New month, new stories from the world of animation and motion graphics...

New Photoshop CC tool allows you to select people and objects with single click

Adobe has released a video showcasing a new tool coming to Photoshop CC, which enables you to select people and objects with a single click.

Subject Select is powered by Adobe’s artificial intelligence and machine learning platform Sensei. This means it's clever enough to work with single objects or group shots and filter out any foreground details.

“This new feature is designed to simplify workflows for our Creative Cloud members and its coming in an update to Adobe Photoshop CC,” said Meredith Payne Stotzner, Photoshop Product Manager.

RenderGarden maximises CPU usage for quicker rendering

Mekajiki has unveiled a new script that promises up to 3x faster rendering in After Effects by maximising CPU cores on a single machine.

RenderGarden will split your comp into a specified number of segments (seeds) and then render them to multiple background command line windows (gardeners).

Matt Silverman, CEO at Mekajiki said: “After putting it through the paces, we have fine-tuned RenderGarden into a formidable workhorse and we’re excited to share it with the rest of the After Effects community via Toolfarm!”

Motion Hatch is an online learning hub for freelance motion designers and animators

London-based motion designer Hayley Akins has launched an online community and learning hub for freelance motion graphic designers and animators.

Motion Hatch wants to be the go-to resource for the ‘business side of the industry’, with bi-weekly podcasts and online forums discussing every aspect of being a creative freelancer.

"It’s easy to feel like you aren’t good enough or don’t belong and I think that stopped me going freelance for a long time,” Hayley told DigitalArts. “When I went freelance I wish I had access to a larger community of people who could help me with any questions I had."

Quiver enables easy management and use of After Effects expressions

Quiver is an After Effects script that enables you to store and apply expressions more easily.

A recent update also allows you to create and modify the .txt files containing your library of expressions from within the panel itself.

“If you don’t know what Quiver is, you’re probably one of those people that has an expressions document that you copy and paste stuff from - this thing is for you,” said creator Joe Clay.