Being the Apple freak that I am, I never did get around to buying the first gen iPad. It’s not that I didn’t want one… I loved the idea of it from the beginning, but was somewhat reluctant to buy one, simply because I wasn’t sure how it would fit into my lifestyle.  I have an old G4 PowerBook that I use while lounging on the couch, and I’m perfectly content with using a regular laptop to check emails or browse the internet while watching TV. 

Then I finally got my hands on the iPad and couldn’t believe what I was feeling. 

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Beginning March 31st, I plan to take a roughly 6-week hiatus from client work to focus entirely on a side project I’ve been working on. 

I’m very excited about this new venture, and I’m so confident in it, that I plan on it becoming my full time job by the end of this year.  Keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well.

I’ll have more information in the coming weeks, but I plan on the big launch happening sometime in late April or early May.  

It’s been really quite here on the blog since I launched it.  Figured that would happen!

I’m hoping to be more active in the coming months.  

Ah, daylight savings time how I love thee.  I’m looking forward to the extra hour of sleep tonight, which is partially the reason why I’m still awake at 2:00 am!

To mark the occasion, I’d like to announce there is some new work posted at tysonfrantz.com.  Go check it out!

Updates will be coming soon to tysonfrantz.com, so stay tuned. There will be new motion graphics, web design and board samples to view.

So I’ve have my new Mac Pro for about 3 weeks now.  Along with the Mac Pro, I purchased a new 27” LED Cinema Display, which is quite breathtaking.

After working on a PowerMac G5 Quad for over 4 years, I was expecting to notice an improvement in speed and agility.  I could have never imagined the power boost I was about to realize.

The best way I can describe this is in real world numbers.  Let me explain.

The Mac Pro I purchased was the 3.33GHz 6-Core Westmere, and added 12 GB RAM from OWC.  I was persuaded into purchasing this specific Mac Pro from several website and opinions formulated by my own research.

The bottom line is, most people can’t afford Apple’s top-of-the-line 12-Core Mac Pro.  It’s just simply too damn expensive, even without a RAM upgrade.  Therefore, I was left to decide between a 6-Core and an 8-Core Mac Pro.

I went with the 6-Core because it had a faster clock speed than the 8-Core model.  Even though the 8-Core has 2 more cores, the 6-Core is markedly faster in real world applications, due to the faster clock speeds.

Especially paired with optimal RAM settings inside of AE, you can achieve some seriously fast renders.

Let’s take a closer look.

For example, I do a lot of work for Disney, and they produce these very long, graphics-heavy DVD features.  One of them is over 20 minutes of pure motion graphics.  Quite a render feat, due to the length of the animation, and the fact that it’s 100% motion graphics.

On my old PowerMac G5, this 20 minute animation was taking roughly 16 hours to render.  It was split into 8 parts, and each took around 2 hours to render, on average.

With the new Mac Pro, that same render now takes 90 minutes.  Yes, that’s not a typo.  That render went from 16 hours to 90 MINUTES.  I’m not the best math whiz, but my calculations tell me that my new Mac is almost 94% faster than my old one.  Talk about a speed boost.

How is this possible?  Well, its a combination of things.  First, the new Macs are just pure beasts. They really are the most powerful computers money can buy.  If horsepower is important to you, this is where you should start your search.  I heart Apple. 

Second, the new CS5 AE is a 64-bit application, meaning it can access more of your system’s RAM, which increases render speeds an allows for longer RAM-Previews.  Also, Adobe has rewritten the hyperthreading coding within AE to make it more efficient.  According to them, 30-50% more efficient to be exact.

With the “render multiple frames simultaneously” option chosen inside of AE’s preferences, you can really take advantage of the full power the new Mac Pro and CS5 have to offer.  Some serious, serious speed.

I knew I wouldn’t have any buyers remorse after spending over 9k on upgrades this year, and I’m glad to report that those claims are true.

It was worth every single cent.

I’m living in a new city, so why not splurge on an entirely new workstation?

