After effects Character animation..

Great post over at Pro Video Coalition containing a bunch of video tutorials proving that after effects is not a post-production only tool but can be the tool of choice for full animation production. check it out.. http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/ryoung/story/animate_a_character_in_after_effects/

Basic Head rotations using 3D Layers, Distortion Mesh & Expressions in After Effects from Daniel Gies on Vimeo.

My First Tutorial...

So I finally got round to making my first video tutrial. Hopefully first of many, and hopefully they get more concise. This one's a bit of an epic at half 'n hour! The compression makes the ball look like it's not actually bouncing off the ground sometimes. just too low a framerate, but the theory works. Probably best to watch it big. Anyway hope it's useful. Please comment, positive or negative.


After Effects Bouncing Ball Animation Tutorial from Andy Clarke on Vimeo.

1050 is the new 1024

Some eagle eyes may have noticed that the preset sizes for pal compositions in After effects CS4 have changed from what we have been used to for a long time.

Our understading for a long time was that full widescreen 16:9 (square pixels) images/compositions should have 1024 pixels horizontally and regular 4:3 (square pixels) should be 768 pixels. the BBC have suggested that "digital pictures are effectively wider than analogue pictures" and have suggested these new figures are more correct; 768 becomes 788 and 1024 becomes 1050.
There is a comprehensive explanation and graphic guides on the BBCs website here..http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tvbranding/picturesize.shtml

Some Links...

Ok, time to put this blog to some use. It's been pretty idle up until now.

First some links...

First of all here's a great site for inspiration and generally keeping up to speed with the global animation / motion graphics scene... http://www.motionographer.com
Check it regularly for the latest sweet clips.

For those wanting to get a grounding in After Effects, Final Cut Pro , 3D Studio Max, Maya and a whole bunch of other programs here is a great PAID resource. There are a bunch of free clips to give you a sense, in each category. I like this site so much I have forked out to become a premium subscriber. I've totally got my money's worth though so I highly recommend it. It's called...
http://www.lynda.com

If you're beyond the basics and wanting to tackle some 'sexier' (geekspeak for high end glossy motion graphics and visual fx) stuff then here are some great specific tutorial resources....

http://library.creativecow.net/tutorials/adobeaftereffects
http://ae.tutsplus.com/
http://maltaannon.com/
http://www.ayatoweb.com/ae_tips_e.html (albeit in broken English)
http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/
http://allbetsareoff.com/category/tutorials/
http://www.graymachine.com/category/tutorials/
http://www.flashkit.com/tutorials/ For flash tuts.

For those interested in blocking and staging for live action or even to better inform your narrative animations this site is a must....
http://www.hollywoodcamerawork.us/
check out the free clips to see if it's for you.
Also theres is another title on that site with incredible in depth tips and tricks for shooting greenscreen and preping shoots for CG / live action interaction.

For lots of great insight and wise words from seasoned professional 3D animators check this blog regularly...
http://splinedoctors.com/
and great interviews with the movers and shakers in the animation industry here..
http://animationpodcast.com/

Forums and articles...
http://www.awn.com/ the animation world network.
http://www.cgsociety.org/

To check available funding schemes visit the Irish film boards website at ...

http://www.irishfilmboard.ie/

To just sit back and watch some great films check out the National Film Board of Canada's site (also available as a great iphone app)
http://nfb.ca/
Some of the best student work around..
http://www.gobelins.fr/galerie/animation/

That's all for now....
Please feel free to reply with more suggestions and your own favs.