[Jeff Klein]

Thanks a lot, this looks pretty damn cool, I appreciate it. I’ve been messing with some stuff myself and I think a stylized version like this is definitely an option, however in the end it will prob end just being good old black and white.

To answer Dave’s question, this will be for web.

Thanks to all of you!

[Jeff Klein]

Cool, thanks.

[Jeff Klein]

Hey Michael, thanks for the response. What you said is exactly what I expected to hear, but thought I’d throw out the question in case anyone had a miracle answer.

To answer your question, the client only paid for a photo shoot, the video was taken secondarily and more or less for fun. It was hoped that something could be done with that video, and like you said, it looks like some sort of stylized version it the only option…but ya, that could end up being cool.

Thanks for the response.

[Jeff Klein]

You’re correct, the DV forum would have been more appropriate, the footage is ultimately being used in AFX but I guess that is irrelevant.

When I say “right” I don’t mean I want it to be at the right aspect ratio, I just don’t want the footage to be stretch/squished (aspect ratio is not important in this case). If 720×480 (not 4:3) is what it will take to make it look “right” on a computer, than that’s fine.

This is the part I admittedly have a tough time wrapping my head around. 720×540 (non-square) is 4:3 on a TV because the TV uses non-square, I get that. But if I rip 720×540 non-square to 720×540 square, I realize it won’t be 4:3, but will it be un-stretched? I feel like the additional pieces of the pixels have to go somewhere.

Don’t feel obligated to respond, realize this might be overly confusing and I might be way off the mark.

[Jeff Klein]

Thank you very much for the response, I don’t think I am being clear. First, compression is not an issue, my question is strictly concerning pixel-aspect ratio. Moral or the story is, I want footage (that is non-square pixel, shot on a DV camera and is now on DVD) to look correct(not-stretched) on a computer monitor. A possible answer to this question might be “this can’t be done.”

I don’t need the ripped footage to be 4:3, any aspect ratio is fine.

At what dimensions should I rip a DVD (which is natively 720×480 non-square pixels) so that it will look right on a computer? Is the answer as simple as just “rip it at 720×480”? I have a tough time wrapping my head around this, because I feel like if you do it this way the non-square pixels will be forced to turn square and will distort the image in some way. However if I rip at 640×480 it also seems like distortion is unavoidable.

This question is very hard to put into words and I hope I was clear enough. Thanks.

[Jeff Klein]

Hi Jon, sorry for the extremely late response, but I’ve come across the same problem again and was hoping to get some more answers. Although your answer was extremely helpful, I don’t think it really answered my question. Here’s the question again, I’m hoping someone can clarify. Thanks.

—

Hi, my goal is to rip a DVD and post it to the web and have it look “normal,” meaning not squished or stretched. I know a DVD is 720 by 480 non-square pixels, but after I rip it, bring it into AFX and interpret it, it says 720 by 480 square pixels. The software I use to rip it has no options about pixel aspect ratio. The ripped video looks fine though (not squished or stretched) which confuses me.

When starting this project I was assuming my final web-ready video was going to be 640 by 480, which I thought was the square-pixel-equivalent to DV. Now it looks like my final video is going to be 720 by 480. What am I confused about?

Moral of the story is: If I rip a DVD and post it to web, what should the dimension of the posted web video be to keep it “equivalent” to the original DVD video?

Also, why is there no DV square pixel Comp Preset in AFX? I have a feeling the answer to this has something to do with my problem.

Thanks.

[Jeff Klein]

Select the layer and hit hit MM (M twice quickly) on your keyboard and that will open the mask properties. Next to each mask there is a drop-down list that says “Add” by default, on the second mask try changing that to something else (either subtract, intersect, or difference) depending on what you’re trying to accomplish.

[Jeff Klein]

That doesn’t seem to work because as soon as I turn the pre-comp into a 3d layer the same problem occurs as when you turned the original layer 3D…it isn’t lined up correctly.

[Jeff Klein]

Hey Larry, thanks for the response. That is an option (and possibly the best one), but the only problem with doing it that way is then the person’s shadow will stay static relative to the person, while other the “real” shadows (in the case, the 3D text) will move based on the camera move/lighting.

I suppose to I could keyframe the fake shadow to try and mimic what is going on with the real shadows, but I was hoping for another solution. Thanks for the help!

[Jeff Klein]

Thanks guys.

Those tutorials are actually what lead me to believe that Cinema 4D was better than 3DS at integrating with AFX. They were still very helpful though.

It seems like the Max2AE might do exactly what I’m looking for.

Thanks again.