Summaries

dang. it’s been a long time. But we’ve still been having meetings.  We chronicle our topics on http://twitter.com/dmala  If you’re interested in contributing to that feed, just tag us

2015

January: Leonard / X3D / DR / x3dom.org / VR
February: Studio Xi / Wipster.com /
March: Element 3D / Fitness in Post / That Studio / AE Trim&Collect
April: Al Mooney / Tim Kurkoski / Todd Kopriva : ADOBE VIDEO / Jayse Hansen FUI Design
March: ReelTalk / Benjamin Budzak & Carey Smith (Damion Timelsey, Lars Bunch, Alex Silver, Aaron Evans)
June: Ko Maruyama Adobe Mobile / Work Culture Panel hosted by Katie Isabelle Weber / Donovan Keith
July: Character Animation / Re:VisionFX Creating Call to Action video / CowKitty (Tammy Gray)
August: Chris Barrett: MochaBlender for C4D / Tim Clapham: History of an artist
September: All about Vectors Sebastian Bleak / Michael White / Jon Beatty / (plus standup by Jeff Stansfield)
October:
November:
December:

2014

Full monthly summary pending (11 months)

2013

January 2013: Howard Simpson / ArtRage, AnimeStudio, Donovan Keith / Lynda.com

full monthly summary pending (11 months)

2012

December 2012: No meeting (Holiday).   AdobeConnect soft launch.
November 2012: Anwar Madrigal Design (Wacom), Ryan Summers/Imaginary Forces
October 2012: Satya Meka/ROWBYTE, Imagineer Systems/Mocha3.1, Artisan Creative
September 2012: Special Meetup / DVExpo Pasadena / Monica Daniel
August 2012: GMunk, Rick Barrett, Pia Maffei/Alioscopy USA
July 2012: Zax Dow/Zaxwerks, Warren’s tips&tricks, Lucky Westfall/QuietEarth
June 2012: Plugin Month Michele Yamazaki/Toolfarm, Harry Frank/RedGiant, Demo Reels
May 2012: Adobe CS6 Launch, Andrew Kramer
April 2012: Meetup at NAB, Las Vegas Motion Media Ball
March 2012:  Mary Poplin/ImagineerSystems, Federico Ponce, Demo Reels
February 2012: Chana Messer (AILA), Jayse Hansen, BallisticPublishing
January 2012: Carlos Florez/Rezlab Films, Warren Heaton tips&tricks

2011

November 2011: Eric Keller (ZBrush), VFX Breakdown by Harry Frank/Guru Presets
October 2011: Ko Maruyama, Natalie Eagan, lots of pizza
September 2011: David Shorey, Janine Warner, Sean Teegarden, Demo Reels
August 2011: Scott Novasic of Supernova, Harry Frank/Red Giant Software, Rick Barrett of MAXON Computer
July 2011: Warren Heaton, Chuck Schuman (VFX DP, Avatar)
June 2011: Video CoPilot’s Andrew Kramer, Adobe’s Al Mooney, Ryan Boyle
May 2011: Ashley Postlewaite of Renegade Animation
April 2011: Peder Norrby / Trapcode, Dr. Sassi’s workflow
March 2011: Frank Guthrie/Nickelodeon, Luxology Modo
February 2011: Terry Lee/ROGER, Zaxwerks Invigorator Pro demo
January 2011: Alex C (AEnhancers) 3D Projection Mapping, Rob Garrott/Lynda.com

2010

December 2010: Holiday (no meeting)
November 2010: Chris Do/BLIND, Chad Perkins/Lynda.com
October 2010: Elliot Mebane, MochaV2 Martin & Mariana
September 2010:  Paul Babb/CEO-MAXON US
August 2010: somebody was there…
July 2010: Artbeats
June 2010: Rob Garrott/BENDING PIXELS
May 2010: Stephen Lawes/PIXEL LIBERATION FRONT, Jayse Hansen
April 2010: Special Meetup: NAB in Las Vegas
March 2010: Andrew Kramer/VIDEO COPILOT, Michael Coleman/ADOBE
February 2010: Ken Carlson/BIG MACHINE DESIGN, Ross Shain, Aharon Rabinowitz (kinda)
January 2010: Jim Tierney/DIGITAL ANARCHY

