Minutes from the overview on Adobe After Effects

The following videos are segments of what I covered over After Effects. Please keep in mind I don't consider myself an expert...merely a puppeteer in the way of utilizing the software. By no means were these meant to be for training purposes, but rather a means by which to show the capabilities and some cool features in regards to what one can do with After Effects.

The first Video named Tracker Controls shows how to make video more stable with a shaky shot.



The second video named Using Spherize & Noise shows how to create a virtual space setting using the Sphere effect and making stars in outer Space using the Fractal Noise Filter.



The third video named Making an audio waveform in After Effect shows how using the waveform effect can create visual stimuli to enhance audio.

Our First Users Group Meeting

Well a somewhat successful users group meeting was held on January 18, 2008. I say somewhat because we had initially thought that we'd have about 20 people there, but we ended up having 6. Never fear, however, because we will be continuing our efforts and hopefully bring in additional people to facilitate and regulate our meetings.

We learned a couple of things thanks to our meeting, however;

1) No more meetings on Friday - these seem to be difficult for many who already have weekend plans.

2) Food is good. We had pizza and pop...seemed to draw some people in.

3) Content - this is not a training, so the more you can talk about the product, the more people will be interested in what you have to say and use you as a contact for point of interest.

Now I'm not a great public speaker, for me, using the product is much easier than talking about it. However, if I can do it, I hope that you reading this will be able to do it as well. We generated alot of interest in After Effects, as well as SEO (search engine optimization), and the Cold Fusion that Matt discussed.

As always, we want to hear from you...suggestions on what you want to hear, ideas on what you want to see, and encourage anyone who is interested to spotlight or critique the software that you're currently using. You can reach me by posting here, or contact me through my Greenbush address.

OH, one more thing...we may start doing streaming of these events. We tried it last week, and it worked, so may try it again. If this is something you're interested in due to trouble making it, or if you're out of the area...please let us know...this may be something we'll do often!

Russ

PS. Look for excerpts of our First User Group to be posted here soon!!!

Welcome to the SEK Technology Development portion for After Effects

First off, Welcome to the SEK TechDev After Effects info blog. I'll try to keep up on this one more than I do my personal blog...which really isn't saying too much. Anyway, a quick overview on what I hope to accomplish with this blog is as follows:

1) Create awareness in the community about After Effects and how to use it
2) How it integrates with other Adobe software in the CS (Creative Suites) package
3) Creative uses for it's application and use

I realize that there are probably other more creative means to finding out information about After Effects, so I'll try to eliminate "re-inventing the wheel" in many cases, and simply link to areas and other helpful websites that show examples, and in some cases, allow you do download the files needed to replicate what they are demonstrating.

I will try to post video files and audio files just to hear and see myself...okay, maybe that holds a little bit of water, but moreover, to attempt to illustrate what I may be working on, want to point out, or simply to offer a helpful tip in a more "layman's" speak, than you might find in a book or through another site.

If you have questions, ideas, suggestions, please know that you can simply post here, or you can reach me at the contact email above. I'm also available on Twitter, for those of you that take part in that with the name take2_host1, or you can reach me via MSN messenger (please request the address first).

Thanks in advance for allowing me to put my knowledge to use and for letting me be a part of your learning experiences.

~Russ