[Filip Vandueren]

When you’re in 16bit mode, any filter that forces 8bit should have a warning sign next to it’s name in the effects-control window. So that should give you a clue.

The way I understand it though, the banding is a result of the 3D lighting model, and not any filter, and I don’t know if 16bit affects the 3D lighting engine (hopefully it does).

So try this:

Make a 3D grey layer and light it with a spot light. You should get some gradients in the resulting image: are they banded ?

Make a new 16bit comp, and create a 2D Solid with a ramp-filter
Does this have banding ?

Add a little tiny bit of noise that would cure even 8bit banding…
Does this have banding ?

If all of these three have banding: it probably has to do with your monitor and driver settings, or possibly he calibration of your coulour-management monitor-profile.

If only the first has banding: the 3D engine is the cause.

Can’t test for myself now, ’cause I’m rendering 😎

[Filip Vandueren]

There’s a “3D glasses” filter that would handle that for you.

It’s included in the standard edition, search the manual for 3d glasses.

[Filip Vandueren]

Not sure about the 3d- and Z-channels in IFF-files, but Z works pretty much OK when rendering to RLA or RFE from cinema 4D… (some aliasing issues though)

If you get stuck, don’t know from what app you’re rendering, maybe you can find a third-party plug-in or program that converts or outputs your IFF-Z to a greyscale 8 or 16 bit image-sequence.
You might be able to use that Greyscale in conjunction with perhaps the “gradient wipe” to mimic 3d compositing effects.

[Filip Vandueren]

I think I once opened a .aep file in BBedit and did a global search and replace…
Only works when the new filter’s name has exactly the same amount of letters, and ofcourse exactly the same parameters.

Luckily with FE -> CC this is usually the case, there were one or two filters that don’t work though, because the name had changed in length.

needless to say: backup your file before you try something like that.

[Filip Vandueren]

I don’t have CS2, but think its’ the same with CS:

in AE, Text is imported as Pixel-data but with the option to convert back to true Editable vector Text (if you have the same font installed).

If you don’t plan on animating your text, then you can keep it as pixels.
Make sure those layers are positioned at integer value position, because otherwise AE will anti-alias an allready aa’d layer, eg. [102.3 , 100.1] is bad news: round to [102,100]
BUT: look at the anchorPoint, if this has a value with a decimal (probably .5), you do have to use the same decimal in Position.

Anyway:
If you want to scale, rotate or do very slow moves, you should “convert to editable text” (It’s in the Layer Menu), so you can work with the vector data.
You’ll notice the look will change ever so slightly when you do this, so AE probably has a different Antialias algorithm.

But be warned that you should add a slight blur or interlace-deflicker filter to those layers anyway since you’re going to create a DVD-menu:
don’t fall in love with hyper-sharp, minimal antialiasing on your computer screen, if you’re designing for a Tv-set !

[Filip Vandueren]

Download “Pete’s plugins”
It has a free Kaleidascope plugin that has more settings than the CC one.
It achieves different effects than the CC Kaleida, but it’s very use-able

[Filip Vandueren]

It depends,

if the animation is keyframe based in Flash, then you can open it in Flash and export the frames to a Quicktime or a pict-sequence.
You do need Flash though. You can’t just drop a swf or fla on AE.

If the animation is achieved via Actionscript: you’re in trouble.
I don’t know of a way to do a true convert to a movie.

You might workaround it with a screengrab tool that is able to capture animations.

[Filip Vandueren]

I would do a script as mentioned for the position, but rotation and movement can much easier be achieved by parenting the ant to the square.

[Filip Vandueren]

I would do a script as mentioned for the position, but rotation and movement can much easier be achieved by parenting the ant to the square.

[Filip Vandueren]

Again I don’t work in Encore (don’t own a PC),

but in DSP: you can either create a button by dragging a graphic out of your library onto the menu, OR you can just draw a rectangular button-area over your background if you start from an empty menu.
Usually you would draw that rectangle over a graphic that looks like a button, and assign an overlay so the shape would highlite.

But if your background is clear, and there are no overlay colors used, the button should be invisible: ie. there’s no hilight.

It still has the same functionality, but you don’t know where you are (no visual clues) so just use 1 button per menu

This technique is often used to create easter-eggs in a DVD, so maybe if it’s still not clear you could maybe find some posts in the encore forum search for easter eggs or hidden buttons.