Quba HQ

New tutorials coming, no more project files

Hello everyone! Just another update on the state of things regarding new QubaHQ tutorials. As you can guess I have good news and bad news for you (and double good news for myself). Let’s start with the good ones.

New tutorials are on the way. This weekend I am planning to release a new text animator based preset, once again using After Effects’ built-in tools in an unexpected way. Originally I planned to release this preset as a part of larger, paid content, but after careful deliberation decided to throw you all another cool freebie. Follow my twitter for the updates on recording and release. Hopefully this time Camtasia will behave better than on the last recording session.

Now for the bad good other news: I have decided to stop including project files with my tutorials. There are multiple reasons for this decision, so let me just list a few.

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imago Reel 2010

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s address change, I am happy to present you with the latest reel of imago studios, closing down year 2010. Not much to talk about here – press play, sit back and enjoy.

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Work, work…

It’s been quite silent out here at Quba HQ for a while now. That does not mean it is silent at imago, at all. I am currently finishing up two new ads, waiting for a new rig to arrive and getting ready to resume producing new tutorials for you all. It will still take a while longer before I am done with all the work, but once it is over I promised myself to put aside more time to devote to the site.

Meanwhile, while still under NDA, I thought I would share a bit of the madness with you. Here’s a wireframe mode screenshot from the scene I am working on now. 400 layers in this monstrosity, not counting complex pre-comps :)

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Şölen: Bayram

This project was definitely one for the books. We were asked to create a 23 second ad for Şölen – a Turkish candy and chocolate company. We were given three weeks to produce a set of three videos (each for different product line) and the general guidelines regarding the current style used by the client’s ads this season.

With the storyboards approved, we contacted Onur Senturk, whom you might know from his independent pieces such as Nokta or TRI▲NGLE. Onur took care of animating the ribbons, while I did the colors, particles, light fx and all that extra shiny-sparkly stuff. Leo Burnett – agency for this project – provided us with the 3D renders of the products and the audio track.

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Yo dawg, I heard you like compositing charts…

I usually like to build my compositions vertically, placing most of the data in a single timeline. It works most of the time, although sometimes results in skyscraper monstrosities like the nearly 1000 layer project I talked about a while back.

The ad I am working on right now required a different approach. I had to create pre-comps of pre-comps of pre-comps of some more pre-comps, constantly burying and digging up various elements. A timeline screenshot would not do it much justice, so I decided to share with you the flowchart view of the project.

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The State of Things

I guess it is not too hard to notice that June is gone and I have managed to cover only half of the tutorial content from the trailer. Unfortunately, you will have to be patient for a little while longer.

It’s been raining projects here, and I literally don’t have any free time left to work on the site. This is likely to continue for a few more weeks, so naturally the Automated Light Array and Procedural Disintegration tutorials have been delayed until sometime later this Summer.

Be sure that the moment I catch a moment to breathe I will record the next video, but for now you just have to check the site regularly to see if that moment has come. Until then – enjoy the Summer, or go around the site and try out all these new shiny Facebook Like buttons. If you feel particularly generous, there is also a nice rounded yellow button on the right side you may want to try.

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Volumetric Clouds in After Effects? Yes We Can!

This is just a little teaser snapshot of the After Effects timeline of the latest project I am currently working on. The NDA prohibits me from sharing too many details with you, but I can disclose the fact that I decided to make some volumetric clouds in a software completely unfit for this purpose.

Not the smartest idea, but hell, if it can be done – why not.

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Bici Bee #106: Outsourcing

This summer Bici will work smarter, not harder.

Bici Bee #105: Bici Lost in After Effects

It’s been quite a while since the last update to the comic. I’ve been insanely busy with work, and had absolutely no spare time to spend on Bici’s adventures.

Things seem to be calming down now, so hopefully you should get your fix of silly more frequently, again.