Author: Blancer

Type in After Effects is a huge topic, touching on basic design, motion design, title design, effects and plug-ins, expressions, scripting, and more. CMG Hidden Gems: Chapter 21 – Textacy, new sampling of After Effects tips from Chris and Trish Meyer, covers Editing Photoshop Text, Presets in Bridge, Randomizing Order, Eases, Centering Text, Per-character 3D. Of course, tutorials and tips on the topic are extensive beyond these little gems or the ones in this week’s Ten Tight Typography Tips. Here’s some additional items for your consideration.
 
If you’re looking for typographic inspiration, there are regular roundups are offered by Motion Design Love in their series Nice Type Tuesday, in the Type Tuesday series by Brad Chmielewski, and at Screenfonts (from The Font Feed), a monthly commentary on the use of fonts in movie poster design, music video and more.
 
There’s also stuff from the Typography Gallery at Motionspire, from Topher Welsh and others at AETuts, and in the feeds of the inspiration sites aggregated by SqueezeMe.TV and the Vimeo Channels NiceType and Kinetic Typography.
 
General advice can be found in a great Type In Motion class resource and tumblr blog offered by Graham Huber. AE-oriented resources can be found in AE Portal posts tagged type, text, 3D text, and title design, for example see Wiggle Transform Text, Four techniques for combining fonts + type videos, and Type casting. Plug-ins are too numerous to cover in a basic survey but AE Scripts has tagged its text-oriented scripts for easy access.
 
And of course AE Help offers guidance in Text animation presets (see a gallery or use Bridge to preview) and Examples and resources for text animation, which is chocked full of tips and references.
 
Here’s A Brief History of Title Design from The Art of the Title:
 

I wanted to create a quick post for a number of reasons… 1st, I wanted to brag on my wife… 2nd, I wanted show of my rockin’ new wall decor… 3rd, since this is a tutorial site, Katie actually created a tutorial on how she made this tuts+ art! Check it out.

So my wife kicked me out of my office tonight to “work on a project”. I returned a few hours later to find this. You can go through the whole tutorial and see more pictures below:

(she left out “Webdesigntuts+” because… well… that’s a huge word to squeeze onto a 10 inch wide canvas.)

Just because you missed that awesome conference, doesn’t mean that you can’t still watch the lectures! This weekend, we feature an inspiring talk by Patrick Chappatte that showcases his experiences of life though comic art. In a series of witty punchlines, Patrick Chappatte makes a poignant case for the power of the humble cartoon. His projects in Lebanon, West Africa and Gaza show how, in the right hands, the pencil can illuminate serious issues and bring the most unlikely people together.

Continue reading “Patrick Chappatte: The Power of Cartoons”

Reason, KRK monitors, Ozone 4, and playing football. Our sister site AudioJungle is a royalty-free stock audio site that helps musicians earn money. In this interview series you’ll learn about those musicians, their gear, and their AudioJungle experiences. Today we meet Abir (Abir187).

Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from, what do you do for a living?

Hi everyone. My name’s Abir. I’m 22 years old from the UK, and live in a place called Camden, which is situated in North London. I came out of university last year, where I studied civil engineering – nothing to do with music, haha. And at the moment I work in a property estate agent in London, and produce music as a hobby in my spare time.

Which marketplaces do you belong to? What types of files do you sell?

AudioJungle is where I belong. I try to sell a variety of music, to cater for most peoples needs, from hip hop, to electro, to cinematic and corporate music.

How did you get started? Have you had any formal training?

I’m a self-taught musician. Growing up as a teenager in London a few years ago, I managed to get Reason 2.5 when I was 16, and started to play about with the software. At first it seemed a bit daunting as I was a novice, but I kept experimenting, and got myself a MIDI keyboard, and it just went from there really.

Eventually I got the hang of making beats, and as time went by I became more experienced, and this turned into my main hobby. After learning how to use Reason, I moved on to Cubase and a few others, and finally on to Logic, which is my favourite (DAW), and the one which I currently use.

Describe your home workspace.

