Chris Evans
Forum Replies Created
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Probably not that bad.
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Before we had HD, we had SD. Just look for a NTSC DV standard in the presets for h.264.
.mp4 and .mov are file containers and h.264 is a codec that can be used in both those containers. However, there are slight variations. It shouldn’t make any difference whether it is an mp4 or mov, but sometimes some computers can’t play one or the other. I prefer mp4.
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Every time you encode something, you lose detail unless you are using an lossless codec, which is what the Lossless Output Module is (Quicktime: Animation). If you have an h.264 video that you apply some effects to and then export as h.264, you are losing quality. However, since you started with h.264, you won’t lose that much.
Since you know h.264 works, that means the Lossless you were exporting before is just fine. The only reason it wasn’t playing back well is because it was a massive file and your computer just isn’t fast enough. (mostly a faster Hard Drive and a good graphics card will help that)
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First off: Wow! It’s almost been a month since I posted on this thread. Lol.
Anyway, I’m not 100% sure I’m understanding you correctly. A video or screenshots would help that. However, I think you are applying your track data incorrectly. When you track your person, with your track point on their nose or whatever, the track data is stored on the footage you are tracking, but it isn’t applied to anything. In the tracker panel, there is a button for Edit Target where you have to select a pre-existing layer (if you don’t have a null, create it, then select it as the target). When you hit Apply, it applies the tracking data to the layer you selected as the target. At this point, your null (if that was your target) should trace wherever you put your tracker(their nose if that is where you put it) all the way through whatever you tracked, and whatever you parent the null to will move with it (i.e. a solid you are using as a track matte). I think you did something wrong somewhere in there, unless I’m misunderstanding you, which I’m sorry for if that is the case.
I could go into a lot of detail here about how the tracker works, but the short version of it is; Yes. Split it up and do it in sections that you are going to use.
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Try rendering an mp4 with an h.264 codec(you may have to use encoder, just drag your comp from the project window, alt+tab into encoder and drop it there). It should play better. Or try an an standard definition copy. Those should play better, especially the SD one, and if they don’t, then you will know it is something with your after effects.
Adding RAM would help, but probably not that much for playing a video. Overclocking your vram might help, but I don’t really know since I’ve never really done any research on that. If you’re just doing color correction and then you are putting it into another project in an editor and exporting your final project from there as something else, that’s a good idea even if it won’t play perfectly out of AE because you don’s lose that quality.
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I don’t know how soft the lights you have are as I have never used them. The only time I’ve seen an actual white BG setup, all the light was through a huge white screen above and in front of the actor (it was a full body shot, though). I would think that if you can get an even enough light across the BG and there aren’t shadows, you should be able to do it the same way you do your green screen set up. Since you aren’t keying it, though, every shadow and discrepancy will be noticeable. That being said, it’s easy to do some work in post with a simple mask around your subject and a white solid if the shadows aren’t directly behind your talent. With white, it will be a lot easier if it is solid because you’ll have to stretch a cloth background a lot to get rid of all the wrinkles (if there are any).
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In your video that you posted, the key actually looks pretty good. It is a little soft, but not bad at all. To minimize noise, make sure your gain is low on the camera and that your BG is well lit and exposed correctly and not too dark because noise appears in the dark areas. Expose for the greenscreen, then light your actor accordingly. Your lights and camera are fine, I have the same camera and I do green screen work.
In after effects, make sure you are using Keylight. Pick a good color and don’t adjust your Screen Gain and Balance too much, rather, use the Clip Black and Clip White under the Screen Matte section. One of the best and probably underutilized Views in Keylight is Status. In that view mode, the white pixels are fully opaque, the black pixels are fully transparent and the grey ones are semi transparent, but could be anywhere from 1% transparent to 99% transparent. Make sure there are no grey pixels over your background or your subject, but there should be a small grey area around the edge of your matte and a slightly larger area over the edges of the hair.
If you are doing all those things right, there shouldn’t be any noise over your BG. However, if you are going to do a white background and you know it, it’s easier to just shoot it that way if you can.
I hope this helps.
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I think it turned out pretty good. The biggest thing I would recommend is learning how to create smooth and more “interesting” speed animations using keyframes. There are 3 tools I recommend learning: easy ease keyframes, the Ease and Wizz plugin, and the graph editor.
easy ease keyframes make make your keyframes ease in and out instead of just stopping. It usually makes things look more natural. Right click on a keyframe, or one of the selected keyframes, go to Keyframe Assistant>Easy Ease. Or use the keyboard shortcut F9.
Ease and Wizz is a 3rd party plugin found at aescripts.com (it has a listed price, but you can decide your own) that has a bunch of presets for keyframes to make them ease in and out in different ways. Mostly these make animations look more snappy and interesting. Watch the video and play around with it to understand how to use it.
The graph editor is definitely the most difficult one of these suggestions, but also gives you ultimate control. Tutorials are the best way to learn this. Here is a good one, use google for more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEWo0DJZCZw One thing to note is that if you right click on position, you can separate the x,y,and z properties which is useful in the graph editor, I don’t think he says that in that video, but you’ll understand when you try it.
Hope that helps! Good Luck!
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I just want to clarify that the pools of light you are referring to are actually the brightness of the light on the solid and not the specular of that light. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just post a screenshot. (which might be a good idea anyway, we like screenshots)
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When you play something in After Effects, you should use a RAM Preview so you can watch it at real time. Your problem sounds like your computer is having problems playing the video. What settings did you use to export? What you really need to do is get a new computer if you’re going to keep using after effects. It’s gotta be a pain to do any decent sized projects with those specs. (I don’t mean to offend, I’m just trying to help)