"Fun and Misc" via Brandon in Google Reader

Geordi La Forge, Circa 1963 [Image Cache]

2009-10-01T00:00:00Z

Laugh at will. But apparently we haven't come all that far in 46 years. [Life via Uncertain Times via BBG]

T-Shirt States the Painfully Obvious [Culture]

2009-10-01T16:20:00Z

We cannot defeat the aliens without robots, but robots will eventually turn on us. It's a paradox, friends. Enjoy that burn in your head; it's called "thinking" (though "wasting time" is also applicable here). $40. [Cuppa via FashionablyGeek]

Play Contra, Super Mario Bros., Tetris, and more in Google Chrome

2009-09-17T15:00:00Z

Filed under: Fun, Games, Browsers

Yes, Google, you can proudly herald this one as a major victory for your browser in my books. If other Javascript benchmarks haven't been anything you could get excited about, maybe this one will do it. Ben Firshman's Javascript NES emulator runs best in Google Chrome.

Just head on over to his site (which will likely start bogging down today as this little baby inevitably moves from Reddit to Digg), pick a game, and get ready for some early 90s video gaming excitement.

One downside: you'll have to be cool with a similarly early 90s style screen (think original Gameboy). You'll only get a viewable area of about 256x240. If size isn't a major concern for you, here's a list of the games you can play:

Contra
Donkey Kong
Dr. Mario
Golf
Legend of Zelda
Lemmings
Mario Bros.
Pac Man
Super Mario Bros.
Tennis
Tetris
Tetris 2
Zelda II
Super Mario Bros. 3 (partially working)

JSNES works in other browsers, of course, but not quite as well. Firefox frame rates are generally reported to be about 1/10th or less those from Chrome. Safari (and most other Webkit browsers) should be up to the task.

[via Reddit]

Play Contra, Super Mario Bros., Tetris, and more in Google Chrome originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Sponsored Topics: Super Mario Bros - Video game - Google Chrome - Legend of Zelda - Donkey Kong

Razer Naga MMO Mouse Sports More Buttons than Some Keypads

2009-08-20T06:42:42Z

Razer Naga MMO Gaming Mouse claims to be the first MMO gaming mouse and while we can't really support that claim it might deserve to wear the crown. Packing a 12 key thumb grid that contains 12 programmable buttons to memorize important game functions. The keys and the scroll wheel are both backlit so you can see them in low light situations. Having important functions mapped to your mouse can make for a much more comfortable gaming experience. Each key can be programmed into a profile and unlimited numbers of profiles are possible allowing for each game to have multiple profiles. A slick teflon tracking foot and 5 more traditional buttons make for a total of 17 buttons to map as you see fit.

Buttons aside the Naga is a top notch high performance mouse boasting 5600 DPI and 200 inches per second tracking. Pair this with other top gaming accessories for LAN party cred. Launching worldwide soon for $80 with a matching high definition mouse surface priced separately at $50.
Permanent Link

USB Skull Speakers Probably Perfect for Someone

2009-08-31T03:15:28Z

For some people everyday is Halloween. If that's you, then you may be one of the twenty or so people who will think about buying a pair of these, Screaming USB Skull Speakers. While this might be perfect for Rob Zombie's executive assistant, there's little other appropriate location for them. They do draw all the power they need from USB and should work just fine on PC or Apple based computers.

If the eBook you are looking for on eMule is the Necronomicon, this pair of speakers is ready to belt out your dark soundtrack. Be it Ave Satani from the Omen movies or whatever dark melody that best accompanies your fiendish tasks, pair it with these 8 inch resin brain baring skulls speakers. Probably not capable of truly immersive sound, they should set the stage for any number of popular horror games. Left4Dead, Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark will fit nicely with the theme these speakers set. Pick these up for around $50 plus shipping at uxsight.com. Professional counseling is available elsewhere for an additional charge.
Permanent Link

Journal of FUBAR and Negative Results

2009-07-29T17:57:17Z

Last evening I attended a panel discussion entitled, “Making the Web work for Science” hosted by Science Commons. It was held at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco and moderated by Tim O’Reilly. On the panel were Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia; Stephen Friend, MD, PhD President, CEO and a Co-Founder of Sage; and John Wilbanks, VP of Science at Creative Commons.

While I was hoping more would be discussed on modeling the habits of researchers with web tools, the focus on Open Science was still a good conversation. At one point, Dr. Friend mentioned the need to publish negative results. With the ability to inexpensively self-publish and distribute data on the Web, why then, aren’t we seeing more of this?

Trying to answer from my own experience as a researcher, there are at least three reasons, or rather fears:

Negative results make either you look bad or your model look bad.
The competition will learn what not to do, iterate improvements faster than you, and could end up scooping you.
Negative results do not help you gain tenure or funding. So, why bother with the time involved in the write-up?

For the greater good of science, these points are superficial. As Dr. Friend pointed out, people need to read about negative results, so that the same wheel is not reinvented over and over again. While traditional journals do not have the capacity or resources to include negative results for peer-review and publication, the Web does.

While I was a doctoral candidate I faced this situation. My PI did not want to try to publish some results I had gotten from a project on mouse hematopoietic stem cells and gene therapy. The results were not even entirely negative, but were mild improvements over the existing science. In a thesis committee meeting, I was shocked to hear the response of one of my advisors, a Nobel Laureate, “Publish it. We need that information to build upon it.”

Sadly, those results never did make it into a proper journal, only my dissertation, yet because of the Web, that chapter is now freely available to everyone. I published it on my Mendeley profile. Download the awesomeness .

What about those three fears listed above though?

