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LED wall – odd aspect ratio
I have a basic understanding of after effects and I have an upcoming project that has me stumped.
Client has pandoras box – coolux video server which will be feeding an 8mm LED wall that is 4’ High by 192’ long. The operator/tech wants media to travel the full distance of the wall.
The tech has suggested i deliver the media in the following format.
• I break up a composition into 6 horizontal slices.
• an image would travel from left to right in the first/top horizontal slice
• Once the image gets to the far right side of the composition it would then pick up on the left side of the second horizontal slice
• Once the image gets to the right side of the second horizontal slice it would then pick up on the left side of the third horizontal slice.
• On and on through all slices to the very end.The tech says he has the ability to take that stacked composition and spread that out evenly onto the LED wall. sounds good to me.
I dont have any idea on how to set up a composition to do this. I have a lot of media that has to be displayed this way so i am hoping i can set up a template that allows me to input whatever media that they want. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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12 Replies
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The inches of the screen is kinda’ irrelevant.
What are the Pixel dimensions of the comp you need to make?
I once had to make an absolutely huge animation for Nesquik to play on some weird sized screen in Times Square. And I was dealing with this same kind of thing.
Here’s my suggestion.
Make the animation in one master comp. (all six screens)
Then place that master comp in 6 different compositions, one for each screen.
Then simply work out the math so that you move it on the X axis the proper amount, to make each of the 6 comps render out the portion of your master comp appropriate to that screen.
Make sense?
My Work:
https://www.morecompletefx.com -
Simplicity is usually the best option. Your method sounds good to me. pixel count would be 5760 x 60
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I generated a comp of 5760 x 60 pixels as a test. pandoras box – coolux did not work at all with that comp size. That is why he suggested that I break it up into slices on a comp size that he could work with.
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He hasn’t done this before either so we are at the testing stage. He is confident that he can break out a stacked video into the 6 different sections across his LED wall.
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I suspect it wont be entirely happy experimenting. I appreciate the help. Thanks.
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it sounds like the the tech wants one file that he will cut up and reassemble for playout.
i would think he’d give you the size of the file that he wants, but if we do the math 5760 x 60 in 6 horizontal layers would make a 960 x 360 comp as the final comp.
as mathew and dave point out, you’ll want to work in a 5760 x 60 comp, then take that comp into the 960 x 360.
at that point you’d duplicate it 5x and position the duplicates so they are stacked vertically like a layer cake, but each offset horizontally by 960 px. then render that for the tech.
i may have missed it, but you’ll also want to have a frame rate to work with (i’d assume 30fps, but the tech should let you know). he should also give you a file type and codec… my best guess would be avi encoded as cinepak or maybe uncompressed, but uncompressed has a pretty high data rate for how these systems are typically configured.
Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW -
I have worked with this server before and it prefers .m2v/mpg2. I am creating the comp right now and will be testing later today.
Thanks again for the help.
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mpeg2 typically conforms to video standards, so that may conflict with 960×360, 30fps comp…
so you may find that you need to go with 1280×720 and a standard frame rate (23.98, 25, 29.97, 50, 59.94).
the frame size is the part that could complicate things.. since 720/6 = 120, that’s 2x the 60 height of the led screen, but the width ratio would not be the same — 6×1280 = 7680px, but double the led screen width would be 11520px, so you could be looking some squeezing to make that work out… that’s if the 960×360 doesn’t work.
Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW -
now that i think about it, if you do need a 1280×720 output, just drop the 960×360 comp into a 720p comp and then choose layer>transform>fit to comp and render that…
Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW -
I think you may be right about mpg not wanting to be anything but tv standard. Thanks for the suggestion.
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