text-edge-fx/). The Text Edge FX is a quick and east way to add custom bevels and edge to text beyond the defaults that C4d has. This isn’t only limited to type, anything that uses a spline can be altered to look even more badass. The controls are super simple and for 15 bucks you really can’t go wrong. Also this totally awesome plugin was brought to you by @eyedesyn and @SamWelkerTV so you should probably send them a thank you beer … just sayin

If your like me and you composite alot in after effects you probably use a buttload of object buffers … Buffer Booster (http://c4dtools.net/buffer-booster/) might be a good choice for you. @RagingClaw (and his brilliant mind) developed this plugin that adds object buffers to all of your selected objects and inserts them into your multipass automatically … which as we all know is a pain in the ass. Also for the staggeringly low cost of 10 buck-a-roo’s (or 2-3 beers at the bar) this is a plugin that you really can’t pass up.

Ok if you’ve ever worked with dynamics you know that its a pain to work with in a scene … it slows things down, can’t be effected easily, etc …. BUTTTTTT NitroBake (http://nitro4d.com/blog/donationware/nitrobake/) might be an awesome solution. NitroBake allows you to easily (easily being the keyword) bake your animations and export it into another software if necessary. You can use it with C4d objects, generators, TP, Mograph, Hair and Dynamics. It makes it’s all PSR or PLA animations and it optimizes the file so it’s easier on your system (which is super awesome). so for only 40 bucks you can have an easy to use solution for keyframe baking.

Next is TurbulenceFD (linkie) … a super swag-tastic fluid simulation plugin that integrates directly into C4d without having to go to another program. The days of unit convert and triangulated meshes are over, it’s super simple to setup and the level of control is incredible. The learning curve is pretty steep (maybe a 6 out of 10) but it’s truly an amazing plug-in and the level of detail and precision make this a must have for advanced VFX and Mograph artists … Now the downside it it’s 530 bucks, but you can download the trial to learn, it’s just watermarked.

Last but not least is VRAY (link)… VRAY makes your renders look extremely sexy with advanced calculations for lights, shadows, displacement and environments. BUUUUUUUUUT it destroys rendertimes … but it’s the sacrifice to make amazing looking renders. Now the learning curve for VRAY is extremely steep (like 12 out 10) and the refining process to maximize the effectiveness of the engine is a constant trial and error dog fight. And it costs a little over a grand … But at least your renders will be sexy.

WERE ALMOST THERE  … IS YOUR MIND OFFICIALLY BLOWN

Now this is a lot of information and I appreciate anyone who managed to make it this far before going on a download frenzy ( god knows I would have been gone at Kern Effector haha). I truly hope that this helps everyone improve your workflow, try something different, share love for the people that develop these amazing plugins (don’t steal it, thats just bad karma) and in general help guide an already amazing community to become even more awesome.

I would also like to thank the crew that helped me wrangle all these plugins and showed me some new ones along the way … Follow them because they’re cool and super smart … did I mention they were cool :)

@_NEEKOE_ @benjaminbudzak @eyedesyn @rostenbach @MDSienzant

If you guys have any questions please feel free to comment or get ahold of me on twitter (@mrmikeflorio)!

Cheers

Mr Mike

PS I apologize for my horrible grammar … thats why I’m a digital artist haha

Advertise here via BSA

Here’s a weekly roundup of some of the videos we found exciting around the web!

If you have a piece of work that you’ve created or have seen, contact us or become our contact on Vimeo and send us the link.

Staples, Recycle for Education Contest. from Peter Quinn on Vimeo.

La Mer de Pianos from Films & Things on Vimeo.

Impossible Present from Royale on Vimeo.

Advertise here via BSA

The most notorious question in the creative industry. Last night I was going through my e-mail and I came across a name I haven’t seen in a while. It was one of the interns I had when I was out in California. He started with the usual “hey how are you?” “I just graduated” blah blah blah and then he said he wanted to know how to get into freelancing.

Unfortunately I sat at my computer for about 2 hours writing and re-writing my response. Sadly I couldn’t give him an answer, or at least the answer that I wanted to give him.

Ask anyone in the creative, design, animation or motion graphics industry and he or she will tell you … every scenario is different. I wanted to give him a perfect, step-by-step answer and I can’t … realistically I don’t think anyone can. I remember the time when I struggled for work and now I want to give someone a chance, just like I was given a chance years ago.

Jessica Hische wrote a blog about this a couple weeks back and this is the best way to put it

“because what works for one person does not necessarily work for all people.”

