Countless times over the past several years, either myself or a co-worker has wondered “Why the hell do I have to re-import this entire After Effects project every time thereʼs a change?” Apparently, Chris Roe was thinking the same thing.

If you ask me, a good post-production product needs three things: ease of use, speed and great customer service. Chrisʼ upcoming release Project Sync has all three. The idea behind this Adobe After Effects plug-in is simple: import an existing project into your current working project, click Sync and your projects are now in sync. It’s as simple as that.  [Read more]

In this tutorial learn how to export an existing After Effects project to Cinema 4D to add a 3D logo. The background featured is from Digital Juice’s Animated Canvases 2 collection.

After Effects wizard Maltaannon is back, this time demystifying the Channel Combiner effect and how to use it on challenging keying projects.

Working from home is great but poses problems when you decide to do some home remodeling. What I thought would be a two week inconvenience has turned into a two month ordeal as my office has been relocated to the kitchen table. Over the weeks working from a wooden chair has my back longing for the comfort of my couch. Also, plugging my laptop, hard drive, and other accessories into a power strip, and then draping the cords over chairs and across the floor to the nearest outlet, got me thinking that the portability I should have in a laptop didn’t stack up to TV commercial claims. There had to be a better way of doing this. That’s when the seed of a wireless network finally started to germinate in my brain. [Read more]

Recently on Twitter I asked followers which After Effects plug-ins they own but no longer used. I received some interesting responses and thought it would be worthwhile opening up the forum here on Motionworks. Are there plug-ins in your toolkit that have fallen out of favour, perhaps you used to love them but the “look” is old? Maybe another plug-in or application has taken it’s place? Are there plug-ins you’ve purchased but not even used!? Personally I have found fewer reasons to fire up Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator, with Cinema 4D taking it’s place in my tool kit; and effects like 3D Stroke, which was once all the rage, are gathering dust. How about you?

Guest host Florian Füger jumps ahead in the After Effects Effects A-Z series with a revealing look at CC Flo Motion.

In this walkthrough tutorial learn some of the techniques and workflow used to create a battle-scared Captain America Shield using Cinema 4D, Photoshop and After Effects.

Watch Example (Captain America)  |  Watch Example (Chris Evans)

Guest host Jerzy Drozda Jr (Maltaannon) is back with another After Effects: Effects A-Z series tutorial, this time explaining the basics of the Channel Blur effect. Watch Tip (flv) | Watch Tip (mp4)