[Erik Waluska]

There are several tutorials on Mattrunks site that are very similar to this. Check out his tutorials page.

Erik Waluska
EAWmedia

[Erik Waluska]

First you could try to turn on Frame Blending on the footage in the pre-comp, then click the Collapse Transformations switch on the pre-comp itself, turn on Frame Blending in the main comp and set the quality to Full to accurately judge how well it’s working. I have had many problems with frame blending causing weird artifacts in the video, especially for fast-moving objects or things without a clear edge, etc.

If that doesn’t work you can try the Twixtor plug-in, which is supposed to be much better at frame blending than the built-in tools in AE, although I haven’t used it myself. The problem is that it’s fairly expensive.

Erik Waluska
EAWmedia

[Erik Waluska]

I don’t quite understand what you are doing but “index” is the layer number, “index-1” means the number of the layer above and “index+1” is the number of the layer below if that helps at all.

The Add blending mode does what it says, it adds the RGB color values of the layers together. If that sum is 255 or more you get pure white.

Erik Waluska
EAWmedia

[Erik Waluska]

So, you want to make the comp longer?
Just go into the comp settings and change the duration.
Shortcut is Ctrl/cmd + K

Erik Waluska
EAWmedia

[Erik Waluska]

If I understand your question, I would suggest either using screen mode on just the head inside of the pre-comp and then turn on the “collapse transformations” switch on the pre-comp so the blending mode will come through into the main comp. OR you could just use the Knoll Unmult plug-in, which is free to download from Red Giant’s site, just search for it. It’s very handy for removing black and doesn’t require you use a blending mode.

Erik Waluska
EAWmedia

[Erik Waluska]

Yep, I see it now. Unfortunately I can’t explain it but it seems like a bug to me. Maybe someone else will have some insight.

Here’s where to file a bug report:

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

Erik Waluska
EAWmedia

[Erik Waluska]

Your 3D camera is probably not in its default position so it may be past the snowflake field so you just can’t see the flakes. Try resetting the camera’s position and point of interest to default (right-click>reset) and/or scrubbing the Z position back until you can see the flakes. If that doesn’t work turn that camera off and add a new camera choosing one of the default presets (35mm, 28mm, etc.) and see if you can see the flakes then.

I have a snow and rain preset on my site that you may find useful as well.

Erik Waluska
EAWmedia

[Erik Waluska]

Cool, glad you got it working.
If the continuous rasterization (actually collapse transformations in this case) switch is turned on then the comp uses the material settings from the layers within the comp rather than from the comp itself. So that’s why they’re not available with the switch turned on.

Erik Waluska
EAWmedia

[Erik Waluska]

Strange, it’s working here. If you turn off continuous rasterization on the pre-comp, then the pre-comp will need to have its 3D switch enabled and “casts shadows” option turned on.

Erik Waluska
EAWmedia

[Erik Waluska]

Shot in the dark – could you add the caustics effect to an adjustment layer in your pre-comp over top of the ripples layer?

Erik Waluska
EAWmedia