[Andrew Somers]

HOWEVER: If you want to add this in post, and make it look credible, you can:

1) Do a complete 3D track of the shot.

2) Track the objects in the shot too.

3) Import the track and the tracked objects into Cinema 4D/Maya/3DSmax or another 3D application.

4) Build the objects so that they match the real objects “fairly” close – but high detail is not necessary.

5) Color the objects a simple neutral grey only. Adjust the reflectivity/specularity etc. so that it is similar to the real objects.

6) Animate some lights over the objects to emulate street lights, etc.

7) Render out a pass with NO ambient lighting, only your animated lights. what you should get is a mostly black image, with white where the lights hit only.

Now the trick:

8) In AE, create an adjustment layer and put EXPOSURE on it.

9) Take the render pass from the 3D app above, and place it immediately above the adjustment layer.

10) Set the adjustment layer to LUMA key, so that the “light” pass keys the adjustment layer.

11) Adjust the exposure plug in on the adjustment layer to substantially brighten where the lights are hitting.

ALTERNATE METHOD:

Step 1: Reshoot with real lights on set.

[Andrew Somers]

Well, until CS 5.5, you did not have to buy a license – the render engine can render on its own hard drive. The only difference between the full and the render engine is that the render engine does not have any of the menus for editing, etc etc. Only for rendering.

[Andrew Somers]

Thanks for the added info Walter – I have not upgraded to 5.5 yet. Guess this is another reason to wait, lol.

It would seem to me they could get around the licensing issue by allow for “free” nodes that had MPEG disabled. I never *ever* render to MPEG – if I need an MPEG I use Encoder instead, but *always* render to AJA/ProRes/EXR/DPX etc.

[Andrew Somers]

I’m going to echo what everyone else is saying – use some ellipsoids on set, with a grip swinging it across the subject from time to time to give the motion.

If you don’t have an ellipsoid you can also use an old slide projector. The idea is to use a lamp with a highly focused beam, so that it can be moved over the subject, and has little to no spill.

If you REALLY want to make it work, get some video projectors, and run footage through them of driving, and bounce them off the windshield.

[Andrew Somers]

OWC is among the best – fully qualified to Apple specs. OWC is not the cheapest, but their service, support, and quality is excellent.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/

I recently bought some RAM from “MacDimms” and the price was very good:

https://www.macdimms.com/Mac-Pro-DDR3-1333MHz-ECC-Memory_c_138.html

If your machine is a 2009 or 2010 model, then you don;t need to install in pairs, but you do need to pay attention to the ordering of the RAM sticks per this document:

https://support.apple.com/kb/ht4433

[Andrew Somers]

OWC is an online store that specializes in Apple related products. They are among the best – the memory they sell is fully qualified for APPLE, and their service is second to none.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/

Also, not all Mac Pros need memory in pairs. 2008 models and earlier require memory in pairs.

2009 and 2010 Mac Pros DO NOT. 2008 and earlier machines use dual channel memory. 2009 and later use triple channel.

However, 2009 and 2010 machines DO care about the order of placement of RAM sticks.

https://support.apple.com/kb/ht4433

[Andrew Somers]

OWC is among the best – fully qualified to Apple specs. OWC is not the cheapest, but their service, support, and quality is excellent.

I recently bought some RAM from “MacDimms” and the price was very good:

https://www.macdimms.com/Mac-Pro-DDR3-1333MHz-ECC-Memory_c_138.html

IF your machine is a 2009 or 2010 model, then you don;t need to install in pairs, but you do need to pay attention to the ordering of the RAM sticks per this document:

https://support.apple.com/kb/ht4433

[Andrew Somers]

First off:

1) Reboot – this is the best way to fix memory leaks – you have probably been doing a lot of work in these apps, and possibly other apps, and have “lost memory”.

2) Don’t run Premiere at the same time – premiere will take memory resources away from AE rendering.

3) See if you can set a lower GB per CPU – depending on your project bit-depth, and the complexity of your comp, you may be able to get away with smaller RAM allocations per CPU.

4) Get more RAM. RAM is the best way to improve system performance. IMO 16GB is *bare minimum* if you just want to run After Effects all by itself – and don’t expect o be able to use too many processors. If you want to run other apps, then you really need more.

For running several big apps at once, 24 GB is a minimum – but 32 (or more if your system allows) will let you get the most from your system.

5) Remember that when you turn on MP, a *separate* background instance of AE is launched, for *each and every CPU” you have specified. Each instance needs its own RAM. If you want to be taking good advantage of multiprocessing, you need a lot of RAM. If you increased your system up to 24 GBm you should be able to use 3 or 4 CPUs for MP (with 2 or 3 GB allocated to each). If you want to do more, you need to bump up to 32 GB.

[Andrew Somers]

I have a couple of recent posts that discuss how to work with black screen elements that you might find useful:

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/2/1013480

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/2/1013568

As Joseph said, the unmult plugin can be helpful, at least when it works. Unfortunately, there are a lot of cases where it does not work as expected in black screen – one tip with unmult is to put a LEVELS effect above it in the stack, to adjust and/or clip the black. In some cases, you’ll want to use unmult along with levels to create an alpha channel layer, then use that layer as an alpha for the layer with the image you are trying to comp.

[Andrew Somers]

“Parenting” – see the help files for more, but basically:

Copy the layer (with the tank image), then parent the copy to the original. Make as many copies of the child layer as you want, and position as you like.

When you move the original parent layer, all the children will move to match.