This comment was written by Sean, a Motionworks reader:
“I was viewing an article on Creative Cow a few months ago, and like usual got side tracked and looked at some of the demo reels. The first demo reel i clicked on started with a 1:1 copy of Andrew Kramers submerged tutorial/effect. I left the site and haven’t been back since. I just watched a world cup game on the BBC and guess what, Andrew Kramers Ancient Titles had been copied, and not even that well. Pathetic.
I think that you guys have actually devalued graphic design and opened a pandora’s box scenerio in pursuit of your own self interest and ego. I don’t like what you are doing. You are stiffling individual creativity and creating alot of dead wood. Yes, all people have to take responsibility but i don’t see you guys doing any of that, you just use caveats and carry on regardless.
And, to people who use deadlines, lack of experience, and so on, as an excuse to put out this rubbish. SHAME ON YOU. What ever happened to hard work, passion and integrity?!
Oh yeah, one last thing. I criticised AK once and i was blocked from commenting. PATHETIC guys, really poor form”.
110 Responses to this post
June 30, 2010 at 5:49 am |
I actually posted my response to this over on VisualFXtuts… and directed them over here, but I will say again, that this is just absolutely stupid. Blaming us for the lack of creativity in others? Please.
http://visualfxtuts.com/are-sites-like-video-copilot-and-motionworks-creating-deadwood
June 30, 2010 at 7:00 am |
So you are blaming the people that are teaching folks how to use a tool? I just don’t get that. These guys put out great work, it’s not their fault if others don’t chose to build on that information but rather just copy it outright. Sounds like bait to me, and good job!
June 30, 2010 at 7:29 am |
John you talked about been block in Videocopilot forum, Why you
blocked me?
June 30, 2010 at 9:02 am |
Videoman you HAVE NOT been blocked. This feature comment isn’t by me, it’s by a Motionworks visitor. Best wishes, John.
July 2, 2010 at 3:17 pm |
Video man and Marc…if you guys simply go down the thread, you’ll see that there is page 1 and 2, and if you guys look in the previous page you’ll see your comments…No one is blocking your comments ;D
June 30, 2010 at 8:33 am |
This conversation is interesting to me (interesting enough to compel me into my first ever post on a motion graphics forum of any kind. Wahoo).
I’m relatively new to motion graphics (year and a half, maybe two years since I first laid my hands on AE). I’m in a sketch comedy group in NYC that had an idea for a video that called for an incredible amount of keying and compositing, 3D animation, virtual set building, pyrotechnics. We were faced with two choices, scale back our idea or figure out how to make it work. Not wanting to miss out on seeing a roman arena full of lobster puppets fighting a giant robot, I picked up a copy of After Effects and got to work learning the damn thing. I bought a bunch of books and they helped some, but not as much as i’d hoped. I checked out the Lynda tutorials on the Adobe site and they helped a lot more. Then I found Video Copilot and Motionworks and almost immediately this project that seemed like a doomed dream became possible.
There weren’t any “Lobster Arena” tutorials but there were a bunch on keying. There weren’t any “Giant Robot command center tutorials” but there was plenty to learn about compositing, mattes, working in 3D, expressions, wiggle, particles, explosions, layer blending, even camera projection to make a photograph of our stage drop away as our actor took an elevator up to the robot’s brain (when AK “Submerged” I giggled like a thirteen year old girl because I had done the same thing for this video like six months earlier. I felt like I just got my first big-boy haircut). I borrowed heavily from the VC HUD tutorial, but poked around and found a lot of stuff to do that Kramer never covered to satisfy needs I didn’t even know I had until I found out what I could do.
I’m still far from great, but since finding these tutorials my creativity has exploded. They have unlocked a fairly daunting and deeply intimidating program just by underlining a lot of its features with real-world examples of their applications. I wouldn’t understand what half these effects were supposed to do or how to begin to use them if it weren’t for these effects, but seeing them used in different combinations I can start to experiment on my own and see what I can come up with. I’ve even started getting some (very low level) work because of it. I don’t rip off any of these tutorials, but I still go back to them for reference on occasion (“what was the name of the effect that made it all wiggly” “why isn’t this expression working? i think i missed a step”).
The presets in plug-ins like the Trapcode family are the same story – they’re a great starting point to introduce you to the features of the plug-in. They make the whole experience more valuable, especially to a beginner.
I genuinely feel sorry for plagiarizers. By taking what they’re shown and just mimicking – plus or minus – what’s handed to them, they’re missing out on some pretty incredible opportunities for exploration and creativity.
And to that point… one thing I’ve learned in comedy is that 90% of everything is crap. For every Kids in the Hall or Mr. Show there are a hundred totally uninspired groups that are just badly (and in some cases obviously) ripping them off, and some of them actually get paid to do it. Which is infuriating when you’re trying to do something original and find your own voice in the field. But I still think every comedian should see Kids in the Hall and Mr. Show to see how awesome comedy can be.