2009

December 2009: no meeting (Holiday)
November 2009: TITMOUSE Studios, Harry Frank (with glasses!)
October 2009: Ken Carlson/BIG MACHINE DESIGN, Kai Pedersen & Rick Barrett, Dr. Sassi/JET
September 2009: Mark Stasiuk/FUSION CI, Mark Nolan/MUDBOX
August 2009: Greg Kubiec/ETHER DESIGN, Harry Frank, Andrew Kramer
July 2009: Stephen Lawes & Mike Kanfer
June 2009: Harry Frank, David Torno
May 2009: Shine Studio (Kung Fu Panda titles), Warren Heaton tips & tricks
April 2009: Special Meetup NAB in Las Vegas
March 2009: Mike Hackett tips&tricks, Sergio Cardenas/UNITEDFRONT
February 2009: Gabe Sabloff/POSERPRO, Daniel Brown/GRIDIRON, Chris Zapara/PARTICLEILLUSION
January 2009: Michael Coleman/ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS

December 2008
It was a busy year for the handoff.  The archive was eaten by the internet void.  It was a blur for me.

2007

December 2007 Looking Back / Kory Jones of Reality Check / Mike Goedecke of Belief / demo reels
November 2007 GenArts Sapphire Plug-Ins 2.0 / guest artist Blind / Antics software / wondertouch particleIllusion
October 2007 Pixel Corps Presents: Podcast Production / Autodesk Toxik / guest artists Three Legged Legs
September 2007 Pixel Corps Presents: Conduit Live / Steadicam + Expressions / VeeScope Live / demo reels
August 2007 Imagineer mocha / Digital Anarchy ToonIt! and PlasmaFX / Trapcode Flux / Magic Bullet 3
July 2007 Apple Motion 3 / Pooch QuickTime Clustering / guest artist Chris Do of Blind
June 2007 Automatic Duck / GridIron Software / Zaxwerks / guest artist Ken Locsmandi of Filmworks/FX
May 2007 AJA / Troika / Tomorrow’s Brightest Minds
April 2007 Adobe Night: Creative Suite 3
March 2007 Imagineer Systems motor / Expression Workshop / guest studio Titmouse: Using Flash in a Broadcast World
February 2007 House of Moves / guest studio: LAMBO with New Pollution / Pixel Corps Presents: Broadband Video
January 2007 Adobe Soundbooth / Zborn Toy / After Effects Expressions

2006

December 2006 Pixel Corps & Podcasts / Cinema 4D r10 / guest artist: Big Machine Design / demo reels
November 2006 Joint MGLA/BDA Presentation: design studios Exopolis & Roger
October 2006 Pixel Corps’ Europa / Digital Anarchy ReSizer & Data Animator / Johnson & Murphy Advertising: PBS KIDS
September 2006 Apple Shake / AniMill Studio / Luxology modo 202
August 2006 ka-chew! / Video Box Studios / timelapse HD from stills / multipass compositing / cheating water
July 2006 Stardust Studios / Rodney Ascher / sweep NURBs in Cinema 4D / animation tricks in After Effects / demo reels
June 2006 Boxwrench & complex interactive DVD project / Nylon Motion & hand-drawn music videos / VJ tools overview
May 2006 Conduit for Motion / GridIron Nucleo & Nucleo Pro / Synk Audio Musicbed DV / guest artist Image Line Productions
April 2006 Ray Harryhausen / Cinema 4D MoGraph / SmartSound Sonicfire Pro 4
March 2006 Pixel Corps Presents: Nickelodeon commercial / NewKat Studios on cartoony CG animation / Flash video overview
February 2006 Pixel Corps Presents: 4:4:4 video / AFI Digital Content Lab / Silhouettefx Roto+Paint / DAZ | Studio
January 2006 Adobe Night: The Adobe Production Studio (including After Effects 7.0)

