[Gene Strocco]

Shane,

Thank you so much for this example…can’t believe I didn’t think of Scrubs!

This is very close…nearly there. Looking for hard cuts (like stop motion) instead of fast dissolves.

Thanks!!

[Gene Strocco]

Gary,

Getting closer! Almost there…but instead of the environment changing, it would be the main talent cycling through several different people walking the same path, pace, etc.

Really appreciate you thinking about this!

Gene.

[Gene Strocco]

Joseph,

Actually what I’m seeking is almost the opposite. The live action environment would be shot in real time (no time-lapse or stop-motion), and then the main talent would be shot stop motion (or edited like it) so that the main talent would actually change into different people on a seemingly frame-by-frame basis.

I think the talent would need to be shot against green screen doing something (walking, picking up something, etc). Each talent would need to do the exact same action, and then we could edit the different talent footage, cycling through the different people, to create a stop-motion ‘popping’ effect as the composited talent walks through the scene, etc.

Make sense?

I know I’ve seen it…just can’t think of the commercial now.

[Gene Strocco]

Juris,

Thank you, but unfortunately that’s not what I’m after.

Looking for a commercial with just one person who is constantly replaced by other people using a stop-motion like effect.

Thanks for trying!

[Gene Strocco]

Glen,

Thanks so much for the reference video. Yes, it’s very much like this, but I’m looking for something a bit more specific. I’ve been able to find similar videos with peoples clothes changing, but I’m really hoping to find one where the one person is actually several people as they walk down a sidewalk, pickup a coffee, etc.

I KNOW I’ve seen it on TV…and recently…just can’t remember what it was for…

Thanks for the link…and I appreciate you letting me know if you come across anything else.

Gene.

[Gene Strocco]

Simon,

You should be able to import green screen footage, whether its an image sequence or video file such as .MOV. You’ll need to create a new material and apply that as your color image.

Unfortunately, the only way I’ve been able to use an alpha channel is if I either apply the same image sequence or video file as the alpha channel of the material, OR export a black and white image sequence/movie file and then import that separately into the alpha channel of the material you’re using.

Then if you applied that material to a ‘card’ (or plane object), then it should render out as you want (alpha channel and all).

Hope this helps.

Gene.

[Gene Strocco]

Thanks Jeremy!

We’ll start playing around on our end and learn as we go.

But your comments and responses have been incredibly helpful!

Much appreciated,

Gene.

[Gene Strocco]

Jeremy,

Thank you so much for your insight and detailed answers. This is really helping me wrap my head around how to setup a SAN type system for FCP X (and whether I should go with FCP X or not).

I just have one more question that relates to Events/Projects organization: what is the best way to organize this in terms of clients & projects? We deal with multiple clients, each that have several video projects (and even sub-video projects). Should we pre-organize our .mov in folder systems, and then reference these though FCP X to allow the Events manager to organize based on folder names, dates, etc?

Thoughts?

Thanks again for all your help and time. I realize you must be busy doing other things!

Best,

Gene.

[Gene Strocco]

Jeremy,

Not extensively, no. But I have been doing a lot of tutorials and can see the inherent power that it offers.

Having been a long time FCP 7 user, I was looking at other systems (Premiere, AVID, etc), but after returning to FCPx and seeing more of what it has to offer, I’m convinced that this may very well usher in a new era of editing. The other systems are still based in ‘legacy’ editing methods, and I’m not sure if they’ll ever offer anything new like FCPx.

That being said, I could be completely wrong!

However, if I do move with FCPx, I want to fully understand and setup the best workflow as possible, hoping that with future releases, FCPx will grow into a more ‘pro’ friendly app that accommodates everything needed for full-scale agency/post-production house capabilities.

Thanks so much!

Gene.

[Gene Strocco]

Thanks Jeremy.

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the whole projects/events concept after coming from FCP 7 and the Scratch Directory.

Can you give me some insight on how you manage your workflow? Do you have a separate system for ingest/digitize/transfer? I would assume whatever station does that (whether from tape (which we don’t do), or camera cards), is the station that creates the initial Events folder on the SAN.

Do your individual editors then create their own localized Events folder, just referencing and not copying the SAN Events folder? When they’re done editing, do they then merge their Events folder onto the SAN events folder? Copy their Projects onto the SAN for collaborative access?

We’re trying to setup a workflow where the main media doesn’t have to be copied onto external firewire drives if at all possible, and so that multiple editors can access (or reference) the same SAN media simultaneously while working on different edits.

And lastly, can you maybe let me know how you setup and organize your Events folders based on clients and projects? I see we can create folders under each Events folders, but not visa-versa. So if you had a client with multiple projects, and possibly even a main project with multiple sub-projects, is it possible to organize all media associated with a particular client to better organize our SAN media?

Sorry for the long post and extensive questions. I greatly appreciate your insight!

Thanks,

Gene.