Exploring the Creative Realm of Ash Thorp: A Look Behind the Scenes
In the world of visual effects and motion graphics, Ash Thorp stands out as a multi-hyphenate artist, specialising in design, direction, and illustration. One tool that has been instrumental in his creative journey is Sapphire, a high-end visual effects and motion graphics plug-in suite.
Thorp, the founder of ALT Creative, Inc., values tools that work consistently and deliver on their promise. Over the years, he has found Sapphire to be amazing to work with, using it on many of his recent projects, including his personal projects 'Awaken Akira' and 'Epoch II'.
'Epoch II', a cosmic space journey that pays homage to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, was chosen as a Vimeo staff pick. For this project, Thorp leveraged Sapphire's extensive effects collection, finding the S_Glow effect particularly useful in mimicking the original anime's aesthetic.
Thorp also appreciated Particle Illusion for adding more dynamics to the footage in 'Epoch II'. In his short film, 'Epoch II', he paired Sapphire effects with Adobe's built-in Lumetri tools to produce stunning results.
Thorp's creative career began in childhood, raised by a mother in an artistic household. His work includes films like 'Ender's Game', 'Ghost in the Shell', 'Assassin's Creed', 'Call of Duty', and Netflix's 'The Great Hack'. Thorp expresses gratitude for tools like Sapphire that allow him to focus on his creativity rather than technical issues.
Sapphire's unique value lies in its blend of AI-powered precision, extensive cinematic effects, seamless software integration, and workflow efficiency. It offers a comprehensive set of advanced effects and transitions that deliver cinematic-quality visuals, helping artists create complex, high-end motion graphics and visual effects with ease.
Its tight integration with popular post-production software such as Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro enables efficient workflows and compatibility with professional editing suites. Sapphire also leverages AI and machine learning technologies, improving effects processing and motion tracking accuracy, which enhances quality and reduces manual cleanup efforts.
Features like flexible lens workflows ensure consistent, uniform results across multiple platforms by handling lens distortion automatically during export. This allows matchmove artists to deliver precise data while maintaining the integrity of the original footage.
Sapphire, part of Boris FX’s ecosystem, benefits from streamlined interfaces and tools inspired by AI models that speed up creation and refinement, helping users from beginner to advanced levels achieve professional results more efficiently. Tools such as Mask ML provide instant AI mask creation with additional control like mask dilation for improving edge softness, motion blur handling, and reducing tracking errors, which aids in creating more polished visual effects.
Thorp leans towards projects he feels a connection with, as seen in his personal projects 'Awaken Akira' and 'Epoch II'. He leans towards projects he feels a connection with and offers clients a unique perspective. Boris FX Continuum worked well alongside Sapphire on Thorp's recent short, 'Epoch II'.
In summary, Sapphire’s unique value lies in its blend of AI-powered precision, extensive cinematic effects, seamless software integration, and workflow efficiency, making it a preferred choice for cutting-edge visual effects artists like Ash Thorp.
Ash Thorp, a multi-talented artist in the realm of visual effects and motion graphics, finds Sapphire's blend of AI-powered precision, extensive effects, and seamless software integration invaluable for his creative projects. He leverages Sapphire's tools, such as S_Glow and Particle Illusion, to produce high-quality visual effects, as evidenced in his Vimeo staff pick project, 'Epoch II'. Furthermore, Thorp expresses gratitude for technology advancements like artificial intelligence in Sapphire, which helps him focus on his creativity instead of technical issues.