2005

December 2005 Joint MGLA/BDA Presentation: Designing a Network Package
November 2005 Pixel Corps Presents: IPTV / Sound Design primer / the IRIDAS Color Pipeline / guest artist: Psychic Bunny
October 2005 Pixel Corps Presents: Matchmoving / guest artist: Rodney Ascher / project breakdown by Alpha Dogs / creating 3D ribbons
September 2005 Pixel Corps Presents: Previsualization / broadcastGEMs stock footage / an evening with The Studio from New Wave Entertainment
August 2005 Alternate Business Models for artists & small studios / Belief’s Pollinate 2005: The Common Desk
July 2005 Luxology’s modo / Pixel Corps Presents: Tips from the Hinterland / guest studio: Video Box / plug-in preview: Data Animator / Text Animator Tricks
June 2005 Pixel Corps Presents: Shooting by the Numbers / BDA Presents: 5-x-b / Faking Transparency in Flash
May 2005 Pixel Corps Presents: Keying in the Real World / Apple Motion 2 / guest artist Robert Drummond
April 2005 Pixel Corps Presents: Photoshop CS 2 / BDA Presents: Dale Herigstad / Discreet combustion 4 / Allegorithmic MaP|Time 1.5
March 2005 Pixel Corps Presents: Greenscreen Compositing / BDA Presents: Jayson Whitmore / visual artist Jennifer Steinkamp
February 2005 Pixel Corps Presents: Camera Mapping / BDA Presents: Aerodrome Pictures / artist Ken Locsmandi of Filmworks/FX / Zaxwerks Gradientwerks
January 2005 Pixel Corps Presents: Matchmoving / BDA presents: Belief / silhouette+fx’s silhouette+roto / Automatic Duck’s Pro Import AE 3.0 / demo reels

2004

December 2004 Special presentation by BDA: State of the Industry 2004. An industry-wide panel discussing the pivotal issues facing our industry today.
November 2004 Alex Lindsay (GarageBand + Motion) / guest studio: ka-chew! (broadcast design arm of Klasky-Csupo) / Media 100 HD / Cycore FX HD / door prizes
October 2004 3ds max v7 / MTV2 VideoMods case study by Alex Lindsay / Allegorithmic’s MaP | Time
September 2004 dvGarage & Greenscreen Techniques / Alias Maya / XFX Widescreen PAL DVD trade show video case study / Book Signing
August 2004 Curious Software gFx and World Maps / Darkling Interactive Noise / guest artist Jen Smith / guest artist Ken Nakada
July 2004 Lee Roderick: Real Jobs with Real Clients / Ken Locsmandi: Key to Arson music video / Anthony Phills: Building a Giant Brand / Raj Naik: Rose McGowan music video
June 2004 Apple Motion / Digital Film Tools 55mm v4 / Digital Anarchy’s new toys / demo reels
May 2004 Adobe Night, including an overview of the Adobe Video Collection, a focus of the new features in After Effects 6.5, and guest studio The Orphanage
April 2004 GrangerFX for PremierePro and After Effects / Cleaner 6 tutorial / Ko Maruyama and Trapcode Lux / guest studio Heaven and Imagine Los Angeles 2050
March 2004 MotionWorks and Motion Capture for Lord of the Rings / Todd Grimes and Character Animation / Final Draft / GenArts plug-ins for After Effects
February 2004 Brendan Lambe and projects with Combustion / Tom Luth and 3D Motion Control Camera Moves / Lachlan Westfall and graphics for “More Than Human” / Trish Meyer and titles for “Cold Mountain”
January 2004 3Dconnexion’s new I/O devices / Vital Distraction on 3D pre-visualization / Rich Helvey of Access Hollywood on 3D Motion Graphic Design / Steven Walker on VFX projects and Walker Effects 2.0

2003

December 2003 Anark Studio 2, Tony LaTorre on AOL’s Matrix Global First Feedback Project, yU+co on Shake, Multiscreen Space Museum for NASA.
November 2003 Apple’s LiveType, Text in After Effects 6, Useful Assistants from Profound Effects, and guest artist Susan Yoon deconstructing a Home Depot spot
October 2003 Radley Marx of Electronica-Optica on VJ’ing, Apple’s Soundtrack, and guest artist Culley Bunker of Base 2 Studios
September 2003 Discreet combustion 3, Alex Lindsay of dvGarage on keying DV, and Zaxwerks ProAnimator winners Joke Productions on pitching your show ideas
August 2003: Alias Maya 5, Apple DVD Studio Pro 2, and a creative presentation from Belief entitled Chain Reaction: The Cultural Interaction Between Commercial and Non-Commercial Art
July 2003 Adobe Night: Adobe Premiere Pro, Encore, Audition, and After Effects version 6.0
June 2003 guest artist Brett Shapiro and The Chocolate Curse, Photoshop and After Effects integration & tricks, and Zaxwerks ProAnimator
May 2003 Digital Anarchy ReTimer & Text Anarchy 2, RE:Vision Effects Twixtor 3.0 & RE:Fill, Chris Meyer on Dialog Editing Tricks
April 2003 Discreet Combustion 2.1.1, Digital Voodoo & Bluefish444 video cards, Kevin Dole on Looking Like Film: Don’t Just Scratch the Surface, Useful Things winner
March 2003 Media 100 844/X v2, guest artist Clayton Glen of the WB on inspiration, Hermoswave Internet on building a web site for collaboration, and Digital Film Tools Composite Suite 3
February 2003 Apple Xserve RAID, Profound Effects Useful Things, ProMax on Using SDI to Improve DV Workflow, Brian Maffitt of Total Training, and Roger Nall on Creating the Holly Rick Dees KIIS-mas spot
January 2003 Quantel/After Effects file exchange, Quantel QPaintbox Pro, Boris RED, AlphaDogs and Tough Enough opening titles, Lloyd Alvarez’s Unusual Approaches to Design

2002

December 2002 Special session on running your own business, including as panelists Beth Roy (motion graphics freelancer), Michael Kelley (Idiot Box), Trish & Chris Meyer (CyberMotion), Lloyd Alvarez (BLINK.fx), Sam Schoemann (class-key chew-po), and Ann Epstein (E! Networks).
November 2002 Maya Complete 4.5, Alex Lindsay & Multipass Compositing, Blair Hayes and Adam Jensen of Area51 with Push Nevada opening titles, and Quico Encinias with Do Over opening titles
October 2002 Boris Continuum Complete, Fnord Ubercolor, Scott Billups and producing Mid-Century, Lachlan Westfall and 3D graphics for Mid-Century
September 2002 RadTIME 3dFilm Suite, Magic Bullet, Conoa, and dvGarage Composite Toolkit
August 2002 Apple Shake 2.5, Ultimatte AdvantEdge, guest studio TAG and Minority Report
July 2002 Media 100 844/X, Digital Anarchy 3D assistants and Color Theory, guest studio Belief and Untitled003: Embryo
June 2002 Discreet combustion 2, iDVD, Dan Warvi & Fox Family production DVD, guest studio Klasky Csupo (aka class-key chew-po), project from David Billings
May 2002 BDA introducion, Adobe Photoshop 7, guest artist John Ridgway of Via Worldwide on motion graphic design, Steven Walker & Walker Effects, Strega Imaging and opening for the new Truth or Consequences
April 2002 Digital Film Tools 55mm, RE:Vision Effects RE:Rex and Smoothkit, TAG and Hallmark Channel launch, CyberMotion and Isuzu Ascender launch
March 2002 Getty Images stock footage focus group, Digital Anarchy plug-ins for After Effects, Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator Pro for After Effects, Electric Image Universe 4, and demo reels.
February 2002 Kevin Dole and Digikam plus toy commercial production, Sonic Desktop Sonicfire Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro 3, guest studio Belief on projects for Acura and Sony India, and artist Valerian Bennett on a project for First Americans in the Arts.
January 2002 Lachlan Westfall of Quiet Earth and New York Islanders video, Ken Locsmandi of Filmworks/FX and Smashmouth music video, and Adobe Adobe After Effects 5.5.

