Flicking problem in the End Credits

[Kevin Camp]

search ae forums here for credit flicker, author: dave laronde…. he gave a great explanation of how to go about creating a credit roll that would over come the flicker problem. basicly you need to find/calculate a rate where the text will advance in whole pixels, if you’re rendering fields, then i think they need to advance in increments of every other field.

Kevin Camp
Designer – KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[John Mclane]

Thank you very much for the quick answer. I swear I used the searced engine but I was looking for “Flicking Problem” which had no result. I guess my poor english skills is guilty of that. I’m usualy the first one to recommend the search engine !

Anyway thanks for the quick answer and the useful link !

Nicolas

[John Mclane]

Thank you so much ! That’s a fantastic trick ! Thank you very much for sharing it in a so detailed and perfectly explained way.

Thanks again,

Nicolas

[John Mclane]

I just tried your step by step explaination but it seems that I missed something because the problem is still there. I tried several times but I can’t get rid of this flicking effect.

My project can be dowloaded here :

https://nicolasalary.free.fr/FLICKING_COW.aep

Thank you very much for considering my problem,

Nicolas

[Don Logan]

I think i know what your problem is.

Your Graphics card driver is out of date.
You mention Avid Mojo. Avid requires a certain release of the Nvidia driver. After Effects prefers a 91. something… minimum.

I had a similiar problem on certain effects and pluggins….upgraded my driver and life was good. Please post if this works.

rd

[John Mclane]

Thank you for your answer. The only thing i’m worried about is that if I upgrade my driver Avid won’t work anymore, will it ?

[Kevin Camp]

i looked at you project, i didn’t see any flicker due to interlacing or anti-aliasing, but i did think it was moving a little too fast and that was creating a bit of a strobing effect. i lengthened the move by a minute and it looked pretty smooth.

do you think that the effect you are seeing is due to the amount of movement (number of pixels) that is happening between each frame?

also, i created an expression based on dave’s method this morning. it will take the initial start position (y position) and calculate the movement based on comp height and layer (or pre comp) height, but limit the movement to a multiple of 2. the initial start postition, length of the list and the duration of the comp can be modified at any point and the y movement value will be recalculated automatically, no more trial and error.

it is designed to work with any length of credit list or any comp size, so it should work for ntsc or pal, sd or hd.

here is the expression if you would like to be the first to try it, just paste it into the postion property of your credit layer in your credit roll comp… it was written for ae7:

// Position list as desired for first frame, the expression will
// create flicker free movement to fit within Comp duration.

// Comp duration and list length can be modified at any point
// and the expression will recalculate the movement.

// This expression to create a flicker free credit roll
// is based on a method proposed by Dave LaRonde.
// Expression by Kevin Camp.

startY = thisLayer.position[1];
endY = (thisLayer.height * 0.5) * -1;
incrementY = (Math.round((((startY – endY) / (thisComp.duration / thisComp.frameDuration)) * 0.5) + 0.5)) * 2;
frame = time / thisComp.frameDuration;
y = startY – (frame * incrementY);
[value[0],y]

it will work if your credit list is a layer, nested comp, or text layer. however if you apply it to a text layer, if you change the length of the list, ae does not update the height value of the text layer. the work around would be to pre-comping the text layer, as you did, and adjusting the size of the pre-comp. the expression will then function as it should.

let me know if this works for you

Kevin Camp
Designer – KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[John Mclane]

Thank you for this excellent answer and for taking time to have a look at my project and even to write me an expression, I really do apriciate. Unfortunately the problem was still there and I agree with you about the speed of the roll, I think that it’s to fast and that the monitors pixel simply don’t have time to completly get rid of the light they just received before some more light come to light the same pixel. Slowing down the whole thing made it a lot smoother.

Thank you very much moldyboot,Dave LaRonde and ribdog for you fantastic help, I hope I could help you back some time !

Nicolas

[Kevin Camp]

i found a way to add an expression control, so if you aren’t rendering in fields you won’t have to be restricted to even number increments by just unchecking a box. but, i will have to save it as a preset and find a place to post it.

Kevin Camp
Designer – KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

i created an ae preset that uses that expression and added a control to disable field friendly movement (forcing even numbered increments) allowing it to provide smoother motion for progressive rendering (allowing odd or even increments). i also added controls for padding.

you can download it here:

http://www.mercuryjones.com/aepresets.html

unzip it and drop it into your ae presets folder and open ae. it will be located in the effects & presets pane under animation presets>presets. position you credit list where you want it to start, you don’t need to add a keyframe. then apply the preset. movemnt will be based on the length of the list and the duration of the comp. if the movement is too fast or slow, change the duration of the comp and the movement will be adjusted by the expression. the credit list can be updated too and the expression will again recalculate the animation.

it should be resoultion independent and work in sd or hd, ntsc or pal… even film if you wanted.

Kevin Camp
Designer – KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW