Here you are some of my very first experiments in After Effects CS6, for testing the new Ray-traced 3D renderer. Lot of thanks to Adobe for having given me the chance to try in advance an early version of its lovely software. I was trilled to have a new dimension for motion graphics and type animation. I’m also happy that a few of the videos published here were selected for showcasing in the Adobe booth at NAB 2012.

I tested the new render engine on my Mac Pro with 32GB of Ram and a NVIDIA Quadro 4000 card: it has been already quite useful for accelerating Premiere Pro, but now it also makes a big difference for rendering complex ray tracing calculations with CUDA powered GPUs. What really impressed me is that all my CPUs were almost free when rendering via GPU: I was able to work productively in other applications while After Effects was processing heavy renders in background.

Wait the blue bar progressing (except of navigation from a mobile browser) for having the following videos preloaded, play and enjoy them!

Adobe Vintage Logo extruded in 3D with reflections

For my first test of an extrusion, I immediately thought about the old Adobe logotype. I imported an eps in Illustrator, saved it as Ai file and imported it in After Effects CS6. After converting the vector layer in a shape layer, I made the extrusion regulating the bevel. I enabled reflections and set shadows quite soft.

Opening title sequence with 3D Camera tracker on Red aerial footage

One of the coolest new features in CS6 is the 3D Camera tracker, which is able to recreate in After Effects a Camera matching the movement of the one used to shoot a certain video. This aerial clip was perfect for testing an epic opening title sequence, where the typography could have been realistically immersed in the surrounding ambient. I found super handy the command “create a shadow catcher”: it creates a layer with only the shadows casted by other 3D layers in order to make it easy compositing shadows of objects added in post.
Original 4.5K footage courtesy of Jarred Land, from Red.

3D Menger cubes with a cartoon style look

A test created with a couple of textures, assembled in 3D with the script Create3DMengerSponge, by Charles Bordenave. What I think is special in After Effects CS6 is that in a single piece of software you can immediately combine and reiterate post-production with 3D renderings. I found super effective, for example, the use of adjustment layers with filters like Color Finesse: the preview of an immediately post-produced rendering while regulating 3D settings saved me a lot of time and gave me an easier way to explore more selectively all the parameters in materials or lights.

Wall-e paper model cut in Photoshop and animated in After Effects

This is a project created 3 years ago in After Effects CS3, now reopen and re-rendered with the new Ray-tracing engine. When pushed to the limits the old Classic 3D showed some evident imperfections in planes intersecting and casting shadows. The new ray tracing in AE CS6 solves all the problems I encountered in the past and renders with a far greater precision shadows, camera depth of field and surface intersections.

A frame from the animation that was inspired by a paper model: it was supposed to be printed on paper and cut in the real world. Instead of playing with scissors and glue, I cut the paper model in Photoshop and assembled the pieces in After Effects, thank also to help of a couple of my students. With some 3D pre-comps become easier to animate our 3D character, even if we hadn’t time to properly animate the tracks…

Photoshop 1.0.7 on System 6.0.8 screenshot gallery

About Photoshop 20th anniversary

Other resources with more celebrations around the world and info on the history:

Video interview about start-up memories: tv.adobe.com/go/photoshop-20th-anniversary
Official anniversary site from Adobe: www.photoshop20anniversary.com
People Twitting about #PS20: twitter.com/search?q=#PS20

I’m pleased to announce a Video Master Class in Malta, in collaboration with Digital Arts Expo. It will be fully dedicated to video editing and post-production, particularly with Premiere Pro and After Effects. The class is scheduled for 13, 14 and 15 July 2009. What are you waiting for? Book your place right now!

Who / Adobe Certified Expert Teachers

I’m the teacher for the Video Master Class, Lorenzo Colloreta is the teacher for other two classes: Digital Workflow for photographers (9-10 July) and Production techniques for designers with Adobe Creative Suite 4 tools (13-14-15 July). We are both Adobe Certified Expert and AdobeGuru collaborating with Adobe Italia.

What / About the training course

It is a specialized training for professionals, video enthusiast, videomakers, directors, animators or photographers using a DSLR with video capabilities and interest in experimenting with it. The target level is intermediate/advanced, so the ideal student has a minimum experience or comprehension of digital video.

When / Schedule for Video Master Class

Monday 13, Tuesday 14 and Wednesday 15, July 2009

Training day 1: On Location, Bridge, Premiere Pro
Training day 2: Premier Pro and After Effects
Training day 3: After Effects, Sound booth, Media Encoder, Encore

Check out DA Expo’s site for schedule and info about other classes.

Where / In the beautiful frame of Malta

Context: Malta is a fascinating archipelago of seven islands situated in the Southern European areas of the Mediterranean Sea, 93 km off the coast of Sicily (Italy).

Location: Computer Domain
Street: Constitution
City/Town: Mosta, Malta

Booking and information

The price for the 3 days of the Video Master class is just 350€, with two coffee brakes included in the price.

There are only 12 spaces available per course, call today on +356 2142 2314 or send an email to info{at}digitalartsexpo.com for more information and bookings.

Official site of Digital Arts Expo: http://digitalartsexpo.com/creativity.asp
Event page on Facebook: facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=89313127939

Program for Adobe Video Master Class

• Workflow: overview of tools from shooting to encoded delivery, integration between applications and Adobe dynamic Link, end-to-end metadata workflow, reviews with Adobe Clip notes.

• Shooting: introduction to direct-to-disk recording and monitoring with On-Location CS4.

• Video Editing: project and workspace customization, rapid import and effective assets management, scenes scouting and selection, editing with multiple and nested timelines, colour correction and main effects, keyframing controlling time and acceleration, export and integration with After Effects.

• Sound Editing: basic audio editing and mix in Premiere, sound scores, noise removal, audio cleaning, mix and multi-track in Sound booth.

• Post-production & Motion graphics: post-production intro with Photoshop Extended. Post-production with After Effects: proxies and efficiency tips, footage stabilization and motion tracking, refining colour grading, masking and rotoscoping, compositing, paint with tablet, graphics and titles, animation techniques, advanced render options.

• Encoding: formats and codecs options, batch encoding in the background, techniques to optimize video before encoding, fine tuning compression settings.

• DVD authoring: importing assets and projects skipping intermediate renderings, controlling the navigation and interactivity, creating pictures slideshows, controlling errors and preparing a Master, converting a DVD project to a Flash minisite.