[Gary Oberbrunner]

The problem with those (built-in Avid fx) is they don’t handle the alpha channel so you can’t composite over anything after you use them.

You can always output your matte and fill as separate clips (video mixdown at 1:1) as long as the keyer you’re using can output the alpha, then manipulate them separately with Avid’s built-in effects, then use S_Layer to composite them over the background if you want. Gets a little involved, but it can be done.

— Gary

[Gary Oberbrunner]

Hi Promopunkk — that’s one of the big things we improved in v2, actually. WarpPerspective is easier to use to rotate things around, it’s easier to reset (in the AVX2 version especially), and the new cropping stuff makes it easier to do lots more interesting looks with it. Also WarpPerspective doesn’t show the “ceiling” like it did in v1 unless you turn on “Wrap above horizon”.

Also WarpTransform is enhanced in v2 to allow tilt and swivel, so it can now do 3d rotation and perspective — so you can basically use either one. I think for what you want, the v2 WarpTransform will be just perfect. Try it out.

(And of course you don’t need MakeRGBA, so the whole thing is lots faster & easier.)

— Gary

[Gary Oberbrunner]

As someone else said, just use an adjustment layer over all the text. Sapphire S_Spotlight (or any other spotlight effect) will work nicely this way.

— Gary

[Gary Oberbrunner]

Hi Oakmozart; it shouldn’t do that. Please email support@genarts.com with a description of the problem, what system you’re running on, and perhaps a small sample and we’ll look into it.

— Gary

[Gary Oberbrunner]

Just FYI, we (GenArts) just released Sapphire 1.08 with universal binary support for all Intel/PPC AE hosts, including FCP 5.1. Check it out at https://www.genarts.com/download-sapphire-ae-mac.html.

— Gary

[Gary Oberbrunner]

Hi; are you using Sapphire v1 or v2?

In v2, if you have a recent Avid that supports AVX2, you’ll see is a new “Fields” parameter in FilmEffect which you can use to do a simulation of what WOULD happen IF you’d shot on film and then telecine’d it; it will produce the same 3:2 stuttering you’d see with telecine. You should also set the Grain Hold parameter to match your 3:2 stutter so the grain doesn’t change when the frame is held, and vice versa.

Of course if you don’t want that temporal stutter, just keep the Fields param at “As Is.”

If your Avid only supports AVX1, then a plug-in can’t access other fields and frames so it can’t do that kind of stutter effect.

— Gary

[Gary Oberbrunner]

Hi Ben — I know this isn’t our forum 🙂 so please forgive me, but you did mention Sapphire — if you have Avid or Shake, try the new Sapphire Cartoon plug-in in Sapphire v2 on those platforms. It won’t get you all the way to the Waking Life look, but it’s a good start. (And it won’t take hours per frame like that Waking Life/Scanner Darkly look probably does.)

— Gary O (GenArts)

— Gary

[Gary Oberbrunner]

Actually all our fractals and noise-based effects go on forever and never repeat. It’s a feature 🙂

But here’s another idea that ought to work for you (I tried it in After Effects and it looked pretty good):

Set the A and B shifts to both move in the direction of your desired flow. Turn both speeds to zero so you have total control over the shift.

You’ll want to animate the Amplitude and Shift Start of A and B, like this:
Make A Amplitude go from 1 at the start, to 0 in the middle, and back to 1 at the end.
Make B Amplitude go from 0 at the start, to 1 in the middle, and back to 0 at the end.

Then for the Shift Starts, the trick is to reset them where their amplitude is zero like this:
for A Shift (use X & Y as desired): start at 0, ramp up to 30 in the middle, then on the very next frame set to -30, then ramp to 0 at the end. Note that the sudden reset is right where the A Amplitude is zero.

For B Shift, just ramp it from -30 to 30 over the whole timeline. In your loop it will also have a sudden reset (at the end), but the B amplitude is zero there so it’ll look smooth.

This is all easier to show than to explain! And of course the values above all depend on the exact look you want; if you’re using AE then expressions can be very useful. Email me if you’d like more details.

— Gary

[Gary Oberbrunner]

Hi David. Interesting question! Normally WarpBubble etc. are designed to “go on forever” without looping. But if you want to make a loop, you could do it like this:

Set the A & B speeds to zero (no auto-animation).
Animate the A & B Shift Start X&Y params around in a circle using keyframes. You could even have the A go around twice while the B goes around once (or make a figure-8 or whatever you like), to disguise the circularity somewhat.

As long as the speeds are zero and the shifts end up where they started, you’ll get a nice loop.

Hope that helps!

— Gary

[Gary Oberbrunner]

Hi Morten.

In that case turn up “Rays From Alpha” or “Glow From Alpha” and you’ll get what you want. With black text I also often use “Rays Under Source” or “Glow Under Source” to put the glow under/behind the source text; gives a really nice look.

This works on the Sapphire2 for Avid version that you have, as well as the AE/FCP and Sapphire2 for Shake versions.

— Gary