Smartphones and other Wi-Fi enabled devices send radio signals called probe frames to locate nearby wireless networks, which makes them easy to track by listening for their unique MAC address. To show how this kind of tracking works, we can program a NodeMCU in Arduino to snif ...more
Update 10/23: The hits just keep on coming. We're now seeing reports of a "smearing" effect when scrolling through apps on the Pixel XL 2. We'll expand on that at the bottom of this article, but it's still worth reading the background information on issues with LG's new POLED ...more
Google just released the second developer preview of the Android 8.1 update for Nexus and Pixel devices, and even though it's just a point-one release, there are lots of cool changes. Before you run off to join the Android beta program and try the new version, it's worth readi ...more
It's an ongoing saga, and it's on the verge of ruining one of the most anticipated smartphone releases this year: LG's new POLED displays certainly seem to have a few issues. But the biggest issue of them all — an apparent susceptibility to screen burn-in — may not be the prob ...more
To promote Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Disney and Lucasfilm released virtual porgs into the wilds of Snapchat via a Sponsored Lens on Sunday. The Lens placed a porg in your personal space via the rear-facing camera. Using the front-facing camera, the Lens also equipped users wi ...more
You may or may not have heard the term "greebles" or "kit-bashing" before, but if not, they may sound like nonsense. Particularly 'greebles', which sounds more like the name of a small, gremlin-like creature. However, I assure you that they are very important in prop-making, a ...more
MyFitnessPal adjusts your calorie goal for the day according to your activity level. The more active you tell the app you are, the more calories it tells you to consume — simple, right? Unfortunately, MFP doesn't tell you to consume fewer calories when you don't work out. Howe ...more
Android comprises an entire ecosystem of apps, games, functions, and features, so it would only make sense that it has its own lexicon. Words, phrases, and acronyms that didn't exist ten years ago are now used in an off-the-cuff style by developers and support technicians acro ...more
Learn how to use the Houdini SOP solver to create a realistic burning match effect within Houdini 10. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, y ...more
There are a lot of videos out there that offer instructions for creating all sorts of fake wounds. Most of them, however, focus on cuts and gashes rather than that other devious and action-packed type of wound: the burn. This three-part video features detailed instructions for ...more
In this video, Israel Hyman demonstrates the “Ken Burns Effect.” Using this technique, you can use still photos to add interesting effects to your videos. It’s dead simple to do in iMovie, but Final Cut Pro works just as well!
Running over someone's head or burying them alive so that they can rise from the grave are dangerous, and not worth using in filmmaking generally speaking. But yay, there are special effects! Watch this video for a guide to running over someone's head with a car or burying the ...more
No matter how desperate they are for work, most actors will not let you crush their heads for your film. The potential for career development afterwards would be limited. This video will teach you how to crush a head with special effects for a film and then how to use three-po ...more
In this clip, Sin City's Visual Effects Supervisor, Stu Maschwitz, shows you how to get the Summer Blockbuster look seen in Transformers 2, Terminator: Salvation, and The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 using Magic Bullet Colorista & Magic Bullet Looks within Adobe After Effects. Wheth ...more
Start with Adobe After Effects. Decide what you want your intro to look like. Then follow along with this tutorial, which shows you how to use the various tools in After Effects to create a short yet effective intro clip.
Alien invaders are a constant threat, so it is important that filmmakers continue their long tradition of making educational films like Independence Day to ensure that we know what to do when the invasion comes. If you want to make aliens films yourself, watch this video for t ...more
The shrink ray as always been one of the oddest and least-useful sci-fi guns, but alien invaders seem to love them and so we'll keep seeing them. If you want to use a shrink ray in a film you're working on, watch this video. It will teach you how to first make a generic ray / ...more
Can't help but love that visual, who knows how much longer this possibility will be around. The film gets jammed in the gate, the intense heat of the bulb begins to melt the celluloid. This short has amazing sound design and any film lover will dig it.
