Apr 2008
Adobe Media Player Article Gets Longer Legs
A few folks have commented on the length of the article... here’s the Spark Notes version:
- Flash Video is getting really popular
- The Adobe Media Player will be easier for corporations, schools, and government to use due to Adobe's greater acceptance over Apple (and especially iTunes).
- The media player supports several models that are attractive to content creators
- The media player supports very rich statistics on media consumption
- The application is going to move onto all sorts of devices and platforms in the near future.
- If you are a podcaster... I predict the Adobe Media Player will have as great of an impact as iTunes did on podcast consumption.
The article is long... but worth the read... I promise.
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Resources from Adobe E-Seminar
Thursday, April 24 ,2008 Filed in: Business
I taught an Adobe E-Seminar yesterday called "Creating a Graphic Identity for your Web Video and Dynamic Media." The class itself will be posted next week. Here are a few resources I identified during the class.
1. Two motion graphics projects.
2. Advice on rendering in After Effects.
3. Resource Slides
4. Photoshop for Video Podcast (free)
5. Producing Video Podcasts show (free)
The two books mentioned are Producing Video Podcasts and Photoshop for Video.
Adobe TV at NAB 2008 – Photoshop CS3 Extended for Video
Want 30 minutes of free training on Adobe Photoshop CS3? Adobe had me in their theater at NAB giving lessons. Here's a recording from one of the days so you can see what was taught.
If you want more free classes... visit the Adobe TV site.
If you want more free classes... visit the Adobe TV site.
Adobe Demos Future Technology at NAB
Following up on my "Really Cool Adobe Announcements" post...
Adobe has actually posted their "secret" presentation from NAB. Hart Shafer talks about four cool things Adobe has up their sleeve.
You SO need to watch this... trust me. BTW (for those of you waiting... they did show OnLocation for Mac in this demo).
Adobe has actually posted their "secret" presentation from NAB. Hart Shafer talks about four cool things Adobe has up their sleeve.
You SO need to watch this... trust me. BTW (for those of you waiting... they did show OnLocation for Mac in this demo).
School of Podcasting Interview about Video Podcasting
Wednesday, April 23 ,2008 Filed in: Web Video
You can get the interview for free right here (http://www.schoolofpodcasting.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=330803) and you should also check out their other shows which offer great perspective.
Really Cool Adobe Announcements
In the meantime. Check out this article for details.
http://www.peachpit.com/blogs/blog.aspx?b=a75e92b0-f44f-4dfb-9eb4-96920bcaddc1
Time to Comment on Advertising and Measurement Standards
Come See Me at New Media Expo
Monday, April 21 ,2008 Filed in: Web Video | Conferences
Producing Video Podcasts with Multiple Cameras
Want to cut down editing time and give your show more polish? Learn how to create video podcasts using multiple cameras. Join veteran podcaster Richard Harrington as he shows how to harness multiple angles to improve your show. From concerts and live events to demos and interviews, multiple cameras will help you tell your story. Learn how to setup and match your cameras as well as essential editing techniques. This workshop will make multi-camera productions a snap.
Two Updated Final Cut Pro DVDs
Monday, April 21 ,2008 Filed in: Apple | Training Products
Apple Final Cut Pro
Volume 1: Getting Started in Final Cut Pro
Volume 2: Going Deeper in Final Cut Studio
Also, you may have missed that we recently released the following titles. These also include HD and iPod versions on the same disc.
Apple Color
Volume 11: Introduction to Color
Volume 12: Advanced Color
Bundled for Savings
Apple Motion
Volume 13: Getting Started with Apple Motion
Volume 14: Going Deeper with Apple Motion
Volume 15: Advanced Techniques with Apple Motion
Bundled for Savings
Notes from DC Podcamp
Monday, April 21 ,2008 Filed in: Web Video
01 Video Podcasting Essentials – Slides
02 Directing Video Podcasts – Slides [ENHANCED - VERY LARGE FILE]
03 Creating a Graphic Identity for Your Podcast – Slides [ENHANCED PDF]
More on the Puppet Tool – Hands on Files and Bonus Video
Sunday, April 20 ,2008 Filed in: Adobe | Motion Graphics
To get the hands on files click here.
