Beautiful HD for MTV

PSYOP has done it again. This time it's branding for MTV's new HD channel. Edgy and distinct, definately worth a look!
PSYOP Creates Visual Haiku for MTV HD

Using more than 2GB of RAM in After Effects

If you are as RAM-frustrated as I am (I'm running a 750 frames long 2K render in 16-bit in the background right now) you'll be happy to know that you can bump up After Effects RAM-usage over the Windows XP limit of 2 GB by changing a simple command in a text file.

How to set this up is so poorly described in the AE manual that I've actually filed it as a bug. It only says:

See the Microsoft website for details.

I spent 30 minutes searching until I finally found out how to do this, which I thought I'd share with you:

Video tutorial on using more than 2 GB of RAM with After Effects on Windows XP

The limit under Windows XP is 3 GB of RAM (that is per instance of AE, so you can easily start more than one if you have Windows XPx64, but plain XP only supports a total of 4 GB of RAM for the whole system.)
On Mac OS X AE can use up to 3.5 GB of RAM, and on 64-bit Windows XP each instance of After Effects can use up to 4GB of RAM with no special configuration.

Here's more background information for the geeky:
RAM, Virtual Memory, Pagefile and all that stuff
The /3GB switch

UPDATE: The process for Windows Vista is now described in a comment on the LiveDocs site.

HDR Photography in Photoshop CS2

Here's a tutorial I stumbled on recently. Apart from discussing the actual steps needed at the shoot and in Photoshop, the tutorial also deals with some HDR theory.
High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography in Photoshop CS2

Check out the other tutorials as well.

FX PHD Classes Start Today

As I'm a big fan of the fxguide podcast I was quick to sign up for the promising online training at fxphd. The first class started today, and it covered multi-cam "bullet-time" effects.

Awesome Photo Interaction

Another inspirational site: it's Getty Images that has comissioned ten Flash pieces with their stock photos as a base.

My favorites are the two ones made by Andries Odendaal

10 ways by Getty Images

Stylish Flash Animation

Inspirational animation!

Session

4.000 CPUs at ILM's render farm

Here's a nice geeky story about the rendering capabilities of ILM. AMD's CPUs Help Put The Magic In Lucasfilm's Special Effects | MobilityGuru

Photoshop CS2 update (9.0.1)

There's a patch for Photoshop CS2, upgrading it into the fenomenal version number CS2 9.0.1. :-)

The patch hasn't been posted on the main download page yet, but you can find links on this great Adobe blog:
John Nack on Adobe

GUI for OGLE

Just found there's a small GUI app called OpenGLXtractor Windows Tool created to simplify the configuration of the great OpenGL geometry extractor OGLE.
There's also a SourceForge.net Forum.

Google Earth IRL

Using the nifty OGLE to print 3D models of Ground Zero.

NYC 3D Prints

QuickTime 7.1 released

As always, it's impossible to find release notes for a QuickTime upgrade, but this time it seems to be a lot of security fixes.

QuickTime 7.1 delivers numerous important bug fixes and addresses critical security issues. This update is highly recommended for all QuickTime 7 users.

Standalone QuickTime 7.1 Download

Record HD video on SD cards

It will take a long time until Panasionic's P2 memory cards will be affordable, so Panasonic is reportedly working on a consumer solution involving HD footage recording onto SD memory cards.

Panasonic technology records HD images on SD cards

Something for your next motion control rig: Make Controller Kit

Here's a fun controller that should come in handy for a motion control rig of some kind (at least one can be allowed to dream of new projects, right?)
MakeZine.com: Controller Kit

New chip for Propeller heads

Last year, I got a kick out of building "something real" instead of just mucking about in 3D and scripting. I ordered a BASIC Stamp micro processor and started to build a time-lapse controller for my Canon 350D / Digital Rebel.

It's not finished yet, but it's coming along pretty nicely with an LCD display and the code for the counting, the menues and the settings pretty much done.

I just found out there's a new Propeller Chip that's far more powerful and can do multi-processing, so I expect the robot builders will go crazy with this one.

I...must...not...start...another...project...gasp...

Trapcode Particular 1.5 released

My all-time favorite AE plugin has just had a free! update. New features includes Depth of Field and Motion Path.
Trapcode Particular 1.0 Help

fxguide podcast: Fluid Simulations and VFX at ILM

There's a new episode and article from my favorite VFX source: fxguide

This time it's about fluid simulations algoritms and software created by 100 people during the course of a year. Perhaps they didn't know about the Make Ocean menu item in Maya. ;-)

Wipe out: 'Poseidon' Fluid Simulations and VFX at ILM

Steadicam with wireless interviewer

The Inquisitor

Record JavaScript from Photoshop CS2

Here's a great tip for those of us who like to automate Photoshop:
Installing and using the ScriptingListener plug-in

I'd love to try it out for a project I'm currently working on where I need to cut up huge satellite images into 2.048 by 2.048 layer tiles in order for After Effects to be able to use the images in fly-bys.

SGI in deep freeze

SGI has filed for Chapter 11. Here's an alternative use for the workstations that have now been freed of their SLA:s:


SGI - The Silicon Graphics Refrigerator Project