Mograph Milwaukee » Cool Stuff

BG Renderer Hits Version 2

conigs — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:59:34 +0000

Some breaking news from this morning: BG Renderer has officially hit version 2! There are more details on my personal blog as well as the After Effects Scripts site, but it now comes in Basic & Pro versions (both license based now, but for a reasonable price: $4.99/$19.99 respectively). These are the two features of Pro that caught my eye immediately:

Render notifications through email, sms, Growl, or Prowl (for iPhone notifications, though Growl + Boxcar could be used as well).
Render CS3 or CS4 comps in the CS5 render engine (if installed) to take advantage of 64-bit without having to update your project file.

I’ll be upgrading my seat at home as well as urging places I work to do the same.

21 Motion Graphics and Visual Effects User Groups and Meetups

Miles — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 04:29:06 +0000

Saw this post on AETUTs recently. And sure enough, Mograph Milwaukee was nowhere to be found. Booooo…..but that doesn’t change anything. Mograph Milwaukee still puts on a great show and we always have something cool to share like this. I think it’s very cool that these meet-ups/social gatherings are now becoming very popular in our society and the tech community alike. They are always a great place to learn new and exciting things, meet people in the industry and talk about cool shit as Nick Campbell would put it. Paul and I started this group so that we could become more acclimated with other mograph artist in Milwaukee and the midwest. And so far were very happy with the outcome. So after 4 Mograph Milwaukee meet-ups are YOU happy with these types of gatherings? What would you like to see more of? Drop us a line in the comment box! We would love to hear your feedback…& while your at it, check out the other meet-up groups that are popping up around the country.

Article Link

Art of the Title Sequence: The Pacific

conigs — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:51:04 +0000

Admittedly, I haven’t seen The Pacific, but the title sequence is fantastic. It’s a great blend of practical shooting, VFX, and animation. The subtleties like the charcoal breaking matching debris from the battlefield and the paper texture matched perfectly to the live-action footage tie everything together. It’s a great imagining of drawings coming to life.

After Effects CS5

conigs — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 15:21:21 +0000

We could write an extensive post covering what’s new in AE CS5, but Chris & Trish Meyer have covered that over at ProVideo Coalition. It’s well worth the entire read, but here are some highlights:

Native 64-bit (No more out of memory errors!).
Roto Brush.
Mocha & Mocha Shape.
DE FreeForm.
Native R3D file support, including color & metadata management in the Interpret Footage dialog.
Two new blending modes: Subtract & Divide.
New keyboard shortcuts for keyboards without the number pad (laptop users rejoice).

Lost vs. Saul Bass

conigs — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:04:35 +0000

This is brilliant. What if Saul Bass designed the Lost title sequence?

I love good title design.

[via MillionairePlayboy]

NY Times Read

Miles — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 23:39:05 +0000

Check out this great article that was featured in the New York Times a few weeks ago..

Article Link

NA#

Miles — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:50:44 +0000

NA# from Blake Fawley on Vimeo.

Nice flick which combines filming, motion graphics, nature and technology….I like!

Kinetic Typography

Miles — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:13:26 +0000

As of late, motion graphic artists have been taking sound bites from various films and animating the type in after effects. If you go to Vimeo and search “Kinetic Typography” you will find plenty of these animations. There is a trend among these animations of radial gradients and big bold typefaces such as gotham and avante garde. Anyone who took a typography class in college will really appreciate these animations. Typography is such a big deal in motion graphics, you see type everywhere in movie titles, commercials and so forth. Below are few clips I thought were done very well. Another website to check out is The Art of The Title Sequence. Here they list a bunch of feature films that have taken advantage of kinetic typography in their opening sequence.

Six Feet Under

Miles — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:35:37 +0000

Making of Six Feet Under
by numerof

The opening sequence of HBO’s Six Feet Under raised the bar for television everywhere, with music by Thomas Newman and creative by Digital Kitchen. It won an Emmy back in 2002 for main title design, nothing comes close to Six Feet Under. The shows creator Alan Ball describes them as “elegant, cinematic, and so unlike tv”. The video above is a fifteen minute behind the scenes look at the creation of this beautiful opening. It’s very interesting to see how these ideas go from conception to execution.

MK12

Miles — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:02:43 +0000

MK12 // Spring 2009 Reel from MK12 on Vimeo.

One of the big misconceptions about the motion graphics industry is producing great work in smaller markets. Most people would say you need to work in cities like Los Angeles or New York to land good jobs. However, a company based out of Kansas City is changing that. MK12 is a graphic design company best known for creating the title sequences for the films of Marc Forster, such as Stranger than Fiction and Quantum of Solace. It was founded by art school fugitives Ben Radatz, Jed Carter, Matt Fraction and Tim Fisher. Check out their 2009 reel!