I can across a nice website the other day that I didn’t even know existed. Red Giant People is a second destination that users of Red Giant products should bookmark. I clicked over when I saw an ad for guru presets and found a nice portal with all kinds of goodies. It’s going to be of particular interest to those users of  Trapcode products like Particular or Shine but there’s also add-ons for things like Knoll Light Factory and Magic Bullet Looks. The Guru Zone is a place where you can find preset packs designed by motion graphic artists and some of Red Giant’s biggest fans. You can also upload your own presets. There’s also a link to the popular Red Giant TV where you can see some tutorials about about how to use the products as well as Red Giant stuff in action. While the site is, of course, a store designed to sell product you can dig into the tags on the site and find the free tag. Check some of them out for a demo of what you might be getting when you pony up the $ for some of the content Red Giant People has to offer.

While you never want to get in the habit of tossing a preset at a certain task and leave it untouched, presets are often a good starting point. I’ve often found deconstructing a preset to be a great way to learn about a particular tool or how an artist achieved a certain look or effect. And the deconstruction can also lead to an entirely new look or effect that’s more specific to the task at hand. Plus, the new effect won’t look like anyone else’s effect as that can be the downside of presets … everyone else can have the same preset that you do.