[David Bogie]

Yar, creating a pulsating light effect is fairly easy using the Wiggler or the many Expressions that do the same thing with more elegance.

Myself, I’d shoot some candles.

bogiesan

[David Bogie]

In Apple Motion there are several emitter settings and behaviors designed to create some illusions of flocking but they aren’t organic and they’re not chaotic and I have idea how to make the little bastards do anything I want them to do. Man, I hate Motion. But if you know someone who enjoys it enough to make the particle system and replicators sing, take them to lunch and ask nicely for some help.

There is nothing like an hour or two with Motion to make you appreciate After Effects.

bogiesan

[David Bogie]

[Michael Kaplan] “[david bogie] “You should visit the adobe.com discussions and support areas. A couple of the developers actually participate in the forums. There is a folder devoted to feedback and performance observations.”
Unfortunately, it won’t accomplish much, as the track record Adobe has shown in the last couple of years is one in which they ignore all fixes until the next revision they can charge for.
Michael”

Well, yeah, almost all the big dogs do that. How about Apple? Sheesh.
But the interesting thing about the last few years at Adobe has been watching Adobe Labs, where beta products are available, and watching the generally independent blogs from Adobe product managers. Their explanations of problems are usually sound and the rationalizations they offer far more reasonable than just corporate drivel.

see this site, too, encouraging feedback directly from Adobe’s AE and CS4 teams:
https://blog.dearadobe.com/

bogiesan

[David Bogie]

> When I use a 500mm telephoto lens with a really beefy tripod to shoot sunsets, I getting frame vibration from wind hitting the lens. How can I stabilize the image in AE.
Also getting flicker due to exposure changes caused by changing cloud cover. How can I smooth out the exposure?

Exposures are best controlled in camera. Time lapse has always been an issue with all shooters because of the scene changes. But that’s part of shooting good stuff. You estimate the range of the exposures the time period will cover and make your best attempt and disable all auto functions because changing f-stops will affect depth of field.

https://www.gethincoles.com/
https://www.creativepro.com/story/howto/24670.html
https://www.haworth-village.org.uk/nature/time-lapse/thumbs.asp
https://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macosxhints/2006/07/timelapsemov/index.php
https://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2005/05/18/timelapse.html
https://www.timelapsedigital.com/
https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/time_lapse_article/time_lapse.html

bogiesan

[David Bogie]

James, thanks for providing the direct links.

bogiesan

This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”

[David Bogie]

[Grayson Sedory] ” I’m having a problem when I apply shatter it applys it to all the layers, what the best way to apply shatter to a layer toward the end of the timeline and have another source behind it? “

Shatter is highly advanced because of its complexity and dozens of hidden parameters. But Shatter can only be applied to a single layer at a time so I’m assuming you are either precomposing improperly or trying to use Shatter on all layers.

Shatter starts affecting pieces immediately unless you keyframe the size of the force sphere. Do not attempt to keyframe the Strength parameter. It does not control which pieces begin to move, it just controls how fast they move. There is extensive SHatter help in the AE Effects documentation but you sort of have to search for it.

Here’s some help from the author of the effect, Brian Maffitt: The physics of Shatter are applied to any piece that has permission to go. You give a piece permission to go by touching it with the Force Sphere. You can movie it around or you can change the diameter of the sphere. If you move it around, you get a line of pieces flying off the layer. if you change the diameter, you get a shockwave effect. Remember there are two Force Spheres.

bogiesan

This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”

[David Bogie]

You should visit the adobe.com discussions and support areas. A couple of the developers actually participate in the forums. There is a folder devoted to feedback and performance observations.

https://www.adobe.com/support/forums/index.html

https://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx/.ee6b2fe/?@418.zU3miww8Y9r@

bogiesan

This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”

[David Bogie]

After Effects by itself does not really support flocking and collision detection that you will find in larger 3D modelers designed for this kind of thing. If you are stuck with AE, you are stuck with the limitations of what has been written for it. Foam is where I’d start but CC Particle World has a moveable camera that allows some simulation of flocking behavior if you can switch your POV as you try to envision the camera is NOT the observer.

Card dance, interestingly, can do fabulous stuff if you understand how to use multiple grayscale images combined into the RGBA channels of a single video layer. You will be using the grayscales as independent drivers for the x,y,z positions of the cards.

Easier to hire someone to do it Blender!

bogiesan

This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”

[David Bogie]

[Ralph Chaney] “So many options and new releases,”

for PCs, maybe, who knows? but on the Mac, there are really only two cards worth having and one of them is more than $2,000 so it’s not an option for may of us. That leaves the 3870 as the only viable player. Today. Just make absolutely certain you get the correct card. There are like 50 different “3870” cards on the market, all kinds of colors.

bogiesan

This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”

[David Bogie]

the current recommendation is the Radeon HD 3870.

https://provideocoalition.com/index.php/smartin/story/its_all_in_the_cards/

when I change cards on any of my Macs I just put it in and run the software than came with it. It’s probably a PC file on the CD and your Mac tool swill be Web downloads.

bogiesan

This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”