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Motion graphics and video work?

S

Soura2112

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 26, 2008
345
0
Hi all,

I am kinda new to using/learning motion graphics to my video work. I'm going to pick up the Switch package from adobe, though I'm not going to fully leave Final Cut, it's the switch price I can't ignore. I just want to add some flare to my editing and videos I create.

I just enrolled in a motion graphics class at my local community college, and so far it's going way beyond what I do, cause I don't really do comlicated special effects nor make those types of videos. First day were working in Maya, which is very cool, but to expensive for my needs, nor do I have time to go to the labs (I already have my bachelors degree, so this is just to learn). The catalog said "using Adobe After Effects", which is all I want to learn, and take Motion further, sadly not using Motion. So the course description is a bit of a tease.

I wanted to know before I drop the class if there are good websites to teach AE, then I can compare prices, see what's best for me. If I was in college this would be a great class and since I don't really care about my grade I would rather give my spot to a younger student (not that anyone tried to get in yet).
 
faustfire said:
If you want to learn all the in's and out's of AE, get this book.

IMO, it is THE After Effects resource.

http://www.amazon.com/Creating-Moti...4150/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313616387&sr=8-1
Click to expand...

I second this book. I just got it and while I didn't work through it, I read through it and it has extensive coverage in it.

Its very easy to follow, very well written, and shows you all kinds of techniques and lets you learn after effects from the ground up instead of some tutorials that will throw you into the fray, tell you to use things like the pick whip but not explain what they do.

This book covers it all.

That being said, some people who have no Photoshop experience find the book a bit daunting at first. AE is similar to photoshop in a lot of its commands and operations so if you have photoshop experience this will feel easy. If not no matter you will learn as you go about things like color correction, blending modes, masking, etc.
 
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Thanks

I was thinking of going with lynda, thanks fir the link and the book.

I am familiar with photoshop, use it a lot. Sadly this class i signed up for is all graphics no video. Be great if that was my field of I interest, but I'm a video guy.

Thanks again.
 
Digitaltutors is another great resource link.
There are tons of free tutorials but some are geared to owning the extra plug-ins.
 
Maya

Btw when looking up Maya I saw a 30 day free trial, that's all. Plus once I learn a program I get hooked, so I could see me wanting to buy it when learned, and only one class won't get me any discount on that monster.
 
Soura2112 said:
Btw when looking up Maya I saw a 30 day free trial, that's all. Plus once I learn a program I get hooked, so I could see me wanting to buy it when learned, and only one class won't get me any discount on that monster.
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Hoping that Autodesk will follow others out there on their education pricing.
Ive owned Maya since the first PC version came out.
Before that it was close to 100k alone.
I doubt there was an Edu pricing then :p
 
mBox said:
Hoping that Autodesk will follow others out there on their education pricing.
Ive owned Maya since the first PC version came out.
Before that it was close to 100k alone.
I doubt there was an Edu pricing then :p
Click to expand...

Do they not have educational versions anymore? I remember I bought Maya 7 (I think) for only about $200.


Also, what kind of awesome community college has Maya licenses?
 
handsome pete said:
Do they not have educational versions anymore? I remember I bought Maya 7 (I think) for only about $200.


Also, what kind of awesome community college has Maya licenses?
Click to expand...
up here in Canada many have Maya licenses. Been like that for years.
I teach basic Maya at a local college here and their up to Maya 2012.

My ref too a better edu price is like Avids.
You can get Media Composer for 300 and use it for 3 years (maybe 4) and get free upgrades.
Id like to see that again with Maya.
 
Do they not have educational versions anymore? I remember I bought Maya 7 (I think) for only about $200
Click to expand...
That was what I had in the back of my head.

If you want to get into "real" 3-D (not AE) on the cheap, check out Blender.
 
Hey glad to see you get in to motion graphics its really a blast. I do motion graphics professionally hopefully i can give you some tips.

well first have fun, because if youre not having fun then whats the point :p

Video copilot is one of the best places to start your learning of AE. Andrew Kramer, the host, has great tutorials, both in the Motion graphic, and Visual Effects realm. Most importantly he has a free basics series that really helps you get running with AE. I highly recommend running though those!!!! The link is here

Hey You mentioned that you will not be learning motion don't worry much about that. while its easier to create stuff in motion when youre just getting started, you will quickly run in to his limitations, much sooner than you will with AE.

finding good design and motion graphic blogs are allways a good way to see what others are doing and it give you inspiration. Here are 2 that i frequent.

Motionographer.com
http://abduzeedo.com/


Last but not least. Learn design! like the principals and elements of design, such as: contrast, line, repetition... that is the most important thing.


Once again have fun!!!!
 
madaspy said:
Hey glad to see you get in to motion graphics its really a blast. I do motion graphics professionally hopefully i can give you some tips.

well first have fun, because if youre not having fun then whats the point :p

Video copilot is one of the best places to start your learning of AE. Andrew Kramer, the host, has great tutorials, both in the Motion graphic, and Visual Effects realm. Most importantly he has a free basics series that really helps you get running with AE. I highly recommend running though those!!!! The link is here

Hey You mentioned that you will not be learning motion don't worry much about that. while its easier to create stuff in motion when youre just getting started, you will quickly run in to his limitations, much sooner than you will with AE.

finding good design and motion graphic blogs are allways a good way to see what others are doing and it give you inspiration. Here are 2 that i frequent.

