ANgiE tAYLoR 🧷

Tag: creative professionals

  • Creative Training in Brighton

    Creative Training in Brighton

    Angie Taylor runs her own private art school, called Creative Cabin. Here she teaches art, design, sculpture, 3D and animation to artists and designers. Angie also runs classes for children in art & design subjects.

    Angie Taylor’s advanced After Effects Training courses are like no other. This is not just simply software training.

    You will receive professional training by an industry professional with over fifteen years experience in the TV and Film industry.  Learn how to create visually stunning animation, motion graphics and visual effects using professional post production techniques.

    Angie has trained designers at most of the top TV and film companies in the UK, including; BBC, Sky, Channel 5, ITV, MTV. Angie also works regularly for Adobe as an industry expert in their digital video products, speaking at seminars, conferences and trade shows.

    Other complimentary products can be included too including; Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, Cinema 4D, Final Cut Pro and Motion. Learn the software plus additional nifty little tips and tricks that will project your work a mile above the rest. You’ll get training in the product features and, if required, design and animation training from an experienced After Effects professional. Learn from Angie’s own successes (and also learn how to avoid mistakes!)

    Angie teaches four levels of After Effects course: Fundamental, Intermediate, Advanced and Power User. Each course is designed to give you the skills to get the most from After Effects enabling you to produce professional motion graphics and visual effects for film, video, the web and mobile devices.

    To receive a detailed course outline and pricing please use the Contact page form to express your interest.

    • Angie can provide individual one-to-one training on site, at your place of work.
    • On-site training for groups between 2 and 5 people can also be provided at your own place of work.
    • Having trouble getting a job done? Angie also offers a one-to-one consultancy service to help you with real world projects.
    • If you prefer an off-site classroom situation, Angie works with reputable training companies in the UK and can offer training at premises in most major UK cities at a discounted rate. Please contact Angie directly for more details.
    After Effects Learn by Video is included in the course

    Training includes all source files and fourteen hours of video training written by Angie Taylor and Todd Kopriva (Adobe’s technical support lead for professional video software). You can use these files to extend your knowledge and retrace your steps again after the course.

    Please contact Angie Directly using her contact page to find out more.

    “Of all the After Effects books I looked at whilst trying to learn it,
    I found Angie’s was the most user friendly and creative.”

    Chris Cunningham, Director of music videos, commercials and video art.

  • Training via Subscription Promo

    Training via Subscription Promo

    My Top 10 Reasons to take advantage of this introductory pricing offer.

    Access the entire library of video2brain training via this amazing Training via Subscription Promo and you can have all the video training you’ll ever need for as little as 35 cents a day – that’s even cheaper than a bottle of water!

    Before now if you wanted to access my training, you could buy individual workshops from my store or the video2brain store. You can still do that but if you prefer you can subscribe to video2brain for as little as $10.75 per month (Annual Subscription).

    As you may know I create all my video training workshops with video2brain. In my previous post I talked a bit about why I work with them, here I’d like to explain a bit about the brand new subscription options for accessing the training.

    With a video2brain training subscription, not only will you get access to all of my workshops but also all the other titles, by other authors that video2brain has to offer. Here are a few more compelling reasons:

