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Hey guys - I’ve gotten a few questions about this in recent months, so I thought I would make a quick blog about it. People that work on video or 3D applications on a laptop (not ideal, I realize, but it can be done in a pinch) often ask how they can perform important keyboard shortcuts on a laptop, because there are no Home/End/PgUp/PgDn keys, and no numeric keypad on the side. Here’s the trick-

Most laptops out there will have little tiny numbers printed on the keys in addition to the “real” key. So, if you have a fairly recent Mac Book Pro, for example, your “M” key will have a teensy weensy zero (0) on it. This is telling you that this M key lives a double life as the zero on the numeric keypad. You’ll also notice a function key (fn on a Mac, but also usually on a PC laptop, too). The fn key is the catalyst that we use to bring out the alter ego of the keys. Thus, pressing fn+M will be like pressing zero on the numeric keypad on a full size keyboard (which does a RAM Preview in After Effects, etc.). On my MBP, fn+left arrow is Home, etc. So, while it’s not as easy as using a regular keyboard, using pro apps on a laptop is absolutely possible. Hopefully this blog put YOU in on good terms with the FUNCTION key, because that math equation looks like this: (U + fn = FUN!). Sorry. Couldn’t help myself.

Love,

Chad

PS On a Mac - even with a full size keyboard - that little fn key can also allow you to use the F1, F2, etc. keys as F keys AND as the cool little feature (such as volume/brightness control) that is printed on them. Just go to System Preferences>Keyboard & Mouse>Keyboard and check the “Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys” option. Then if you want to use the volume/brightness/dashboard (etc.) function on the function keys, just press the fn key while you’re pressing the key. On a full size Mac keyboard, you’ll find the fn key to the immediate left of the Home key.

Hey everybody! First off, thank you so much for all of the amazing comments and kind words that have been pouring in, almost hourly over the last few months. We don’t get paid for the podcast or the blog, so the overwhelming kindness makes us want to keep going. I have some BIG news that I will be sharing soon about a massive new website I’m launching, and I’ve also got many other small projects in the works. I’m also developing training for several other companies (in addition to lynda.com), so I’ll keep you posted on how you can check them out as they get released. Todd and I are also working on an exciting new project together that we’ll share with you soon.I also directed a music video, and have been working on movies in various capacities. I’ll keep you posted on all of that as I can, as well.

One of my original podcasts taught people how to make 3D objects using the Shatter effect in After Effects. I had intended this tutorial for more advanced users, but as it turns out, it seems like users of all experience levels are digging the tip. That’s awesome! But one question that keeps coming up is how to stop the 3D object from shattering. I kept posting responses on youtube for this, but there are so many comments on the video that my advice kept getting pushed back in the list and eventually deleted! So, it finally hit me to create  a blog explaining the dealio.

First, we have to understand the Shatter effect a little bit. When you first apply the effect, you see a wireframe version of the layer, or rather, the pattern that Shatter will be using to blow up your layer. The default pattern is bricks.

There are also a bunch of blue lines that are CRITICAL to understanding what is really happening with Shatter. To understand these, we need to see them a little better. Open up the Camera Position category of properties, and take the Y Rotation value to -87 (that’s negative 87).

Now we can see what’s going on. That big blue sphere is known as the FORCE (insert cliché Star Wars joke here). Here is the key rule with Shatter: ONLY THINGS THAT TOUCH THE FORCE GET SHATTERED! We can reduce the size of the force using the Radius value in the Force parameters, and the Radius value is visually represented by the little cyan ring around the force. So, if you wanted to make a baseball going through a window, the default force size would be way too big. So, you could reduce the value of Force 1>Radius to make it smaller.

The DEPTH value in the Force 1 area controls the Z depth of the force. In other words, the Depth property controls how close/far away from the layer the force is. If I took the Depth value (in the Force 1 set of controls) to 0.5, then the force would never come into contact with the layer, and it would therefore never Shatter. So, to make 3D objects created in Shatter NOT blow up, adjust the depth value so that the force never touches the layer. To make a layer blow up later in time, simply animate the Depth value. (for more information on basic animation concepts like creating keyframes, consult the VERY USEFUL After Effects help documentation. Unfortunately, it’s not built into the program anymore, and you have to try and find it on the web, but it’s worth searching for).

P.S. WordPress isn’t allowing me to upload and embed images right now, so I’ll have to get back to you on the screenshots. Sorry!

So, I got this great question last week about creating a freeze frame in Premiere Pro. You would think it would be butt easy, right? Well, it ain’t. (Ironically, it IS butt easy in Premiere Elements, though) So here’s one way to quickly create a freeze frame. Of course, we could render out a frame, but that’s way more involved than we want to be. The way I recommend doing this is to duplicate the clip that has the frame you want to freeze (which you can do by copying/pasting another instance of). Next comes the only slightly tricky part, but it’s still really cinchy. You’ll need to get the frame that  you want to freeze to be the in point of the clip, the out point of the clip, OR you’ll need to put a numbered clip marker (making sure it’s Marker 0 [zero]). If it helps, I usually use the out point, because I’ve already trimmed the original clip’s out point to be the freeze frame. Thus, by duplicating it, the out point should still be the frame you want to freeze.

