StrongMocha

Trapcode and Red Giant Software announcing for the NAB 2008 their newest After Effects plugins.

• Trapcode Horizon is a plug-in designed specifically for After Effects users doing 3D work. Are you tired of figuring out how to get your camera to match your virtual background? Well, we have a simple solution for you. With the help of Trapcode Horizon, you can generate motion in 3D in a true 3D space. (Priced should be at $99 this product should ship in Q2 2008.)
• Radium Glow will be a new package of plug-ins to create glowing areas in an image based on the brightest parts of the frame. The four plug-ins are Glow EZ, a simple plug-in with limited controls, Glow with advanced controls and masking, Glow Edge for creating glows only on the edges of an image or around text, and Glow Depth which will create the Glow based on a secondary z-depth or depth buffer layer.
  Priced at $99 this product will ship in Q2 2008.
• Instant HD Pro is designed to deliver the highest possible quality conversion for SD to HD. Its advanced tool set offers sharp, motion-compensated de-interlacing and de-noising; advanced pan and scan; and a super-resolution algorithm for providing actual resolution enhancement in an editing application. All these features are combined into one plug-in with an easy-to-use preset menu for choosing the right HD and 2K output formats.
  Priced at $399 this product will ship in Q2 2008.
• Magic Bullet Steady will include two new plug-ins for Final Cut Pro 6 and After Effects CS3 (Mac and Windows). The stabilizer function removes unwanted camera movement and drift with a software-based 2D translation that is near real-time. Also, included in this set is a tool to reduce visible noise and grain in DV sequences produced by digital video cameras, camcorders, TV-tuners, digitizers of film or analog video.
  Priced at $199 this product will ship in Summer 2008.
• Primatte Keyer Pro 4 is a professional greenscreen tool that extracts keys from any color background quickly and easily. Version 4 brings new levels of power and speed to After Effects and Avid, and for the first time, Final Cut Pro. New features include easy-to-use Auto setup, which creates an almost-perfect key with one click. Powerful features allow Primatte Keyer to overcome keying challenges such as uneven lighting, compression artifacts, subtle shadows, and edge light contamination. Best of all, Primatte Keyer 4 works right on the timeline.
  Available now for $499 new or $199 as an upgrade.

You can save 30% on ANY product in the entire redgiantsoftware.com store. Shop now. This offer expires, Sunday, April 20, 2008 (12 am Eastern (New York). Enter Coupon Code NAB2008 to take advantage of this special offer.

Andrew Kramer from videcopilot.net did release another great After Effects Video Tutorial. This time he is guiding you through the creation of smoke on a footage and how to stabilize it. Andrew was inspired by the book Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional Studio Techniques (Author Mark Christiansen) that we at StrongMocha.com recommend as well.  I did buy the book myself some weeks ago and learned a lot from Mark Christiansen’s book, of course not as much I learned from Andrew Video Tutorials or products videcopilot.net sells.

From Andrew’s announcement at videocopilot.net:

“In this new 2-part tutorial you will learn a great method for stabilizing footage in After Effects that smooths the result rather than freezes the tracking center. We will also create smoke flying behind a police car, which is as fun as it sounds.

This one tutorial has many great tips and techniques including, rotoscoping, expressions and matte blending.”

“I’d also like to thank Mark Christiansen for allowing me to demonstrate his stabilize technique in this tutorial. For more information about his great After Effects book” Click the book below

Some day’s earlier the same week videocopilot.net did release another useful Video Tutorial. The After Effects Video Tutorial “Smoke Screen” which teaches you how to use various compositig techniques to create these smoke designs in After Effects.

Please do not forget to support the work Andrew is doing. One great way to support videocopilot.net is to buy their products like Twitch. Twitch is available as a download version, buy Twitch here. Twitch from Videocopilot is a awesome After Effects plug-in. StrongMocha highly recommends this great plug-in.To learn more on Twitch you can read more here:

New Twitch (Vines) Tutorial @ videocopilot.net

Twitch - a “must have” After Effects Plug-in

Twitch After Effects Plug-in promotion video

Alternative you could start to stabilize and/or track footage with monet or mokey both from Imagineer Systems, however these products come with additional costs you may do not want to spend. View the product overview chart to see how Imagineer Systems products compare and what you are missing in your toolbox: Chart

Trapcode did release three new short clips showing work two of their clients did produce.

The new clips are made by Barbecue Mediendesign GmbH and Crew Creative Advertising

Barbecue Mediendesign GmbH did create two great clips “Lexus” and “Lexus LFA” (car). Crew Creative Advertising created the trailer Life Before Her Eyes Trailer

Life Before Her Eyes Trailer (quote from trapcode)
Trapcode plugins have always been a staple product in Crew Creative’s motion graphics pipeline, so we were excited to get our hands on Form. With a mixture of Particular, Starglow, Form and 3d Stroke (driving the Form map layer), Lead Motion Graphics Designer, Adam Franklin, achieved the visual look and feel desired for this trailer.

All three clips show the powerful results you can achieve with the fine plugins from trapcode.

Andrew Kramer did release a new Video Tutorial show how to create 3D Vines in max and finishing it up in After Effects.

You may have seen this vines in the Twitch promo video.

Twitch is available as a download version, buy Twitch here.Twitch from Videocopilot is a awesome After Effects plug-in. StrongMocha highly recommends this great plug-in.

Read our Full Twitch coverage: Twitch - a “must have” After Effects Plug-in or watch the video here: Twitch After Effects Plug-in promotion video

Andrew Kramer was so kind to send us a Twitch Pro Video to share with you on StrongMocha.

Twitch features:

• 6 Built-in Operators
• 7 Video Tutorials
• 10 Free Twitch Sound Effects
• 25 Effects PresetsTwitch is available as a download version, buy Twitch here.Twitch from Videocopilot is a awesome After Effects plug-in. StrongMocha highly recommends this great plug-in.

Read our Full Twitch coverage: Twitch - a “must have” After Effects Plug-in

Videocopilot.net is releasing on March, 10th the long awaited Twitch a Plug-in for After Effects which allows you to create stylistic video effects for motion graphics and visual effects. Watch the Twitch Introduction on videocopilot.net.

Twitch features:

• 6 Built-in Operators
• 7 Video Tutorials
• 10 Free Twitch Sound Effects
• 25 Effects Presets

Twitch Operator, allows you to control the effect you desire.

• Blur Operator:The blur function contains some of the most advanced features including a threshold slider, transfer modes, and aspect control.

• Color Operator:One of the most fun and useful functions allows you to colorize your twitches as well as randomize color for exciting situations.

• Light Operator:Similar to an exposure function, this operator allows you to choose from adding brightness or darkness to your Twitches or even both.

• Scale Operator:With built in Motion Blur and random anchor selection the Scale operator will give you endless possibilities.

• Slide Operator:One of the most fun to use, the Slide operator has many controls over slide, motion blur, tendency and the advanced RGB Split.

• Time Operator:You can even randomly offset footage forward or backwards with this handy operator control.

Twitch Plug-in is compatible with 7.0 (windows and mac), CS3 (Windows and mac) and Premiere Pro CS3 (Windows and mac). Some Twitch features are not supported with Premiere Pro CS3.

Twitch is available as a download version, buy Twitch here.

Twitch from Videocopilot is a awesome After Effects plug-in. StrongMocha highly recommends this great plug-in.

Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional - Upgrade Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional

Apple® today introduced Aperture^TM 2, the next major release of its groundbreaking photo editing and management software with over 100 new features that make it faster, easier to use and more powerful. With a streamlined user interface and entirely new image processing engine, Aperture 2 also introduces new imaging tools for highlight recovery, color vibrancy, local contrast definition, soft-edged retouching, vignetting and RAW fine-tuning, and lets users directly post their portfolios on the .Mac Web Gallery* for viewing on the web, iPhone^TM, iPod® touch and Apple TV®.

Featuring a new, easier user interface designed to be more intuitive and accessible, Aperture 2 now lets users navigate between Viewer and Browser modes with a single key command. Screen real estate is maximized for images with an all-in-one heads up display that allows users to toggle between library, metadata and adjustment controls in a single tabbed inspector. The All Projects view, modeled after iPhoto’s Events view, provides a poster photo for every project and the ability to quickly skim through the photos inside, and the integrated iPhoto® Browser offers direct access to all the events and images in the iPhoto library.

Performance has been enhanced in Aperture 2 so it’s faster to import, browse and search large volumes of images. Embedded previews let photographers caption, keyword and rate images as they are being imported, and with the ability to export images in the background, photographers can continue working while images are processed to JPEG, TIFF, PNG and PSD file formats. Quick Preview allows users to browse RAW images in rapid succession without having to wait for files to load, and the Aperture library database has been re-architected to provide fast project switching and near instantaneous search results, even when working with extremely large libraries of 500,000 images or more.

Aperture 2 delivers powerful new imaging tools for getting the most out of each photograph. Apple’s next-generation RAW image processing is at the core of Aperture 2 offering uncompromising image quality and precision controls that let users fine-tune the image profile for each of their cameras. New tools for improving and enhancing images include Recovery for pulling back “blown” highlights, Vibrancy for selectively boosting saturation without adversely affecting skin tones, Definition, which offers local contrast for adding clarity to images, Vignette & Devignette filters for providing professional visual effects and a true soft-edged Repair and Retouch brush for quickly and easily removing blemishes, cleaning up sensor dust and cloning away problem areas.

Aperture 2 works seamlessly with Mac OS® X, iLife®, iWork^TM, .Mac and Apple print products, so any image in the Aperture library can be accessed directly from within other applications, such as iMovie®, Keynote® and Pages®, and even from within Leopard^TM Mail. Now with .Mac Web Gallery support, Aperture users can publish their photos once to view them on the web, iPhone, iPod touch and Apple TV. Books in Aperture 2 feature new theme designs, layout tools, customized dust jackets (including full-bleed) and foil stamped covers.

Pricing & Availability
Aperture 2 is available immediately through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. Owners of previous versions of Aperture can upgrade to Aperture 2. Full system requirements and more information on Aperture 2 can be found at www.apple.com/aperture.

* The .Mac service is available to persons aged 13 and older. Annual membership fee and Internet access required. Terms and conditions apply.