    1. Get complete access to an extensive training library: video2brain training subscriptions give you easy, affordable, unrestricted access to the full range of video2brain courses – a library with more than 130 courses, and nearly 500 hours of training, and over 5,600 lessons. With access to the entire library, you can watch lessons from dozens of trainers and get a wide variety of perspectives and approaches to rich topics.
    2. Stay up to date: Today’s knowledge may be outdated tomorrow. The video2brain library will be updated several times a month, and all new courses will be included in our subscriptions as they’re released. In addition to covering current technologies,the video2brain library will offer courses on some upcoming software releases and technologies, helping you stay ahead of the curve.
    3. Enjoy an exceptional value: As individual products, the courses in the video2brain training library have a value of well over $4,000. With a video2brain training subscription, you get unlimited access to all the videos in the library for the duration of your subscription at a fraction of the cost.
    4. Benefit from introductory pricing: We’re launching the library with low, introductory pricing, and we’re thanking early adopters with a three-year price guarantee, to ensure that you can enjoy that benefit in the years ahead.
    5. Experience world-class training: video2brain has been creating video training for nearly 10 years. Our library offers world-class training from a team of some of the best trainers in the business. Our authors are not only top experts in their fields and working artists, photographers, designers, and programmers, but just as importantly, they’re skilled and passionate instructors. All video2brain courses undergo rigorous quality assurance, and are presented in our easy-to-use, feature-rich interface. And we’re committed to continuously improving your learning experience by adding new features throughout the year.
    6. Learn anywhere, anytime you want: Your video2brain subscription lets you access the library anytime you’re online, and even from different computers. Our unique Platinum subscription includes the option to download courses for offline use. It makes no difference whether you’re at work, at home, or traveling. And all titles in our library work equally well on your Mac, Windows, or even Linux computer, as well as on popular tablets, including the iPad and iPad 2.
    7. Go at your own pace: One of the fundamental advantages of video training over other approaches to learning is its flexibility. You can watch a whole course or just the lessons that interest you. And when you need a break, just click Pause and come back when you’re ready.
    8. Scale our training to suit your needs: video2brain subscriptions are available in multiuser licenses too, making it easy for your organization to find the solution that fits your needs and budget.
    9. Invest your technology budget wisely: The comprehensive video2brain training library lets you learn about new applications and new releases before you invest in expensive software. Our authors give you concrete advice on what these programs can and can’t do and how they might fit into your workflow, so you can make informed decisions and invest where it counts.
    10. Explore new areas: Even if you sign up to enjoy our courses on topics like digital imaging, design and video editing, your learning doesn’t have to stop there. The video2brain library includes workshops on making eBooks, mastering green screen techniques, the art of craft photography, kinetic typography, and Facebook, iOS, and Android application development, and more! And your subscription gives you the freedom to explore any areas that interest you, grow in new directions, and reap the benefits of new and upgraded skills – without spending another penny!

    Learning is a lifelong adventure. I and the team at video2brain would love to help you make the most of it.

  • Something’s happening in Europe!

    Something’s happening in Europe!

    Me with Gerhard & some of the team at video2brain

    I’m very excited, something’s happening in Europe that’s going to be fantastic for all of us – I think you’re going to love it! First of all, let me set the scene for why I’m telling you this.

    Once in a while, if you’re lucky, you end up working with a bunch of really special people – I’m so lucky it’s happened to me. I create video training workshops with the fantastic team at video2brain which is led by one of the nicest men I have I ever met, Gerhard Koren.

    Gerhard and I used to be demo artists for Adobe, traveling to trade shows and events, speaking about how we used Adobe software in our work. We clicked right away, Gerhard was so knowledgeable and talented, and as with most truly gifted people – humble and genuine with it. He always took time to help people to really understand the software and went out of his way to be friendly and kind.

    Gerhard set up video2brain in 2002 and it quickly became established as Europe’s premiere go to place for video training. They gained a reputation for quality and innovation that has never been matched.

    In 2009 they started creating English Language titles and were joined by Dan Brodnitz who came in to head up the amazing English language team. Dan has an extensive experience in the publishing industry having worked at Lynda.com, O’Reilly and IDG. As well as bringing his publishing expertise to the table, he also brings a passion for creativity, ideas and people. Like Gerhard, he’s what we call in the UK “a top bloke”. Friendly, full of ideas and he cares about quality and integrity.

    I’ve worked with video2brain since 2009 when I created my first After Effects Learn by Video product with Adobe’s Todd Kopriva. Since then I’ve created lots more titles and made many more friends at video2brain who I’d love to mention by name but are too numerous to list (you know who you are and how much I love working with you!) We have gradually built a fantastic team of English language trainers who you can find out more about here.

    2011 marks another great landmark for video2brain which will be announced this week. I wish I could tell you now but my lips are sealed. All I can say is please keep an eye on the countdown on our video2brain website. And if you want to get an idea about the kind of video training we offer, take a look at some of the 600 plus free tutorials we offer online as a taster of what’s to come.

