[Dario]

Thanks again Steve, that helps a lot actually.
Unfortunately I don’t remember what I did to the DV clip (it’s been 3 months since). I’ve tried to reconstruct it and I think the DV clip is normal, i.e. not square. Therefore the fix is harder. I thought of doing a square comp with the DV clip and then compositing that to the C4D square. Finally taking that render and dropping it into a proper size one. Still can’t completely wrap my head around that option enough to even know if it would work. The bottom line I think is that the DV clips are good, it’s only the C4D stuff that’s off and I’m betting that few, if any, will notice. I did the original paintings so I guess I have final say any way. Having ‘taller’ pictures is more elegant, right 🙂

[Dario]

Thanks Steve,
I’m trying to learn 3 programs at once and things get lost along the way 🙂

Turns out I forgot that I’ve already composited some stuff with the wrong PAR and I think I need to figure out a way to use it.

Screen shots here (top 3 images):
https://www.jmtype.com/par.html

So, in this case (rather than my original post), would I take the wrong PAR composite render and drop that into a new comp set for square pixels. Then resize the clip using the handles to make it wide enough to fit the comp size?

I tried it and I think it looks OK but I’m not sure what FCE or DVDSP will do to it.
See the bottom image in the aforementioned screen shot.

[Dario]

The rotosopes are DV straight from a Canon GL-1 and therefore do not look stretched. Once they’re added into the composite they look fine. It’s just that the C4d image sequences aspect is off.

So, do I need to first rerender the rotos with a wrong PAR to match the wrong PAR on the C4d images?

This way I’d have a singular problem and then apply whatever ‘fix’ you all come up with to the whole thing.

[Dario]

Thanks guys,
I’m looking at Digital Film Lab (I’d like 55mm too but can’t quite afford it). Anyway, they have DFL @ $265 which is a pretty good price. I know it’s not quite Magic Bullet but I’m thinking it might at least give me an easy bleach bypass among other things.

[Dario]

Probably off on a rabbit trail here but IF you’re using Panther 10.3.6 AND you have an nVidia graphics card you would get the same problem in the canvas within FCP. 10.3.6 messed up the nVidia graphics drivers for some.

If all of the above is true then a solution may be to update to 10.3.8+ or retrograde to 10.3.5 (not fun).

If none of the above is true then this is a wasted post but good luck anyway 🙂

[Dario]

Red Giant’s Image Lounge. It’s a combo pack that includes ‘IL Real Shadows.’

Works for me in both 2d and 3d space.

[Dario]

Combustion is a video compositing app made by Discreet:
https://www4.discreet.com/combustion/

It is After Effects main competitor.

You said the exported swf quality was horrible. How so? Pixelated, jerky, washed out…? Was the initial QT export out of Flash bad (try playing it in QT before going to AE) or just after you got it into/out of AE?

I would suggest skipping Flash altogether for this. Go straight to Combustion or AE. Maybe even Motion would do what you want? Then, depending on what your expected output is to be (DVD, Film, Broadcast, Web) you might be able to get by with Final Cut Express. This limits you in a few ways (see here for a comparison between iMovie, FCE and FCP: https://www.apple.com/finalcut/) but ‘most’ are mitigated if you have AE or Combustion. Of course, going to film is a different story, you’ll need FCP for that.

As for the animation stuff… Why Flash? For the vectors maybe? AFAIK, vectors aren’t of much value unless you’re intending to stay on the web. Plus, through Flash, I doubt you’ll be able to export an alpha channel, which is what you’d need to do the compositing you mentioned. Is it just the animation aspect?

If so, take a look at Bauhaus Mirage:
https://www.bauhaussoftware.com/home_LP.php
This would allow the animations AND compositing in one app. In fact, if what you’re doing is short enough, say, less than 5 minutes, Mirage alone might do it without FCP or FCE.

[Dario]

When I don’t have the people layers as 3d they don’t stay attached to the ‘floor’. The floor moves underneath them. When they are 3d they stay attached. Maybe there’s a better way for me to say that but I don’t have all the proper vernacular down yet.

[Dario]

Thanks John,
I tried the rotation and still couldn’t see it when viewing through the active camera.

Actually, it was way, way off the screen. Don’t know why but on a whim I thought I’d zoom out as far as possible… and there it was! The cg room is 160′ x 80′ so perhaps that’s why the roto was ‘lost.’