Alright – things are starting to heat up! Tons of entries in the Plastic Bullet contest, and we’re getting some great stuff.We’re seeing kids, creatures of all sizes, architecture, not to mention some bordering on the macabre.
Plus, that rock concert image (or is it a book club meeting?) by @BryanVFX is definately at the top of my favorites so far.
IMPORTANT NOTE: you can use ANY camera to take the picture, it just has to be processed with Plastic Bullet. So break out your Cannon 700D’s with a 15 bajillion MM lens that costs more than a house. It’s all good.
But hey – the good news is, even if you’re not a pro photographer with serious camera equipment, you still have as much of a chance as anyone else to win an iPad.There will be additional prizes awarded based on quality, but for the iPad, it’s open season!
Our awesome iPhone app, Plastic Bullet, has been updated with a bunch of cool new features, and we want to see what you can do with it. Tweet a photo that uses Plastic Bullet, and you could win an iPad or other prizes. This contest ends on September 7th, at 11:59PM PST. Winners will be announced within a few days of that.
Dum-Dum-Da-Dum! Man, if they had Magic Bullet Looks when I got married 11 years ago, I might actually watch my wedding video occasionally. Because frankly my wedding video sucks. It looks like it was filmed on a video camera under harsh lights, and has all the artistic flare of a security camera. These days, with the right tools, you can do a lot with what’s shot on video. Even so, I still see a lot of HandyCam wedding videos (don’t ask me why my “friends” make me watch these things).
The good news is, you can save someone (including yourself) from the same fate. Simon Walker has created a well thought-out Guru Preset pack for Weddings and Events. With special attention paid to the types of environments and clothing worn on a couple’s special day, these looks really bring out the emotions of the day. If you are an event photographer or videographer, Simon Walker’s Weddings and Events for Looks is a must have.
Just a few of the 30 Looks in this Guru Preset Pack.
I probably won’t bother transferring my old VHS wedding tape to a digital format to fix it up with these looks. But I am considering it for the VHS tape of our subsequent Elvis wedding:
Yes. It's real. (Although I cannot vouch for "The King")
Disclaimer: While these looks can give you some nice visuals to impress your clients (the bride and groom), it cannot save them from that embarrassing speech the bride’s uncle gave, comparing her to a used car. As an editor, use some judgment for heaven’s sake!
Great news to light up your summer! We have just released Knoll Light Factory 2.7. This important update includes support for Adobe CS5/64 bit processing along with new tools that make this industry standard plug-in even more amazing.
Even better, if you already own Knoll 2.5-2.6, you are elligble for a FREE update! (SEE BELOW)
Buy Knoll Light Factory 2.7 now for $399 or upgrade for $99.
What’s New?
New Lens Designer for Adobe CS5
10 new custom lenses
Knoll 3D Flare to easily create Lens Flares in After Effects 3D space (tutorial here.)
Knoll Unmult for removing black backgrounds and generating mattes
Support for Adobe CS5 and native 64-bit operation
The new Knoll Lens Designer for Adobe CS5
Free Update for Knoll Light Factory Pro 2.5 and 2.6 Users
If you own a license of Knoll Light Factory Pro version 2.5 or later, you qualify for a FREE update to Knoll Light Factory 2.7! This is our way of showing you how much we value your business and to thank you for being a loyal and devoted customer.
Download the FREE Update (IMPORTANT: This will only update Knoll Light Factory 2.5-2.6 to 2.7)
I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a lot of time in my day. Still, I try to watch tutorials as often as possible. But maybe you’re not able to sit down for a 45-minute lesson in creating an awesome effect. Maybe you only have 5, 10, or 20 minutes to learn something new.
Well, gosh, I’m glad we thought of that. In addition to the powerful extended tutorials you’ll find at Red Giant TV, we’ve also sneeked (snuck?) a few short, easy to digest tutorials under the radar. And by a few, I mean 19, so far. Check out our Red Giant QuickTips Channel on Vimeo for concise and interesting info that will really help you up your game and work faster. I happen to be a really big fan of this short tip by Harry Frank:
Mattias Peresini (AKA Mattrunks) has posted 4 really cool FREE Trapcode Presets up on Red Giant People – Our community site for sharing presets and templates. Thanks for Sharing Mattias!
If you watched episode 47 of Red Giant TV, aside from being humbled by the amazingness of Tiny Inventions, you may also have caught a notation about Knoll Unmult – a free plug-in for removing black backgrounds and generating mattes. Here is a 3-minute excerpt from the tutorial that explains what it does and how it works:
Since then, we’ve had a lot of requests for a CS5-ready version. So, rather than waiting until it came up in our release schedule, our engineering team got cracking, and pushed it forward – just for you! No joke.
If you haven’t watched our newest getting started tutorials (like the ones for Grinder, Photolooks, and many of our FCP intro tutorials) you may not be familiar with our British team member, Simon Walker, but he’s kind of a Renaissance man. Aside from working on animation and visual effects, he’s a talented musician, photographer, father, and vigilante crime fighter (though he denies that last one vehemently).
You ever look everywhere for your glasses when they’re just sitting on your head (or maybe they’re actually in place, on your face, where they should be)? Well that’s th kind of day I was having yesterday. I’ve been trying to create an old film look with no stock footage, but was finding it a bit of a challenge. But then I remembered something Stu Maschwitz said at our company meeting – “Misfire” – a term I was confused about, but which I promptly filed away under “I’ll worry about that later.”
I wish I hadn’t. It turns out I had the tools for old film looks all along. It’s not mentioned anywhere on the Red Giant site, but Magic Bullet Looks comes with a great set of tools called Magic Bullet MisFire. These tools allow you to add old film effects like dust and scratches, flicker, film noise… etc., to create an old film look.
And to save me a lot of time and trouble, I added Nick Campbell’s Vintage film for Looks for a nice vintage coloration.You don’t need it, or course. Magic Bullet Looks gives you complete control of your looks, but this is something Nick is really good at, and there’s no reason not to at least start with his vintage look settings.
Of course, no old-school footage is complete without light leaks. I used Trapcode Particular to create those, and when all was said and done it looked pretty good.
If you want to do this, I made a tutorial that walks you through this process, and you can find that here.
Red Giant Software will be closed in observance of the Labor Day Holiday on Monday, September 6. There will be very limited support available during this time. Support will be available as usual beginning Tuesday, September 7. If you have an urgent need for support, please visit our contact page and we will prioritize your issue when we reopen. Thank you for your patience.
