Learn to create the effects seen in Magic Bullet Looks. Split RGB channels, simulate chromatic aberration, animate the chaos. All in one tutorial.

Click here to watch the video tutorial

Some time ago I wrote a note on my Facebook Fan Page about upcoming tutorials. I’m happy to announce that the day has come – the tutorials are recorded and all will be released soon. This is the first out of four tutorials that will be focused on recreating some of my favorite filters from a great color correction tool – Magic Bullet Looks.

Back in February 2009 I wrote a blog post about Separating RGB Channels. I thought that it would be a great example of what Adobe Pixel Bender technology can to – it’s simple and quite useful. Useful plugins don’t have to be very complex – it’s quite the opposite  - it’s  mostly simple and small things that make our everyday tasks easier.

With this tutorial I give you RGB Splitter plugin (CS4) totally for free, but I’ve got something extra for those of you who would like to support me and help me keep this site running.

Download: Maltaannon's RGB Splitter PBK (After Effects CS4)

RGB Channels Bundle that consists off ChromAberration – a Pixel Bender plugin for creating real chromatic abberation, and a nice CE RGB Playground that utilizes the free RGB Splitter in a way that makes it extra easy and fun to play with RGB channels of your footage.

Get RGB Channels Bundle (CS4) for only 14.90 USD

Check out this amazing CustomEffect for hassle free, custom color, text transform following gradients. You asked for it so here you have it!

Click here to watch the video tutorial

If you ever had to apply a Ramp effect to a Text Layer to make it look hip you know that it can be a nightmare. Not to mention when you have a couple of those Text Layers to handle. But have no fear – TextRamp is here! Check out the examples below.

Some time ago I posted a free solution to this problem, so make sure to check it out before you continue. The old TextRamp tutorial will show you how to create very simple preset that might help in some situations.

But this one… oooooooh… this is serious stuff. CE TextRamp is way more functional and robust than the old solution. You’ve asked me several times to create a CustomEffect that would not only allow to apply a gradient to a Text Layer, but also allow you to rotate and scale the layer with a gradient applied to it. So here you have it. This little baby also handles 3D Text Layers to some extend, so make sure to watch the tutorial and check it out.

Remember that this is not a bulletproof solution. There’s only so much that can be done with expressions and presets, but hey… it works in most situations but there may be times when you need to precompose so be sure to check out the tutorial.

Anyway I’m sure you will find CE TextRamp useful and affortable. Enjoy!

Get CE TextRamp (CS3) for only 14.90 USD

Create a realistic and detailed Jumbotron-style video screen. Make your own preset, buy it, or get it for free with Making It Look Great 5.

Click here to watch the video tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to build a simple Screenify preset for creating detailed Jumbotron-style video screen. You may also choose to buy a CustomEffect that is way more advanced. Best of all, you can get this preset, along with CE LightWrap and others for free with Making It Look Great 5 training.

This tutorial is a makeover of the very last few minutes of the MILG5 tutorial no. 4 called Screenify. The original tutorial includes must-know keying techniques, tips on creating volumetric lights and presets, and ingenious workflow for creating complex looks on a single layer using the CC Composite effect.

Get CE Screenify (CS3) for only 14.90 USD

Learn how to make your keyed out footage blend better with the background by casting light on it from surrounding elements

Click here to watch the video tutorial

Light wrapping is something everyone should know about and learn how to do. It greatly improves the quality of your compositions by making them look more believable.

In this tutorial I will show you a quick and easy way of creating great looking light wrap effect without using any 3rd party plugins (with exception of CyCoreFX which you should already have by default). The results are fantastic and you can easily compare them to many expensive commercial plugins out there that do the same thing. But that’s not all…

After over a year of providing free content I thought it’s about time to give you a chance to say “Thank you”, so I also build a CustomEffect that you can buy for a low price. It’s even more advanced and powerful than what I show you in the tutorial. I provided some examples of what you can achieve when using ceLightWrap but to see the real power I really recommend watching the tutorial.

You can purchase ceLightWrap via PayPal. Sales are handled by a secure online shopping system – E-Junkie. After purchase you will be redirected to a download page. Each purchase is valid for two download attempts. The file you will be downloading will be a ZIP file with a polyCE file in it. You need to use CustomEffects Installer to be able to use the CustomEffect.

I hope you will choose the CustomEffect over the simple preset that I show you how to build in the tutorial and therefore you’ll take your part in keeping this site alive and providing new tutorials.

For installation instructions go to What CustomEffects are page.

Get CE LightWrap (CS3) for only 14.90 USD

3DCircularMotion CustomEffect is designed to easily set things in motion on a three-dimensional circular path. Features include swiveling and tinting the rotation plane, uniform and non-uniform orbit scaling, “look at” layer positioning, rotating objects by speed, and support for pre-rendered 3d objects.

Check out 3DCircularMotion interface preview.

Now the only thing left to do is to record a short usage tutorial and create an online store for easy purchasing. I’m not sure about the pricing yet, but I’m sure I’m going to make it affordable.

You can find all the information about CE Installer on the What CustomEffects are page. Remember to read the description and follow the instructions. There is some preparation required before actually installing any of my CustomEffects, but you only need to do it once.

I hope that now you’ll enjoy them even more.

Wish me luck!

Learn how to create 3D logos, texts and packshots. ShapeExtruder does it all. See it in action. Watch, learn, enjoy… and comment.

Click here to watch the video tutorial

After publishing my ShapeExtruder I got tons and tons of emails, more comments than usual, even a few job offers and some calls via my Hotline service. Most of the emails and comments were about extruding a logo and other uses of the ShapeExtruder.

Even though I enjoy responding to your emails I got pretty tired of answering same questions over and over, so I decided to record this follow-up tutorial that will hopefully answer most commonly asked questions about ShapeExtruder.

I’d like to thank one of my viewers – AztecMonkey - for pointing me to a brilliant script for converting masks into shape layers. You saved me a lot of work, since I was going to develop it on my own. For those of you who don’t understand yet why this script is so great heres an explanation…

ShapeExtruder uses Shape Layers in After Effects CS3 to create the illusion of objects being extruded. The only problem was moving paths from Adobe Illustrator to After Effects as Shape Layers because when you copy them from Illustrator and paste them in After Effects… they are pasted as masks. The script I’ve mentioned above converts masks to Shape Layers allowing you to create 3D logos easily.

Click here to download rd_MasksToShapes script by Jeff Almasol. Make sure to check out the rest of his scripts. Very cool stuff. Used wisely may save you hours of work.

Update!
I’ve just uploaded a short mini follow-up tutorial to explain how to extrude PNG logos. This was requested in the comments by Posix. Look it up. You’ll know what I’m referring to. Click here to view this tutorial on YouTube, or click here to view my YouTube profile.
Rate, comment, enjoy.

Learn how to change the look and feel of your footage easily with this useful CustomEffect. Color correction made easy… Finally!

Click here to watch the video tutorial

Have you ever had to color correct a shot? I bet you did. Even small corrections are often required to make the shoot look better. And what about cinematic looks? I’m sure everyone has tried to recreate the “filmlook” on your own footage at least once. But wait… theres more… You can even color correct poorly balanced footage to restore original colors. Yep. CE ColorCorrector allows you do to all that in 5 easy steps or less.

CE ColorCorrector is a wrapper around Adobe Color Balance plugin. I’m not really sure if I got the math behind it right, but hey… it works for me. You can also use it along with Hue/Saturation, Curves and Levels for even more control over the look and feel of your footage. Happy color correcting.

For installation instructions go to What CustomEffects are page.

Download: CE ColorCorrection (After Effects CS3)