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.

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.

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).

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

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).

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

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.”

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.

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.

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.”



The Adobe Media Player is immediately available as a free download for Windows and Macintosh platforms from
http://www.adobe.com/go/mp.

I just got back from NAB this morning... here are a handful of videos we produced while on the road.


The Litepanels Micro


The Matrox MXO 2

More from the NAB Show Floor.

On the Scene at NAB 2008


The AJA IO HD with Gary Adcock

Instructor Richard Harrington shows you how to use vanishing point to repair images while keeping proper perspective.

On the road at NAB... here are a handful of videos we produced.

The Red Scarlet: A First Look


Adobe Media Player at NAB 2008

I finally gave in and checked out Photoshop Express from Adobe... and I must say I am impressed. No, it doesn't replace Elements (and certainly not Photoshop), but it is very, very cool.



Here are the core features

• Upload up to 2GB of photos (for free!)
• Sort images to keep them organized
• Easy to use editing tools let you do all sorts of tasks like Crop, Rotate, TOuch-up, remove red-eye, change focus, sharpen, white balance, and add fill light (plus more).
• Share your photos with a Gallery (customized photo displays are supported)
• Upload them to your Facebook page, blog, or anywhere else online.

My thoughts? It's awesome! Here's why this matters to pros and even hobbyists.

• First, it brings Photoshop to more people, ensuring a healthier life for Adobe.
• Second, it's free! 2GB of storage is useful.... I am loading up images that I often use to teach with as well as a few portfolios I'd like to share.
• Third, New Media.... it's catching on and apps like this are truly exciting to all ages.

Be sure to check it out... good stuff!

Instructor Richard Harrington shows you how to use Photoshop's photo filters for a variety of effects.

'

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

Instructor Richard Harrington explains how to use Photoshop and After Effects to take a photo and turn it into a character driven animation. Part 2 of 2.



To get the hands on files click here.

The Aperture book is DONE and off to print. We worked in complete coverage on Aperture 2.1 which has some great new features. I've logged a lot of time with the application and wanted to offer some insight on the best of the new features in the free 2.1 update.

• Dodge & Burn Plug-in – This plug-in offers much more than just Dodge and Burn. You'll also find brush-based tools for Contrast, Saturation, Sharpen Fade, and Blur. The plug-in also opens the door to third-party development (including some cool tools from nik Software.
• Customize Default Adjustment Set – You can now specify which adjustments appear by default in the Adjustments Inspector/HUD.
• Updated Crop Tool – The crop tool has been simplified. The new UI makes it easier to preserve an image's original aspect ratio, match the aspect ratio of your display, or use one of the standard preset aspect ratios.
• Flip Images – You can now flip or flop images horizontally or vertically within Aperture.
• Save Books as JPEG or TIFF images – This means you can now submit books to several third party websites.

The book will be out very soon... you can order it here.

I took the plunge and got an Apple TV for our living room (we already had one in the office). The Device is cross-platform and works really well. Apple updated the software in February and added some great features. Here's what I like the most:

• The HD Rentals work great and look on par with Blu-ray
• Movies are affordable, priced between $2.99 and $4.99
• Downloads start to play in less than 5 minutes
• I can watch podcasts on the big screen (it's weird to watch yourself in HD)
• Accessing music, movies, and photos from any computer in the house is near instant
• The device is easy to hook up
• My three-year old can figure it out
• YouTube's expected switch to bigger image size will be great

Looking for an easy way to white-balance on a shoot? I just discovered the useful Whibal White Balance Reference Cards.

Here's what I like:

• Lightweight and single-card format.
• Light Gray, certified to recommended Luminance
• Includes Black and White Spots
• Focus and Sharpness targets
• Sturdy and Easy to Pack (it even floats)
• Affordable

Looking for something different? I discovered Animoto at this year's SXSW conference... Load up your photos, pick a song, and within a few minutes you have a rocking music video. You can use their cleared music or load up your own. Thirty-second movies are free, full-length videos cost $3. You can get a full year's access for $30.

The whole process is a piece of cake. Be sure to check them out – here. You can post the videos to a website, download them for an iPod, or even use YouTube to share. The videos you download

Here are a two more of mine that you can check out.