Angie Taylor is a renowned artist, sculptor and animator. She runs bespoke training courses at her private art school, Creative Cabin. She also runs art classes for children of all ages. Please contact Angie to find out more about these.
Most of her training classes are taught remotely. She can also provide one-to-one training courses at her studio, near Brighton, UK. Courses include;
Angie is a motion graphic designer with over thirty years experience, working in the film and television industry. She has written several books, articles and video training courses about creative software applications and motion graphic design.
When the Cabin is not being used for training Angie creates motion graphic and animation projects from the Cabin for her own clients who she works for on a freelance basis. You can see examples of Angie’s work here.
Angie is also a published author with five books published on the subjects of Adobe After Effects and motion graphic design. She is also an author of training courses at Lynda.com.
Angie’s unique style of software training is delivered on a one-to-one basis and courses are customised for each individual client.
Work on real world projects
Anyone can follow step-by-step tutorials but we donât believe that this âwatch and followâ technique is the best approach for learning software â it doesnât cultivate confidence. Our aim is to get you to a stage where you use the software intuitively.
Angie designs bespoke one-to-one training courses to cover more specific or unusual requirements for those who prefer to concentrate only on specific features of the application?
All levels of experience are catered for. You can choose from pre-designed training courses that cover all levels of user from beginners to advanced power-users.
Problem solving
The best way to master any software application is to go through a process of problem-solving on your own projects. Together, you and your trainer will work out the best approach to get the results you want from the software.
We can provide purpose-built training files to teach you certain concepts and techniques but we can also work on your own projects if youâre happy to bring them along. If you’re interested in booking the cabin accommodation, training or a package that includes both, please book here.
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.
You can now access most of my software training courses with Lynda.com. This link will take you to my author page where you can find out more about the courses I have on offer. Here’s a free taster of the kind of things I teach in my tutorials.
I recorded these courses with video2brain and they are now part of the Lynda.com library. If you prefer to buy individual courses then you still can for a limited time in my tutorials store.
Of course a Lynda.com subscription gives you access to the entire library of training by me and other authors including Trish and Chris Meyer, Rob Garrott, Deke McKlelland and more.
Free seven-day trial
I’m giving away a free 7-day trial subscription. If you have a quiet week, sign up here and pack as much training in as you can to get real value from this offer. Once you’ve benefitted from a week’s training I’m sure you’ll see the benefit of a full-time, no-holes-barred subscription!
If you subscribe now you’ll soon get access to my latest course which is coming soon. “Up and Running with Cinema 4D Lite” is a complete 2-day course in Cinema 4D Lite, aimed at After Effects users who have little knowledge of 3D applications. It will help you make the most of this free software that was bundled as part of After Effects CC.
This week, to celebrate the launch of Adobe’s Creative Suite I’ve released a whole host of new Adobe CS6 software training videos from new and forthcoming workshops produced with video2brain. So now you know why I’ve been relatively quiet for the last couple of months!
The workshops will be out very soon but meanwhile we thought it would be nice for you to get a sneak preview of what you can expect from the full workshops. Here’s a little bit about CS6, from the perspective of the video2brain authors. You can more free example movies from each of my new titles listed below.
Adobe After Effects is an incredibly deep and rich set of tools for creating motion graphics, manipulating movies, adding visual effects, and more. In this Learn by Video course, created in partnership with our friends at Peachpit Press, experts Todd Kopriva and Angie Taylor teach you how to make the most of this powerful software, including the new features in After Affects CS6.
After getting an overview of the workflow and the user interface, you will learn how to bring assets into After Effects and configure the software for optimum performance. Youâll also learn a range of compositing features, including the new variable-width masks and 3D camera tracker features, as well as basic masking and color keying. Tips on everything from troubleshooting and avoiding common problems to creating finished movie files round out this comprehensive training.
I’ve also finished working on two new titles for Adobe Illustrator CS6 which will be out really soon. Below are some taster movies from my Adobe Illustrator CS6 – Getting Started course and my Adobe Illustrator CS6 – Learn by Video course that I created with co-author Chad Chelius.
If you’d like to be kept up to date as soon as new courses become available you can subscribe using your favourite browser or email client.
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:
Get complete access to an extensive training library: video2brain training subscriptions give you easy, affordable, unrestricted access to the full range of video2brain courses â 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.
