Toolfarm Inspirations Archive

The 2010 version? Very nice motion graphics work.

Labels: 2D, Infographic, Typography

Labels: Documentary

This Swedish film looks really interesting. The full film is on YouTube too. I read that Peder Norrby/Trapcode are thanked in the credits!

A nicely animated infographic piece on Cloud Computing, sent to me by Simon Owens.

I am a huge fan of the Finn's (Neil Finn from Crowded House, Split Enz and his brother Tim Finn). This is Liam Finn, the son of Neil and nephew of Tim and he has inherited the musical super talent gene.

This video is pretty cool with different angles of video next to each other and super saturated colors. Sometimes there are interesting lines or other elements composited over the video. I really dig the video and the song. It's a couple of years old but he has a new album that is out. Great stuff.

Alone (Egyedül) from Kickass Factory on Vimeo.

Labels: 2D, Film Short

This is pretty amazing and apparently, it's REAL, not put together in an edit suite. Color me impressed!

Brand New Conference from justin katz on Vimeo.

This was produced for the Brand New Conference in NYC on 11/5/2010 | Music added for vimeo: “Afternoon Sister” by Air | Thanks to Armin Vit for letting me do this.

From the Red Giant Blog: "Here at Red Giant, we were both intrigued and impressed, so we asked Justin to share how he made it happen.

Here’s his very detailed breakdown of his impressive work:

The Brand New Conference animations were done entirely with AE CS5 and Trapcode Particular 2. Minor prep work to split apart the logotype was done in Illustrator CS5.

It’s a very simple animation, but took several hours of just fiddling with controls in particular and experimenting to get something similar to what was in my minds eye. I also spent a long time with color correction techniques with standard AE effects."

Read the Full Project Breakdown at Red Giant's Red Room Blog

Download a Free Trial of Particular and Follow Along

Learn More/Purchase Trapcode Particular

"I had a clear vision of what I wanted to do as I approached the project. The client was clear that they did not want a narrative, but just “something cool” to play during the dead time between speakers and over the breaks. I always try and give my work some type of meaning so I interpreted “Brand New” as the organic life cycle of a brand. It is born and grows, but soon reaches a point of equilibrium where it stays – until the brand is refreshed (which is what the Brand New website focuses on) and thus new life is brought it and it can reach new heights, costumers, and potential." Read the Full Project Breakdown

Labels: "Making Of", After Effects, Experimental, Film Short, Interview

A lovely piece from Justin Katz, created for the Brand New Conference in NYC on 11/5/2010. Made with After Effects and Trapcode Particular 2.

Brand New Conference from justin katz on Vimeo.

Labels: Experimental

GR30K was done in my hometown of Grand Rapids and is an effects heavy film. Daniel Falicki, editor and effects guy, used NewBlueFX cartooner throughout the film. It was edited on Sony Vegas. It premiered in GR a couple of weeks ago at the Thriller! Chiller! Festival. Wow, what an undertaking! A lot of the humor will not be understood outside of Grand Rapids, but if you know about Amway and the Calder and other local landmarks, companies, and people, it's hilarious!

Nice visual effects in this video from Tim Finn which came out in 2006, but somehow I completely missed. Tim was a founder of one of my favorite bands ever, Split Enz, and also worked on Crowded House's third album Woodface. I'm a bit of a mega Finn fan (mainly brother Neil, but I have love for Tim as well).

I digress, this video is a lot of fun and whimsical with a lot layers and reminiscent of Six Months in a Leaky Boat, with the nautical theme. I love the underwater scenes.

Floating in Space does some great work! Check out some of their incredible creations.

Pretty.... Trapcode Particular is in use.

Runner's Poem from FLOATING IN SPACE on Vimeo.

Here's a station ID and a completely different style. I just love it!

GOGO NO TENKI GOKORO from FLOATING IN SPACE on Vimeo.

And here is some pretty darn impressive compositing.

The Urban Orchestra from FLOATING IN SPACE on Vimeo.

Labels: 3D, Experimental, Television

Nice effects.

Winner Best Motion Graphics 2010: TRIANGLE by Onur Senturk



"TRIANGLE is a video work done for the book 'Black Material' which showcases Robert Knoke's artwork. Curator Jens Karlson asked me to make a short animation and get Robert Knoke's black and white artwork as base for video. I chosed to create tense harmony between geometrical forms and organic movements. Combustion helped me to expand possibilites of Black material with his strong music and sound design."

TF: What is your background? Did you always work as a motion graphics artist or did you start out doing something different? Did you receive formal training or are you self-taught?