Actually, my move to Boston isn’t the reason I just plunked down almost 5 figures on a brand new hardware and software upgrade. The Mac I’m currently working on is still a Quad-Core PowerPC PowerMac from May of 2006. In computer years, I might as well be working with a dinosaur.

For those of you who are familiar with Adobe’s creative software, you’ll quickly realize that many of the new CS5 programs don’t work on the old Motorola PowerPC processors; they’re mostly Intel-based now and support 64-bit.

That being the case, I found myself in a situation where I was working on a 4 1/2-year-old machine while stuck in Adobe CS3 world. Not a good combination.

Therefore, my hand was essentially forced to purchase my new computer and software upgrade all at the same time. I took the opportunity to make the necessary enhancements such as adding additional memory to the Mac Pro, as well as adding the newly-released Cinema4D 12 and Andrew Kramer’s VideoCopilot Action Essentials bundle to my software lineup.

On the hardware end, I went with Apple’s mid-range Mac Pro; the 2.93 GHz 6-core Westmere setup, with 16GB of RAM from OWC. It should absolutely scream, so I’m really hoping to see a noticeable reduction in render times and RAM-previews within After Effects, especially with the 64-bit support.

And I purposely waited to order the hardware to get the new 27” LED Display. I’ll put this simply: Oh. My. God. It’s gorgeous. At $999, it’s well worth the investment, especially considering Apple was still selling the old-style LCD 30” displays for $1,400.

All of these improvements will immediately help creatively and productivity, so I’m looking forward to finally making the transition to the new setup, hopefully in the next week or two.

I’ll have updates soon on my thoughts and reactions to the new Mac and software. Looks like my 6+ year-old G4 PowerBook will have to wait for it’s upgrade in 2011.

By the way, I’m going to be selling my current setup very soon. If you or anyone you know is interested, please feel free to drop me a line.

Here’s what is included (selling together or separately):

• 24” Apple Cinema Display - like new, absolutely no visible signs of use

• 2.5 GHz Quad-Core G5 PowerMac with 12GB of RAM and 2 TB of internal storage

So I’ve packed up my life once again and moved to Boston.

It’s is an amazing city. Simple as that. After visiting a few times during short vacations over the past few years, I thoroughly fell in love. I’ve always been an American History geek, and it just doesn’t get any better that here.

They call it the Hub of the Universe for a reason.

We liked it so much that we thought it’d be a fun adventure to live here full time. It’s a completely different way of life from what we knew living in Allentown, PA and the Pocono Mountains.

Not having a car anymore is nothing short of a relief. Sure, I’ll miss driving eventually, but I’ll gladly take public transportation and walk to my destination.

I’m still going to be a 100% freelance motion graphics designer for the foreseeable future, and I’m hoping to reach out soon to local agencies to hopefully get my hands in the Boston graphic design scene.

And, yes, I’m still a die-hard Phillies fan.  

I know, I know. I’m several years behind in joining the blogging revolution but frankly, I just haven’t had the time to maintain a blog!

This being my first “official” blog post, I wanted to outline what you can expect to find here.

There are no rules or guidelines to this blog’s content. Mostly you’ll find motion graphics inspiration and industry news ranging from new Adobe releases and Mac updates, to what Steve Jobs had for lunch yesterday.

I’m sure there will be the occasional off-topic thread, but I’ll try to keep everything on-topic as possible.

So why am I starting a blog? That’s a good question.

Firstly, it’s because I usually have an opinion about stuff and want to share it with you. Even more importantly, I want to hear what you have to say as well.

Secondly, I’m in a transition period in my career where I’m attempting to do less client-based work, and starting to create professional video and motion graphics products for individuals in the motion graphics, design and video production industries.

What exactly does that mean? Well, I’m not divulging too much information at the moment, but I’m hoping to have it launched before the end of 2010.

I’m extremely excited about this upcoming venture and I’m hoping it will open up a new successful chapter in my motion graphics career.

Thanks for stopping by, and please subscribe or follow this blog to stay in the loop.

Cheers!