That’s all.
June 30, 2010 at 8:44 am |
Tutorials are useful, actually I thinks it’s great that people take their time to create them for sharing their knowledge of a better use of software techniques.
The blame is for those who don’t know how to use the tutorials for learning, and just make copies of them, at the end they become addicted to tutorials and can’t do anything without them limiting their work and creativity.
I believe at the end everything falls into place when it comes to creativity.
June 30, 2010 at 8:57 am |
Yeah Videoman!
Same here. I posted some positive stuff and my comment disappeared an hour later…
John don’t do on to others what you don’t want for you…
June 30, 2010 at 9:06 am |
Marc, I have not deleted any comments in this thread, including the one’s by Videoman that criticize me. Your’s may have been filtered to Spam. If you read Videoman’s comment you’ll notice that he believes the feature comment was written by me, which is not the case. Please don’t attack me without knowing the facts. Best wishes, John.
June 30, 2010 at 9:04 am |
Hi again,
I’m happy to see that we agree on the point that creating original designs trumps dull copying. at least in terms of artist morale. And it’s also interesting to see where every single one of us draws a line in the sand and how it is justified.
One crucial point seems to be that it’s not about whether the result is unique or groundbreaking in the creator’s judgment, but just good enough in his customer’s, right? A TV producer knows pretty well that the majority of the audience will never know if an ideas is “stolen”, because it happens all the time. What counts is the result, and in TV this means how many people watch the show. There is nothing else. In big screen movies it’s the box office ratings. On the web it’s the number of page impressions. Remember that the people in charge in general are used to deal with numbers. That’s how they measure everything. And they’re not bad people because of this, they just have a totally different perspective.
So if we wind this up reversely, the better the numbers, the happier the people who sign our cheques, the better the pay. Or at least we’ll get our next project assigned in a not too far away future. And this is where I quote myself: In the long run, it’s always the people with original ideas that have more jobs and better jobs (bigger and more prestigious projects), even if they use techniques that are not new — there aren’t that many. But it’s a fact that they use that existing knowledge to enhance their skills and deliver better results.
Another thing that occured to me today is if there were no way of tutorials to be published online, would it stop any of the tutorial-makers from writing a book about it? The only thing that is different is that the time it takes for an idea to spread has been dropped to zero by the web. The result is the same.
Another thing that should be pointed out is that most of the people who release tutorials do not depend on them to make a living. They do it because they love doing it for the sake of sharing knowledge, and taking the considerable amount of time you need to make a tutorial is quite hard for them when they’re working on real projects full time. That said, it is not understandable at all how one can possibly start to insult these people and why they should take it. They are quite right to block away any, say, malevolent comments from their sites. There’s little value to put up with stuff like that, especially when people do not read thoroughly and misinterpret the message — because what happens is that they get upset when you try to explain what you were saying (or just quoting) that they got wrong, which ultimately leads to a vicous circle of exchange of angry statements. Doesn’t make sense at all. That’s where they may draw the line as they like.
’nuff said, I suppose.
Best,
Erik
June 30, 2010 at 9:08 am |
Thanks for bringing this topic about. It’s an extremely important topic in the creative industries, especially in the motion graphics and VFX world today.
Personally, I began by experimenting in AE etc and then discovered Andrew Kramer’s tutorials on Video Copilot and found them to be some of the pioneering things about the internet at the time. People learning techniques from a professional. For free!
I think what John, Aarohn, Andrew and Nick have done for the community has given a lot of people the opportunity to learn things that, in some cases, come at extortionate prices.
Although, nowadays I find myself pushing away from the tutorials and trying to work out what it is I’m trying to achieve with what I’m working with. I can honestly say I’ve never used a preset or copied a tutorial whatsoever for a paying client, nor for my reel.
I do find nowadays that the tutorials that are available to the community are more geared as almost cop-outs. Why I say this is because the tutorials seem to be based on the tutors latest projects and just giving that away. Like a “here you go, I did an Ident for a TV Station, this is how it looks, how it works.”
The original tutorials were about techniques. Solutions to problems that artists needed help with. For example, sky replacement has a few ways to go around it and can be done in anyway you wish. Learning these techniques are valuable to a visual effects artist. On the other hand, a title sequence preset from VC is just a freebie you’re throwing away to a client and is absolutely worthless because you’re only changing the text.
It’s both the fault of the teacher and the student, in my opinion. The student for not reaching for the techniques and having the initiative to think for themselves as any student, in any field, should. The students should really look for solutions that can aid them in whatever they’re intending to do. Whether it’s freeze time, a TV bumper or an entire animated piece. The solutions are in these tutorials.