  • Free After Effects & Premiere Pro Performance Workshop

    Free After Effects & Premiere Pro Performance Workshop

    I’m excited to be able to offer a free top-up course on my website to all my lovely visitors. In this free course, Adobe Technical Support Lead Todd Kopriva offers dozens of tips for optimizing Premiere Pro, After Effects, your operating system, your computer, and your workflow for maximum speed and performance.

    He makes recommendations for RAM, CPUs, graphics cards, and hard disks – both what to buy and how to set up your applications to make optimal use of these resources – and for setting preferences and other options in After Effects and Premiere Pro to minimize the amount of processing needed at each step of your workflow.

    You’ll also learn what CUDA, OpenGL, and the Mercury Playback Engine are, and what each means to you in practical terms. After completing this workshop you’ll get more done in less time, both by making things work faster and by avoiding common causes of wasted time.

  • Post-Digital Aesthetics make a welcome return

    I’ve been speaking at events for a long time, in fact I can’t believe how long, after fifteen years now I’m classed as an industry veteran! (I’m not sure whether to be happy or sad about that one!). It’s been great to be in this position as I’ve seen the industry develop both technically and in terms of design. I’m happy to say that I’m beginning to notice a change. We are now entering a new age where technique is gradually becoming less prevalent – aesthetics and messaging are being rediscovered as the most important aspect of our work as designers. My friend, Birgitta Hosea (now a Doctor of animation!) has coined a new term to mark this era, “the post-digital aesthetic age”.

    During most of my career as a motion graphic designer I’ve witnessed so many projects that are led by technique or by the latest “how cool is that” type-of-effect.  “How did they do that?” is all fine and dandy for your average man in the street, or for those concerned with visual effects or the more technical aspects of production. But for artists, designers, philosophers thinkers and appreciators of fine art it and design, I’m afraid it just doesn’t cut it every time. We like substance as well as style. Why did they do that is just as important as how, please don’t let us forget the saying “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should!”

    I’m going to be teaching on the Graphic Design and Illustration courses at Brighton University this year and am so excited to be going back into an academic environment. Of course I’ll be teaching digital software techniques, I’m there to provide guidance to the students from the perspective of a motion graphic designer. But I’m also looking forward to emphasising to them the importance of the core design skills they’ll need to set themselves apart as artists and communicators. I’d love to hear the views of others on this subject. How do you ensure that the technical aspects of your work as a designer/ illustrator/ artist don’t dictate the content or quality of your work? Answers on a well thought out and constructed postcard please! 🙂

  • 20% off new Todd Kopriva After Effects workshop

    20% off new Todd Kopriva After Effects workshop

    This week I’m giving a 20% discount to anyone who wants to buy the fantastic new workshop on Motion Tracking & Stabilisation by Todd Kopriva which is now available to buy from my video training store. Just enter MOTION into the Coupon Code box when buying from my shop. It’s valid till July 15th 2011.

    If you want to check out some free samples before buying there are some links to free sample movies here, including; An Overview of the mocha-AE Interface and Workflow, Overview of Warp Stabilizer Effect and more details about the Warp Stabilizer controls and workflow

    This workshop covers all the tools and techniques used for motion tracking and image stabilization in After Effects, including the point tracker, the Warp Stabilizer Effects, and mocha-AE. The contents of this course include:

    Introduction
    This chapter introduces you to motion tracking and shows you frame-by-frame how manual motion tracking works.

    Motion Tracking with the Point Tracker
    Once you determine what kind of motion you want to track, you’ll need to decide what you will apply the tracking data to. This chapter explains your options and shows you how to remove tracking markers when you’re done.

    Motion Tracking with mocha-AE
    This chapter walks you through using mocha-AE, a standalone application that can export tracking data for use in After Effects.

    Stabilizing Motion
    Ever been frustrated working with shaky footage? This chapter shows you how to add stability to your projects by using the new Warp Stabilizer effect.

    The lessons are wrapped in a feature-rich interface that lets you jump to any topic and bookmark individual sections for later review. Full-Screen mode provides a hi-def, immersive experience, and Watch-and-Work mode shrinks the video into a small window so you can play the videos alongside your application. This course also includes project files so you can follow along and try out new techniques as you learn them.