Negative results do not make you look bad. The key, of course, is that not all of your research is negative, but if you are actively self-archiving your negative results, that will get you recognized in a positive light. You will be considered a contributor to science.
Getting scooped. For one, I am not sure that has been proven (citation anyone?). And in fact, there is evidence to suggest that being open with your data will garner more citations. And in any event, if you are the first to publish the negative results that lead to an eventual positive, the credit and recognition, our incentives as researchers, will be given. The Internet and proper citation of previous (negative or positive) research demands it.
The Web is built such that long write-ups are not necessary. Publish the raw data and the materials and methods. How long does that really take? Then let the community come in to draw conclusions in a “living report.” The Wikipedia style. Small chunks of data are better than none, and perhaps better if it comes out faster. And getting back to fear #1, if you are considered the authority in publishing data on the Web in your field, that is going to get recognized by funding and tenure committees.

The Web is a wide-open frontier for the taking. There are very few experts in any field archiving their negative (or positive) data on the Web for others to annotate. Now would be the time to stake a claim on your piece of the frontier. While some are using Mendeley to do that, others are using PLoS ONE. Whichever outlet you choose, the world needs those FUBAR results.

To learn how Mendeley can help you publish and organize research, go here.

Follow Jason Hoyt, PhD on twitter here.

Estimation

2009-07-20T00:00:00Z

07/17/09 PHD comic: 'Nature vs. Science, pt. 2'

2009-07-19T19:27:44Z

Piled Higher & Deeper by Jorge Cham		www.phdcomics.com

title: "Nature vs. Science, pt. 2" - originally published 7/17/2009 For the latest news in PHD Comics, CLICK HERE!

07/15/09 PHD comic: 'Nature vs. Science, pt. 1'

2009-07-17T10:01:34Z

Piled Higher & Deeper by Jorge Cham		www.phdcomics.com

title: "Nature vs. Science, pt. 1" - originally published 7/15/2009 For the latest news in PHD Comics, CLICK HERE!

Record Breaking Fail

2009-07-08T11:00:45Z

EDITOR’S NOTE: This post is in response to an email FAIL Blog received from an attorney representing Guinness World Records Limited.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thanks for writing us an email regarding the “Record Breaking Fail”. Unfortunately, douchebaggy cyber-bullying emails will only bring upon you more shame on your house. I am also resisting the urge to write this email in ALL CAPS.

I believe it is the duty of FAIL Blog(TM) to call out organizations when they encourage the public to do such things as “Break the record” for the “Most Individuals Killed In A Terrorist Act”. We firmly believe that our publication of your fail is protected under the concepts of fair use, commentary and non-trademark use. Please RTFM and we welcome you to teh interwebs.

Since we at FAIL Blog(TM) don’t have a legal defense department, we have complied with your request to remove the trademarked term and logo from the original image. We have used the “naughty bits filter” on the image to secure your naughty, naughty, trademark assertions. However, we have posted your email so that our audience can see why we had to remove the name of the failer from the image. I hope that this is the outcome you have expected as now NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW THAT GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS LIMITED HAS FAILED.

The full legal response can be read here: icanhaz.com/legalresponse

Cheers,
FAIL Blog

P.S.: This is what we think of your letter.

Picture by: dunno source. Submitted by: Frankie via Fail Uploader

This record has been removed from the Guinness site.

Brain Surgeon

2009-07-04T20:17:02Z

Comedy sketch show starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb.

77 Ultimate Round-Up of Adobe After Effects Tutorials

2009-06-16T19:39:17Z

The Computer Graphics & Digital Motion Industry is once again on its historical growth trend.

When it comes to visual effects and motion graphics, After Effects is usually one of the primary choices to consider. However, the software package itself is a quite hard to learn — and extremely hard to master.

There are many reasons why you should visit these tutorials. With Adobe After Effects you can create compelling motion graphics and blockbuster visual effects with flexible tools that help save you time and deliver unparalleled creative power.

Below, you’ll find some of the Excellent Adobe After Effects Tutorials and Best Practices for your visual effects & motion graphics related needs.

For those, who don’t know what is After Effects? And what it can do? Then follow the link below for detail introduction.

The next generation, representing two decades of excellence. This application contains everything you need to create blockbuster visual effects and high-end motion graphics. For those artists whose work demands more than the basic application, There is a Adobe After Effects out of few available tools to satisfy their every needs that utilizes digital motion graphics. After Effects integrates with other Adobe software titles such as Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Encore, and Flash.

In this presentation, we present to you a Ultimate Round-Up of Excellent Adobe After Effects Tutorials and Best Practices for igniting your creativity.

You may be interested in the following tutorials related articles as well.

Please feel free to join us and you are always welcome to share your thoughts even if you have more reference links related to more tutorials that our readers may like.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS-feed and follow us on Twitter — for recent updates.

Round-Up of Adobe After Effects Tutorials

01. Create Energy Scene

This tutorial shows you how to create animated particles in 3D with multiple instances to create a complex energy scene with CC particle world.

Tutorial Link

02. Create a Sci-Fi Movie Title Sequence

This tutorial covers the creation of a space-like sci-fi title sequence from scratch. Michael shows us how you can easily create a visually interesting and impressive title animation with some simple title cards and text animation. The tutorial uses the Twitch plugin from Video Copilot, though a similar effect could be obtained by manual keyframing.

Tutorial Link

03. Motion Typo Act (French Tutorial)

In This tutorial we will learn to give life to our text, animating each word in a rhythmic animation. you going to learn about how to mastering the tools of text in After Effects, Learn the basics of key images to generate a movement, Learn the basics of key images to generate a movement, Create different compositions to better organize and understand the project, and Add lights, creating a 3D scene, playing with reflections, shadows to simulate a 3rd dimension.

