[Dex Craig]

Particle Illusion 3 also has a “take color from underlying layer” setting for particles (or something like that). You could build your bats however you were intending to create them (3D?) and then use them as a particle shape in PI. They could take their color from the WB logo layer and then just explode the layer into fluttering bats. There’s a Sci-Fi Channel promo where a woman dissolves into a thousand butterflies that I’d bet was done with PI.

Just a thought.

– Dex

[Dex Craig]

Particle Illusion 3 also has a “take color from underlying layer” setting for particles (or something like that). You could build your bats however you were intending to create them (3D?) and then use them as a particle shape in PI. They could take their color from the WB logo layer and then just explode the layer into fluttering bats. There’s a Sci-Fi Channel promo where a woman dissolves into a thousand butterflies that I’d bet was done with PI.

Just a thought.

– Dex

[Dex Craig]

For something very much the same, but a little flashier, you might check out ayato’s tutorial at this address:

https://www.ayatoweb.com/ae_tips_e/ae17_e.html

Sometimes his instructions are a little hard to follow, but his stuff is golden.

Good luck.

– Dex

[Dex Craig]

OK, a couple things can work. First off, try dropping “Bevel Alpha” on your clip. That will give a, well, bevelled edge to the PIP. If you want to put a colored border around the PIP, add Radial Shadow (it’s in Perspective, along with Bevel Alpha). You can change the color of the “shadow” to whatever color you like, and if you play with the projection distance and light source perameters, you can actually get a border around your PIP. Not super easy, but it will do what you want.

Otherwise, you could always create a border element in Photoshop or in the titler that’s just a little larger than your PIP element and put it on the timeline between the background layer and the PIP layer.

Hope one of these ideas helps!

– Dex

[Dex Craig]

Acutally, I just use a DVD player — standard set-top box — and plug the audio and video outputs to the A/V input on my DV camcorder. Then I plug the firewire of the camcorder into the computer. Open the capture utility (F5), play the DVD and click the record button. Eureka! There’s video in the Premiere Project.

Of course, if you’re trying to capture video from a copy protected DVD, this won’t work. The DRM schemes in DVD prevent a camcorder from recording a signal from a DVD player. But you did say it was a home-made DVD, so this should work just fine. I do this fairly often at work.

Good luck.

[Dex Craig]

I have had good results playing the DVD out through a camcorder and capturing to Premiere Pro that way, as Mike suggests. I find it to be quicker than trying to digitally rip the file. You may wind up with better quality digitally ripping, but then again, you may not. I guess it depends on how much time you’re willing to spend on it.

– Dex

[Dex Craig]

Hey, Don,

Thanks for the info. You’re right about the Mono issue; hadn’t even noticed it at all, but sure enough, the track came in as Mono. I wonder what setting I missed and where to make that happen. But whatever. That problem is solved.

As, it would seem, after a good night’s sleep, is the other problem. I digitized (captured, whatever) some new footage and it works just fine.

Sometimes I think these computers are more capricious than most humans — even before they’ve had their morning coffee….

– Dex

[Dex Craig]

Hey, there —

As for that voice, it seems that the only way to really make that happen is to hire some guy who’s been smoking since he was four. There’s no substitute for the real gravel in a voice. You can make a voice boomier by placing the microphone very close to the narrator — mics tend to have the “proximity effect.” (Some mics even have bass roll-off to minimize the proximity effect.) If you use the proximity effect intentionally, it can make the voice bassy, but it’s not really going to sound rumbly.

As for the rumbling bass sounds, you might want to start with some orchestral bass drum sound and massage it in the editor. Extend it, pitch bend it, loop it, and turn it into an earthquake. I’m working on some similar sounds for a project now and have come up with a decent earthquake rumble from orchestral drums.

Hope that’s helpful.

– Dex

[Dex Craig]

Thanks for the responses — Ghobii, that’s looking like a winner for us.

– Dex

[Dex Craig]

Not sure which settings you’re asking about, so I’ll just throw a bunch at you.

NTSC DV
Standard 489kHz 16 bit audio
Dropframe TC
Adobe Default Windows Sound 1.5

Capturing media to an external firewire drive
Using a Dell XPS Gen 2 Pentium M

Need other info?

– Dex