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	Adobe After Effects Pushing AE - And Myself Bill O'Neil helps celebrate 20 years of Adobe After Effects with his story. Bill reveals his secret, "I learned how to use AE by making promises to my clients I didn't know I could keep." Editorial, Feature Bill O'Neil

	Lightwave Creating A Ghost Train: A Visual Display for Preston Hall Pollen Studio creates a ghost train audio/visual display for prestigious Preston Hall Museum in Northern England, an eerie effect that smashes out of a bookshelf within a museum room. The 3D elements blend perfectly with the actors in period costume who portray passengers on the doomed train. Feature Tom Sefton

	Trapcode Particular Basic Training Session FOUR: Sticky Snow   Play Video In this fourth tutorial in the Particular Basic training series, Michael Park answers a user's forum question on how to accumulate particles on 2d footage using Particular. He will demonstrate a very handy technique to create an interactive layer perfectly tailored to the background elements and then have particles accumulate on those surfaces. As always, the project file is available for free download to reverse engineer or simply try out. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Michael Park

	Trapcode Particular Basic Training Session THREE: The 3D Starfield   Play Video In this third installment of the Particular Basic Training series, Michael Park will show how to use Particular to create a realistic 3d star field for all of your animation needs. Along the way, he will use and explore some features of Particular including motion blue, high dynamic range, and the physics time factor. As always, the project is available for free download. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Michael Park

	Trapcode Particular Basic Training Session TWO: The Stargate Wormhole   Play Video In this second Particular basic training tutorial, Michael Park will demonstrate how to recreate a portion of the wormhole sequence from the movie "Stargate" using Trapcode Particular and Adobe After Effects. Along the way, he will discuss some of the nuances of the wind and gravity forces available to use inside Particular as well as in in-depth discussion of the use and limitations of the built-in motion blur and a workaround using auxiliary particles. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Michael Park

	Trapcode Particular Basic Training Session ONE: The Fountain   Play Video In this tutorial, Michael Park will teach some basic skills for using Trapcode Particular by creating jets of water using particles to enhance a still image of a fountain. In doing so, he will explain some critical features of Particular and new features of Particular 2.0 while using some built-in effects to pull the scene together. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Michael Park

	Adobe After Effects Creating the AE Cosmos: Galaxies   Play Video Rob Mize continues his cosmic creation with the addition of a 3D galaxy. This tutorial also demonstrates the dynamics of the creative process by showing how parameters are adjusted to "tweak" the image to the desired result. All you need is CC Particle World and your imagination; though a galaxy created with Trapcode Particular is included in the project files. Future tutorials will add additional entities to the AE Cosmos! Tutorial, Video Tutorial Rob Mize

	Freeform Pro FreeForm Pro: Setting new standards in After Effects for 3D Compositing & Visual Effects "FreeForm Pro runs in its own proprietary 3D engine, and it is most definitely 3D," says Tudor "Ted" Jelescu. "FreeForm Pro uses Adaptive Tessellation, true 3D displacement, Reflection Mapping, and Renders Depth Maps for use with other plug-ins, like Trapcode's Particular and Frischluft's 'Lenscare'". Read for more information and Tudor's first-hand experience with this amazing product powered by Mettle. Review Tudor Jelescu

	Adobe After Effects Graphs and Charts in After Effects, Part 2   Play Video In Part 2 of Graphs and Charts in After Effects, Rob Mize shows how to use particles (both Trapcode Particular and Particle World) to expand your creative options when generating and animating Bar Graphs, Line Graphs and Pie Charts in 3D space. This tutorial is part two of a two-part series. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Rob Mize

	Trapcode Creating a 3d Winter Scene with Photoshop and Particular   Play Video In this video tutorial, Michael Park spreads a little Holiday cheer by creating a stylized Winter scene, complete with true 3d text and a forest of trees. Along the way, Mike will demonstrate how to create 3d text inside of Photoshop, and then import and integrate and animate that text in After Effects. Unlike other methods utilizing only After Effects, this method creates true 3d extruded text using Photoshop's 3d capabilities inside of After Effects. In addition, Mike will show how to populate and custom color an entire forest with Particular in a manner of minutes. The only thing you need to bring is the hot chocolate. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Michael Park

	Trapcode Trapcode Particular: Fall Transition Effect   Play Video In this tutorial, Michael Park will demonstrate how to create a festive fall transition using some leaf textures along with Trapcode Particular. He will show how the new capabilities of Particular 2.0, including true 3d rotation and dynamic interaction with lights, can make a simple linear wipe interesting and unique. He also gets to show off his three beautiful daughters. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Michael Park

