David Johnson
Forum Replies Created
-
I’m pretty sure I recall some third-party blur plugins having a blur-only option, but the other simplest way that comes to mind is to just duplicate the object layer, turn off its blur and use it to track matte the otherwise visible object layer.
-
[Jimmie Jackson] “mask around the grass and duplicate that. Then I’d arrange the layers so that the grass mask is on top of the text”
That’s exactly what I’d try first since a loose mask with some feathering will probably work for that particular shot. Might even do that several times, separate all of the grass to foreground and background layers and offset each layer’s position so they overlap in different places.
Once you have your text composited where you want it, if you want to get fancy, you could do a slight camera move, but not so much that the perspective makes the movement look obviously fake. Could even do the same with other elements of the shot.
To get even fancier, some birds flying in and out of the frame in a couple seconds could help make the footage look less like a still image and sell the shot … pretty easy to do with Particular.
By the way, I’d also replace that blown-out sky and color correct the whole shot … cheap stock has obvious benefits, but common downsides are poor levels, color, etc. so it often requires touch-up to look good.
-
Is the layer that the Shine effect is on a 3D layer and, therefore, able to be affected by camera movement?
-
Is it possible that your 2D layers are just being hidden by the 3D layers because the 3D layers are in front of them in z space? Perhaps try moving each 3D layer forward in z space a bit.
-
Your question is very unclear, but if you’re asking how to replace source files used in an AE project with updated versions of those same files without losing the effects applied to those files within AE …
Right click the file in the project panel, select “replace footage”, go to the updated version on your hard drive and open that new file. AE will replace every instance of that file used within the project and all of the effects will remain the same in every comp and precomp … as long as the updates to the source file don’t affect how the effects work (i.e., if “updated” file is different pixel dimensions from the original or something similar).
-
There’s a setting to tell FCP to automatically open the last project you worked on … I’m not at my FCP machine today so I don’t recall exactly where it is, but I do recall it is pretty intuitive.
BTW, leaving FCP open for weeks at a time can mean a very hard time sifting through auto-saved projects to find the right one if you should ever need one.
-
I watched the first minute of the video and didn’t see anything like a ‘glitch’ or ‘twitch’ effect … only a film reel leader overlay … if that’s what you’re referring to, there are plenty of those available for download on the web … just download one and lay it over your footage with a composite mode like screen, overlay, etc.
If that’s not what you’re referring to, perhaps specify the time in the video since there are lots of effects in it.
-
Nick is exactly right so I’ll only add to his good advice of “at the very least get the opinion of your main contact in the company for whom you’re making the show” that you might consider posing that question to your client contact via email so you don’t end up a scape goat if it turns out to be an issue … remember that the little “©”, “™” and “®” symbols you see next to the logos mean something.
-
Only to add to the good advice Todd always gives, I’ll mention that I believe MPEG StreamClip is still free.
-
Most people render from AE with a lossless (or at least very high quality) codec like PNG, Animation, ProRes (if on Mac), or even Uncompressed; then, use separate compression/conversion software like Sorenson Squeeze, MPEG StreamClip, Adobe Media Converter, Compressor, etc. to convert the master file to needed delivery format(s).
It sounds like H264 or MPG4 would be a good delivery codec in your situation since they’re pretty high quality, but also small and nimble enough that most any computer can play them easily. That last point is not true of the lossless codecs typically used for master files, but there are two main advantages of doing it that way:
1] you always have a full-resolution master file to make multiple delivery formats from as needed (local playback, web, DVD, etc.)
2] you can take advantage of the additional compression/conversion controls available in software intended for that purpose to make better delivery files (AE isn’t intended as software to generate final delivery files so it doesn’t do it as well as some others)