Hot Looks Using Floating Point in After Effects
Duration: 0.25 hours

Online Training Library® Exclusive!

Hot Looks Using Floating Point in After Effects

with: Chris Meyer and Trish Meyer

This course was created and produced by Trish and Chris Meyer. We are honored to host their material in the lynda.com Online Training Library®.

Floating point color space allows users to define and keep track of colors darker than black and brighter than white, and it is normally the domain of visual effects compositors. However, floating point can also be used to create graphical looks ranging from more interesting fades to hot, glowing text. In this training, instructors Chris and Trish Meyer demonstrate the techniques in After Effects, but they may also be applied to other programs that support "float."

Topics include:

• Understanding 32-bit floating point color
• Manipulating exposure settings with the Exposure effect
• Working with partial transparencies
• Creating "hot" colors
• Using the Tool palette

Learning the After Effects Glow Plug-In
Duration: 0.25 hours

Online Training Library® Exclusive!

Learning the After Effects Glow Plug-In

with: Chris Meyer and Trish Meyer

This course was created and produced by Trish and Chris Meyer. We are honored to host their material in the lynda.com Online Training Library®.

Many designers love hot, glowing looks. However, the After Effects Glow plug-in is only available in the Professional edition, and it is not always intuitive to use. In this training, instructors Trish and Chris Meyer demonstrate how to use the Glow plug-in to get two different looks: "inside" glows for full-frame footage, and "outside" glows for haloes or auras around text, logos, or any other object with an alpha channel. They also teach a quick and easy way to get glow-like halos for those who do not have the Professional edition.

Topics include:

• Working with glow parameters, Glow Radius, and Glow Threshold
• Tweaking the glow, glowing text, and directional glow

Lighting Tricks in After Effects
Duration: 0.25 hours

Online Training Library® Exclusive!

Lighting Tricks in After Effects

with: Chris Meyer and Trish Meyer

This course was created and produced by Trish and Chris Meyer. We are honored to host their material in the lynda.com Online Training Library®.

Creative lighting can have a big effect on the beauty of a shot, especially in the areas of vignetting, hot spots, and highlights. In Lighting Tricks in After Effects, instructors Chris and Trish Meyer demonstrate how to alter the lighting of already-shot footage and text animations in After Effects. Although it involves the use of 3D lights, no prior knowledge of 3D space is necessary; this trick works on stationary full-frame footage as well as 3D elements.

Topics include:

• Creating vignettes and metallic looks using simple 3D light tricks
• Working with the Layers Material options
• Applying lighting effects to text, including Specular and Shininess

Understanding Fields & Interlacing in After Effects
Duration: 1 hours

Online Training Library® Exclusive!

Understanding Fields & Interlacing in After Effects

with: Chris Meyer and Trish Meyer

This course was created and produced by Trish and Chris Meyer. We are honored to host their material in the lynda.com Online Training Library®.

This training covers all the essentials of interlaced video--where it came from, how to recognize it, how to treat it on input and output, and how to convert it to progressive scan. Instructors Trish and Chris Meyer also cover the fundamentals of field rendering, and discuss several other important issues, such as 3D rendering, transcoding, masking, rotoscoping, motion tracking, and field flicker.

Topics include:

• Understanding the difference between interlaced video and progressive scan
• Removing interlacing and separating fields, including comb teeth and deinterlacing footage
• Correcting motion blur issues and render settings in After Effects
• Creating small video frames and large progressive frames

Working with 3:2 Pulldown in After Effects
Duration: 0.75 hours

Online Training Library® Exclusive!

Working with 3:2 Pulldown in After Effects

with: Chris Meyer and Trish Meyer

This course was created and produced by Trish and Chris Meyer. We are honored to host their material in the lynda.com Online Training Library®.

When film is transferred to NTSC video, chances are it will be run through a process known as "3:2 pulldown." Most video cameras that shoot at "film rates" also employ the 3:2 pulldown process. It creates a special form of interlaced footage that needs to be treated in certain ways to optimize motion characteristics and eliminate redundant work. Instructors Trish and Chris Meyer explain the pulldown process, then go on to discuss the several different pulldown formats out there. They also cover how to remove and add pulldown, how to deal with audio synchronization issues, and what to do in other special situations that will affect your workflow.

Topics include:

• Working with the "phase" of the pulldown
• Removing 3:2 pulldown and matching resolution with motion
• Resolving frame-rate issues
• Making SD proofs of HD

Shake 4.1 Essential Training
Duration: 13.25 hours

CD-ROM coming soon!

Shake 4.1 Essential Training

with: Steve Wright

Whether the goal is to create photorealistic visual effects for feature films, special effects for broadcast television commercials, or short films for business or game development, Shake 4.1 Essential Training offers a superb training experience. Visual effects artists new to Shake will be able to master this world-class digital compositing program. Senior visual effects artist and trainer Steve Wright covers every aspect of Shake 4.1, from mastering the GUI to final render. Along the way, he teaches the essentials of importing footage, digital keying, color correction, keyframe animation, and much more. Exercise files and media accompany the tutorials.

Topics include:

• Keying with Keylight and Primatte
• Shortcuts and productivity tools
• Compositing CGI
• Correcting color
• Rotoscoping
• Working with animation curves
• Warping and morphing
• Using expressions
• Creating macros

Flex 3 New Features
Duration: 2 hours

Online Training Library® Exclusive!

Flex 3 New Features

with: David Gassner

In Flex 3 New Features, instructor David Gassner takes viewers through each new feature of the application. He goes over installing Flex 3 on Windows and Mac OSX, explores changes in the interface, teaches how to integrate Flex applications with JavaScript, demonstrates the new Design View and Source View capabilities, and much more.

Topics include:

• Creating a Flex Builder 3 web application
• Searching for type declarations and references
• Using the Zoom and Magnification tools
• Working with web services
• Integrating Flex applications with JavaScript
• Building AIR applications