WonderHowTo: Page 380

We realize Christmas is over, but there's no reason you shouldn't surprise a friend with a pretty gift for New Year's Eve! In many other cultures friends and family give each other presents to celebrate their new year, including during Chinese New Year.

We know we're dead in the middle of winter and you probably have few thoughts about fields of wildflowers and the birds and bees (the literal ones). But what better way to take yourself out of your winter slumber than by thinking about how you'll adorn your house for spring?

Do you remember the first time you tried a French cruller, or a French donut? We can bet it certainly wasn't the last time you had one of those melt-in-your-mouth sugar and cake bombs. Made with crunchy and flaky dough and topped with a glazed shell, crullers are delicious alternatives to your normal breakfast donuts.

Via Ethical Style.

During the winter, cold, blizzard-y conditions outside make for quite a freezing soul. Warm yourself up while taking your taste buds for a flavor trip by baking these simple and delicious apple cinnamon cider donuts.

Jealous of thin as a rail models with those chiseled, sculpted cheekbones so sharp they could grate cheese? You need not be. We normal folk can look just as defined and ready to strut our thangs down the runway by learning how to contour our faces.

Need a timer for your speedsolving? You needn't buy a Rubik's Cube timer, becasue there's one available on the web for free, and it's called CalCubeTimer (CCT). Get the newest version (0.9.6) here, then see how to create a desktop shortcut in Windows.

Okay, been a bit rampant with the twisted animations lately (exhibits A, B, C), but this is too amazing to pass up. By photographer and filmmaker Alva Bernadine, behold the magic of After Effects:

Super Mario Brothers!  No, wait...

Ke$ha's music video for "We R Who We Are" is the perfect combination of extreme glitziness (studded eyebrows and glitter littering every corner as well as Ke$ha's face) and extreme party scene gritiness.

Resolume 3 is a powerful program which allows you to edit both audio and video effects. This quick tutorial gives you a brief overview of the general effects feature, how you can apply effects and how you can eliminate effects altogether.

This is a great tip that will save you quite a lot of money on camera lenses. No matter what lens you are using, this video shows you how to get a good macro shot. All you need are special filters that go on top of your lens.

This tutorial focuses on framing your shot, especially when you're planning to film an interview. However, this also touches on how you can frame people for the greatest effectiveness in your shot. Be aware of what is both inside and without the frame, as well as headroom.

Your Canon 7D camera can film in video as well as take still photographs, however, the settings will be different. To get the best picture quality possible, here is how you can set up your camera's presets when filming in live action.

This tutorial will work for most any 3D rendering program, such as Houdini, 3ds Studio Max or Maya. Learn how you can replicate the dynamic look of fire, smoke and explosions. Create digital fire and other fume effects with your computer.

So you've filmed your scene using multiple cameras, and now it's time to sync them up into a coherent whole. This tutorial shows you how to take advantage of the multi clip edit feature in Final Cut Pro when you're in post production.

The Vinyasa flow is a short exercise you can use to limber up your body, as well as open your hips. It starts with a rotating triange and then slowly transitions into a forward bend. Make sure to pay attention to your breathing techniques!

This excercise is not for beginners - only try this if you have a spotter nearby. You will need a bench to support your back, and a pair of dumbbells to perform this properly (make sure your dumbbells are calibrated for you).

This tutorial shows you a beautiful way to blend green, blue and purple eyeshadow for an eye catching peacock look. Perfect for New Year's Eve or any other dressy occasion! Start with an undercoat, then follow along with this tutorial and become the life of the party!

You barely even need a sewing machine to make this dress! All you need is a length of your favorite fabric. Wrap it around yourself, tie one shoulder and then sew up the side seam. Now all you need is to pick which shoes you're going to wear with it!

This is a quick and easy tutorial, great for anyone interested in learning how to make their own designer handbag. Add in a zippered pocket to the inside lining of your handbag. You will need a window stencil and a craft knife as well as your notions.

By adding a squeeze page to your website, you can gather leads and grow the list of interested consumers in your product. Induce visitors and regulars to your website to sign up for a bonus offer, newsletter or other content.

Turn Cinema 4d into your own lighting studio! This tutorial shows you how to use the HDRI Light Kit Pro kit of plugins and addons to create unique lighting effects - add your own softboxes, ring lights and other sources to improve your renders.

