Super Slow Motion Tutorial

We have always loved the super-slow motion scenes of Quicksilver in the X-Men films. A lot of creators have attempted to create their own version of the effect, we thought it was past due for us to try the same. Check out our results and the tutorial below!

We used a variety of practical effects, like moving hand-held lights on the subject (2:58) and an office chair to make it appear as though he was actually running on the walls (5:07) but the VFX are where things really came together!

The debris effects were done in Element3D inside of After Effects. We cloned many of these and randomized the rotation to really add in the destructive feel.

Download the debris effects here 

The explosion effect used some of our awesome fireball effects

If you want to see how we built out the fireball in more detail Pro Users can download that Project File Here

Overall we thought it came out great! What do you think?

Want to learn more? Check out this great tutorial for compositing Helicopters

Download 5 Action Music Tracks!

We love our action scenes! The pacing of the edit, the looseness of the shooting and of course the music to drive the sequences make them some of the more fun projects to work on. SoundsCrate.com is a great place to find your action music.

Our Action Category on SoundsCrate has been a consistently used section for many of our videos. So much so that we have started to re-use many of the same tracks. It was past due for us to spice things up!

The fantastic composers at Suite Tracks built us (and all of you) 5 new and amazing action tracks. These were made specifically to fit in a variety of films and videos. Our previous action tracks often leaned towards darker tones, while these new ones work well in comedy-action, training sequences and less-threatening but still intense scenes.

 

War Beat (Free)

Drums pound out excitement and trick your heart rate into trying to keep up in this awesome track. The start hits fast but the build up takes it’s time, ending in a crescendo that will leave you breathless.

 

No Warriors Here (Pro)

There is a playful, almost goofy vibe generated by this song. It evokes a sense of the 1940’s or 50’s, the war is just beginning and newspaper headlines splash across the screen!

 

Digital Distress (Pro)

This track maintains it’s synthetic texture while incorporating some classical instruments. It can work well in the Thriller Category  about as well as it works in the Action. Whatever is going on in your scene, it’s definitely not good. This can be used well in anything from a modern-superhero movie to an all out Cyborg vs. Vampires flick.

 

Conquest (Pro)

As the name suggests, this track is great for adventure. Well timed-bells signal the unifying of armies while violins keep pace with galloping hoofbeats of   the last remaining scout. This track is all build up, no crescendo, giving you the room to play around as needed.

 

Endless (Free)

Another track that would fit in well in our  Thriller Category , Endless keeps you on the edge of your seat while finding time to slow or speed things up without losing your attention.

 

Enjoy these tracks! Looking for more? See our other Music Posts Here!

Download Tank VFX Assets

Download HD Tank VFX Assets Here

Our hugely requested and highly anticipated tank effects have rolled in!

We love seeing tanks and huge military battles in movies. This is why we’re now giving you control of over 30 unique and exciting elements to bring mayhem to your action film without the huge price tag!

Aiming, rolling, turning and even firing are all included in this huge collection, meaning you can combine these in your timeline to create an entire army of these tanks.

Our effects are all pre-keyed with an alpha channel, meaning you can easily insert these into a shot instantly without any extra hassle.

Download HD Tank VFX Assets

We’ve also created different lighting variations, so whether your shot is sunny or overcast, our assets will have you covered.

For those who want to go to war with these effects, we’ve created impactful tank firing shots from several different angles.

Download HD Tank VFX Assets

You can order these different effects so that you can create a realistic narrative, such as having a tank rolling up to the camera, aiming, and then firing… The possibilities are limitless!

We hope you enjoy using these tank effects in your projects. If you’d like to expand your arsenal, check out our action-packed helicopter VFX assets.

New High Resolution Sky Textures

Sky Replacement requires both work and the right ingredients. Keying out the sky is the first step, a nice blue sky will provide you with an easy key, or enough contrast between the sky and the foreground elements will let you pull a luma-matte. Whatever technique you go with, you’ll still need to have the right image for your new sky. That’s where our latest assets to GraphicsCrate come in.