Stay up to date: Todayâs 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 theyâre 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.
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.
Benefit from introductory pricing: Weâre launching the library with low, introductory pricing, and weâre thanking early adopters with a three-year price guarantee, to ensure that you can enjoy that benefit in the years ahead.
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, theyâre skilled and passionate instructors. All video2brain courses undergo rigorous quality assurance, and are presented in our easy-to-use, feature-rich interface. And weâre committed to continuously improving your learning experience by adding new features throughout the year.
Learn anywhere, anytime you want: Your video2brain subscription lets you access the library anytime youâre online, and even from different computers. Our unique Platinum subscription includes the option to download courses for offline use. It makes no difference whether youâre 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.
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 youâre ready.
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.
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 canât do and how they might fit into your workflow, so you can make informed decisions and invest where it counts.
Explore new areas: Even if you sign up to enjoy our courses on topics like digital imaging, design and video editing, your learning doesnât 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 â 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.
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.
– a typography video-training workshop on the principles of designing text.
I’ve just finished recording my latest workshop with the fantastic team at video2brain. It’s a workshop with a difference.
If you want the salient points delivered to you quickly so you can get on with your work, this product is perfect for you. It’s a series of short videos that form an educational and enjoyable workshop that you can sit back and enjoy – imbibing my knowledge as you go!
It’s based upon the Typography chapter from my book, Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist. Not everyone likes to read books or needs the level of detail covered in Design Essentials so this provides an alternative.
It provides a quick-reference guide in the format of a video presentation. All the essential key principles of Typography that every designer needs are covered. And it won’t bog you down with too much detail (that’s what the book is for right?) it’s fast-paced and illustrated throughout with helpful animated diagrams and examples of work.
Learn about the history and anatomy of type as well as the terminology used to describe the components of text. Discover the difference between typefaces and fonts, glyphs and characters, serifs and sans serifs, kerning and tracking, leading and baseline shift. Find out when and why you would use specific fonts based on  aesthetics, cultural associations and characteristics.
This workshop expands on the content of the book with additional software exercises to improve your typographic software skills. Youâll learn how to apply the principles of typography in practical ways to graphic design projects. Software exercises will show you how Adobeâs Character and Paragraph panels can help make the most of your text, creating unique and exciting effects.
Iâll also teach you lots of neat tricks like animating text along paths in After Effects and making text write on the screen. In Illustrator weâll use operators to customize lettering, giving it a hand drawn look,. Weâll create 3D Text in Photoshop and add Layer Styles to brighten up our graphic designs. In InDesign youâll make the most of its powerful Open Type features such as ligatures, glyphs and other special characters.
With this comprehensive typography video training workshop you can simply sit back and watch as I present the principles for you. If you feel like following along, all the exercise files are provided. The videos are short and easily digested and you wonât get bogged down with technical jargon as I explain difficult concepts using easy-to-understand, real-world terminology.
If you’d like to be notifies when this title becomes available please click on this link.
When a group of amazing animators get hold of a projection system, youâre either going to get an evening of inspiration or a cheeky light bulb joke. Post Production Magic is your event for awe-inspiring work by After Effects gurus Angie Taylor, Simon Cam of SuperGlue, Ernesto Rogata of BSkyB and colourist and trainer Simon Walker.
 These artists show you how popular Red Giant tools like Magic Bullet Suite and Trapcode Particular and Trapcode Form open up big creativity on a small budget. Experience the best of design, animation, colour grading and visual effects created in After Effects and Premiere Pro, along with a networking and cocktail hour. Hosted by Red Giant and co-hosted by Adobe Systems, the event will be streamed live by Adobe and held at state-of-the-art Ravensbourne University in London (www.rave.ac.uk).
In her session Angie will share tips and tricks for creating cool and quirky motion graphics in Adobe After Effects and will show how she uses Red Giant Looks, Particular, and other Red Giant effects to give her animations a more distinctive style and pull her compositions together.
