Sorry about the lack of episode last week. We are gearing up for some major stuff at NAB, and when all is said and done, I’ll have been on the road for 3 weeks straight.

But rest assured more content is coming, and not just from me. A lot of people are sending along cool episodes for us to share with you. And I promise, you won’t be disappointed.

But, for now, you just have me, so here goes:

Episode 16: Better Compositing with Light Wraps

In this Episode, I’ll show you how to get better compositing results with Light Wraps – an effect used to blend the background light and foreground elements more convincingly during a composite.

I know I’ve talked about light wraps before, but I’ve been using them almost every day lately – so I’ve picked up a few new tricks…

You can watch the tutorial here.

And just for watching, you can get a discount on Key Correct Pro here.

I am here…just kidding. I am not Aharon but Sean Safreed, Product Director at Red Giant Software. I want to share a few details about the upcoming Particular v2 and our policy regarding upgrades.

Particular v2 is coming along nicely and Peder has added some killer features. But before I lift the veil on one of the many features in this new version, I want to let our customers and the community know our upgrade policy. If you buy Particular 1.5.1 after April 7th, 2009, you are entitled to a free upgrade. In fact, our policy across the board is to give a free upgrade to users that purchases a Red Giant product when the next major version has been announced but hasn’t shipped. In general, we only charge for major updates that involve significant development effort. The upgrade to the new version of Particular will be $99.

Now, I can’t say exactly when Particular v2 is going to ship because Peder is still busy adding features and fixing bugs but I expect that this version will be out in the summer, maybe sooner. I can say that Peder has listened carefully to a group of beta testers and users to push the boundaries of what is possible in After Effects (as he always does .

Here is a taste of one of the features in v2. The feature is natural particle shading and it responds to After Effects lights in 3D space:

Particular v2 offers much more realistic shading of particles

I know users are going to love this feature along with the vastly expanded controls. For the rest, please come to NAB to get the full scoop and see Peder Norrby demo in person.

Just some stills from a presentation I’m doing for Red Giant @ NAB, focusing on Trapcode Form -although it also uses particular, warp, and knoll light factory. Of course, the women in the image are courtesy of  Crowd Control.

I’ll be presenting this at 10:00AM on Tuesday Apr. 21, at the Red Giant Software booth SL2529H. Hope to see you there.

I’m baaaaack….

In this episode of Red Giant TV, I’ll show you a technique for placing layers inside the middle of a particle system – crucial to truly integrating your CGI effects with your live action footage or motion graphics.

Click the above image to see an example video.

You can watch watch the episode here.

And, of course, just for watching, you can get a discount on particular here.

By the way, Actor footage Courtesy of Crowd Control from All Bets Are Off Productions, Inc.

Hi folks-

This week’s episode of Red Giant TV is a bit different than usual. While it’s not a tutorial per se, it is, IMHO, one of the best episodes we’ve had so far…

This week on Red Giant TV, Sundance acclaimed filmmaker/director Eric Escobar discusses the production process – scouting locations, casting, lighting, filming, and how one needs to plan for post production during these earlier steps. This episode is full of great advice for the filmmaker and post production artist alike. It also covers great techniques for users of the Magic Bullet product line.

You can watch the episode here.

Don’t miss it, or I may have to send the guy in the above image after you.

Also, don’t forget, just for watching the tutorial, you can get a discount on Magic Bullet Everything (no that’s not an actual product name -  I just mean any Magic Bullet product). You can get that discount here.

Hi folks – this week on Red Giant TV, our guest is John Flowers, host of That Post Show and writer/director/producer of That Media Show.

In this episode, John Flowers takes us behind the scenes of That Media Show to share his workflow for compositing in Final Cut Pro. John pays special attention to color correction here, a very important part of the compositing process.

You can watch the episode here.

And just for watching, you can get a discount on Magic Bullet Colorista and/or Primatte Keyer Pro here.

Just saw some cool stuff with Trapcode Form at John Dickinson’s website. Definately worth checking out.

You can read the post and watch the movie here.

Hey folks, -

We just put up part 2 of Form Face, by Maltaannon:

Click the image to watch the example video.

In part 1 of this tutorial, Maltaannon showed us how to create an awesome push-pin 3D face, using Red Giant’s Trapcode Form. In part 2, he’ll enhance the effect by going deeper into Form’s properties, and doing some camera work.

You can watch it here.

This tutorial comes from the awesome Motionworks training DVD Making it Look Great 5, which you can get here. And if you watch the tutorial, there’s a discount code in there fro some money off on the DVD.

Oh, and while we’re talking about money off, you can get 30% discount on Trapcode Form this week, right here.

BTW – If you have not checked out Maltaanon’s website – I STRONGLY suggest you do so. He has a lot of cool stuff there.

Hey folks – we have a guest presenter this week and next – Maltaannon.

Episode 11: Form Face – Part 1

Click the image to see the example video.

Create a slick push pin toy effect as seen in the Radiohead “House of Cards” video. This tutorial shows you how to combine regular footage with Trapcode’s popular Form plug-into create an eye-popping 3D effect.

You can watch it here.

This tutorial comes from the awesome Motionworks training DVD Making it Look Great 5, which you can get here. And if you watch the tutorial, there’s a discount code in there fro some money off on the DVD.

Oh, and while we’re talking about money off, you can get 30% discount on Trapcode Form this week, right here.

Hi folks-

OK… Another tutorial for you – Episode 10: Creating Traffic Patterns.

Click on the image to see the example video.

In this episode, I’ll show you how to create a realistic traffic pattern backdrop – great for a scene in which the camera overlooks a low lying, but developed area – perhaps looking down from a high hill onto a residential neighborhood.

You can watch the tutorial here.

I use Planespace and Text Anarchy to get this effect. And, as always, we’re giving a discount on the products I use in the tutorial – you can get that here.