Recently on Twitter I asked followers which After Effects plug-ins they own but no longer used. I received some interesting responses and thought it would be worthwhile opening up the forum here on Motionworks. Are there plug-ins in your toolkit that have fallen out of favour, perhaps you used to love them but the “look” is old? Maybe another plug-in or application has taken it’s place? Are there plug-ins you’ve purchased but not even used!? Personally I have found fewer reasons to fire up Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator, with Cinema 4D taking it’s place in my tool kit; and effects like 3D Stroke, which was once all the rage, are gathering dust. How about you?

Guest host Florian Füger jumps ahead in the After Effects Effects A-Z series with a revealing look at CC Flo Motion.

Jesse Rosten came to my attention last week via his popular Fotoshop by Adobé spot. Jesse is skillful yet modest, with a great eye, loads of heart and a passion for film and motion graphics. In this fun episode of Unplugged discover how Jesse transitioned from the Makeup counter at Walgreens to become a talented, in-demand filmmaker and commercial director.

In this walkthrough tutorial learn some of the techniques and workflow used to create a battle-scared Captain America Shield using Cinema 4D, Photoshop and After Effects.

Watch Example (Captain America)  |  Watch Example (Chris Evans)

Guest host Jerzy Drozda Jr (Maltaannon) is back with another After Effects: Effects A-Z series tutorial, this time explaining the basics of the Channel Blur effect. Watch Tip (flv) | Watch Tip (mp4)

Have you ever created an animation you were happy with only to realise you needed to extend the length? In this short tip learn a technique for extending an animation quickly and easily while maintaining the velocity.

Motion graphic artist Pierre Magnol’s latest work Chemistry comprises beautifully shot imagery with fine graphics. I asked Pierre to give us some insights into his approach to this spot and his workflow in general. Read more…

In this tutorial for Boris FX I demonstrate how to build an organic logo animation using Boris Continuum Complete 8’s Particle Emitter 3D. I asked Boris FX Product Manager Dirk De Jong for his thoughts on how BCC Particle Emitter 3D compared with Trapcode Particular. Here’s Dirks response:

“My sense is that BCC Particle Emitter 3D matches up well with Trapcode Particular. With this effect we are basically upgrading the BCC particles to have better AE integration, adding support of After Effects lights, cameras, masks, etc. The Evolution graphs and Gradient controls give a better level of control than what could be found in the old Particle System for particle size, color and opacity over the life of the particle. There is now support for some true 3D particle shapes with 3D lighting etc. In many cases the OpenGL rendering allows BCC Particle Emitter 3D to use bigger size particle images without slowing down as much as a software rendering Particle effects such as Particular might.”