Everything Else
How To: Make a cool pitch bend effect in Ableton Live
This tutorial shows you how to create a pitch bend effect in Ableton Live. There is a problem in doing the pitch bend effect as shown in the video: All gets out of midi sync. This is EASY to fix. Follow these steps:
How To: Use chroma key in Wax 2.0
This software tutorial shows you how to use chroma key, the method of using green or blue screen footage, in Wax 2.0. Use the free video editing software Wax 2.0 to chroma key and create cool effects for your video footage.
How To: Clone in Wax 2.0
This software tutorial shows you how to use the video editing software Wax 2.0 to clone someone in a video. Learn to make multiple versions of yourself interact in one video in this Wax 2.0 cloning tutorial.
How To: Rip mp3's from music videos with MediaCoder
This software tutorial will show you how you can rip MP3's from music videos or any other type of video. If you have heard songs in videos that you just have to have, this tutorial will shows you how to extract the song from the video as an mp3.
How To: Embed subtitles into videos with VirtualDub
This video will show you how to embed subtitles into video files using the free softwares VirtualDub and dvXLand. Embedding subtitles with VirtualDub and dvxland allows you to add subtitles to your videos without having to keep two separate files.
How To: Edit Photoshop files for free with Paint.net
This video will show you how to create and edit Photoshop files without having to buy Photoshop. This also works if you have a .psd file from someone else that you need to work on and you don't have Photoshop. Learn to use Paint.net for Windows to edit Photoshop files.
How To: Restore music from an iPod with iDump
This video tutorial will show you how to restore and rebuild your music library from what's on you iPod using free software, iDump. Find all your lost iPod music with this tutorial and iDump.
How To: Create a radio station with Winamp and SHOUTcast
This tutorial shows you how to create your own radio station with streaming music using Winamp, SHOUTcast plugin, and SHOUTcast server. Learn how to choose your music in Winamp and upload it to your own radio station on the SHOUTcast server.
How To: Track a stolen laptop with Adeona
This software tutorial will show you how to track a laptop if it gets stolen using free tracking software Adeona. Of course, it's a good idea to figure out how to keep your laptop from getting stolen, but if you lose it, you can use Adeona to find the location of your laptop.
How To: Edit video in QuickTime Pro
While not an ideal video editor, QuickTime Pro can, in a pinch, be a flexible, powerful (and not to mention cheap) expedient. In this how-to, Gary Rosenzweig takes a look at the simple but powerful tool QuickTime Pro and how it can be used to edit and compile video.
How To: Create a wireframe render in Houdini
This Houdini 9 tutorial takes a quick look at one method that can be used to create a wireframe render of any type of surface which may then be composited over the lighting passes. Learn how to render and composite a lighting and wire pass in Houdini 9.
How To: Create particle spray on waves in Houdini
This 2 part Houdini 9 tutorial focuses on creating wind spray generated on the crest of a wave. Water is one of the most basic effects 3D softwares are used for, especially oceans and waves. So watch and learn how to add particle spray to the crests of waves and make your 3D water look more realistic in Houdini 9.
How To: Use Houdini voxel fluids
Created by Houdini Product Specialist Stephen Tucker, this crash course series focuses on the concept of fluid dynamics and how they work within Houdini. These videos on Voxel Fluids should help any artist get up in running with the foundation tools available for creating fluid effects in Houdini 9.5. Topics range from how to create a container to how to gain access to fluid attributes for shading, and even passing data from volumes to particles.
How To: Use SPH fluids in Houdini 9.5
Created by Houdini Product Specialist Stephen Tucker, this crash course series focuses on the concept of Smooth Particle Hydronamics and how they work within Houdini. The following videos on Particle Fluids continue working with fluid dynamics in Houdini 9.5 and assume that the viewer is relatively familiar with how dynamic simulations work, or have been following along through the series. The basics are still covered including creating water from an object but also include more conceptual si...
How To: Ray normals in Houdini 9.5
Learn how to manipulate normals without using expressions in this 2 part Houdini 9.5 software tutorial. Watch how to ray normals in Houdini 9.5.
How To: Model from the shelf in Houdini
This Houdini 9 tutorial teaches you how to work with the shelf tools. There are shelves for all the areas of Houdini from modeling to dynamics, to animating and particles. This particular tutorial shows you how to use the viewport and shelf tools to model within Houdini 9 and work with surface operations (SOPS).
How To: Sweep in Houdini 9
In this Houdini 9 modeling tutorial you will learn how to create objects using the sweep sop (surface operator). You can create or animate objects by sweeping them along curves or other objects. Watch and learn how to use the sweep sop in Houdini 9.
How To: Use rails when modeling in Houdini 9
In this Houdini 9 software tutorial you will learn how to use the rail sop which is a surface operator used mostly for modeling but occasionally for animation as well. Watch and see how to use the rail sop in Houdini 9.
How To: Carve in Houdini 9
In this Houdini 9 modeling tutorial you will learn how to use the surface operator the carve sop. Carving objects is a fast way to model and manipulate them using curves and lines or other shapes. Watch and learn how to use the carve sop in Houdini 9.
How To: Use the Creep SOP in Houdini 9
In this Houdini 9 software tutorial you will learn how to use the creep sop. The creep sop is a surface operator used for creating surfaces and modeling as well as animating. As the name suggests, you learn to use the creep sop to creep objects or surfaces along another object or curve. Watch and learn how to use the creep sop in Houdini 9.
How To: Use the align sop in Houdini 9
The align sop in Houdini is a useful surface operation and modeling tool. In this Houdini 9 tutorial you will learn how to use the align sop when modeling in SOPS.