But, as I said before, it’s also the tutors fault for focusing on such a closed topic. Yes, they are teaching by example. “Here is how I would make text appear by splatting, but I’ll show you with my latest ident and I’ll give you the project file.” But techniques to make what is needed should be the focus. Not duplicating the titles to Transformers.
At the end of the day, these guys are the guys that have made us what we are and have become the “celebrities” and “gurus” of our community. We should be thankful for 1, bringing us all together, 2, teaching us the things they know and 3, sharing. And, those learning, should appreciate that, but they should also think for themselves.
P.S. I do agree with Sean that VC blocking him from commenting for criticising AK. It is quite bad form to not accept the critiques that you are receiving, especially to such an important topic as this, which does affect the lives and livelihoods of a lot of people.
June 30, 2010 at 9:09 am |
Sorry John!
It’s true, the comments are back
June 30, 2010 at 9:11 am |
Marc I get a lot of spam and ALL comments are subject to approval unless the poster has a previously approved comment. Being my site, I have the right to delete whatever I deem unsuitable which generally includes comments that directly attack me without reason and those that include foul language. Best wishes, John.
June 30, 2010 at 9:41 am |
What can i say about learnig? I owe my career to internet, in fact, i speak english thanks to the internet (excuse my grammar), there is to many people than just copy a tutorial exactly like they see, that is a mistake, but there is some people that i know (including me, i hope) than we learn from great tutorials (even the not so good ones) we learn greats tecnics, easy ways to do a lot of things, how a lot of tool works, and apply to creat all New works that like our customers, in my case, my boss, i am very well paid, considering i start just news editing, now im the Chief Creative Officer in a TV Channel from my country (HONDURAS) well, here i am, i pay my bills thanks to peolple like John and Andrew, who make a diference in my life sharing with other people the things they learn by experience or lots of time of unveil, Thanks to yo, I can work in some that i like, and support my family. I hope my experience can illustrate how you help people. Best Regards.
June 30, 2010 at 10:23 am |
Sean, you seem to have a bit of anger or jealousy about the subject of tutorial-makers. Tutorials and online training has become more popular these days so it is easy to track down the source of copied works but I’m sure the graphics industry is just running business-as-usual, it’s just easier to see where a lot of it comes from.
The quality designers and problem solvers will rise above any beginner and continue to be successful. It’s almost like a several years ago when video people complained that DV cameras was going to ruin the video business for ever!! Progression and evolution will always continue. Whenever you feel comfortable in your skills and stop learning, watch out because there are ambition talented people looking to fill your position.
Nick and Andrew and John provide so much information and knowledge that it is shocking to hear your comment there is definitely something you’re not telling us.
BY THE WAY, you say that he blocked you from posting because you criticized him but I wouldn’t be surprised if you comments were less than constructive. I see a lot of people criticizing his work and he just makes a joke about it being bad at it.
If you look at this video he made, almost 100 comments are critical of one thing or another. It’s about respect and appreciation which you don’t seem to have either.
http://www.videocopilot.net/blog/2010/05/payment-plan-short-online-now/#comments
June 30, 2010 at 6:17 pm |
I wouldn’t be where I am today without free tutorials/online education. From Photoshop to AE, they help explain the softwares’ interface, workflow, and various techniques that are unfamiliar and sometimes awkward to come across just playing on your own as a new user. I personally try to modify and add my own unique style and design sense to any tutorial I come across when using the technique for a project. I have seen AK’s tutorials used for more and more low budget commercials (often copied 100% to the T) since clients in lower markets don’t know what Video Copilot is and people who know of AE can make a quick :15 spot (and a quick paycheck) because of how easy it is to create some of the looks.
It is just like anything else in any industry. You need to become better and more rounded in what you do and do anything necessary to stay on top of the competition, even if it is the people who are 100% copying tutorial-looks.
June 30, 2010 at 7:56 pm |
I totally agree with the copying of tutorials, frame for frame.
How is the industry supposed to move forward and evolve if everyone doesn’t advance there skill level.
I do admit to using presets as starting points, Java Scripts or even elements… But they are starting points that you use to build with and advance into something new and exciting!
With technology advancing, software becoming more available and tutorials more abundant, the art form to why we do things is getting lost. Motion graphics, transition and colour grades are all getting used for the sake of it.
Understanding ‘why’ is the most important thing…
June 30, 2010 at 10:02 pm |
Well, i think this is a very simple matter some lazy non-creative minded people are seeking attention on.
If these tutorials are not out there n everywhere, how do u learn to be creative…there is always a stepping stone.
In schools, there lecturer teaches students the necessary tips n bits, and expect the students to make use of what was thought.
So are the AK, John n co tuts…
Guys complaining shouldn’t use these as an excuse, kindly take a bow out of the MG/CGI industry if you lack creativity…
Charl, Nigeria.