This is absolutely correct … I have never heard of any of my freelancing buddies getting work the same way. Every story is different. Everyone has a different background. Hell I know a guy that went to school in Kansas and he received a degree in theater but now he is one of the most successful 3d freelancers I’ve ever met.

So in this diatribe is my advice on getting work if you’re a video editor/motion graphics artist or 3d animator:

BE COOL BABY

The creative game is one that requires a cool head, the ability to react to a situation and not “freak-the-fuck-out!”. Being cool both personally and professionally will be huge in getting work. Realistically, would you want to work with someone who is a total ass?

I’m notorious for being very social and when the job is done I want to celebrate with the men and women that made it all possible. Having drinks, dinner, playing putt putt (hey don’t knock it haha), etc and building personal relationships with editors, directors, producers, CD’s, etc is not only a great way to expand your friend base but realistically it will make them want you to come back.

Once I took the head a studio (that will remain un-named) out the dinner just to introduce myself … I made it very clear from the beginning that I was a freelancer but the dinner wasn’t about getting work but just meeting the people in the community … We are now good friends and ever so often he’ll throw me a job, but he constantly invites me out for drinks with other producers and directors

Also build relationships with other people in your field. I have freelance buddies that give me work and anytime I have too much on my plate I hand stuff off to them. Also your friends will know people you don’t and they’ll be able to introduce you to other studios that might require your services.

Makes sure your comfortable as yourself (i.e. how you dress and act) … in the design world I’ve never seen a real 9-5 week. If your unable to get along with people, those 16 hour days or 3-day crash sessions may feel like an eternity.

PROMOTE THYSELF or WRECK THYSELF

Rule number one of getting work is having a medium that people can use to see your work, therefore they’ll want to hire you. And I can’t think of anyplace better than the internet. SO GET YOUR SELF A WEBSITE! And once you have said website unless you are a graphic designer don’t bedazzle the hell out of it. People like to see the information in a clean and organized fashion.

This I hoped last night was a no-brainer, but tons of people still don’t have websites. That right there is a recipe for disaster. So do yourself a favor go to vimeo get an account (its free) and load some videos … then go to squarespace (costs money but is totally worth it), wordpress or tumblr (both are free) and link up your stuff. It’s not rocket surgery. The most important trait to have in a portfolio site is the ability to update the damn thing … chances are once you start working you’ll be putting everything you work on, on the internet.

DEMO REELS & RESUMES … THE TRUTH

Most of the time studios don’t ask for a resume … the reel, the rate and the availability is what they need to know. And it’s all about the reel baby. Nick Campbell at Greyscale Gorilla did a great segment about this (you can find that here: Say NO to DVD Demo Reels!) about sending in DVD Demo Reels and resumes at random. He also has a great post about how the length of demo reels (http://greyscalegorilla.com/blog/2010/07/why-your-demo-reel-should-be-really-really-short/). Since he does such a great job at this, I’ll let him give you the low-down on that:

Demo Reel Stats

I have a resume that every year I update but 95% of the studios I work at have never asked for one. But the format is short, simple and to the point. Studios don’t have time to read a mass of dribble. I myself have thrown away resumes when I had a studio gig simply because it took too long to get the required info. A novel isn’t required for companies to see your skills. Also make sure you keep it too ONE page … I’ve seen wayyyyyyyyyyy too many that break a page … if your resume is legitimately 2+ pages long odds are they’ll call you for work not the other way around.

My current resume has my past STUDIO and FREELANCE experience … I don’t include any other irrelevant jobs purely on the fact that studios/production houses could care less, My skills and software certs, my rates and my reel … oh and my name haha. If they like the simplified info that you layout for them they’ll respond. Just give them what THEY need, not what you want them to know.

Craigslist is NOT the answer

Craigslist is great if you’re looking for an apartment or a coffee table but not for a job. That is the number one place if you want to get screwed over big time. Rob Loukotka (fringefocus.com or see below) had a great statement about this:

When looking for shitty clients, Craigslist is a great place to start. The ‘gigs’ section is a virtual goldmine for the bad work you’re looking for. Be sure to look for posts that say: “Student Needed” or “This will be great for your portfolio!” ALL CAPS posts are exceptional resources.

And the man couldn’t be more right. I’ve taken a few craigslist jobs and the results are as followed:

* 2 haven’t paid me
* 1 took my project to another designer that would do it cheaper
* 3 only paid half
* The rest tried to get free work

If your going to use the web to find work use the right sites.

