November 30, 2008 by   | 3,601 views | Comments (0)

Two powerhouse workshops packed with expert techniques for Adobe After Effects, Zaxwerks ProAnimator, Zaxwerks 3D Flag and more

Take your design and production skills to the next level

The Making It Look Great ProAnimator bundle includes the Making It Look Great 1 and Making It Look Great 4 video workshops. Both hosted by After Effects expert and Zaxwerks demo artist John Dickinson.

Learn more about Making It Look Great 1

Learn more about Making It Look Great 4

About your Host: Based in Sydney Australia, John Dickinson is a cutting-edge motion graphics artist who is in demand. John combines 12 years of industry experience with a proven teaching ability to provide high quality learning resources that encourage and challenge participants to break through to new levels of excellence and impact in their work.

November 26, 2008 by   | 10,143 views | Comments (9)

Often when creating grungy styles I resort to stock imagery, as is the case with this weathered metal look. The base for the look is a metal texture, heavily treated in Photoshop, with an After Effects comp combining Roughen Edges and Fractal Noise for blotches and scratches. You’ll also notice I’ve color corrected the Text comp inside the Main comp to help it sit better with the background. The background was created by combining a couple of stock footage layers, which have been replaced in the download with a rendered still. Download Project

November 26, 2008 by   | 1,133 views | Comments (14)

The so-called global financial crisis seems to have hit some countries harder than others. Here in Australia it’s in the news almost every day but apart from a diving share market and dollar value, reduced business and consumer sentiment, and the threat of increased unemployment, so far things seem to be generally unchanged. My job seems as busy as ever, with plenty of work coming through the door. How has the crisis affected you? Have you lost your job? Are you freelancing and finding it harder to find work? I’m curious to know how the motion graphics industry is being affected around the world.

November 23, 2008 by   | 5,521 views | Comments (11)

Psunami 1.3 was recently released by Red Giant Software after their recent acquisition of Digital Anarchy’s After Effects plug-ins.  A recent project required this style of FX treatment, and I have been thoroughly impressed with this plug-in, both in its ease of use, potential for creative extension and use in non intended ways. Read more…

November 23, 2008 by   | 7,817 views | Comments (11)

Title and action safe guides are used to ensure that important content isn’t placed outside the viewable areas of a television screen. If you’re creating a project that will be seen on both 4:3 and 16:9 televisions, the best way to ensure that 4:3 viewers don’t miss any of the action is to use guides with a 4:3 safe zone. Up until After Effects CS4 I used a Photoshop file Read more…

November 22, 2008 by   | 1,268 views | Comments (11)

Render TimeLast year I had to sell all my studio equipment, including my trusty PowerMac with all its lovely RAM. The only computer I have presently is my trusty PowerBook G4 with 1 Gig of RAM. Lest you feel sorry for me, don’t. Rendering may take a lot longer than it used to, but this little power house has helped me produce some wonderful motion graphic designs. Read more…

November 20, 2008 by   | 917 views | Comments (9)

Welcome

Welcome to the new, bigger, badder Motionworks website. Thanks for your patience while we’ve been getting everything in order. As you’ll notice we’ve undergone quite a transformation, or as I like to say, Motionworks has grown up. I learned a lot about blogging and websites in general in the 4 years that Motionworks 1.0 was online. Read more…

November 19, 2008 by   | 4,357 views | Comments (9)

Fox Classics is always a great client to work for simply because I get to work with some great movie footage. This project completed by myself and Dan Creighton was created completely in After Effects and took us about 8 days. As usual when I’m approached to undertake this type of project which – required a deal of rotoscoping, I request an edited base from Read more…

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