Colorista II By Kevin McAuliffe
When it comes to a program like After Effects, competing with Color Finesse 3 (that comes with AE CS5) can be tricky, but if there is one company out there determined to do it, it's Red Giant Software and their flagship color correction application Colorista.
...Read More »
Avid's Media Composer 5 Part 3 - Matrox's MXO2 mini By Kevin McAuliffe
When AVID stated that they supported the MXO2 mini to monitor external video, I was pretty surprised, as this is a big change of direction for AVID as they normally only support their own hardware for video monitoring. I wanted to give the MXO2 mini a fair shake, as for the $449 price tag I really wanted (and hoped) it to work for the user bases sake. Let's see how it fared.
...Read More »
The Non-Linear Road To NAB By Charlie Wade
For video editors, NAB is akin to a pilgrimage. Every year they flock to Vegas, push themselves through the crowds to the booths of the video editor purveyors, and watch, learn, debate and yearn. Here are 5 top notch solutions, plus one who should have been there but wasn't!
...Read More »
NAB 2010: What Cameras were HOT? By Charlie Wade
Missed NAB 2010 this year? Lots of people did but I know you still want to know what was hot. For you who live for camcorder technology, here are six of the hottest cameras (or camera announcements in some cases) at NAB 2010.
...Read More »
iFunia Video Converter Pro for Macintosh By John Virata
iFunia's Video Converter Pro is an application that converts your video into a wide variety of formats, including AVI, WMV, AVCHD, MKV, FLV, H.264/AVC, MP4, MOV, 3GP and DV. It is straightforward to use and the results are very good to excellent. The application works in three simple steps; Source Setup/Add, Destination Setup, and Start Conversion/Start.
...Read More »
AJA Ki Pro By Kevin McAuliffe
Every once in a while (sometimes a long while), a product comes along that makes you say "WOW!". I haven't had one of those moments in a long time, until I got my hands on the Ki Pro from AJA. I remember sending my AJA PR rep an email when it first came out, and there was, of course, a backlog of reviewers who wanted to get their hands on one, so I went into the queue, and forgot about it.
...Read More »
Ci Design's iStorage Pro iT8MIS 8 bay Mini SAS JBOD System By Kevin McAuliffe
As a tech writer, I am lucky to have companies approach me to look at their products, and after looking at a competitor's product, I was approached by Ci Design to look at their iStorage Pro Mini SAS JBOD hard drive array. Since I'm always on the lookout for the best product for what I need to get done, I jumped at the chance. Here's how it turned out.
...Read More »
X-Rite Colorchecker Passport By Robert Jensen
I've got bad news for you. Shoo the kids away from the computer first. Ready? Guys and gals, there is no Santa Claus and the sensors in digital cameras are not all created equal. I hate to break it to you but all sensors vary to some degree in their capturing of data, not only from manufacturer to manufacturer but even from model to model from the same company. Worse yet, sensor characteristics can vary even from batch to batch of the same model sensor!
...Read More »
3.06 GHz 17-inch MacBook Pro By Heath McKnight
I recently had a chance to review the latest, top-of-the-line unibody MacBook Pro from Apple; with a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 8GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and many other great features, this is the fastest Apple laptop I've ever used.
...Read More »
Telestream's ScreenFlow 2 By Kevin McAuliffe
As an instructor and online trainer, I need a screen capture program that will not only be very easy to use, but also produce excellent looking end results. Windows users have a ton of options, but for us Mac users, the outlook was pretty barren. More than a year ago when I started doing video tutorials I came across ScreenFlow, and liked it a lot. Well, Telestream is back with version two of this great program. Let's see if it's worth the upgrade.
...Read More »
Sorenson Squeeze 6 By Kevin McAuliffe
These days, it seems as though every company has an application for taking your edited files and processing them for the web, and many of those applications are included with the editing bundle you purchased. Adobe has Adobe's Media Encoder, Final Cut Studio has Compressor, and there are the standalone applications such as Episode, and even QuickTime can do it as well.
...Read More »
Coremelt Complete V2 By Kevin McAuliffe
You can never have enough plug-ins. Trust me, as an editor/graphic designer you always have clients that want something "cool," but have really no idea what they are looking for, so you end up finding yourself going through the plug-ins on your system to try and put something together to really "wow" them, your plug-in collection needs to have three traits.
...Read More »
Trapcode's Particular 2 By Kevin McAuliffe
As editors and motion graphic designers know, there are a lot (and I mean a lot) of plug-ins out there, and you often find the same type of plug-in across many different plug-in packages, and a very, very popular plug-in is the Particle Generator. Just about every plug-in package has one, and even After Effects itself ships with a few.
...Read More »
Third Party Plug-Ins/Apps For Final Cut Pro By Heath McKnight
Time for another edition of my third party plug-ins and software apps for Final Cut Pro (FCP). This time around, I take a look at the powerful and easy-to-use (with a ton of codec options) iFunia Video Converter Pro, FxFactory 2.1 and idustrial revolution's Volumetrix 2 transitions, and FxFactory 2.1 and DVShade's EasyLooks 2.5 and LiveToon 1.0.
