We were talking internally here at ESC the other day, and it occurred to us that the industry has lost some of its more colorful voices. Particularly those of the old-school broadcast designers who frequented user forums, dispensing gruff, terse replies and occasionally offering genuinely useful advice.
We miss those days. The unsolicited criticism. The thinly veiled contempt. The ability to make someone feel like an idiot for asking a perfectly reasonable question.
So we decided to bring one of those voices back.
Some of you who've been around long enough will undoubtedly remember a particularly notable figure. No, not Wilford Brimley.
Lave DaRonde.
A veteran of the broadcast design world, Lave has spent decades developing a reputation for telling people exactly what he thinks, whether they asked or not. His technical knowledge is extensive, his patience is limited, and his enthusiasm for new tools is practically nonexistent.
Naturally, we thought he'd be the perfect person to review our products.
After some discussion, Lave has agreed to provide his thoughts on the tools available at Element Supply Co. We're not entirely sure why he agreed, and judging by his initial submissions, neither is he.
His reviews are brief, occasionally informative, and almost universally devoid of enthusiasm. Even products he seems to like are unlikely to receive anything resembling praise.
We believe this makes him uniquely qualified for the job.
You'll find Lave's reviews throughout the ESC catalog. We hope you find them helpful.
Lave doesn't particularly care if you do.
UPDATE: Lave has read this announcement and asked us to include the following statement:
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been teasing some upcoming After Effects plugins on X, and now it’s time to round them up in one place. These are still in development, so they’re not available just yet—but they’re coming soon!
Texture Color Mapper
This plugin maps textures and colors to brightness values, unlocking all kinds of visual styles. Whether you’re going for a halftone effect, posterized shading, engraving-style crosshatching, or something entirely your own, Texture Color Mapper makes it easy. Drop in a texture, let the plugin do the work, and watch your footage transform.
Not even sure how to describe what's going on here, but it's fast, unique and super adaptable to many looks, and most of all, it's not boring and predictable. #TCM (what does TCM stand for?????) pic.twitter.com/M4dkKJR5R9
Inspired by the iconic Joy Division album cover, Unknown Pleasures, this plugin breaks up depth maps and normal passes into contour lines, creating stunning topographic visuals.
Last week I shared a bit from a plugin I was working on. That was the happy accident, but this is what I was going for. We have plenty of testing still to do, but J-Division will be coming at you as soon as possible from @ElementSupplyCopic.twitter.com/5ywsiNUOIw
While developing J-Division, we accidentally stumbled onto something else—a glitchy, vaporwave-esque look that ended up being too good to ignore. So instead of tucking it away as a side effect, we’re turning it into its own plugin. This one is still unnamed, but it’s coming soon.
Sometimes mistakes can be pretty interesting. Working on some plugin development at the moment... pic.twitter.com/w7nro14rjx
If you’ve ever wanted more control over After Effects’ Roughen Edges effect, Edgelord will be your new best friend. It lets you manipulate edges using noises and textures, allowing for much more detailed and customizable distressed looks. From subtle erosion to full-blown chaos, this one dials it in.
Film grain is great—until it slows everything down. ESC Fast Grain gives you a nice, organic grain texture without the performance hit. It even runs faster than the default Noise effect while looking better.
Add Grain looks pretty decent in After Effects. But Fast Grain looks decent and is basically real-time. It'll be out soon on @ElementSupplyCo! pic.twitter.com/VWgZs6VWQO
While we’re teasing upcoming plugins, let’s not forget we’ve already dropped something useful: Super Duper. This script lets you remap any number of keyframes to a single slider control, making animation adjustments way easier. If you missed it, it’s available now.
More to Come...
These plugins are still in development, but we’ll have more to share soon. We’ve got even more interesting tools in the pipeline, and we can’t wait to show them off when they’re ready. Stay tuned—we think you’re going to like what’s next.
