Brendan Coots
Forum Replies Created
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“I am wondering if it is worth getting a powerful multi-processor version so I can run all my Windows versioned CS3 Production Premium software on it.”
I would say definitely worth it. I would go for the 2.66Mhz quad-core Mac Pro with the default Apple configuration in terms of RAM, video card etc.
It comes stock with 1GB RAM, which is nowhere near enough but Apple charges an arm and a leg for RAM. Other World Computing (https://eshop.macsales.com) sells very affordable Apple certified RAM that I have in all of my Macs and it works great. If you can, get 4-8GB RAM.
As for Boot Camp, I’ve never had any problems with it. Even the beta version was stable and worked great. The only thing that ever worked funny was bluetooth on my macbook laptop, but the final release of boot camp fixed that.
You may want to install Windows XP 64-bit if you use boot camp. The reason is that XP is still the preferred Windows OS for content creation – Vista has many problems and is a RAM hog. The 64-bit version of Windows XP will let you take advantage of as much RAM as you stuff in your Mac Pro, whereas the standard versions of Windows only support up to 3GB RAM.
With regards to the CS3 software, you can call Adobe and request a product cross-grade from Windows to OSX for the software you own. This will convert your Windows licenses to Mac licenses. you just have to provide your serial numbers and pay for shipping, and they will ship you new Mac-based versions of everything. This would almost certainly be easier than always having to reboot/switch between OSX and Boot Camp every time you want to pull a render from After Effects into Final Cut Pro.
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Create a solid and add the effect Effects>Text>Numbers (I forget the exact name). There are settings in the effects controls to set what type of text, such as timecode. In the effects controls there is an “edit” link. When you click this you can change the text wording, font etc.
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37signals makes great stuff. The only problem with these types of solutions is you have to pay, and pay, and keep paying as long as you want it up and running. Also, what if your network goes down? You lose all ability to get to your project info (as far as I know, but 37signals may have some local backup option or something).
While not the easiest, my studio built our project/time management app using Filemaker Pro. It’s pretty easy to do if you understand databases. We can fully customize every detail to our liking, create our own graphic interface that is branded to our studio, and we never have to worry about accessing it because it’s served locally and on the internet from our Xserve.
Other VFX shops I’ve worked for had similar Filemaker Pro setups, it seems pretty common. If you don’t want to learn the program or build your own system, there are thousands of freelance FMP designers out there who could whip it together for you in no time.
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“SEO is designed to provide you with a different type of traffic flow than companies from your region.”
Maybe I am just completely misreading your comment here, but I absolutely disagree with this statement as I am understanding it. First of all, the beauty of SEO is that it is whatever you want it to be. You can use it to target local mom and pops or multinationals based in other countries. You could even use it to try and target your next door neighbor. Totally up to you. It’s also not “designed” to be anything or provide any type of traffic, it’s merely a process of using specific keywords, links and relationships with other web sites to give spiders a hint as to who your ideal audience might be. Many webmasters have totally different approaches and techniques, all yielding different results.
“The main benefit of SEO for most media production companies is making it easier to find your website if they forget the address.”
Again, I completely disagree. While many media production companies don’t see their web site as a powerful sales tool and essentially treat it like a virtual business card, those who DO maximize their site’s potential end up reaping big rewards.
My studio gets about 90% of our leads via our web site – about 60% are high quality leads and we convert about 70% of the high quality leads. As many of these turn into long term customers as from our non-web originated leads. Most of these conversions are for jobs in the $40k range, so not huge but certainly not “floor scores.” This is only after spending a good amount of time fine tuning our site, honing our SEO and allocating marketing resources to the site.
I believe this is one of those areas where people’s opinions differ drastically based on their own results, based on their own particular setup. For example, your “Prologue Media” web site, while very clean and attractive, is a single page, single image design that isn’t much more than your phone number and email address. This is NOT the ideal setup for using your site as a sales tool, and therefore it sounds as though you haven’t received many sales through it. This has probably skewed your perspective on what a web site can and cannot do.
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No update has been released yet. I personally haven’t had any CS3/Leopard issues, so I’m not hugely concerned.
That said, I would be curious to know – has ANYBODY here had Leopard issues?
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The color actually looks pretty dead on, to my eye. The big problem keeping this shot from looking proper is twofold – the brightness and direction of the lighting on your actor, and the lack of a shadow on your actor similar to all of the other objects in your background shot.
The sun in the background shot appears to be coming from behind and left of the cameraman. In other words, it should almost be shining directly onto your actor from the camera position, just slightly from the left and high in the sky. The lighting on your actor, however is very flat aside from that bright patch on his pants that is coming from the wrong direction.
The best way to fix this would be to finish out the tutorial I wrote and add in some artificial highlights that appear to be coming from the camera’s direction, slightly high and left. Another thing giving the shot away is that everything in your background shot has pretty strong black shadows that are fairly long, given the position of the sun in the sky. Your actor, on the other hand, is kind of just floating with no shadow. Without this, your shot will never feel completely right.
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It’s hard to tell without seeing the final result so I can see how the color correction is not working. From first glance, it looks fine.
I’m not assuming anything here, but is it possible we are talking about two different issues? This particular section of the tutorial is to get the basic tonal range and basic colors of the foreground plate to match your background. This does NOT mean it will instantly make your foreground actor look like it is properly situated into your scene.
For example, without seeing the greenscreen plate by itself, it looks as though your actor is fairly evenly and flatly lit, whereas outdoor sunny lighting is very direct (coming from the angle of the sun). Once you add the artificial highlights it will match better, but with this shot you will also likely need artificial shadowing on your actor. I guess what I’m getting at here is that maybe it isn’t the color correction that is throwing off your shot.If possible, you could post a still of the final color correction, and a still of the raw greenscreen footage. This will help me troubleshoot with you.
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You could make it by hand using solids and masks, or using shape layers if you have CS3. Beyond that, there are a few tutorials scattered around, just do a Google search:
https://www.aefreemart.com/2006/07/3d-chart-in-ae-with-no-plug-ins.html
https://www.graymachine.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=31
https://www.creative-workflow-hacks.com/2006/06/29/a-line-chart-script-for-after-effects/
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The power this machine offers should be fine for most jobs. As Darby mentioned, get CS3 before buying an Intel Mac but other than that you should be fine.
I personally don’t like the iMacs because:
– It locks you into one monitor for good. Want bigger? Too bad. Have some bad pixels? Too bad. Monitor dies? Too bad.
– Upgrade options are slim. Can’t upgrade video card etc. since they are part of the motherboard. As a result, you will be permanently stuck at the 2007 level of technology. Also, if the video card/GPU dies, you have to replace the entire motherboard at considerable cost. Also, the iMacs only support as much RAM as the macbooks (4GB). Given that AE and most video apps need as much RAM as possible, this could end up holding you back, and it will definitely prevent you from taking full advantage of the new multi-core processing features in After Effects CS3.
– Virtually no add-on potential, such as a Blackmagic card for video monitoring.
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This technique was used on Hellboy and other VFX-heavy films, so I know it’s reliable. That said, I typically only use it as a starting point and then color correct by eye from there, so there may be certain situations where it DOES fail and I just didn’t know it.
Are you changing the viewer to only show the red, blue or green channel when correcting with this technique? When you set the viewer to red, are you only correcting the red values? Can you provide a screenshot of the “blown out” stage, prior to correcting? It is important that you get it to blow out enough that it isn’t showing too much midtone range, but not so much that it is only showing extremes.