Tutorial Link

04. Create a MoGraph Urban Jungle

n this tutorial Naim Alwan ventures outside of After Effects for a little bit of 3D Match moving to create this stunning Urban Jungle effect where vector graphics are perfectly tracked to some city footage. In day 1 you will learn how to do a track using Boujou (although any match moving software will work for this) and then import and apply that information in After Effects successfully.

Tutorial Link - Part I Part II

05. Shape Colored Layers (French Tutorial)

In this new video tutorial on After Effects, we will discuss Layers of Forms or Shapes Layer, emerged since the version of After Effects CS3.
Very convenient since vector layers have forms of options and effects of specific transformation that we will discover in this tutorial with a practical exercise: achieving a colored background composed of several spheres, all with a single layer shape.

Tutorial Link

06. The Dark Knight

In this 30 minute tutorial you’ll learn techniques and workflow used in Adobe After Effects and Illustrator to create the dramatic effect of the Batman icon shattering apart revealing a bright light source behind. Plug-ins used include Knoll Light Factory, Trapcode Particular and Shine.

Tutorial Link

07. Animated Swirls in Adobe After Effects

Animated swirls are all the rage in the motion graphics world, and there are some pretty cool things that can be done with them. But creating and animating such elements is really not as difficult and time-consuming as it would seem, even if the shapes are detailed and intricate. Bring on the swirls!

Tutorial Link

08. Evolution Preview

Check out the cool Twister Preset and the possibilities in this tutorial which is from the Evolution DVD.

Tutorial Link

09. The Dancing Can

In this series of tutorials you’ll walk step-by-step through various After Effects techniques for creating this spot. This section deals with Puppet Pin tool basics and how to use the cool motion sketch feature to animate to music.

Tutorial Link - Part I Part II Part III Part IV

10. Photoshop and Illustrator for After Effects

This 1 hour recorded e-seminar covers some basic techniques, some little-known techniques and plenty of handy workflow tips for using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator with Adobe After Effects.

Tutorial Link

11. Create Whispy Spirit-like Text

In this tutorial you’ll learn how you can use CC Smear as the basis to create text that appears in as if a spirit whisped into it.

Tutorial Link

12. Keep Your Eye on the Ball

Animating your After Effects design in 3D space is fun and, for the most part, easy to achieve. However, the camera and objects can have their own agendas in some instances, but a few tricks can change a seemingly uncontrollable camera animation into pure, cool cinematography.

Tutorial Link

13. Creating Fire

One of the toughest things to achieve in After Effects is a true feeling of space, environment, and temperature even. One way to infuse your scene with reality is to add light—and not simply a spotlight with a feathered edge and a few shadows here and there, but a realistic light cast from the very essential form of illumination: fire!

Tutorial Link

14. Video Copilot - Ancient Titles

This tutorial teaches you how to create a lighting effect using track mattes, and also how to create an alternative to the same old basic drop shadow. Very cool tutorial chuck full of new techniques for you to try out.

Tutorial Link

15. Futuristic HUD

In This Tutorial you can learn how to Create 3D interface display as seen in Iron Man’s helmet and build self-animating components and artificial lighting.

Tutorial Link

16. Creating a Force Field Effect

In this tutorial, Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how to create a awesome force field effect in Adobe After Effects - with no 3rd-party plug-ins. He’ll also cover some basic color correction techniques.

Tutorial Link

17. Reverse Shatter Effect

Learn how to use Illustrator to break up a layer into pieces. Use expressions to automatically make the pieces move randomly into place.

Tutorial Link

18. Learn How to Create a Light Rays Custom Effect

A custom effects is special kind of preset that looks and behaves like a plugin. It allows you to save a special recipe of plugins and key frames into something that you can reuse with ease.

In this tutorial you can learn how to create the incredibly popular light rays effect and how to package it all into a custom effect.

Tutorial Link

19. Disintegration

In This tutorial you can learn how to use displacement, turbulence and particle world for Building a furious procedural Disintegration effect.

Tutorial Link

20. Creating 3D Cloud Motion From a Still Image

In this tutorial, Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how to take a 2D image of clouds and use it to create realistic 3D cloud motion, in just a few simple clicks. No cutting up of the image needed!

Tutorial Link

21. Creating a Text to Sand Transition

In this episode of Red Giant TV, Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how to use Trapcode Form to create the effect of text (or a logo) dissolving to sand and blowing away. You’ll also learn how to reverse the transition, so that sand forms into text.

Tutorial Link

22. 3D Stroke Effect

In This tutorial you can learn how to use expressions to enhance particle control to animate a thin particle system in 3D space.

Tutorial Link

23. Simple Reflection Techniques

In this tutorial, Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how to create simple reflections on the floor for both individual people and crowds, in Adobe After Effects. As a bonus, you’ll pick up a valuable technique for counteracting some of the issues you may encounter when you have collaps transformations turned on.

Tutorial Link

24. Energetic Titles

In This tutorial you can learn advanced tips and create “3d-looking” titles and how to use Sure Target preset to achieve advanced 3d moves.

Tutorial Link

25. Create a 3D DNA Strain

This tutorial created by AE legend Maltaanon. He kicks things off with this tutorial that makes very clever use of Trapcode’s Form plugin to create something that would normally require a 3D application, but is accomplished entirely within After Effects.

Tutorial Link

26. Fracture Design

In This tutorial you can learn how to use expressions, scripts and create a distressed title to create fracture layers and manipulate in 3D space with ease.

