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Blogs and Podcasts
 A more updated summary of links can be found in an After Effects Online Resource Roundup.
Total Training's Guru Lounge is offering podcasts, but not as many as Creative Cow. Sometimes the Cow's AE and Premiere Pro podcasts are easier to find on iTunes.
Prolost, a blog by digital filmmaker Stu Maschwitz, mostly deals with technical issues of compositing, and also features general book recommendations. Scott Squires of ILM and Commotion fame has his own podcast on Effects Corner. Alex Lindsay holds forth as part of the MacBreak team and lead on This Week in Media.
Toolfarm uses blog software daily to relay news and marketing info. Motionworks has a blog, gallery, and tutorials. AE Portal News has occasional news on After Effects and the world.
Adobe blogs can be interesting: see John Nack of the Photoshop team and Bob Donlon’s Digital Video Blog. Steve Kilisky, the AE product manager, has a blog oriented to AE 7, while Adobe engineer Bruce Bullis maintains the After Effects API Zone.
Justin Cone and cohorts refer to many currents at Motionographer, the successor to Tween. Let's hope this ambitious project continues. Motionographer.com by xplsv.tv, a motion graphics site for posting and reviews.
An established netshow, Digital Production Buzz (was The DV Guys) features useful information about desktop DV, and is joined by The DV Show, a website and Podcast.
HD For Indies posts news on High Definition Video for Independent Filmmakers, with great HD links. Also good is VideoThing, CinemaTech and DV Guru.
FXGuide.com is doing podcasts, and includes an interview with Paul Debevec on how he invented HDR and where it's going. vfxblog, blogging the world of visual effects in films, also is an excellent effort. VfxTalk.com is a giant news blog masquerading as a set of forums!
Keeping an eye on Web tech would be a full-time job, but it still fun to cruise Web 2.0, Ajax and the Ajaxians, and other trends that spurred Adobe to buy Macromedia.
Blogging has spawned iPod-broadcasting, and gadget blogs provide info for your toy desires; see for example unmediated, Digital Television Blog, PVR Blog, Engadget (see i4u & Gizmodo for more), and GreenCine Daily for film news.
For more on podcasting, see Wikipedia and aggregators like IT Conversations and Techpodcasts. General media news, notes from the influential Jim Romenesko, and a vast array of resources for journalists can be found at the Poynter Institute.
Magazines
DV Magazine publishes monthly motion graphics tutorials and other items of interest for desktop video users. Ask them to bring back all the archives.
Two magazines also have good websites: Studio Monthly, digitalcontentproducer.com and Layers Magazine.
Res Magazine, which covers many items of interest. They also produce the ResFest tours.
Videography magazine covers video issues from HDTV and broadcast to the Web, and there's a regular column that discusses issues involving AE.
Cinefex magazine covers the visual effects of the latest movies and the people who make them. It should be available in good magazine stands. The weekly e-mail blast ended Dec 2004 but the archive is still there!
Leonardo Electronic Almanac (LEA), is "Leonardo/ISAST and MIT Press' electronic journal dedicated to providing a forum for those who are interested in the realm where art, science and technology converges." Most of the recent articles on music visualization have been published in Leonardo, a journal published by MIT Press.
'boards magazine examines the crative side of commercials and has free content in their screening room.
Visual Effects Companies
Here's a few: Industrial Light + Magic, Banned from the Ranch, Sony Imageworks, Rhythmn & Hues, RezN8, BlueSky, Digital Domain, H-Gun Labs, ATTIK, AnimalLogic (The Matrix)
For a good list of Visual Effects Houses, see VFX Pro.
For a good list of Graphic Design Houses, see Design In Motion.
Mograto (MOtion GRAphics TOronto) posted a handy list of inspirational reels.
Visual effect news can be found at sites like VFX Pro, High End 2D, FX Guide, VFXSoup, and The Official Alt.Movies.Visual-Effects FAQ Site.
Codecs
QuickTiming.org has news of all sorts of a general QuickTme slant. For all things of QuickTime past, see the archives of The Little QuickTime Page. Also, Friends of Time is a newer site dedicated to the history of the QuickTime community and was founded by many of the original developers of QuickTime.