  • 12 rules of animation

    Digital Arts has featured – 12 Rules of Animation – an excerpt from my “Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist” as their feature article this month. The article is now FREELY AVAILABLE on the Digital Arts website.

    Animation as we know it has been around since Horner invented the zoetrope in 1834. Since then animators have developed rules of animation that help us to draw viewers into the world we have created. From Disney classics to the latest stereoscopic 3D productions, we’ve plundered them all to find the 12 key techniques you need to master to be a top-flight animator.

    Some of these rules are based on real-life physics, and others on observations and reactions. They provide a set of invaluable ‘tricks’ for animators that have been proven to work in almost every situation.

    In the article I delve into the world of animation to pick out the 12 rules of animation that every animator and motion graphics artist must know. Drawn from the forms 150 year history, you’ll learn a wealth of dos and don’ts that will help you produce more engaging projects, whether you’re working in 2D, 3D, graphics, stop-motion or a mixture of them all.

    You can pick up both printed copies and digital downloads from the Digital Arts website where you can also find some of my tutorials, tips and tricks.

    I’ll also be talking about some of these golden rules of animation in my “Dynamic Text Animation for Motion Graphicswith After Effects” presentation at the Production Fiesta in London on May 6th.

    In this session, I will share an in-depth look at the options for working with text in Adobe After Effects. I’ll show examples of successful motion graphic designs and will discuss the components of design that make them work. In this session you’ll earn about the rules of typography and how to apply the rules of typography to your designs to make them easier to read and more dynamic. I’ll also take an in-depth look at the typographic controls available in After Effects and will also show you how you can use hand-drawn text to bring a unique aspect to your designs.

    I’ll also be presenting four other sessions at this event which you can find out about here. If you want to register for a full day of valuable creative sessions by me and all the other speakers you can do so here on the Eventbrite page. I hope to see some of you there, please make sure to say hello if you can make it along.

     

  • Speaking at Flash on the Beach 2011

    Speaking at Flash on the Beach 2011

    I was very pleased to get a call from John Davey, the organiser of the amazingly successful and entertaining “Flash on the Beach 2011” conference, asking me to speak at his event.

    It’s an annual conference, held in my home town of Brighton. Bringing together the best designers, developers and minds in the Flash, design and web community, it’s a conference with a difference. It attracts an interesting and diverse mix of people and is focussed on the work that we do as well as the tools that we use.

    I’ll be doing a session on creating Kinetic Typography animation in Adobe After Effects CS5.5. I’ll be featuring a breakdown of a real-life art project that I worked on in collaboration with Artist Richard Walker titled “That Day”. In this session I want to focus on the design process and demonstrate how After Effects allows creative flexibility throughout a project. For my more geeky attendees, don’t worry! I’ll also share plenty of my software tips and tricks as well as important techniques for structuring projects and optimising workflow in Adobe After Effects.

    I’ll also feature some extracts from my book “Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist” and will be giving away a copy of it, plus a copy of my “After Effects CS5 Learn by Video” training DVD. There are always lots of great parties, dinners and other networking events structured around Flash on the Beach and you’re guaranteed to meet and interesting and eclectic mix of creatives and geeky types. So why not book a place now, it sells out fast every year!

  • A busy After Effects week

    A busy After Effects week


    Wow, what a busy week. I’ve just finished the first day of Broadcast Video Expo 2011 where I’ve been presenting After Effects and the Production Premium workflow on the Adobe booth. It’s been great being back with the Adobe UK team again and seeing lots of friendly faces.

    I’ve also got a brand new product released today. My new Character Animation with Adobe After Effects workshops with video2brain are now on sale. You can check out some free sample movies here by clicking the link. Enjoy and please let me know what you think.

    Happy Keyframing!

    Angie

  • Premiere Pro – real-time for After Effects?

    Premiere Pro – real-time for After Effects?

    Quite a question – Is Premiere Pro a real-time engine for After Effects? Well this week I hope to answer it at Broadcast Video Expo 2011 I’ll be on the Adobe booth demonstrating and sharing my favorite tips and tricks about Adobe After Effects CS5.