Then right click on the clip in the Timeline panel and choose Frame Hold. In the dialog box that pops up, check the Hold On box. This tells Premiere to hold on a frame. You select which frame to hold on in the drop down menu next to the Hold On option. Your choices are In Point, Out Point, and Marker 0. So just select whichever point you would like the clip to hold on, and then click OK. This clip will then become one long still frame. Note that if you were to apply this to the original clip (i.e. not the duplicate), then the original clip would be completely replaced by the hold frame.

Alternatively, you also might be able to apply the Time Warp effect (which is the “Timewarp” effect in After Effects - it’s only one word there; weird?), and take the Speed parameter to 0. This way, the frame hold can be animated by clicking the stopwatch, and then changing the Speed value over time.

Hope this helps!!

Wow, I’m so amazed - speechless, even - at the overwhelming response to my efforts to give blogging a shot. I’ll probably get better (and more consistent) at this as time goes on, so check back often and have patience with me! I’m considering creating and selling some of my own training for this site in topics that I can’t cover at lynda.com (such as CS4 training in Photoshop, Premiere, etc.). I don’t know how profitable that would be, but you’ll hear about it here first!

This weeks blog is about some great resources out there that I want you all to know about. Just like me, they’re all over the place in a variety of disciplines, but hopefully you’ll find something you dig.

DETONATION FILMS - Found at detonationfilms.com, Detonation Films sells (and often just GIVES AWAY FOR FREE!!) really cheap video clips of explosions, sparks, smoke, blood spatter, fireballs, and other things that really turn me on. They are a family owned company, and its policies are dictated by awesomeness. For all of you aspiring filmmakers and those playing with After Effects, this site is a MUST!

GREENLAYERS - If you have a little cash, greenlayers.com is a place you might consider spending it. Greenlayers.com sells video clips that are PRE-KEYED!! That means that they’ve already had the backgrounds removed for you, so you can just composite them in your shots. They have clips in a variety of genres, and a great search engine. It’s a great idea. You will be hearing a lot more about this site in time. I predict that it will be BIG.

*TUTS.COM - There’s a new family of tutorial websites that I’m digging quite a bit. PSDTUTS.COM is a Photoshop tutorial site, AUDIOTUTS.COM is an audio tutorial site (with a GREAT tutorial on using the ReWire protocol with Propellerhead’s Reason and Apple’s Logic Pro), and also AETUTS.COM, which has After Effects tutorials. The site is mostly free as far as I can see, and it’s mostly good stuff. I think they also have a vector design site as well, but I don’t remember what it’s called.

STU’S BLOG - If you’ve been playing around with After Effects for a while, you’ve probably heard of Stu Maschwitz. He’s a god in the AE world. Just amazing. He has a blog that is SO LEGIT. He always lets you know what cameras are coming out and what he thinks of them. The blog is at prolost.com. He also has a book that I HIGHLY recommend called The DV Rebel’s Guide - it’s about how to make pro looking movies at home (and that tends to be a reoccuring topic from Stu, who also created the visual effects studio The Orphanage).

GOOD TUTORIALS - One of my favorite Photoshop tutorial sites has always been good-tutorials.com. The tutorials there are easy to understand, clearly laid out, for all skill levels, and now they even have expanded to include other programs, such as 3DS Max.

AYATO - Some of the BEST AE tutorials I’ve seen are at http://www.ayatoweb.com/ae_tips_e.html. The tutorials there would be worth a fortune if the author sold them. But they are free! Go to this site to learn how to make some of the most common motion graphics tricks out there. Really well done tutorials that are still viable, even years later! Love this site.

OK, the next two sites, I’m a little intimidated to put up. These guys offer After Effects training on their sites, just like I offer After Effects training. The difference is, that these guys are WAY better than me at teaching, and they are WAY better than me at After Effects. Most of you will already know them well, but they will be new to some of you. I have this reoccurring nightmare that I tell people about these guys, and then everyone gets mad at me because I gave them inferior After Effects training. Oh well. Let the truth be out there, and come what may.

AHARON RABINOWITZ - This guy has an After Effects podcast, and has had it for years, over at Creative Cow (a great resource and community of video people). The link is http://podcasts.creativecow.net/after-effects-tutorials-podcast. Aharon is just amazing. He’s such a great teacher. To me, he’s kinda like this celebrity figure. Seriously. And that means a lot coming from me because I’m not impressed by celebrity. If Angelina Jolie were to show up at my house tomorrow, I couldn’t care less. But for some reason, this Aharon guy is the biggest celebrity ever. One time, at the NAB conference in Las Vegas, Aharon was presenting at the Particle Illusion booth, and I just stood there and stared at him. He probably thought I was a stalker. But I’ve always regretted that I was too chicken to introduce myself and say hello. This guy has been my hero for a lot of years, because of his After Effects skills and knowledge, his ability to teach, and the fact that his voice is like 3 octaves lower than mine.