...Read More »
Toolfarm's Professional After Effects Camera Training By Ko Maruyama
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 shows you how.
...Read More »
Apple's Color 1.5 By Kevin McAuliffe
As everyone knows, the inclusion of FinalTouch (renamed Color by Apple) into Final Cut Studio 2 was shocking. A few months before Apple announced it, I looked at purchasing FinalTouch as a separate, stand alone application for a post facility I was working for.
...Read More »
Adobe Story First Look Preview By Heath McKnight
Adobe Story is the newest application from the company that brought us Photoshop and other great apps. Adobe Story is a great new way to develop and write screenplays, teleplays, and video scripts. It's a fully featured app that is highly compatible with many of the popular screenwriting and pre-production software. Best part? It works "in the clouds," ie, it's Internet-based as well as a standalone app.
...Read More »
Final Cut Studio's Motion 4 By Kevin McAuliffe
Star Wars Episode 1 and Apple's new Final Cut Studio have something in common, and that is the hype. Final Cut Studio has been hyped for more than a year, and every time someone blogged about its release coming up, nothing happened. Well, mid-way through July, Apple snuck Final Cut Studio (not called 3, just Final Cut Studio) onto its website, and needless to say, the tidal wave began.
...Read More »
Apple Compressor 3.5 By Heath McKnight
With the long-anticipated update to Final Cut Studio, Apple has introduced an upgrade to Compressor. Not a full new version, but still a significant update, nonetheless. However, you need to consider that while Compressor is a stand-alone application, it's now a major part of Final Cut Pro 7, and that is where its strengths lie.
...Read More »
Apple Final Cut Pro 7 By Heath McKnight
A little more than two years after Final Cut Pro 6 introduced the ProRes codec, Background Processes, Smooth Cam, and many other functions, Apple debuts Final Cut Pro 7 (FCP), part of the third version of Final Cut Studio. There are more ProRes options, export settings that can be done in the background without Compressor 3.5 open, iChat Theater support (an excellent collaboration tool), and much more. FCP is 10 years old this year, and they've been listening to us, the editors! Let's just dive in and take a look at all the new stuff.
...Read More »
AV-HS450 16+ Input HD/SD Switcher w/ dual screen MultiViewer This 16+ input switcher is the best value in its class. Its exclusive dual screen MultiViewer lets you view up to 20 windows on just two displays. CLICK HERE!!!
NO...Doesn't have a thing to do with "that" smartphone...or "that" store...or "that" tablet. It's the next generation. Kids and we mean little kids. That's what today's products are being designed for/targeted at. You happen to buy one...fine. Watch a little, little kid pick up a smartphone. He/she just uses it. They've come pre-wired and we're still trying to figure out how to IM. It's the IGen. They want it instantly. They want to use it instantly. They expect their photos, their video, their music, their stuff immediately when/where/how they want it.
Read More
In this clip, lynda.com host Mark Abdelnour takes a look at proxy bidding. He discusses the strategy and how it works. He also discusses the maximum bid, and when to use Proxy bidding.
Read More
The blood, gore, adrenalin challenges that were unveiled at E3 and enjoyed at ComicCon are fun to look at, easy to hold but are they really the games people want to plunk down their credit cards to own or rent time with? Seems as though the investors, the players who control the controllers have a different idea of a "good" game than the kids who develop them. While mobs of people play educational, informational, stimulating games our kid huddles in his room and mumbles "The Few, The Proud, The Gamers."
Read More
Colorista II
When it comes to a program like After Effects, competing with Color Finesse 3 (that comes with AE CS5) can be tricky, but if there is one company out there determined to do it, it's Red Giant Software and their flagship color correction application Colorista.
...Read More »
Avid's Media Composer 5 Part 3 - Matrox's MXO2 mini
When AVID stated that they supported the MXO2 mini to monitor external video, I was pretty surprised, as this is a big change of direction for AVID as they normally only support their own hardware for video monitoring. I wanted to give the MXO2 mini a fair shake, as for the $449 price tag I really wanted (and hoped) it to work for the user bases sake. Let's see how it fared.
...Read More »
The Non-Linear Road To NAB
For video editors, NAB is akin to a pilgrimage. Every year they flock to Vegas, push themselves through the crowds to the booths of the video editor purveyors, and watch, learn, debate and yearn. Here are 5 top notch solutions, plus one who should have been there but wasn't!
...Read More »
NAB 2010: What Cameras were HOT?
Missed NAB 2010 this year? Lots of people did but I know you still want to know what was hot. For you who live for camcorder technology, here are six of the hottest cameras (or camera announcements in some cases) at NAB 2010.
...Read More »
iFunia Video Converter Pro for Macintosh
iFunia's Video Converter Pro is an application that converts your video into a wide variety of formats, including AVI, WMV, AVCHD, MKV, FLV, H.264/AVC, MP4, MOV, 3GP and DV. It is straightforward to use and the results are very good to excellent. The application works in three simple steps; Source Setup/Add, Destination Setup, and Start Conversion/Start.
