Brendan Coots
Forum Replies Created
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I don’t know of any tutorials, but I have had to do very large sets in AE’s 3D space. The easiest method I found to deal with it is to have multiple views of the comp open at once – one for the main camera’s view, one for a side view and one for the top view, much like you have in 3D apps. This method makes it a LOT easier to keep track of where things are, even distant objects or those not immediately in front of the main camera.
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Keylight (bundled with AE, as mentioned above) or AdvantEdge. The latter is around $1,000 and takes a while to render, but does a terrific job.
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The primary difference (and the most relevant) is that most consumer HDTV sets and broadcasts are still only 1280×720. There is NO QUALITY difference between 1080i and 720, one is just larger which most people assume means “better.”
The specs and final viewing platform of your project should determine which you use, and I would avoid 1080i unless it is a requirement. You will ultimately just end up having to scale it down anyway if it isn’t needed, and you will have wasted a lot of time and space for nothing.
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Sometimes when you output a file with no alpha (set to millions of colors, not millions+), but leave it set to “Straight Alpha” the video can come out with a strange purple tint.
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I agree. Rather than finding ways to shove massive data through the pipe, I think the industry will gravitate towards things like more efficient codecs (ala ProRes) and better use of existing technologies, like multithreading (as AE CS3 now does) and 64-bit.
With regards to After Effects, they seem comfortable suiting a middle-market need, leaving the heavy lifting to apps like Nuke. Building out AE to suit the high-end market would more than likely require them to price casual AE users out of the market.
I’ve been pushing for some time for Adobe to change their “professional” designation. Personally I feel the standard version should include everything the current “Pro” edition does, and upgrade the pro version to include things like a node-based workflow tool, better support for high-end footage and more advanced 3D tools, etc. Will it happen? Who knows… -
Sorry Steve, we were posting the same idea at the same time. I just walked away from my machine before posting, so I didn’t see your answer there.
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Just for fun, try turning all 3D properties off on everything and see how long it takes for each frame then. The problem sounds like it might be an OpenGL issue.
Also, you might want to double-check the Preferences>Memory and Cache. Someone may have set thigns all wacky, like putting the max memory usage to some ridiculously low amount in an effort to get rid of Image Buffer errors, or even set the RAM Cache size very high. Lower RAM Cache sizes help eliminate address space fragmentation, and hence allow bigger files to be loaded in, which makes no sense but I assure you it’s true. You can try lowering those values a bit at a time to see if anything useful happens.
Honestly, that machine doesn’t sound very powerful and may just not be up to the task of handling such large files (I mean dimensionally, not in Megabytes).
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You could try putting the anchor point of the layer on the rear wheel. Animate the cart moving forward, and as the front wheels hit the ramp, set a rotate keyframe. A few frames later move the cart forward until the rear wheels touch the ramp and set a second rotate keyframe that angles the cart properly on the uphill slope. This should cause it to gradually rotate up as the cart moves forward up the ramp. Repeat for downhill slopes etc.
In case you’re not sure what I mean, you can position the layer’s anchor point using the “pan behind” tool, which looks like a square crosshairs on your toolbar in AE. With the tool selected, click the anchor point on the layer and drag.
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If you want help, you need to HELP US HELP YOU. Your answers are frustratingly lacking in information or interest in your own problem. Why should we waste our time if you can’t be bothered? There, it’s been said, moving on!
Open the file in Quicktime player, go to Window>View Movie Info and tell us the exact codec used. Without this information, square one is where you’ll stay I assure you, because when files show up as white it almost always means codec problems.
But that’s only the output file, there’s still the issue of the source footage you are using in FCP. As was mentioned upstream, it is not only doubtful but near impossible that your source footage was lossless. Did you capture from a DV tape? Betacam? What capture settings were used? Give information, get help – that’s how it works.
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Just a minor correction here – The Macbook CAN address 3GB Ram just fine, same as the Pro model. Apple just doesn’t offer it in any of their configs. The reason? The integrated graphics card can’t function in dual-channel mode when you use 3GB RAM, but several tests prove the performance gains make it worth it.
Just thought I’d throw that out there, because my feeling is the Macbook Pro is WAY overpriced, when all you really get is 2″ of extra screen and a mobile video card. Not worth an extra $1k in my book.