Blog by Eran Stern » News

After Effects CS5 – 2 New Tutorials

Eran Stern — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 06:03:34 +0000

As you’ve probably heard, Adobe has announced today the latest, anticipated, new version of After Effects.
A ‘must have’ release, born from hard labor and love from the AE team in Seattle. After reading the delightful features-list on the product page and on some of your favorite websites, it is safe to assume that you don’t need more reading materials, however you might be after some new tasty tutorials – and this is exactly what I have for you. Before going into that, I must say that if for some reason you skipped the last cycle – you don’t want to miss this one. In my opinion, The CS5 release is one of the most important releases for most of the tools in my set. Just to name a few: Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash – got enormous improvements and clever artistic technologies. In Some cases, the new features will change the way you work with those applications on a daily basis.
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If you want to see some of it for yourself, why don’t you jump to Adobe TV, where you can find great tutorials from the industry leaders. I also had the honour of presenting two new features for AE CS5 myself, watch them here by pressing on the thumbs above and below.

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For more exciting updates, watch this blog as I’ll do my best to post more info and pictures from NAB10, where I’m right now. If you’re here as well, come and say hello. I’ll be at the Plugin’s Pavilion and also at the MediaMotion Ball Party.

New Tutorial – Look Ma, No Wires

Eran Stern — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:55:54 +0000

In this new tutorial we’ll explore a clever technique for shooting flying fairies in front of a green screen without the use of a crane and wires. Of course it won’t apply to every situation but when it does, it can save you lots of $$$’s and it’s also a lot of fun as well. This shot was kindly given to me by the talented artist Eyal Be and it is part of a pilot for a new fantasy comedy show created by Eyal Be and Nimrod Ben-Moshe, Watch the full trailer.
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Watch Tutorial

Finally, its done…

Eran Stern — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 06:48:09 +0000

I thought to share with you my recent project. I’ve been working on this forever now and its finally done. A new training DVD for Premiere Pro. Hold your horses! its in Hebrew
This is by far the most comprehensive training I’ve ever recorded – 14(!) hours of EVERYTHING you need to know about Adobe’s main editor.
Since I’ve been working with Premiere Pro on a daily basis, I’ve grown to love and appreciate its approach to video and sound. I know that you may not agree with me, but for me it is still the #1 NLE of choice.

This promo below was made using my other favorite tool – After Effects plus couple of plugins such as Boris Continuum Complete, Trapcode Form and Zaxwerks Serpentine. I’m very proud of this product, having worked on it for such a long time, and the promo came out pretty nice as well, if I may say so myself. So although its not in English, I thought it’s still worth sharing. The background movie, BTW, is a free download courtesy of my dear buddy Carl Larsen – check it out here.
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So in case you’re planning to re-visit your Hebrew Sunday school and want to impress your teacher, here’s a quick look at the Promo for this product:
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An overview of students work

Eran Stern — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 12:00:54 +0000

Another semester has passed, and it’s time to show off my students achievements.

These are the projects results of my students at the Visual Communication department at Shenkar college. The assignment was to design a package for a broadcast channel or a Television show of their liking. They were asked to come up with a logo and bumpers, credits look and a program loop/schedule. They used Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator for the Logo design and After Effects for motion and composting.

Now its time for you to judge the results for yourselves

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New Tutorial – Slow Motion Stills

Eran Stern — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:14:12 +0000

In this video tutorial I’ll demonstrates a clever method to create extreme slow motion video using few still frames. This fine result can be achived using a 3rd party plug named Twixtor Pro from RE:Vision Effects.
The credit for this method belongs to the fine artists at JCS Post Production. This is one of the biggest post houses in Israel which creates cutting edge motion graphics and special effects. Most of JCS work is focuses on 4 major niches: Commercials, TV channel branding, TV programs, Video attractions training films. I want to thank the kind people at JCS for providing me this commercial. I’m sure everyone can learn something from this cool technique.
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Watch Tutorial
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Busy working…

Eran Stern — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:22:15 +0000

Hi guys, a short post just to let you know that my plate is pretty full these days. So updates are a little slow for the English site. I’m working on a few projects, trying to juggle, or should I say wiggle, work and family at the same time. I am working on a new Hebrew training DVD, nurturing the new Hebrew Post Production Forum at the site, and also organizing a user group meeting for my Israeli talented crowd which will take place, for the first time, in Tel Aviv next week.

There’s more happening, but at this stage this is what I can reveal. Anyway, just to let you know, I’m planning to publish a new cool tutorial for Creative COW which hopefully will be ready for the holiday season and maybe another one just after that, who knows?! I guess only god.
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Sci-fi holograms with Red Giant Holomatrix

Eran Stern — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:29:51 +0000

A new set of tools designed by Aharon Rabinowitz and Dan Ebberts is now available through Red Giant Software. Holomatrix lets you control your reality and offers a new dimension in effect generation. Now you can get the look of your favorite hologram effect in After Effects in just two clicks. The package includes over 30 presets that turn ordinary footage into animated sci-fi holograms, mimics bad TV reception and creates realistic looking digital signage.
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It costs $99 and works with After Effects CS3 and above.
Be sure to watch the 3 tutorials which which shows you how to use this clever plug-in/utility.
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My Interview on Motionworks Unplugged

Eran Stern — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:56:38 +0000

Last week I had the honor and pleasure to be interviewed by my dear friend John Dickinson from Motionworks. I talked about the balance between a worldwide audience and my growing Hebrew-speaking base. You can also hear my thoughts on the ever-growing quantity of online training, the usage of Plug-ins in tutorials and few words about my experience in writing the ACE (Adobe Certified Expert) exam for After Effects.
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This is a great opportunity to thank John for all the useful tips and advices he offered me over the years – they all helped me to grow and focus my business dramatically.
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You should listen to him as well
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Watch the video
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Back On Air

Eran Stern — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:34:41 +0000

Looks like we manged to overcome the problems and the site is fully functional once again.

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Thanks for hanging around, watch for some interesting stuff soon.
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Temporary server problem

Eran Stern — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:24:45 +0000

Due to dDos attack on the server, some of the content on the site is unavailable. You can still watch all the tutorials and read the blog, however the links on the downloads page are broken. The support team is on the case, however they can’t tell when this attack will be over. In the meantime I want to thank all of you who e-mailed me with concern, and also to assure you that we’re doing all we can in order to restore things to normal.

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Thanks for your patient.