[Adam Taylor]

its worth checking what the warranty is on the actual drive.

I recently had 2 seagates fail (can’t remember the model numbers), and when i checked up found they had a 5 year warranty. I’d had them over a year running in a much larger raid than yours, so its possible the warranty is different. But check with seagate – they replaced both of mine free of charge.

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

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk

[Adam Taylor]

i assume many of those posting here are self-employed or own their own business?

Do their clients all get together on chatrooms to discuss when they think you might decide to drop them in favour of the “wedding market” big bucks?

Do they then start to question just what you decide to spend your profits on?

Apple is a business, nothing more or less. They make products that we choose to buy and use, and we do have alternatives should we decide to opt out of the orchard.

Who cares if Apple is a massive company? not me…i care that should the kit i have now fail, they will have someone who can repair it, replace it or sell me an alternative?

FCP works for me and many thousands of others. If Apple went bust tomorrow, my FCP would not suddenly cease to work.

Please…..stop all this pointless speculation and lets get back to the business of making moving images and let the apple boffins keep on doing whatever the heck they do!

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

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk

[Adam Taylor]

its possible that your scaling and positioning are introducing the interlacing errors.

Always try to keep scaling to even whole numbers (ie. 46%, 72% etc).

Also , check the positioning co-ordinates and again try to keep them on whole pixel values.

adam

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

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk

[Adam Taylor]

completely disagree Todd.

Perkins book gives a concise description of every “effect” plug-in that comes with AE. Describing how and why they do what they do, and giving simple examples of how to use them.

I mentioned Marks book because the question was asking “recommend a good book for me to read about AE. ” Although he said he was starting to use AE, there was no mention of a beginners handbook, which is often the request. I think this book is a very good one because it teaches a lot more than just step by step tutorials.

adam

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

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk

[Adam Taylor]

After Effects Illusionist by Chaz Perkins

AE Studio Techniques by Mark Christiansen

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

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk

[Adam Taylor]

before….otherwise how are you going to stabilize a shot during a transition?

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

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk

[Adam Taylor]

96. Submerged

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

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk

[Adam Taylor]

both shot live (on real sets) – bathroom has a cutaway floor near the camera. Speed of camera move is controlled to be the same.

Line up the two shots in editing and do a simple wipe between the shots.

simple.

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

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk

[Adam Taylor]

Trapcode Lux allows you to create volumetric light effects using the built-in AE lights.
I’d use a combination of Lux and lens flares to do the lights.
I’d also use trapcode Particular to add some dust (it works with Lux to let the light source illuminate the particles interactively.

Floors are easy to make….turn a solid layer into 3d, rotate -90 in the x axis. lower the y position of the layer. Making sure you have created a 3d camera so you can see the effect.

for the colour change, i would duplicate your floor and background layers. Change the colour from black to offwhite, then experiment with dissolves (possibly an addative dissolve). Note the dissolve actually occurs underneath the sudden increase in intensity of the light fx and flares.

adam

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

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk

[Adam Taylor]

see what you mean…
is the client a broadcast station? or production company?

I’d be tempted to phone them, ask to speak to the tech dept (don’t tell your actual client) and discuss it with them. Tell them you have been investigating the options available and would they be willing to have a look at the output from these tests to assist you in giving them the best materials possible.

Send the comparisons as a blind test, so they are not biased by the process – just label them a,b,c etc.

Speak to the QC techs themselves, ask for their help, collaborate. I’m sure they would rather you did that than just cross your fingers and pray!

The client only really needs informing once the tests are completed and you can stand shoulder to shoulder with their own QC nd say – we’re all happy with this process

good luck
Adam

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

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk