Homemade Special Effects

Have you ever wondered how all of the blood and dust that flies from wounds and bullet holes in Hollywood films gets shot through the air so convincingly? The answer is a pneumatic dust system. This video will show you how to make one yourself for almost no money, allowing you ...more

A green screen lets you add any sort of background to your movie in post-production. Part of a successful green screen shot is properly lighting your set so you can easily add the special effects later. Teach your camera crew these tips for your next film!

Ever wonder how to create movie magic right in your own home? This video shows you step by step everything you need to know and do to create the green screen effect, from properly setting up your green screen, to lighting it, as well as your subjects for a successful effect. F ...more

Make sure and watch this episode as we tackle another heavily requested effect... making someone look blown in half! Jam packed with cheap special effects, Frisbee fun, and a Test Film guest directed by Maniacal Rage!

Marilyn Wilken, professor of Ceramics at Olivette Nazarrine University, Bourbonais, IL, talks about glazing techniques, the different types and applications of glazing pottery, special effects used on pottery, as well as showing you some good and bad examples of each. Part 1 o ...more

If you've seen Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, you'll know one of the greatest special effects of the film is where Mola Ram rips the heart out of someone's chest. In this episode of Backyard FX, Erik recreates that effect with the help of his family members. Don't forge ...more

Watch this video to learn how to use glove molding systems. Glove molding systems are ideal for working on medium and large projects, this process involves creating a thin layer of flexible material and backing it up with a stronger, rigid material.This process can be used in ...more

Check out this video for creating a one piece mold using a repro laminating system. This is a professional video not for beginners. The repro laminating system is ideal for working on medium-sized projects, this process is easier, faster, and more economical than the epoxy lam ...more

Check out this video to learn how to make a professional epoxy fiberglass layup and epoxy laminating systems. This process is ideal for working on larger projects, a typical 'fiberglass layup' is a popular process for those who need a large, strong, and lightweight tool.This p ...more

This video covers creating a detailed professional surface cast mold for creating mechanical parts. Ideal for working on medium-sized projects, this process of pouring a high quality material around a lower quality core creates a highly accurate, yet economical part. This proc ...more

This excellent detailed video demonstrates how to create rigid molds with a fast cast urethane. Ideal for smaller models/molds with a flat side, fast-cast urethanes are widely used for their ease of use, low cost, and quick de-mold times. However, their use requires careful ap ...more

This video illustrates in great detail how to create a perfect urethane rubber mold. Urethane Rubber molds are widely used when a flexible mold material is required and a more expensive or less abrasion-resistant silicone rubber is not desired. However, their use requires care ...more

Check out this video for how to create simple one piece silicone rubber molds. This technique is ideal for smaller projects (less than 12" x 12"), this is the easiest process for creating parts, patterns, tools, & molds. We demonstrate creating a silicone rubber mold and then ...more

This is an excellent video that covers creating a clear silicone rubber mold to deal with a complex parting line or irregular shape. When a project requires a complex parting line, it is often easier to pour the entire mold in one process with clear rubber, then cut your parti ...more

Special effects is swell, especially when it utilizes the wonderful ubiquity of wax and bubble gum to make wounds look unbelievably believable. Ewww gun shot wounds.

Want to dress up like Rihanna for Halloween? Okay, we're totally kidding, but you should watch this special effects makeup tutorial if you're looking to wear a costume that requires facial scarring and bruising this Hallowen. Whether you're dressing up as assasination-friendl ...more

Okay you saw the super-detailed reproduction of Freddy Krueger's clawed glove, now complete the Freddy costume with this "burning" makeup tutorial. In celebration of the return of "A Nightmare On Elm Street", starring Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Krueger, Indy Mogul's BFX brou ...more

Freddy's Alive! No, it's not the next part of the Nightmare On Elm Street series, it's the new remake coming out in a theater near you. And in celebration of the return of "A Nightmare On Elm Street", starring Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Krueger, Indy Mogul's BFX made this gr ...more

Modern Warfare 2 Look Ma Two Hands Trophy Guide Video. The Akimbo weapons in two hands and the trophy associates the guide during rushing in bomb squad and the gun has 10 rounds after that press and hold a control key for a new automatic weapon. The Akimbo hand guns really pre ...more

