CS6

Newton. Physics for After Effects

As a designer that works primarily with dynamic, and interactive media, I spend a large portion of my day using applications like Adobe After Effects. Actually I spend most of my day bouncing between After Effects, Premier, PhotoShop, Illustrator, and Audition these days. One thing I am always looking for is a way to improve my work, and if possible simplify the process.

Earlier today while looking for a real physics engine for After Effects, I came across Newton. This plugin has been out for a while, and is currently on version 1.2. I however just discovered it, and it looks really promising. Available from Motion Boutique, the plugin features: Gravity, friction, bounce, resistance, elasticity, collision detection, and a time divider for super slow motion.

At around $250.00 depending on the exchange rates its not cheap, but well worth the money if you need an easy to use solution for any of the features mentioned above.

Newton for Adobe After Effects, first tech demo. from motionboutique on Vimeo.

Adobe Creative Cloud Exclusives for Photoshop CS6 Extended/

Yesterday Adobe announced a host of new features for Photoshop CS6, and Creative Cloud users. Actually these new features are available only for Creative Cloud members, but you can still get a look at what they are here even if you don’t use the service.

Making feature specific updates for Creative Cloud members is nothing new. Adobe has been doing this for about a year now, and the fact is, this is Adobe’s plan of attack. More and more features will only be made available to people that have signed up for, pay for, and use Creative Cloud.

The Photoshop update features 12 new items that really look pretty tasty, but at a $50.00 a month membership fee you’ll need to ask yourself if they are really worth an additional $600.00 a year beyond the price of Photoshop, and or your upgrade cost.

The new features for Photoshop CS6 Creative Cloud Members include:

Smart Object support for Blur Gallery 
Smart Object support for Liquify
Conditional Actions
Pen tool enhancement
CSS export for faster web design
Import color from web files
Improved 3D effect
HiDPI and Retina display support
New and reengineered design tools
New reflections and draggable shadows
Erodible brushes
Content-Aware Patch

Moving Photoshop Design Features to the Cloud.

A little over a year ago at the Adobe Max conference in Los Angeles Adobe announced their new Creative Cloud service to the world. At the time it really seemed like another cloud based storage solution, but as it has rolled out Adobe’s Creative Cloud has begun to show what it is really about. Creative Cloud is Adobe’s vehicle to move all of us to a subscription based model for software.

On December 5th at 12:00 Central Standard Time, Adobe will host a live streaming event where Jeffrey Veen, the Vice President of Products at Adobe, will demo new Photoshop features that will be available to Creative Cloud members only. This is not a new strategy. Adobe has already done this with other core products (Illustrator, Dreamweaver and Acrobat) where there hav been Creative Cloud only upgrades.

The Creative Now Live event will showcase the upcoming team version of Creative Cloud, and a how to “explore ways to take your design skills from print to online and mobile.” This will be followed by presentations by Photoshop master Scott Kelby talking about hidden gems in Photoshop CS6, and Justin Weyers talking about “A Liars Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman”.

So why should you watch the event and what does it mean to you the Adobe software user? You should watch because this event shows Adobe’s plan to move its user base to a subscription model. A model that provides access to an extended range of creative tools for a flat monthly rate. This effects you the designer, because in the long term you will probably lease your software from Adobe.

If you are still on the fence about Adobe’s Creative Cloud, you can still get a special upgrade price to join. It’s 30 bucks a month which will cost you 360.00 a year.

Vimeo Video School and Your Car.

I check out the Vimeo Video School stuff all the time. There is always something relevant and useful in this educational series. The video above is one of the latest installments and focuses on how to use your car as a low budget dolly and platform to get some really good cinema effects for little to no money. One thing I am going to add to the video is, get a copy of After Effects CS6 and use the Warp Stabilizer to get rid of any camera shake you might pick up.

Most of the shots in the film above looked like they done on fairly flat level smooth streets. The Warp Stabilizer will save your shaky cam butt. Over half of the hand held shots in this film were stabilized with this tool from Adobe.