Also, info courtesy of the AE-List, check out wired/skinned QuickTime movies. Interactivity is authored in Flash, and imported as a QT "Flash Track." There are a few ways to develop these movies, foremost being Totally Hip Livestage. There's also an app called Tattoo, which uses XML to create QT media skins. For an interesting use of the technology, solidly implemented, see click the Public button at EyeballNYC and MOVTV (a "fight-the browser" creative project of Tubatomic Studio).
The new MPEG-4 codec announced by Apple at NAB 2004, H.264 (also known as MPEG-4, level 10 and AVC), was discussed at PlaybackTime.com, a resource for streaming issues from a former QT evangelist.. It's supposed to be quite a bit better than MPEG-4 Video, the MPEG-4 codec available in the current QuickTime implementation, as well as the codecs currently available from Microsoft, Real, and Sorenson. If you liked PlaybackTime.com, see broader coverage in Mindjack Relay).
Theory, LLC's superpacking codec Microcosm crushes 64bit or 32bit files into a fraction of their uncompressed size without losing any image quality. Intermediate renders with alphas are a fact of life, and this QuickTime codec available for both PC and Mac would also be useful for archiving files. SheerVideo BitJazz is a promising competitor, but they seem not understand certain key points, saying their codec enable more RAM preview than other codecs though RAM preview is uncompressed.
Windows Media Encoder is a good free tool from Microsoft, and WMV has some great codecs , but you'll want lossless compression in Windows too; see Huffyuv (also works in RGB), Alparysoft Lossless Video Codec, MSU Lossless Video Codec, PICVideo Lssless JPEG Codec.
While JPEG codecs use DCT functions, JPEG2000 technology is based on an algorithm called wavelets, which allows for alphas channels, lossless quality and lower data rates. On the PC see M-JPEG and JPG2000 codec from Morgan Multimedia. On the Mac see the free JPG2000 plug-in from fnord software.for saving sequences without sound. And according to Ken Broomfield "at any setting less than 100%, PhotoJPEG employs 4:2:2 chroma subsampling; at 100% it uses 4:4:4. This may make you hesitate to use it for prerenders, though I guess if you're using 4:2:2 source or output, it may not matter much or at all. It might matter for artificial graphics like titles, etc, that you're transforming in some way."
SuperPNG, free from fnord software, also has alpha and 16-bit support.
I did some renders on a noisy sample awhile back to see how codecs fared (use control on the Mac to access JPG quality of 94-99):
02,351 K pjpg_90.mov
02,443 K pjpg_94.mov
02,529 K pjpg_95.mov
02,543 K pjpg_96.mov
02,556 K pjpg_97.mov
02,563 K pjpg_98.mov
02,646 K pjpg_99.mov
07,238 K pjpg_100.mov
09,145 K Microcosm.mov, fast guess
13,165 K PNG seq AE export
13,189 K Super PNG seq, adaptive
25,300 K Super PNG seq, no filter
29,529 K animation100.mov
32,142 K none.mov
Generic Media, started by Peter Hoddie of QuickTime fame, seems to have retreated from view (was it MPEG-4) but Kinoma seems intent on DV for handhelds like Palm OS.
StreamingMedia.com and DV.com sometimes update comparisons between codecs. Be sure to save content you want to mull over because it will disappear.
For info on NLE codecs see CODECS, CODECS and more CODECS by OneRiver Media.
Jan Ozer discusses codecs as well as many other practical issues, and includes his reviews from PC Magazine, at Doceo.com.
Media Cleaner Pro, now by Discreet, has become the preferred application for Web and CD-ROM video compression, and is blessed by RealMedia, Apple and Microsoft. It has great batch functions, compression previewing, special noise reduction and data rate controls (including variable bit rate) and the ability to suspend renders! MCP also guides you through options for video compression.
MPEG Pointers and Resources -- "the Reference Website for MPEG!"
TMPGEnc converts AVI files to MPEG1, the format which is used in VideoCD. You can also use the free Microsoft Windows Media Encoder, which will encode MPEG to any flavor of Windows Media -- audio, video, or both.