Tutorial Link

27. Trim Paths

In this video tutorial, Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how to use shape layers to easily create that Old-School look where a red dashed line animates over a map to indicate travel destinations.

Tutorial Link

28. Color Grade and Enhance a Horror Shot

Good horror isn’t about over the top effects. It’s about using effects and color correction to create a constant and un-nerving sense of fear, suspense and terror as part of an imaginative and horrifyingly well directed film. In this first part you will learn how to create 2 scenes. First how to take a shot of a mansion and give it an intense and scary look through sky replacement and color correction. Second we will take a shot of a stone gargoyle face and create a subtle yet creepy effect in which it frowns evilly at an oncoming victim.

Tutorial Link

29. DVD Authoring

In This tutorial you can learn how to use Encore to build buttons and loop menus and create In This tutorial you can learn how to use.

Tutorial Link

30. Earth Zoom

In This tutorial you can learn how to use masking and parenting to link imagery to create a cosmic Earth zoom in AE.

Tutorial Link

31. More Techniques for Better Light Wraps

In this tutorial, Aharon Rabinowitz continues his exploration of Light Wraps, focusing on improving Maltaannon’s free light wraping method (ceLightwrap), as well as covering a light wrapping technique for emergency situations.

Tutorial Link

32. Growing 3D Vines

Do you think you know all about creating 3D vines? Well think again. Watch this amazing tutorial to learn how I did it using only After Effects.

Tutorial Link

33. Child Tracking

In this video tutorial, Creative COW contributing editor Carl Larsen shows you how to track the position of a parented layer using expressions in Adobe After Effects.

Tutorial Link - Part I Part II

34. Audio to Animation

In This tutorial you can learn how to use particular to generate custom “waveform to convert music amplitude to drive particle animation

Tutorial Link

35. Ink Bleeding Effect (Like Gnarls)

In This tutorial you can learn how to use Alpha and Luma Mattes in After Effects also Frame by Frame animation using CS3’s Illustrator, Photoshop, and After Effects to create Ink Bleeding Effect.

Tutorial Link

36. Animating Spray Paint and Stencil Effect

in this tutorial you can learn how to create a spray paint effect using After Effects. It’s a fairly simple process but you can learn few tricks that you may not have thought of.

Tutorial Link

37. The Ring

In This tutorial you can learn how to use valueAtTime expression to automate over time to build a silver ring in After Effects with a particle wipe.

Tutorial Link

38. Blowing Flowers

It’s a great video tutorial where you can see how to create flower trails using Trapcode Particular in this special holiday episode. You’ll also work with the light emitter and use 3D layer to obscure particles.

Tutorial Link

39. Building and animating a CGSnake

Build your first chain-based rig in After Effects. Find out how flexible this technique is and how you can turn the rig into a snake.

Tutorial Link

40. Create an Elegantly Handwritten Text Reveal

In this tutorial you will learn how to animate a handwritten text sequence with ink bleeding through the paper to create an elegant old-world style title reveal.

Tutorial Link

41. Create a TV bumper

This tutorial will allow you to develop a deeper understanding about mattes, and how they can be used to apply texture and transparency to your layers in After Effects, by putting together a five-second television bumper in Adobe After Effects.

Tutorial Link

42. Create a crafty tilt-and-shift effect

Tilt-and-shift lenses allow the photographer to assign a narrow plane of focus within their image. These lenses focus on a single part of a photo or footage and shift (blur) the surrounding area to create an optical illusion that makes scenes appear as if they’re actually miniature models. In this tutorial you can learn how to fake the tilt-and-shift look using a static image.

Tutorial Link

43. Car Light Trails

In this tutorial you will learn how to create car light trail effect in After Effects

Tutorial Link

44. Adjustment Lights

In this After Effects tutorial, Eran Stern teaches you how to control the scattering of light in a composition using adjustment light. Eran creates a 3D world of dancing actors with realistic lights and shadows for a fictional show called ‘Born to Dance’.

Tutorial Link

45. Create a Breathtakingly Awesome Rain Scene

In this massive 2 part tutorial inspired by the work of Pierre Michel, Alex Verlan shows us how to create the dramatic slow motion rain drops falling scene entirely within After Effects.

Tutorial Link - Part I Part II

46. Watch Zoom

Very exciting tutorial about how to zoom into a real watch by designing rusty watch machinery in photoshop to export into After Effects

Tutorial Link

47. Create a Split-Flap Type Display

Split-Flap-What? It’s the term used for displays that are found in train stations and airports, where they typically display departure and/or arrival information and do that cool flipping of letters to display the new information.

This tutorial does not show how to create the effect from scratch but instead it is a tutorial to explain how to use the project file.

Tutorial Link

48. Forging Fire

This tutorial will show you how to forging fire using AE and create a smashing effect.

Tutorial Link

49. Create Lottery Balls with Particular

In this tutorial Tony Agliata demonstrates how simple expressions can generate multiple custom particles in Particular to create an animation of bouncing, floating Ping Pong balls–similar to a those in a lottery drawing.

Tutorial Link

50. DVD motion menu design

In this tutorial, Angie Taylor shows how to put Adobe After Effects and Photoshop to work to create a DVD menu design. The example she uses here was originally created for a DVD of the pioneering all-girl punk bank The Slits.

Tutorial Link

51. Advanced Car Hit

In this tutorial you can learn how to create a realistic vehicle collision with body damage and you can also discover keying tips, the puppet tool and much more.

Tutorial Link

52. Flip Style Animation

This tutorial will show you how to use key features of AE to create a flip style animation.

Tutorial Link

53. Impact

This tutorial shows you a simple yet very powerful method of explosion in which you can learn how to explode objects in contact in after effects.

