New spot by Umeric (assisted by Making It Look Great 6 author, Tim Clapham)
tags | Cinema 4D, Inspiration, MILG, MILG6
September 21, 2009 by John Dickinson | 598 views | Comments (7)
September 15, 2009 by John Dickinson | 593 views | Comments (8)
This project is an example of taking poor quality 4:3 vision, making it 16:9 and giving it some polish. Tools used include Adobe After Effects, Zaxwerks ProAnimator, Trapcode Horizon and Shine, and Maltaannon’s Screenify effect (featured in MILG 5)…
tags | After Effects, MILG, MILG5, Trapcode, Zaxwerks
September 12, 2009 by John Dickinson | 377 views | Comments (3)
Red Giant TV has a new tutorial by Making It Look Great 6 host Tim Clapham, on using Trapcode Form to create 3D text. Use the code “Motionworks10″ to get a 10% discount on any Red Giant Software products.
tags | After Effects, MILG, Trapcode
August 27, 2009 by John Dickinson | 462 views | Comments (0)
17 jam–packed hours of real-world Adobe After Effects training with top motion graphics designers from around the world. Throughout these in-depth video workshops, professional motion graphics designers including John Dickinson, Harry J Frank, Alan Shisko and Maltaannon, demonstrate techniques essential to their daily work and give the design decisions and rationale that support them. Grab the bundle and save 100 dollars.
tags | MILG, MILG5, Training, Tutorials
May 27, 2009 by John Dickinson | 2,407 views | Comments (5)
Making It Look Great 6: Design and Production Techniques for Cinema 4D and After Effects is now available. In this 14 part, 8.5 hour video workshop you’ll work with designer, Cinema 4D expert and Mograph master Tim Clapham to create a stunning, multi-layered news opener. Jam-packed with techniques, tips and shortcuts, the workshop includes [Read more]
May 13, 2009 by John Dickinson | 2,346 views | Comments (12)
Making It Look Great 6: Design and Production Techniques for Cinema 4D and After Effects is close to completion. Tim Clapham has worked hard to put together almost 8 hours of training. Now we’re hard at work editing and polishing. In the mean time we’ve uploaded a half resolution version of the introduction for the training, in which Tim gives a brief overview.
Watch Introduction (2 minutes,20MB)
tags | After Effects, Cinema 4D, MILG, MILG6
April 15, 2009 by John Dickinson | 56,194 views | Comments (71)
Design and Production Techniques for Cinema 4D and After Effects
The ultimate workshop for Cinema 4D and After Effects
Finally, the ultimate single workshop for Cinema 4D and After Effects. Work side–by–side with designer, Cinema 4D expert and Mograph master Tim Clapham as you create a stunning, multi-layered news opener from start to finish. This training is jam-packed with techniques, tips and shortcuts including real-world techniques for getting the most out of the Cinema 4D Mograph module. Suitable for beginner and intermediate users or anyone serious about mastering Cinema 4D with After Effects at an industry level.
Topics include:
Creating the Globe
Working with layouts; Creating and Cloning onto a Sphere Object; Generating the Globe Effect with the Shader Effector; Introducing the Plain Effector and Effector falloff.
Creating the Orbiting Text
Preparing Illustrator artwork; Importing artwork and creating Extrude NURBS; Introducing the Fracture Object; Orbiting the text with the Spline Effector; Linking parameters using Xpresso and Set Driver; Organising the scene with layers.
Working with Cameras
A basic camera rig with User Data; Linking User Data to object parameters using Xpresso; Animating the camera; Manipulating F-Curves.
Animating the Text and Globe
Animating the text using Spline Effector; Scaling and rotating the text using Effectors; Animating the globe rotation; Using Animation Layers to add secondary animation; Adjusting Shader Mapping to enhance composition.
Modeling a Basic Soccer ball
Using Primitives to create the basic football shape; Using modeling tools to edit the football model; Adding textures to Selection sets; Baking a spherical map from the football model; Wiping from globe to football with Effectors.
