[Andreas Woelfl]

Hello everybody,

thanks again for all the support so far.

It took me quite a while but finally I have information from the production company that will be at the event, doing the back projections.

Here are some technical specifications:
Program for Animation – After Effects CC 2017
2 side screens – 1920×1080
1 center screen – 3240×1080
Program for projection – Playback Pro

So here again the problem:
I created videos that will be split across the three screens. The dimensions of the files are 7080 x 1080px.
As the h264 codec is only limited to files of 3840×1080 I need another codec to export the files from After Effects.

The production company told me that any Quicktime codec works fine for them, recommending the ProRes422 codec.

The problem is that I am in Spain and the event and the production company are located in the US. I have to deliver around 20 videos which means that with the ProRes422 codec I’ll have tons of GB that I would have to upload via internet. And that’s what I want to avoid.

I tried the Sorenson codec and at least I was able to export the full file size form After Effects. Afterwards I was not able to play the file on my Mac.

Does anybody have experiences with Playback Pro and the Sorenson codec. Do they work together? Would this be a possible option?

Thank you so much for all your help!

[Andreas Woelfl]

Thank you all so much!

I realize that it makes no sense exporting the file until I haven’t spoken to the production company.

Unfortunately they moved the call to next week and until then I wanted to continue preparing some videos for the project.

Can anybody tell me if a common program that is used to back projections in a three screen stage (I know, this is a really vague explanation but the only info I have) usually has the possibility to layer videos?
Example: 1 layer of background video and on top of it another layer of animation with alpha channel.

Is this something feasible or completely out of range?

Again, thank you all so much for helping out.

[Andreas Woelfl]

hey thomas,

thanks a lot for the tip. I downloaded the package, installed it and even was able to export the file at its original size (6840×1080) with the HAP codec.

The only problem I get now is that I can not play the file (I tried quicktime player and vlc) in order to check the quality. Would this depend on the program of the playback?

I’ll have a call today with the production team and I’ll ask them about their technical specifications of their hardware and software.

[Andreas Woelfl]

Uuuuuh, great. That’s what I needed.

Thank you so much!

[Andreas Woelfl]

The problem with the precomp (which I already did) is that I do not get the resolution of the precomp and not of the shape layer, which is not really good when I move the comp close to the camera.

Any other ideas how to get the shape layers resolution and still get the stroke effect right?

[Andreas Woelfl]

Hello there ( and 8 years later :),

I have no Idea if this post will be red but I have the same problem with the stroke effect.

IDEA:
I am trying to reveal a shape layer using the stroke effect. The element is supposed to generate a drop shadow (cast by a light).

PROBLEM:
Even the layer isn’t revealed by the stroke effect, it casts already a shadow.
After putting it into a precomp and setting the precomp to 3D the problem is resolved, BUT …

… the problem now is that I do not get the full resolution of the shape layer when moving it towards the camera (because of the precomp).
This problem could be solved by clicking the sun icon (beside the shy guy) but also means that I get the shadow problem again.

Anybody has an idea how to work around that? I need the resolution of the shape layer and only cast shadow where the stroke effect reveals the layer.

Thanks for your help!

[Andreas Woelfl]

Sorry for bothering.
I just found a free script at aescript.com for my problem: pt_ShiftLayers

Thanks anyway!!!!

[Andreas Woelfl]

I try to continue this post for my next related problem.

Next to the circle there should be more of them, each one liningup the wave as well.
I regulate the distance of the other circles next to the main one with an Expression Slider.

All the layers are at the top of the comp timeline:

Index 1: Circle 1 (Main Circle)
Index 2: Circle 2
Index 3: Circle 3
Index 4: Circle 4

… you get the idea

As I understand I should only change the phase of the Math.sin for everyone.
I am searching for a formula including the distance of the circles and their index (just to add more circles if necessary).

My math is really rusty and everything I tried so far did not work out.

Here is what I got so far. It points in the direction I want to go but still does not line up correctly. (I changed the circles with small crosses to see how it lines up):
9473_sinustest.aep.zip

Any ideas?

Thanks a lot!

Here the expressions I used so far.

// X POSITION
var xDistancia = (content("Ellipse 1").content("Ellipse Path 1").size[0]) + (thisComp.layer("Adjustment Layer 8").effect("xDistance")("Slider"));

var xPos = thisComp.layer(thisLayer, -1).transform.position[0] - xDistancia;

//Y POSITION
var amplitude = thisComp.layer("Background 04 Bottom 3").effect("Wave Warp")("Wave Height");
var frequency = Math.PI;

var yDelay = (thisComp.width/transform.position[0])*thisComp.layer("Adjustment Layer 8").effect("yDelay")("Slider");
var phase = yDelay*index

yPos = transform.position[1] + amplitude * Math.sin(frequency*time+phase);

[xPos, yPos]

[Andreas Woelfl]

AWESOME.

Thank you so much!

[Andreas Woelfl]

I really apreciate all the help although I am not able to get the result.
I uploaded the comp here wondering if you could indicate me what I am doing wrong:
9468_sinustest.aep.zip

Regarding to the phase there is no formular to get to the exact degrees?
Something like

comp.width = 360*
onePixel = 360º/comp.width
layerPosition = layer.transform.position * onePixel ???

THANKS A LOT!!!