Linear Workflow is automatically activated in new projects in Cinema 4D and is a feature to ensure that lighting falloff is rendered more accurately and realistically on light sources, textures and reflections. Greyscale Gorilla explains the concept in this demonstration video.

Increased productivity in Cinema 4D (or other processor-intensive applications) does not always have a linear correlation wtih the speed of the machine that the work is performed on. Nick Campbell of Greyscale Gorilla explains what exactly it is that a fast machine allows one to do, what kind of machine to get, and what kind of work can one expect to do on it.

In this tutorial, create concave objects in Cinema 4D such that particle objects behave and interact realistically with the concave object. The automatic setting for objects is configured in a way that simplifies calculation and speeds up rendering time. By changing the automatic setting within Cinema 4D, the physical properties of concave and curved objects are calculated more thoroughly and are rendered more realistically.

In this 41 minute tutorial, learn how to build a spherical glass mesh with softbody physical properties (and filled with round particles) that enable it to bounce without breaking in Cinema 4D. Nick from Greyscale Gorilla shows how.

Learn to animate text in Adobe After Effects CS3 with this video tutorial so that it looks like it is being handwritten. This video tutorial from Matthew Butler shows three different methods of animating in After Effects CS3, the techniques can also be used in CS4 and CS5.

Learn the fundamentals of position tracking in After Effects in this informative 5 minute tutorial from Patrick Carter. This video lesson involves attaching a text object to a moving cowboy on screen to demonstrate the basic transform tracking function.

Simulate the look of snapshots in your After Effects video footage with Spy Photo, a free set of presets that dynamically automate and generate the effect. This 17-minute tutorial from Aharon Rabinowitz of All Bets Are Off demonstrates the features of this cool new addition, which includes camera sound effects and viewfinder overlays.

Create simple reflections in Adobe After Effects with keyed footage. In this video tutorial, Aharon Rabinowitz of All Bets Are Off demonstrates its use with video footage of both crowd and individuals. In addition, some potential issues with Collapse Transformations are also addressed.

Recreate the scary effect in Poltergeist when the girl gets trapped inside the television using Adobe Audition, Adobe After Effects or any similar editing software. Harry Frank and Aharon Rabinowitz take you through the detailed tutorials step by step using a couple of different software methods.

Learn to create the popular dubstep "talking wobble bass" sound using Operator and Ableton Live. Dubspot Instructor and Ableton Certified Trainer Michael Hatsis aka !banginclude explains how to create this popular sound. By combining settings on Operators with the Ableton Live device Redux effect, this video takes you through the process and shows you how it's done.

Make a fun and inviting Christmas wreath this holiday season and impress your friends and family with your creative skills! For this project, you will need a pre-made wreath, wire edged ribbon, glue gun, scissors, and additional accoutrements like decorative berries and cinammon sticks.Keltie Colleen from Mahalo gets in touch with her resourceful side and shows you how.

Make some fun Christmas tree ornaments for this holiday season and impress your friends and family with your creative skills! FOr this project, you will need styrofoam balls, pipe cleaners, scissors, glue gun and snowflake stickers. Keltie Colleen from Mahalo gets in touch with her resourceful side and shows you how.

Learn to play "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" on guitar and entertain friends & family with your guitar skills this holiday season! Thomas Gilbert shows you how in this informative video, demonstrating the chords and strumming style to properly perform this timeless classic.

Make Christmas candy cane reindeer for this holiday season and impress your friends and family with your creative skills! For this project, you will need candy canes, rhinestones, googly eyes, pipe cleaners and a glue gun. Keltie Colleen from Mahalo gets in touch with her resourceful side and shows you how.

Use After Effects to simulate a 3D stereoscopic effect, and remap time to speed up and slow down footage (a popular video effect used throughout the 2007 movie '300'). This tutorial from motion graphics designer James Zanoni shows you how.

Using a layered photograph, chroma key footage and depth of field, prolific Italian designer Juri Ciana demonstrates precisely how to create a stunningly beautiful 3D composition with After Effects. In this informative video-only tutorial, depth of field and focus is utlized as critical elements that provide the various components of this video composition with a living vibrancy and dynamism.