	Trapcode Text to Sand using Particular   Play Video In this video tutorial, Michael Park demonstrates how to use Trapcode Particular to turn text into sand. During the process, he will show both how to make the text blow away like find dust into the wind, or drop onto a floor layer like heavier sand. This tutorial was made in order to answer a question posted on the Trapcode forum requesting assistance in creating this effect using Particular. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Michael Park

	Trapcode Underwater Bullet Trails with Trapcode Particular   Play Video Using After Effects and Trapcode Particular, Michael Park demonstrates how to take a simple picture of a bullet, and step-by-step, create an underwater environment with lead flying everywhere. Along the way, various aspects of Particular will be explored and explained. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Michael Park

	Motion Graphics A Non-Linear Career An FX veteran's unexpected, non-linear career path, from puppetry to painting, to ILM and beyond, offers insights into the art and business of film creativity - and a killer reel. Feature, People / Interview Tony Hudson

	Trapcode Trapcode Suite Reviewed In this article, CreativeCOW's Jim Harvey takes a look at Trapcode Suite from Red Giant Software--nine plug-ins that will get a workout in any studio. Review Jim Harvey

	Trapcode Creating a Waterfall   Play Video In this video tutorial, Creative Cow leader Michael Park demonstrates how to create a waterfall using After Effects and Trapcode Particular. This tutorial is in response to a couple of posts on the Trapcode Forum of CreativeCOW.net looking for this type of effect. This tutorial uses Particular 2.0, but the work flow and settings should work equally will with previous versions of Particular. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Michael Park

	Adobe After Effects Blowing Flowers   Play Video In this video tutorial, CreativeCOW leader, Eran Stern demonstrates how to create flower trails using Trapcode Particular in this special holiday episode. You'll also work with the light emitter and use 3D layer to obscure particles. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Eran Stern

	Adobe After Effects Building a Cube World: Part 4   Play Video In this tutorial, Creative Cow Contributing Editor Carl Larsen shows you how to track a lens flare onto a 360 degree camera-aware environment using Trapcode Horizon. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Carl Larsen

	Adobe After Effects Digits Man Revisited   Play Video In this video tutorial, Creative Cow Contributing Editor Eran Stern will show you a different technique to create the Running Numbers Effect using Trapcode Form plug-in. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Eran Stern

	Adobe After Effects More Of The Same Thing - Part 5   Play Video In this video tutorial, Creative Cow Contributing Editor Eran Stern shows you how to duplicate elements in After Effects using Trapcode Echospace plug-in. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Eran Stern

	Adobe After Effects Behind the Scenes from Behind Oasis When one of the world's biggest rock and roll bands, Oasis, celebrated a career's worth of achievement, the film playing behind Rock-n-Roll Star was created by Creative COW author Nel Johnson and the team at Studio Skylab. Learn the After Effects techniques that helped them complete the project under a ridiculous deadline, while wowing Oasis and a worldwide audience. As Nel puts it, "We locked ourselves away, cranked up the music, and went nuts." In this Creative COW Magazine Extra, we take a closer look at the story, starting with the creation of the film's unique look. Feature Nel Johnson

	Adobe After Effects Promo Breakdown - Part 1   Play Video In this video tutorial, Creative Cow Contributing Editor Eran Stern takes you behind the scenes and show you how he created the background animation for his DVD Promo using Trapcode 3D Stroke and Shine. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Eran Stern

	Trapcode Creating Advanced Glitter using Expressions with Trapcode Particular   Play Video In this tutorial, Creative Cow leader, Michael Park, demonstrates another, more advanced method for creating shimmering glitter particles using Trapcodes Particular. The main advancement is the implementation of 3d rotation of the glitter particles, as well as using expressions to convert the rotation of the particles in all 3 axis to drive a greyscale map, which in turn is used to color the particle using colorama and create the shimmer effect when the particles face the camera. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Michael Park

	Trapcode Creating Shimmering Glitter using Trapcode Particular   Play Video In this tutorial, Creative Cow leader, Michael Park, demonstrates how to simulate shimmering glitter particles using fractal noise, colorama effect and Trapcodes Particular plugin. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Michael Park

