I tell you what, I think United is seriously getting their money's worth out of agency BD'M. These videos are really something, especially the first two. I dare anyone not to watch Heart and get a bit emotional. Interestingly enough, that particular spot was created by Jamie Caliri who created the awesome Dragon spot for United a while back. (link) (#)
Some good tips here especially in terms of how a set operates. (link) (#)
I've started using C4d at work a few years ago and it's great. I'm not the most versed at it, but I'm still learning. UPDATE: More information on Motionographer here and from Maxon here. (link) (#)
Very cool. Looks like they're working with Boom! Studios to create these. I wonder how involved the Pixar artists will be in this? (link) (#)
Have you heard about GigaPans? They're a new way to create and post panoramas with an unbelievable amount of image data. Take a look at this example of a baseball game, then use the controls on the left to zoom into the photo. Pan around and take a look at some of the faces in the stands. The New York Times recently ran an article on the technology involved. (link) (#)
This is a cool and fun little short film and a great example of HD color timing. More on that here. (link) (#)
These are very nice and easy to use. I'm using the drawWedge method now in a Flash-based stats application to create pie charts. (link) (#)
Found via the AE Portal, these are some really nice audio EQ visualization plug-ins for After Effects. Sorry PC dudes, Mac-only for now. (link) (#)
AE portal gives us two pages of nice After Effects tips: All about dynamic charts and creating planets. (link) (#)
Ok, I need to get a true 55mm macro lens. Some of these, especially those featuring close ups of bug eye, are amazing! (link) (#)
These night time photographs from Chromasia really spark the imagination and remind me of Coruscant from the Star Wars universe. Here's another example. Also, more on Coruscant from the wookiepedia. (link) (#)
You can post your own 360 degree panoramics here, and even geo link them on a map. Found via Daily Dose of Imagery and this nice shot of Dundas Square in Tonronto. (link) (#)
I didn't know that Wired had a wiki dedicated to DIY "how to" projects. Anybody need to reset a dislocated shoulder? Ouch. (link) (#)
3:45:31
Whew, what a day... I'm glad that's over, until the next one!
In this interview with Variety, he really gets deep and technical about all of the pre-work and experimentation he's done in order to shoot 3D features. I appreciate the fact that he's not hell bent on doing 3D for 3D sake, he really treats it as just trying to make a really good story. In fact, all the on-set playback is 2D and they're editing in 2D. (link) (#)
I never really been a card collector (baseball or otherwise) but these Indiana Jones cards rock. (link) (#)
Brad Bird has spoken often about his early years at Disney and the experiences he had working for the last of the Nine Old Men. He admired Johnston so much that he gave him cameos in The Iron Giant and The Incredibles. (via http://www.cartoonbrew.com/) (link) (#)
I especially like the old school titles for Bullitt. I wish they still made titles with great music like that. And don't even get me started on how there are no shows with music that swings like Barney Miller. (link) (#)
Not to be confused with the Adobe Media Encoder, this application is specifically designed for live streaming of web events to your FMS. New features include support for H.264 as well as a 3rd party AAC audio encoder from a company called Main Concept. (link) (#)
Are you taking any time off this holiday season? Do you know a lot about the filmmaking process? If so, then if you're looking for something to do, you might want to take some time to help these struggling Wikipedia entries. You're doing the right thing, so feel good about yourself this holiday season. (link) (#)
I've not shot video directly to hard disk, yet, but I can really see the benefit of it in terms of more efficiency during post. (link) (#)
Perfect for videos, web projects, multimedia what-not or games, they're all free. (link) (#)
Vimeo, like Brightcove as well, offers further proof that YouTube's success is not at all related to how crappy their compression looks and how cheesy their design. Vimeo and Brightcove offer a really nice user experience and now Vimeo is offering 1024 content. (link) (#)
Good stuff. (via General Specialist) (link) (#)
I'm still so impressed how much of Macromedia is rubbing off on Adobe. (link) (#)
Create online-hosted presentations that you can store and share with colleagues and friends. Thanks to Flash, you get a full host of effects and transitions that might even challenge Keynote. Learn more here at RIApedia and see how this tool compares to the Ajax-based Presently from Google. (link) (#)