...Read More »
AJA Ki Pro
Every once in a while (sometimes a long while), a product comes along that makes you say "WOW!". I haven't had one of those moments in a long time, until I got my hands on the Ki Pro from AJA. I remember sending my AJA PR rep an email when it first came out, and there was, of course, a backlog of reviewers who wanted to get their hands on one, so I went into the queue, and forgot about it.
...Read More »
Ci Design's iStorage Pro iT8MIS 8 bay Mini SAS JBOD System
As a tech writer, I am lucky to have companies approach me to look at their products, and after looking at a competitor's product, I was approached by Ci Design to look at their iStorage Pro Mini SAS JBOD hard drive array. Since I'm always on the lookout for the best product for what I need to get done, I jumped at the chance. Here's how it turned out.
...Read More »
X-Rite Colorchecker Passport
I've got bad news for you. Shoo the kids away from the computer first. Ready? Guys and gals, there is no Santa Claus and the sensors in digital cameras are not all created equal. I hate to break it to you but all sensors vary to some degree in their capturing of data, not only from manufacturer to manufacturer but even from model to model from the same company. Worse yet, sensor characteristics can vary even from batch to batch of the same model sensor!
...Read More »
3.06 GHz 17-inch MacBook Pro
I recently had a chance to review the latest, top-of-the-line unibody MacBook Pro from Apple; with a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 8GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and many other great features, this is the fastest Apple laptop I've ever used.
...Read More »
Telestream's ScreenFlow 2
As an instructor and online trainer, I need a screen capture program that will not only be very easy to use, but also produce excellent looking end results. Windows users have a ton of options, but for us Mac users, the outlook was pretty barren. More than a year ago when I started doing video tutorials I came across ScreenFlow, and liked it a lot. Well, Telestream is back with version two of this great program. Let's see if it's worth the upgrade.
...Read More »
Sorenson Squeeze 6
These days, it seems as though every company has an application for taking your edited files and processing them for the web, and many of those applications are included with the editing bundle you purchased. Adobe has Adobe's Media Encoder, Final Cut Studio has Compressor, and there are the standalone applications such as Episode, and even QuickTime can do it as well.
...Read More »
Coremelt Complete V2
You can never have enough plug-ins. Trust me, as an editor/graphic designer you always have clients that want something "cool," but have really no idea what they are looking for, so you end up finding yourself going through the plug-ins on your system to try and put something together to really "wow" them, your plug-in collection needs to have three traits.
...Read More »
Trapcode's Particular 2
As editors and motion graphic designers know, there are a lot (and I mean a lot) of plug-ins out there, and you often find the same type of plug-in across many different plug-in packages, and a very, very popular plug-in is the Particle Generator. Just about every plug-in package has one, and even After Effects itself ships with a few.
...Read More »
Third Party Plug-Ins/Apps For Final Cut Pro
Time for another edition of my third party plug-ins and software apps for Final Cut Pro (FCP). This time around, I take a look at the powerful and easy-to-use (with a ton of codec options) iFunia Video Converter Pro, FxFactory 2.1 and idustrial revolution's Volumetrix 2 transitions, and FxFactory 2.1 and DVShade's EasyLooks 2.5 and LiveToon 1.0.
...Read More »
Toolfarm's Professional After Effects Camera Training
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 shows you how.
...Read More »
Apple's Color 1.5
As everyone knows, the inclusion of FinalTouch (renamed Color by Apple) into Final Cut Studio 2 was shocking. A few months before Apple announced it, I looked at purchasing FinalTouch as a separate, stand alone application for a post facility I was working for.
...Read More »
Adobe Story First Look Preview
Adobe Story is the newest application from the company that brought us Photoshop and other great apps. Adobe Story is a great new way to develop and write screenplays, teleplays, and video scripts. It's a fully featured app that is highly compatible with many of the popular screenwriting and pre-production software. Best part? It works "in the clouds," ie, it's Internet-based as well as a standalone app.
...Read More »
Final Cut Studio's Motion 4
Star Wars Episode 1 and Apple's new Final Cut Studio have something in common, and that is the hype. Final Cut Studio has been hyped for more than a year, and every time someone blogged about its release coming up, nothing happened. Well, mid-way through July, Apple snuck Final Cut Studio (not called 3, just Final Cut Studio) onto its website, and needless to say, the tidal wave began.
...Read More »
Apple Compressor 3.5
With the long-anticipated update to Final Cut Studio, Apple has introduced an upgrade to Compressor. Not a full new version, but still a significant update, nonetheless. However, you need to consider that while Compressor is a stand-alone application, it's now a major part of Final Cut Pro 7, and that is where its strengths lie.
...Read More »
Apple Final Cut Pro 7
A little more than two years after Final Cut Pro 6 introduced the ProRes codec, Background Processes, Smooth Cam, and many other functions, Apple debuts Final Cut Pro 7 (FCP), part of the third version of Final Cut Studio. There are more ProRes options, export settings that can be done in the background without Compressor 3.5 open, iChat Theater support (an excellent collaboration tool), and much more. FCP is 10 years old this year, and they've been listening to us, the editors! Let's just dive in and take a look at all the new stuff.
...Read More »
AV-HS450 16+ Input HD/SD Switcher w/ dual screen MultiViewer
