Nice Tutorial on Using Motion for Pan & Scan Effects

Wednesday, May 07, 2008 Filed in: Humor

A trainer that I respect a great deal has released a free tutorial. Mark Spencer offers a free tutorial on Motion Control effects with photos:

“Animating photos is a staple effect pioneered by celebrated documentarian Ken Burns. In this tutorial Mark Spencer shows you why you should be doing these types of effects in Motion rather than Final Cut Pro.”

Click here to watch Mark's tutorial

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Review of Premiere Elements 4 (4.5 out of 5)

Wednesday, May 07, 2008 Filed in: Other | Adobe

AMAZINGLY CAPABLE VIDEO SOFTWARE FOR WINDOWS
“You might be thinking, “What’s consumer software doing in a pro magazine?” The short answer is that if you aren’t using the Adobe Master Collection or the Production Premium suite, you probably need Adobe Premiere Elements 4. Whether you work as an advertiser, designer, developer, or photographer, you most likely have an interest in making videos or DVDs.

Sure, Adobe offers the very capable video applications found in the Creative Suite product line but for many users, it’s hard to spring for the “whole enchilada.” When I sat down with Premiere Elements, I was immediately impressed. The product offers an easy-to-use toolset that addresses the needs of many users.

Here’s the lowdown: Premiere Elements only runs on Windows machines. If you’re a Mac user, you should be looking to iMovie and iDVD ’08 to fill the same needs. On the PC side, the market has been woefully underserved by offerings from Adaptec and Microsoft. With version 4 of Premiere Elements, Adobe clearly steps up to offer a dramatic redesign, combining power with ease of use (an Adobe trademark).”

You can read the rest of the review here...

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PSV#75 Creating Motion Backgrounds From Scratch Part 2 - Photoshop for Video

Tuesday, May 06, 2008 Filed in: Podcast

Instructor Richard Harrington takes custom backgrounds further as he shows you how to make your own backgrounds using moving video. Part 2 of 2.

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New Aperture Book is in My Hands

Tuesday, May 06, 2008 Filed in: Apple

I came home tonight and found a copy of Apple Pro Training Series: Aperture 2 sitting on my door step. I'm quite happy with how the book came out (especially since we were able to work in all of the new features in the 2.1 release). The book should start shipping within days... you can order it here. In the mean time (here are some features you won't want to miss).

Customize the Default Adjustment Set
Specify exactly which adjustments you want to appear by default in the Adjustments Inspector/HUD. Two new commands — Add to Default Set and Remove from Default Set — are accessible in the Action pop-up menu for each adjustment in order to configure these settings.

Keyboard support in Adjustment Panels
Make precise image adjustments using the arrow keys on your keyboard to drive the various sliders in the Adjustments Inspector/HUD. To activate keyboard control, click once in the numeric field of an adjustment control (such as Exposure). You can then use the arrow keys to increase or decrease values. Hold down the Option key when using the arrow keys for even more precise adjustment. You can use Tab to move to the next adjustment control (and Shift-Tab to move to a previous control).

Read More...

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Adobe TV at NAB 2008 – Production Premium CS3 for Final Cut Pro Editors

Monday, May 05, 2008 Filed in: Other | Resources

Caught a great presentation from Steve Martin at NAB. It's all about using Production Premium with other NLEs like Final Cut Pro. Steve is a popular trainer (in fact one of Apple's main instructors). This one is helpful...

If you want more free classes... visit the Adobe TV site.

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100 UAP - Vanishing Point - Understanding Adobe Photoshop

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 Filed in: Education | Training Products

Instructor Richard Harrington explains how to use vanishing point to repair an image with perspective in mind in the 100th episode of Understanding Adobe Photoshop.

Like the podcast? Subscribe for FREE.
Want more training? Check out our Books.

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PSV#74 Creating Motion Backgrounds From Scratch Part 1 - Photoshop for Video

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 Filed in: Podcast

Instructor Richard Harrington takes custom backgrounds further as he shows you how to make your own backgrounds using moving video. Part 1 of 2.

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Resources from Adobe E-Seminar

Thursday, April 24, 2008 Filed in: Adobe

I taught an Adobe E-Seminar yesterday called "Creating a Graphic Identity for your Web Video and Dynamic Media." The class itself will be posted next week. Here are a few resources I identified during the class.

1. Two motion graphics projects.
2. Advice on rendering in After Effects.
3. Resource Slides
4. Photoshop for Video Podcast (free)
5. Producing Video Podcasts show (free)

The two books mentioned are Producing Video Podcasts and Photoshop for Video.

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Adobe TV at NAB 2008 – Photoshop CS3 Extended for Video

Thursday, April 24, 2008 Filed in: Adobe | Resources

Want 30 minutes of free training on Adobe Photoshop CS3? Adobe had me in their theater at NAB giving lessons. Here's a recording from one of the days so you can see what was taught.

If you want more free classes... visit the Adobe TV site.

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Adobe Demos Future Technology at NAB

Thursday, April 24, 2008 Filed in: Training Products | Humor | Other

Following up on my "Really Cool Adobe Announcements" post...

Adobe has actually posted their "secret" presentation from NAB. Hart Shafer talks about four cool things Adobe has up their sleeve.

You SO need to watch this... trust me. BTW (for those of you waiting... they did show OnLocation for Mac in this demo).