Creating Materials and the Content Browser
Using the Fresnel shader; Adding HDRI reflections Presets; Catalogs and the Content Browser; The Compositing Tag; Lumas Shader for Anistrophic Highlights.
Lighting the Scene
Introduction to Light types; Using Area Lights; The Target Tag; Three point lighting; Include / Exclude lists; Controlling specular highlights.
Streaks of Light
Using Viewport filters; Matrix Object vs Cloner Object; Creating splines using with the Tracer Object; Adding and optimising geometry with Sweep NURBS; Limiting Tracer results; Making Luminant Materials.
More Graphic Elements
Radial duplication with Cloner Object; Using Blend mode; Cloning Cloner objects; Modifying Clones with Effectors.
Preparing for Render
External Compositing Tag to Export 3D data; Assigning Object Buffers; Configuring output parameters; Setting up Multipass rendering; Exporting After Effects compositing file.
Importing into After Effects
Importing the AEC file, Organising the project; Separating 3D Elements with Object Buffers; Creating the background.
Enhancing the 3D Render
Colour correction; Adding glows; Creating a turbulent glow; Adding a border to the text; Emphasizing specular highlights.
Finishing Touches
Using the exported 3D data; Adding trails with Trapcode Particular; Using Expressions to add randomness; Adding extra 3D elements; Creating an image wipe transition; Final rendering.
About your Host: With over 11 years experience, Tim Clapham is an industry recognized expert in Cinema 4D and a renowned trainer with a strong attention to detail. As a Company Director of HYPA, Tim works with a wide range of global advertising and broadcast companies, producing world-class content that is both technically challenging and innovative.
Watch Introduction (2 minutes, 20MB)
tags | After Effects, Cinema 4D, MILG, MILG6, Training, Tutorials
March 18, 2009 by John Dickinson | 2,279 views | Comments (0)
Create a disco-style animation based entirely on sound
In this video tutorial from Making It Look Great 5, your host Jerzy Drozda Jr. (aka Maltaannon) demonstrates how to create a funky disco-style animation based entirely on sound. This lesson includes a slick technique for creating running lights using Trapcode Form together with the Colorama effect, basic camera movement, techniques using the CC Time Blend and Wave Warp effects and plenty of simple expressions. All project files are included. Total running time: 46 minutes.
March 17, 2009 by John Dickinson | 2,270 views | Comments (30)
Great news, Making It Look Great 6 is in production. Many of you will be pleased that this release will be covering Cinema 4D and After Effects design and workflow and will be hosted by the amazing Tim Clapham from Hypa.tv. Tim is a world renowned Cinema 4D user and trainer, with a strong focus on broadcast graphics. [Read more]
March 15, 2009 by John Dickinson | 2,368 views | Comments (0)
Create a realistic dripping blood effect without keyframes
In this video tutorial from Making It Look Great 5, your host Jerzy Drozda Jr. (aka Maltaannon) demonstrates how to create a realistic dripping blood effect without using keyframes or expressions. This lesson includes a great study of precomposing and demonstrates how to use a Photoshop-style brush with the CC Time Blend effect to paint text onto the screen. All project files are included. Total running time: 52 minutes.
March 9, 2009 by John Dickinson | 1,679 views | Comments (0)
Create an infinitely zooming spy camera look
In this video tutorial from Making It Look Great 5, your host Jerzy Drozda Jr. (aka Maltaannon) demonstrates how to create an infinitely zooming spy camera look. Learn basic techniques for creating a simple slide show then move on to amazing, time-saving techniques for automating transitions between layers using expressions. All project files are included. Total running time: 29 minutes.
March 3, 2009 by John Dickinson | 2,411 views | Comments (3)
Red Giant Software are now hosting the Making It Look Great 5: Form Face tutorial as a free two-part download. Enjoy!
