Serious Effects & Compositing

mattmatheson

mattmatheson

Well-known member
Has anybody got this yet, I looked at the free tutorials but I don't know if Its worth it or not? How in depth are the tuts?
 
Is it of Andrew kramer

Is it of Andrew kramer

Rapier_100a said:
you need to be a little more specific.
Click to expand...

I think he meant was the DVD tutorial of Andrew Kramer.

From the reviews, I found it mind blowing for a beginner as well as medium artist, But it looks cool for an expert too.

It has cool tips and tricks for compositing which u find in the movies, where it may help for creating macho movies which rely on compositing part; for a low budget.

Waiting for more replies on it. (But it looks like a good grabber to me)

Visit www.videocopilot.net for more
 
Ahh. Thanks for the link.

Decent stuff. I like the use of Illusion for the Teleport sequence.

not worth 50 bucks, but not bad stuff, and cetainly nothing you couldn't do with AE 6.5.
 
Rapier_100a said:
Ahh. Thanks for the link.

Decent stuff. I like the use of Illusion for the Teleport sequence.

not worth 50 bucks, but not bad stuff, and cetainly nothing you couldn't do with AE 6.5.
Click to expand...

Not to be rude, but it all depends on opinion and the level you are at in After Effects and how "bad" you want to learn the effects he can teach you.
 
Scott W said:
Not to be rude, but it all depends on opinion and the level you are at in After Effects and how "bad" you want to learn the effects he can teach you.
Click to expand...

And Rapier was merely stating his opinion and it was that he feels the DVD isn't worth $50 bucks. Honestly, I agree with him, but I prefer learning the core tools and how to use them and understand them, rather than learn from a tutorial, which can only teach that one particular instance.

Also, there were a few mattes that he pulled in there that looked a little questionable, and I didn't like his use of light wrap in the explosion sequence, not quite realistic enough for my tastes.

I bought After Effects 6.5 Studio Techniques a while back, and, man, I wish every book and video were like it...I learned so much that is applicable not only in AE, but also useful when I use Shake.
 
If I may chime in here. I'm a long time "reader" DVXuser. Great site BTW.

It's definetly not worth $50 to a moderately experienced or advanced user.

It's certainly more for beginners to mid level artists, not to say there aren't some more advanced tips, just that much of the stuff is aimed towards understanding the tools to create cool effects without going into the technical complexities of compositing.

Most of the tutorials are 10-15 minutes long (real time), not quite enough time for feature-film-level compositing, but perhaps enough to get you in the right direction.

If I had light wrap, it would have made the shot easier and perhaps look better, but since light wrap isn't part of AE, I didn't want to teach techniques based on plug-ins that don't come with AE. Instead I used glow on an adjustment layer which made the glow a little more difficult to control.

After seeing what was on the market I thought $50 for a video training was a reasonable price...

And it's true everything in the training DVD can be done with AE 6.5.

Ifyou guys want to chime in and make some suggestions that would make for a better training DVD, it would really help.

Just remember from a sales standpoint, are the beginners or advanced users more likely to purchase a training DVD?

Regards to a great community,
Andrew Kramer
http://www.videocopilot.net

Another side note, there is a pretty basic tutorial on the site called "assisted Suicide" that goes in to some technical stuff about mattes and such. My thoughts were any more technical and it would be over the head of most of the potential buyers of training. Please let me know what you think.
 
AndrewKramer said:
If I may chime in here. I'm a long time "reader" DVXuser. Great site BTW.

It's definetly not worth $50 to a moderately experienced or advanced user.

It's certainly more for beginners to mid level artists, not to say there aren't some more advanced tips, just that much of the stuff is aimed towards understanding the tools to create cool effects without going into the technical complexities of compositing.

Most of the tutorials are 10-15 minutes long (real time), not quite enough time for feature-film-level compositing, but perhaps enough to get you in the right direction.

If I had light wrap, it would have made the shot easier and perhaps look better, but since light wrap isn't part of AE, I didn't want to teach techniques based on plug-ins that don't come with AE. Instead I used glow on an adjustment layer which made the glow a little more difficult to control.

After seeing what was on the market I thought $50 for a video training was a reasonable price...

And it's true everything in the training DVD can be done with AE 6.5.

Ifyou guys want to chime in and make some suggestions that would make for a better training DVD, it would really help.

Just remember from a sales standpoint, are the beginners or advanced users more likely to purchase a training DVD?

Regards to a great community,
Andrew Kramer
http://www.videocopilot.net

Another side note, there is a pretty basic tutorial on the site called "assisted Suicide" that goes in to some technical stuff about mattes and such. My thoughts were any more technical and it would be over the head of most of the potential buyers of training. Please let me know what you think.
Click to expand...


The man has spoken!


Great to hear from the creator of the DVD.

Light wraps can be created easily withouth use of plugins, using 2 compies of you footage with an alpha or keyed footage to get an alpha from, Silhouette Alpha and a gausian blur, and nesting.

