[David Bogie]

[Jack Sewell] “When we export the final video we are experiencing a lot of noise around the feathered masks and a lot of the detail of the smoke is lost. “

We would want you to first let us know what your production format is and what your export format is.

bogiesan

[David Bogie]

You must first decide how your viewers will see this video. Do they see it immediately on the site? Or do they download it before they can see it? What is the size and framerate? How large is your storage? What is the connection speed at which your viewers will connect to your site?
but that’s the first round of questions.
The next round is based on what you intend to shoot and how much about the art and craft of photography and videography do you understand? How good are you? How good do you intend to be?
Then there’s budget. Most people who ask this question fail to understand they need a good tripod, spare batteries, chargers, protective cases, lighting equipment, microphones, cables, storage media.

Once all of those questions are answered, we can help you with a video camera selection.

bogiesan

[David Bogie]

I most strongly disagree and I came here for an argument.

This is easily accomplished as a practical effect on your set if you have the proper camera. Most of the better HD rigs have the lux specs and sensor sizes and lenses to pull it off with fabulous results.

This is a total nightmare if you want to do it post PLUS it will always look like you did it in post. Which isn’t BAD if that’s your stylistic approach. Using high powered video projection systems as lighting sources is old news, folks been doing it for a long time, so you should be able to research the topic with a little patience. I worked on projects in high school 40 years ago in which we shot 35mm slides and 16mm films projected onto people and set pieces and I have used all forms of image projection in theatre productions.

If someone is paying you to shoot this, you cannot do it with your camera set to auto-anything.You need time to experiment. When you do the experiments, document them with notes. Do not try to remember what your f-stops or projector settings were, write them down and speak them into the camera mic while conducting the tests.
If you are not an experienced and competent photographer, with a good grasp of fill-to-key and background lighting ratios, you need to bone up on the topics and maybe acquire a light meter for your tests.

I say, meet this head-on with a solid grasp of the lighting requirements and the relatively simple physics. Please return someday and let us know if you pulled it off in the filed or had to complete it in post. A link to your finished project would also be great.

Good luck, hope you find the support you need here on the cow.

bogiesan

[David Bogie]

[Greg Nosaty] “When it opened all of the graphics and text like lower thirds were corrupted. The Motion clips in the timeline had linked to different fonts and the geometry had changed.

Is this a bug with the new version? Has anyone else experienced compatibility problems with Motion?
“

No to all of the above.
We have had zero trouble opening any of our dozens of Motion templates, some go back to Motion 1, and this is after FCS3 and Leopard (not Snow Leopard).

I would immediately assume Kona is at fault but we have never used Kona products.

Editorially:
Making a backup clone of your system before doing an upgrade is simply plain good practice but I am not a supporter of the scorched earth upgrade policy for upgrades and major updates. I just overwrite the new FCP each time a new one comes out. I do the same with each new MacOS. I’ve been doing Mac updates and upgrades for more than 15 years.

bogiesan

[David Bogie]

[Erik Waluska] “I’ve had very little success using custom maps with this effect “

It’s all about Colorama or Threshold to control the number of colors in your map. I’m pretty sure the Adobe Support Center (Todd Kopriva often sends cows to the site) has an extensive write up on custom shatter maps.

Shatter is one of the cooler and more remarkably flexible particle systems every created for After Effects.

bogiesan

[David Bogie]

Map? Do you mean can you open a Motion project in AE or AE in Motion? No to both.
Or do you mean is there a nice list someplace that compares the vast numbers of effects available from all suppliers for each of the apps? Again, no.

Pinch? I think you start looking at the distortion filters in Motion’s library/preview section till you see something that approximates what you want to do. Finishing up yardwork, barbecuing, and working on my bicycles, not at my video machine today or I’d try to be more help by looking up Pinch in AE for you and seeing what looks good in Motion. You’re on your own till Monday.

bogiesan

[David Bogie]

Can often indicate your movies’ pixel dimensions are based on interpolation of an anamorphic flag and not literal pixel space.

bogiesan

[David Bogie]

[Steven Gladstone] “I didn’t know if Motion could open a .PSD ( I also didn’t want layers.) “

That would be MANUAL > IMPORTING.

or INDEX> PHOTOSHOP.

bogiesan

[David Bogie]

[Bill Triplett] “I was mistakenly thinking I could go directly into Invigorator from Illustrator and get that pro look. Looks like I’ll need to learn another application. 3D software. I’m looking at 3DS Max now but am open. “

Blender.
Open source, free, huge user base and ultra-hip community, books, videos.
F-r-e-e.

3D requires nine times as log to learn, nine times as long to render, and about 27 times as long to get good at.

bogiesan

[David Bogie]

Acknowledging the article was expertly crafted by Mark Christiansen in language most AE users can comprehend and that photographers will immediately relate to .

bogiesan