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Particleillusion SE, can’t hear Audio to time effects or output with sound
I just bought PI SE for Mac and have two issues with sound.
1. I can’t hear the imported video’s audio so I can sync the visual effect with the sounds in the movie (like muzzle flashes to the machine gun).
2. When I import a video into PI SE, include a few effects and then export the video, there is no sound.I tried reading the forums (new to this) and saw several post like this one
” In the Output Options window, check the Use Audio From Layer box right at the bottom, and make sure to select Layer 1 from the drop down. It should pass the audio along with the video.”The only way I can find the Output Options page is to select the red “save output” button, select a filename and directory to save the output then the window pops up. But there is no checkbox for “Suse Audo From Laye” box at the bottom or anywhere in the application I can find.
After spending a couple of rainy weekends filming an army movie with my son and 7 of his friends, they are ready to see the final project but I really want to add flashes and explsions first.
Any help would be appricated.
Thanks,
Chip -
6 Replies
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There’s no way to play back the audio within pI, it just doesn’t do it. The best way in such a situation would be to jot down your start and end times for each muzzle flash based on what they are in your editing program, and using that as a guide.
But you should be able to output sound with it. The only reason the “Use Audio From Layer” box wouldn’t be checkable would be if the AVI that you used as your background didn’t have audio to begin with.
—
Elvis Deane!
The Apprentice Magician’s Guide to particleIllusion
Wilbur of Wumbaberry -
Thank you, it was very helpful.
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Thanks for the reply. I now understand you cannot hear anything while using Pi-SE, ok. But after spending countless hours trying variation after variation, I am still having major sound issues. I output my short DV movie from FinalCut Express in AVI format with compression set to none. I am able to hear the rendered AVI movie when played in Quicktime and plus see the audio sound track info when I view the sound track audio settings. But after I import this movie into PI-SE and then export it (variation after variation tried), all sound has been removed and no sound track is present in the movie properties. It’s like Pi-SE scrubs the audio off. I have looked everywhere for the “Use Audio From Layer” option you mentioned and cannot find it anywhere. It might be there for 3.0 but I can’t find it anywhere in SE.
I have other basic issues that are creating major road blocks for me using Pi-SE.
Quality
I want the best quality video so when I render and export my DV movie out of FinalCut, I export it as AVI with compression set to none. Is this the best way?Import Issues
1. Most of the time when I select the background image and select an AVI movie, the BackGround button stays lit red, not allow me to see the background image.2. The AVI movies I make from FinalCut Express HD are sized at 604×480. In PI-SE I have my preferences set to have a stage size for this same size but I get a error box saying the stage size is different from the movie I am importing.
I have spent so much time trying to get some simple flashes and explosions to work in my short with this SE version. I can work the interface just fine, it is the importing and exporting that is wearing me out. If there is anyplace I can read the steps and setting to use in the whole process that would be great. Any help though would be appreciated.
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There’s no “preserve audio” function in SE, nor in the Mac version of 3.0, nor in the Windows version of 3.0. (It has been removed in the latest Windows version updates.)
So your workflow should be:
1) Render your footage as a quicktime movie in FC, using any compression you want (you’ll use the footage as reference only)
2) load this into particleIllusion (the Mac version does not support AVI)
3) add your particle effects
4) when you’re finished with the particles, turn off the bg footage (click the “bg” icon), then render as a QuickTime movie, Animation codec, highest quality and number of colors, then check the “save alpha” option to save an alpha channel.
5) bring your particles into FC for final compositing with the rest of your footage.
The output size warning message is because your stage window is not large enough to fit the output size you want at 100% zoom. Just make the stage window larger.
Alan.
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Thanks Alan, that was exactly what I needed to know. Where could I have found this information because I really tried hard to figure this out on my own using the help file (not there) tutorials and online? I am now very excited about using it and can’t wait to get started!
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Alan,
Thanks again for your help. We made a 9 min combat action movie full of PI effects that got in our local film festival and now is running on TV. To check it out go to the below link. The movie is called “Alpha Recon” and is the second short in this episode of The Alaska Short Forum, so you’ll have to see a 8 min video before ours.
https://shortforum.com/episodes/AKSF-003
Chip
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