* Motionographer.com (my fav)
* Behance.net
* Mandy
* The jobs section on mograph.net
* Etc.

Popular design and motion graphics sites generally have a jobs listing section. And if the site is popular odds are employers, producers and directors go there.

STRENGTHEN YOUR LIVER

Now this part might seem like a joke but its not. The amount of work, time, blood, sweat and tears that go into the design jobs you see companies put out is extreme. And after a 3 day C4d/AE bender I know plenty of people that want to go party and celebrate another successful challenge conquered. So most of the people I’ve meet love to drink (I myself am one of them haha) so learn to be social at bars and restaurants, but don’t overdo it … the last thing you want is to be super drunk in front of your peers/employers. Now if they get you that drunk than that’s a totally different story.

BE NOT AFRAID

Lastly don’t be afraid to take a hit the first couple of jobs. Unfortunately it is kind of a rite of passage.

If your right out of school, don’t charge what the senior guys charge. If you walked into a studio and wanted 100 bucks an hour odds are you’ll be laughed at until you have some years under you. This is where having a day-job is key.

Also don’t be afraid to say no … just because your new, companies might try to squeeze you for less money … remember if they have already invested in you, they’re not going to fire you unless your a dick about being paid shit. Be polite but firm and if push comes to shove you might have to yield, but that director now knows you have some balls.

Also ask your co-workers for advice once you start working … If they are total assholes then avoid them, but if you meet some people and they’re cool, hit them up for some tips over a beer. People who have lived and breathed the life can give the best advice.

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO MY RAMBLE

Odds are I rambled alot during this, so if you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me. Obviously we only scratched the tip of the piece of frost that is the very top of the iceberg known as “freelancing” but hopefully this should fill in some of the gaps.

I wish you the best of luck

~Mike Florio

Advertise here via BSA

I’ve long been a fan of music videos, especially growing up with MTV. Music videos have long been a great source of inspiration and showcase for both cinematography and motion graphics. And so with this new series i’m going to try and showcase some music videos (either new ones or classic music videos) to hopefully inspire you or give you some great ideas whether your working on a music video or not. Let us know your favourite music videos in the comments. So here we go with the first in the series…

Advertise here via BSA

Well, at least some of them are!  If you’ve not heard of Automatic Duck before, they made some great plugins to transfer your Avid or Final Cut timeline into After Effects, or importing a composition from Avid into Final Cut.

Recently they’ve entered into a partnership with Adobe, were they’re more than likely working on some fantastic new products. Whilst doing this though, they’ve decided to give their older products away for free, as they can now not dedicate time to support them.  This includes the two products mentioned above as well as Pro Export 5.0, which will export your Final Cut Pro X projects into AAF and OMF files for importing into Pro Tools.

These are definitely plugins worth downloading whilst you can!  Remember these are plugins which are incredibly useful and used to sell for hundreds of dollars. If your need to transfer your projects a lot then these are definite time savers to boost your workflow.

Advertise here via BSA

If you’re the kind of person that likes to organise your motion graphics or video projects (and you should be, it’ll help in so many ways) but you don’t like having to recreate a folder structure every time. Then i should introduce you to Post Haste. An easy automated way to organise your projects at the beginning before you begin your work.

Originally developed by Paul Conigs , Version 2 has now been took over by the guys at Digital Rebellion.  Post Haste allows you to do things such as setting up filename parameters like project name, client and date which will help in your naming convention.  It’s also good for shared environments too as it will help everyone work from the same template.

Definitely go check it out!

Advertise here via BSA

Hello October!

The change of seasons is upon us once again; this time we welcome in Autumn. We get to watch as the leaves turn to beautiful shades of yellow, red and everything in between; the air begins to cool and the geese make their journey southward for warmer climates. At least, in my neck of the woods.

As if adapting to the changes around us, Fuel Your Motionography is changing as well. This month, we are turning two years old! Yes, we have been publishing articles for a full 2 years, and we are still going strong. Although we aren’t celebrating with the same hoopla as our first birthday, it doesn’t mean we are any less happy or grateful. We can’t express how much it means to all of us that for the last two years all of you come here to read the articles we put forth, you continue to come back and you continue to comment and stay in contact with all of us. For that, we are both happy and grateful. For that, we thank you.