June 30, 2010 at 11:32 pm |
I agree. There is a corruption about creativity. But I don’t think it’s about teaching people something. It’s about the sharing the project files of the tutorials. so if there is a short deadline people don’t care about the creativity. they only care money = time.
I prepared some tutorials once and never shared the project files. I know that a real app doesn’t care if you share a project file or don’t. The important thing is the tutorial. Actually sharing project files kills creativity in my opinion.
July 1, 2010 at 1:08 am |
I think that this is also a growing trend with companies so locked in on profit. They are eliminating the talented designers for cheap prefab comps and sets. Why would you pay a talented artist 100k when you can get similar work for 70 bucks (royalty free) and use it in many of your projects. The people on the other end who are watching don’t have a clue as to what it takes to make some of the spots that are shown on television. They are probably hitting the John ( no offense John) during the commercials anyways.
July 1, 2010 at 2:05 am |
Oh, I saw this problems like ten times or so in different forum, ppl keep talking about copying or taking ready projects of the others.
Creativity is very crucial for designers. Writing a song, painting, shooting video, taking a photograph, everything requires creativity. But ppl always prefer the easiest way, that’s why they took or bought others FREE PROJECT OR COPYING FROM THEIR TUTORIALS. But they eventually will learn something from it, or at least I do. When I started Photoshop some times ago, I only copy from tutorials on web, but I learned a lot from those tutorials and now I create things my ways. IT’S TRUE that MANY PPL COPY FROM TUTORIALS but who cares, ppl WHO HAS TALENT will find their own ways, even ANDREW KRAMER started from Creative Cow, and now he has his own website.
WHY SEAN’S GOT BLOCKED?
Very simple, if Sean keep TROLLING OR FLAMING on the website, others VIDEOCOPILOT fans will come out and talk back, argue using “bad” languages. And I believe if Sean happened to read those comments, he will keep posting another comments and situation might get over control, that’s why Sean GOT BLOCKED. EVEN he is not happy, there are still millions VIDEOCOPILOT followers out there. EVEN he will never using videocopilot products anymore, it doesn’t matter, AK business is good, his reputation is high.
Here, in my country, if you are not happy with the government, if you try to SAY SOMETHING BAD ABOUT them, they just lock you up in prison. WHY? Because they are SCARED? PATHETIC? THE ANSWER is NO. They just don’t want problems. They got another important things to do than deal with 1 or few individuals. Same here, don’t think that AK is PATHETIC. He is not. You think he has that much time to argue with you? I doubt it. If it was me, I’d rather block few ppl who is not happy and I still have thousands of followers THAN let you SPAMMING, TROLLING, FLAMING on my website. You are not happy, go somewhere else. So, WAKE UP GUYS and use your head, think globally.
I see John Dickinson is a good guy, very good one, but AK is not as soft as you think. You will eventually realize what I say when you become “something” in this world.
July 1, 2010 at 10:35 pm |
“Here, in my country, if you are not happy with the government, if you try to SAY SOMETHING BAD ABOUT them, they just lock you up in prison. WHY? Because they are SCARED? PATHETIC? THE ANSWER is NO. They just don’t want problems.”
Dude that’s messed up – are you for real? You’re advocating a ban on freedom of speech and a persons individual rights and liberties to say whatever they want? That does sound a bit pathetic to me.
As for applying that to tutorial creators websites – what’s wrong with a bit of constructive criticism? If all you ever hear are positives how are you ever meant to improve or progress? Remember, there’s no such thing as positive or negative criticism, just good and bad criticism.
Anyway, apologies for drifting off topic, but boy this comment had a horrible sentiment.
July 1, 2010 at 2:13 am |
Guess what, on The Tonight show with Jay Leno on the stage they have a big screen TV and they show Andrew K’s. ancient title with “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”. Is that pathetic or what? Don’t you have your own imagination? Do you have to copy everything you can find on internet? At least change colouring, background texture so it would like the same. I am sick of that.
July 1, 2010 at 2:13 am |
Interesting discussion.
I have seen several AK’s tuts/projects used as is in broadcast work in the Philippines (where I am stationed now). I feel sorry for the designers responsible, they work for money alone – no vision, no integrity.
There seem to be a lot of friction now about free tutorials and spec work, but the answers are right there in people’s comments – really great work (and artists behind it) will rise above the crap.
On the other hand, I don’t see how hard it is for trainors like John, Andrew, Nick etc. to enforce a copyright on their handouts like “This is educational material, if I see you using it in any recognisable form in a comercial work or use it in a reel I will sue your a#s.”
It will not stop it really, but at least discourage it.
Just my two cents.