To get a bonus video tutorial - click here.
(Thanks to the fine folks at the New York Post Conference for letting me post this).
NAB Show 2008 Conference Notes
Sunday, April 20 ,2008 Filed in: Training Products
Thanks to all the great people who attended my classes at NAB this year. It was a ton of work to prep (and I must admit I needed some rest when I got back home). As promised, the class notes and resources have been posted to the Handouts section (be sure to browse for other resources as well).
Here's the list of what's available.
01 Fast Start with Adobe Photoshop for Video Pros – Slides | Book Sample
02 Video Podcasting Essentials – Slides
03 Selling Podcasting to Your Clients – Slides
04 A Sense of Perspective with Vanishing Point – Slides | Practice Files
05 Creating Movement within Photos with After Effects CS3 – Slides | Practice Files 1 | Practice Files 2
06 Directing Video Podcasts – Slides
07 Project Management for Video Pros – Slides
08 In-Depth: Video Production for the Web – Slides
09 Creating a Graphic Identity for Your Web Video – Slides [Enhanced PDF]
10 Render Faster: Wait Less and Play More in Adobe After Effects – Slides
11 Storyboard Techniques with Adobe Photoshop – Slides
12 Creative and Animated DVD menus using Photoshop – Handouts
13 Automating Broadcast Design with Photoshop – Slides
14 Seeing a New Light: FCP Color Correction – Slides | DVD
’Toon Your Video in Adobe CS3 Production Premium
Sunday, April 20 ,2008 Filed in: Adobe | Motion Graphics
“Sure, clients want it…that “cartoon look.” But let’s face it; good animation is hard to come by. Unless you have a gaggle of animators locked in your closet, you’ll need to get creative. Sure, you could break out the pencil and paper (or maybe even try shadow puppets), but we’re here to offer you a different solution. By harnessing the power of Adobe CS3 Production Premium, you can convert video frames into vector art into film-resolution movie files. Curious? It’s all possible with the power of the Production Premium. Read on.”
3D[in] Photoshop CS3 Plug-ins
Sunday, April 20 ,2008 Filed in: Adobe
“With Photoshop CS3 Extended, Adobe significantly expanded the power to work with 3D models. Many users were excited by the ability to add 3D objects and modify their textures, but modeling and advanced rendering functions were missing.
Strata offers a suite of plug-ins called 3D[in] Photoshop CS3 Plug-ins. It’s important to note that these plug-ins only work with Photoshop CS3 Extended, but that shouldn’t be viewed as a limitation. With these plug-ins, you can essentially run the core set of Strata tools as linked applications that launch from within Photoshop, then return the results to Photoshop. Now you can match a 3D object to the perspective and lighting of a photo, create new 3D layers, and generate Live 3D Web and PDF pages from Photoshop designs.”
For the rest of the review, click here.
Photoshop for Video featured on Planet Photoshop
“This week I recommend Photoshop for Video by Richard Harrington. This book covers the information you need to implement Photoshop into your video workflow. It covers using channels effectively, setting up automation, creating interesting effects, and much more. If you want to get a better handle on working with Photoshop in your video workflow then this is the book for you. Richard is an Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop and After Effects and is an instructor at major events like Photoshop World and NAB. His visual communications consultancy, RHED Pixel, creates motion graphics and produces video and multimedia projects. Richard also has a blog at RasterVector.com and another at PhotoshopForVideo.com.”
Be sure to check out the rest of the site for a ton of great tutorials and video tips.
Final Cut Server World Tour
Apple has launched a road tour in support of Final Cut Server. I got a chance to look at this at NAB and I must say it is impressive.
