Generally, when creating a boxing promo, we are given between two and five days. This project was different, or at least appeared to be different at first. My colleague Brett Morris and I, were given two weeks to design and produce a promo for the upcoming Green V Jones Jr fight here in Sydney. However, after the first two days of work the deadline was cut Read more…

For this promo for W Channel, my client suggested this beautiful HBO promo as a guide. I only had 3 days so a full 3D look was out of the question. Instead I turned to the ultra-useful Adobe After Effects plug-in - Trapcode Form. Form was used to transition between shots and text, with the footage itself used as a layer map to colorize the particles and control Read more…

While researching for this teaser spot for Women’s Murder Club, I noticed that police tape was a common theme throughout existing graphics. My suggestion to the client was to construct a simple crime scene in 3D where the camera pulls back, revealing evidence and resolving in the title on police tape, with the channel identity and times below. Read more…

In this recorded version of a recent Adobe E-seminar we walk through After Effects techniques and workflow for creating a grungy and moody boxing promo. Techniques include color grading for a poster-style look, creating an old, weathered look using stock images and blend modes and tips and tricks for creating organic looks.
Watch tutorial (52mins, 77MB)   Watch Promo

Recently I posted a 3 part series of tutorials on creating a shattering glass effect using Maxon Cinema 4D and Adobe After Effects. This is the project that inspired that tutorial. The brief was to animate promotional key art of a person with bloodied hands holding a brief case and finish with a glass shatter effect to reveal the name of the series, followed by the channel logo. Read more…

For this Quantum Of Solace promo I once again turned to Trapcode Form. Form was used to create the grids in the background, on the actors faces and the main title. The face grids were created by customizing the MILG 5 Form Face tutorial, which you can grab for free over at Red Giant Software. The smokey look of the background was created using Read more…

Recently I was asked to come up with an idea for a show and as seems to be the case lately, had very little time to develop it. Click on the thumbnail and the first picture you’ll see are my initial ideas created in Illustrator. The second one is better than the first but simply making the T and A capitals in a script font (Scriptina) wasn’t working, Read more…

I had to whip up some quick supers last week and turned to Trapcode Form. Form was used to create the gaseous elements that sit behind the text. The font is Univers Black Oblique;  using the oblique face adds a dynamic feel. The lighting was faked using a solid with the Circle effect applied and a high feather value, rotated in z-space to act as a floor. Read more…

Recently I watched a  tutorial by Lloyd Alvarez  at AETUTS showing how to take control of After Effects’ Shatter effect. I’ve been using this effect for 10 years but never needed to use a shatter map layer to control where and how a layer shatters, and that’s just what Lloyd’s tutorial demonstrates. This week, after researching Dark Knight graphics Read more…

For this shot my client wanted to place a logo in the path of the actor and have it appear as if she trips over it. The shot was tracked using SynthEyes with the 3D tracking data then transfered to Maya where the logo was positioned and rendered into the scene. These steps were completed by my co-worker Michael Tiong. I then rotoscoped the original shot over Read more…

This project for a Summer campaign on Foxtel Box Office was created using a combination of Maxon Cinema 4D and Adobe After Effects with Zaxwerks ProAnimator and Knoll Light Factory. The simple 3D text supers were created using ProAnimator inside After Effects and the supers with characters were created in Cinema 4D and finished in After Effects. Read more…

This project is another good example of taking poor quality 4:3 vision, making it 16:9 and giving it some polish. The tools included Adobe After Effects, Zaxwerks ProAnimator, Trapcode Horizon and Shine, and Maltaannon’s Screenify effect (featured in MILG 5). The vision was treated with the Screenify effect— which adds a realistic jumbotron Read more…

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…

This “hot” boxing promo was produced at Foxtel Design by Luke Simshauser. I was impressed by the project because of the quality that was achieved with a very tight deadline – the entire job took 3 days from concept, through shoot to post production. The clever use of on-set lighting and After Effects’ Puppet Pin tool also caught my eye. Read more…

This look is based on graphics from the original trailer for “Untraceable”. The base is a simple static fractal noise layer and scan lines created using the Venetian Blinds effect. The binary code is a field of custom Particular particles with a camera fly through. A nice addition – courtesy of a funky Maltaannon expression – cycles the one’s and zero’s randomly. Read more…