Of course, there are other changes taking place this month. Today I am officially announcing that I am stepping down as Editor of Fuel Your Motionography. Life has been hectic lately and trying to balance FYM on top of all that is going on has proven to be more than I can handle, so instead of letting the quality and output of articles degrade, I decided to hand over editorial duties to more capable hands. I had a great time working with all of the writers here at FYM, sharing my knowledge and, of course, meeting all of you and reading your comments over the years. Who knows, when things settle down I may even be back.

The good news is the site will still be running strong. Matthew Carlin is moving up to the position of editor! He has done a great job on all his articles on Fuel Your Motionography as well as juggling all the duties of his other website, Motion Design Love. And he’s just a great guy all around. I have complete faith that he will continue to push FYM forward in the best direction possible. Congratulations Matt!

Now would be as good of a time as any to mention Chris Biewer is joining the team! Chris is a motion graphics designer originally from Fargo, North Dakota who’s now working around the Minneapolis, Minnesota area. Welcome Chris, I hope you feel at home here as I have for the last two years.

Of course, we should also remember the ones who have written here in the past, both new and old, as they had a hand in making FYM what it is today. Everybody from the first Editor, Michael John, to the contributing and guest writers Faye Brown, Cody Jones, Robert Mills, Drew Wiltsey, Christy Lai, Sebastian Diester, Surya Buchwald, Ko Maruyama, Jamie Peterson, Justin Younger, Jeffrey Saunders and anybody else I may have left out. Thank you all for everything you have done.

Of course, we’ll still have the great talents of Timmy Allen, Joren Kandel, Matthew Carlin and (now) Chris Biewer bringing us great new content each month, and all of you who dare join us and share your knowledge with the world. This website will continue to grow and evolve into something bigger and better than before.

Oh, and now would be as good of a time as any to tell all of you that Tinder is coming. What is Tinder? Well, it’s a sexy new way to discover, subscribe to, read and manage the webs best publications. Let’s be real here, I’m not going to tell you any more than that. Besides, it’s super secret anyway. I can tell you it is something you will want to keep on your radar. Besides that, you’ll just have to wait and see. I bet I had you for a minute though. so definitely keep an eye on that when it’s finally here.

All said, remember to keep learning, have fun doing it and come back to this website and all others like it for some great tips, tutorials and news along the way. I know I will.

Advertise here via BSA

Creativity is one of those subjects wrapped in shrouds of mystery. How does one “get creative.” How do you go from staring at a blank canvas, a black and empty composition, and then end up with a masterpiece. Everyone has a different take on it, and most people try to boil creativity down into repeatable steps. I’ve heard many variations of 3, 4, 5 or 6 step plans to getting creative:

1. Preparation 2. Incubation 3. Illumination 4. Implementation

1. Observe 2. Reflect 3. Make

1. Inspiration 2. Clarification 3. Evaluation 4. Distillation 5. Incubation 6. Perspiration

I think creativity is quite a bit more ambiguous and mystical than a clever sounding 5 step plan and I also think it will be different for every person. Let me share what works for me:

Find inspiration

Finding inspiration before I start transforming a blank canvas is key. My process usually starts with cruising the internet, taking screencaptures of design or photographs that spark something in me. It could be a color scheme, a font, a background texture etc. I compile all of these into a folder. All of these different inspirations start to focus my mind into a direction I want the piece to go.

Set boundaries

In my opinion, setting boundaries is the key to getting started. The hardest part for me is the first object/element I put onto the blank canvas. Setting boundaries helps you narrow down the infinite possibilities into something that can focus your mind on. Deadlines are one boundary that will force you to get started and do the work. I watched a video recently by Jack White of The White Stripes talking about boundaries. He said this:

“Deadlines and things make you creative, but opportunity and telling yourself “you’ve got all the time in the world, all the money in the world, you’ve all the colors in the palate you want, anything you want” — that just kills creativity.”

Start with one piece of the puzzle

I look at the client, their logo, a font they require, their color pattern, their vibe/mood. These things all set boundaries as well. If I have a certain color palate, then I have a boundary. If they require a font, then I have a boundary. These help me put something into my empty comp. They help me start the process. I find that once I get one element in place, then my mind clicks into the flow and everything else is simply getting lost in creating and filling in the pieces.

Crank up the music and get lost in the flow

Once you get that first element in place and you have started the process, the rest is easy. Your mind is prepped and ready. You have boundaries and direction. At this point I turn up the music and get lost in my mind. Simply enjoying the process of creating. Not really thinking, just enjoying. This is the “flow” that is so coveted and so sought after; A strange phenomenon where you lose track of time and simply enjoy the process.