July 1, 2010 at 2:17 am |
I apologize beforehand this will get a wee ranty and rambling…
I completely agree. The best tutorials out there educate with technical knowledge and inspire with creative thought. The fault lies not with Andrew Kramer, Nick Campbell, Aharon Rabinowitz, John Dickinson, or AETuts. It’s the people watching these tutorials, copying them verbatim and somehow thinking they are now masters of After Effects.
But they aren’t really learning anything. Monkeys with head trauma can copy a tutorial. When I see a potential employee’s reel that’s filled with copycat Copilot projects, MK12 clones, growing vines, and template-y graphics, it’s really sad. It’s sad because this person is trying to pass it off as their work (technically, they did *do* it), but really it shows they have no inner creativity. They can’t conceptualize. They can’t learn a technique and then build upon it and use it in a totally unique way. There’s no problem-solving when the tutorial tells you everything in baby steps.
There’s this trend that I call ‘upside-down learning’. In the case of 3D, it’s people learning IBL HDR GI and they have no idea how to 3 point light. Or the rule of thirds. Or visual tension, weight, or drama. There’s this instant gratification need of doing all the super cool advanced stuff and having absolutely no foundation of the basics. I actually worked with a 3D artist who didn’t know how to texture map an object other than UV mapping. He UV mapped a cylinder! O_o He didn’t know what a reflection map was, but he sure loved to tell me all about photon mapping.
My dad, who was an aerospace illustrator, frequently told me, “there is a difference between skill and talent, but they are often confused as the same thing.” Doing these tutorials makes a person skilled… but they don’t teach talent.
It makes working with these people really difficult. If I say “make this section really dramatic. Have it burst with energy!” I get blank stares. If I say, “At 1 second into it, turn up the particle emitter birthrate and do an easy ease back down to zero. then add a Glow” — then I get a response. But at that point, I’m micro managing plug-in settings and I might as well do it myself. And guess what I get? I get exactly what I ask for. Ho-hum. Snore.
There’s this BBC America reality show called Last Restaurant Standing. The host is a famous French chef; He’s constantly pushing the chef contestants to “surprise and delight” him. And that’s what I want from fellow designers I work with now or in the future. Give me more than what I want. Surprise me! Twist it around. Try something new! Experiment a little. Find those happy accidents! Surprise and delight me!
So yeah, people that regularly teach tutorials should address this. If tutorial sites really care about their viewers, push them to be better than the tutorial is.
Too many people want to work at Pixar and ILM without putting any effort to earn a place there.
July 1, 2010 at 4:00 am |
It’s interesting to see a great deal of supporters of sites like VC and MW are usually beginners and students. I wonder what the older crowd who are still doing just production work and making a living, supporting a family, and NOT DOING tutorials think of all this.
I’ve heard that the problem is not really the whole copy, lack of creativity issue you all are clamoring about but more to do with devaluing the industry. I agree with professionals that sites like MW and VC are a business. Make no mistake about it. If you believe all these sites are created just to have tutorials on them, you are sadly mistaken. But hey, you can’t blame them for that. They found a business niche that works! If you have worked in production, you know it’s not something you want to do the rest of your life. There is a reason a great deal of professionals have moved on to teaching or found ways to generate a different source of income. It’s not really a self sustaining career path anymore. Take Harry Frank from Graymachine as an example. You don’t see this when you are young and fresh out of school because you just want a foot in the door and are willing to work long hours and for free. Everything is new and cool and there is nothing else you rather do. You are pirating the latest software and learning 10 programs at a time. Believe me, all this changes as you move on to becoming a professional.
It’s interesting because, for instance, in the VFX industry right now many are upset about the outsourcing and abuse. There are many reasons for this but this mentality of I’ll work for free if I can work on (insert big name here) has contributed to the problems.
The whole talent argument also tends to fall apart in the real world for the most part. The talented ones usually get paid the least and work the longest. The hacks usually collect the big paychecks and get to go home early to be with their family. Of course you hear of the talented individual doing very well but for every successful talented person, there are a dozen who can’t pay their bills. Funny because the most talented individuals are usually not concerned or posting on sites like this… Nick Cambell preaches about this sort of thing all the time. No offices and no resumes! Talent, read Seth Godin and start your own business! However, for someone who does not support a family and does not generate income from production work, it’s very easy to say. He is fortunate and good for him! However, not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur. Some people are perfectly happy working a regular 9 to 5, collecting a paycheck and going home to spend time with their family. Are they wrong for doing this?
I understand a lot of the older crowd doesn’t like change. However, it was bound to happen. I personally don’t care about any of this because I go about my business and try to adapt to change. The day I can’t, I will move on to something else. It’s tough because I have not been affected by the changes in the industry but I know a lot of folks who have.
