Jeff Kay
Forum Replies Created
-
I made a folder on a different drive that is labeled “Avid MC Projects.” That folder will be the drive where I keep all my Avid Project Files and where I will navigate to on my Avid New Project Screen and leave it there.
Do I have to copy over that 2 and a half hours of Mini DV footage into that “Avid MC Projects” folder just to AMA link to it then Transcode it in Avid? Or Can I leave it in that original folder, that is on another drive, and AMA link to that folder, and then Transcode it when it’s in Avid?
Project file management, AMA media management, and Avid MediaFiles management are all three separate things. They make a whole lot of sense once you get used to them.
Project Files: These all go into your “Avid MC Projects” folder. If you make a project (TVShow), create a bin in the base level (Elements), create a folder (EP 1) and then two bins inside (“EP1 Clips” “EP1 Sequences”), then your projects folder will look like this:
Avid MC Projects
-TVShow
–[project files for the project]
–Elements.avb
–EP 1
—EP1 Clips.avb
—EP1 Sequences.avbOne great thing Avid does is that the bins (your .avb files) can be copied and pasted into other projects. If you need to consolidate projects from multiple locations into the one folder, then create a new project in Avid for each project, then simply move/copy the bins into the appropriate project folder Avid created. I usually try to have Avid closed when making changes in any folder that Avid references. When you open the project, all of the bins will be present. And of course you can create/delete/move folders/bins inside of Avid.
AMA: Media management is roughly equivalent of media management in FCP (and Premiere). It is a link that points avid to the media. You can store this media in whatever structure you desire. Links are largely solid. Moving/deleting media will of course break links. If links are broken, the easiest way I have found to relink media is to create a new temporary bin, link the media as if you were doing it for the first time, and all of the old clips that were unlinked should update.
Avid MediaFiles: Avid loves to import (which creates new media as MXF) and handles it better than AMA linking. All media created is placed in the Avid MediaFiles folder. In Avid -> Settings -> Media Creation you can select different drives for different types of media (capture, import, titles, etc), but you can only select drive, not folders or sub-folders. The Avid MediaFiles folder must be at the base level of the drive. Inside it is all of the media created/imported by Avid. The file structure may seem overwhelming and odd if you aren’t used to how Avid handles things, but Avid is extremely good at keeping track of what is in that folder. Management of that folder is important, but that is a rather extensive topic in and of itself.
-
You did better than I could explain it (lighting is something I have a more trial-and-error approach to). I agree that he needs to make the decision if he wants full reality or some other artistic stylization. Right now as a whole the project is not at a good place between full-realistic and otherwise. A decision either way will certainly see improvement.
-
Agreed, it sounds like an issue with anchor point. It will look like the anchor point is changing the position of the layer (which you will have to adjust), but it is really changing the point at which the layer rotates around.
Though AE will import PS files just fine. When ever I cut up a picture like that, I just import the PS file and I can animate each layer separately. It can also help later as any change to that PS file will automatically update in AE (though you may have to reload the footage). If I’m doing a picture animation where parts of the background need to clone stamped out, I save that for after the animation is finished so I don’t end up clone stamping more than is needed.
-
Like the previous two posters have said, individual framing and lighting of the posters will help. Ultimately they need something to separate them more from the wall.
A few other things to consider depending on how detailed you want to get. The wall itself is very consistent, while a wall in a lobby would have variation from wear and tear: inconsistencies in building, lighting fading parts of the wall, old posters having worn spots, repaired sections, not completely flat, etc. If the wall itself wasn’t just a revolving background then it and the posters should become more distinct from each other.
There was some jumpiness that I’m fairly certain was Youtube, but as the intro has a lot of vertical lines being panned in a progressive environment(well I suppose technically its a truck), it has that standard problem. Not sure exactly how to approach it, but my first thought is to try motion blur.
I’d also consider having the camera’s tilt/pan/pedistal have a little more variance in it. Certainly nothing very noticeable, but since it is an AE construction, the truck is perfect while any shot done in the real world will not be. I’m not saying you should try to reproduce a handheld or steadicam feel, but just a slight change can make it feel more organic.
Also as Joseph said about real lobbies/galleries, lighting effects should interrupt others. I can’t quite place it here, but there does seem to be something a little off about the shadows on the wall.
-
If you mean a player like Quicktime or Media Player Classic is having issues with stuttering, then that should be expected. Anytime I have a raw or other high quality lossless media, then I will see stuttering with those type of players, regardless of if the media was from AE or another source. As Walter said, those files are for post production use not for playback.
There shouldn’t be stuttering when it is brought into the post production suite. If there is still stuttering, then reconsider your output encode, though that would sound more like a performance issue of your system itself.
I cut predominantly on Avid so my workflow from AE is RAW -> Import as MXF (Even though AE can encode an mov in Avid’s native NDxHD, I find this to be faster so long as can handle a large intermediary file). For other suites have AE (or Media Encoder) export in the standard format you use, or export RAW and use an encoder to make that conversion.
-
The better the greenscreen footage, the better and easier you will receive results. If you do get footage where there is uneven lighting or wrinkles, key your footage ignoring those parts and then use trash masks to remove them. Its very important to not just light the greenscreen evenly, but also to try to get your greenscreen subject lighted the same way as they would be in whatever background you are replacing the greenscreen with. This, in itself, is its own art.
Consider duplicating your greenscreened footage. Give the bottom layer a strong blur and the top layer a slightly more stringent keying. This can help it feel a lot less like flat footage pasted on top of something else. Also consider masking to key the head and body separately as hair is notoriously difficult to key.
-
If you want to speed up or slow down an entire comp, it can actually be done fairly quickly and easily. Take your main comp (we’ll call it maincomp) and make a new comp with just that (we’ll call that one 1/2comp). In 1/2comp use the time stretch feature on the maincomp layer (I typically access this by clicking on the duration of the layer in the timeline window) and you can change it by setting a new duration in seconds/frames or by % of original duration. That’s all it takes.
I believe that this is what Sam was referring to. If you do have footage as a part of the maincomp then it will be affected in the same way that footage is normally affected with any time altering effect. If you want to keep the footage moving at its normal speed you can go into the maincomp and perform the same time stretch, just the multiplicative inverse (slow down the maincomp to 50%, speed up the footage to 200%). This will of course change where the in the footage different effects start or stop, but its a workaround. It will look better than having the footage just slowed down, but be prepared for the footage to show some signs of a time altering effect.
-
Most likely it is following a benzier curve set between the two keyframes.
Check this out.
https://help.adobe.com/en_US/aftereffects/cs/using/WS3878526689cb91655866c1103906c6dea-7d5da.html -
I guess I had it backwards, but you should be able to do the expression the other way such that the null inherits the movement of the camera.
I’m not certain if you’d want to link the null to the camera position, the focus point of the camera, some equation of both, or if there would have to be some sort of conversion coefficient. Bah, I’m just speculating at this point.
-
If I understand what you are asking correctly, then you should be able to turn the 3D Camer Tracker into an expression that is modified by the movement in the null/object which will let it inherit the movement of the null/object without having to use any tracking solution.