	Boris FX Boris Continuum Complete AVX 5: Unleash Your Avid! Emmy Award-winning editor Vivek Narayan takes a closer look at the latest version of Boris Continuum Complete, a comprehensive set of filters and effects for leading NLEs as well as After Effects. Although it works largely the same in all hosts, Vik digs deepest into BCC operating inside Avid. He finds that the 180 filters here more than give others a run for their money: it beats out some of the industry's favorites. See why he calls buying BCC AVX 5 a no-brainer. Review Vivek Narayan

	particle Illusion particleIllusion Logo Hold Technique   Play Video In this video tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz answers the common question: How do I make my logo stay up longer in particleIllusion? If youve ever had trouble making youre logo stay on screen when using a pIllusion emitter preset, this will show you how to do that in just a few simple steps. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Aharon Rabinowitz

	Adobe After Effects Particle Playground on Fire   Play Video In this video tutorial you will learn how to generate fire and smoke particles from live action footage without using any keyframes or expressions. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Jerzy Drozda Jr

	Adobe After Effects Building a 3D World in After Effects When a project requires a photo-realistic 3D world, After Effects isnt usually the first program that comes to mind. Typically a 3D modeling/animation program is necessary to create virtual 3D worlds, but in this article CreativeCOW contributing editor Bill O'Neil demonstrates creating a 3D world for a TV spot he was hired to direct and post for the Big Ten Basketball Conference. Tutorial Bill O'Neil

	Adobe After Effects Building Up Particles This tutorial by animator James Lee demonstrates a building up of particles to simulate a disintegrating hot air balloon using Trapcode Particular and Adobe After Effects. Tutorial James Lee

	Adobe After Effects Creating a Custom Wave Form - Part 2   Play Video In this video tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how to improve the look of the Customized waveform and talks about how to get real control of your audio keyframes with Trapcode Sound Keys. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Aharon Rabinowitz

	Adobe After Effects basics Adobe After Effects 7 Interface   Play Video After Effects 7 has introduced us to a brand new unified interface. In this video tutorial, CreativeCOW leader, John Dickinson demonstrates how to navigate that interface. Tutorial, Video Tutorial John Dickinson

	Adobe After Effects Creating a Glass Globe When broadcast designer Kurt Murphy received a glass globe as a gift, it inspired him to see if he could create one in After Effects. In this tutorial, Kurt demonstrates creating and animating a glass globe totally in After Effects using Solids and Effects. This project is totally self-contained, needing no outside footage, but you will need the production bundle to complete it. Also nice but not necessary is the Trapcode Starglow plug-in. Tutorial Kurt Murphy

	Adobe After Effects Creating Paper Ribbons and Confetti Often for festivals and celebrations, we are asked to create animations involving colorful ribbons and confetti. In this tutorial, Joe Chao creates the ribbons and confetti and then demonstrates a couple of ways to shoot them out of a cannon. This animation would be useful, not just for Christmas, but for any festival. Tutorial Joe Chao

	Adobe After Effects Creating a Logo Assembling Animation Joe Chao was once required to create an animation in which a flock of fireflies assemble into an insect shaped logo. In this tutorial, Joe demonstrates a quick method to duplicate the effect using Trapcode Particlular. Tutorial Joe Chao

	Trapcode Particular - Frequently Asked Effects Ever since Trapcode Particular was released one year ago, many people have developed a keen interest in this tool. However, even after this time many people find themselves confronted with problems. Regular questions on the Trapcode forum here at the COW clearly prove this. This tutorial is meant to explain some of the commonly asked questions and make your life easier by giving a few tips and tricks as well as some simple expressions. Tutorial Mylenium

	Adobe After Effects Cycore Effects HD 1.0 Review This article by Barend Onneweer investigates the improvements and new additions in Cycore Effects HD and tries to evaluate whether the new additions and improvements are worth the price. Although Cycore seems to aim for After Effects users at this point in time, the article might be of interest for Discreet Combustion users, too. Review Barend Onneweer

	Adobe After Effects Creating Liquid LIght by David Zandnerg In this tutorial, David Zandnerg creates a 'Liquid Light' background element using some basic knowledge about Trapcode 3D Stroke & Shine and Turbulent Displace from Adobe. The important thing to remember is that this tutorial is flexible, so change it as you like to whatever works for you in terms of shape, color and size. Also keep in mind that the tutorial is designed to give you some idea of the simplicity of After Effects for creating abstract art or to just have fun. Tutorial David Zandnerg

	Adobe After Effects Building the Cage: Part 4 of the Golden COW by Serge Hamad Many of you have seen Serge Hamad's various animations in the After Effects forum at CreativeCOW. In this 5-part tutorial, Serge demonstrates the steps involved in re-creating his "Golden COW." In this tutorial you will be creating the cage around the planet. You will need 3D Stroke from Trapcode as well as Invigorator Pro or Classic for this one. Note that with Invigorator Classic you won't be able to open the provided AEP though. The emphasis in this tutorial is on the use of the transparency mapping technique. Tutorial Serge Hamad

