Blog - Mattina Zheng

March, 2018

26 March
Quick Solutions for Adobe After Effects

I do not use After Effects on a daily basis and often not remember the quick useful hacks that I managed to find while I was doing some research while working on motion graphics. So here’s a list of quick tricks that I always use. Auto-center Anchor Point for an object: Press Y to bring up the anchor point tool and …
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17 November
Favourite Adobe After Effects Expressions

Ease and Wizz, for easing in and out between keyframes. Download it for free here. Bounce, to be applied to Scale attribute. n=0; if(numKeys >0){ n=nearestKey(time).index; if(key(n).time >time){ n–; } } if(n==0){ t=0; }else{ t=time – key(n).time; } if(n>0 && t<1){ v=velocityAtTime(key(n).time – thisComp.frameDuration/10); amp=.05; freq=4.0; decay=8.0; value+ v*amp*Math.sin(freq*t*2*Math.PI)/Math.exp(decay*t); }else{ value; } I will add more when I come across …
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18 January
Batch resize images to fit into fixed dimensions in Photoshop

Here’s my steps to batch resize images of various sizes to fit into fixed dimensions on Photoshop. For this example, let’s say my objective is to resize 1000 images of different dimensions and force fit into a portrait image with a white background measuring at 500 x 638 pixels, with the images optimised for web. The solution is to automate this …
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8 September
Open newer Premiere Pro CC 2015 work file in an older version

Dec 2017 Update: You can use the below method to convert Premiere Pro CC 2018 to Premiere Pro CC 2017, just change the number “34” to “33”, but if CC 2018 features were used in the .prproj file, there will be an error when you try to export the timeline. Jan 2017 Update: You can use the below method to …
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22 October
Frame.io – Feedback for Video Post-Production

I’m trying this website, Frame.io for a video project and my colleagues and I are thrilled with this! We are able to upload our video edits on the website and share it with our clients. The clients can create annotations and time-code specific comments while viewing the video, which we all think it’s pretty cool. Frame.io does show a tutorial video …
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12 October
SOLUTION: Link or Import Media on Network drive in Premiere Pro CC 2015

PROBLEM: Network drive undetected from Media Browser in Premiere Pro CC 2015 SOLUTION: Map the network drive to your computer and then Premiere Pro CC will detect it under network drive at the Media Browser panel. Step-by-Step Instructions: Let’s just say that you are editing in a setting where you need access to network servers like this shown in the panel …
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12 December
Remove Reverb, Noise and Echo from Audio with Premiere Pro CC

Some times as a video editor, you encounter really badly recorded audio, and all you have is Premiere to work with at your workstation. This is what I use on Premiere Pro CC to make it slightly better. Audio effects > Denoiser + Dynamics, Enable Auto Gate Depending on how bad the audio is, sometimes just one filter is enough. …
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7 December
Webdings and Wingdings Font Chart

I found this infographic by speakingppt.com This is a really useful chart when using Webdings and Wingding for creating simple icons, graphics and banners. Text-based and low file size.
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5 December
SOLUTION: Premiere Pro CC Corupted Conformed Audio

PROBLEM: So this crazy thing happened while I was editing an interview on Premiere Pro CC 2014.The audio just keeps looping. At first I thought it was just problematic playback but upon checking the waveforms, this is what it showed. The sequence was edited on another workstation on a PC. It was reconnected again in this current workstation on a …
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3 December
SOLUTION: Premiere Pro CC Audio not playing

PROBLEM: I was working on a PC with footage off the server in a company, but then I had to move to another editing suite to work on the same project. It was a Mac editing suite and the tech dept just updated the Premiere Pro CC 2014 to version 8.1 Caravan, so it matches the version on the PC. …
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29 November
Facebook Ad Dimensions

Facebook is always changing their interface, so the ad dimensions changes quite regularly too. Here’s some Facebook ad dimensions as of Nov 2014. Right column ad size: 1200 x 444 Same ration as the cover page
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15 September
Introduction to SEO

I recommend reading Moz’s Beginners Guide to SEO, lots of pretty graphics and most importantly, a layman’s guide to how search engines work and how they rank your website.
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6 August
WooCommerce: When you can’t seem to find something

Those using WooCommerce, when you can’t seem to find something, go to Screen Options on the top right hand corner of your dashboard.
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29 July
WordPress: Back up your Custom CSS before updating

Major Face Palm. Lesson learnt: Keep a copy of your custom CSS, before updating a WordPress theme. REMEMBER. Because updating overwrites all of them. Update: I’ve realised that there’s a custom CSS field in certain WordPress themes. Entering your CSS codes there won’t overwrite it.
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21 July
Adobe Illustrator: Drawing Symmetrical Shapes

Note to self: Draw first half, select path with (V) and then press (O), hold on (Alt) and click, that will be the reflection point. Select horizontal/vertical and then click on “copy”. Select the 2 paths now and then join them with (Ctrl + J)
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