In the end, you can’t blame these these guys for making tutorial sites. Blatant copying would happen regardless. In my opinion, It’s the lack of exploration and problem solving skills that are being lost through the plethora of tutorial sites popping up. Too funny. Gkaster posted a beautiful spot on Vimeo the other day and like the third comment down was “make a tutorial for this”! Does it devalue our industry? Maybe, not smart enough or too ignorant to answer any of this. Is there a reason I can’t find free heart and brain surgery tutorials on the Web to become a surgeon from the comfort of my home?
July 1, 2010 at 11:16 am |
Hi everyone. I have just started learning AE and Maya…
I don’t think it is the tutorial creators fault for people not creating absolute creative stuff. I learned Most of the AE stuff from Andrew K, and at the end of most of his tuts he points out that don’t stop here this technique can be used in many other ways.
The problem is with the people who watches this tuts (as mentioned before). When they watch they might brag about how he got the idea rather than focusing on what creative stuff they can do with this techniques.
This article is saying to me that we should blame computers for people’s bad hand writing.
This is just wrong to say ‘hey teacher I am lazy because you taught me all those great stuff’.
Cheers to all
Happy creativity
July 1, 2010 at 11:10 pm |
How much do you wanna bet that ‘Sean’ has watched tutorials on videocopilot, motionworks, aetuts, etc..etc…?
“Wah, wah, wah…. I don’t like what I see!!” —Then look somewhere else.
… and stop swimming around in the hater-aid. Cause again… I’m 100% sure that guy has watched and loved all the tutorials on the ae scene.
July 2, 2010 at 7:19 am |
I’d also like to add that yes, alot of folks just create exact copies of tutorials or use the “just for learning” project files for their own work without any adjustments….. but those are the folks that are obviously still learning. If there’s soooo much “biting” <— bringing it back) going on… and if your skill level is far beyond "copy cats" then you should have no problem standing out among the crowd with original kick-butt work. So is it really a bad thing?
Eh…. i personally don't mind. I've learned ALOT of stuff from the ae scene masters, and I'm only… I'd say low to maybe mid level intermediate skilled at ae – but I've also come up with 2 techniques that NONE of the ae scene masters have tutorials for.
I'm kinda proud of that… and I think the ae masters would be happy for me that I've done that.(I'm not putting a link to my techniques either cause this ain't about me)
SO don't hate on those still learning, make the effort to stand out, and keep on after effecting everybody!!
July 2, 2010 at 4:22 am |
Hi Look i know that John and Andy’s work gets used more than it should, I even sent a complaint in to the UK’s channel five just last month for using AK’s Iron man rings (unchanged from the tutorial file) as a logo on one of their prime time programmes, but these guys do great and inspiring work-mostly for free. Come on man credit where its due.
July 2, 2010 at 4:39 am |
At some point, the end user must take some responsibility as well. How often has the client made specific requests for something that looks just like something else. “Can you make it a bit more like ?”
Personally, I don’t mind that AK et al throw up examples of their work in the form of tutorials, the ‘here’s how I did it’ thing sited in an earlier post; it’s helpful to see how pioneers/innovators work. Anything that advances my own progress as an artist is welcome, and learning the techniques of others is part of that education.
July 2, 2010 at 5:44 am |
thumbs up to all the positive comments on teaching and learning copycats have only themselfs to live with
July 2, 2010 at 10:13 am |
One thing I think we all should consider is that Video Copilot has taken motion graphic title sequences from SyFi Channel – http://videocopilot.net/tutorials/soft_shadows_3dmax/, TNT – http://videocopilot.net/tutorials/the_ring/, major motion picture logo animations Like Dream Works – http://videocopilot.net/tutorials/smoke_screen/ and have broken them down for anyone who wants to learn.
I just think it’s important to make note that its all an exchange of information. The world is a funny place and if it bothers you that much you can turn off your TV and get back to your After Effects comps…
July 2, 2010 at 11:38 am |
In the future, parents will place a pen, paper and dictionary in the crib. Lord help the lazy toddler that doesn’t proceed to generate short stories.
July 2, 2010 at 1:27 pm |
I am from India, and if you see the local TV channels, it is a shame. They don’t even change the colors or the font’s of AK’s or MW’s graphics. And the worst I saw was in an airport mall which was flaunting their Demo reel (and actually had 130% of AK’s direct copy paste) and it said “Reach us for your creative needs!!”. How cool is that.!!!
July 4, 2010 at 5:34 am |
@ haf
india is full of great motion designers. watch this and shut ur mouth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ1R1–Yf84&feature=related
@ sean
there are million and billions of add and visual effects created every year, according to u all of them made using 200 tutorials of videocopliot and motionworks. ur comment is just ridiculous. our tv and film industry does not rely on tutorials.
