FXPHD offers several courses on a term-basis, similar to taking classes at a college. It’s not free ($359/term), but it is well worth it. You get to choose three classes from their course list, as well as an additional course from the vault (these are classes from previous terms). You also get access to their background fundamentals course which changes each term. Courses come as weekly videos (usually screen-casts), include project files and assets needed to complete projects, and access to the forums for the course where you can talk to other “classmates” and the instructor.

Further, we asked about the group discount FXPHD offers for multiple users. The discount is nominal (5% for 3-5 users, 10% for 6-10, and 15% for 11+). Each person is able to select their own courses and is treated like a single user by FXPHD. The downside is that this must be paid all together, so there will need to be someone to handle the money. We’ll discuss this at a future meetup, possible in February.

Lynda is a decent site, but we all agreed that it really only provided help with getting familiar with interfaces, at least for Cinema 4D. After Effects tutorialsare a bit more plentiful. They are, however, more affordable at $25/month (or $250/year). If you just need to get a handle on the basics, this might be a good option. But you may want to look elsewhere for more in-depth training.

Ayato was an old, but still relevant resource for picking apart After Effects techniques. What we liked about this site was its use of text-based tutorials instead of videos. It allows you to easily spend as much time on a step as you need without having to pause or go back in a video. He also offers screen shots of what he is doing. Many of these projects are old—AE5.5 means version 5.5, not CS5.5—but many can still be opened on newer versions without issues.

With Mattrunks, Greyscale Gorilla, and Video Copilot, the trick is to make sure you make the tutorials your own, as I have written about elsewhere. Everyone is watching at least the latter two of these sites. We all admitted to using techniques from these tutorials in client projects to get the job done, but none of us would put them on a reel. Mattrunks offers several interesting tutorials, but requires registration and is mostly in French, though some are available in English. So you really have to pay attention to what he’s showing in the videos.

Along the lines of learning, we also took a look at two videos from Paul Clements—Headphones and Electronic 80s—and their respective breakdowns.

And to end the night, we had to watch the latest trailer for FDR: American Badass.

Those are the notes I have from the meetup. If I missed something, let me know in the comments and I’ll update the post. See you in February at Tonic Tavern!