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Product Reviews
FIRST LOOK: JVC HM-100u By Heath McKnight The JVC HM-100u ProHD camera may be small in size, but it's packing three Full HD (1920 x 1080i/p) CCDs that capture great image quality, and it uses Sony's SxS/EX technology to deliver a tapeless workflow on affordable SDHC media cards. Plus, if you're a Final Cut Pro user, you can shoot directly to QuickTime for even faster importing and editing. ...Read More »
Trapcode's Particular 2 By Kevin McAuliffe As editors and motion graphic designers know, there are a lot (and I mean a lot) of plug-ins out there, and you often find the same type of plug-in across many different plug-in packages, and a very, very popular plug-in is the Particle Generator. Just about every plug-in package has one, and even After Effects itself ships with a few. ...Read More »
e-on`s Vue 7.5 Xstream By Jon Carroll One thing still challenging to 3D animators and visual effects artists is the creation of realistic landscapes and integrating objects created in their animation software into those environments. There have been over time several different pieces of 3D software that were specifically intended for the creation of 3D environments, and they have used various means to incorporate their landscapes into the rendered images. ...Read More »
I'm a Juicer By John Haley Whether you are someone who is running errands all day, or have a business which requires you to be away from the office, or even a student who loves music or a avid gammer - this is for you. Not many of us are stationary long enough to to recharge our all in one mobile computer, or at least that is how some think of their iPhones! ...Read More »
Lenovo ThinkStation S20 workstation By John Virata The Lenovo ThinkStation S20 is the company's mid range workstation that works well in a variety of creative environments, be it video and special effects creation to CAD and animation. Configured with the right graphics card, the unit will fit well in any creative environment. The S20 is larger than most mid-tower cases, and sports ample room inside for user upgrades. ...Read More »
Mercury On-The-Go By Ko Maruyama There are tons of reasons to check out this lightweight drive. The OWC Mercury On-The-Go drive is a little powerhouse in your pocket. If you're going to run out an purchase an external drive for your Mac laptop, you already know what you want in a drive: FW 800, USB 2.0 for those other connections you may need to make, and bus powered (no external power supply). ...Read More »
Motion Designer's Toolkit from Digital Juice By Kevin McAuliffe As editors and graphic designers know, time is our worst enemy. Clients want the best looking product (obviously) in the absolute shortest amount of time, and that's where companies like Digital Juice have helped us in the past by providing us with stock elements that we can use to not only spice up our projects, but get them finished a lot faster. ...Read More »
Noise Industries FX Factory Pro, Volumetrix, and SugarFX By Kevin McAuliffe With all the plug-in packages I look at, there are updates that (seem to) happen on almost a regular basis, so I thought that for this article I would take a look at recent upgrades to Noise Industries' products and partner products including FX Factory Pro, SugarFX, Motype and Volumetrix, as well as throwing in a quick look at Idustrial Revolution's brand new plug-in known as ParticleMetrix. ...Read More »
PHOTOSHOP DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS By Ko Maruyama You probably know Scott Kelby from many publications, especially as the editor of Photoshop User magazine. In his latest book, PHOTOSHOP CS4 DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS, Scott and Corey Barker walk through several of the latest design tricks and trends Photoshop users recognize in so much of the print work available today. ...Read More »
FreeForm AE for Adobe After Effects By Kevin McAuliffe These days, 3D in Adobe's After Effects is a no brainer, and most people don't even give it a second thought. I've been an After Effects user since version 3.5 of the software, and when the 3D feature came along (version 5), it was a huge step forward, except for one problem. ...Read More »
The Archive Titanium Edition from Digimation By Kevin McAuliffe I like being a "one-man-show." I not only edit, but I do motion graphics, sound mixing and a variety of other jobs that give my clients a "one stop shop" for all their post production needs. These days I'm moving more and more into 3D design (using Cinema 4D), as it is another service I can offer my clients. There is one problem though, and that is that I can't model to save my life. ...Read More »
Modbook from a MacBook Pro By Ko Maruyama A few years ago, we saw a company called Axiotron out of El Segundo California come up with a Mac tablet which integrated the Wacom tablet technology (similar to the Cintiq) and the Apple MacBook. This is a great solution for those of us who loved to work with software that really took advantage of the stylus. Before the Pro version ships, Adobe Photoshop, Autodesk Sketchbook Pro, and Maxon's BodyPaint 3D were among some of the tools I tried out on the current 15-inch ModBook. ...Read More »
Flip video delivers new Flip UltraHD By Ko Maruyama The Ultra HD in many ways is like it's predecessor, the flip. The small camera easily fits into a shirt pocket, or purse, it shoots a HD video image HD -- 1287 20x720, and has an easy to use button interface on the back of the upright camera. However, there are many features that set this camera apart from its previous version, and any of the other competitors' offerings. ...Read More »
Lenovo W700ds mobile workstation By John Virata Lenovo has long been known for innovative notebook computers harking back to the days when it (IBM) came out with the ThinkPad notebook computer. This machine served notice that it was at the top of the heap when it came to design and functionality. The current crop of ThinkPad workstations maintain that innovation as well as some features that could be called obscure, such as the one with the W700ds that I'm reviewing here. ...Read More »
Zaxwerks Serpentine By Ko Maruyama While you may know Zaxwerks previous offerings, the latest plug-in for Adobe's After Effects is the evolution of some of the best parts from its predecessors. Although the company's other plug-ins offer interesting options for 3D designers, Serpentine gives After Effects artists need ability to create those 3D animations that are most frequently requested in motion graphics. ...Read More »
TEN ONE DESIGN'S pogo sketch By Ko Maruyama When I heard about the Pogo sketch tool, I immediately thought that this could be the stylus that could supplement my`wacom tablet when I was using my Mac book remotely. I love my Wacom tablet and stylus and that I can fit into my briefcase easily, but the prospect of having a single stylus to scribble on my laptop's touchpad was alluring. ...Read More »
Review: HP Z800 workstation By John Virata Hewlett Packard, one of the most widely respected company's in the history of computing, and a true technology innovator (versus marketer), has blown the whole notion of computer design wide open with the latest version of its Z 800 workstations. The system is unique in that not only does it sport the latest Intel technology; the engineers have created a workstation that is both highly functional yet elegant in its form, inside and out. ...Read More »
Adobe After Effects CS4 By Kevin McAuliffe I'm really going to be dating myself by saying this, but I have been an After Effects user for a long time, since version 3.1. At the time, the coolest feature anyone had ever seen was the RAM Preview, which we all now take for granted. With the advancement of After Effects over the years, we have seen many amazing new features like 3D space, 32-bit float, Open GL support and expressions to name a very, very few. ...Read More »
Keylight and Furnace 4 for FXPlug By Kevin McAuliffe For a while now, it seems that compositors, other than those of us using Motion, have been spoiled. We have had access to one of the best (if not THE best) keying plug-ins available in Keylight (ships with all versions of Adobe's After Effects), and users of higher end compositing applications like Shake and Nuke have had Furnace at their finger tips. ...Read More »
Compositor's Toolkit from Digital Juice By Kevin McAuliffe As difficult as compositing using After Effects, Shake or Combustion might seem, sometimes it might just be the easiest part of your job. The hardest part is gathering elements to bring what's in your head to life. You either need to spend ridiculous amounts of money per shot, or you have to rent all the gear to shoot it yourself. Who has the time or money to do that? One HD shot of a "Cloud Chamber" from Art Beats is $300 for a 1920x1080, thirty-six second shot. ...Read More »

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