July 4, 2010 at 1:46 pm |
Hi Ramesh, Shut my mouth? (come on, please use discretion while commenting on the internet). I didn’t generalize India, I was mentioning about the local TV channels (not our NDTV kind of stuff) and this particular motion designing company I saw in the Airport.
July 2, 2010 at 7:34 pm |
Creating deadwood? It’s easy to ignore tutorials if you don’t get anything from them. It’s good to question ourselves once in a while. I think we have a community where helpfulness, respect and thankfulness are leading concepts. How can we then fail?
July 3, 2010 at 7:12 am |
Hi there Peder
Well , it would be nice if yo would do a tutorial on how to write a plugin, if you do I promise not to write plugins you’ve already written. lol
Bless you
But no , I’m serious
Maybe the next making it look great series will be ” How to write Plugins” with Peder Norrby , sounds good to me
can you believe it , the anti spam text generator thingi below is asking me to type “be recopied” to submit this comment. dont copy , Create
July 8, 2010 at 9:14 am |
I’m looking forward to the plug-in writing tutorials.
When will they be out?
July 10, 2010 at 11:23 pm |
Adobe provides documentation on the SDK and example plug-ins to get you started:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/aftereffects/
July 4, 2010 at 2:38 am |
hello,
I’m from Honduras, in this country the tv is realy bad in so many ways, the tv programs copy all the good things they see in international tv(realy bad copy’s also) but in some way is justified because no one teach motion graphics professionally is frustrating, I’m realy happy with websites like VC and MW and i hope they stay as good as now and don’t be affected for this people that just copy all tutorials, I’m young and all this sites help me but I try to make a difference without copy tutorials.
July 4, 2010 at 9:32 am |
This is an amazing post, I was looking at one of my colleagues posts on our own work forum. he put a link in with a quaote look at this see what I can do. I pop in there and lo and behold carbon copy AK. Everyone at work was going wow look at that, till I piped up and critiqued the keyframing, editing, rotoscoping, framerate.
this guy got quite upset, I then realised that AK tutorials are brilliant, but without the barebones fundamentals the work is lost. As soon as I see a AK rendition I get turned off. I too have been locked out of the AK forum.
I then realised that at the moment on the net there is fandom and cult following, videocopilot is one, STROBIST is another etc etc.
A tongue in cheek no no when I produce showreels was that lens flare is a not good form. AK puts out a lensflare tut and integral program suddenly its de rigeur. I actually like AK and his tutorials. However I sit there with a pen and paper and note any uses of a particular technique.
My favourite game on fringe is to spot the AK injokes, first episode check the warehouse wall AKramer is there for everyone to see.
However at least he is not doing AE tuts thing of charging for content. Which is good.
So guys get original, please. I spent four weeks developing a system for using orignal plug ins in AE to reproduce the saucer crash in men in black. That is an example of the R&D that you need to do.
July 30, 2010 at 3:59 am |
Do you think maybe the reason why lens flares are so popular is less because of AK and more because of the Star Trek movie and JJ Abrams? I know they worked together, but still…if the director wanted it, he got it. And AK decided to provide the same tools he used to the public.
Really, people need to lighten up. This isn’t anything new to people in the design world. People have used clip-art and tutorials and copied designs for print for years and years, and motion graphics is just now feeling the sting Photoshop/Illustrator folks have felt for years. Sure, clients will still hire and pay people that download project files from tutorial sites and cook up a pot of copypasta, but those people have to live with the knowledge and fear of being outed at any moment by a former, current, or future client. And anyone with any sense can smell an AK tutorial a mile away, so there’s no way they’d get hired to do what they do for a 9-5.
To be honest, I’m not sure if this rant is more toward people who copy tutorials directly and act like they made it up themselves (which I also intensely dislike) or if people want their tight-knit private AE club that’s suddenly had the doors blown wide open.
And for my own credentials, I learned AE via AK, and I have a 9-5 where I do video editing and motion graphics, and I would stab myself in the eyes before I copy a tutorial and pass it off to my boss as a unique product.
July 4, 2010 at 8:14 pm |
what people are talking about does not make sense. Tutorials are leading us so far as to learn the process by which something is real and to convey to your work. People like (AK, John Dickinson, Nick) do tutorials because they like to spread knowledge but also because it creates time buyers for their products. And the one who copied their work and presents it as it will not get a job in this industry is all that will be employed to see that this is a copy of someone’s project.
July 4, 2010 at 8:59 pm |
Why should we blame people that teach us something so valuable?
It is true, you do see a lot of Video Copilot stuff being copied, but instead of accusing the tutors, why dont we start doing something original and great ourselves?
This would bring far better results to the community and to us ,than getting angry about something that we have no control over(people who copy tutorials)
John, keep up the good work
July 6, 2010 at 1:01 pm |
John, It’s not just the naked theft of tutorials that drives me nuts…it’s the naked theft of software and plugins.
