[Jim Arco]

For me, it’s only better when cleaning up an individual frame. Easier to isolate the frame and also it seems to me that PS has more clean-up tools, like healing brush and magic wand.

Jim

[Jim Arco]

Viking,

I use both Photoshop and After Effects CS4 for video. They each have their advantages, but working with the timeline in PS is pretty rudimentary. Cleaning up an individual frame is easier for me in PS. Some tools and effects in PS are not available in AE – for instance, I often use curves with the target-adjustment tool when doing very accurate color adjustment and it is not available in AE. Auto tone/contrast/color in PS provides a very quick fix when I’m on a tight deadline.

You can dynamic-link to Premiere from AE and not in Photoshop. Noise reduction in PS is not designed to be consistent from frame-to-frame, and anything with effects on an animated mask can be difficult in PS. I also find that anything that needs audio work is best done in AE.

Richard Harrington has some tutorials here on the COW.

Jim
ColorBurst Video

[Jim Arco]

Be sure to save the file when in Photoshop.

Jim

[Jim Arco]

If you have Premiere, I think it is a transition called sliding bands.

Jim

[Jim Arco]

A real lens-flare would change positions in the image whenever the camera moves. If the camera pans right, the flare appears to move towards the left of the frame.

You’ll need to track the source of the virtual “light” that causes the flare and then attach whatever you’re using to generate the flare to the tracker.

Jim
Colorburst Video

[Jim Arco]

As a workaround: How about making a pre-comp that is 8 times as wide and high as the final comp dimensions.

You could even add a guide layer that shows the eventual cropping dimensions.

Jim
ColorBurst Video

[Jim Arco]

I view the output of AE on a broadcast-grade color monitor and get very consistent results when using AE and Finesse. My output product looks the same as I see on the monitor.

One possibility is that you haven’t installed Color Finesse for PPro and so are just bypassing any changes made by Finesse in AE. Another possibility might be that you are viewing the final product on a different monitor than you viewed it when you were correcting it.

We’ll need some more information to provide additional help: What are you using to view your footage? When you say you “Open said footage in Premiere Pro; looks much darker” do you mean you render the footage from AE first? Or do you open the AE project from PPro? Have you installed C-F in both AE and in PPro?

Jim
ColorBurst Video

[Jim Arco]

Thanks, Alex. Exactly what I needed.

[Jim Arco]

Tim,

I don’t know of any way to have an ‘adjustment layer’ in PPro. (I think that it would be very useful.) However, you can imbed your current sequence into another sequence, where it will show up as one long scene. Any effects you apply there will impact the whole timeline/scene.

OR you can open the Premiere Project in AE, where your clips will show up as separate layers. You can add an adjustment layer above the entire comp and do any global correction/grading there.

I understand that you prefer not to use Dynamic Link because of the speed of your computer. However, you might not be aware that you can select ALL of your clips in the PPro timeline and right-click ‘replace with AE comp.’ Your clips will show up as separate layers in AE, but you can add an adjustment layer above the entire comp and do any global correction/grading there.

Some of the folks on the Premiere Pro forum may be able to help more, although I suspect most of us read both forums.

Jim
ColorBurst Video

[Jim Arco]

There are several plug-ins that can generate that sort of lighting effect. If I remember correctly, Tinderbox TRays, Trapcode Shine, Boris Continuum, and probably Sapphire have volumetric lighting effects.

If you want to do something like this without purchasing an extra plugin, you could try duplicating the layer, and on the lower layer apply glow, then a zoom blur, (or motion blur moving toward the camera) to achieve somewhat limited effect.

Or a search for ‘volumetric lighting’ will turn up lots of tutorials here on the COW and elsewhere with varying levels of complexity.

Jim