[Dave Johnson]

I think you meant “speak it and show it”, Nick … “see it and show it” seems … well, redundant. lol

[Dave Johnson]

Perhaps it’ll help clarify the point if someone else says in a slightly different way the same things Dave L. has already said. Dave has explained how to get a shadow on the curtain so no sense in repeating that part. What seems to need clarification is that the shadow isn’t going to look realistic at all because the curtain is very obviously way too dense for a shadow to be seen through it, which is why it is completely blocking out all of the extremely bright sunlight that is blowing out the adjacent part of the frame. If you lighten the curtain a lot, you may be able to trick the viewer into seeing something other than a composited shadow where a real shadow couldn’t naturally occur, but that’ll be quite a trick. Best of luck.

[Dave Johnson]

It does sound like the issue is with the AI & PSD files, rather than AE per se … as Dave alluded to, have they been altered in any way since they last rendered correctly? If so, how?

Oftentimes the simple process of clearing out what both AE and your system are currently referencing can solve strange anomaly type issues like what you’re experiencing …

Perhaps purge all of AE’s cache from the file menu so any cached versions of and references to the problem files are gone.

Save out a copy of the AE project.

Restart your machine.

Duplicate the AI & PSD files, open the duplicates and re-save them without changing anything (unless you find something wrong like CMYK).

Open the AE project copy, replace AI & PSD files with the re-saved duplicates, then try another test render.

[Dave Johnson]

Especially since it sounds like you’re not entirely familiar with locating, trashing and restoring preferences, I would recommend using a preference manager to help you do it …

https://www.digitalrebellion.com/fcs_maintenance.htm

[Dave Johnson]

Could there be timecode breaks on the tape that are preventing it from batch capturing? If so, just do a crash capture (play the tape and hit “capture now” instead of logging ins and outs for batching).

[Dave Johnson]

Until reading this one, I had recently started to wonder – what has this impostor done with the real Dave LaRonde!? Welcome back!! lol

BTW, you forgot one … don’t tug on Superman’s cape.

[Dave Johnson]

By the way, more info would be helpful … platform, AE version, sources on local drive or networked, etc, etc?

[Dave Johnson]

Hmmm … seen lots of AE issues, but that one is a first … some things to try …

Make sure you have the latest updates installed for each of your Adobe software versions.

Purge all of AE’s cache from the file menu.

Duplicate the AI & PSD files, open the duplicates and re-save them without changing anything, then try another test render.

If you have a backup of the AE project, try a test render from it.

If not, shame on you and make one now … then, import the project file into a new project and try another test render.

Sounds like it might be a file corruption issue with either the AE project file or the sources … any crashes, etc. lately?

[Dave Johnson]

[Danny Hays] “Be prepared to spend some money”

Indeed … but, you will also need to be prepared to spend some money if you choose to let someplace other than Sony tinker with your camera and you end up having to replace it altogether.

You might also consider buying an extended warranty … not sure about that particular camera, but extended warranties on pro gear can often be bought well after the initial equipment purchase, without any inspection for pre-existing conditions and either directly from the manufacturer or from re-sellers like B&H.

[Dave Johnson]

Sorry … my brain was in several different places at once when I replied so I actually somewhat mis-used the term “garbage matte”, which generally refers to a loose matte to completely cut out portions of a frame. What I was really getting at was drawing a loose mask for the center portion of the staircase, feathering that mask and applying a little desaturation and noise removal to that area only since the rest of the frame is fine (also possibly some minor Curves or Levels adjustments to help with the blown-out highlights in the center of the staircase). That all can be done by drawing a mask directly on a duplicate of the footage layer or by drawing a mask on a solid used as an adjustment layer.