	Adobe After Effects Creating a Nebula: Part One of the Golden COW by Serge Hamad Many of you have seen Serge Hamad's various animations in the After Effects forum at CreativeCOW. In this 5-part tutorial, Serge demonstrates the steps invoved in re-creating his "Golden COW." In part one, we create the nebula. You'll need Image Lounge from Red Giant Software. If you don't have it, download the demo. Tutorial Serge Hamad

	Adobe After Effects How To Use Light Spill for Better Composites Without Plug-ins The key to a good composite is successful integration into the background image. Sometimes you may have a very bright background or be keying from a DV camera, which nearly always results in imperfections because of the choke or screen blur effects that are necessary to achieve good edges. Light wrap, or light spill, is a very handy in these situations. In this tutorial, John Starr Dewar demonstrates an easy way to achieve light spill with a little bit of pre-composing. Tutorial John Starr Dewar

	Adobe Photoshop Jim Harvey reviews Photoshop 7 Down & Dirty Tricks by Scott Kelby Jim Harvey takes a look at Down & Dirty Tricks by Scott Kelby published by New Riders. Read why Jim says, ''...if you are looking for an easy to understand book, with tutorials that won't take you all night to complete, then the Photoshop 7 Down & Dirty Tricks book should find its way to your library.'' Review Jim Harvey

	Adobe After Effects Creating Snow with Particle Playground When Shane Oborn first started using AE, the plugin that intrigued me the most (next to Trapcode's Shine) was AE's Production Bundle plugin called Particle Playground. After inquiring about it some on the Cow, Shane received awesome feedback from the community, and in particular from Rick Gerard. This pushed him to learn some interesting things about Particle Playground, and this tutorial is a result of just a couple of the things he has learned so far. Shane suspects that with PP being so open-ended, there will be many tutorials to come that will highlight its abilities. His hope is that this tutorial can help you take one little step further in your discovery of PP's wonders. Tutorial Shane Oborn

	Adobe After Effects Total Trainings Whats New in After Effects 5 CreativeCOW leader, Mike Gondek examines a training series called Total Training After Effects 5.5 by Brian Maffitt & Steve Holmes. Review Mike Gondek

	Adobe After Effects Moving Layer Masks on Glass Kurt Murphy demonstrates the technique of moving layer masks on 2 sides of a glass cross in Zaxwerks Invigorator. This tutorial assumes that you have some previous exposure to the plug-in. If you don't have the plug-in, download the demo so that you can follow along. Kurt also completes the project by using the Write On to Reveal a 'handwritten script", Trapcode Shine and Lens Flare. Tutorial Kurt Murphy

	Adobe After Effects Motion Blur with Shutter Angle and Phase Settings Bill O'Neil demonstrates the use of After Effects 5.5's Motion Blur with shutter angle and phase settings to create a 'smear' of color that will become one of the most useful clips in your digital spice rack Tutorial Bill O'Neil

	Adobe After Effects Light Storm Effect Bill O'Neil demonstrates the use of After Effects 5.5's Motion Blur with shutter angle and phase settings to create a 'smear' of color that will become one of the most useful clips in your digital spice rack. This tutorial also uses AE 5.5's Vector Paint, Bezier Warp, Transfer Modes and Trapcode's Shine to create this very cool effect. Tutorial Bill O'Neil

	Trapcode Dave LaRonde takes a look at Trapcode Shine When Trapcode first introduced its Shine plugin, early practitioners marveled at its speed. Sure, Shine may be fast on a G4 or a Pentium IV machine, but what about a humble Powermac 9600/233? What if you're still using OS 8.6? What if you only have AE 4.1? How good is it working within those constraints? Dave LaRonde shares his experiences with using Trapcode Shine. Review Dave LaRonde

	Adobe After Effects Trapcode Shine: Write it with Light Mark Simpson has written this tutorial in response to the many requests for info on a sample movie he posted in the Trapcode Forum using Shine in After Effects. This tutorial was done in AE4.1 using Filters from the Cult Effects Collection and the new Trapcode Plug-in Shine. Here's the rundown of how Mark creates the effect. Tutorial Mark Simpson

	Adobe After Effects Shine Video Wall in AE 5 In this tutorial, Jayse will show you how to use some of the cool new 3D features of After Effects 5 as well as using the new plug-in called Shine to liven up the scene. Tutorial Jayse Hansen