The tour is going to hit several cities:
Hollywood – May 13 | New York – May 22 | Chicago – May 28
Korea – May 28 | Washington, D.C. – June 3 | Beijing – June 3
Mumbai – June 11 | Seattle – June 17 | Sydney – June 18
Singapore – June 18 | Hong Kong – June 24 | San Francisco – June 26
Taiwan – June 27 | Atlanta – July 2 | Dallas – July 8
“Beginning in May, Apple takes Final Cut Studio 2 and Final Cut Server — Apple’s new media asset management and workflow automation software — on tour around the world. Attend a free, in-depth seminar that features workflows used by some of the industry’s leading film and video production companies. Apple experts will give step-by-step demonstrations that reveal how each of these customers used Final Cut Studio 2 and Final Cut Server to achieve exceptional results.”
Find out more or register here.
Get the Adobe Media Player Now!
This is an excerpt from an article to be released in full later this week:
Adobe released the Adobe Media Player software on April 9, which allows a customizable, cross-platform media player experience. Built using as an Adobe Air application, the media player harnessed the power of Flash to create a rich media experience. To complete the experience, Adobe adds support for both RSS feeds and H.264 video, two of the open standards used by the podcasting movement.
What does this all mean? I had a chance to sit down with Deeje Cooley, who serves as the evangelist for Adobe’s Dynamic Media Organization (and formerly as the product manager for the Adobe Media Player). Cooley was tasked with bringing the product to market and he shared insight into Adobe’s motivation for the product and goals for its role in the market. Unlike competing products, the Adobe Media Player has chosen to focus on being a video-only player.
“The growth of video online, the dramatic growth of flash as the video delivery mechanism of choice… there was a ripe opportunity to take advantage of all these events around the industry,” said Cooley. “We started to build an RSS aggregator and quickly recognized that video was going to be a significant media online and so it became a video RSS aggregator. And so that’s really the birth of the Adobe Media Player.”
The Adobe Media Player is immediately available as a free download for Windows and Macintosh platforms from http://www.adobe.com/go/mp.
What does this all mean? I had a chance to sit down with Deeje Cooley, who serves as the evangelist for Adobe’s Dynamic Media Organization (and formerly as the product manager for the Adobe Media Player). Cooley was tasked with bringing the product to market and he shared insight into Adobe’s motivation for the product and goals for its role in the market. Unlike competing products, the Adobe Media Player has chosen to focus on being a video-only player.
The Adobe Media Player is immediately available as a free download for Windows and Macintosh platforms from http://www.adobe.com/go/mp.
Interesting Story About Microsoft and Yahoo
Saturday, April 19 ,2008 Filed in: Microsoft
NAB Video Blog
I just got back from NAB this morning... here are a handful of videos we produced while on the road.
The Red Scarlet: A First Look
Adobe Media Player at NAB 2008
On the Scene at NAB 2008
The AJA IO HD with Gary Adcock
The Litepanels Micro
The Litepanels Micro
Hope you Enjoy!
The Red Scarlet: A First Look
Adobe Media Player at NAB 2008
On the Scene at NAB 2008
The AJA IO HD with Gary Adcock
The Litepanels Micro
The Litepanels Micro
Hope you Enjoy!
This Bag is Awesome – My thoughts on the Boda Dry
Thursday, April 17 ,2008 Filed in: Photography
At the recent Photoshop World conference, I picked up a new camera bag. This one is a lens bag, and is designed to condense your camera bag into a few lenses and essential gear. Be sure to check out the BODA Dry (a ton of the Photoshop World instructors and staff picked up on this). Here's what's cool.
I used the bag while hiking around Red Rock (outside Las Vegas) and it was a true joy. Very comfortable and very easy to use... I still love my Kata bag for lugging the gear, but when I trim down to go mobile... this one is great.
- The bag hold 4+ lenses (including long lenses)
- It's very comfortable with both a shoulder and a waist strap (I find the shoulder strap more comfortable, but the waist strap fits well and has hip pads like a backpackers pack).
- The product looks durable with waterproof bullistic cordura and even a very tight zipper to keep rain out.
