Articles: Sort By Title: F

	Frame Rate Conversion by Andrew Kramer Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this video tutorial, Creative Cow leader Andrew Kramer demonstrates a frame rate converter in After Effects.

	Fun with Ink by Andrew Kramer Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this video tutorial, Creative Cow leader Andrew Kramer demonstrates how to create ink splotches in After Effects --something people are always asking how to do.

	Formats, Color Bit-Depths, Data Rates and Storage Requirements by Ron Lindeboom Article Type: Tutorial, Editorial, Review In this review, Creative Cow's Ron Lindeboom shows users how much hard drive space is needed when using the most commonly used formats, data rates, color bit-depths and formats.

	Force Motion Blur by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow leader Aharon rabinowitz shows you how to add a motion blur to effects that don't support this feature. Also covered is adding blur to video footage that has been sped up, and an introduction to CyCore's updated Effects - CyCore FX HD.

	Fixing Scaling Issues--Part Two by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this video tutorial, Creative Cow leader Aharon Rabinowitz  shows you how to ease the values of Exponential Scale to create a smooth end to your layer's scale animation.

	Fixing Scaling Issues--Part One by Aharon Rabinowitz Article Type: Tutorial, Video Tutorial In this tutorial, Creative Cow leader Aharon Rabinowitz introduces you to Exponential scale, a keyframe assistant used to counter the issues that occur when scaling from very high values.

Fractal Noise - A New Look at an Old Friend by Chris Zwar Article Type: Tutorial When Adobe released After Effects version 7, the attention turned to major new features such as the user interface, 32bit HDR support and the graph editor. However there's another small update which is very significant for some users- the ''Fractal Noise'' effect is no longer confined to the Professional bundle, it's now included with the Standard edition. So for anyone who's never used the Professional version, or anyone who has never used Fractal Noise, Chris Zwar lifts the hood on this immensely powerful feature.

	Flash Video Meta Injection by Lee Brimelow Article Type: Video Tutorial Creative COW Leader Lee Brimelow explains how to inject extra metadata into your Flash video (FLV) files. In the tutorial he embeds the video's title as a string and shows how to make use of it in Flash.

First Look: AspectCorrect(TM) by Walter Biscardi Article Type: Product Review We’ve all done this at least once in our careers. You’re shooting with a standard camera but you know you’re going to letterbox later so you tape two pieces of paper to “crop” the field monitor. Or you’re trying to make sure an element in the shot is in safe title, so you use a grease pencil and approximate where safe title will be. You do what you have to do when you’re out in the field, but of course you’re never quite sure if it’s accurate until you get back into the edit suite. In this article, Creativecow leader Walter Biscardi takes a first look at a handy 'widget' developed by Cinematographer and fellow COW leader, Clay Walker called AspectCorrect™ and determines that ''...This is just one of those cool little things that should make camera operators lives easier.''

	FLV Encoding Basics by Lee Brimelow Article Type: Video Tutorial Creative COW Leader Lee Brimelow walks you through the various methods for encoding your videos into the Flash Video (FLV) format.

	Flash Video Basics - Part 8 by Lee Brimelow Article Type: Video Tutorial Creative COW leader Lee Brimelow shows you how to control the audio of an external FLV file by adding a mute button. This is part 8 in the Flash Video Basics series.

	Flash Video Basics - Part 7 by Lee Brimelow Article Type: Video Tutorial Creative COW leader Lee Brimelow shows you how create a custom context menu for the video player that replaces the deafult Flash menu. This is part 7 in the Flash Video Basics series.

	Flash Video Basics - Part 6 by Lee Brimelow Article Type: Video Tutorial Creative COW leader Lee Brimelow shows you how to add a buffering video message to your video player that displays when the video buffer is empty. This is part 6 in the Flash Video Basics series.

	Flash Video Basics - Part 5 by Lee Brimelow Article Type: Video Tutorial Creative COW leader Lee Brimelow shows you how to enable and script the scrubber bar in this fifth installment of his series on Flash video basics.

	Flash Video Basics - Part 4 by Lee Brimelow Article Type: Video Tutorial Creative COW leader Lee Brimelow moves on to implementing a scrubber and progress bar in this fourth installment of his series on Flash video basics.

	Flash Video Basics - Part 3 by Lee Brimelow Article Type: Video Tutorial CreativeCOW leader, Lee Brimelow demonstrates Flash Video Basics. In this tutorial, we'll create a loader or load bar which will show how much of our flv video is loaded. This is part three in the series.

Flying through a tunnel in After Effects by Chris Zwar Article Type: Tutorial Flying through a tunnel can be useful for everything from “wormholes” in sci-fi movies like “Contact” to the transcontinental phone line in “3 colours red”, or even the optic nerve of Edward Norton in “Fight Club”. To create a Hollywood-level tunnel effect requires a true 3D application, with sophisticated modeling, rendering and 3D camera interaction – however, in this tutorial, Chris Zwar mocks up a quick & dirty 2D imitation with the “Polar Coordinates” filter in After Effects.

