Final Cut User

Awesome new term listings are up at FXPHD.com for the July 08 term and man what a stellar listing of training you can take. Some of the highlights for me are the Stop motion /Miniatures , Afx 301 with Mark Coleran/Mark Christensen on screen UI , Tim Clapham back with C4D/AE goodness,RED ,Nuke, Matte painting and just way to many good ones to keep listing. All together there about 15 brand new classes with some popular classes being revisited for those new to FXPHD. Those of you worried about having access to some of the higher end software like Nuke and Maya do not worry FXPHD has VPN access for some of the classes on both Mac and PC.

I have said it many times that since joining FXPHD over a year ago that it has been a HUGE plus for me and have made a bunch of friends and contacts. The classes are beyond high end and no one is doing anything near the level that FXPHD does . Being able to have contact with other industry pro’s is tremendous bonus . People have asked to just have access to the forums alone , that says something for the community, professors and staff at FXPHD. Do yourself a favor and check out the info on the main page and keep and eye out for the 0 week class which will probably be up in a week or so . 

July 08 term listing.   

 Renowned providers of online training for VFX professionals - Fxphd – have teamed up with The Foundry to bring you ‘The Compositor’s Guide To Nuke’. fxphd.com professor, Sean Devereaux, takes you through the core elements of this powerful compositing application. 

 I have been a post grad at FXPHD since early 2007 and the level at which they do everything is at a higher caliber then anything out there for training in the visual effects,post production,3d and motion graphics field. The new summer term is coming up in about a week so check out the 0 or zero week sneak peek that will be up on the site(link below). FXPHD partners with so many great professionals in so many mediums from Stu Machwitz(Prolost),Mark Christensen(Flowseeker) and way to many heavy hitters in the post ,vfx and 3d industry.The training on Nuke has been especially good being that Shake has been left to wallow (even though still heavily used by me and alot of others). The Foundry has stepped it up nicely with Nuke 5 and a nice revamp to the UI and so many other features I will just let you be the judge . If you are into learning about editing,compositing,RED,Maya,Motion tracking ,3d, Color ,Cinema 4d(the list goes on) it would be in your best interest to check out FXPHD.COM

Location -  We have a new location that can sit up to 400 people!!!!PS 41@ 116 West 11th St., NYC(corner of 11th Street and 6th Ave.Date: Thursday, June 26th, 2008Time: TBD - but probably around 6:45 PM-9PMThe new space is just in time too because our lineup is insane!!!! Guess who coming to dinner?

• Visual Designer, Marc Coleran, whose work has been seen in films like  The Bourne Ultimatum, Domino, Alien vs. Predator, The Bourne Identity, Blade II, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, The World Is Not Enough - just to name a few.

• Visual effects artist John Montgomery -  co-founder of the online visual effects news site fxguide, as well as the training site fxphd. His Clients and Credits include Super Bowl commercials for McDonald’s, Disney as well as work for Budweiser, Miller, Hallmark, Sears, Moen, Gatorade, Morgan Stanley, and the ESPN and CBS television networks.

… And more prizes than you can possibly imagine (unless you can imagine a lot, and then it’s roughly the same amount of prizes you can possibly imagine).Keep your eyes on Aeny.org for more info.Your pals at AENY,Jim Geduldick,Dennis Radeke& Aharon Rabinowitz

  The Bullet a new training DVD for AE and 3D(C4D,Max and Blender) integration from good buddy Andrew Kramer and crew at VideoCopilot.net has been released today with alot of man hours behind it. Andrew has been dropping hints and screen shots for this project for the past few weeks and his comments has been piled high in anticipation of the DVD. Hats off to the VideoCopilot crew for all the work they constantly provide to the community alot of which is for free .Check out the promo for The Bullet HERE.While your on the site check out the special edition training DVD 

Own a piece of Video CopilotSpecial Edition DVD • 1-65 Free Online Tutorials in full quality• Includes iPod ready video files• Basic Training Tutorials, Presets & Project files

• Over 20 minutes of never before scene footage 

Promo  

HERE.  I just hope his new release doesn’t overshadow the premiere of Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull…..   

Studiodaily has a first look video of Imagineer’s new Mogul Review system by CE Raum product designer for Imagineer Systems.I hope to get some more info on all the new changes coming from Imagineer in a upcoming post. Studiodaily look at Imagineer Mogul Review System.Here is a nice little video from Imagineer’s site as well explaining some more about Mogul. Mogul Video. 

One of the main lures ofFXPHD is the infamous Background Fundamentals course which has covered everything from post workflows , advising how to build a quality VFX reel and running your business.This class alone is worth the price of admission for a term to FXPHD because of the insight into the industry and the current trends and tech.Every term the crew at FXPHD post a 0 week overview freebie that anyone can download to get an insight to what is coming for the upcoming term. Classes like Scratch,Cinema4d,Nuke,RED and Digital Cinematography to name just a few it is like walking into a a candy store of knowledge.Check it out and if you sign up use my name to let them know i sent you (filmbot). FXPHD 0 WEEK CLASSSee you all at NAB.Jim 

Final Cut Server helps any production workgroup — from a two-person boutique to a global news operation — work smoothly and efficiently. It offers media asset management and workflow automation software that streamlines production work through:

• Lightning-fast access to media resources with built-in version management
• Automated workflows with email notifications and review/approval mechanisms
• Complete flexibility to customize and use as many or as few features as you want to fit your workflow

This was shown at last NAB although not feature complete at the time this was a cool application was supposed to ship in the fall of 2007 but was held off till now. A few places have been beta testing this in the Broadcast News market since last year for Apple so i am sure we will see some customer stories soon.The Apple site does have alot of info ,tutorials and full tech spec so check the links.Once i get my hands on a copy and set it up to run the paces i will do a formal blog post on it.This does make asset management feature of FCP Studio more attractive to some people still on the fence to go fully to a FCS workflow.  FCP Server Overview.Tutorials.Tech Specs.overview 

Janurary term atFXPHD.com just ended and who would have thought it would be topped just with the announcement of the new April term.I have been a post grad at FXPHD since early 2007 and it has been the best investment I have made in a while.If you are into visual effects,post production,motion graphics or even drawing you would be missing a huge wealth of knowledge if you did not check out what FXPD has to offer.Here is a snippet of what to expect in the April Term Listings.Also be sure to check out the Quicktime tour of FXPHD here FXPHD Tour Movie.The classes are top notch led by artists themselves Animators,DOP’s,Visual Effects Directors,Editors you name it they have them teaching.You get to work on real world projects and use what you have learned and apply that to you reel or work.The forums alone are worth there weight in gold with the amount of working professionals and talented people its like having a encyclopedia of vfx in your pocket or iphone whichever analogy you like better.If you decide to sign up you can always drop my user name(filmbot) as a hint that i sent you over and enjoy what i have been for the past year now . 

Stu Maschwitz’s great blog Prolost has 3 really good posts the newest one is on RED Log and settings for After Effects,Shake and Nuke.Second Post is a nice tutorial from Steve Hullfish responsable for this great book The Art and Technique of Digital Color Correction. on Secondaries in Apple Color.The third most recent is the audio panel Stu was involved with on his Taco riden trip to SXSW in Texas.Here is the direct link to the audio from the panel  MP3

Here is a link to a little tutorial i did for my buddies over at Digital Media Net on Digital Film Tools plug in for After Effects called Power Matte.This is one great plug-in to add to your toolbox the detail mattes produced are super clean .Power Matte is not expensive as well only about $199.Here are the links to the review and tutorial.  Review Link.
Tutorial Link.