Tutorial Link

54. Soul Removal

Learn how to add facial distortion and handy expressions to create energy particle system in After Effects.

Tutorial Link

55. Build a Car Racing scene from Photographs

In this AE tutorial you can learn how to create a car racing scene by go through the process of making a stylized scene of cars racing down a road towards camera

Tutorial Link - Part I Part II

56. Heart Rate Monitor

Create heart rate monitor in After Effects with particular and learn how to control the postion of particles with separate xyz.

Tutorial Link

57. Adding Smoke Effects

Using some stock smoke elements (possibly the one provided for the last tutorial) and some basic pictures cut out in Photoshop, you can create a create a cool simple title screen with minimal work.

Tutorial Link

58. Creating a Transporter Effect

In this very entertaining tutorial, Eran Stern takes you through the steps to recreate the transporter effects seen in the new Star Trek movie. This tutorial uses Trapcode Particular, Knoll Light Factory, MBLooks, and Key Correct Pro. You can get all these plugins as trials at the RGTV website.

Tutorial Link

59. The Tunnel

A quick technique of creating a cool futuristic tunnel in After Effects using effects like CC Cylinder, CC Vector Blurr, Fractal Noise etc.

Tutorial Link

60. Create Your Own “Private Ryan” Movie Shot

You don’t have to be Steven Spielberg, you don’t need millions of dollars, you don’t even need more than one actor to make your own war movie (well, one shot anyway). In this two day tutorial series, Michal Jagiello will show you how to create a realistic war movie shot using only one actor and a camera man.

Tutorial Link - Part I Part II

61. Create an Ethereal Morphing Letter Canvas

Once in a while a new (or in this case very rarely used) technique appears on the scene and suddenly you start seeing it everywhere. Well we have a feeling that this is going to be one of those. In this tutorial Satya Meka shows us how to use the built-in radio waves plugin to create an incredibly beautiful and ethereal animation of morphing letters.

Tutorial Link

62. Stabilize Shaky Footage

Learn advanced techniques about how to stabilizing footage in AE while dealing with composite realistic smoke behind vehicle with paticular.

Tutorial Link

63. Puppet Animation

You cannot find many tutorials on using the puppet tool, so a lot of us forget how versatile the tool really can be. In this last one from Dave, he show us how he make a worm inch across the floor, with its antennas moving and some clever lighting to make everything really pop.

Tutorial Link

64. Create an Illuminating “Light Painting” Effect

This effect is loosely based off the traditional method of shooting still photographs with a slow exposure to capture the motion path of a light. This tutorial is filled with many small tips and tricks for Adobe After Effects to enhance the average user’s knowledge and speed up their workflow.

Tutorial Link

65. Create a Stormy, Electric Type Reveal

This tutorial gives a different twist on how to use the powerful form plugin. Learn how to use it to create a mysterious and electric type reveal.

Tutorial Link

66. Create an Underwater Scene

In this tutorial you will learn some good fundamentals on how to create a type reveal with an interesting background and environment. You will learn how to use all built-in tools and plugins to create a faux underwater scene complete with a bubbly type reveal. Simple.

Tutorial Link

67. Kung Fu Energy Ball

In this new tutorial Nick takes you through the steps of creating an energy ball with the Particle Filter in Adobe After Effects.

Using a layer of smoke, blurs, color correction and some masking techniques, Nick shows you how to create the energy ball, give it a burning hot spot, animate it to fly towards the camera and reflect off the nearby fence.

Tutorial Link

68. Skin Displacement

Learn how to use displacement mapping and color correction to simulate the look of bugs crawling under the skin.

Tutorial Link

69. Cinematic Opening Title Redux

In this 2 part tutorial we revisit the Cinematic Opening concept with an homage to all of you, our readers, by enshrining all of the comments left on the site in a “ready for Hollywood” delivery. It features a clever use of freely available scripts and expressions to create what would normally be a very complicated and time-consuming animation. The tutorial will be split into 2 days with a total of over 80 minutes of training.

Tutorial Link - Part I Part II

70. Flying Typos to an explosion of letters (French Tutorial)

In this new video tutorial on After Effects, we show how to use the famous plugin Trapcode particular issue for hundreds of typographical letters in 3D space, and play with layers of shapes and patterns to tweak with colors and effects create an atmosphere.

Tutorial Link

71. Animation of text and particulate (French Tutorial)

This tutorial shows you how to animate a camera around a text, the floating in a world of colored particles, all in sync with your music.

Tutorial Link

72. The Blue Planet in 3D

Learn How to use simple expressions to CC sphere plug-in to add 3D control to earth inside After Effects.

Tutorial Link

73. Create an Animated Homage to Bruce Lee

In this tutorial Markus walks us through the creation of a video accompaniment to Bruce Lee’s ‘Be Water’ philosophy. It features vibrant motion typographic sub-titles, animated illustrations and clever camera techniques. The training will be split over 3 days for a total of 71 minutes of tutorial video.

Tutorial Link - Part I Part II Part III

74. 3D cylinders with videos and photos in After Effects (French Tutorial)

In this free video tutorial on After Effects, we will learn to create 3D cylinders consist of multiple videos. This technique is also valid for a cylinder of photo.

Tutorial Link

75. Create a Futuristic Floating Hologram Effect

This tutorial will show you how to make a futuristic floating hologram over a cellphone. The techniques included here will help you understand how to track one object to another. The final result is something that may make your indie science-fiction film look better or it may just inspire you to create something new.