As for the details of the process, this is my workflow: I create 3-4 style frames for a project. I generally show one style frame for how I will treat a text moment, one frame for how I would treat any video that is in the spot, and one frame for the end slate with client logo and call to action. I create these in After Effects which may or not be unusual. I know a lot of people do them in Photoshop, but I can’t stand doing that. All of the effects and plugins and presets that I have are in After Effects so I feel like I have more options and tools. I also am able to “build” the scene to some degree and then when the concept is approved I don’t have to re-build it. It’s ready to go.

I never, ever turn on the 3D layer button or animate anything. That is a limitation I put on my design phase. Everything is 2D and the layers are simply stacked on top of each other. I do this so I have more creative freedom to grab layers and push them around and try new things quickly. Animating anything or “testing out” a camera move simply takes too much time. The goal is to create a design, not to animate. Once I changed to this mindset I was able to create concepts much quicker. If I’m doing any C4D work I will render out a single frame, bring it into AE, play with it, go back to C4D and make tweaks, then render that frame out again. It makes it incredibly easy to integrate the two programs when you’re just doing one frame and it gives you the ability to try out so many different variations on a design.

Take a coffee break, then come back and look at your creation

When I’m done creating a design I step away. I go for a walk. I go refill my coffee. Then I go back and look at the design. A lot of times you need to step away, even overnight, before you can see what you have created with the perspective of someone seeing it for the first time. Getting others opinions is vital also, since you are so steeped in the design you may be blinded to little details.

And that’s my process for coming up with a design. It works for me. I’ve spent years trying to figure out the way my mind works, the way I get into the “flow” and the way I find inspiration and translate it into unique and powerful design. It most certainly is a process that you will have to figure out yourself.

I’m interested in how you stay creative and what your process is! Please share in the comments!

Advertise here via BSA

I’ve seen alot of people try to learn motion graphics and videography, and I’ve obviously learned it myself in the past. I’ve also seen alot of videos posted on the internet as a result of these learnings. One thing that I’ve noticed is what separates the better videos from the others are the little details in the video.

What do I mean by the little details? Well what I mean are things like, a little bit of easing on those keyframes when the object moves, the composition of the shot, the tightness of the edit, the little bounce as the layer comes into frame or the way a particular shot is lit.

These are the things you develop and learn the more you do motion graphics or make videos, and these are the things your peers will look for when watching your video. Don’t worry about not spotting these straight away, your eye will develop for these things with your experience.

So next time you make that video what should you be looking out for?  Well how about some of the following.

• Composition of the shot
• How shallow or deep your depth of field is
• The lighting
• Tightness of your edit
• Pace of your edit
• The music or sound effects
• Sound Levels
• Easing in your animation
• The timing of your animation (is it too quick or too slow)
• Have you added motion blur (this tends to make things look better when they move)
• The colour scheme
• The typography
• The story

Remember to have a think about all these things when you start and as you work through your next project. Is there anything else you would add to the list?

Advertise here via BSA

Over the course of the last couple months, the motion graphics and animation world has seen a giant influx of new tools for our eager hands and creative minds. Tools such as Cinema 4D R13, the Newton Physics Engine, the ease of stereoscopic 3D with CS5.5, Video Copilot’s Element plug in is on the horizon and that is not including all of the new toys that are sure to come out later this year as well. With all of these tools at our disposal, it can at times be overwhelming as to what tools you need to learn and what you think you need to know to keep your skills sharp. However, we have transitioned to the age of social learning and it is time to engage in the conversation.

Years ago when one wanted to learn new software they had a few options, but when compared to todays methods they are less than desirable. One of the options would have been to go to a bookstore and purchase an expensive book that would be out of date after the next software update. Now don’t get me wrong, I have several reference books at my work desk and my home desk, but there are many books available that are poorly written leaving the good books as hard to find as a needle in the haystack. Before the days of purchasing used books online, new software books could quickly add up in expenses over the course of a year or two.

One of my favorite techniques into learning new software was to just dive right in. The downside of this method, is the ease of quickly developing bad habits. Whether it is 3D modeling, Photoshop or After Effects, once bad habits are formed they can become hard to correct. The worst part about it, is it may take you a long time to realize that they are a bad habit or you may get burned by your own mistakes and pay the cost of long hours for an easy solution.

Over the last few years, there have been a steady growth in tutorial sites both free and subscription based. Tutorials, like books, go at the pace of the teacher and not the student. These sites can be very overwhelming if you are not around the same level of understanding of the software as the teacher. This dilemma alone can add more anxiety to the user trying to learn the software.

