Transparency in PI 3

[Alan Lorence]

So glad you posted that. I was going to say that image sequences are as easy to use as movie files. 🙂

To stop particles from emitting when the car engine shuts off, add some points to the “number” graph so the value goes down to 0. If you’re not sure what I mean by this, add any “explosion” emitter to your project and look at its “number” graph.

Alan.

………………..
Alan Lorence
Product Manager
GenArts, Inc.
http://www.genarts.com
http://www.wondertouch.com

[Renton Maclachlan]

Thanks so much Allan. That did it…a lot better.

One other question. The cartoon of the car is output from the animation program ‘Animate 2’ as a 350 frame png sequence. When I try to put this sequence on a layer in PI, a box comes up saying that the first image of the sequence which I had selected, appeared to be in a sequence of 9. Well clearly it was the first of sequence though not of 9 but of 350. Thus I wasn’t able to place this sequence on the layer so as to place my exhaust smoke accurately. What I did to get my smoke location correct was place two single images on PI layers with the car at defining locations and place my smoke on a path between them. It worked, but it would have been better if I could have placed the whole sequence. How do I do that?

Additionally (but not related to PI), when I had brought the smoke into Vegas, I pan/cropped it to make it bigger than it was output from PI.

[Alan Lorence]

Make sure the sequence numbers in the filenames contain leading zeros. I’m guessing the numbering was “file1.png, file2.png… file9.png, file10.png, etc.”

It needs to be “file001.png, file002.png, etc.”

Alan.

………………..
Alan Lorence
Product Manager
GenArts, Inc.
http://www.genarts.com
http://www.wondertouch.com

[Renton Maclachlan]

Thanks so much. I’ll try that tonight. Appreciated.

[Philip Knight]

Renton,

First, welcome 🙂

Second, you’re not the only one using PI and Vegas Pro. So do I (been using Vegas since v.6 and have v.10 for I don’t need v.12); there are a few of the veterans over at the Sony Vegas Pro forum at Sony that do too.

So feel free to ask stuff about using PI in Vegas over there if necessary. Due to other life priorities, I haven’t been around here or even there that much or if so, very sporadically. But others can help you.

I always imported my PI effects sequences into Vegas as .PNG sequences and usually on their own tracks. It’s IMO the cleanest way to go even though there is technically not much difference between an uncompressed .avi file and a .png or any other format — they are all simply containers for frames.

The advantage of .PNG sequences is that you can see each frame in its folder. Sometimes I’ll steal a frame of a sequence to use in some still artwork I do 🙂

Oh, and don’t forget that using an NLE like Vegas gives a second layer of emitter tweaking through event effects chains to even further enhance or polish the particles appearance (gain, color, gamma, color balance, whatever).

I use a lot of sparkles and glows and I can really make stuff pop out even more with Vegas.

[Renton Maclachlan]

Thanks for the welcome Philip…and the suggestions. I’ve already used pan/crop in vegas to alter the PI image I made so I realise things can be added to it. Appreciate the ideas.