<html><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div>I encourage you to research this if it is of interest to you. I am personally unaware of any free or open source VFX compositing packages at present. (That does not mean than one does not exist of course. In fact, I'd be rather surprised if one didn't.)</div><div><br></div><div>It may be worth noting that my expertise lays chiefly with After Effects. I've used other compositing apps, but AE is where I've spent the bulk of my time over the past thirteen years. It's where I'm a gunslinger.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.231373); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.231373); "></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.231373); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.231373);"><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.231373); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.231373); ">I could, of course, teach an application-agnostic VFX compositing class, focusing more on basic comping operations and theory, but such a class doesn't nearly take full advantage of my skills, and the same information could be acquired by most Noisebridgers (who are generally smarter than the average bear) by spending a few nights with any one of the several excellent intro to compositing texts that are available.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.231373); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.231373);"><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.231373); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.231373);">This class, at least as currently envisioned, arose largely in response to a number of Noisebridgers who've been asking me to teach them about AE specifically. And, unavoidably, much of what such a class would have to contain would need to be AE-specific.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.231373); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.231373);"><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.231373); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.231373);">I should say that I have absolutely nothing against free or open source options. And I certainly welcome users of any package to attend my class; I will endeavor to make as much of the lesson content as possible broadly applicible, and support people in achieving successful photo-real composites in whatever package they choose. Tool agnosticism is a very useful skill for a working compositors, and I encourage all my students to practice it.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.231373); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.231373);"><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.231373); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.231373);">Lastly, it may be of use to note that Adobe offers a full version of AE CS4 on their site as a free download with a 30 day trial. That may be enough for non owners of AE to accomplish a fair bit in this class before making a purchase decision.</span></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br><br>[Sent from a mobile device, with apologies for brevity]</div><div><br>On Mar 25, 2009, at 11:45 AM, William Heath <<a href="mailto:wgheath@gmail.com">wgheath@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div>Aaron,<div><br></div><div>Can you pretty please respond to the use of free tools like blender for this. Is that realistic or not?</div><div><br></div><div>-Tim<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 1:13 AM, Star St.Germain <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:thisisstar@gmail.com"><a href="mailto:thisisstar@gmail.com">thisisstar@gmail.com</a></a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">I am very into this idea & would show up in the proposed timeslot if things could work out with the scienceyfolks.<br>
<br><3<br>Star<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 3:40 PM, Aaron Muszalski <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:sfslim@gmail.com" target="_blank"><a href="mailto:sfslim@gmail.com">sfslim@gmail.com</a></a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left:1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex;padding-left:1ex"><div>On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 3:09 PM, Rachel McConnell <<a href="mailto:rachel@xtreme.com" target="_blank"><a href="mailto:rachel@xtreme.com">rachel@xtreme.com</a></a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
> This is a fairly new event so it's hard to say if it and your class<br>
> would easily coexist or only with some difficulty. What do the planners<br>
> of the SciEnDesHud think?<br>
<br>
</div>Though I'm not a SciEnDesHud planner, my sense (based on my<br>
impressions of the NB space) is that holding two concurrent groups is<br>
possible, one upstairs and one downstairs. And as the calendar fills<br>
up (well done everyone - Go Enthusiasm!) this issue may become<br>
increasingly harder to avoid.<br>
<br>
That said, I am entirely open to alternate options, be it spaces or time slots.<br>
<br>
My schedule is open all day Tuesday and Thursday (I teach Mondays,<br>
Wednesdays and Fridays) and I assume that an evening time slot is<br>
preferable for most people with day jobs. The NB meeting is on<br>
Tuesdays, which is why I proposed Thursdays.<br>
<br>
Oh, and I suppose I should mention that my class would work much<br>
better if we had use of the projector. So if SciEnDesHud already has a<br>
claim on that, that would be a good reason to consider relocating the<br>
VFX class.<br>
<br>
Again, thank you everyone for your continued input (and also the gnashing)!<br>
<br>
- Slim<br>
<div><div></div><div>_______________________________________________<br>
Noisebridge-discuss mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net" target="_blank"><a href="mailto:Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net">Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net</a></a><br>
<a href="https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss" target="_blank"><a href="https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss">https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss</a></a><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br></div></div><font color="#888888">-- <br>-----------------------------------<br><a href="http://thisisstar.com" target="_blank">thisisstar.com</a><br><a href="http://thisisstar.dpcprints.com" target="_blank">thisisstar.dpcprints.com</a><br>
</font><br>_______________________________________________<br>
Noisebridge-discuss mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net"><a href="mailto:Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net">Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net</a></a><br>
<a href="https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss" target="_blank"><a href="https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss">https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss</a></a><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br></div>
</div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>Noisebridge-discuss mailing list</span><br><span><a href="mailto:Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net">Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net</a></span><br><span><a href="https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss">https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss</a></span><br></div></blockquote></body></html>