The DVD list is a good source for pro-level DVD info. The DVD FAQ (with glossary) is located at author Jim Taylor's DVD Demystified. A more practical book than DVD Demystified is DVD Authoring & Production by Ralph LaBarge, who has an occasional column at DV.com. Chapters from the book and Ralph's valuable "Recordable DVD [disc] Compatibility Update" are at dvdtoday.com. For more on DVD, see DVDRHelp/VCDHelp.(for example the bitrate calculator) and TFDVD.com, especially for Apple's DVD Studio Pro.
Digital Television: the site where "you'll find professional information about digital
television as well as discussions about different aspects of digital
television."
Codec Central, a site by Terran Interactive, offered a wide range of introductory information and links to specifics, but status under Discreet is unknown (an old version is posted at http://www.siggraph.org/education/materials/HyperGraph/video/Articles/Default.htm). While Terran is no more, at least compression expert Ben Waggoner has released his DV book, Compression for Great Digital Video.
FOURCC.org details the avalanche of codecs, especially on Windows, with articles and essential links.
DV Format
Adam Wilt has a very good site on the DV format, and the best links.
Zane Rutledge has a good intro to DV filmmaking and effects, with movies explaining the construction of effects sequences.
2-pop.com is a Final Cut Pro site but also offers DV news and discussion boards for other platforms. If you want to join a professional group of FCP users, check out the the FinalCutPro-L group.
Final Cut Pro sites are a phenomena (though all seem connected to 2-pop.com):
The Los Angeles Final Cut Pro User Group offers Meeting, a Talent Directory, Reviews, Features, Tutorials,
and a guide to Training Classes; the San Francisco Final Cut Pro User Group offers Tips and Tricks, meeting info, list; Ken Stone's FCP offers info on FCP 2.0, White Papers, The Basics, Tutorial Reviews, Software and Plug in Reviews; DVCreators.net offers training, finalcutpro411.net and DV KnowledgeBase. See also DV Guys (from the reseller Intelligent Media) and final cut pro planet.
The Pro Apps Hub is free--and slow but handy--software that brings you free Articles, Tutorials, Forums and Resources from the Internet along with online shopping realted to Apple's pro software apps.
The Golden List, for DV format topics on the Mac platform.
The Silver List of Open System DV & IEEE-1394 Non-Linear Editing Solutions is for PCs. And you thought you'd never find advice on Type-2 and Type-1 AVI files.
DV & Firewire Central "is devoted to DV (and its related formats - DVC, DVCAM, DVCPRO, etc.) and Firewire (also known as IEEE-1394). DV™ is a digital video format, supported by a consortium of over 50 companies. Firewire™ is a serial data transfer protocol and interconnection system, used (amongst other things) to transmit DV." They also ran the busy DV list.
Digital Video Consulting offers several good papers on digital video and especially DV
formats.
Synthetic Aperture maintains a list of DV/Firewire converters on their site.
GREATDV.COM, hosted by John Jackman, is a free information resource for the
beginner or the seasoned professional -- especially the newer
digital formats and digital editing.
DV-Link "is a onestop site that brings order from chaos in the Digital
Video online jungle...From online tutorials, discussion forums,
live chat rooms and manufacturers websites - to the latest DV
hardware and software reviews, DV-LINK takes you there, and beyond."
In 1394, OHCI, DV and Analog FAQ, Douglas Spotted Eagle explains the mysteries of the DV formats
on Windows platforms.
Bluscreen information
dvGarage has produced a training CD called Composite Toolkit, which includes a nice keyer called dvMatte (both Mac/Win are on the CD). CKT shows you: how keying filters work; how to use iterations of layers, roto masks, and filter instances to improve keying; and how to simulate the PB Color Difference Keyer with the Standard Bundle of AE. The preview movies, esp #4, discuss the most important issues if you're strapped for cash. Even if you have Keylight or Primatte the background on the Color Difference Keyer is great.
Digital Compositing for Film and Video by Steve Wright (Focal Press, 2001) might be the best book available on keying now.
The Cinematography Mailing list has many good links and selected postings, including some informative banter on Bluescreen shooting and lighting.
Trish and Chris Meyer looked at keying filters in the May '99 issue of DV. This article is a great intro to desktop keying because it covers
the basics in both production and post. There's also a link to
what may be the only tutorial on AE's Production Bundle Difference
Keyer (Photoshop Channel Chops explained the ideas but not specifically).
Steve Bradford's Blue Screen / Chroma Key Page -- basic information on colorscreen compositing from a camera
guy..