There's a pretty good comment thread on Kottke about which order you should watch all six Star Wars movies. I think I come down on the side of watching them in theatrical order (4,5,6,1,2,3) versus by episode number. Think of it like an author who choose to tell a story out of chronological order for dramatic effect. (or even a filmmaker like Scorcese or Tarantino) If you watch Star Wars in strict episodic order, you loose the impact of the various payoffs in the later episodes. "I am your father" anyone? (link) (#)
The Hotel Chevalier is a prequel of sorts (filmed in 2005) to The Darjeeling Limited. It features Natalie Portman and Jason Schwartzman. (link) (#)
This is an all new camera, as opposed to the 30D which according to some was simply a cosmetic update of the 20D. I have a 20D, which I love, but I'm very much looking forward to this camera. Looks to have great specs. Today, they also released a new high end professional camera, the Canon 1Ds MKIII, as well as a really nice digicam, the Canon G9. (link) (#)
I think this would be an interesting development for the Flash player and the FLV format. But, I'm actually quite happy with the current VP6 format from On2. (link) (#)
This is a bit of an older link from a month or two ago, but Jonas has some great links on how to export AE camera data back out to Cinema 4d. (link) (#)
Some nice tips. I'm pretty much a very basic Illustrator user, mostly simple logo work for videos and such. But these are really cool tips. (link) (#)
I'm a big Anderson fan, with Rushmore being my favorite. I love to see him expand his scope and canvas with every picture while also keeping his same quirky sense of style. (link) (#)
Includes a lot of new features and enhancements to facilitate accessing all the image data in your raw files. (link) (#)
Like the xerox, kleenex, velcros and others before them, Adobe is worried about the gentrification of their brand image. This one might be a lost cause. I've heard members of my parent's generation already using this word in everyday use. (link) (#)
Hello. As you may have noticed I've been quite remiss in posting anything to Lightbox in a long while. After being super dedicated to the concept of daily photo posts for several months, I've now fallen off the wagon.
I can't really say what the reason is either. I guess I must have gotten a bit tired and maybe burned out and needed to take a little creative hiatus. Yeah, that's it. That's the story. The truth is I just got really busy at work and couldn't make myself focus on Lightbox duties.
But while I'm trying to get started again, I'm thinking about reworking the theme and purpose of Lightbox. I might focus less on daily photoblogging, and instead rework Lightbox to be a creative playground for all sorts of things that interest me: photography, photoshop work and most importantly animation and motion graphics examples.
Stay tuned.
HDForIndies is a great and prolific blog with nice witty style: 'DV is already challenged enough, don't beat up the little bruised kid any further.' (link) (#)
Adobe recommends following these steps to cleanly un-install your Photoshop CS3 beta, especially if you plan to install the release version of CS3. (link) (#)
Keyframes, nice title. Michael Coleman has been with Adobe for a while, starting back when he worked for Aldus before they were acquired by Aldus. (link) (#)
This is great, and also seems quite a fast progression to me, as opposed to earlier players. (link) (#)
I found this list while looking up a reference for SCMODS, believe it or not. Also of note, a list of fictional robots and androids. (link) (#)
A lot of news openers here, but a nice collection of real world 30 second openers. Here's a nice example of a UK news program where the graphics appear as part of the set and are matched nicely to the hand-held camera. (link) (#)
Read this list and see if your jaw doesn't drop, especially items such as 3, 6 and 8. (also, on #8, be sure to watch the "disappearing tourists" video). Here's more on Image Stacks in CS3, as well as a look at how the Adobe and Macromedia tools are really, really starting to come together with this version of the creative suite. (link) (#)
If you have a great idea of a topic proposal, they've added a form this year. Really nice idea and further proof that we're seeing a whole new Adobe here, post Macromedia merger. (link) (#)
The non-destructive Smart filters and the Refine Edge palette are the two that most interest me. (link) (#)
Seems to be more than just a film about a font. Seems to be more a film about the design process. On a side note, get your Hel-f***ing-vetica t-shirts here. (link) (#)
It's nice if you want to know the real deal on travel destinations or what local spots to hit that might not warrant a mention in Fodors. Here's a complete itinerary if you want to drive the complete length of Route 66. Here's what to do in Nashville. (link) (#)
I am curious to see what the reaction will be around this new delivery platform. Apollo has been referred to as the follow-up to Central, but it might be much more than that. Adobe describes Apollo has a new "cross-platform technology that lets web developers bring rich Internet applications to the desktop."
