[Michael Duff]

i don’t think you’ll find a swatch as such … but you could probably find some metallic textures … just google search “metallic texture” … you could then use the text as a matte for the texture …

alternately.. you may be able to create a metallic look by overlaying a white gradient over a grey colour … maybe try a bevel… try CE Light Sweep effect… do a search of the COW archives too.. you may find some more detailed explainations …

[Michael Duff]

so you want to export a black and white matte?

import your MOV with the alpha channel … put it into a composition … check the alpha channel is there by turning on just the alpha channel (in the three coloured overlapping circles on the bottom of the composition window). If that’s all good … just render it out again, BUT in the render queue under Output Module change the channels to Alpha instead of RGB. . . done!

[Michael Duff]

If I understand you correctly:
it would basically be the same as for still images … except you could animate your characters in AE and then pre-comp. .. . or import animated characters that have been animated in other programs (or by hand), just make sure these have an alpha channel.

as far as moving the characters around in the scene .. just use keyframes, like position …

you could do some tests by using a still image of a person and splitting off the arms and legs and animating a basic walk cycle. Then make them walk across the scene while the camera flys past ….

does that help?

[Michael Duff]

hi there … this could be a better question for the Compression Techniques forum ….. i normally use another piece of software for doing this … like Sorenson Squeeze, or Compressor ….

i usually go 512×288 … this is still pretty big and you could even go smaller ….

then choose a codec… h.264 is great but needs qt7…. qt MPEG4 is good and only needs qt6 …sorenson3 is another good qt codec…. wmv9 is good for windows people without quicktime …flash is good now too..

there is always going to be a loss in quality, size and compatibility… you just need to compromise and pick a happy medium that will suit most of your viewers….

maybe do some tests and find a setting you are most happy with… then if you have some more questions you should try the Compression Techniques forum…. good luck

[Michael Duff]

” How can i use parent , but only for position (without rotation)?”

you need to use expressions … but luckily you don’t actually need to write any .. you can use the pick whip …. select both layers and hit “p” to show position … on the one that will be the “child” alt click on the keyframe button to enable expression … then using the pick whip (the little spiral button) drag it to position on the parent layer. . . done!

[Michael Duff]

yeah, you can shoot each person separately and composite them together … just make sure your green screen covers as much of the talent as you want to key … ie.. foot to head if you want full body shots…

then just follow normal greenscreen procedure …

have a search around the COW and web for “garbage matte” “garbage mask” “green screen” “chromo key” “rotoscopin” …..and hopefully this will point you in the right direction … good luck

[Michael Duff]

so there is no audio when you do a RAM preview? Are you hitting 0 on the keypad to preview?

check in Composition -> Preview -> Audio … it should be ticked…

[Michael Duff]

I believe you need to interpret the footage as no fields and then put it in a comp that is double your frame frate …. so 50fps for PAL….

…please can someone confirm this is correct ….

[Michael Duff]

i think you would be better off having a look at some of the tutorials here at the COW and then asking a slightly more specific question… I’m sure after you do a few of the basic ones you’ll probably be able to do this effect ….

[Michael Duff]

not exactly sure what you mean … if you want a mask line to actually have thickness you need to apply a stroke to it .. look under Effects->Generate->stroke.

or do you mean the vector paint tool?