Tutorial Link

76. Design Rhythmic Motion Typography in After Effects

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to create animated typography synchronized with musical events (lyrics). You’ll learn how to fit your typography to a rhythm, add dynamic animations and use the camera and motion blur to create a high-end final effect. This tutorial showcases a technique that is highly sought after in motion graphics today.

Tutorial Link

77. How to Create Glowing Elegant Lines

In this tutorial you’ll be creating elegant glowing lines using shape layers within After Effects. We’ll create a few basic arc layers and then stylize them by using the find edges effect, glows, and blending modes. I enjoy this technique and you can easily adapt this concept to many different shapes to create some stunning looks.

Tutorial Link

Further Resources to More After Effects Tutorials

Find Something Missing?

While compiling this list, it’s always a possibility that we missed some other great tutorials. Feel free to share it with us.

Load Your Wii Games from a Hard Disk, Part II [Weekend Project]

2009-06-06T23:00:00Z

Last week we shared a great hack to let you back up and play your Wii games from an external hard drive. That hack has been made easier by eliminating the need for a Wii downgrade.

Why would you want to play your games off a hard disk? Wii games cost anywhere from $20-50, while an external hard drive that can hold all your Wii games—assuming you don't already have one on hand—costs $100 or less. Backing up your games to an external hard drive attached to your Wii costs less than the replacing two premium games, and has the added benefit of loading your games radically faster.

Last week we shared a Wii backup tutorial, put together by Lifehacker reader Mike. With a newer Wii or an upgraded your dashboard, the process involved quite a bit of tinkering and downgrading your dashboard. Mike sent us an updated guide that's easy to follow and has very detailed step-by-step instructions for enabling the hack on Wii consoles sporting the new 4.0 dashboard. All you need for the hack is a Wii you don't mind mucking around in, a blank SD card, an external USB 2.0 hard drive that will be totally dedicated for the project, and a handful of software tools freely available online. Check out Mike's excellent and updated tutorial at the link below for more details. Thanks Mike!

How to Store/Load Wii Games via USB Hard Drive on System Menu 4.0

Set Up a High Speed Photography Studio in Your Garage [Photography]

2009-06-13T23:00:00Z

Many a photography enthusiast has assumed the equipment necessary is far too expensive for quality high speed photography captures. A high speed capture studio on the cheap can be had with this handy guide.

There are a few challenges to capturing rapidly occurring events. Whether you're trying to freeze a bullet passing through a piece of fruit, a pin popping a balloon, or a light bulb shattering, you need to be able to capture an event occurring within a thousandth of a second or less. Actual high speed photography rigs are quite pricey, but you can easily emulate more expensive rigs with a standard DSLR by a little creative cheating.

To work around the problems with shutter lag and flash synchronization, the exposure is done in a completely dark room. This way the shutter can opened without actually getting an exposure. The exposure time set on the camera just has to be long enough for the action to happen while the shutter is still open. Because the room is dark, the long exposure time will not have any effect on the final output (this is because no light enters the lens to hit the sensor / film) To actually get an "exposure", a flash is fired. The flash light duration will now become the actual exposure time.

Since nobody has the kind of lightning quick reflexes it would take to push the shutter cable right when the event was occurring, there is a work-around for that too.

Check out the full tutorial below for information on creating a sound based trigger for your flash to sync the event with the flash going off. Whenever the balloon goes pop, the fruit goes smoosh, or the glass begins to shatter, the DIY sensor will pick up the noise and fire the flash—capturing your moment of high speed destruction for posterity. If DIY isn't your thing, especially when it comes to electronics tinkering, there is a commercial version of the sound sensor available. If you've experimented with high speed photography or other cool DIY feats of photography, share your wizardry in the comments below.

DIY High Speed Photography at Home [Digital Photography School]

InfoGraphic Designs: Overview, Examples and Best Practices

2009-06-06T21:27:45Z

Information graphics or infographics are visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics are used where complex information needs to be explained quickly and clearly, such as in signs, maps, journalism, technical writing, and education. They are also used extensively as tools by computer scientists, mathematicians, and statisticians to ease the process of developing and communicating conceptual information.

They can present a rich amount of information without intimidating you. Or sometimes they intimidate you, but make the digesting of the information much more bearable. Here in this article below, we are going to discuss best practices for designing infographics followed by some examples which might help you learn a thing or two.

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What is InfoGraphics?

Infographics are traditionally viewed as visual elements such as signs, charts, maps, or diagrams that aid comprehension of a given text-based content. Often more powerful than words or imagery alone, infographics utilize visual elements of design and words to convey a message in such a way that context, meaning and understanding are transcended to the observer in a manner not previously experienced. However, visual representation of information can be more than just the manner in which we are able to record what has been discovered by other means. They have the potential to become the process by which we can discern new meaning and discover new knowledge. The observer becomes enlighten, having learned from the visual feast and is motivated to seek out more knowledge in this medium.

Since the days of the fire evolution, we’ve been using infographics, as visual shorthand to convey information to the viewer or readers that might take paragraphs or pages to explain in words. It’s not easy to represent the whole story in one single page or paragraph but it’s far more effective then reading entire book. There are number of infographics out there on every street. Infect, we interact with infographics on a daily basis, from the stick figure telling us when to cross the street, to icons in a web navigation designs.

Little History of InfoGraphics!

In prehistory, early humans created the first information graphics: cave paintings, later maps and now charts. Throughout most of this history, image and text have remained inextricably mixed. Later map-making began several millennia before writing, and the map from around 7500 BCE. After that icons were used to keep records of cattle and stock. The Indians of Mesoamerica used imagery to depict the journeys of past generations. Illegible on their own, they served as a supportive element to memory and storytelling.

