[Adam Taylor]

hate the show Phil, so haven’t seen the effects for a while, but i would think you could do a pretty convincing effect using Fractal Noise to create a distortion map, which could then be applied using displacement effect.
Use a gradient map to lessen the intensity of the heat haze the higher from the ground you get.
Wouldn’t cost you a penny either.

Some useful tips about this sort of effect near the back of Mark Christiansens AE3 Studio Techniques Book.

adam

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

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk

[Adam Taylor]

i’ve not tried it, but if i were…this is what i would try first….

use your wave world to create a ripple effect on a black background using just white highlights. This should give you a greyscale image to use as the map.
Pre-comp this ripple and drag it into your main composition.

duplicate your tv shot layer, and on the top layer add your displacement effect which should be set to use the ripple precomp as the displacement map.
Precomp this layer, then on the precomp create a mask around the screen so you hide everything except the screen. This way the ripple will only affect the screen a nd not the tv surround or environment.

Like i say – thats what i would try first, but its not something i’ve tried ….good luck

adam

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

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk

[Adam Taylor]

like i said – its a very good offer and it actually works out cheaper than the cards you mentioned!! I just need to convince the boss before they all sell .

I forgot to ask – would Color and After Effects make good use of this graphics card?

adam

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

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk

[Adam Taylor]

thanks everyone for the useful info…

now to work out costs and then the real work begins…convince the boss!!

adam

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

[Adam Taylor]

thanks Simmie – i’ve not approached dealers yet…i always prefer to do some background research before speaking to them.

adam

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

[Adam Taylor]

yes – on my own.

As for introducing a PC into the mix – eeek!!

I have watched our IT peeps and really don’t want to have them involved with ANYTHING in my little domain. I am the only mac room in the company, and it works better that way.

adam

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

[Adam Taylor]

forgot to say…uncompressed 10bit PAL video mainly, also ProTools audio mixes, AE animation/fx…. all for broadcast commercials.

The Xserve works great, but i’m running out of space. I do have a tape backup also, but i need to have a large number of projects live for long periods of time, hence the reason i want to expand the raid storage.

adam

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

[Adam Taylor]

i get a very similar problem, only mine tends to get brighter, and the number of frames varies every time i render (even the same project – with no alterations made!).

I am editing in PAl, on a Quad G5 running OS 10.4.11. qt 7.5

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

[Adam Taylor]

use every program to its strengths….so do your edit in FCP. When you are happy with the picture cut move over to creating the FX.

Its pointless trying to edit in AE – its not made for it. Its pointless doing your graphics until you have a cut that works, because you can guarantee that once you do the graphics, someone will want to change your edit, then you may end up having to redo the graphics.

If the cut is good, then you will only need to do the right number of frames necessary in AE and not waste time finessing graphics that you will lose once back in FCP.

Workflow – you can send a timeline from FCP to AE using Automatic Duck. Good if you want graphics on every shot. If you want to work on only a couple of shots, you could always export the shots needed and import them into AE and line them up up manually. (I always export at 10bt Uncompressed).

I use both methods depending on what i need to do. Once the AE work is done, then render out the shots and reimport it back into FCP where it can be placed on your timeline. But thats not all – you also need to decide whether to render a finished composite or render out just the graphics with the alpha channel so you can overlay it on the video, and perhaps leave yourself the option of tweaking how it interacts with the video.

Theres no hard fast rule – you need to try it and see what works for you.

have fun!
adam

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

[Adam Taylor]

Thanks Chaps…good info.

Export – wrong terminology, sorry (still had my FCP head on). I always render out Animation if an alpha is needed or 10bit uncompressed if its a finished composition. Problem with this one, is that the alpha was appearing as completely white.

I have always been a little confused by track mattes, but that info does help clear up a few questions.

My aim was to use the grey scale info from the Fractal Noise effect to create the alpha channel, as well as being the basis for the coloured effect. I just could not figure out how you took the luma from an image and used it to create the same clips alpha. I will give your suggestions a try later on….but i am already confident they will do what i need.

regards
Adam

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