2001

December 2001 A special meeting that featured a panel discussion on running your own motion graphics business. Panelists included Wendy Vanguard of Manna-Design, Frank Capria of Kingpin Interactive, Ken Locsmandi of Filmworks/FX, Matt Silverman of Phoenix Editorial, and Chuck Carey of Trioka Design Group.
November 2001 Synthetic Aperture & Echo Fire plus Color Finesse, Visual Infinity & Grain Surgery, Associated Production Music on music licensing; ATTIK & NoiseFour.
October 2001 Wacom Intuos 2 & Cintiq, Crew of Two and Duality, electricFX and eFX Pyro plus Channelizer, dvGarage and new products including shooting panoramas.
September 2001 Alias Wavefront & Maya under OS X, artists ShimFilms on low-budget high-impact production, Final Cut Pro 2 with Matrox RTMax.
August 2001 3 Ring Circus & The State of Design, Automatic Duck Composition Import, Maxon Cinema 4DXL v7.1, TrapCode Shine. This summary includes the special meeting at After Effects West: an evening with the After Effects team.
July 2001 Jodi Binstock on branding the Fox Family channel, Dan Warvi & color selection tip, Fred Lewis & AE5 tips, Belief & Alive Network design
June 2001 Ken Locsmandi & JAG effects shot, Lachlan Westfall & 3D VR in Electric Image, Alex Lindsay of dvGarage & camera mapping, Amorphium Pro
May 2001 NAB wrap-up, Quiet Earth on 2D+3D integration for DSL City, Felicia Oh & Autumn Boh on DVD menu authoring, Zaxwerks Invigorator ProModeler, Alex Lindsay & dvGarage on surface texturing
April 2001 Apple OS X & iDVD, Digital Anarchy’s Elements of Anarchy: Text, Theory’s ColorTheory, Electric Image Universe
March 2001 Adobe After Effects 5, Discreet 3ds max 4
February 2001 SoftImage XSI 1.5, ProMax on the new Macs, Scott Billups on digital movie making, artists SeeSaw Studios & MusicCountry
January 2001 Adobe Premiere 6, The Consolidator, ProMax video card, RE:Vision FX, artist Rich Helvey from Access Hollywood

2000

December 2000 Year-end tax planning tips, Maxon BodyPaint 3D, studio VCE with The Sixth Day and 13 Days, and studio Pittard Sullivan with Kabel 1 on-air package
November 2000 REALVIZ MatchMover, ImageModeler, and ReTimer, Maya Paint FX for After Effects, audio editing tutorial, artist Quiet Earth Design & San Jose Sharks project
October 2000 AE Companion, ProMax DA-MAX, Digital Voodoo HD, Boris Continuum & new product sneak, Phil Bates of Artbeats, artist Ryan Miniger
September 2000 Steven Walker & building explosion project, Northern Lights Blaster for EI, Pinnacle Systems CineWave, artist Linda Kane
August 2000 Tinderbox plug-ins for AE, Puffin Designs Commotion 3.0, artist Matt Silverman, New Shoes Design & CyberMotion on Motion Graphics Trends
July 2000 NewTek LightWave 6, 3D Invigorator for AE, Belief’s “Untitled 1: Darkness”, studio Foundation Imaging
June 2000 discreet’s combustion, Tony DeRosa & SuperSpy project, Lachlan Westfall/Quiet Earth & earth texture mapping, RPF (Rich Pixel Format) demo
May 2000 Creating Motion Graphics book signing, Alias|Wavefront Maya 2.5 & Paint FX, Micronet SANcube, Judy Korin/SeeSaw Studios & Fox Boyz/Girls Channels
April 2000 Artel’s BorisFX Pro, Graffiti, & RED, Cult3D, Adobe LiveMotion, Alex Lindsay & Star Wars case study
March 2000 Softimage|XSI, ProMax & FireWire, studio Mainframe Entertainment
February 2000 Nothing Real Shake 2.2, Quiet Earth and procedural shader overview, Trevor Gilchrist & Silver Screen, Barry Berman & camera mapping in Electric Image tutorial
January 2000 Maxon Cinema 4DXL v6, Cycore Cult Effects v1.5 plug-ins for AE, EPS Invigorator, Tony LaTorre & Tony Romain Blind Date production tips, Frank Cords & Master P music video

