Thundering Thursday : Realistic Sun Effects with Optical Flares in AfterEffects

It's time for the Thundering Thursday! This week we are going to show you how to create realistic Sun effects with Optical Flares in AfterEffects. This is although a basic tutorial but atleast a proficient level of knowledge in AfterEffects is required. Big thanks to Blake Zebo for this video.



Enjoy the video and keep your eyes on this blog for more updates!

Wow Wednesday! : Papercraft Text Effect in Photoshop CS5

Hi and welcome to our first new edition of Wow Wednesday! In this edition we are showing a text effect tutorial in Photoshop CS5. In this tutorial you'll learn how to create a Papercraft Text effect. Now the tutorial is about for 15 minutes, so I recommend a cup of coffee with this tutorial. Jokes apart, this tutorial is done by ChChCheckItsClan (weird username, isn't it?). So sit back with a cup of coffee and enjoy the tutorial.

 

Monday Feast : Corel Draw X6 Preview

Hello and welcome to the first episode of Monday Feast. This edition we are going to present the preview of all new Corel Draw X6. This version has much exciting features compared to other previous versions of Corel. Advanced web designing tools, revamped PowerClip feature and friendly user-interface are the few features of the Corel Draw X6.

 Check this preview video of Corel Draw X6 by Corel Australia.

Part I

Part II

 More tutorials coming soon of Corel Draw. Watch the space regularly. Till then enjoy the videos.

Congratulations Kolkata Knight Riders for winning DLF IPL 2012

 Today we start off with congratulating Kolkata Knight Riders for clinching their maiden IPL title at Chennai against Chennai Super Kings. The team's successful fight against the Dhoni & Co. reflected the fighting spirit of Bengal. Well done KKR!

Saturday Showdown : Introducing Adobe AfterEffects CS6

Welcome to the first episode of Saturday Showdown. In this episode we are going to introduce to you the latest Adobe AfterEffects CS6. Now as you know that Adobe has stopped support of AfterEffects and Premiere Pro for the 32 bit (x86) machines from CS5, this version of AE will work on 64 bit (x64) only. So first check your PC to make sure that you are using a 64 bit version.

Here is the demo video from Adobe TV.

Along with this, a small industrial review of AfterEffects CS6 by 3D World:

Nuke, Fusion and Motion (the latter available only as part of Final Cut Studio) are all capable of turning in a great job, but it’s generally agreed that After Effects holds the title of industry leading compositor.

And with its Adobe CS integration, it is just as suited for use by 3D animators as it is by video pros, 2D animators and multimedia producers.

As with most incremental upgrades, After Effects CS5.5 does a lot to shore up the application as a whole, and thus limits the new features to a short list we’ll look at in a moment.

Under the hood, 5.5 builds on CS5’s transition to a true 64-bit workflow.

A vastly improved disk caching system ups the default from just 2GB to a whopping 20GB – more than capableof dealing with today’s huge HD files.

We weren’t able to do a direct comparison test, but Adobe claims this provides significant playback gains.

After Effects CS5.5 also now displays each layer’s caching individually, enabling you to know just what content is in the cache.

The most-touted new feature is the Warp Stabilizer, an advanced stabilisation toolset that not only automates target creation, but also synthesises image content to avoid heavy cropping (stealing some technology from Photoshop’s Content-Aware Fill).

It’s a genuinely useful tool for film and video work, but will be of less use to the 3D animator.

After Effects’s stereoscopic workflow now streamlines the entire process to make it a bit less complex and a lot more functional.

The stereoscopic process is still challenging, but is becoming more mainstream every year.

It’s also a natural opportunity for 3D animators who use software that likely already has stereoscopic-aware toolsets.

Lights in After Effects’ 2.5D world finally allow a natural fall-off. While it’s no replacement for 3D applications, 2.5D can save loads of production time, and Adobe keeps making it more and more usable.

Hope you enjoy this edition of Saturday Showdown. Stay tuned to our blog for more cool stuffs. 

Friday Blockbuster : Sneak Peak on Z-Brush 4R3 FiberMesh

So now it's time for the Friday Blockbuster. This time we are going to show you a sneak peak of the new FiberMesh option in Z-Brush 4 with R3 update. Although the FiberMesh was introduced with the R2b release only on January 2012, R3 continued the same option with not many changes to look into. 

Here's a demo video of how the FiberMesh will work in Z-Brush 4 R2b. 

With ZBrush 4R3 your models will benefit from having real sculpted geometry, and exportable hair and fur! With this amazing new feature, you can even grow plants, weeds, shrubs and other amazing environment details. Simply mask an area to define where the fibers will grow. Use the various FiberMesh features to quickly define your look. Best of all, you can even use Polypaint information to generate a wide range of colored fibers.

The amazing power of FiberMesh comes from the ability to see what changes you are generating in real time as you work. From the earliest stages of your projects development, you will interactively see and modify the size, thickness, flare, and gravity associated with your fibers.

With the all new ZBrush 4R3, developing fur and hair geometry is easier than ever before. The days of relying on guides as used in other applications are a thing of the past! Generating fur, fibers and hair inside ZBrush 4R3 is as intuitive as laying down a brush stroke. Rendering and re-rendering are a thing of the past too. You can watch in real time as your creative energy is transferred to the ZBrush canvas. 

The functionality of the new FiberMesh is extended by a set of advanced controls designed to help you generate exactly what you imagine. The masking controls, brush settings, PolyPaint and curves, all contribute to the speed and efficiency of your designs.

The greatest benefit of all comes in the form of exportable geometry derived from your FiberMesh designs. This means you can export these complex design elements in the form of real geometry for use in other 3D packages. Or use BPR (Best Preview Render) within ZBrush and see how your hair of fibers come to life all within ZBrush.  

So enjoy this Friday Blockbuster of this week.

Adobe Photoshop CS6 : Enhanced 3D Options

Since Photoshop CS3, Adobe has done numerous changes for their 3D option. But in CS6, they just revamped the whole tool with more options to create precise 3D effects. Here is the quick demo of Adobe Photoshop CS6 3D Demo by IceFlowStudios.

Enjoy the video.