Product Review: Page (1) of 1 - 09/27/09

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Toolfarm's Professional After Effects Camera Training Rob Birnholz demystifies AE's 3D Camera By Ko Maruyama In the most recent offering from Toolfarm's Pro Training series, Adobe After Effects artist Rob Birnholz from Absolute Motion Graphics takes you through the different manipulations of the After Effects 3D camera.

The 3D world in After Effects has always been a difficult composition space to navigate.   Even if you are familiar with world navigation in a 3D application, working with the camera in After Effects may not behave the way you might expect.    Like any application, there is a workflow which will make working with these tools easier to understand.  Toolfarm's new training with Rob Birnholz shows you how.





Rob Birnholz has been creating motion graphics for several years, and as many After Effects users have found - the ability to successfully navigate and animate within the 3D space of the application affords the artist many more possibilities.   Most beginners start with the simple 2D animation controls to achieve their composites and animations, but even as artists move into a more experienced arena, often they don't take advantage of the 3D world tools.  

Often, intermediate and even experienced users admit that the  3D tools don't work the way the 2D tools work.  That's true.  It's 3D after all.  Other times, users just can't find the time to wrap their head around the workflow of a 3D composition/animation.   More than simply putting the 2D cards into a 3D world, the true elegance of creating a 3D animation is evident when 3D cameras and lights are included in the scene - - more tools to contend with.    Birnholz's new training is the beginning towards understanding the fundamentals of the 3D world and camera. 



In the new package of training, you'll go through 16 different lessons.  Some lessons are longer than others, but each one is quick enough to get into, comprehend, then get back to creating your own 3D camera animation.

You can download project files or view a sample movie by going to TOOLFARM's website and checking out the links within their tutorials pages <here>.

If you're ready to take the plunge from the 2D flat compositing scheme into a world that involves 3D layers, cameras and lights, you'll want to head over to the online store and pick this up.   In minutes, you'll be on your way to a better understanding of the way the 3D camera works, and ready to integrate it into your new animations.

Head over to Toolfarm to get yours, or to purchase your Adobe After Effects plugins

Pros:  Steps right into the more intermediate - advanced concepts of After Effects rather than explaining beginner procedures. Each section focuses on a specific topic.   You can navigate directly to lessons you need to review.  Even if you're on an earlier version of After Effects, you can take advantage of this instruction.  Lesson files are compatible with CS4, but the theories apply to 3D cameras in previous versions of AE as well.

Cons:  Each lesson plays individually, stopping at the end of each.  You'll need to click on the next chapter to start the following section - there is no "play all".   This is specifically a 3D Camera lesson, if you're a beginner to After Effects, you'll need to get some basic understanding of the application out of the way before you dive into this training.




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Ko Maruyama is a freelance animator in Los Angeles.  In addition to working on film and broadcast animations, Ko teaches at Pasadena's Art Center College of Design - focusing on motion design.  When working, writing or testing software allows, you can find him lending a hand in the After Effects board and lurking among the Cinema4D, Visual Effects and Photoshop posts within the DMNForums.

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