I got traditional painting courses when I was in high school later on, got traditional animation courses in college. I mainly learned animation basics and cell animation there. Also little bit introduction some of my favorite softwares which I am using right now. As you know, In collage there is always room for trial and error. So, I was experimenting different techniques and various styles in animation.

After finishing college, I have done many motion graphics for Turkey market. I have to admit I am not really fan of what I have done in past though. However, I think even the worst experiences are still experiences. As a newcomer, they guided me to find my way.



TF: What programs do you use? Do you use any third party plugins or additional software?

I use mainly 3dsmax also use C4d sometimes. I use AE for compositing. I think third party plug-ins what makes AE a more powerful tool and they fill the gaps. I use Optical Flares and Tinderbox plug-ins for AE. I use MAX2AE to catch missing interaction between 3dsmax and AE. I also use realflow for fluid dynamics.

I am paying attention to support software developers and third party plugin developers as much as I can. Their contributions are enormous to art, animation and motion graphics. I can guess how hard to build these tools, which are makes our jobs easier, look better and the most importantly saves big amount of time.



TF: Do you have a particular style you like to stick to or do you experiment depending on the project? Do people approach you with a "Hey I really like the style of your previous work" and ask for similar ideas due to your portfolio?

I never want to embrace a style or a particular approach in my projects. I think a designer/artist should re-discover what he/she has done before and has to come up again another surprising piece of work every time.

Yes. I am receiving lots of emails about my work sometimes I forget reply some of them. Btw, I mostly get my new jobs ' I like your previous work.' approach. Clients love a particular work and want me to create something like I have done before. Mostly, I prefer to convince them to produce another strange piece.



TF: Your work is an interesting mix of organic movements and textures with geometrical shapes. How do you approach movement and sound in your projects?

Thank you. I love to add a touch of reality to all of my works. I think that approach brings these geometrical shapes and weird animations close to viewer.
I think Imperfection what makes everything life like and creating the magic in my works. When you look at objects real close you can see how perfection and imperfection get along each other. I am trying portray this in my stuff.

For Sound part, I work closely with sound designers. I send my work in early test animation stage to earn more time in production process and create more free playground for everyone. I think sound designers are really interesting and mysterious people they hear silent noises from the visuals. They put their expertise on projects and make something really interesting in the end.



TF: What inspires you? Do you have other artists you admire, do you find inspiration in nature, architecture, films?

Honestly, early avant-garde cinema has a big influence on me. Art cinema of 20, 30's. It is very bold and raw in nature. Expanding boundaries of cinema its aim is to simply to make viewers mind upside down. I am trying to catch the same feeling in my works too.

Other than this, Nature is always a great source for inspiration. While waiting renders, I frequently visit portals like ffffound, butdoesitfloat, fubiz, strange attractor, flylyf, typedesk, ventilate, notcot, behance.



TF: Do you tend to work on your own or within a creative group? Do you prefer one over the other?

I guess both has its on advantages and disadvantages. If you are on your own you always have more freedom on execution and there is no one to argue or convince other than yourself. If you are within a team you have some responsibilities for your team members and only sharing a part of responsibility.

For now, I prefer to work alone. Which is a bit hard I have to admit. You have to design, direct, produce, animate, composite and reply mails.

TF: What advice would you give to those starting out in the industry?

I extremely suggest, watching lots of tutorials, seeing lots of art, understanding of aesthetics, respect others work and they have to judge/ criticize their work fair and honestly.

Apart from all this above, the most important thing is time. When you are taking someone's(viewer) time, At least you have to give something instead.

TF: What do you think will be the future of the motion graphics industry, considering the economy? Will there be less studios, more freelancers, more collaboration, or a resurgence of smaller studios?

I think it is a bit early for me to answer this.However, everything is quite affordable and much easier comparing 5 or10 years ago. There is no doubt there will be many motion designers in future. But For me it is hard to guess more studios or designers.

TF:Thank you Onur for taking the time out for this interview!

Thanks toolfarm for support and this nice interview!

Labels: 3D, Interview, vimeo awards

Fun stop motion with the clouds and planes. This is why I love music videos... this one is like a strange little experimental film.

Looks like a very interesting documentary and the trailer shows a lot of uses of plug-ins. I'm going to venture and say Boris Continuum Complete BCC TV Damage and Film Damage for the first part.

Video art by Erik Natzke... Music by edIT. Really cool.

Wired NextFest... (Process) 2 from Erik Natzke on Vimeo.

Labels: Experimental

Nice timelapse video from the former singer of Sigur Ros. The motion graphics and video art behind him are really interesting at high speed. Film by Henry Jun Wah Lee and Kim Reid.

jónsi: Concert Timelapse at The Wiltern Theatre from Henry Jun Wah Lee on Vimeo.

Labels: Music Video, timelapse