Darby Edelen
Forum Replies Created
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[Christlike] “Andrew explains that in order to fix this problem, the mode should be set to “Lighten”; however, when I do this, the entire layer is lighten and it effects the entire project. How do I set a keyframe for the mode of “Lighten” just on certain frames?”
I assume he was explaining how to create the flash of light that two lightsabers make when they connect? You cannot animate the blending mode of a layer, you animate the opacity of the layer which affects how ‘much’ that layer is blended.
Darby Edelen
DVD Menu Artist
Left Coast Digital
Aptos, CA -
[Steve Roberts] “If you’re going to the web, render to something like 320×180 — anything whose dimensions are a multiple of 16 and 9.”
I guessed that it was for the web or other computer based distribution as 720×405 is a 16×9 aspect ratio assuming square pixels.
I too am concerned about the use of a non-standard frame size, this easily complicates things when you’re pulling footage from different sources. AE tries to make it easy to keep everything in line, but picking a somewhat random frame size doesn’t help the process any =O
Darby Edelen
DVD Menu Artist
Left Coast Digital
Aptos, CA -
[nothingboy] “I’m just confused as to why I export everything the same ratio, and when I import my movies they’re all whacky sizes.”
If you’re exporting your footage with the same settings every time then it sounds like AE is just being creative with the interpretation. Try copying the interpretation of one of the footage items that looks correct. Select it in the Project panel and hit cmd-opt-c (ctrl-alt-c) then select the other footage items and press cmd-opt-v (ctrl-alt-v). This will apply the same interpretation (field order, pixel aspect ratio, frame rate, pulldown, alpha interpretation and color profile in CS3) to all of the footage items. This isn’t always recommended, as you can apply the same problem to all of the footage if you’re not careful, but it might be a quick fix.
I usually like to go into the Interpret Footage dialog (select the footage and hit cmd-f/ctrl-f) and get the settings right for one item, then paste those settings onto my other footage if I know they should all be interpreted the same way.
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It sounds like you’re using 720×405 for 16:9 square pixel display on computers, so you should probably just set all of your footage to square pixel aspect ratio if they are all 720×405 pixels in dimension.Darby Edelen
DVD Menu Artist
Left Coast Digital
Aptos, CA -
[hoch2888] “Any old project files or suggestions that you can guide me too?”
Numbers will be your best friend in this scenario. I’m not sure exactly how you’re doing this, but for my sake I’ll keep my example simple.
Say it’s a tall Photoshop file that you want looped moving from the bottom of the frame to the top. Let’s make this file 72×960 pixels. In a standard NTSC DV comp this will be twice the height of the frame. Now let’s say that there are 4 frames you want to loop. In your PSD you’ll need 8 frames from top to bottom in the sequence A-B-C-D-A-B-C-D. These should be spaced evenly so that the first A-B-C-D sequence takes up the top 480 pixels of the file and the second takes up the bottom.
When you import this file into AE and place it in an NTSC DV comp you will first want to set the anchor point to [36, 0], the middle of the top of the layer, just to keep the numbers simple. You’ll want the layer to meet the top of the comp on the first frame so move it there [360, 0]. Now animate the layer from there to [360, 480] over 4 seconds. Voila, loop! You can do anything you want to the keyframes between the first and the last at this point, you just have to make sure that the first and last frames match (same scale, rotation, x position).
Now you can put this composition in another composition and set it to loop, either via Time Remapping or the Interpret Footage dialog.
Darby Edelen
DVD Menu Artist
Left Coast Digital
Aptos, CA -
If I understand you correctly you want to have the silhouette of the window on wall number one?
You will need to set the front solid to “Casts Shadows: On” the rear solid to “Accepts Shadows: On” and the light to “Casts Shadows: On.” All of the other settings you can set as you desire, but generally you’ll want both solids to Accept Lights.
Darby Edelen
DVD Menu Artist
Left Coast Digital
Aptos, CA -
You should check to make sure that your footage is interpreted properly, specifically the pixel aspect ratio. Also, what is a 720×405 frame size for?
Darby Edelen
DVD Menu Artist
Left Coast Digital
Aptos, CA -
If the goal is a loop from the beginning then it shouldn’t be too hard to plan for that.
You just need to make sure that everything is (looks) the same at the end of the 4 seconds as it was at the beginning. If you have a filmstrip, for example, just make sure that the frames on the strip have a loop in them and line your AE animation up to begin/end at that looping point.
An example could be 4 looping frames, if you start on frame 1 with frame 4 above it and frame 2 below, then animate the strip to move upwards past frame 2, 3, 4 and back to 1 (with 2 below) in exactly 4 seconds then you have a 4 second loop. Of course the last ‘frame 1’ visible is not the same frame as the original ‘frame 1’ but that doesn’t matter as long as it looks the same.
Darby Edelen
DVD Menu Artist
Left Coast Digital
Aptos, CA -
When using a motion path in Particular the particles should follow the path precisely, including the spatial and temporal interpolation of the keyframes.
If the motion path changes direction too quickly you should consider changing the interpolation of the keyframe, try using easy-ease and broadening the bezier handles of the keyframe.
Darby Edelen
DVD Menu Artist
Left Coast Digital
Aptos, CA -
[beenyweenies] “When you do the camera matching you can account for changes in lenses, focal length etc. on a per-shot basis.”
This is one thing I was going to mention. It will be important to keep a detailed log of your shots if you want to match the camera properly, this includes the height of the camera from the floor and the tilt of the camera as well as lens information.
For this reason I would recommend limiting yourself in number of shots on the greenscreen to just the basics: establishing shot and close ups. Keep your camera locked down or, if you’re adventurous, limit yourself to very basic tracks and pans.
You also need to think about the environment in which the actors/props will be composited, things like: where is the light source? As far as I’m concerned, the more physical props you can include in the green screen shoot the better. This can provide for more challenging keys, but will give your talent something to interact with. In the final product it will sell it that much better if the talent sits down in a chair during the shot.
The other thing that could help is distracting your audience… Do something crazy, have your actor sitting there pretending to listen to their mother rant about how irresponsible they are, meanwhile in the background the actor is imagining an epic (or not) war, bombs, explosions whatever. The fact that the shot is a composite should give you some freedom to explore these options, and in the end they will simultaneously confirm to the audience that it is a composite and distract them from caring that it’s a composite.
Darby Edelen
DVD Menu Artist
Left Coast Digital
Aptos, CA -
[icanlevitate] “Is there either a way to make Caps Lock on the Mac work like all computers have since the dawn of time or to remap that control for AE to be a different key?”
I wish there were a way to make the Caps Lock on PCs work like all the other computers have since the dawn of time =O
Here’s the answer I’ll give you:
If you’re in 7.0+ then put your Render Queue Pane in the same panel as your comp views, then when you need to render the Queue will replace the Comp view and AE won’t take the time to render it (effectively like having the Caps Lock key on for your render in terms of speed).
If you’re in pre-7.0 then just close your Comp view before you start the render!
Darby Edelen
DVD Menu Artist
Left Coast Digital
Aptos, CA