With over 20 new High Resolution Sky Textures, we’ve got you covered. Sunsets, stormy weather, bright blues and those classic white clouds are all available. Never leave your videos with boring skies ever again!

The ultra-high resolution images are available for our Pro Users. Free users can download preview images, with enough resolution for 720p video.

 

 

Download Studio HDRI Maps

Download HD studio HDRI environment maps here

Whether you’re needing to show off a product in a stylish way, or you just want some beautiful lighting for your renders, ProductionCrate has you covered!

We’ve built out a huge collection of professional studio HDRI maps, all built with quality in mind.

Download Studio HDRI Environment Maps Here

Our environment maps are up to 8K in resolution, meaning you’ll have as much detail as you’ll ever need to render out perfectly crisp shadows and sharp reflections. Our collection features strobes, soft lighting, intense lighting and other various setups for every scenario you may face.

We’ve ensured that our images have a true high dynamic range so that you’ll be able to adjust the exposure in a nearly infinite range of values and still maintain consistent quality.

These are compatible with almost every rendering engine including Vray, Octane and Redshift.

Click and drag the image below to preview one of our HDRI scenes

HDRI imagery is used widely in the CG industry to help create photorealistic 3D renders. While standard 8-bit images can contain 256 different values for each colour channel, 32-bit imagery can contain 16,777,216! This huge leap allows our HDRI imageries data to contain the difference in light intensities between the darkest and brightest part of our studio environment maps.

Download Studio HDRI Environment Maps Here

We’re excited to see what you build with these high-quality studio environment maps!

If you’re interested in even more great content, take a look at our natural sky HDRI environment maps here.

Animated Hand Gestures – Extension for After Effects

Pro Users can download this awesome Hand Gestures Extension here for Mac and Windows

(Mac is the .dmg installer, Windows is the .exe)

This extension comes with 50 Animated Hand Gestures, compatible in AE CC

 

If this is the first extension you have downloaded from ProductionCrate, a warning message may pop up. Your OS just wants to confirm it is standard and safe (it is!)

 

 

The installer is built in, so simply double click and follow the installation guide.

 

 

The Crate’s Hand Gestures extension is built in with your needs in mind. Toggle through over 50 different animated hand gestures to find the one that is right for you.

 

 

We have options for phone screens, thumb swipes, finger taps and so much more!

 

 

Customize the skin color and sleeve color of your animated hand, flip the X and/or Y, and choose whether or not to have the motion shapes enabled.

 

Lastly, simply select the dimensions you want from the 3 most popular and hit Create! Just like that you have saved yourself hours of tedious labor.

 

 

 

If you want to use one of the many Phone Screen options simply create new compositions (File > New Composition) and make sure the settings for the dimensions are 615×1040 to fit perfectly into our animated phone screens.

 

Depending on how many swipes in your selected animation you will be able to choose 2-3 screens.

 

Follow the same steps as before and generate! You can toggle the Shy switch for more control, if you want to make any adjustments to the animation. Jump into your phone screen comps and adjust the timing if needed.

 

This is perfect for all your explainer videos, promos and commercial content. Enjoy!

 

Want to see our other Scripts and Extensions? Check these out

Water Swell SFX

Stylized, magical, dreamlike and unique, these new Water Swell Sound Effects are a must-have for your audio armory.

We used them recently in our Water Bending VFX Tutorial

There are over 20 in total, Pro Users can download the entire collection here

These are wonderful for sound designing your motion graphics projects or adding some zest to your VFX shots. Don’t limit yourself when you use these assets. We have used them for lava, space-scenes and title sequences!

Looking for more Sound Effects? Check out our Magic SFX Here

 

Monthly Crate Update & January 2019 Contest

What an awesome month! We announce the final winner of 2018 and the last trophy we are going to give out. Check out all the awesome content and the new 2019 contest below.

Enter the Contest Here

Find the Water Swell Sound FX Here

See all of our New Years VFX

Find the new Money Effects Here

Check out the Emoji’s