Letter From the Editor – August 2011
Adaptation is the key to survival.
Throughout human history, we have constantly been forced to adapt to change that has been going on around us, much of it out of our control. But through that adaptation, we have become a stronger, smarter species both as individuals and a whole.
If you take a look at any piece of software on your computer and you’ll see adaptation in full effect. A piece of software is released but it doesn’t do everything the user wants it to do until a very smart individual or company makes a plug-in that will allow it. Adaptation. Then, when that company realizes it’s missing a core piece of software that’s very popular with their user base they will adopt their own version forcing the original plug-in manufacturer to make changes to their original idea or be left in the dust like dinosaurs.
One of these plug-ins that will definitely bring about change was mentioned by our very own Joren Kandel last month. Element 3D by Andrew Kramer and all the awesome people over at VideoCopilot.net will allow you to actually tweak a 3d scene to your hearts content–cameras, lights and all–all within After Effects! I was mildly interested in this plug-in at first, but after watching the video, I knew I had to have this in my toolbox. It should be released sometime this month, if you can wait that long.
The other plug-in that is bound to propel things (sorry for the pun) is Motion Boutique’s Newton Physics Engine for After Effects. Forget everything you’ve learned about trying to attempt to simulate physics in After Effects, Newton does it all for you easy as pie with a few clicks of the mouse. Why anyone hasn’t thought of this before is beyond me, but I’m glad these guys made it. It’s available now from the Motion Boutique website.
We are always adapting to change here at FYM–seeing writers come and (sadly) go, testing the waters with new columns and contests, testing out new formats, etc., etc. Through this adaptation, we hope to become stronger, giving you the articles you deserve and have come to expect from us. Though the frequency of the articles has slowed a bit, we hope they have become better in quality, and we will constantly improve on that front. I know there are at least a few coming this month that will please your eyes and your noggin, so stay tuned for those. As always, I’m sure there will be a few surprises hidden as well.
John Kostrzewski is the Editor of Fuel Your Motionography and a freelance motion graphics and visual effects artist, videographer and writer living in Minnesota. He is awesome. Follow him on Twitter at and .
Anyone tried Newton yet?
I’m curious, but a bit anxious about the “one solid layer per particle” thing. I haven’t tried it yet as I am still on CS4.
Either way, this is going to be a big month for AE Evolution! Can’t wait to see where it takes us!
I’ve only tried the demo, but it only allows you to render 25 frames(?!). Those 25 frames rendered really fast, if that means anything to you. I was hoping one of the guys here at FYM had it so they could write up a nice review with video, but, so far, it’s coming up nada.
I was going to hold out until I saw some video and read some reviews of what consumers think, but I might just have to jump in blind. Somehow, I don’t think I’ll be disappointed with these two plug-ins.
Thanks. Might be worth the upgrade to CS5 even.