The Video On Demand highlights how amazing backgrounds are inserted behind characters and will show you how to composite video so your characters can seamlessly move in front of these images. Computer generated video objects may be superimposed over a background video image so ...more

Being able to create documents that stand out and impress is the theme of this how-to video on creating 3D text. Using an open Photoshop window, the pleasant sounding narrator guides you through the process of turning regular text into 3D. The narrator also supplies helpful ti ...more

Check out this video to learn how to use the paste laminating system and three part mold-making techniques. This is an advanced process that is not for beginners. This process is for working on medium to large projects, this is a labor-saving process for those who need a large ...more

Check out this detailed video that covers how to mass cast an object with no flat sides. This video is only for very experienced mold makers or the particularly ambitious. When mass casting a part without a flat side, you must create a two-part mold. We create a two-part silic ...more

This Photoshop software tutorial shows you how to add lightning effects to a monster castle scene in Photoshop CS3. ZAP! Remove the background behind lightning and flame images so you can add special Layer Effects, and avoid Blending Modes when necessary. Whatever your lightni ...more

Want to learn how you can make some awesome YouTube videos of your own? Maybe your own Internet show or maybe even a short indie film... well, one way to make things easy is a green screen. This two-part video tutorial will show you how to make your own green screen studio and ...more

You can create basic 2D games with Objective C and the frameworks that the Apple iPhone already has, but the cocos2d framework allows developers to make their games much better, with animations, sprites, cool menus, special effects and more! Most game developers for the iPhone ...more

If you've ever wanted to make an even slightly fantasy-flavored film, you've probably wanted to make one of your characters fly. Unless you're working with a bird or some really crazy rigging, you're going to need to make this special effect happen in After Effects, or whateve ...more

X-Ray vision is one of the most memorable of Superman's many distinctive powers (he was so unfairly strong wasn't he?) and one that would be very useful to modern spies and voyeurs. This video will show you how to create an X-Ray vision special effect for your movie using Afte ...more

Have you taken a photo that's perfect in just about every sense other than one? Like, for instance, that picture of you and your newly minted husband dancing at your wedding reception with your husband's drunken brother getting freaky with one of the waitresses on the side? O ...more

In this video tutorial, Creative Cow leader Michael Park shows you how to create a realistic 3d earth, complete with clouds and atmosphere, using only After Effects' built in effects. Special attention will be given to combining multiple instances of the CC Sphere effect to cr ...more

In this video tutorial, Creative Cow contributing editor Eran Stern demonstrates how you can create the illusion of time bending with a special focus on the correct way of using the CC Time Blend FX in After Effects. Blend and bend time in After Effects. Click through to watch ...more

In this video tutorial, CreativeCOW leader, Eran Stern demonstrates 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. Creative Cow is a support community for di ...more

In this video tutorial, Creative COW contributing editor Carl Larsen shows you how to create a whip pan (swish pan) effect using Adobe After Effects built in tools. Creative Cow is a support community for digital video, video editing, and media production professionals in bro ...more

In this episode, Chief Engineer Eran Stern works furiously to get his Starship's transporters back on-line to rescue a fellow crew member trapped on a hostile planet. But time is running out. Will Eran be able to build the transporter in After Effects in time? Creative Cow is ...more

In this Boris FX video tutorial we show you how to employ the power of vertex shaders to warp, deform and even explode 3D extruded text using Adobe After Effects and the new 3D Objects from Boris Continuum Complete 6 AE. Creative Cow is a support community for digital video, ...more

DV video is prone to jaggy edges and compression artifacts. BCC 6 AE's new DV Fixer will greatly improve the look of your clip without sacrificing image detail or quality. Watch how it's done inside Adobe After Effects CS4. Creative Cow is a support community for digital vide ...more

In this tutorial, Creative Cow contributing editor Carl Larsen shows you how to approach a 2.5D rig removal shot using Photoshop, After Effects and the Mocha AE tracker. Creative Cow is a support community for digital video, video editing, and media production professionals i ...more

In this two part video tutorial, Eran Stern reveals the first text trick in his series and shows how to design an audio waves animation with the After Effects Text Tool. In part 2, Eran Stern explains how to design a Counting Circle Animation with the After Effects Text Tool. ...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

In this tutorial, Creative Cow contributing editor Carl Larsen shows you how to use the Pixel Bender Toolkit to create a recursive image set in Adobe After Effects CS4. Creative Cow is a support community for digital video, video editing, and media production professionals in ...more

In this video tutorial, Creative Cow contributing editor Grant Swanson demonstrates a quick, easy and very high quality bleach bypass effect right inside of After Effects. Understand what the term refers to and how to simulate it in the digital intermediate process or on digit ...more

The guys at Indy Mogul teach you how to recreate some of the special FX from The Exorcist for under $40. Included are the possession makeup, the spinning head, and the green, projectile vomit.

