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Best workflow for 4 video screens with synced graphics. Paging Walter Soyka
I’m creating graphics for 4 monitors that will be on a video wall, that will essentially require 4 different videos. The monitors will be offset(see attachment). My thought for syncing the graphics is to create a source comp that is the final dimensions of the entire display 1536×1536. In that comp I would create all the graphics, effects, transitions, then place that composition into 4 other comps, repositioned to only show what should be seen in each respective screen. Please see my workflow project.
Is this the best and easiest way to create the synced graphics across the multiple screens? My systems are pretty robust, so I’m not overly worried about all the unused video that will be playing in outside of the screens. Or is there some simpler way to do this.
replied 9 months, 3 weeks ago 3 Members · 5 Replies
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5 Replies
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Seems to be the way I’ve done it in the past.
You can follow the resolution of the players if possible.
Best if it’s one single playback engine.
I had issues trying to sync digital signage screens using third-party schedulers across multiple players.
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Thanks Eric .
Yes, it’s one player. All the videos will at the end be placed into a single 4K raster. Glad I’m on the right track. This is one of those projects where the right workflow will save a ton of time later.
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I had a fun time doing stuff using a Christie system.
They had this cube setup and we tested a few different shapes.
The bonus was the old cheese grater Mac Pro was able to spit out this enormous res with no hiccups.
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Hi, John! Your intuition is correct. For your SETUP, you want that one big comp so you can work spatially across screens.
How you actually OUTPUT your work depends on the video engineering and playback system requirements. (And those ideally depend on the creative requirements.)
If your videos will only ever sync-roll, playback might actually prefer one file at the full 1536×1536 canvas size, or pre-positioned in a 4K raster.
If they do specifically want 4 separate files, you can speed up your renders by doing the screen crops with output modules instead of comps. With 4 output comps, you have 4 render queue items, and therefore you have to render 4 times. With 1 full-size working comp in the render queue, and 4 separate output modules attached to it and handling the crops, you get all 4 outputs from just 1 render.
Depending on the playback system, they may have specific frame rate and codec requirements, too.
TL;DR, you’re off to a great start, and I think you’ll have to talk with whoever’s responsible for playback to make sure you’ll output exactly what they’ll need.
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Thanks Eric & Walter. After 25 years(20 for AE) of post production, this is a project I definitely wanted to confirm my workflow before attempting to create all of this content. If interested, the final output will be positioned in a single 4K raster. but essentially will be 4 different videos.
Sent a small sample to the client and their favorite part was when graphics and animations moved across all the videos, so good start.
And not that surprising, but even after all this time, I’m still learning new things about AE, I had know idea I could create 4 files from a single render. That bit of knowledge would have come in handy on a very similar project last year. I guess I haven’t gotten to the old dog stage yet cause you can still teach me stuff.
Thanks again, always appreciate the expert knowledge this community provides.
Johnny
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