[Adam Taylor]

have you tried trashing the preferences?

tends to cure most irritating little unexplainables…

Adam Taylor
Video Editor/Audio Mixer/ Compositor/Motion GFX/Barista
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk
My YouTube Animations Page

[Adam Taylor]

you need to contact Peter Wiggins (often found on the Cow).

He installed and runs a system used to cut the live feeds for daily playback of the Tour De France.

I don’t know what the software is thats used. Best ask Peter.

Adam Taylor
Video Editor/Audio Mixer/ Compositor/Motion GFX/Barista
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk
My YouTube Animations Page

[Adam Taylor]

how have you applied the alpha?

look in the manual for travelling matte – if i remember correctly, you sandwich the alpha between the two video layers, then use the composite mode set to travelling matte on one of the video tracks. I forget which one, so you’ll have to experiment a bit.

Adam Taylor
Video Editor/Audio Mixer/ Compositor/Motion GFX/Barista
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk
My YouTube Animations Page

[Adam Taylor]

a box which takes up a quarter of the screen is actually half as wide and half as tall as a full screen…hece 50%.

Adam Taylor
Video Editor/Audio Mixer/ Compositor/Motion GFX/Barista
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk
My YouTube Animations Page

[Adam Taylor]

The Foundry has CameraTracker – which is a plug-in for After Effects. Very inexpensive compared to the other options, and does a really good job. I believe its the same tracker that is in Nuke, just for AE.

Adam Taylor
Video Editor/Audio Mixer/ Compositor/Motion GFX/Barista
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk
My YouTube Animations Page

[Adam Taylor]

I’ve just started using The Foundrys CameraTracker plug-in which is a great 3d camera tracking tool that works with live action footage in After Effects. This tracking data can then be imported into C4d to allow you to position 3d models and lights within the 2d image.
the best results will usually involve rendering out with alpha channels and layers that can then be composited in AE to create the final shot.

Adam Taylor
Video Editor/Audio Mixer/ Compositor/Motion GFX/Barista
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk
My YouTube Animations Page

[Adam Taylor]

you can do a conversion in After Effects (if you have it.)
From memory the process is –
In your AE project you select the video, then use Interpret Footage command. Choose the option to conform to your required new time base, then hit the button to guess 3.2 pulldown. Then create a new sequence, drop the video in and send it to your render queue. Set the format you need and render.

Adam Taylor
Video Editor/Audio Mixer/ Compositor/Motion GFX/Barista
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk
My YouTube Animations Page

[Adam Taylor]

why have you rendered it as lower field first?
I was always told the only codec that you should use that setting for in Pal is DV. Everything else should be Upper field first.
It could be that you are seeing an interlacing issue.

Adam Taylor
Video Editor/Audio Mixer/ Compositor/Motion GFX/Barista
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk
My YouTube Animations Page

[Adam Taylor]

depends which is more important to you – your reel or the client who’s paying for this broadcast job?

Adam Taylor
Video Editor/Audio Mixer/ Compositor/Motion GFX/Barista
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk
My YouTube Animations Page

[Adam Taylor]

I’d try it shooting a white panel outside the door, evenly lit, but not so bright it hurts! Then in AE i would use Genarts Sapphire S-Glow plug-in to boost the light and make the effect you described.

The benefit of doing it this way is the subject opening the door will be lit naturally by the white panel, and so as you boost the glow , the reflected light on the subject will also be boosted in a much more natural way than if you were to try key out a green screen then apply the light and its reflections in post.

As you will need to light your subject when you shoot anyway, doing it this way should not involve too much extra work.

Adam Taylor
Video Editor/Audio Mixer/ Compositor/Motion GFX/Barista
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk
My YouTube Animations Page