Archive for February, 2008
The World in 3D
As a 3D visual effects artist, I spend a great deal of time recreating and manipulating reality. Sometimes it is rotoscoping a person out of video footage and erasing any trace of that person. Other times it involves creating a 3D character that is animated and inserted into the footage. And other [...]
Producing a Video Series: PreProduction - Build Your Shots
Avoid Common Mistakes in Your Video
Try not to fall into the “look at me” attitude held by many editors. While that is what your audiences will be doing, it’s not what you want your viewers to be thinking. You want to guide their thinking and sell your story and your idea.
Instead, [...]
The Future is Blu
We’ve reported in several posts that Blu-ray was gaining in popularity. This is one reason why last year, we switched entirely to Blu-ray (and I went into this a bit in depth here.
If there was any doubt that the HD format war has ended, the latest news should put it to rest. According [...]
Producing a Video Series: PreProduction - Customize Your Video
What’s the Benefit of Your Video?
When beginning to design your video, you must look at it from one point of view and that is the point of view of your potential client. You must do several things and we will cover those essentials here.
Design your video for maximum impact [...]
Apple TV 2.0 Review: Podcasts Get Center Stage
Today Apple released their “Take 2″ software update to all AppleTV owners. The update was made available as a software download (free for all current Apple TV owners). After a quick look around, this is a great update to the device for several reasons. For me, the most important update is the [...]
HD-DVD Turning Blue from Blu-Ray
According to Reuters (in this article), Netflix has decided to stock only Blu-Ray movies. This is just the latest nail in the HD-DVD camp. Earlier this year Warner decided to jump ship from HD-DVD to the Blu-Ray camp.
This announcement shifted momentum towards an unstoppable course. We reported and this shift back [...]
Producing a Video Series: Why Pre-Production is So Important
Part 1
Before you even begin to shoot your video, there is a significant amount of work that
you’ll need to do first. Since the actual shoot is called the production, this is called the
“pre-production.”
Over the past several years I have spent a fortune on books specializing in marketing,
time-management and similar topics. [...]
Why Render Animations Out as OpenEXR?
We switched to OpenEXR awhile ago (I explained why in this article in February, 2007). How has it helped us and how can it help you?
Let’s start with the “how.” Many 3D programs will render out as an EXR format. We use modo for most of our virtual set design. In [...]
Apple TV Review: Digital Distribution for Everyone
I’ve now had quite a bit of time to explore the abilities of AppleTV. There are many things I like and, of course, some quirks that I think could be improved.
For those who haven’t read any of my previous posts or been watching the news, AppleTV is a small box that sits next to [...]