Well, I’m still saving to get a few things. Equipment doesn’t come cheap I guess. My room is my studio, so space is limited, as I live with family.

I use my MacBook Pro, KRK monitors, audio interface, and an Xboard keyboard. I also have an SE Electronics mic which comes in handy for recording and sampling my own voice etc.

I’m a big fan of Native Instruments. I use KOMPLETE 6 in my productions as well as the KORE 2 hardware/software, just to name a few.

Describe your creative process. What steps do you normally follow to create your files?

I don’t really follow a specific guideline. Usually I can get into my studio and lay a track down quick, and sometimes I need a bit of inspiration to push me in the right direction, so I listen to music from other artists, and it helps.

I like to get a vision before I start, and picture the specific sound I’m going after in my head, and then make it happen in my studio, on the keyboard. A bit like painting a picture.

Sometimes I start with the melody, before the beat or percussion, and vice versa. I tend to build on things and work my way up by layering the instruments and making them fit together. Once I’ve got the basic skeleton of my track, I like to experiment a bit by removing certain instruments from different parts of the track, and just creating variations and eventually sequencing to a full track.

I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so if something doesn’t sound right, or doesn’t sit in the mix in my opinion, then I’ll scrap it and start again.

I also master my own stuff, and use Ozone 4 and T-RackS mastering suites, which I find quite good. I am also learning to improve my mastering skills further.

What is your advice to other authors regarding how to create a successful portfolio?

Quality over quantity. Better to make five great tracks which you have spent your time on and can potentially sell well, than to make ten average / below average tracks which you rushed, and may not even sell!!

There are pros and cons about this, but that’s my opinion.

What do you do to market your files?

I must admit I need to brush up on my marketing skills. I usually promote my stuff on Facebook as everyone tends to be on there, and sometimes Youtube.

My personal website will be up soon…

What are your three favorite files, and why do you like them?

My first fav file is “Jungle Sacrifice“. I did this a while back but still remains my fav, because of the fast paced drums with the voices in the background. I also like this piece as I think it has an eerie feel to it and because it’s quick and reaches a climax fast.

Download audio file (preview.mp3)

My second fav file is “Hip Hop Life” due to the fact that I love hip hop and it is my main genre. When I was producing this I wanted to get that West Coast Gangsta vibe going on , and hence the piano melody, which I think works well with the vocal sample on top in the chorus.

Download audio file (preview.mp3)

My third fav file is “Joker DnB“. I like this because its very fast upbeat, catchy and makes me want to jump up and down.

Download audio file (preview.mp3)

Apart from yourself, who is your favorite marketplace author, and why do you like them?

That’s a tough one! There’s soo many, and there’s always new ones. Apart from myself haha. I never intended on saying myself. I have a long way to go.

Well, I love the cinematic music from palmtreep. My fav track from him is “Night Stalker” – what a great track. I love the catchy piano melody, and the grittiness of the track when it drops, very original.

Download audio file (preview.mp3)

Uuuummm… Another author I like is Jurgen Beck, who I think is new on AudioJungle and has one item up called “Uncovering Secrets” which I find amazing!! I just love the ambience of the track and the epic cinematic vibe it comes with, very unique.

And finally, I like garethcoker – probably my fav author at the moment. My fav track from him has to be “Firefly in a Fairytale“. When I heard it, I was like this man is a genius. It sent shivers down my spine when I heard it. I expect it to sell a thousand times over!! Keep them coming!!

Download audio file (preview.mp3)

Sorry, I was suppose to pick one author. See how hard it is!

What do you do in your spare time?

In my spare time, I like to … make music! lol. Ha ha. Spend time with my family, play football, and spend time with my girlfriend.

I’m also a movie lover.

I just wanted to say thanks for giving me the chance to be interviewed. I really appreciate it.

We know that our International audience can’t attend every cool speech or conference. That is why from time-to-time we like to bring you some of the lectures that we have found on the Internet. Today’s lecture is from Nick Campbell of Greyscale Gorilla about the creative gap and how you can become better than most.

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