Motionographer.com
http://abduzeedo.com/


Last but not least. Learn design! like the principals and elements of design, such as: contrast, line, repetition... that is the most important thing.


Once again have fun!!!!
Click to expand...

Good advice and great links. My only negative comment is that Lynda.com is waaaaay better than Andrew Kramer. I've watched a couple of his videos and hate his style of teaching. He often goes off on rambling tangents that have nothing to do with course materials. If you like a chatty style of learning... then by all means. But, I prefer Chad Perkins over Kramer any day. The OP might also want to take a look at Nick Campbells blog. Grey Scale Gorilla. He has a lot of tutorials and industry advice. He specializes in Cinema 4d, but he also covers After Effects quite well because they are often integrated in advanced MGD projects.
 
I didn't read through everything but there is confusion on Autodesks educational pricing.

You can no longer buy it at an educational price, but you can get a license for 3 years off of their website. It gives you full access to 25 of their titles for Mac and PC.

And despite what you hear there is NO water mark on your work. All that you see is "This is an educational version, please don't use it for commercial work" type of message when you open or close the program or save. It doesn't affect your work or images at all.
 
THX1139 said:
Good advice and great links. My only negative comment is that Lynda.com is waaaaay better than Andrew Kramer. I've watched a couple of his videos and hate his style of teaching. He often goes off on rambling tangents that have nothing to do with course materials. If you like a chatty style of learning... then by all means. But, I prefer Chad Perkins over Kramer any day. The OP might also want to take a look at Nick Campbells blog. Grey Scale Gorilla. He has a lot of tutorials and industry advice. He specializes in Cinema 4d, but he also covers After Effects quite well because they are often integrated in advanced MGD projects.
Click to expand...

Funny, I've always thought the opposite. I haven't used Lynda in a few years, but I always thought their instructors to be incredibly dull. I thought Andrew at least kept it interesting.
 
handsome pete said:
Funny, I've always thought the opposite. I haven't used Lynda in a few years, but I always thought their instructors to be incredibly dull. I thought Andrew at least kept it interesting.
Click to expand...
Any training is good training :) My only beef with Lynda (maybe I just dont know how to fix this) is that when your watching one clip, you have to select the next one from the list. The play chapters dont work on Safari at home Mac Pro.
Ive gone thru a ton of learning on DVD. Im so glad its online or download cause nothing beats watching this on 720p or higher.
I have the complete set of Gnomon for Maya DVDs and they were brutal visually.

Anything free out there is worth it even the ones on YouTube :)
 
handsome pete said:
Funny, I've always thought the opposite. I haven't used Lynda in a few years, but I always thought their instructors to be incredibly dull. I thought Andrew at least kept it interesting.
Click to expand...

If you reread my post, you'll notice that I compared Andrew Kramer with Chad Perkins. I have no comment about the other instructors on Lynda.com. And, I'm sure there are many other instructors who are better or worse than both of them. It's just that when I'm focussing on learning, I don't want to hear a bunch of distracting chatty BS. For example, on one particular video, Kramer spends the first 4 or 5 minutes talking about something he thought was funny that happened to him. Took forever to get to the punchline of his story... and it had nothing to do with After Effects. If I wanted to hear a cool story, I'd turn off my computer and just go hang out with my friends.
 
mBox said:
Any training is good training :) My only beef with Lynda (maybe I just dont know how to fix this) is that when your watching one clip, you have to select the next one from the list. The play chapters dont work on Safari at home Mac Pro.
Ive gone thru a ton of learning on DVD. Im so glad its online or download cause nothing beats watching this on 720p or higher.
I have the complete set of Gnomon for Maya DVDs and they were brutal visually.

Anything free out there is worth it even the ones on YouTube :)
Click to expand...

About the Gnomon videos, can you elaborate on what you mean by being brutal visually? I was looking at getting the game graphics and Maya dvd...(thats not the exact title but its something along those lines).
 
Fun factor

I agree with having fun with the program, so thanks for the advice. I had so much fun learning photoshop and final cut when getting my bachelors degree. Now going back to school for one class in traffic without being able to work at home just isn't fun learning to me. Especially because I have other reponcibilities at the moment, like getting a job (not even fully based in the video world), since this is just my side business and a serious hobby.
I was really hoping their would be a night class, but not an afternoon. So I'm certainly going to look into these options. Plus I don't want to waist the teachers time when he could be working with other.
 
chrono1081 said:
About the Gnomon videos, can you elaborate on what you mean by being brutal visually? I was looking at getting the game graphics and Maya dvd...(thats not the exact title but its something along those lines).
Click to expand...
the older DVDs were of low quality. if they were Blu-Ray that would have helped. most online options now are 720p and higher. Not sure where Alex (Gnomon head) and the boys are headed with the future of training.
Still great tools just couldnt justify buying DVD's now.
 
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