Angie Taylor is an art director, motion graphic designer and author. She enjoyed a fourteen year career producing animation, visual effects and motion graphics for television, film, video and the web. During her career Angie worked with D-Fuse designing animation for cutting-edge Beck DVD ‘Guero’ and provided animation for the controversial Aphex Twin / Chris Cunningham collaboration ‘Rubber Johnny’. She also provided visual effects on the John Williams-directed “Hibernation”, winner of six awards at international film festivals, including ‘best short’ award at the 2005 Manhattan, Rhode Island, Edinburgh and Zagreb Film festivals. Examples of her work were regularly broadcast on the BBC and Channel 4 in the UK and across Europe.Angie also works in the software industry as a software specialist, regularly touring with companies including Adobe and Apple. Angie delivers software demonstrations and seminars on digital filmmaking and animation processes at international trade shows and conferences including NAB, IBC and Macworld. She also provides bespoke training and consultancy to a wide range companies including; BBC; Channel 4; Channel 5; Carlton; HTV; B Sky B; MTV.The author of three successful books. The âCreative After Effectsâ books (version 5 and 7), published by Focal Press, and a third book, âDesign Essentials for the motion media artistâ which is also published by Focal Press. Angie is also co-author of “After Effects CS5 Learn by Video”, published by Peachpitt in association with Adobe Press. Angie also produces high quality online training workshops with video2brain, Europeâs premier source for video training since 2002.
Superglueâs projection mapping project for Toyotaâs âGet Your Energy Backâ campaign (http://www.vimeo.com/16466136) was a highly creative and technical challenge, utilising numerous different production techniques. The animation featured 2D, 3D, keyframed animation, dynamics, particle systems and more. Compositing, VFX and general pipeline management was performed in After Effects, whilst 3D work was created using Autodesk Maya and Maxon Cinema 4D. The team made extensive use of both Trapcode Form and Trapcode Particular in bringing to life the âhybrid energyâ that was the key part of the campaignâs message.
Superglue is an award winning, London-based production company specialising in innovative digital projects. The team comprises a dynamic mix of production, post and digital brains working across live action, visual effects, 3D and motion graphics. Superglue operates across the modern media spectrum, creating moving image for everything from banners to broadcast.
Ernesto Rogata, BSkyB
Ernesto will talk about the daily challenge of integrating text and other graphic elements in exciting and innovative ways in sport pieces, stings and short title sequences – usually with little time to complete the job. He will share some simple techniques to create motion graphics using After Effects and Red Giant plug-ins.
Ernesto Rogata is an award-winning senior video editor at BSkyB in London and has worked in post-production for 20 years. His professional role covers four areas: editing, grading, creating motion graphics and training.
Simon will show the grading secrets of Plot Device, a new short film produced by Red Giant, and will demonstrate how Red Giant’s Magic Bullet Suite brought to life a varied series of genres… as well as a hoard of zombies!
Simon is creative director of WiltshireVideo.com, makes online grading and editing tutorials at www.simonwalkerfreelance.com, and is an instructor for the International Colorist Academy, iColorist.com. He is an Adobe Certified Premiere Pro Instructor and trains industry professionals in editing, motion graphics, colour grading, audio sweetening, and (excitingly!) video compression.Â
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 â both what to buy and how to set up your applications to make optimal use of these resources â 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.
Youâll also learn what CUDA, OpenGL, and the Mercury Playback Engine are, and what each means to you in practical terms. After completing this workshop youâll get more done in less time, both by making things work faster and by avoiding common causes of wasted time.
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.
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, youâll 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 youâre 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.
Well, here I am, back in the UK after an exhausting trip to Las Vegas to attend NAB 2011. I was speaking at the Post Production World Conference which I’m pleased to say was busier than ever. My sessions were very well attended and I met some great new people who gave me the most generous feedback, thanks to all of you! Keep an eye on this space for a recorded version of one of my sessions, coming soon!
Me Presenting at NAB 2011, courtesy of @mediaguy777
I also got to catch up with lots of old friends and colleagues at the Media Motion Ball and the Adobe party. I’ve made many life-long friends through this industry and it’s great to see them all in one place, although it could be a bit overwhelming for me at times-all that love and talent in one room!
So, what did I see at the show that impressed me? Well, top of my list has to be the new version of After Effects CS5.5 and companion products in the Production Premium CS5.5 suite. The new Production Premium suite delivers improved performance, workflow improvements and new powerful audio editing capabilities via Audition which I’m happy to say is finally back on the Mac!
