Optical Flares for After Effects

We have discovered a plugin for after effects called Optical Flares :) This helps out a lot in the SFX department and will help do some advancements in our future projects. However, first we need to learn how to use it haha

Video Copilot actually has a tutorial course that teaches you the basics of this plugin. It's two parts with part one being 16 chapters. It's an investment to watch - but chock full of information from working the design interface to working with mask positioning and shimmer animations. Everything you need to get started!

You can watch it here: Optical Flares: The Creative Lens Flare Studio

Installing Plug-Ins to Adobe Premiere Pro CC

So we recently updated our Adobe Suite to the Creative Cloud package (YAY!). However, when we do this, our plug-ins don't come with us, so we had to find the proper way to reinstall them.

I found this page that outlines the best ways to do this for both Mac & PC from Toolfarm: In Depth: Plug-ins Adobe After Effects CC and Premiere Pro CC

Basically, you have to follow this path:

Macintosh HD > Library > Application Support > Adobe > Common > Plug-ins > 7.0 > MediaCore

Once you have that path, you copy/paste your plug-in folders into the MediaCore folder. Then voilà! Your plug-ins should be ready to go after restarting that application :)

Creating Subclips in Premiere CS6

In order to help with organization when it comes to large projects or very long clips, you can create subclips to "break it up". This is useful if you need to find specific clips quickly.

Exporting in REDCINE-X PRO

Because SpeedGrade turned out 5k footage into a 1920x1080 DPX, we lost the ability to work with some of the more difficult shots. SO - we took those shots into RedCine X Pro and played around with them. Our idea is to get the look we want in the places we were losing detail, export at the highest res possible, and then bring it back into Premiere and SpeedGrade.

With overlaps/masks/ect, we'll be able to blend the original shot and the new ones from RedCine to create, essentially, and HDR image.

Here's how to export using REDCINE-X PRO:

Adobe SpeedGrade

Here at Hotbed, we're getting ready to move a project into Adobe SpeedGrade for color correction. SpeedGrade is new for us! So what exactly IS Adobe SpeedGrade? Find out here:



IMPORTANT:
When exporting TO SpeedGrade from Premiere Pro - you may NOT want to use the "Send to SpeedGrade" option under export. This is ESPECIALLY true when using R3D Epic or Scarlet footage. Instead, use this method to save some of those finer details and give yourself more room:



Now that we know what SpeedGrade is - how about some directions on the basics:




For more control with Color Grading - You can do power windows (also known as masks in SpeedGrade):



Also, when you've had everything corrected the way you want, it's time for Export! Here's a nice tutorial that goes over all of the basics when rendering from SpeedGrade:



MORE LINKS:

Timeline Basics
Keyframe Basics
Mask Basics
Keyboard Shortcuts