2009 Reel from Steve Smart on Vimeo.
Just found this Cinema 4D resource via Motionworks. Looks like some good stuff. I'm trying to learn Xpresso and right off the bat there's a little trick about making a springy camera. Nice. (link) (#)
I loved Slumdog and the camera work brought so much life to the subject. This film just couldn't be made with traditional camera work. (link) (#)
Think that setting the fog layer to ADD is the right way? You may want to try this method instead. (link) (#)
Happy New Year 2009 from Steve Smart on Vimeo.
I just downloaded these free tools for C4D and I can tell they're going to really help. (link) (#)
Watch out... just a touch of foul language... not enough to really do any damage though. Nice little quick tutorial on animating text to audio. (link) (#)
Basically, it's as simple as it sounds. You send them your footage and they send it back with an accompanying alpha matte. I wonder about the quality and the turnaround time. (link) (#)
Amazing, this is a great score. I listen to it on my iPod and it's haunting. Sad that it's because of a registration error. (link) (#)
Very cool, one of the best movies of the year is also being considered for Best Picture of the year. You can download the Wall-e script here. (PDF) (link) (#)
Nice. This was difficult if not impossible a few years back. But, this ability is very useful if you're in need of motion graphics that are very random or dependent on complex coding. (link) (#)
Compass Records and Catie Curtis just closed a music video contest for Catie's song Sweet Life. Here's my submission that I just finished tonight:
Sweet Life : Catie Curtis from Steve Smart on Vimeo.
Gizmodo takes a tour of the Criterion Collections home office. Man, I need to get a blu-ray player just so I can get the the CC version of Wes Anderson's Bottle Rocket (link) (#)
Lots of changes and updates to the UI. One that caught my eye, you can add Output Modules with a simple + icon in the render queue now. Nice. Also, you can read the new features here. (via AE Portal) (link) (#)
Can't wait to get my hands on this one and try it out. I wonder if the canvas rotation is non-destructive? If it's destructive then what's the point? (link) (#)
His latest film follows him on a tour in 2004 to encourage college students to get out and vote. (link) (#)
Best known for its full CMOS chip, the new update to the 5D also features full motion 1080p HD video. But, at 30fps, Stu Maschwitz thinks canon really missed the goal on this one as compared to Nikon's recent release of the video-enabled D90. (link) (#)
Another cool looking training series from the host of videocopilot.net that's not unlike The Bullet, but this one is free. I like his idea to create a pseudo-shot that looks like just 1 in a 1000 FX shots for a film and then spend time deconstructing it. (link) (#)
I was wondering this too. It wasn't really a great photo to use, when they cut into a tight shot of McCain it was just a big blah green background. (This Bill G for the link!) (link) (#)
Wes Anderson's first feature is one of my favorites, not quite as much as Rushmore, but pretty close. It's been out as a vanilla plain DVD for a while now, but this new Criterion edition will find a nice place on my DVD shelf right next to Rushmore. (link) (#)
Haven't really tried any of these personally, but they look to have a nice collection. For more of these, you can also take a gander at AEEnhancers. (link) (#)
Here's a nice collection of links that simply point you toward a ton of After Effects resources. (link) (#)
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) (#)
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