Let me just cut to the chase here and say that if you love the iPhone Apps “ShakeIt Photo” and “CrossProcess” but always wanted to work with them on a big screen in Photoshop or your video editor – you’re lucky day is here. Introducing Nick Campbell’s Vintage Film for Looks:

iPod/iPad friendly version on Vimeo.

OK – now for the story behind the product.

I’m one of those people that, when I set my mind on something, I find a way to make it happen. I’ve wanted to find a project to work on with Nick Campbell (also known as the GreyscaleGorilla) for a long time, but there didn’t seem to be an opportunity. He’s incredibly talented as a photographer and designer, and guy who’s always excited about the things he’s working on. It gets me excited to be creative too.

I have both his iPhone apps, and use them all the time. I also watch his tutorials whenever possible, and check out his 5-Second Projects for inspiration.

A recent CrossProcess photo shot on my iPhone.

So, when it became my job to manage the development of the Guru Presets here at Red Giant, the first phone call I made was to Nick.  “How do you feel about making ShakeIt Photo and CrossProcess for Magic Bullet Looks?” I asked him.

At this point, I think you know the answer he gave me (I guess that’s what happens when you put the punch line before the story – but whatever). But it wasn’t enough for Nick to rest on his laurels. And given the vast toolset in Magic Bullet Looks, he was able to greatly expand upon his work to bring you what is one of my favorite Red Giant Products of all time.

Everyone I have shown this too during the beta process has said things like “Damn, that’s awesome” or “That’s truly inspiring” or “I am out of the office, but will be checking email periodically” (OK – that last one was not a winner, but I know that if they were in the office they’d have loved it).

I am really happy with the way it came out. Nick is a great guy to work with and a true artist. I can’t wait to do more cool things with him.

I hope you enjoy this exciting Guru Preset Pack of 32 Looks that (with the exception of the 4 AE-only Templates), can be used in Final Cut Pro, Motion, After Effects, Premiere Pro, Avid, Vegas, and Photoshop – if you have Magic Bullet Looks, PhotoLooks, or Quick Looks. You can share these looks from program to program to create a hip vintage style that you will get nowhere else (except maybe your iPhone).

To make Vintage Film for Looks even more valuable, there are 4 free kick-ass tutorials from Nick, right here.

If you like these Guru Presets, don’t forget we have many others from talented folks like Harry Frank, Nando Costa, Cassidy Bisher, and more. You can find tons of Free presets as well at Red Giant People.

Hi Folks – Next week, I’ll be flying out to  San Francisco to interview John Knoll, for Red Giant TV. Unless you’ve been living in a cave free of VFX news, you know that John Knoll was ILM’s Visual Effects Supervisor for Avatar, Star Wars,  and many other films. He is one of Hollywood’s most in-demand collaborators for VFX, having won many awards (including an Oscar) for his contributions to some of the biggest films of all time.

We’ll be talking about his film work, co-creating Photoshop with his brother Thomas, and the evolution and use of his popular software, Knoll Light Factory,  in motion graphics and films like Avatar, Transformers,  J. J. Abram’s Star Trek, and many others.

I’m incredibly excited. I’ve worked with and met a lot of cool people, but this is a whole other thing. His influence on what we do is so profound, I just hope I don’t forget my own name** when I sit down with him, let alone remember to ask him some worthwhile questions about his work. So I need your help…

If there’s anything you ever wanted to ask this visual effects master, post it here, and I may just ask it for you.

No promises – but make it good, and I’ll do my best.

_____________________________________

** That may or may not have happened to me when I worked with Director Frank Oz (a.k.a. Yoda). I can neither confirm nor deny.

New Episode Folks!

Episode 28: Building an Airport Scene – Part 2: Compositing
By: Mathias Möhl

In this episode of Red Giant TV, Mathias Möhl continues his airport project, and shows you how to motion track with Mocha For After Effects, and then to use that data along with MochaImport (His own Script) to easily create a solid composite.

Watch the episode here.

And get a discount on Magic Bullet Looks and Red Giant Warp here.

Well… I’m on the sandy beaches of Florida… so this week we got some help for RGTV…

Click on image to see example video.

Episode 27: Building an Airport Scene – Part 1: Backplate
By Mathias Möhl

In this episode of Red Giant TV, Mathias Möhl shows you how to take footage of a parking lot, and turn it into the backplate for an Airport Scene.

Watch the episode here.

And get a discount on Magic Bullet Colorista here.

Hey folks – On June 25, I gave a presentation at After Effects New York on Particular 2.0 – not yet released. You can watch that 40 minute presentation on new features + some cool Particular tips here:

http://vimeo.com/5477391

Enjoy!

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.

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.

In this episode, I’ll shares some tips for simplifying and working with 3D compositions. We’ll also get look at at some cool tools designed to easily distribute layers in 3D space, and that help create complex 3D shapes.

Watch the tutorial here.