From a sales standpoint, begginners are definatly going to go for it, mid level users are going to as well. 50$ was too expensive for me, because I wouldn't have gotten that much from it.

A couple of suggestions would be

1. Generaterating motion graphics and then incoporporating/them into a project so poeple learn not only AE's strongest point, but also how to put that back into footage (with all the correcting and tweaking of the animation to blend properly and fit into the color space of the original)

2. Motion tracking and more motion tracking, also with use of motion blue and how different shutter angle in comps can make those blurs fit right.

3. AE's use in 3D compositing, making the 3D animation look like they belong there.

4. AE's use of Multipass rendering.

5. Using displacement maps and compound blur to create evertying from rain, to a puddle, to heat ripples.

That's some off the top o me head.
 
Yeah that is a good way to do light wrap, I guess when you have those special plug-ins you forget there are other ways to do things.

That was certainly one of the most difficult parts was to simplify complicated things and to do them without the help of so many awesome plug-ins.

The next DVD will focus on 3D & motion graphics...

Perhaps a few of your suggestions might make it to the free tutorials section of the website. I'll let you know.

Cheers,
Andrew Kramer
http://www.videocopilot.net
 
Yes Andrew, thanks for chiming in, I meant no insult in my post, just my opinion. I agree that your DVD is great for beginners, probably would have saved my countless hours when I was trying to figure out AE for compositing.

I would love to see your next DVD, especially if it focuses on the 3D side. Like Rapier said, multipass in AE would be great. Here are some others I think would be good:

1. Using a float pipeline. Even though 32 bit is new to AE, it opens up amazing possibilities for comping.
2. Handling renders, render order, etc...all that stuff is very hidden and confusing in AE.
3. Any kind of useful mograph tricks that you can adjust and apply on a wide variety of projects, sorry if that sounds vague.
4. Working with cameras in AE, for comp and mograph stuff.

Those are a few off the top of my head, anything on creating realistic effects with the basic built in plugs would be nice too. I like creating my own plasma, energy, sci fi stuff, but hate relying on plugs.

Keep up the good work! :thumbsup:

Oh, and using multiple instances of Keylight for complex keying would be nice as well.
 
32 bit pipeline would be interesting. I appreciate all the feedback I can get. Thanks for all the great Ideas as well.

Thanks guys,
Andrew
 
Can't wait for the next one!

Can't wait for the next one!

AndrewKramer said:
Yeah that is a good way to do light wrap, I guess when you have those special plug-ins you forget there are other ways to do things.

That was certainly one of the most difficult parts was to simplify complicated things and to do them without the help of so many awesome plug-ins.

The next DVD will focus on 3D & motion graphics...

Perhaps a few of your suggestions might make it to the free tutorials section of the website. I'll let you know.

Cheers,
Andrew Kramer
http://www.videocopilot.net
Click to expand...

First off, Andrew is a freekin legend! Yeah you FX Guru's out there might find the subject mater old hat and too basic, but I'd have to say that it has done a world of difference for me! Just from the free tutorials on his site have me working way faster than I was 3 months ago.

I'm really looking forward to any further releases from Video Copilot!
Thank you for your contribution for Noobs like me...
brad
 
My 2cents and my 100th post!
Its a grrreat DVD to learn many important AE functions. Why is it so good? Because its sooooo entertaining! I mean, you learn to Blow up stuff, greenscreen things, 3D stuff!!! I once tried to learn AE with a Lynda.com DVD and was bored stupid! The whole project was postpro-ing a online sunglasses catalog...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzsnorezzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Gave up two days later!!
Total Triaining was the same! Learn Premiere while editing a add for Greenwich CT!!! The place we all want to live at... scht!!!! doublesnorezzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Learn AE and have funnnnn man!!!! That is why A kramers DVD rules!!!!
Content of what you're learning is equally important as learning the product
Ogrus
 
I bought Andrew's DVD, and while I echo Andrew's notion that it's perhaps not the right DVD for a moderately experienced user, I will say it quite easily will turn a beginner into an intermediate user. It did for me, no doubt about it.

Best, Andrew, and thanks!

Gino
 
I think the video is worth the $50. I had never used AE before and after i got the video and learned the techniques, it really made me want to work and learn in it more. Some times its frustrating trying to learn a new program for the first time, the video really sped up the process and made me thirsty for more, and through this I have gotten a great deal better.

Also Andrew Kramer has put a lot of time and effort into making the videos and tutorials on his site...I think that the price of the video is a way that users can not only learn some new and different techniques but also help support his endevors to make tutorials and teach others.

His site was def. one of the best video tutorial sites that I have found that teach AE along with CreativeCow.

Also, another point to add to Rapier_100a's suggestions, would be tutorials that show how to imcorporate many different elements into a shot that need to be composited. Example would be, 3d rendered objects from a 3d app, Light passes added to the comp, atmospheric effects and then blending those into live action plates....etc...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top