Wow… That’s enough for history unless you really want to get die with boredom. Let’s move further.

Why Using InfoGraphics?

Because “A picture is worth a thousand words”. Information graphics can be done for several reasons. Along with them we can highlight the following important ones to enlighten the mystery.

To transmit or communicate a message.
To present large amounts of information in a compact and easy to understand way.
To reveal the data. Discovering cause-effect relations, knowing what’s happening.
To periodically monitor the evolution of certain parameters.

Elements of Information Graphics

There are many theories available by which you can identify number of entities that can be considered as the elements of infographics but the basic and key material of an information graphic is the data, information, or knowledge that the graphic presents with limited resources. However, In the case of data, the creator may make use of automated tools such as graphing software to represent the data in the form of lines, boxes, arrows, and various symbols and pictograms. The information graphic might also feature a key which defines the visual elements in plain English. A scale and labels are also common.

Type of InfoGraphics

There are many types of InfoGraphics available out there. Many information graphics are specialized forms of depiction that represent their content in sophisticated and often abstract ways. In order to interpret the meaning of these graphics appropriately, the viewer requires a suitable level of understanding. In many cases, the required understanding involves comprehension skills that are learned rather than innate. At a fundamental level, the skills of decoding individual graphic signs and symbols must be acquired before sense can be made of information graphic as a whole. However, knowledge of the conventions for distributing and arranging these individual components is also necessary for the building of understanding. Here we are conceding some major type of InfoGraphics to understand its usability.

01. Statistical Based InfoGraphics

Information graphics are visual devices intended to communicate complex information quickly and clearly. The devices include charts, diagrams, graphs, tables, maps and lists. Among the most common devices are horizontal bar charts, vertical column charts, and round or oval pie charts, that can summarize a lot of statistical information. Diagrams can be used to show how a system works, and may be an organizational chart that shows lines of authority, or a systems flowchart that shows sequential movement. Illustrated graphics use images to related data. The snapshots features used every day by USA Today are good examples of this technique. Tables are commonly used and may contain lots of numbers. Modern interactive maps and bulleted numbers are also infographics devices.

02. TimeLine Based InfoGraphics

Timelines are another type of infographics uses where visual representation of information and events that happen over time. A timeline is the presentation of a chronological sequence of events along a drawn line that enables a viewer to understand temporal relationships quickly. Sometimes it is also referred to chronology that is in tabular, year-by-year paragraphs, or other form.

03. Process Based InfoGraphics

These types usually can be seen in workspaces of factory or offices. You can also catch them in cooking magazines which shows their recipes using graphics. Have you ever wonder why most of the food products have InfoGraphics instead of detailed procedure at the back side of their cover or box. Out of many there is one important reason is to give you understanding about its uses in limited space. Using images to related data it can produce a good example of particular process so it’s easy to understand.

04. Location or Geography Based InfoGraphics

It’s the most common type of infographics which you can find everywhere starting from your school map to complicated astronomical graphs. City and country maps can also consider as a good example of geography based infographics. These types of graphics include symbols, icons, diagrams, graphs, tables, arrows and bullets. You must be remember that there are many types lines (parallel, dotted, straight) used in maps to define subways, streets, highways, and railway tracks. Also many symbols and icons used for specific landmark like school, church, hospital, bank etc. scale is the important parameter here as everything marked according to particular scale or ratio.

How to Create InfoGraphics?

Three main Questions needs to be answered before start making any information graphics which is Why?, How?, Does it Work? Making good information graphic consist of facilitating the understanding of complexity, instead of complicating what is simple. And this cannot be achieved without the clear understanding of what goal we pursue, who our audience is and a good deal of work and reflection.

Question 1: Why?

It’s the most important question out of three that why you want to create InfoGraphics? What is it for? What is the goal? Is it for research, for discovery, Or for monitoring the data?

If you can able of answer these queries then only you can able to collect the relevant data. This determines the type of relative data to gather and about which we have to ask what type it has to be (quantitative, sequential, categorical, analytical etc.) and more importantly: are they relevant for what we want?

Question 2: How?

If you done with “why?” part then you need to think about How you going to refine your data and in what way we will represent the data. A fundamental aspect of this section is that information graphics are interesting because they reveal differences. For this reason refining them and representing the data derived from their statistical treatment often reveals aspects that otherwise would result confusing which often leads to wrong conclusions.

Once data is refined now you have to choose the most effective visual metaphor. Mostly, for a little data, a table or even a sentence can be clearer that a chart. In certain occasions changing the color palette or the type of chart can clarify the situation enormously.

Question 2: Does it work?

Now this is a critical section where you have to identify if the outcome is fit the goal or not. if it doesn’t fit the goal that we have defined in the first step, we will have failed and again start with first step. There is no documented rule which says how to verify your results but after thoroughly answering all three questions you must able to judge if the result is favorable or not. The key resides in revising and experimenting with what we have done until we find an improvement.

Selection of Colors, Typography

A perfect layout, a good selection and nice resource can produce a creative output. Layout, textures and typography are used more often than one may think but the outcome of different combination can result verity of designs. Professionalism is built upon knowledge and experience. Typography is one of the most important key aspects of any design project. Among other things, effective typography always manages to achieve some of the important objectives of projects like corporate identity, attractiveness of the project, enrichment of visual appearance, trust and interest of viewers etc. Also it’s helps you to represent the bound emotions of your graphics.

Varying the colors, reducing the saturation of what is less important and increasing it for the most relevant data, modifying the typography, the size of fonts, eliminating everything that doesn’t contribute to showing and clarifying the data (irrelevant grids, redundant data, and unnecessary labels) without losing relevant information sometimes provides surprisingly improved results.