Kids with no talent can pirate software and clip stuff together with no investment, no creativity, no clue. I average about $4 k per year in software expenditures, and know that probably four out of five users of these apps are riding on my investment (A fraction os us are the ones who few keep the software companies in business).
And let’s face it: we seasoned, serious professionals pay the bill in so many ways.
I think we have to band together as professionals and help educate our clients and continue to expose the scammers. We can’t stop this crap but we can slow and impede it.
July 6, 2010 at 9:56 pm |
I don’t think Peder would put the comment on facebook,if he’d know how people’d react to that small comment.Funny:)
July 7, 2010 at 12:03 am |
I appreciate the tutorials and have even requested some in the past.
On the other hand, tutorials devalue those that have been dishing out thousands of dollars to go to NAB each year to hear these people speak in person for the NAB editors conference.
It enables teenagers to make amazing work such as this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE-ZmwATS8E&feature=player_embedded
At this rate, it is only a matter of time before our work is outsourced to 3rd world country’s. If you plan on doing motion graphics and have not already established yourself, you had better find a niche and stick to it! It is no longer about having the tools, it is about having the talent and creativity to thrive in entertainment.
July 7, 2010 at 11:24 am |
Are people mad that people are copying tutorials or are people that their not getting the work?
isnt re-making a film the samething? or when people turn comic books in to movies? cant they come up with an idea?
what about ever car company copying mercedes benz, they bring something out and then it becomes standard in evry other car.
its all over the place, get over it.
July 10, 2010 at 7:33 am |
I’ve learned tons from Andrew. But I’ve never taken the project files after watching the tuts. I believe that Andrew and other are doing a great service. So one way to solve the problem is to just stop giving away the project files. Make people try and copy you. Just that little bit of effort will detour most lazy folks!
July 14, 2010 at 5:38 am |
I totally agree
July 13, 2010 at 10:21 am |
Thanks John, Comments are there! I appreciated!
July 13, 2010 at 2:42 pm |
Please check first before criticising me next time
Best wishes, John.
July 20, 2010 at 3:21 pm |
If i may say something here, When AC did the particle animation to music, which was online for a while, i heard nobody say ” he is copying from someone else”, but i think he did his own version on it, same goes to graymachine for his version too.
When I was taking my After effect class at UCLA, AC latest project was the “3D room” i took the idea and made a title sequence off of it; http://vimeo.com/2962143 but when i posted at creativecow to have some feedbacks, some people gave me useful feeds other attacked me for copying; this was my first project using AE and I’m proud of it, i did not use any project files from AC, but i did give him credit at school and at creativecow.
I want to be honest here i did learn a lot from those tutorials not only AC but all others who make them, but it all comes back to the designer and his talent and creativeness, to copy the same file project and use it as it is and claim it’s yours is really sick.
July 27, 2010 at 9:35 pm |
The concept of creativity is not exclusive. All art is theft. I’ve not read the rest of the threads and someone else has probably already covered this, but these are my thoughts.
There is no such thing as un-influenced art, it is just purely and physically impossible, and that is by no means a bad thing. Art evolves, it grows, it adapts as more and more people use it and are involved in it. It’s like life.
Replication and duplication will always occur, usually through an economic imperative. People are asked – or believe – that a certain look will gain them an advantage and sometimes they are right, or are asked to do so. These things are not inherently wrong. This is business. Following the leader is a successful business tool.
If a client asks for one specific thing that they’ve seen and you provide it, that is not theft, it’s copying. Anyone that says otherwise is a moron of the highest degree because every artist I studied at university studied the greats, and to become a great they understood that you had to master their techniques. Great artists studied, copied, sold copies, manipulated copies and then discarded those ideas to become who they were. Perhaps not all, just the major ones that I remember.
If you provide a technique on your reel that you’ve seen on a tute verbatim, well, that’s plagiarism. But if you tweak it, then it’s a bit grey because what you’re using it for is to show clients what you can do with what you’ve learnt and have done, that’s not the same as showing them what you can create on your own.
Taking the invention of someone else’s idea as your own is wrong. Presenting their idea as your own is wrong. That’s why academia treats plagiarism so strongly, it is theft of thought.
But taking an idea and re-drafting it is not the same.
It seems to me that there is far too much preciousness and hypocrisy in an industry which historically does not allow for broad and sweeping change and inherently follows all graphic trends. Most change is in the act of following, which in itself, is copying, and theft. So where is the amazing originality?
I for one am grateful for every online tute I get for free or otherwise pay for, it’s astounding to me that anyone thinks this stuff should be free or somehow contributes negatively to the motion graphics field.
I for one feel it’s yet another ghost of that veiled mythical age of ‘production’ where everyone had to work through agency mystics.
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