1999

December 1999 Synthetik Software Studio Artist, CyberMotion & circles, lines, and stuff tips,Chris Meyer & luminance values + DV codecs, studios Hornet Animation, OR Virtual & Moon Against Man
November 1999 New Shoes Cool Moves stock footage CD, Chris Meyer/CyberMotion & countdown project, DigiEffects Delirium, Lachlan Westfall/Quiet Earth & animated text map tutorial, Triple D PowerParticles 1.5, Jim Tierny & fractal noise tutorial, 3D Invigorator for AE, 3D Gear shaders for Cinema 4DXL
October 1999 Chris Meyer & SDI overview, Adobe After Effects 4.1, ICE updates, Paul Sherstobitoff & EI Modeler tips
September 1999 Special “Film on the Desktop” session including technical advice and walk-throughs of the opening titles for The Avengers, East of A, The Crow 3, The Omega Code and The Talented Mr. Ripley
August 1999 Chris Meyer/CyberMotion & 3D elements tutorial, Photoshop Inside & Out tapes, Videonics Effetto Pronto v2, Belief & “Faster Cheaper Better – the Macintosh 1999”
July 1999 BDA wrap-up, CyberMotion & enhancing footage, Apple Final Cut Pro, Artel Boris FX plug-ins for AE, artist Paul Sherstobitoff
June 1999 DSL, tax breaks, artist Matt Silverman, Puffin Designs Commotion v2 plus Primatte, Composite Wizard, and Image Lounge plug-ins for AE, Masters of Visual Effects tapes, Atomic Power Psunami, Lachlan Westfall/Quiet Earth & grass texture mapping experiments, Trish Meyer/CyberMotion & Isuzu VehiCROSS, Chris Meyer/CyberMotion & QAD opening video
May 1999 Pixels3D, TripleD aFraktal shader for EI, Artbeats Liquid Ambience stock footage CD, David Hutchins/The Picture Mill & Spyglass Entertainment logo, Cycore Cult Effects v1 plug-ins for AE

1997-1998 Undocumented

HISTORY

Motion Graphics Los Angeles (MGLA) was started in August, 1997 by Chuck Nigash, Erik Dehkoda, Trish Meyer, and Chris Meyer by merging together the then-existing After Effects, Electric Image, and Hollywood 3D user groups with the philosophy that an artist often has to employ not just one program or system, but a combination of 2D, 3D, and editing hardware and software to realize their vision – and that artistic inspiration can be universal. Erik and Chuck soon left to pursue other interests, but Trish and Chris remained hosts for 10+ years spanning 125 consecutive monthly meetings plus 3 special events. They hosted their last MGLA meeting December 18, 2007.

Ko Maruyama, Warren Heaton, and Tony Romain helped co-host MGLA for last few years of MGLA’s existence, and are carrying on in the form of a new group called Digital Media Artists Los Angeles (DMALA). They deliver the same quality experience to the Los Angeles motion graphics and visual effects community.