[Michael Duff]

there are hundeds of ways to distort video – I’d suggest just playing with loads of filters and experimenting a bit. The colour grade plays a bit part in video like this, so take a bit of time to get it right.

try using the wiggler on the position and opacity.

duplicate the clip and offset it a little (in time and space) then wiggle or keyframe position/opacity/maybe scale a bit

maybe animate some colour correction filters, like hue/saturation so the colour is flickering in and out.

get some stock footage of static or video noise and layer it on top using transfer modes. If you don’t have stock footagetry using the noise filter.

maybe use a displacement map, and then for a fraction of a second have it displace and come back

the echo effect can sometimes create some bizarre looks if you use extreme values.

[Michael Duff]

you can import a project into another project. Then everything will come accross as it should.

or if you are moving it between machines and need the source material to copy aswell you can use the collect function under the file menu.

[Michael Duff]

do you mean the echospace plug-in?

maybe try using an expression (modified from https://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/new_read_post.cgi?forumid=2&postid=866995 ). Work out how big each square will be. So for a PAL comp (720×576) it would be 180×144. Pre-comp your footage into a composition this size. Then on the main timline add this expression to the position property

horizSpace = 180;
vertSpace = 144
;
numCol = 4;
origin = [horizSpace/2,vertSpace/2,0];
col = (index – 1)%numCol
row = Math.floor((index – 1)/numCol);
origin + [col*horizSpace, row*vertSpace, 0]

your footage should move up to the top left. Now duplicate the layer 15 times and they should all be distributed like you said.

This won’t really help if memory is your problem. A better way to fix a memory problem would be to render the footage as a proxy before distributing it 16 times.

[Michael Duff]

AE timeline won’t play audio when you scrub unless you hold down ctrl. Likewise audio won’t play if you simply press spacebar to play the timeline.

In your time controls window make sure that the audio button doesn’t have a cross over it.

Do you get audio if you press RAM preview? ( “O” on number pad)

Do you get audio if you do an audio only preview? (press the “.” button on the number pad)

Do you get audio if you actually render out a QT file?

[Michael Duff]

yeah the Kona must just be centering it. Probably safest to stick to the standard sizes. I’m not sure about the comp size as I’ve only ever worked in PAL. Maybe just do a google search or search the COW archives and I’m sure you’ll find which one you should use.

[Michael Duff]

hmmm – well this certainly would give you a render that is widescreen, but it wouldn’t have the black letterbox on the actual render.And it would no longer be a TV standard, so a lot of NLEs and DVD authoring programs will not recognise the size.

If you are planning to output to TV (rather than web/CD) I’d suggest keeping your comp TV standard, (PAL 720×576 or NTSC 720×486) then masking a black solid over the top. You will still be able to reposition your footage on the layers underneath the solid.

Michael Duff –
Bearcage Productions, Australia

[Michael Duff]

I usually just make the mask. I think Magic Bullet has a preset with different formats, but it would be an expensive way to just mask the frame. If it something you are likely to do alot, maybe make some templates in photoshop that are always the exact dimensions.

Michael Duff –
Bearcage Productions, Australia

[Michael Duff]

hmmmm – muiisal, that sounds somewhat familiar 🙂 send me an email and let me know how work/London is going

duff@bearcage.com.au

Michael Duff –
Bearcage Productions, Australia

[Michael Duff]

can you export directly from AE as MPEG-2 now? if so, that might be an idea

Michael Duff –
Bearcage Productions, Australia

[Michael Duff]

and try dupicating the layer, and trying different types of blurs with different transfer modes.

Michael Duff –
Bearcage Productions, Australia