[Chris Heuer]

Thanks for the replies. All great information and solutions. I haven’t heard from them in a few days. We’ll see what happens!

Thanks, Chris

Chris Heuer
Freefall FX, LLC

[Chris Heuer]

To legitimize this a bit more, What are the implications with working with businesses outside of your native country? Currency conversion, contracts holding up, legal recourse?

Thanks again

Chris

Chris Heuer
Freefall FX, LLC

[Chris Heuer]

Having messed around with Foam for a while after reading this post, I’d recommend Trapcode Particular. You’ll have MUCH more control over the bubbles and they work in AE’s 3D space with the AE cameras (and now lights).

I made a black & white Flow map from a still of a coke bottle. Foam won’t let you animate the Flow Map. It seems to use the first frame of the map, so even if you animate the black & white map, Foam still sees the first frame. Bummer!

Chris Heuer
Freefall FX, LLC

[Chris Heuer]

The one tip I can tell you about Foam is, look down the list for a property called “Flow Map”. This will use any black & white (grayscale) image as a “ramp” the bubbles roll down. (if you make it in AE, Pre-comp it)

White is high ground, black is low ground, shades of gray are the ramp. The bubbles move away from or avoid entirely white ares. You can even give the bubbles “tunnels” to follow. Just create a maze with white for the walls and black for the path you want the bubbles to follow. Make the path light gray fading to black to guarantee they flow the direction you want. It’s fun to play with.

Hope this helps

Chris Heuer
Freefall FX, LLC

[Chris Heuer]

We must chat! I know anaglyph (or had to learn enough to get through the film!). I have “free viewed” side by side stereo images (kind of like the dotted posters from the 90’s). But am unaware of the players and other techniques. Tim Wilson tipped me to the 3D forum… I will have to spend more time there!

Chris

Chris Heuer
Freefall FX, LLC

[Chris Heuer]

It sounds like you have your answer, but yes, for the most part, anything you want to have true depth in stereo needs to be a 3D Layer. I did a commercial using all 3D layers and flying the camera through them. For fun, I created a second camera and combined the 2 outputs with the 3D glasses effect. It worked quite nicely! It sounds like you don’t even need that (3D glasses effect).

I’d love to hear your techniques for combining stereo images. I did that whole Nosferatu film, but I’m still just learning!

Chris

Chris Heuer
Freefall FX, LLC

[Chris Heuer]

That didn’t work, but closing all of the projects and re-opening just the one I want did. Too bad the name at the top of the que isn’t just a pulldown menu with all the open projects in it!

Thanks for the help. Chris

Chris Heuer
Freefall FX, LLC

[Chris Heuer]

Thanks a lot! I’ll have him do a QT update as well.

Chris Heuer
Freefall FX, LLC

[Chris Heuer]

Bill, can I get your number!!! Seriously. I spent the better part of the night on forums looking for that answer. I edited around the problem after about 10 minutes but still wanted to know if there was a solution. The treads I started still have no answer.

You are right about us growing with a software. Avid is as easy as breathing for me, and I’m trying to give FCP a fair shake (since I am A Mac FREAK!) but (a) I’m older and learning slower than when I picked up Avid and (b) I’m too busy to train an anything. I have to learn software on jobs. Not the best way to get a thorough education!

Anyway, back on task. With people like the Cow has at your fingertips, either system will work… and training might cost less!

Chris

Chris Heuer
Freefall FX, LLC

[Chris Heuer]

I have to pipe in for Avid here. I haven’t worked on a Mojo (if that’s the system you’re looking at) but have been cutting spots on the Media Composer and Symphony for over a decade.

I have the Final Cut Suite at home (I had to get it to work on a project someone else started). I clearly have more experience on Avid so I may (am) still be biased.

I’ve found many small things that Avid just handles, without the user having to think about it. I had to replace a shot that dissolved into another shot (in Final Cut). I marked the clip (X-key) and overwrote with the new shot. The dissolve disappeared. Not a huge problem, but in Avid, the dissolve stays in tact. I posted in several forums to find out how to get FCP to retain a dissolve and got no solution. Small, but this kind of thing can add up on some projects.

Avid still has far better media management (keeps track of footage and makes relinking and reducing unused footage easy). Plus you never have to “render” footage on an Avid timeline. I waste tons of time in FCP because my timeline is one format and I have to insert a clip from another… I render it… something changes… render it again. Avid handles file conversion when you bring the footage in so everything mashes nicely.

I’m trying to keep this short. OK. For me, if you want bang for the buck, you can’t beat FCP. It does do a lot for the price, BUT in my opinion, prepare to become a bit of a system engineer. Apple makes the software, Kona makes the capture card, someone else makes the storage… you get the idea. My station’s promotions dept. went FCP a few years ago and had a problem where Apple blamed Kona, Kona blamed the storage and the storage manufacturer blamed Apple. It took a while and several threats to get resolved.

Avid provides and supports all components of it’s systems. If you have a problem, just call Avid and it gets fixed. That said, Avid support is NOT cheap, but they have bailed me out every time. I think it’s worth it until you’re more seasoned on the equipment.

I hope this helps some. Any FCP experts who have solutions to my complaints, bring it, I’m always trying to learn!

Chris Heuer
Freefall FX, LLC