- It has a media card wallet, lens changing pouch, and even business card case.
- The gear is designed to be used with one hand (and the thoughtful construction shows).
I used the bag while hiking around Red Rock (outside Las Vegas) and it was a true joy. Very comfortable and very easy to use... I still love my Kata bag for lugging the gear, but when I trim down to go mobile... this one is great.
Photoshop Express is the Future of Digital Imaging (For Many People)
Sunday, April 13 ,2008 Filed in: Adobe
I finally gave in and checked out Photoshop Express from Adobe... and I must say I am impressed. No, it doesn't replace Elements (and certainly not Photoshop), but it is very, very cool.
Here are the core features
My thoughts? It's awesome! Here's why this matters to pros and even hobbyists.
Be sure to check it out... good stuff!
Here are the core features
- Upload up to 2GB of photos (for free!)
- Sort images to keep them organized
- Easy to use editing tools let you do all sorts of tasks like Crop, Rotate, TOuch-up, remove red-eye, change focus, sharpen, white balance, and add fill light (plus more).
- Share your photos with a Gallery (customized photo displays are supported)
- Upload them to your Facebook page, blog, or anywhere else online.
My thoughts? It's awesome! Here's why this matters to pros and even hobbyists.
- First, it brings Photoshop to more people, ensuring a healthier life for Adobe.
- Second, it's free! 2GB of storage is useful.... I am loading up images that I often use to teach with as well as a few portfolios I'd like to share.
- Third, New Media.... it's catching on and apps like this are truly exciting to all ages.
Be sure to check it out... good stuff!
Aperture Book – Now with 2.1 Updates
Monday, April 07 ,2008 Filed in: Apple
- Dodge & Burn Plug-in – This plug-in offers much more than just Dodge and Burn. You'll also find brush-based tools for Contrast, Saturation, Sharpen Fade, and Blur. The plug-in also opens the door to third-party development (including some cool tools from nik Software.
- Customize Default Adjustment Set – You can now specify which adjustments appear by default in the Adjustments Inspector/HUD.
- Updated Crop Tool – The crop tool has been simplified. The new UI makes it easier to preserve an image's original aspect ratio, match the aspect ratio of your display, or use one of the standard preset aspect ratios.
- Flip Images – You can now flip or flop images horizontally or vertically within Aperture.
- Save Books as JPEG or TIFF images – This means you can now submit books to several third party websites.
The book will be out very soon... you can order it here.
Refillable Sandbags
Monday, April 07 ,2008 Filed in: Training Products
You can check them out here
Apple TV Rocks
Friday, April 04 ,2008 Filed in: Apple
- The HD Rentals work great and look on par with Blu-ray
- Movies are affordable, priced between $2.99 and $4.99
- Downloads start to play in less than 5 minutes
- I can watch podcasts on the big screen (it's weird to watch yourself in HD)
- Accessing music, movies, and photos from any computer in the house is near instant
- The device is easy to hook up
- My three-year old can figure it out
- YouTube's expected switch to bigger image size will be great
Don't Use Auto White Balance
Friday, April 04 ,2008 Filed in: Photography
Looking for an easy way to white-balance on a shoot? I just discovered the useful Whibal White Balance Reference Cards.
Here's what I like:
- Lightweight and single-card format.
- Light Gray, certified to recommended Luminance
- Includes Black and White Spots
- Focus and Sharpness targets
- Sturdy and Easy to Pack (it even floats)
- Affordable
Animoto Creates Rocking Slideshows
Thursday, April 03 ,2008 Filed in: Web Video
Looking for something different? I discovered Animoto at this year's SXSW conference... Load up your photos, pick a song, and within a few minutes you have a rocking music video. You can use their cleared music or load up your own. Thirty-second movies are free, full-length videos cost $3. You can get a full year's access for $30.
The whole process is a piece of cake. Be sure to check them out – here. You can post the videos to a website, download them for an iPod, or even use YouTube to share. The videos you download
Here are a two more of mine that you can check out.