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 the past few years Rob Redman has blasted into recognition as a 3D artist and teacher through his website Pariah Studios and as host of Making It Look Great 8 and 9. In the first half of this revealing interview we discuss how Rob started out and the interesting path he took, including time working for Games Workshop. We follow that with insights from Rob into Making It Look Great 8 and 9 for Cinema 4D.

Links Games Workshop, Adrian Smith, 3D World, MILG 8, MILG9, Plot Device

Who is the man inside the tutorials?

If Video Copilot is the most popular site on the planet for After Effects tutorials, then Sam Loya must be the most recognised tutorial talent. Appearing in dozens of Andrew Kramer’s tutorials sometimes wielding a light sabre or machine gun and other times being blasted to pieces, Sam’s style has given the tutorials a professional edge. In this funny episode, learn more about Sam, his work with Video Copilot and his “love” of sport!

For over a decade GenArts had a single product – Sapphire – plug-ins for high end systems such as Flame, and in more recent times, After Effects. Recently GenArts has begun to diversify, acquiring Monsters GT from Speed Six, Tinder from The Foundry and Particle Illusion from Wondertouch. In this candid episode I discuss each of these products with GenArt’s Steve Bannerman.

Since this interview it was brought to my attention that GenArts has decided not to port Tinder for After Effects to 64-bit. This is quite a revelation as it effectively ends the life of these plug-ins in their current form. Below is Steve’s unedited response to my query about this decision:

“Hey John, here’s the situation: the Tinder code base is very old and hasn’t been updated in many years. It’s slow and lacks many of the new features found in current products. One of the key reasons that GenArts acquired Tinder was to breathe new life into the product and its brand. We want to take the old Tinder technology and evolve it into an exciting new product. A modern product with a modern, code base and modern features (such as 64 bit and GPU acceleration).

Adobe’s move to CS5 created quite a conundrum for us because it breaks Tinder for those users that upgrade. Therefore, we were forced to choose between porting the old, neglected code base to 64 bit (with no new features), or focus on getting our new product to market as fast as possible.

Porting the old code would have taken many months (given the state of it), and would have seriously delayed our ability to get the new product to market. In the end, we decided that the best thing for our customer base as a whole was to focus on the new, modern product. It was a very difficult decision, and we labored over it for quite some time as we exhaustively tried to find another option.

We would love to have continued with Tinder until our new product was ready, but Adobe’s move really forced our hand. Once we made our decision, we felt like it was important for us to communicate it as quickly as possible so that our customers could also make their decisions. Cheers, Steve.”

What is FX Factory and why do you need it?

Noise Industries offers a range of GPU-accelerated plug-ins for After Effects and Final Cut. In this episode Niclas Bahn demystifies the FX-Factory platform and introduces three of the key plug-in packs available from Noise Industries, including FX Factory Pro, MoType and Nodes.

What are the key new features in After Effects CS5?

After Effects product manager Michael Coleman discusses the amazing new Roto Brush tool and other standout features in After Effects CS5.

Buddha Jones Trailers is the design house behind countless trailers for a variety of films including Inglourious Basterds, Kung Fu Panda and Repo Men. In this extended interview, designers Jason Liwag and Kim Tang share insights into what it’s like to work on movie trailers.

Jason and Kim discuss the benefits of working as a team and the importance of graphics, edit and sound working together and understanding each other’s roles and areas of expertise. We also talk about what it takes to create a trailer, including the pros and cons of sourcing original content as opposed to using stock imagery. Plus an interesting insight into how the Inglourious Basterds trailer was created. Plus plenty more.

Are you ready for 64-bit?

Michael Coleman is the product manager for Adobe After Effects. In this interview, Michael discusses his background and how he juggled a university major in economics and a career in graphic and motion design. We also discuss the evolution of Adobe After Effects, and with the soon-to-be-released CS5 version of After Effects being 64-bit, Michael explains in detail, exactly what that means, and why it’s important.