    I’ll also be sharing excerpts from my books and DVDs, giving away a free copy each day of my “Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist” book and my “After Effects CS5 Learn by Video” DVD (Created with the amazing Todd Kopriva of Adobe).

    Those of you who have used After Effects will know that it isn’t really designed as a video editing application. there’s no real-time engine so it can be really tiresome editing footage there and waiting for previews. However, did you know that the Adobe CS5 Production Premium comes with a special, little known, real time engine for After Effects, it’s called Premiere Pro and I’m rapidly falling in love with it all over again!

    I’ll explain a little about why I describe Premiere Pro as a real-time engine for AE in a minute, but first a little bit of history (imagine wavy transition and spacey music, signifying time passing!) The first NLE I used was Adobe Premiere 4.0 on Mac, back in the mid-nineteen-ninety’s (Oh dear – showing my age there!). It was amazing to be able to edit video on a Mac and it opened video editing up to a whole host of new people after being a pretty exclusive domain, primarily owned by Avid at the time. Sadly Premiere never kept up with the pack and it’s reputation was almost destroyed with the disappointing release of version 5. Final Cut Pro also raised it’s rather sexy head at that time and it almost put a nail in dear old Premiere’s coffin.

    But I’m glad to say that Adobe have persevered and have battled to bring Premiere Pro back to being a serious contender in the bloody battle of the NLEs .They still have a way to go, to convince folks that it really can give FCP a run for it’s money. Many people are still cast under the Apple Marketing spell and many of the people who ‘dis’ Premiere Pro have never actually tried it so keep that in mind and make your own decision about whether it’s a worthy contestant. I’ve used it in real-world projects and have found it to be reliable, fast and creatively flexible. And I also use Final Cut Pro in my work as a freelancer so I know both applications well and am speaking from a real-world user point of view. Incidentally, did I also mention that the BBC are using it throughout the organization? ‘Nuff said?

    OK, back to the present! Why do I call Premiere Pro a ‘real-time engine for AE’? Well, as I said, working in AE can be a PIA (don’t you just love those TLA’s?). Often when working on music videos or opening title sequences, I’d want to edit a few clips quickly in time with music, add a few text animations, experiment a bit with the edit and timing. After Effects doesn’t facilitate this easily, you have to wait for things to render before you see them. But this is a perfect situation to use the Dynamic Link features in CS5 – you’ll get the best of both worlds by using Prem Pro and AE in conjunction with each other.

    Premiere Pro is excellent for real-time editing. You can even set up keyframe animation, time-remapping  and effect animations in real time, creating a rough cut of your finished piece. Adobe Dynamic Link then allows you to send this to AE, maintaining a live (dynamic) link between the apps, and whats more, it works!!!! The sequence opens in AE with no rendering required, ready for you to tweak and fine tune FX and keyframes. I’ll be demo’ing techniques using Dynamic Link (on a real world project) next week at Broadcast Video Expo. For those of you who can’t make it, here’s a few quick tips on the basic workflow & how it works!

    Create your project in Premiere Pro – capture or import all your source files into this project and save it.
    You can use the thumbnail view in the Project panel to create a rough storyboard for the piece before you bring footage down into the timeline, making sure that shot order and duration is roughly correct – this will save time later. Once you’ve done that, place your audio in the Timeline and then add the footage in the order it is sorted by using Premiere Pro’s amazing “Automate to Sequence’ button. So that’s the rough cut done.

    Still in PremPro, make any edit adjustments required. Keyframe any basic transformations, add effects if necessary. Once you are happy with the rough edit, and ready to jump to AE, make a selection of clips that you want to finesse in the Timeline, Right-click and choose ‘Replace with After Effects Composition’ to open the selected clips in a translated After Effects timeline. Here you can do whatever you need to do in AE.

    The beauty of this technique is that the link between the apps remains live so any changes made in AE automatically update in PremPro and visa versa, no need for rendering either way till the project is finally finished. I used this technique on the last project I worked on and reckon it saved me about 40% of the time it would have taken me only using AE.

    If you’re in the UK please pop along to Broadcast Video Expo later this month where I’ll be demo’ing this exact technique on the Adobe booth. Please say hello if you do. 🙂

  • Uprezzing Comps

    Uprezzing Comps

    A question appeared on the Video Copilot website today about uprezzing old projects which can be a bit of a nightmare in AE. You can often find that layers positions get messed up and effects change appearance when you scale your comp.