Some Examples and Best Practices

Resource Link Worth Mentioning

Info Graphics Flickr Pool
InfoVis Flickr Pool
Infografia | Infographics Flickr Pool
Infographics News Flickr Pool
Coolinfographics.blogspot.com

Find Something Missing?

While compiling this list, it’s always a possibility that we missed some other great resources. Feel free to share it with us.

ooo-ii: The Design of the Star Trek Movie Information Displays

2009-06-05T06:51:43Z

After having watched the Star Trek movie in the Sydney IMAX theatre (and almost getting a neck strain desperately looking for the miniscule USS Enterprise in some of ultra-wide shots), one has to admire the incredibly designed information panels on the bridge. I was not surprised to learn that the company behind its execution, OOOiii [ooo-ii.com], was also responsible for the gesture-like interfaces in Minority Report and The Island.

On a technical level, the live visual effects office OOOii created a complete Flash / ActionScript 3 framework for compositing and sequencing various effects that was used live on the set during filming. An AIR application was used for authoring the various sequences and also to control them as the actors manipulated them. The resulting architecture thatutilized many computers, dynamic content rendering, and broadcasted meta data, to create what appears to be a contiguous world into which all of the screens act as windows. It also means that the man who converted his studio flat into a replica Star Trek spaceship probably saw this coming when he sold his apartment last year.

Still interested? You can explore a 360 degrees rendering of the bridge on the OOOii website, admire the original concept art from James Clyne, or watch an interesting interview with the creators.

The new Star Trek: 'Bad Astronomy' writer assesses its accuracy

2009-05-11T20:06:43Z

If you haven't seen the new Star Trek movie, it's highly recommended — we just saw it last night and thought it was the best Star Trek movie yet. But was it scientifically accurate? Phil "Bad Astronomy" Plait is also a big Trek fan, and was crazy about the movie, writing that he "loved it."

He notes several scientific inaccuracies, and applauds parts of the movie that finally get space conditions right. Our favorite accuracy: a short sequence where a crew person is blown away from a starship, into the complete and utter silence of space. No whooshing, no explosions, just complete silence.

Haunting stuff. We haven't seen that kind of accuracy since 2001: A Space Odyssey. Take a look at Plait's other astute observations, but look out — if you haven't seen the movie, there are spoilers within.

Via TrekMovie

Robot Hall of Fame expands to include Da Vinci, Terminator, Roomba

2009-05-11T14:34:00Z

Forget those "sporting" Halls of Fame -- the real HOF is right here. Since 2003, the Robot Hall of Fame has been honoring robots and creators at an exhibit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and now we're seeing the latest handful of noteworthy creatures take their rightful place in history. For those unaware, the Robot HOF is maintained by Carnegie Mellon University and the Carnegie Science Center, and an international jury of researchers, writers, and designers has just selected five new bots to join the cast: Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, the T-800 Terminator (yes, that Terminator), the Da Vinci surgical system, iRobot's Roomba and 'Huey, Dewey, and Louie' from the 1972 sci-fi flick Silent Running. Could you have imagined a more fitting five? If so, sound off below!

Filed under: Robots

Robot Hall of Fame expands to include Da Vinci, Terminator, Roomba originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 May 2009 09:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple Bans RSS Reader Due To Bad Word In Feed Link

2009-06-03T05:57:00Z

btempleton writes "It all started when I prepared yet another Downfall subtitle parody. In this one, Hitler is the studio head, upset at all the Downfall parodies, and he wants to do DMCA takedowns on them all. (If you're a DMCA/DRM fighting Slashdotter, you'll like it.) The EFF, which I chair, blogged it on Deeplinks, and hilarity ensued. That weekend, Exact Magic, an iPhone developer, had submitted a special RSS reader app to display EFF news on the iPhone. Apple's iPhone app store evaluators looked at the RSS reader, read the feed it pointed to, and then played the linked-to video. They saw the F-word flash in the subtitles of the video, and then rejected the RSS-reading tool from the App Store. We're up to several levels of meta here — Apple has banned an app over a parody about banning, and is now parodying itself. Bonus: TFA also has the story of just how hard it is to be fully legal in obtaining the famous clip for parody."

North Korea Secrets Uncovered In Google Earth by Amateur Spies [Maps]

2009-06-03T14:10:00Z

On April 4 2007, Curtis Melvin—a PhD student at George Mason University—decided to start the "North Korea Uncovered" project. Two years later it became the definitive reference for the country's secrets, thanks to an army of amateur spies.

Curtis describes the project like this:

This Google Earth project offers an extensive mapping of North Korea's economic, cultural, political, and military infrastructures. Through the topic menu, users of this program have easy access to geographical information on North Korea's agriculture projects, aviation facilities, communications, hospitals, hotels, energy infrastructure, financial services, leisure destinations, manufacturing facilities, markets, mines, religious locations, restaurants, schools, and transportation infrastructure. In addition to locations of economic interest, this map also displays anti-aircraft locations, the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and Northern Line Limit Line (NLL), incarceration facilities, political monuments, political residencies, military bases, and nuclear facilities.

As you can see, it really includes everything you can think about, from nuclear power plants to military communication towers to ostrich farms to not-secret-anymore prison camps. And of course, all surrounded by all kind of crap and poverty, all courtesy of Kim Jong-il, one of the biggest asses in the history of evil dictators.

How did Curtis get all this info? Easy—and risky: Using his own trips and a network of curious amateur spies who have been visiting the country through these two years. Truly impressive work. [Get it here via Gadling—Thanks Genevieve]