How To: Orient objects to a curve (sweep) in Houdini 9
This Houdini 9 tutorial teaches how to sweep an object along a curve while orienting the object to the curve's direction. Learn how to apply a sweep sop to orient objects on curves in Houdini.
How To: Implement spectral colors in Mantra in Houdini 9
Watch shader writer, Mario Marengo, explain spectral wavelength and how to utilize it within Houdini. This presentation was recorded at a Toronto Technical Evening hosted by Side Effects Software.
How To: Create a gas solver in Houdini 9
This 5 part series covers how to create a simple gas solver in dynamics from scratch in Houdini 9. You will start by creating a visualization tool to understand how volumetric gas and smoke works, then each lesson will build on that until you are creating gas solvers (a type of fluid) in Houdini 9.
How To: Create a procedural pre-vis avalanche in Houdini
In this video series, learn how to create a simple dynamic simulation by creating a procedural pre-vis avalanche in Houdini 9. Rigid body dynamics (RBD's) are a powerful and important part of creating visual effects in 3D. This tutorial shows you how to use them in Houdini 9 to create a procedural pre-vis avalanche.
How To: Transfer color with dynamics in Houdini
This 7 part Houdini 9 tutorial series is about how to transfer color using dynamics is a great place to start to understand Houdini's dynamics in a significant way. Part one covers painting setup, two establishing a paint source, three creating paint, four defining paint colors with a solver, five painting with dynamics, six reviews how it works, seven setting up for render output. Learn to paint and transfer color with dynamics in Houdini 9 and get more control over your work in this tutorial.
How To: Get started using CHOPS in Houdini 9
Created by Andrew Lowell this tutorial video focuses on the basics of CHOPs and an introduction to the Motion View in Houdini 9. Through the creation of a simple animation learn just how useful CHOPs can be when working in Houdini 9.
How To: Setup basic PBR lighting in Houdini 9
This Houdini n9 software tutorial covers a very simple lighting and rendering scene to show the basic workflow for generating a PBR render. We use a digital asset to quickly establish a group of geometry to light. In the lesson we also add an area map so that we can extract the lighting information from it. There are two .rat files to experiment with, the seashadow.rat file simply provides a pattern. The st.peters_cross.rat is an HDRI image from the Debevec site. Watch and learn how to set up...
How To: UV texture in Houdini 9
This series of videos focuses on a typical UV workflow in Houdini 9. Learn how to create projections, edit UVs with a variety of tools, save out UV maps, and apply textures. Please download the project files below to follow along with these Houdini 9 texturing lessons.
How To: Rig a quadruped with the Auto Rig Tool in Houdini
This five part Houdini 9 video series covers an entire rigging workflow using the H9 Quadruped Auto Rig shelf tool. Take an in-depth look at setting up joint controls, creating proxy geometry, generating animation and deformation rigs, and painting weights. The concepts presented in this tutorial series will apply equally as well to a Biped Auto Rig set up.
How To: Create a surface from a particle stream in Houdini
In the following series of videos we will establish a particle stream that is then used to create a surface that evolves over time in Houdini 9 software.
How To: Model a stingray in Houdini 9
These two Houdini 9 lessons illustrate a valuable and efficient means of modeling an animated surface in a manner not generally considered. It provides an explanation of the advantages to this approach and compares it to a more traditional means of animating a surface. So watch the tutorial and learn how to animate a stingray in Houdini 9 using newer style animation methods.
How To: Animate with the Spring SOP in Houdini 9
These Houdini 9 software lessons illustrate a means of animating a surface without keyframes and/or character tools. Learn how to animate using the Spring SOP in Houdini 9.
How To: Roll a surface with Wireblend in Houdini 9
This Houdini 9 tutorial shows you how to roll and unroll a surface without using expressions. Learn how to roll a surface with the Wireblend tool in Houdini 9. Once you create the rolled surface, you can also animate it.
How To: Animate in CHOPS from a curve in Houdini 9
This Houdini 9 CHOPS lesson shows one aspect of the usefulness of the Channel Operator editor. In this case we extract a curve from a geometry surface and use that curve to animate a ball moving across the surface. To learn more about animating with chops in Houdini 9, check out this tutorial.
How To: Attract particles to a curve in Houdini 9
This Houdini 9 particle effects tutorial establishs a means to attract particles to follow a curve faithfully. POPS is one of the most powerful effects generating parts of Houdini and getting particles to follow or be attracted to a curve will be extremely useful to any Houdini effects artist. So watch and learn how to attract particles to a curve in Houdini 9.
How To: Use tile clones in Inkscape
This open source software tutorial shows you how to use the tile clone tools in Inkscape. The tile clone tool allows you to create the first few tiles and then clone them to create an entire grid or fill a specific area with the tiled pattern. Check out this Inkscape tutorial and start expanding your graphic design abilities.
How To: Put text on a circle in Inkscape
This open source software tutorial shows you how to put text around a circle in Inkscape. This is similar to having text follow a path, but you have the text follow a circle. Improve your graphic design abilities with this Inkscape tutorial.
How To: Funkify text in Inkscape
This software tutorial shows you how to create funky looking text effects in Inkscape. This tutorial of course is just a guide to the ways you can funkify text, so watch and learn how to use Inkscape to make this funky, groovy, 70's text, then start making your own versions.
How To: Create a pinned up polaroid in Inkscape
In this software tutorial you will see how to create a polaroid picture and make it look like it is pinned up on a wall using Inkscape. All you need for this creative pinned-up polaroid is a picture and the open source software Inkscape.