The powerful Mercury Playback Engine has better GPU hardware support for laptops and more graphics cards are now supported. All this makes the Production Premium more compelling than ever as a comprehensive studio containing everything needed from creating your source material and storyboards to transcoding and delivering your final product in multiple formats.
Me with Chris and Trish Meyer, courtesy of @mediaguy777
After Effects in particular is very exciting for me as it is my every-day application. The flag-ship feature is the is the âWarp Stabilizerâ. Mainly aimed at folks shooting on DSLR and other hand held cameras, it tracks, stabilizes and scales your footage automatically. It also compensates for rolling shutter artefacts and can âhealâ the edges of the stabilized shot to minimize scaling.
The Camera Lens Blur effect is based on real-world lenses and  offers more realistic depth of field blurs. The Light Falloff effect enables users to simulate natural illumination falloff to mimic how light behaves in a 3D scene and can be used to create other light intensity effects.
There are also dedicated tools for Stereoscopic 3D workflows too including a 3D camera rig, new 3D Glasses effect and controls for 3D Focus and Convergence.
On the down side I must say that I am ever-so-slightly underwhelmed with this upgrade from the perspective of an animator/ motion graphic designer. Don’t get me wrong, what’s in there is great if these are features you need. I don’t know if it’s just my built-in habit of going against current trends but none of them are features that really excite me personally as much as past ones like Expressions, 3D, Shape and Text layers.
I guess it’s not surprising as I’m not really a visual effects artist, I’m more interested in making things look surreal than real! I want tools that help me push new boundaries and inspire me creatively, I’m afraid these features just don’t inspire me as much as say the Puppet tool or Vanishing Point feature did.
In my opinion the last couple of releases have focussed a little too much on visual effects features. I’d love to see the next release concentrate on more Motion Graphics oriented features and let Nuke and the Discreet systems fight it out for VFX supremacy.
I’m also a little disappointed that the Warp Stabilizer doesn’t include the ability to reverse the process of stabilisation to reintroduce wanted camera movement. When compositing elements into a shot, painting rigs, rotoscoping etc. It’s often desirable to steady the shot before you work, this makes adding visual effects much easier. But in many situations you may want to reintroduce the movement, it may be intentional camera movement, like seen so often these days in films shot in a hand held style.
Traditionally VFX artists would stabilize the footage, add VFX and then reverse the stabilization process, adding the movement back to the comped footage. The Warp Stabilizer does an absolutely amazing job of removing ‘unwanted camera movement’ but it doesn’t allow us to reintroduce our ‘wanted camera movements’. Sad as this addition could have made a good feature truly great.
Me with the lovely Aharon Rabinowitz (courtesy of Michele Yamazaki)
Adobe also rolled out their new Subscription based system where you can effectively ‘hire’ the Creative Suite apps on a month by month basis. A great option for folks who only want to use apps on a project by project basis. Or may only want to use newer features now and then.
Red Giant Software had exciting new releases to showcase including great free tools. Colorista Free provides a simple yet comprehensive interface for After Effects and Final Cut Pro enabling creation and sharing of color profiles via CDLs. Color Decision Lists allow users to share color settings and metadata across a variety of systems.
LUT Buddy allows you to create, read and share LUT profiles directly from After Effects using any color correction effects you want. Color Lookup Tables are similar to CDLs (they do not include all metadata)Â in that they allow users to share color profiles between different systems, for example between desktop apps like After Effects and high-end DaVinci or Discreet systems. Previously the only way you could save LUTs from After Effects was via the full Color Finesse interface.
Charlie's Angels! đ (courtesy of Michele Yamazaki)
Magic Bullet Grinder helps you get footage from your DSLR into Final Cut Pro timeline easily. They have also utilised their Magic Bullet technology to create some funky and exciting new tools for people who want to make movies on their iPhones and iPads.
Movie Looks allows you to add stylish pre-made “looks” to your iPhone movies, giving them a slick, professional look. Noir Photo provides and amazing level of control when creating cinematic black and white, monotone, or tinted images. It includes fun controls for adding dramatic lighting to your photos and developing them into professional-looking, polished images.