March 3, 2009 by John Dickinson | 1,945 views | Comments (0)
Master fast and precise color correction techniques
In this video tutorial from Making It Look Great 5, your host Jerzy Drozda Jr. (aka Maltaannon) demonstrates how to master fast and precise color correction techniques using standard After Effects tools including Colorama and CC Composite. Learn how to fine tune a look
using the Colorama effect as a range selection tool, allowing adjustments to specific
aspects of the footage. All project files are included. Total running time: 16 minutes.
March 2, 2009 by John Dickinson | 3,814 views | Comments (0)
Burst a character into hundreds of butterflies
In this video tutorial from Making It Look Great 5, your host Jerzy Drozda Jr. (aka Maltaannon) demonstrates how to make the stylish effect where a character suddenly bursts into hundreds of butterflies. Learn how to create a smart butterfly rig using Trapcode 3D Stroke, control Trapcode Particular particles using dispersion maps, build volumetric backlighting using Trapcode Lux and automatically track a layer’s alpha channel. All project files are included. Plug-ins are not included. Total running time: 47 minutes.
March 1, 2009 by John Dickinson | 1,762 views | Comments (1)
Create a realistic and detailed video screen
In this video tutorial from Making It Look Great 5, your host Jerzy Drozda Jr. (aka Maltaannon) demonstrates how to make a realistic and detailed Jumbotron-style video screen. Included are must-know keying techniques, tips on creating volumetric lights and presets, and ingenious workflow for creating complex looks on a single layer using the CC Composite effect. All project files are included. Total running time: 49 minutes.
Please Note: This tutorial does not include the CE Screenify effect which is included as part of the Making It Look Great 5 full product.
February 28, 2009 by John Dickinson | 1,806 views | Comments (3)
The Making It Look Great 5 training series by Maltaannon is now available as individual downloads. So far the first 3 tutorials are online but the rest will be added over the next week.
February 28, 2009 by John Dickinson | 1,448 views | Comments (0)
Create a retro-style computer terminal
In this video tutorial from Making It Look Great 5, your host Jerzy Drozda Jr. (aka Maltaannon) demonstrates how to make a reusable retro-style computer terminal animation. Harness the power of expressions, including some undocumented features to change the text content and
look on the fly. Learn how to turn a simple typewriter effect into a realistic DOS-style
computer readout. All project files are included. Total running time: 58 minutes.
February 28, 2009 by John Dickinson | 1,131 views | Comments (0)
Make a cool-looking gyroscopic element
In this video tutorial (inspired by the work of Mark Coleran) from Making It Look Great 5 your host Jerzy Drozda Jr. (aka Maltaannon) demonstrates how to make a cool-looking gyroscopic element completely within After Effects. This tutorial includes extensive use of Shape Layers, parenting and simple expressions to create a technical look using almost no keyframes. All project files are included. Total running time: 48 minutes.
February 22, 2009 by John Dickinson | 8,103 views | Comments (41)
In case you’ve been wondering when Making It Look Great 6 will be released, the answer is soon. I can’t give you much detail but can tell you this time MILG will focus on using Cinema 4D together with After Effects to create a stunning broadcast project, with a host that in my opinion is one of the top Cinema 4D broadcast designers in the business. More soon.
December 11, 2008 by John Dickinson | 17,186 views | Comments (4)
17 hours of After Effects training with top motion graphics designers from around the world
Grab all 5 MILG Titles and Make Sure Your Work Gets Noticed
Ever wonder how the pros get their work looking so sharp? The popular and proven Making It Look Great™ video workshop series has been designed to answer that question. Throughout these in-depth video workshops, professional motion graphics designers including John Dickinson, Harry J Frank, Alan Shisko and Maltaannon, demonstrate techniques essential to their daily work and give the design decisions and rationale that support them. The featured projects are demonstrated step–by–step from start to finish, giving priceless insight into what it takes to design and produce professional broadcast motion graphics.
Learn more about Making It Look Great 1
Learn more about Making It Look Great 2
Learn more about Making It Look Great 3
Learn more about Making It Look Great 4
Learn more about Making It Look Great 5
tags | After Effects, MILG, Training, Tutorials
