Aharon Rabinowitz
Forum Replies Created
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The target should be different for every track. Otherwise you’re applying a corner pin to the same layer several times.
Your target layer is the layer you want pinned. So that means that you need to do a seperate track for each individual layer you want pinned to a screen. ANd that even if it’s the same footage, each track needs it’s own footage layer for pinning.
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Aharon Rabinowitz
aharon(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
http://www.allbetsareoff.com
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Creative Cow Master Series DVD
particleIllusion Fusion Volume 1
available @ http://www.pIllusionFusion.com -
CC Sphere needs an image that’s twice as wide as it is tall to work properly. Make sure the image is 2:1 (like 1600×800 – that’s just an example).
I’ve used plenty of the maps found here and they worked:
https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?vev1id=11612
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Aharon Rabinowitz
aharon(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
http://www.allbetsareoff.com
—————————————-
Creative Cow Master Series DVD
particleIllusion Fusion Volume 1
available @ http://www.pIllusionFusion.com -
This is definately not the only way to do it, but it is one way that I might approach it…
First, You need to apply the track to a layer or it’s pointless. The whole point of a track is to make a nother layer move with the BG footage. So, create a Null object (Layer > New > Null) and apply the tracking data to the null.
Next, go to the first frame of your animation, and set up the cover patch you made to be where you want it to be in the first frame (alternately, you could do this on any frame where you can easily set it up).
While still On that frame in the timeline, make the patch layer a child of your null (Use the parenting column in the timeline to make the patch a child of the null object).
Now the patch will move with the tracked footage. For extra realism, you may want to turn on motion blur for your patch as it moves. Make sure to turn on the blur for both the layer and ther composition.
Andre Kramer did a really cool tutorial on sky replacement which uses motion tracking an a new sky “patch.” You can see it here:
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Aharon Rabinowitz
aharon(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
http://www.allbetsareoff.com
—————————————-
Creative Cow Master Series DVD
particleIllusion Fusion Volume 1
available @ http://www.pIllusionFusion.com -
Keylight keyer is easily the most superior chroma keyer in AE. If you have a decent Green BG (or any color different from your foreground) it can key it out quickly.
A lot of people forget that they really should create a junk matte around their subject. A junk matte is an animated mask that is loosely placed around the subject (it moves with them), but that makes it easier to key because you only have to worry about the greens closest to your subject. Often there is gradation from imperfect illumination (meaning darker and lighter greens), and by matting out the unneeded areas, you have less color variance to compensate for. That will help you a lot.
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Aharon Rabinowitz
aharon(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
http://www.allbetsareoff.com
—————————————-
Creative Cow Master Series DVD
particleIllusion Fusion Volume 1
available @ http://www.pIllusionFusion.com -
I use fractal noise if I don’t have source footage – here’s a sample – you can play with it, or try something on your own:
https://www.allbetsareoff.com/Cow_Stuff/Fractal_Water.zip
You can play with the transform option of the effect to make it bigger or smaller as needed.
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Aharon Rabinowitz
aharon(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
http://www.allbetsareoff.com
—————————————-
Creative Cow Master Series DVD
particleIllusion Fusion Volume 1
available @ http://www.pIllusionFusion.com -
yes and no.
pIllusion uses 3D acceleration (openGL) so it’s pretty fast, and i don;t feel the lag too much, if at all. And while I am excited that it’s coming out as plug-in for AE, I don’t mind working between the 2 programs, and expect to continue doing so for at least some of my work.
You can exchange position data between the 2 programs with just a few clicks, and if you’re up on how to export images from pIllusion for AE (and it’s really not hard – it just depends on what kinds of particles you are using), integration is trouble free for the most part.
I think of pIllusion the same way that I think of Maya renders or Video source footage – another part of my workflow not done directly in AE, but that will have to interact with my AE project. If you do it regularly, you don’t think twice about it – it’s just a part of the production process, and you work around it. In this case it’s worth it becasue of the ease of use and adaptibility of the program – fast results with minimal work – my clients are always impressed with how fast and how well I get stuff done, when I use it.
Admittedly, I am a bit biased at this point – I am one of the leaders at the pIllusion forum herer, but that’s just becasue I’ve been using it for so long and stand behind it as a pro tool.
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Aharon Rabinowitz
aharon(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
http://www.allbetsareoff.com
—————————————-
Creative Cow Master Series DVD
particleIllusion Fusion Volume 1
available @ http://www.pIllusionFusion.com -
Here’s a trick I’ve used successfully in controling safe colors, which may help here…
At the top level of you final comp, create 2 adjustment layers.
#1 -On the 2nd layer (not the top one), applya alevels effect and then apply the following settings:
In Black: 16
In White: 235#2 – On another adjustment layer on top of that, use the same effect with the following settings:
Out Black: 16
Out White: 235You can skip #1 if it looks better – but #2 is crucial to get rid of hot colors. The point of using this is to get rid of hot colors – you will see a difference on the computer screen- things get a bit duller, but you will barely see a difference on the TV, and the untrained eye will not notice a thing.
It’s not ideal, but it does work.
—————————————-
Aharon Rabinowitz
aharon(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
http://www.allbetsareoff.com
—————————————-
Creative Cow Master Series DVD
particleIllusion Fusion Volume 1
available @ http://www.pIllusionFusion.com -
particleIllusion standalone works very well with AE. Download a trial from wondertouch.com to give it a shot. It comes with over 1300 preset effects, which particular doesn’t come close to. Not that particular is a bad plug-in – it’s pretty good, but you need to build almost everything from scratch. pIllusion will give you what you need in minutes if not seconds.
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Aharon Rabinowitz
aharon(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
http://www.allbetsareoff.com
—————————————-
Creative Cow Master Series DVD
particleIllusion Fusion Volume 1
available @ http://www.pIllusionFusion.com -
even though it should play ram previews back at 100% the speed (You are ram previewing – right?), sometimes you need to reduce the size to 50% of the normal comp size.
If you are not RAM previewing, (if you don’t know what it is, you probably aren;t doing it) then that’s your problem. AE can’t really play things back in real time. A RAM preview cues up the work area in the system RAM. You need to hit 0 on the number pad or the RAM preview button in the time controls area to do this.
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Aharon Rabinowitz
aharon(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
http://www.allbetsareoff.com
—————————————-
Creative Cow Master Series DVD
particleIllusion Fusion Volume 1
available @ http://www.pIllusionFusion.com -
for pile-up, if you have an external compositing program, I would just fake it in After Effects – kind of like this:
https://www.allbetsareoff.com/Cow_Stuff/Snow_ExampleCD.mov
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Aharon Rabinowitz
aharon(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
http://www.allbetsareoff.com
—————————————-
Creative Cow Master Series DVD
particleIllusion Fusion Volume 1
available @ http://www.pIllusionFusion.com