September 29, 2016

How Far You Can Lean On Stock Footage?

http://adobe.ly/2cxdlNx"Depth of Field” is a three-part web video series made entirely with Adobe Stock Film Series assets to showcase the breadth of the Adobe Stock Film Series collection. It demonstrates just how far you can lean on stock footage, even if just used as placeholders for custom shots.

See the PVC article for more, but here's a sample:

September 21, 2016

Become a contributor to Adobe Stock

http://adobe.ly/2cxdlNx
Yesterday Adobe announced the public beta of the Adobe Stock Contributor website, a new platform where you can sell photos, illustrations, videos, and vector graphics directly to the world’s largest creative community. By contributing to Adobe Stock, you can showcase your work to millions of creatives right inside Creative Cloud apps. The platform is fully functional but still in beta, so feedback is welcome through the Adobe Stock Contributor forum.

One major new feature is auto-keywording, a time-saving feature that uses machine learning to automatically generate the first five keywords of each image you submit. It’ll be interesting to see if this technology can generate emotional keywords like “joy” that could help worthy content to stand out from the crowd.




Adobe has integrated Stock contributor submission directly within Creative Cloud applications, though it’s not required. During the beta phase, you’ll have the ability to upload images to Adobe Stock directly from Lightroom CC and Bridge CC, which were also just updated and released. Adobe plans to open submissions to more content types in additional CC applications soon.

There’s a 33% commission for photos and vector art, and a 35% commission for videos, “based on the price of the image.” A payout request via Paypal or Skrill is available when you have reach $50 (or Euros) in royalties (allow 7 days for payment). Check out Adobe Stock itself for info on the range of pricing.

You can visit the Adobe Stock HelpX page for general information. See also a tutorial on how to search, download, and license royalty-free video footage from Adobe Stock via the Creative Cloud Libraries panel inside Premiere Pro CC and After Effects CC.

Here's an Adobe Stock Contributor Spotlight sharing one contributor's experience:


June 30, 2016

Red Giant Universe 2.0 - no more free lunch

You probably already heard, but...

Red Giant Universe had been a consistently-updated mix of free and subscription effects for Adobe After Effect, Premiere Pro, and related apps like Hitfilm Pro, Final Cut Pro X, and DaVinci Resolve. With the new Universe 2.0, Red Giant removed the less popular plug-ins -- and will no longer offer free tools! 

There more at PVC in Red Giant Universe 2.0: Hud, Mograph, Stylized Damage & Looks, Transitions

Creative Cloud video June 2016 aka 2015.3


Adobe has released a new version of its Creative Cloud video and audio tools, dubbed Creative Cloud 2015.3 (not Creative Cloud 2016).  Here’s a handy roundup of summary info, links to more, and videos from Adobe and 3rd party reviewers & trainers.

You probably should choose to deselect “Remove Old Versions” in the Creative Cloud app (in Advanced Options when you click Install), in case you run into an unworkable bug situation.

And migrating plug-ins between versions can be a problem too, depending on plug-in tech used, but copying the old folder over to the new version plug-in folder often works fine. Just be sure to copy the folder before you uninstall the old version, or check leave preferences.

June 27, 2016

Arabic text in Premiere Pro and After Effects

UPDATE: Creative Cloud incorporates RTL text in the release of June 2016 (Arabic video; Hebrew demo).



 

UPDATETypewriter effects in After Effects at PVC (August 2013) updates the status of Right-to-Left writing systems like Arabic and Hebrew.
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AE Scripts has another script for text manipulation in After Effects, ArabicText, by Salahuddin Taha. Arabic, Hebrew, and other texts are written from right to left, but AE flows letters from left to right in the Composition panel (oddly, the Layer Name stays correct).

TextReverser, from LLoyd Alvarez fixes the flow when the letters are standalone, but broke the letter back into individuals. Arabic is cursive and has medial letterforms, and needed another approach.

Later: There's now an Animation Preset, Typewriter-RTL, that "only works with 2 keyframes that reveal the text from beginning to end."

April 28, 2016

Hitfilm 4 Express: Free Editing and 3D Compositing



FXHOME released its free all-in-one video editing and visual effects software HitFilm 4 Express, a product based on Hitfilm Pro 4. Aimed mainly at YouTube creators, this free software seems capable and feature rich and a useful resource for anyone.

Read the rest at Pro Video Coalition...

March 8, 2016

Saber: a FREE After Effects plug-in

Saber is a new FREE After Effects plug-in from Andrew Kramer and friends at Video Copilot.

After a few hiccups, the free filter is now available.  VCP Saber can be used to create energy beams, lightsabers, lasers, portals, neon lights, electric, haze, etc. -- using the built-in beam, or using text or custom masks.

Saber is dense with features far beyond AE's ancient built-in Beam effect. There more info at Video Copilot or in Saber: a new FREE After Effects plug-in from Video Copilot.

January 9, 2016

25 great movies in black & white

Younger friends and family members routinely say they won't watch black & white movies. Contrary to what they may think, old films can be relevant and enjoyable today.

A list of only 25 American movies like this must be general, even if personal favorites. There are no films listed from Chaplin or Keaton, no classic horror, no silent films, no Japanese, Indian, Swedish, Russian, German, French, Italian (ok: one), or British (pretty much). There's not even too much in the way of film noir, Westerns, or gangsters. But these and similar films are well worth seeking out, or keeping an eye out for, even if you somehow feel repulsed by black and white. See the list at:

Black & white movies are good (really): 25 great movies in black & white