March 2, 2008
By Jerry Hofmann
There are few times when I come across products having value added "hidden in the details". Ripple Training's "Designer Motion Templates" falls squarely in this group of outstanding products. Not only is Ripple supplying a great product in and of itself, it's supplying training which is as good as it gets.
I took a close look at the product and came away not only impressed with it's professional looking templates, I came away extremely impressed by the excellent training that came with them. I've seen first class products like this one before, however few if any include such wonderful instruction, as well as tips and tricks you can use in your own work with Motion sprinkled throughout the over 2 hours of included instructional videos. Yes, when's the last time you saw product that is an excellent addition to your toolset with that much instruction thrown in? It's amazingly progressive, and whether you're a Motion user or new to Motion, these videos will give you great tips and tricks to use in Motion. It will get you started using this extremely wonderful and state of the art program included with Apple's Final Cut Studio, or it will add to your own arsenal of technique you need to become a happier user.
Let's take a close look at what the package contains:
7 Professionally Designed Themes
Each theme comes in 4 different color schemes, as well as 13 different formats. Doing the math, this means a total of 364 templates! These themes can be customized in Motion as well as directly in Final Cut Pro. Each of the 7 themes is supplied in SD, HD, NTSC and PAL in various standard frame rates; you won't have to waste valuable time reformatting the templates to match your footage. It's all there for you to plug right into.
Over 2 HOURS of Instructional Video
Mark Spencer, part of the actual design team, and world class Motion guru, explains in a step-by-step, easy to follow and understand set of videos. There are no less than 10 of them ranging in duration from 41/2 minutes to nearly 25 minutes each!
Take a look at the previews of these first class tutorial videos and a taste of the templates themselves.
I must say these templates are fresh, exciting, and will give your work professional polish. They are very different than the templates supplied with Motion so they add yet another 7 pro quality looks you can use when budgets don't allow for total ground up design. Seems that's becoming much the norm these days too. Using them, it will appear that you've spent hours of work when it's as easy to use these templates as eating your favorite piece of pie. Everyone wins here. Not all of us are designers with the time, patience, or expertise to design our own motion graphics as professional as these are, but these templates will give you a set of looks that you can use many times down the line. Ranging from a gritty look to a happy shopping experience, these templates offer a broad range of application.
The hidden value I spoke of earlier is evidenced by the superior video instruction that comes with this package. It's wonderful. The 10 easy to watch, and even entertaining tutorial videos that Mark has made for this set of excellent templates stands apart from the mainstream. There is an individual video instructing you on how to customize each and every one of the themes. There's even a video on using templates in general, as well as how you add effects and music to them!
I'm a Motion user myself, and learned many tips and tricks to use in my use of Motion, as well as easily understood and very usable techniques. Even if you've never opened Motion, or have and just gave up quickly on the application, these tutorials will not only get you customizing the templates to work with your project directly, they will inspire you to go further into Motion I believe. Motion is a fabulous motion graphics application for use in any project. The fact is, that many of you out there own this application, and simply don't use it. So whether or not you're a pro or an enthusiast, you'll love this package of templates and training. Make no mistake; you'll not find higher quality product anywhere.
Ripple Training has been recognized over and over as a world-class company. Steve Martin and company are always a cut above, and this product's mix of templates and instruction is not only impressive, it stands along side the very best available at a very reasonable price.
I couldn't recommend this product any higher. It's first class, it's professional, and it's priced right. The creation of just ONE of these templates would take you many hours of work, and certainly including 7 of them with inspiring and fun to watch video tutorials make Ripple Training's offering here a must have. To learn more and see the templates visit Ripple Training.com.
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copyright © Jerry Hofmann 2009
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