Enter the social learning world, an entity that has offered users the broadest range of knowledge ever. Conferences and user groups are great ways to learn software and creative processes. The presenters at these outlets can provide valuable insight on their learning experiences, key settings, possible pitfalls, and also more efficient work flows. These events also provide attendees the chance to talk shop afterwords and also build their network and learn of potentially new jobs or career paths. These types of events can prove to be very useful in a young artists career, and maybe help a seasoned veteran turn over a new leaf.

If user groups are unavailable in your area, another method to learning software is to learn with a friend. You can both learn the same software or each choose a different piece of software. By choosing the same software, you can discuss each of your own ways to do things, settings you find and also potential pitfalls. If you each choose different software, after getting a good grasp of that software you can then start to learn things of the other persons chosen software. Again this provides the opportunity to share workflow, settings and potential pitfalls.

However, not everyone has access to these creative sessions. Everyone may not have an industry counter-part that they can learn software together. So are you out of luck on learning socially? Of course not. Everyday these learning experiences are readily available at a multitude of different social platforms. The key to these platforms is clear communication.

Message boards have been around since the dawn of the internet, and they have evolved into communities where people can learn from one another and share their work and get feedback. I personally hang out on message boards when I can and help give back to artists as much as I can. I receive help for work in C4D but I try to help out the AE users. Message boards provide you the chance to learn from many different sources at once. The pitfall of this method however, is someone can’t come to your computer and check out what you have going on. So you have to be very clear with your issue and potentially post some screenshots or working files. If you are unclear about your issue, you may not receive any help.

Facebook and twitter allow users a unique blend of social learning. With their popularity, facebook and twitter may surpass message boards. Facebook allows people to create their own pages where they can post tutorials, tutorials they find useful, start discussions, chat and don’t require you to create a login identity. Facebook also allows you to get updates on your home screen.

Twitter provides unique abilities compared to the other networks, and I also think may be the most under utilized. Twitter is more like a hybrid between message boards and facebook. Users are allowed to get updates, and tweet problems that they may be having. The downfall is the 140 character limit, this clearly puts a restraint on how clear you can be with your issues. Twitter seems to be more of a notification center, allowing community leaders to post links to their tutorials and followers to re-tweet them. This also applies to inspirational works and new product releases.

This may seem like a ton of information, and you may feel the urge to sign up for several message board accounts and multiple social media platforms. However, I would recommend finding the way that fits your learning style and then expanding on that. With the motion industry continuing to expand, we will constantly have new things to learn and add to our arsenal. If you decide to pick up a new piece of software and learn, make sure you commit to it. Set aside a consistent amount of time to learn, and share this knowledge with others, as in most cases they will do the same.

There is no need to make learning software hard, have fun with it and use learning new software as an excuse to meet new artists and to expand your network.

Advertise here via BSA

Something that goes overlooked quite often while on the hunt to be the best, most relevant person in your field is the time to step away from work for a bit and regain your life. I’m coming off a two month freelance hiatus and I’ve got to tell you how unbelievably refreshing it is to come back with a new found passion to do good work.

That seems like something a lot of us do to ourselves while on the grind to produce, produce, produce. I’ll speak from my personal experiences and assume that all, if not most of you, are the same way. Almost above all else we love what we do more than anything. The fact that none of us have to work a 9-5 doing data entry or waiting tables makes us very thankful and in love with what we do to make a living. I believe it is that fact that most of the time I will unknowingly give up basically anything and everything I’ve got going on to make sure that this privilege continues to pay out.

For a long time I had no idea how to correctly balance and make sure that work life and personal life supported each other and did not cannibalize each other. The great thing about graduating from Full Sail University is that if the school is good for one thing it is making you great at what you do while programming you to produce under any circumstance over everything else you may have going on. Which is also the worst thing about graduating from Full Sail University. I’m sure we’ve all sacrificed our personal lives in pursuit of that next great project or to finish up that insane deadline. How many of us have let work become all we do and think about? Personally, I have missed out on great moments with my friends and family in the name of “getting this done” and with the intention of “when this pays out things will be better”.

There is nothing more important in your life than friends and family and the moments you get to spend with them each and every day. You have to take time and find that balance of work and life and make sure that each gets the proper time it requires. Not to say that you shouldn’t ever work till 3am on a project that has to get done, but rather that if there is a time when that happens make sure you counteract that time spent another day and go for a bike ride on the beach or spend time with people you care about. What good is spending all the time learning our craft and creating the things we do if we’ve alienated ourselves from the people we want to share our work with most?