Using the Digi Effects plugin "Aged Film" in After Effects, learn how to take your digital footage and turn it into a Super 8mm looking reel. Author Oliver Mellan, shows step-by-step how to create that faux grainy look to make your 21st century film look as deep & rich as any ...more
In this tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how to create the coveted Film Flash transition in After Effects, without the use of any 3rd-party plug-ins. Create the Film Flash transition in After Effects. Click through to watch this video on creativecow.net
For all you artists who can't get enough fire in your layout designs, this tutorial will teach you how to create a burning bevel effect in Adobe Photoshop. Create a burning bevel effect in Photoshop. Click through to watch this video on artcone.com
In this video tutorial, we learn how to create film title treatments with Knoll Light Factory within Adobe After Effects. Whether you're new to Adobe's popular motion graphics and compositing software or a seasoned video professional just looking to better acquaint yourself wi ...more
If you need some sound effects for your upcoming film, you better watch this video! After principle photography in production, you have to get into the editing process in post-porduction, which leads to sound department for ADR, Foley, Sound Effects and Sound Design. If you ca ...more
This tutorial shows you how to take your architectural renderings in Adobe After Effects and give them a 35mm film look. Even better, this tutorial uses only the basic program - no plugins or extra add ons to worry about.
Check out this video from Chemical Reaction Tutorials (CRTutorials). If you love filmmaking, prop making, editing and everything else that goes along with making movies, then you'll want to see what Adam has to say about cloning. Adam explains how to create a clone effect in ...more
Check this video to learn how to make DIY squib special effects for your film.
In this tutorial, we learn how to cut your friends in half with film effects. To do this, you will need an actor, a still frame of blood, and some gory looking meat. Have your wounded actor lay on the floor with another actor laying next to him. Then, have them all leave the f ...more
Filmmakers beware... or more importantly, cinematographers beware... boring setups and unpleasing camera tricks can ruin a movie. Check out this helpful video tip from Focal Point Technologies on how to use zoom and dolly effects in your film. Whether you're a cinematographer ...more
In this tutorial, we learn how to simulate teleportation w/ film effects & camera tricks. First, take a shot of your actors moving and doing something active. Then, take a shot of the frame without the actors. After this, go frame by frame masking the actors out of each of the ...more
First open up the image by clicking on photo button or just drag the image from finder to the project area. Now click on the crop button or just press the c button, you will see a green and a red area in your picture. Now set the red area to where you want to zoom in and green ...more
Looking for a quick overview of how to take advantage of the AE presets included with Vintage Film for Looks? Look no further. Whether you're new to Adobe's popular motion graphics and compositing software or a seasoned video professional just looking to better acquaint yourse ...more
You can take a piece of completely modern digital footage and give it an aged, antique feel! You will need the Aged Film plugin for Adobe After Effects, which lets you create the sepia tone and flickering, variable speed look of antique film clips.
Take a thoroughly modern clip of digital film, and then send it back in time! This tutorial shows you how to use the Aged Film plugin for Adobe After Effects to make your clip look like it comes stright from the 1970s.
Let's try the Ken Burns effect. First Google photo story 3 and download the second link and install it. Now open photo story 3, select a new story and import pictures. Then click customize motion under preview and determine the start and end position. When done customizing, cl ...more
Use this method to make a glowing, burning flower similar to the glowing tomato. Makes a cool trick to impress your friends.
Sure, there are a lot of videos out there that will teach you how to make burning letters or icy letters in Photoshop. But how many will teach you this? This video will show you how to make letters in Photoshop that look like glass, forming a window to the background behind th ...more
Windows Movie Maker is the PC's answer to iMovie. It is a user friendly, relatively easy way to create and edit movies. Follow this tutorial and get to know your Windows Movie Maker better. In this lesson, learn how to add and edit audio for your films. By playing with the aud ...more
Zombies. That's the first thing that comes to mind when I see footage of a once heavily populated area turned completely desolate. Either that or you stumbled across a Ke$ha concert...BURN. Popular television shows like "The Walking Dead" and big-budget movies like 28 Days La ...more
Typography is an important aspect of the video editing process. You deal with it when adding captions to news clips, giving on-screen recipes in food videos, creating burned-in subtitles for short films, making no-sound-needed videos for social media, and so much more. Enlight ...more
