Dallas After Effects User Group

Jul
29
2010 Bonus Event - Intermediate After Effects
Event posted on Jul 23 by Trent Armstrong
Date and Time: July 29, 2010 08:00 AM - 09:00 AM

Jul
30
2010 Bonus Event - Advanced After Effects
Event posted on Jul 23 by Trent Armstrong
Date and Time: July 30, 2010 08:00 AM - 09:00 AM

Aug
26
2010 August User Group Meeting
Event posted on Jul 29 by Trent Armstrong
Date and Time: August 26, 2010 07:00 PM - 09:00 PM

PRESET BUNDLE 1 1
Entry posted on Jul 22 by Trent Armstrong , tagged Video

Dallas After Effects User Group Presets 1

--> BUNDLE DOWNLOAD <-- UPDATED July 23, 2010 - If you downloaded before July 23, 2010, please download again and copy over the previous presets to update them.

I'm releasing a few presets for the Dallas After Effects User Group that have come in handy over the last few weeks in some projects I've been creating.  I hope you enjoy the presets and are interested in sharing them.  Leave us a comment to tell us what you think!

INSTALLATION:

To install the Presets, put the DallasAEUG folder in the Presets folder that lives in your After Effects application folder.  Then either reset the effects list or restart After Effects.

USING THE PRESETS:

CCParticleController

•  Open a composition and locate the CCParticleController preset in your Effects & Presets Tab.  You can do a search for it if you need to.

•  Double-Click the preset.  

•  After Effects will create a solid with the effects applied and wait for you to do the next 

step.

•  Create a 3D NULL called "Null 1" and use "Null 1" to control the particle emitter origin.  You might need to scrub a little in the timeline to see the particles.

•  The instructions are shown 

in the Basic Text effect which you will need to disable (Figure 1) before continuing.

•  Animate “Null 1” to control the 

movement of the particle emitter.  

•  Keep in mind that “Null 1” can have 3D enabled and move the particle emitter on the X, Y and Z axes!

Effect Controls:

CountdownLength-minutes - This slider allows you to input the number of minutes, in whole numbers that you want your countdown to start counting from. 5.00 == 5 minutes.  The slider uses After Effects Time which is sort of a percentage so setting this to 2.5 will start the counter at 2:30.   

NOTE:  Make sure your timeline is a few seconds longer than your countdown.

HoldTime - Hold time is the number of seconds at the beginning of the countdown that the timer will pause before it begins counting down. If you leave the slider at the default 2.0, it will, for example, hold on 5:00 for 2 seconds before beginning to count toward 0:00.

Frames-ON/OFF - This checkbox lets you enable or disable the rapidly changing frame count during the countdown. Many folks do not like having the frames so the default is OFF, but it’s there if you want to turn the frame count back on.

NOTE:

CCParticleController Works with

1920x1080, 1280x720,

720x480, 640x480

CountdownTimer

NOTE: CountdownTmer is currently 30fps.  If you need to adjust that, create the comp and put it into whatever other fps comp you need.

The CountdownTimer preset uses expressions to make it easier for you to create countdowns.  Once you have the presets installed, search CountdownTimer in your Effects & Presets tab and Double-Click the preset.

It’s not necessary to create a solid or text layer as the preset will create that for you.  When you have applied the preset to your comp, you’ll see a few options in the Effect Controls tab for the new text layer created by the CountdownTimer preset.

OutlineArrow-ShapeLayer

The OutlineArrow-ShapeLayer preset creates one Shape Layer that includes the head and the shaft of an arrow with controls for adjusting:

•  The arrow size

•  The length and width of the shaft

•  Stroke ON or OFF

•  The width of the stroke

•  The color of the arrow and stroke

NOTE:

The arrow’s anchor point defaults to the tip of the arrow, and all the normal transform properties like rotate, anchor point, position, opacity, etc. apply to the arrow as you would normally expect.

Contact Trent Armstrong if you have comments or thoughts on these presets:

Trent Armstrong

mannerscast@gmail.com

@Trent_Armstrong

Bonus After Effects meetings in July
Entry posted on Jul 19 by Trent Armstrong , tagged Event

If you have some extra time during the day July 28th-29th, I'll be hosting three After Effects User Group meetings (one each day) as an extra-curricular event to coincide with Echo Conference.

The Echo Conference is a church media conference that will be hosted at Watermark Community Church.  There is a registration fee if you would like to attend the entire conference, however, the After Effects User Group meetings are free. 

Red Giant Software is 

providing an obscene amount of stuff for us to give away!  All you need to do is get there!

SCHEDULE:

Wed. July 28th, 1:15PM - Basic After Effects => Anyone may attend this group, but it will be specifically geared toward those who have never opened After Effects or have played around but just aren't sure how to move from blank project to rendered animation.

Thurs. July 29th, 8AM - Intermediate After Effects => This meeting will involve a use-case with green screen footage, a graphics package, and a few Red Giant effects to build an announcement video. If you are getting comfortable in After Effects and just want to see how someone else uses AE and solves production issues, this meeting is for you!

Fri. July 30th, 8AM - Advanced After Effects => After Effects is far more powerful than Keyframes and Effects.  In this meeting we'll first look at Shape layers and some various uses.  Then we'll get into Expressions in After Effects:

•  What's the expression language?

•  How can you figure out what the parts of an expression are for?

•  Some helpful uses of expressions

•  Where can you learn more about expressions?

LOCATION:

ROOM 339
Watermark Community Church
7540 LBJ Freeway
Dallas, TX 75251

CONTACT:

If you have any questions, please call me, Trent Armstrong, at 214.810.2262 if you have any questions. You may also email me mannerscast@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter @Trent_Armstrong.

Cheers,

Trent, Founder - Dallas After Effects User Group

Be sure to check out the great products at Red Giant Software.

Adam Oas
Contact posted on Jan 29 by Adam Oas

Trent Armstrong
Contact posted on May 14 by Trent Armstrong

The Dallas After Effects User Group April 22nd, 2010 Meeting - Apr 21
MEETING #29: Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 7PM - 9PM Tilt Shift in AE and Referencing External Information NOTE: Be sure to join the Dallas After Effects Group on the Adobe Groups Site: http://groups.adobe.com/group/679 This is where all the group information will be moving in the next few months.

The Dallas After Effects User Group February Meeting set for the 25th - Feb 19
MEETING #27: Thursday, February 25th 7PM - 9PM AGENDA: Adam Oas will present his current workflow with HirePresence.com. HirePresence offers a range of video resumé packages and needs to be able to produce a lot of full featured videos quickly. Trent Armstrong is going to give a detailed talk abo

The Dallas After Effects User Group NEW GIVEAWAYS for NOVEMBER! - 11/15/09
MEETING #24: Thursday, November 19th 7PM - 9PM Here is a look at the products we'll be giving away for the next few months! Thanks to Creative Cow, we have a ton great content to be won by those attending our meetings. It's free to join us and we always have wonderful content. Let me know if

Lens Flare Obscuring
Video posted on May 15 by Trent Armstrong

Dallas Stereographic 3D
Video posted on May 15 by Trent Armstrong

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Red Giant Software
Sponsor posted on Feb 26 by Trent Armstrong

Digieffects
Sponsor posted on Jan 29 by Adam Oas

Creative Cow
Sponsor posted on May 14 by Trent Armstrong

RIBBIT FILMS
Sponsor posted on May 13 by Trent Armstrong