Do you need to come up with a new name for your business, product or service – one that people love to promote to their friends and colleagues?  Then tune in to this BOD and get a simple checklist to help you quickly and easily choose a super-strong name. Read more…

Due to popular demand we now have a simple forum on Motionworks. The purpose of this forum is to give us a place to discuss Motionworks products, tutorials and posts separate from post comments. This is the first of a number of updates you’ll be seeing on Motionworks in the new year. Best wishes, John.

I picked up this book recently and highly recommend it if you want to learn more about font selection, colour selection and type design and layout. Although print and web focussed, it is still highly relevant for motion graphics and contains instruction and inspiration for all designers. Also check out before and after magazine for a series of handy design articles.

In this Unplugged challenge review we look a the work of Hussin Kahn, Joshua Timmer, Jens Arnold, Hakan Acarel, David Kopidlansky and Laura Daniels.

Watch movie (11min, 25MB)

Lloyd Alvarez, the talented and generous founder of aescripts.com, planned to be a doctor. Somehow that didn’t work out and these days he’s an in-demand freelance designer and creative director, working for some of the biggest name companies around. Read more…

Are you ready to make that next great leap in your career, take on a bigger, more challenging job or stretch yourself to much more ambitious and exciting work?  Then this BOD will give you just the boost you need to jump with confidence to that next level. Read more…

In this Unplugged challenge review we look a the work of Marc Leonard, Fabian Van Der Meer, Sarffi Tamas, Daniel Thurau and Denis St-Pierre.

Watch movie (12min, 31MB)

For many years Knoll Light Factory Pro (KLF) has been the go-to tool for lens flares for Adobe After Effects (and other applications). I’m a big fan and have used and relied on it for dozens of projects. Just recently Video Copilot announced that a new kid is moving into the neighbourhood. Well I’m here to tell you, that kid is one big dude, Read more…

In this Unplugged challenge review we look a the work of Israel Long, Renzo Reyes, Robert Bojor, Mark Shingleton, Alexander Massey and David Gugel

Watch movie (9min, 24MB)

Thinking of starting your own business, breaking into a new industry or switching careers to pursue your dreams? Then this BOD is for you.  When John’s creative passion meets Robin’s diamond-tipped commercial focus,
the result is a treasure trove of tips, tricks and ideas to get you off to
a powerful start. Read more…

In this extended tutorial learn how to identify the field order of footage and interpret it collectly; create a realistic Jumbotron-style look using CC Ball Action, Glow, Levels and Curves; turn the jumbotron into a 3D column mounted on grungy wire mesh using Zaxwerks 3D Layer Warps; and fine tune the look by adding animated arrows plus a touch of Read more…

Over the next few weeks I will be reviewing each and every entry to the Unplugged challenge. These will be short critiques where I will discuss what I believe are the strengths and areas for improvement. If any entrant would like to discuss their entry in more detail don’t hesitate to contact me. This time we look a the work of Hugo Goudswaard, David Kwasnik, Read more…

Everyone who took the time and made an effort to display their work in this challenge is a winner. Choosing from the top 10 was not easy and after much deliberation we have decided to use Robert Leger’s entry as the title sequence for Unplugged. Robert based his animation on the existing style and colour palette and reworked it into a fun and stylish sequence. I’m looking forward to discussing the animation with Robert during his Unplugged interview. To all other entrants, once again thank you, and look out for my video review of your entries.

In this revealing episode of Unplugged, Ross Shain shares his journey from art college to Avid to Imagineer Systems – makers of the powerful Mocha, Mokey and Motor software applications. Ross clearly explains the difference between these popular tracking and rotoscoping packages and hints of great things just around the corner. Check out the huge holiday discounts! Read more…

Beautiful work by Korb. Check out his reel too – magnificent in it’s simplicity. Via @engine.

A big congratulations and thank you to everyone who entered the Unplugged title challenge. You all made a huge effort and deserve praise for having the courage to showcase your skills, no matter what your skill level. If you’d like to discuss your entry feel free to contact me. Read more…

I recently used Red Giant Software’s new Holomatrix effect for Terminator: Salvation promo graphics. Watch out for a full post and tutorial.

Amazing to see that iPhone was used to capture video for this spot. Check out the iPhone rig!

In this two part tutorial learn how to use Zaxwerks 3D Flag and ProAnimator to create simple yet stylish broadcast promo graphics. In this part we create a simple background, build and animate text in Zaxwerks ProAnimator, and learn how to fake a shadow being cast from the ProAnimator layer onto the 3D Flag layer, complete with shadow displacement. Read more…

Here are some more great entries for the Unplugged title challenge. Tomorrow is the final day to get your entry in so you’d better hurry, the winner will be announced very soon. Read more…