Collodion—it's one of those things that you probably never heard of before, but have actually come across many times in life. It's used for all kinds of applications, from photography to special effects, and it even has a few medical uses. So, what exactly is collodion? Photo ...more
Certain ingredients that a professional chef might work with in a restaurant-style setting may seem bizarre, dangerous, and even downright scary to a home cook, and for good reason. One of these examples is lye. Yes, that's lye, the alkaline base used to make soap, dissolve h ...more
So, you scratched up your $500 Adobe CD and now it's unreadable. You could go buy a new one, but you already purchased it! Searching The Pirate Bay and downloading some Adobe software can usually be easy enough, but what should you watch out for? And what about your movies? W ...more
In this article, I'll show you how to build a coil gun. A coil gun is a device that fires magnetic projectiles at high velocities, using electricity. Coil guns require no explosive propellant, therefor can be fired an infinite amount of time, providing that there is ammunition ...more
I have owned quite the plethora of electronics in my life. A commonality between most of these devices' screens is frozen or dead pixels. This is probably the most annoying thing about buying new hardware—your LCD, or worse, LED display has one or more pixels that continues to ...more
There are seemingly endless photography apps for the iPhone—it is perhaps one of the most popular arenas for application developers. We've covered a few in Giveaway Tuesdays, but nothing comprehensive. We would be remiss to omit the two most popular frontrunners—Hipstamatic ( ...more
In most cases, when you create a movie project in iMovie for iPhone, you're starting with just a few media clips. There's no reason to select every photo or video at once, and that's likely a hard task anyway. Adding additional media footage to your movie project couldn't be a ...more
Perhaps one of the greatest embodiments of urban exploration lies in a disturbing and volatile mental health facility in Massachusetts, and its story starts with... Thomas Story Kirkbride. It's a name not many people know, unless you're a psychiatrist, or perhaps even an arch ...more
In 1965, the world was a different place. There was no Google yet. Or Yahoo. Or Stumbleupon, for that matter. In 1965, the year of your birth, the top selling movie was The Sound of Music. People buying the popcorn in the cinema lobby had glazing eyes when looking at the pos ...more
Stories are everywhere in social media today, but that wasn't always the case. In 2013, Snapchat introduced the world to these temporary windows into our daily lives. Since then, stories have infiltrated other popular apps. However, to stand out, you can't solely rely on the a ...more
"I'm Rey." That's what a lot of people will be saying again this Halloween, as Rey costumes are sure to be another favorite of trick-or-treaters and cosplayers. Yes, on Oct. 31 we all have a chance to be the scavenger of Jakku who just so happens to be the "new hope" for a Jed ...more
Two slices of whole-wheat toast with lots of butter. Two eggs, poached to a firm yet custardy texture. The yolks should absolutely not be hard-cooked and the whites should be tender, not rubbery. That's my idea of the perfect breakfast. A golden, runny-but-not-liquid yolk, cre ...more
The year 2020 was a pivotal span of time during which the word "virtual" took on a brand new meaning. Instead of referring to VR or augmented reality, the term was hijacked to describe meeting across long distances through a variety of software tools, most often through video. ...more
You're lost. You're cold, thirsty— you're hungry. What if you're not much of a hunter? Maybe you're a gatherer. So, then you'll eat plants. But what if you eat something poisonous? What if you're allergic to it? Okay, so not many people will find themselves in a situati ...more
Eating fire is a guaranteed method of not only impressing an entire room, but also instantly settling any questions as to whether or not you're a complete and total stone cold BAD ASS. When you can casually whip this trick out in a bar, you're not only going to get your drinks ...more
Once you've reached an age where sparklers are no longer fun, it's time to upgrade to science and steel wool. It may be basic chemistry, but as you'll see in the video, simplicity can amaze more than complexity, as well as create some really impressive fireworks that are perfe ...more
I feel sorry for all of you homeowners stuck in snow right now. The snowy, blizzard conditions effecting most of the country is causing some serious headaches across our nation. And it's not just the cold weather I'm talking about. I'm talking about ice dams— something that mo ...more
Fire. It’s everywhere— always has been. From the Ordovician Period where the first fossil record of fire appears to the present day everyday uses of the Holocene. Today, we abundantly create flames (intentionally or unintentionally) in power plants, extractive metallurgy, i ...more
The dolly zoom shot is also known as the Vertigo Effect in filming. It's that dizzying, slightly unstable camera effect you see in shows like "Glee" and sometimes "The Office." It creates audience confusion, thus forcing them to keep watching in interest. This type of shot is ...more
In this video tutorial, Creative Cow leader Michael Park shows you how to achieve that classic introduction to all of the James Bond films using only basic After Effects plugins. Creative Cow is a support community for digital video, video editing, and media production profes ...more