VIDEO COPILOT - This amazing site, found at videocopilot.net, is run by Andrew Kramer who, like Aharon Rabinowitz, just blows my mind. Andrew is so funny and his art skills are so much better than mine, it’s just amazing. I’m part of this elite group of nerds that gets access to Adobe software before it’s announced to the public, and Andrew is part of that crew as well. When I make comments there, I’m like “After Effects good - [lame emoticon]“. And when Andrew makes comments, I can’t even understand what he’s talking about. It’s rare to find someone that is as artistically talented as Andrew and is such an amazing teacher. But he pulls it off, and I’m totally jealous of his mad skills.

So, that’s it for now. I’m sure I missed tons of other great crap out there, so I’ll probably end up making and appendix to this blog, but whatever. This week, I got a great question about cross platform compression - making video files on a Mac that play well on Windows and vice versa. Interesting question. So, I’m thinking about making next week’s blog about that. Let me know what you think!

Also, be sure and check out Todd’s contest below. Pretty sweet. I’m going to get back to recording After Effects CS4 Beyond the Basics for lynda.com. Those of you that are subscribers there are in for a treat! This title is going to be so legit! I’ve even made a new little project we’re going to be looking at, which you can look at here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K63TQa0hQA - this is the unfinished version, but you get the idea. That’s also Detonation Films fire exploding in the background!

As always, thanks for your support everybody!  -Chad

PS Since this is my blog and I can talk about whatever I want, I just wanted to point out that the season finale of Yo Gabba Gabba last week had Jack Black on it, and it was the most pants crappingly funny thing I’ve ever seen. Whether you’re a fan of the Aquabats, or kids shows, or Jack Black, or laughing, I HEARTILY recommend catching that puppy somehow!

Hey everybody! I know it’s been a long time since the community has heard from me. I’ve been kinda deciding what I want to do with this here podcast thingy. It hasn’t really made any money, and it’s hard to take on another job for free, so I haven’t created any more videos. They take a while to create/edit/post. I was initially going to just throw in the towel, but I’ve received so much overwhelmingly positive and generous feedback, that I feel obligated to contribute to the larger graphics community. It sounds stupid, and cliché, I realize, but I really do want to offer as much help as I can.

I’ve also been really swamped with new Lynda.com titles and other money making projects, art projects, mastering digital audio and setting up my home recording studio, a new band, and trying to answer the dozens of questions I get everyday of people requesting help. So, instead of responding to everyone directly, I’m going to take a question a week, and write a blog about it. There are several questions that I answer frequently, and I would imagine everyone would benefit from.

And, I know that this is the “All Things Adobe” podcast, but I’m going to start moving away from doing ALL ADOBE ALL THE TIME. This is for a few reasons. For one, there’s just more creative stuff out there than what Adobe offers. My favorite audio programs, 3D programs, etc. are not made by Adobe. I also want to be able to get into hardware (cameras, control surfaces, MIDI, computers, etc.) as well. In addition, I’ve just switched to the Mac, and I’m discovering a whole new software (and hardware) world out there. I love it, but my first Mac also was damaged from the beginning, and even though I purchased Apple Care, they wouldn’t do anything to fix it. Now it’s totally dead. I LOVE Macs, and I’m totally sold, but they should be called out for being crappy like that. And those of you thinking of switching should be aware of that, also.

Another reason is that Adobe hasn’t been as friendly as you would think that they would be to us. They shut down one of our videos on YouTube (the one that told you how to PURCHASE their software LEGALLY - smart move, Adobe!). There are also some random Adobe people on the After Effects team that have it out for me, for whatever reason, trying to sabotage my relationship with lynda.com, etc. When CS4 was released, every other blog in the world got props and a link, but we here at the All Things Adobe Podcast (even with over a half million hits in our first year) were totally shut out of the loop. Not even a mention.

Don’t get me wrong. I still love our beloved After Effects, as well as Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, Encore, OnLocation, and so on. I even love the boring programs (InDesign, Acrobat, etc.). But there’s a bigger (hopefully friendlier) world of creative software out there that needs to be able to be discussed as well.

I apologize for being such a turd and not contributing more. But I think blogs are the perfect forum for me to get more info out there to you all. I want to do what I can to help out. I can’t individually train any of you in anything, but hopefully this blog will help.

Lynda.com is also getting too big to have me doing all the training that I would like to do with them, so I’ll probably be creating and selling my own training on this website later this year (even though ALL of my After Effects training will still be on lynda.com, unless they decide to get a new After Effects author for CS5). E-mail me at chad [at] chadandtoddcast.com with requests for blog topics if you’re stuck and want me to blog about something!

Seriously - thank you all so much for all of your kind words. My goal is to create a really large, thriving, creative community through this blog. I’m currently recording After Effects CS4 Beyond the Basics for lynda.com, but I plan on posting my first “real” blog within the next week or so. Thanks again everybody! -Chad

P.S. Check out my new book, The After Effects Illusionist on sale now! It’s by Focal Press, which was the most AWESOME publisher to work with EVER!