With all that I simply suggest to examine all that you’ve got going on and make sure everything is in balance. The worst thing in the world was getting burnt out and seeing how much I’ve removed myself from my friends and family. Take the visualization of balancing a pencil on your fingertip. One end is work, the other is personal life. You could put your finger in the exact center and the pencil would stay there balanced. However the Holidays are coming around and now there is more weight on the personal side of the pencil, so you have to move your finger closer and closer to that side to make sure the pencil does not topple over. Then the Holidays end and you’ve got multiple projects knocking down your door, now move your finger closer to the work side. The real trick is simply feeling out who needs what and keeping an even keel of everything. You don’t want to end up where I was to find you were wasting away in front of a couple of monitors and interacting with friends and family on Facebook alone.

Go take a break. Go hug someone you love more than anything and make sure they know. For crap sake, call your mother I know she’s worried. Get away and make sure the real people in your life come first. Balance.

Be good.
Timmy.

Advertise here via BSA

Here’s a weekly roundup of some of the videos we found exciting around the web!

If you have a piece of work that you’ve created or have seen, contact us or become our contact on Vimeo and send us the link.

Motion Graphics

Alligator Pop from Benjamin Ang on Vimeo.

The aim of the video is to interpret audio and translate it into visuals with geometric shapes.

By composing and designing this audio track, I was able to break down each note and effect to create graphics that interacts and syncs with the audio.

Visual Effects

The Killing Joke from sebastian lopez on Vimeo.

The Killing Joke is a 15 minute suspense/fiction short film about a mysterious woman that finds a red balloon tied up to a curious little box on an eery derelict street. Using classic elements of suspense and working within a seventies aesthetic, ‘The Killing Joke’ is an action packed film that pays homage to some of the horror movies from that era.

Animation

“Take Your Medicine” by Transfer | Official Music Video from Nader Husseini on Vimeo.

The team used After Effects as the main compositing software. They combined the 2D drawings and paintings and 3D animation and digital effects into a single space in order to create a highly textured look. In addition to lighting and compositing the CG characters and props in Maya, the team used Maya Toon, Maya Hair and Maya nCloth, manipulating and merging techniques not typically used in the studio’s CG pipeline. Pre-compositing 3D components in Nuke ensured an efficient workflow. These files were also color-corrected and incorporated into the 2D environments in After Effects. Using Maya Paint FX in conjunction with cloth simulations and digital effects added to the video’s unique style.

Film

Tempest Milky Way from Randy Halverson on Vimeo.

One of the challenges in making this video, was trying to get good storm and star shots. The opportunity doesn’t come along very often, the storm has to be moving the right speed and the lightning can overexpose the long exposures. I had several opportunities this summer to get storm and star shots. In one instance, within a minute of picking up the camera and dolly, 70mph winds hit. One storm was perfect, it came straight towards the setup, then died right before it reached it.

Advertise here via BSA

I was born stubborn.

You can blame my parents for raising me with so much pride, blame the kids in elementary school who picked on me for being a nerd or blame the stars that I was born a Leo. Personally, I stopped trying to point fingers a long time ago and just accept it. In fact, I’ve learned to turn it into somewhat of a game.

If somebody told me I couldn’t do something or that there was a better (or easier way), I took it as a challenge to do it my way. I would boldly attempt to complete my mission in a John Locke sort of way, only not as insane. Even if that challenge was near improbable, I would still try, success or not. Eventually, I learned the errors of my ways.

I still challenge myself, but in a slightly different way. I recognize that there are better and easier ways to reach my goal. I thoroughly look at all avenues before I begin a project. I know that it isn’t my way or the highway. Others have walked this path before me, and others will walk it after I’m gone. I’ve learned to learn from their lessons.

Now, If I see something that inspires me, I try to emulate it. Then I try to understand it. Then I go a step further and make it my own. It’s an almost obsessive tendency.

I guess we all have these obsessive tendencies in our field, regardless of what creative field we are in. We are constantly searching for new ways to do something. To build upon what others have done before. To forge new paths through the unknown.

The important things we all should take from all of this is to remember where we have been, that there are new paths to be taken and to never stop learning. Of course, with the recent release (and soon to be released) plugins for popular software, who has the time to stop learning.