	Flash Video Basics - Part 2 by Lee Brimelow Article Type: Video Tutorial CreativeCOW leader, Lee Brimelow demonstrates Flash Video Basics. In this lesson, we'll add some simple controls to our video. This tutorial is part two and helps launch our new Flash forum.

	Flash Video Basics - Part 1 by Lee Brimelow Article Type: Video Tutorial In this Flash Video Tutorial, Lee Brimelow demonstrates Flash Video Basics: This is Part One.

Final Cut Pro HD for Mac OS X: Visual QuickPro Guide by David Bogie Article Type: Book Review CreativeCOW contributing editor David Bogie reviews Final Cut Pro HD for Mac OS X: Visual QuickPro Guide, written by Lisa Brenneis, published by Peachpit Press, 792 pages, July 6, 2004, ISBN: 0321269187, and entices us to read why he would say..."When I was asked to review this book I thought it would be easy: find the good stuff, point out and whine about the bad stuff, and self-righteously nit pick the typos. No can do. Turns out I’ve got issues."

	Fun in Particle Playground Land by Roland R. Kahlenberg Article Type: Tutorial Roland R. Kahlenberg, CreativeCOW's resident Particle Playground expert, shows off the versatility of Particle Playground by creating a game that incorporates collision detection against a customized grid.

Final Cut Pro 4: Editing Professional Video by Joaquin Gil Article Type: Book Review Joaquin Kino Gil, noted film effects artist and host team leader of Creative Cow's Maya forum, reviews ''Maya: Secrets of the Pros,'' edited by John Kundert-Gibbs and published by Sybex. While he points out a few weaknesses of the book, he still gives it Five Cows, our top rating, because not only will it give you a great education in the software itself -- but in many pro-level aspects of effects production and workflow strategy as well. Kino says much of this book would be applicable to any serious animator and regardless of tool or version. This is high praise indeed from a guy whose own body of work includes Godzilla, Contact and Starship Troopers and many others.

Field Editing & Production Using Final Cut Pro by Walter Biscardi Article Type: Tutorial Apple has really changed the face of Post Production with the power and affordability of Final Cut Pro. In Creativecow leader, Walter Biscardi's view, the real power of the product is its flexibility. From offline to uncompressed HDTV, from laptop to desktop, FCP gives us unparalleled flexibility as creators. Recently Walter took FCP on the road for a three day corporate shoot and found it to be a major tool in the project.

	Final Cut Pro 2 for FireWire™ DV Editing: A review by Joshua Wachs by Joshua Wachs Article Type: Book Review Joshua Wachs takes a look at Final Cut Pro 2 for FireWire™ DV Editing written by Charles Roberts and published by Focal Press and determines that this is still a valuable addition to your resource book shelf.

Final Cut Pro 3 and the Art of Filmmaking by David Bogie Article Type: Book Review In this article, David Bogie explores the book 'Final Cut Pro 3 and the Art of Filmmaking' by Jason Cranford Teague and David Teague. In his review David looks at reasons why he thinks the book is of genuine value as a resource and points out areas where he feels the book missed the mark and could have been better. Read why this might be the right book for you - or not.

Fun With Track Mattes: by Dave LaRonde Article Type: Tutorial Learning to use track mattes can be a valuable weapon in your After Effects arsenalÊ They're extremely versatile, and knowing how to use them can save you the time and expense of researching and buying yet another plug-in. A Creative Cow visitor wrote, 'I want to do a grid of small boxes that dissolve one row at a time, from bottom to top. What would be the fastest way to it?' A perfect opportunity to use track mattes! In this article, Dave LaRonde demonstrates the technique step by step.

	Final Cut Pro 3 by Philip Hodgetts Article Type: Product Review Philip Hodgetts presents the definitive 'hands-on' preview of Apple's new Final Cut Pro 3. Read on for everything you wanted to know, and some things you hadn't even thought of yet.

'Final Cut Pro 2 Editing Workshop' Book Review by Jerry Hofmann Article Type: Book Review One of CreativeCOW's popular Final Cut Pro™ forum leaders, Jerry Hofmann takes a look at fellow leader Tom Wolsky's new 'Final Cut Pro 2 Editing Workshop'. Jerry teaches FCP at a university, so he's always on the lookout for good teaching resources and he concludes that Tom's book is a triumph for beginner and intermediate users of Final Cut Pro 2

	Filmstrip: Creating Film Loops with ForgeFreeForm by Chris Bobotis Article Type: Tutorial In this tutorial, Chris Bobotis demonstrates twisting a filmstrip using Forge FreeForm in Adobe After Effects. This tutorial assumes you are comfortable with the notion of 'Pre-comping or 'nesting' and the After Effects 'Offset filter' and 'Ramp' filters.

	Faking An Iris: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Sphere! by Rick Gerard Article Type: Tutorial Rick Gerard explores some methods of simulating a camera lens. In this tutorial, Rick uses the Boris Sphere Plug-In for After Effects.

	Flags: blowing in the wind by Kathlyn Lindeboom Article Type: Tutorial The illusion of making a flag blow in the wind tends to be popular all the time. Here Kathlyn Lindeboom provides a quick tutorial on how to make this happen easily in After Effects using Forge FreeForm 2. The result is pretty cool and quite realistic as you'll see for yourself.