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PSV#73 Creating Custom Backgrounds From Scratch - Photoshop for Video

Tuesday, April 22, 2008 Filed in: Podcast

Instructor Richard Harrington shows you a simple technique that you can use to create custom backgrounds from scratch.

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More on the Puppet Tool – Hands on Files and Bonus Video

Monday, April 21, 2008 Filed in: Adobe | Training Products

I promised these hands-on practice files about the Puppet Tool a while back. To make it up to you (my loyal viewers) I've included an extra sample.

To get the hands on files click here.

To get a bonus video tutorial - click here.

(Thanks to the fine folks at the New York Post Conference for letting me post this).

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NAB Show 2008 Conference Notes

Monday, April 21, 2008 Filed in: Conferences | Resources

Thanks to all the great people who attended my classes at NAB this year. It was a ton of work to prep (and I must admit I needed some rest when I got back home). As promised, the class notes and resources have been posted to the Handouts section (be sure to browse for other resources as well).

Here's the list of what's available.

01 Fast Start with Adobe Photoshop for Video Pros – Slides | Book Sample
02 Video Podcasting Essentials – Slides
03 Selling Podcasting to Your Clients – Slides
04 A Sense of Perspective with Vanishing Point – Slides | Practice Files
05 Creating Movement within Photos with After Effects CS3 – Slides | Practice Files 1 | Practice Files 2
06 Directing Video Podcasts – Slides
07 Project Management for Video Pros – Slides
08 In-Depth: Video Production for the Web – Slides
09 Creating a Graphic Identity for Your Web Video – Slides
10 Render Faster: Wait Less and Play More in Adobe After Effects – Slides
11 Storyboard Techniques with Adobe Photoshop – Slides
12 Creative and Animated DVD menus using Photoshop – Handouts
13 Automating Broadcast Design with Photoshop – Slides
14 Seeing a New Light: FCP Color Correction – Slides | DVD

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’Toon Your Video in Adobe CS3 Production Premium

Monday, April 21, 2008 Filed in: Adobe

Want to create a cartoon effect for your video? Be sure to check out this step-by-step tutorial I wrote for Layers Magazine.

“Sure, clients want it…that “cartoon look.” But let’s face it; good animation is hard to come by. Unless you have a gaggle of animators locked in your closet, you’ll need to get creative. Sure, you could break out the pencil and paper (or maybe even try shadow puppets), but we’re here to offer you a different solution. By harnessing the power of Adobe CS3 Production Premium, you can convert video frames into vector art into film-resolution movie files. Curious? It’s all possible with the power of the Production Premium. Read on.”

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3D[in] Photoshop CS3 Plug-ins

Monday, April 21, 2008 Filed in: Adobe

I recently wrote a detailed review on using Strata's new plug-ins for Photoshop CS3 Extended.

“With Photoshop CS3 Extended, Adobe significantly expanded the power to work with 3D models. Many users were excited by the ability to add 3D objects and modify their textures, but modeling and advanced rendering functions were missing.

Strata offers a suite of plug-ins called 3D[in] Photoshop CS3 Plug-ins. It’s important to note that these plug-ins only work with Photoshop CS3 Extended, but that shouldn’t be viewed as a limitation. With these plug-ins, you can essentially run the core set of Strata tools as linked applications that launch from within Photoshop, then return the results to Photoshop. Now you can match a 3D object to the perspective and lighting of a photo, create new 3D layers, and generate Live 3D Web and PDF pages from Photoshop designs.”

For the rest of the review, click here.

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Photoshop for Video featured on Planet Photoshop

Monday, April 21, 2008 Filed in: Training Products

Thanks to Planet Photoshop for making Photoshop for Video their pick of the week.

“This week I recommend Photoshop for Video by Richard Harrington. This book covers the information you need to implement Photoshop into your video workflow. It covers using channels effectively, setting up automation, creating interesting effects, and much more. If you want to get a better handle on working with Photoshop in your video workflow then this is the book for you. Richard is an Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop and After Effects and is an instructor at major events like Photoshop World and NAB. His visual communications consultancy, RHED Pixel, creates motion graphics and produces video and multimedia projects. Richard also has a blog at RasterVector.com and another at PhotoshopForVideo.com.”

Be sure to check out the rest of the site for a ton of great tutorials and video tips.

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Get the Adobe Media Player Now!

Sunday, April 20, 2008 Filed in: Training Products | Other

This is an excerpt from an article to be released in full later this week:

Adobe released the Adobe Media Player software on April 9, which allows a customizable, cross-platform media player experience. Built using as an Adobe Air application, the media player harnessed the power of Flash to create a rich media experience. To complete the experience, Adobe adds support for both RSS feeds and H.264 video, two of the open standards used by the podcasting movement.

What does this all mean? I had a chance to sit down with Deeje Cooley, who serves as the evangelist for Adobe’s Dynamic Media Organization (and formerly as the product manager for the Adobe Media Player). Cooley was tasked with bringing the product to market and he shared insight into Adobe’s motivation for the product and goals for its role in the market. Unlike competing products, the Adobe Media Player has chosen to focus on being a video-only player.

“The growth of video online, the dramatic growth of flash as the video delivery mechanism of choice… there was a ripe opportunity to take advantage of all these events around the industry,” said Cooley. “We started to build an RSS aggregator and quickly recognized that video was going to be a significant media online and so it became a video RSS aggregator. And so that’s really the birth of the Adobe Media Player.”