The Newton Physics Engine for After Effects has been released, and by all accounts it is a critical success at propelling a piece of software forward in a direction it hasn’t been before. Be careful though, it can almost give you a God-like complex. MovieType for Cinema 4D has made it easier than ever to create great looking text elements for your projects that emulate film and television title sequences. Of course, Element 3D will be coming soon (right, guys?) and will bring unprecedented 3d control elements into After Effects. That’s not to mention all of the lesser known plugins and presets that are already on the market.

Through it all, we here at FYM will continue to try and do our part–bringing great articles to inspire, give insight and learn from. We have some great things lined up for you including the return of the Feature Friday column (remember those?). This time, however, there will be a few additions. What better way to learn than by seeing what everybody else is doing well?! Of course, there will be more tutorials including more of the Cinema 4D Tags Quick Tip series, plus a couple of columns that will help you learn and inspire in a few new ways.

Keep learning being inspired and one day you will be the one who inspires.

Advertise here via BSA

What is Newton?

If you haven’t heard on newton yet, then where have you been? Newton was announced by Motion Boutique a few months ago and the motion graphics industry started getting excited.

Newton is essentially a 2D physics engine for Adobe After Effects users. It means we can have realistic physics in our 2d animations. The plugin does this by making each layer a rigid body, and then once you have a simulation completed, it converts it back into normal After Effects keyframes.

Newton for Adobe After Effects, first tech demo. from motionboutique on Vimeo.

How do you work with Newton?

To begin working with newton you have to first install the plugin. This is really simple though; it’s essentially a case of copying the Newton folder to your AE plugins folder. However, once you’ve opened After Effects it will actually appear as an extra option in the composition menu at the top instead of appearing where plugins usually appear.

Now we can start working with Newton. It’s actually fairly simple to start working with. First of all you have to get your composition imported/set up. It’s probably important here to start deciding what kind of physics animation your looking for as in the next step we’ll start assigning different properties to our different layers.

Once you’ve got your composition fully imported and ready, it’s time to assign Newton to it. To do this all you need to do is go up to the composition menu and click Newton. You’ll then be presented with the Newton settings window.

This is where all the action in Newton happens. There are 4 sections to this, the first is your simulation preview where you’ll see the results of the settings your about to assign to your different layers. The next key section here is bodies. This is where you select your layers and you assign what type of body they will be. For this you have a choice of Static, Kinematic, Dynamic, Dormant, AEmatic and Dead. Each one of these will mean give a layer or “body” differences in the way it affects or is affected by other layers. You also get some options for each layer here on how dense the body is, how much bounce it has and friction amongst some other things.

Once you’ve assigned all your layers the particular body top you would like, you can have a look at the global gravity section and make adjustments here. You can also adjust the solver and how many iterations it has.

Now you’ve assigned and changed all these settings it’s time to run the simulation preview to see how your simulation looks. Click solve and you will see how your simulation in action. If your not happy with how the simulation looks, you can go back and adjust your settings, restart your simulation and see if it looks better. You can keep doing this until your happy with how the simulation looks, and then it’s time to transfer this to your composition.

This is pretty simple too, click apply at the bottom of this window and you’ll get another set of options before you export.

Here you can that you get a couple of options such as the number of frames you want to export, whether you want to apply motion blur to your layers and then finally if you want to create a new composition out of your simulation instead of applying it to the original composition.

Once you’ve done that click OK and it’ll convert the simulation into keyframes in your composition. The basics of Newton are as simple as that.

A word of warning here, if your happy with your simulation, you have the option to save your settings in the Newton configuration window. I would suggest doing this as you each time newton is ran it essentially resets itself, and you don’t want to have to type all your settings in again.

So what can kind of things can Newton do?

I would show you some examples of what Newton can do myself, but i think Motion Boutique has got some great examples themselves, so here are some videos to show you how to work with Newton. The plugin also comes with a number of sample project files so you can see how some of these are done and give you a starting point for your own.

Newton Tutorial: 101 (part1) from motionboutique on Vimeo.

Newton Tutorial: 101 (part2) from motionboutique on Vimeo.

Newton Tutorial: 101 (part3) from motionboutique on Vimeo.

Is it worth buying?

After having a play around with Newton and seeing how easy it is to get going with it and start applying physics to your layers, i would definitely say it’s worth it. The quality of the animation and the extensive settings makes it worth the price tag and if you’re wanting to do alot of this kind of animation without having to resort to expensive applications for physics simulations then this is definitely the plugin in for you. I imagine that the longer the plugin is around the better the physics will get.

This is definitely something i would reccomend.