Ultimatte vs. Chroma Key -- a short description of the differences between using an Ultimatte and a Chromakeyer for color compositing by Bob Kertesz, who also
has a consulting service.
Ultimatte offers fine hardware and software colorscreen compositing tools. See their technical library (in Support) and whitepapers for in-depth explanations. The cartoon PDF is the best of the bunch.
Photron has an interesting, in-depth White Paper on the Primatte Keyer method. This keyer is much less intimidating than UItimatte -- it's really as easy as 1-2-3 using the first icons of the filter. While the Color Range filter let's you choose a color cube, Primatte let you choose a 128-side color space polygon for better accuracy.
Check out the good list of bluescreen resources that Arie Noordzij posted the AE list, as well as Bluescreen tips posted by Brett S. Rose (if they are still available).
Alice in Bluescreen Land, by Mark Christiansen, is a good article in DV's July 1997 issue. This is a detailed article, but perhaps a bit out of date and probably unavailable online.
Here's a page for people that want to play with bluescreen compositing on the
cheap (there is a do-it-yourself store tie-in).
Bluescreen tips for the DV format, can be found at GreatDV. To no surprise, light is key!
Video signals and color
Essential Video Resources has links to all sorts of information.
A Simplified Guide to the NTSC Video Signal and Conventional Analog Television - An Introduction.
Aging but still good is Electronic Cinematography: Achieving Photographic Control over
the Video Image, by Harry Mathias and Richard Patterson, Wadsworth, 1985.
Reference Recordings offered a laserdisc and DVD called "A VIDEO STANDARD," a test
disc to optimize audio/video playback systems. It comes with a
detailed booklet.
Miranda has technical notes and a great poster comparing formats (get the hardcopy for free).
See especially the noteworthy guides from Tectronix: NTSC Video Measurements, Solving the Component Puzzle, A Guide to Digital Television Systems and Measurements and several other papers.
Leader has several useful app notes that introduce the use of video
test equipment.
Video recording formats lessens some of the "confusion about the huge number of different
video recording formats and their specifications."
California Film lists video formats like PAL, SECAM and NTSC by country, and
Worldwide TV Standards - A Web Guide explains the formats and conversion difficulties. A backup resource
is Jim Krause'e pages on video formats and international video standards.
Charles Poynton has several "intense" articles and many links concerning video
engineering, gamma and color.
Video Demystified: A Handbook for the Digital Engineer covers basic and advanced video engineering. You'll find some
sections and its glossary around the Net.
Tomi Engahl's Video Technology Page is a good resources for a variety of tech info, with several glossary links.
See the SONY PICTURES HIGH DEFINITION CENTER links page.
See the DemoGraFX website for the latest concerning Advanced Television, layered
compression and MPEG-2 compression research.
Digital Television: The Site "Here you'll find professional information about digital television
as well as discussions about different aspects of digital television.
Digital Television: The Site updates each month with new discussions
on the future of digital television, cable and satellite. You
can also find the complete text to The Guide To Digital Televison
on this site."
ViXen Video Enhancer for Premiere is a Windows side plug-in with Proc Amp functions, control of
pedestal, gain, gamma and saturation, noise reduction and sharpening,
Waveform and Vectorscope displays, Test Signal Generator.
VideoScope "is a software waveform and vector scope for Power Macintosh
computers with video input capabilities. It performs realtime
luminance and chrominance analysis of any video source, QuickTime
movie or still image, allowing you to adjust your video digitizer's
image settings to obtain the best possible video quality."
Video Finesse is a collection of plug-in filters for Adobe Premiere on the
Mac. Video Finesse ships with a variety of image enhancement filters,
a full proc amp and color corrector style controls as well as
a waveform monitor and vectorscope. See also EchoFire AE filter
for NTSC previews via FW. If you're there check out the multimedia
tips and techniques with the article "Calibrating Video Monitors."
Scopo Gigio is a full-featured video waveform monitor and vectorscope, available
as a plugin for both Photoshop and After Effects.
GreatDV.com has good intros to signal monitoring and color bars.
The most elaborate discussion of desktop issues including color
space and codecs is Chris Meyer's Luminance and IRE Levels for Motion Graphics Artists.
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