Did you look into buying a 3D Motion Tracker and Matchmoving software? On Jan, 24th 2012 you can buy CAMERATRACKER for one day for just $159 (that is more then 40% off). CAMERATRACKER allows the insertion of elements ( or graphics) into footage, at the correct potion. The inserted element (or graphic) would be remain on the correct position, orientation and scale. If you want to use the software before you buy you can download a demo from The Foundry web site.

With CAMERATRACKER you can match camera moves within Adobe® After Effects®. You can learn more about CAMERATRACKER  by following the different tutorials that are available also The Foundry training resource

We recommend to start with those tuturials  or The Pixel Lab tutorials:

(AE + C4D + Foundry 3D Camera Tracker Tut! Part 1)

(AE + C4D + Foundry 3D Camera Tracker Tut! Part 2)

Another great tutorial comes from Andrew Kramer from videocopilot.net:

(Video courtesy of videocopliot.)

There are more  3D Motion Tracker and Matchmoving applications available, however the price of CAMERATRACKER during this special sale is hard to beat.

Accoding to  The Foundry the requirements for  CAMERATRACKER are either:

• After Effects CS5 or CS5.5 on Mac OS X 10.5.8 (or later) 64-bit, or
• After Effects CS5 or CS5.5 on Windows 7 64-bit, or
• After Effects CS4 on Mac OS X 10.5.8 (or later) 32-bit, or
• After Effects CS4 on Windows XP 32-bit.

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman

A FULL-CG animated piece that tries to illustrate architecture art across a photographic point of view where main subjects are already-built spaces. Sometimes in an abstract way. Sometimes surreal. Made by Alex Roman (Madrid, Spain)

Credits:

CG: Modelling,  Texturing, Illumination and Rendering: by  Alex Roman
POST: Postproduction and Editing: Alex Roman
MUSIC: Sequenced, Orchestrated & Mixed by Alex Roman (Sonar & EWQLSO Gold Pro XP)
Sound Design by Alex Roman
Based on original scores by:
Michael Laurence Edward Nyman (The Departure)
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (Le Carnaval des animaux)
Directed by Alex Roman
Software used: 3dsmax, Vray, AfterEffects and Premiere.

thirdseventh.com
Making Of Exeter Shot

Compositing Breakdown (T&S)

According to Andrew Kramer the Optical Flares videocopilot.net new lens flare plug-in will be available January 25 2010.

Optical Flares is according to videocopilot.net  capable of building amazing 3D lens flare presets with precise and realistic qualities. The lens flare   presets are supposed to be shared online?

Planned features of Optical Flares lens flare plug-in:

• Auto-position of lens flares
• Real-Time lens flare with with preview of the different lens flares
• Dynamic lens flares
• Possibility to manage lens flare attributes like dust, chromatic aberration and aspect ratios
• Share lens flares with others on videocopilot.net

I have been using Mojo the last months during the beta phase and have found Mojo a reliable and really easy to use tool which enhanced my footage quickly.

Chris Zwar shares in his 3-part video tutorial (part1, part2, part3)  how he has done the conference opener for Centrica back in 2006.  Chris After Effects video tutorial gives an general insight into the various processes that he did use from start to end.. Chris did use plugin Knoll Light Factory Pro and you may need this plugin to achieve the best results similar to the look chris describes. A small demonstration project that you can download here.

Create cool 3D effects like moving film strips (Examples here) , shooting stars, animated marquee signs, swirling tubes, winding helixes, twisting extruded text, arrow pointers and self-tying ribbons.
Zaxwerks has a demo movie for you:  Click Here to watch the 3D Serpentine demo movie

3D Serpentine features

• Auto-Orient
  Powerful Zaxwerks-only auto-orientation technology insures that the 3D objects look good at all points along the path and don’t suffer from the twists and distortions that most other 3D programs have.
• Cross Sections
  For instant feedback, basic cross section shapes are included such as stars, rectangles lines and circles; but you can also use AE’s drawing tools to create any cross section you wish, even ones with multiple parts.
• End Cap Control
  End cap controls give you instant pointed, beveled, rounded or domed ends.
• Importing Custom Head and Tail Objects
  Head and Tail objects can be imported from Zaxwerks ProAnimator or Invigorator, enabling you to use any 3D object as the beginning or end of the noodle.
• Materials and Lighting
  Noodles can be colored by an image or movie. They can be rendered in solid, cartoon, wireframe and hidden line styles. Bump and reflection maps can be used to give the objects texture and brilliance. All 3D Serpentine objects respond to the After Effects camera and lighting.

A older Beta video about Zaxwerks 3D Serpentine

According to Zaxwerks 3D Serpentine works in Adobe After Effects on Macintosh ( Host: Adobe After Effects CS3 and CS4, G4/G5 Power Mac or Intel Mac,  Mac OS X 10.3.9, 10.4.11, and 10.5.2 and higher & 512 MB RAM ) and Windows ( Host: Adobe After Effects CS3, and CS4,Pentium 4 or better,Windows XP service pack 2 or Windows Vista & 512 MB RAM)

Jerzego Drozde Jr (aka Maltaannona) released his newest plugin. Youveelizer helps you to apply UV mapping with pixel bender, the plugin supports normal maps as well.  When you apply Youveelizer to a layer with a UV render pass to apply a texture to a rendered 3d object, or to a Normal render pass to add reflections. All 3d objects should be rendered out from 3d Studio Max, Maxon Cinema 4D or other 3d package capable of rendering UV and Normal render passes.

If you wonder about UV Data and what it is all about read more about UV data here.”UV space is a parametric definition of an object’s mapping used in computer graphics. Its main goal is to provide a means of correlating the geometry of an object with other data generated within the program. This can include not only textures and rendering data, but also parameters of the object itself. For surfaces generated from curves, this would, for instance, be valid for the tension and continuity. Another common use is the placement of one object on another’s surface. “(Lutz Albrecht)

More on UV data

• Integrating 3D applications with After Effects – Part 1: Working with UV data
• UV Mapping with Pixel Bender

maltaannon Shutter Streak

In his latest Video Tutorial maltaannon (Jerzy Drozda Jr) shows you how to create the  classy film look Shutter Streak effect in your footage, similar to the look you can create with Red Giant Software’s plugin – Magic Bullet Looks. Maltaannon offers you also a Shutter Streak preset (After Effects CS3)