    Some of the issues that you’ll come across are hard to avoid but you can make the process a little easier by using some of the scripts that come free with After Effects CS5.

    Incidentally, making projects bigger is a massive headache so always good (if you have the opportunity of course) to create your projects at the biggest size you think may be required. If there’s ANY chance of HD requirements then use HD, even if the immediate requirement is only for SD.

    Having said all that, there are always times when you need to up-rez. Updating old projects for showreels; adapating other old projects for new jobs etc. So, if you simply HAVE to do it, there’s a couple of scipts that will work. In the Demo Palette (can be opened by going to File > Scripts > Demo Palette) there are two gems, one is called ‘Scale Comp’ and can be used to scale your entire composition, keeping all layers in the correct position. The other is called ‘Scale Selected Layers’ which will work on a selection within a comp, again, maintaining their position relative to each other.

    You need to make sure your preferences are setup correctly to use scripts in order to use these. to do so, go to Preferences >General > Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network.

    You will still need to go through the somewhat painful process of editing effects but this will save you a lot of work with layers etc.

    To find out more about After Effects and download some FREE movies, check out my After Effects CS5 Learn by Video page where you can watch excerpts and learn more tips.

  • Animating a line drawn on a map – Indiana Jones Style

    Animating a line drawn on a map – Indiana Jones Style

    My recommended workspace setup for this kind of 'Rostrum-style' work. You need to have the Layer panel and Comp panel visible.

    I contribute to the Creative Cow Basic After Effects forum (amongst others) where this question was posted recently;

    “Hi I am newish to after effects and I have created a old map effect that pans from the UK to africa now I want to add a red line that reveals like in the Indiana Jones graphic.”

    There’s definitely a trick to getting this right but once you know the trick, it’s easy, so, here are the rough steps for getting it right.

    BTW, a movie demonstrating this technique is available in my After Effects CS5 Learn by Video DVD if you are interested in that here’s a link to it.

    1. Place the map in a new comp, it’s best if the Map is bigger than the comp if you want to pan around it. In the Timeline, set a keyframe for the Anchor Point property as it’s this property you will animate to pan around the map. NB: Don’t animate the Position property as you’ll just run into problems.

    2. Alt-double-click the layer to open up the Layer panel, this is where you’ll do the animation. It’s great as you’ll be able to see an overview of the whole image without having to faff around in the Comp panel. Make sure that the Target menu is set to Anchor Point Path.

    3. In the timeline, move to where you want the next change in direction of the path to happen, and in the Layer panel, click and drag the anchor point to the landmark that you want to be central in the comp panel at that time. You’ll notice that, in the Comp panel, the point that the anchor point is on (in the Layer panel) is always central in the Comp panel, which is what you want exactly!

    4. Keep repeating this till you have completed the journey you want the ‘camera’ to follow and so have completed the positional aspect of the animation.

    5. If you want to smooth out the timing of the animation so that it maintains an even speed throughout, select all the keyframes except the first and last one, right-click on them and choose Rove Across Time. Once you’ve done that you can pull or push the first or last keyframes to speed up, or slow down the whole animation.

    6. Now apply the Write On effect to the layer. Choose a color and style by adjusting the settings.

    7. To make the Write on effect follow the path you can either use and expression to link the Brush Position property to the Anchor Point property of the layer (my preferred option) or, if you’re not keen on using expressions you can simply select all the keyframes from the Anchor Point property, copy them, then paste them into the Brush Position property.

    8. In the Write On effect, make sure that the Paint Style property is set to On Original Image.

    The nice thing about this technique is that it’s now easy to make it into a 3D map pan. All you need to do is add a camera and some lights, adjust the camera angle and animate the zoom property and that’s it! The camera and lights will automatically follow the anchor point so no further animation will be necessary unless you want to animate the angle, zoom, or depth of field.

    To find out more details of this technique and others, check out my After Effects CS5 Learn by Video DVD that I created alongside the wonderful Todd Kopriva from Adobe.