UPDATE: here's more from Kevin Lynch and the Adobe Edge newsletter.
UPDATE 2: Looking for more info? Here's an Apollo link-roundup from product manager Mike Downey. (link) (#)
In this shot, Stephen was filmed running into the backyard and climbing up the ladder of his swingset. A photoshop rocket (more on that later) and a bit of time in After Effects and you have this:
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
The pre-launch steam is generated in Trapcode Particular, with a solid set as the floor to give the steam something to collide with.
I love the way all the data overlays are properly oriented in 3d to the scene. (my god, did that sound as geeky to you as it does to me?) (link) (#)
I've always been fascinated by Animation Mentor. It seems like a great online program that's facilitated by animators working at all the major studios, so you would seem to be getting total real world knowledge. And it doesn't seem to be just some free, cheesy online program. It's the real deal, 18 month enrollment is $15,000. (link) (#)
As Adobe's Senior Product Manager for Apollo, he travels a lot I suppose and he's got some serious toys to help pass the time. (link) (#)
Genius. And that probably explains a lot about why they're now considered one of the top retailers in the US. This is really a great behind-the-scenes look at their processes and their attention to detail. Also, it just again proves how they never stop innovating to stay one step ahead of the competition. (link) (#)
But, actually, this one is pretty sweet. It lets you easily pick sets of matching colors, while also giving you the ability to preview those colors as seen by various forms of color blindness. A friend at work just reminded me about Adobe's Kuler, which is also a very nice color picker that is built if Flex and is also online. Kuler, which I may have already blogged on this site, sorry can't remember, is really cool in that you can share and rate other palettes. (link) (#)
This looks pretty useful and seems to address one little quirk I've noticed before in that it's difficult to transition from a normal 2d layer that fills the comp, flies into 3d space and then fills the comp again. Usually, I can sort of tell that it doesn't really match up. Then I spend a lot of time fussing with scale and position properties. (link) (#)
Pretty fun idea. You can use a bunch of their audio and video clips as stock material, give them proper credit at the end, then upload your video to share with other bsg geeks. (link) (#)
In addition to a new graphical front-end, they've changed the focus of the site to make it more of a community-driven site containing tutorials and lessons for MT-powered sites. (link) (#)
Also known as the ever-popular "grunge" look but with a bit of style. (link) (#)
My son Stephen and I are making a little home brew rocket movie together. Stephen's only 5, so it's pretty simple and basic. He plays an astronaut traveling to Christmas Planet to retrieve a present for his sister. Seriously! It's going to be fun.
Anyway, the movie will feature his rocketship blasting off from our backyard. I'm doing all the comps and animation in After Effects, with help from Particular. Here's a quick test I did for some rocket smoke and exhaust:
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
Apparently, getting to rub elbows Matt Groening and Meg Ryan is just one of the many TED perks for the creator of Delicious Library. His day zero post is here and is equally funny. (link) (#)
As someone who started developing FMS apps this year, I'm super excited by the prospects of what Adobe has planned for Flash Media Server going forward. (link) (#)
Motionographer and Go Media recently sponsored a fun little wallpaper contest. Basically they presented everybody with a sample pack of Go's vector toolkits and had everyone go to town with creating their own wallpaper using those sample vector shapes. Here's my entry:
I was going for a crazy-monster-loose-in-Tokyo-with-a-babe-in-his-hand kind of vibe. I'm not really sure what kind of skeleton, horned monster this is, but I did it in about an hour and I was trying to not to over think it. That's usually not a problem for me.
March 27th is the date for this new release for both Mac and PC. This is huge news for Mac users as this will, allegedly, include full intel-native versions of Photoshop, Premiere and After Effects. (link) (#)
This is the report I got this morning via UPS.com while tracking a box containing some new running shoes ordered from Road Runner Sports last week. I love how they need to tell me specifically that it's derailed train that's holding things up.
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