Do you need that special human touch to your special fx? Indy Mogul's Mike Johnson shows you how to make ballistics gels to create flesh and gore effects for your films.

In this episode of Red Giant TV, Aharon Rabinowitz will show you a technique for placing layers inside the middle of a particle system in After Effects - crucial to truly integrating your CGI effects with your live action footage or motion graphics. Creative Cow is a support ...more

In this video tutorial, Eran Stern demonstrate the creation of 3D shadows with After Effects built-in filters and compares it to the functions of RG shadow plug-in. Creative Cow is a support community for digital video, video editing, and media production professionals in bro ...more

Quite honestly we're sick of getting storebought Christmas cards. Not that we don't appreciate them - many are pretty and well-written, it's just that we have received copycats in the past and they're too mass-produced to maintain any sort of special quality. If you're a gal ...more

In this Episode, Rob Birnholz shows you a great technique for quickly creating a 3D picture montage with Trapcode Particular. It takes just minutes to set up, but can save you hours of work. Creative Cow is a support community for digital video, video editing, and media produ ...more

In this episode of Red Giant TV, Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how 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. Creative Cow is a support community for digital video, ...more

In this video tutorial, CreativeCOW leader, Eran Stern demonstrates using paint strokes brushes to automatically morph between path shapes. Creative Cow is a support community for digital video, video editing, and media production professionals in broadcasting, motion graphic ...more

In this 2 part video tutorial, Eran Stern shows you the first step to create a retro design title animation for a fictional sci-fi movie. In Part 2, CreativeCOW leader, Eran Stern takes the next step in the science fiction classic and finalizes the promo by projecting graphic ...more

In this Red Giant tutorial, Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how to create a realistic traffic pattern backdrop - great for a scene in which the camera overlooks a low lying, but developed area - perhaps looking down from a high hill onto a residential neighborhood. Creative Cow i ...more

In this video tutorial, Creative Cow leader Tony Ross demonstrates how to create a simple multi-video player in Flash using Actionscript 2. Also learn to have several videos use a single flv player. Creative Cow is a support community for digital video, video editing, and med ...more

In this Apple Color tutorial, Richard Harrington along with color expert Robbie Carman create the Pleasantville effect in Apple Color. Using the secondary curves, specifically the saturation curve, to isolate just the yellow in a taxi cab everything else in the video clip can ...more

This two part episode shows you how to use Trapcode Form to create a dramatic transition where footage breaks into binary code, and re-forms as different footage. In Part 2, Aharon shows you how to improve on and finish the binary transition project by working with Time Remap ...more

In this Episode, you will learn how to set up a seamless looping particle system. We will be using Trapcode Particular and Starglow to create a stylized holiday snowstorm, but the concepts can be adapted for anything from backgrounds to lower 3rds. Creative Cow is a support c ...more

In this Boris FX video tutorial we show you how to use an After Effects mask to define custom extrusion curves as well as the baseline for text characters in Boris Continuum Complete's Extruded Text filter. Creative Cow is a support community for digital video, video editing, ...more

In this tutorial, Richard Harrington uses the patch tool and healing brush tools to teach patching, healing and the vanishing point in Adobe Photoshop. Creative Cow is a support community for digital video, video editing, and media production professionals in broadcasting, mo ...more

In this Photoshop tutorial, Richard Harrington shows how to perform depth of field blurring techniques using the lens blur feature in Adobe Photoshop CS4. Creative Cow is a support community for digital video, video editing, and media production professionals in broadcasting, ...more

In this Final Cut Tutorial, Richard Harrington shows you how to clean up the Final Cut application when it starts acting up with bugs or other problems. Many times this can be caused by a corrupt preferences file or other user settings related to Final Cut Studio. These tips a ...more