And of course, predictably, the expected unexpected was announced stop-press-style from Apple! The new Final Cut Pro X (Watch the videos, part one and part two) was finally announced at the Supermeet. This brand new version has been completely rewritten from the ground up. With a brand-new 64-bit architecture Final Cut Pro X can now take full advantage of all the RAM you can fit into your Mac, from Macbook Pro’s to high-end desktops, making performance significantly better. Grand Central Dispatch support also improves performance by optimizing the way your processors operate. Both of those features should result in significant speed and workflow enhancements.
Emphasis was put on ingest operations like auto-detection of footage content, for example, it can automatically detect how many people are in a shot, then label and manage the footage accordingly. This happens on ingest, in the background and creates data to help manage and organise footage without the need for manually adding keywords. It also auto-detects color balance irregularities and corrects them on ingest, using Color sync. Once you’ve got footage into the new Browser you can add keywords to clips or even to frame-ranges from within clips, this should make searching and managing content a whole lot easier.
Smart Bins can be created for clips, similar to the Smart Mailboxes from Apple Mail, or Smart Playlists from iTunes. Clips will be included into these smart bins as common data is detected. References to the clips can appear in multiple smart bins without having to create copies of the files. For example, you could have a clip of a person standing on the beach at night, this clip reference can be automatically placed both in the ‘Night shots” bin, the “beach shots” bin and the “One person” bin simultaneously without duplicating the item.
You can even edit your footage while it’s being ingested meaning there’s no need to wait while this is happening, you can get to work straight away . . . . as long as you’re working with disk-based media!
The star of the show for me though is the new Timeline. It looks and behaves like a sexy beast! The ‘Magnetic Timeline’ is so simple a concept that it’s brilliant. As you drag clips around the timeline, other clips automatically shift to accommodate the changes, there’s no need to add new tracks first to accommodate changes, Final Cut does this automatically as and when they are required. The Timeline is now fully native and resolution independent so you can get right into editing your footage straight away, mixing footage from different sources and formats without the need for transcoding,
You can now create Compound Clips which are kind of like After Effects precomposed comps. Select a few clips and group them into one single editable item. This has the benefit of simplifying the edit and making the editing process easier and more logical by reducing clutter in the timeline. I’ll be interested to see how it works practically, whether it renders the compound clips or keeps them live within the edit, very interesting though.
Keyframing motion properties of clips can be done directly in timeline now with a clear, easy to use graph editor. I’m not sure what level of control is available via the graph editor but it certainly looked pretty slick and easy to use. The application of retiming has also been simplified and improved with quick access to commonly-used speeds and the ability to easily create vari-speed effects by dragging on the edges of clips.
The new Auditioner allows yo to collect clips into ‘Audition groups’. These appear in the Timeline like little footage wells. You can sample clips within them using Cover-flow- style toggling of clips and compare results of them directly in the Viewer. This makes comparing clips and making edit decisions so much easier, great if you’re sitting with a client peering over your shoulder.
We didn’t see any plug-in-type effects used during the demo but color matching and balancing now appears to be integrated into the main application functionality. Color Board is a powerful primary and secondary color corrector which allows you to correct color based on channel selections or shapes.
Whats in there looks great but it’s hard to tell what it really operates like from a demo. Apple demo’s are always very slick and worked out to the nth degree. If it is as simple and brilliant as it looks then fantastic but I have some concerns about what’s missing from the list of features though. There was no mention of support for tape-based capturing or EDL support, making me wonder whether Apple are abandoning old technology altogether and relying on the fact that there are enough people using an exclusive disk-based workflow. I must say that most facilities I work in still use tape so I can see this being an issue if the rumours circulating are true.
There was no mention of third party plug-in support either which also concerns me. The third party plug-in developers are often the ones who push the big companies to continuously improve their apps by innovating and really listening to users. It would be a sad day if Apple was to turn it’s back on these pioneers.
So that’s a quick round up of NAB 2011. I must admit I didn’t get to see as much as I’d planned to this year. The jet lagged killed me and I was kept busy at the conference most of the time. But these are the highlights I saw on my travels. As a special NAB promotion I have a discount code for you to get money off my video training workshops here on my website. You can download free movies here and if you like them enough to buy a complete workshop, use this code on checkout. it’s good till the end of April 2011; ATV2B20. Until next year, goodbye Vegas and NAB.
Angie is a motion graphic designer with over thirty years experience, working in the film and television industry. She has written several books, articles and video training courses about creative software applications and motion graphic design.
