[Frank Thomas]

If keylight does the trick for you, don’t throw away your tracking data. You can use it when you add your blood.

[Frank Thomas]

Have you tried just keying out the green cloth patch with keylight?

[Frank Thomas]

I use the little switch on the side of the microphone.

[Frank Thomas]

Faster shutter speeds can certainly help to reduce motion blur. However, the faster the shutter speed, the more light you’ll need.

I often shoot with a fast shutter speed (particularly when the scene involves rapid movements) to minimize motion blur. The resulting footage is cleaner for rotoscoping and editing, and motion blur (if desired) can easily be added later.

Experiment with different shutter speeds and lighting levels, until you get a result you’re happy with.

[Frank Thomas]

For a simple 2D animation, I wouldn’t even bother with a camera. Just have your character walking on the spot, and animate the position of the background.

[Frank Thomas]

If it’s only rotating 90deg every 60 secs, is there any need for more than 2 sides? You’d never see more than 2 sides at any one time.

[Frank Thomas]

I might be misunderstanding this, but why do you need a mask on both layers?
Can’t you mask only one layer and feather the mask a little?
To my way of thinking, having overlapping areas of transparency/semi-transparency makes no sense, when a seamless result is required.

[Frank Thomas]

[Phil Beastall] “The further the background is from the character, the less it would move, as if in real life.”

I think you’ve got it backwards.

Assuming the distance between the camera and the subject (actor) doesn’t change, the further away the background is, the MORE it will appear to move.

Try holding your finger up in front of you, with (for example) a painting in the background. Move your head slightly to one side.

Now move closer to the painting (keeping your finger at the same distance from your face) and repeat the process.

You’ll see that the closer you are to the painting, the LESS it will appear to move (in relation to your finger).

The further the camera (as opposed to the background) is from the subject, however, the LESS the background will appear to move (relative to the subject).

[Frank Thomas]

[jimmy brunger] “If you go to his site (videocopilot.net) then there’s a tute called ‘Light Streaks 2′”

Yes, I’ve seen the “Light Streaks 2” tutorial. However, your post implied that there was a new tutorial, recently posted. “Light Streaks 2” was posted a year ago.

[Frank Thomas]

[jimmy brunger] “Do you guys know that Andrew has put up a new tutorial on his site covering exactly this!? Or, is it because of this thread he’s done it…”

Which new tutorial? If you are talking about his new “Growing 3D Vines” tutorial (added March 17, 2008), it has nothing to do with the light streaks tutorials. If you are talking about another new tutorial, could you post a link, as it’s not on his tutorials page?