new york to paris

This is great. Google Maps give you directions from New York to Paris. Be sure to read direction step number 23… it’s crucial.

AE CS3

Today’s news in After Effects CS3 beta… I got it installed. Installation relatively easy, no crashes or hangups. I’ve been digging into the new features. These aren’t pretty, but do show some of the new features.

The Shape layer:
Allows you to draw vector elements on one layer, much like an embedded Illustrator. Everything you see here, including the repeated elements, are on one layer.
AE8_01

Layer styles / 3d text:
Layer styles, just like in Photoshop, with the ability to animate any of them. You can also import them directly from Photoshop (can you say thank you, graphic designers). Also, you can animate text on a per-character basis.
AE8_02

That’s as far as I got today… more later.

youthoughtwewouldn’tnotice

You Thought We Wouldn’t Notice, a blog of design rip-offs.

Pierre Michael

I saw a clip created by Pierre Michael on Trapcode’s site today. This clip (careful, it’s a large Quicktime video) is a work of beauty. And to know that he built it entirely in After Effects (using Trapcode plugins) amazes me.

After Effects CS3 beta.

It’s here, get it now. (did I mention it’s a 1 GB download).

America’s Idol open

Enjoy the America’s Idol open, and as promised last week, here are the design notes. (note, quite a bit changed when I started working on it from what I had in my notes, but it’s about the process).

America’s Idol open, previs 01

A quick snapshot for the America’s Idol open… you’ll have to be at NewSpring tomorrow to see the entire thing (or, of course, online here on Monday).

new tech-ery

Some new tech-ery delievered to the house today… a bluetooth Apple Mighty Mouse. Mmmhmm. I always hated the Apple mouse, and have opted for the Logitech standard issue optical 2 button USB wired version. But I figured when going wireless Bluetooth, the Apple product was the way to go. I was right. This little booger is awesome. Connects right up, no wires, mobile warrior. Love it. And I’m even getting used to the little scroll ball thingy.

Anyone out there using the Apple Mighty Mouse? I briefly looked and saw how customizable it is… are there any great mouse tricks I may be missing?

Airport day

Today, my genius wife decided to set up a trip for the family to the Greenville Spartanburg Airport. Gardner is interested in, well, anything mechanical, personal, spiritual, emotional… he likes just about everything. Airplanes are no exception. A few highlights:

Gardner loves escalators:

You can’t see this, but his face shows utter amazement:

She’s just a hottie, and deserves to be in pictures:

I had nothing to do with this:

We ended the day with a special treat:

tiny people

A gallery of tiny people (worth the view)

don’t think I can get away with this

I don’t think Meg would let me get away with this, but c’mon… wouldn’t it be awesome for the kids’ rooms?

you supply the caption.jpg

you supply the caption.jpg

Originally uploaded by avclub.

It’s been a long time, Here’s a “you supply the caption” from my and G’s trip to the Mall.

creative vacation pics

Some very nice images of vacation souvenirs and their real-life counterparts. (thanks, Gizz)

Wolfmother, dang it.

Wolfmother, my favorite power trio as of late, is performing at the Orange Peel in Asheville, NC. (info). Unfortunately, or fortunately, I’ll be out of town for a few days enjoying some RnR with Meg and the kids. Someone please go and tell me what I missed.

Endless

Meg sent me this… maybe it’s time to retire the Birks I bought in 1996, huh? Endless shoes. What a great looking / functioning site. I’m not a “website junkie.” I don’t get into Flash nor I’m I overly concerned with “web 2.0″ or whatever. But this site engaged me. It just works so well. Take a look.

Kyle Cooper

Kyle Cooper is lecturing in Atlanta on Wednesday. Anyone heading that way?

Tokyo Plastic

Another great Yaris / Toyota ad from Tokyo Plastic.

America’s Idol.

Easter rocking this weekend at NewSpring. I don’t know the numbers, but there were tons of folks at our two Saturday services yesterday, and the team did an incredible job. You can watch it online this week if you weren’t able to come.

For the opener, we tried something with a different feel to better set up Perry’s message. After discussing what we needed to do, I had the “uh, what did we just volunteer for?” panic until DJ found what we needed… a nice underwater cannister. Then Will went sailing with Commodore Joe Hall to get the water and submersion footage needed to pull it off.

View the result, America’s Idol “Jonah” open (Quicktime, 1.5Mb)

Tech details, small Sony DV cam, post treated in After Effects with Magic Bullet and some tinting, hand-tracked motion (nothing fancy, just pixel by pixel) and some stock bubbles for effect. Audio post-produced.

Special bonus feature, view the design notes here.

queue

I’m always annoyed when I discover I’ve been pronouncing something incorrectly. That’s especially true with technology terms, which you know never get taught in your English classes from elementary school (no one had even heard of RAM or GUI when I was in 2nd grade… it was all about the Commodore 64). Anyway, for those who wonder, this is the site for you.

I’d been troubled by the word Queue, which is prevalent in Netflix, as well as in After Effects (a la, “the render queue”). I’ve been saying it like the letter “q,” and have heard it as “Kuh-Way.” Turns out, the “Q’s” have it. Now go study so the AV Club won’t laugh when your GUI rhymes with “boy.“

Glow effect explained

For you After Effects junkies out there, here’s a nice run down of the glow plugin and how to make your footage and type look extra special.