Joe Moya
Forum Replies Created
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Here’s a link I can’t find anywhere on the site… it consolidates all the AE tutorials on one page.
https://www.creativecow.net/articles/aftereffects.html
If I hadn’t safed it as a favorite, I don’t believe it could have been found anywhere as a link on this site.
Joe
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Sorry, … but what is the question?
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The keyword is morphing…
In fact, there is a tutorial on this precise subject…
You will need Adobe Illustrator plus AE… and, the tutorial only reference block letters… script letters would be more of a problem… and, you might look at this tutorial as well:
Joe
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Here is what I use:
WinXP, Asus A8N32 SLI Delx Mobo, AMD2.2 (OC) Ghz Opteron 2X32bit-w/ 1 Meg L2 cache, 2G Kingston Prem.RAM (low lat, 440 DDR2), NVIDIA GeForce 6600 PCIe(512mb), Pioneer DVR-710 DVD, Realtek AC97 Aud., 3xHD SATA 16mb 7200, AL7.1 3494/3581, 2×20″Samsung204t
However, what is key to a successful system is using a dual boot system… Keeping your editing software (ONLY) on a seperate physical drive (not partition). Also, using a seperate physical drive for your rendering is a very BIG plus.
One thing I might also note… I don’t use Adobe’s Final Cut for editing… I use Avid Liquid… it seems to be more powerful (i.e., more plug-ins available) and more forgiving with importing the various video file codecs… which makes my work flow much less problematic. But… mostly… the autosave is unbelievable. You CAN NEVER LOOSE your work (…well, except for the last 1/100th of a second of your project… well… maybe not 1/100th of a second… but it is some unreal short period of time that is less than a second). Of course, the downside to autosave is that you can’t turn it off for instance where you would rather not save the project… such as when your experimenting.
The only upgrades I will be making soon is the Graphics Card and a faster processer chip… I am preparing to move up to HD editing.
Joe Moya
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The card dance idea will probably work…
However, that would depend upon how many dots and how big of a file the dots image is… if you have a lot and/or the dot image is large, you could run into trouble trying to use card dance.
If that is the case, you may have to resort to the “old school” and simply use masks to reveal a final image created in AI or PS. Or, you could make a track for each dot (…that would take a long time and be very time consuming, it it would most likely work without problems).
Joe
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hmmm… that sounds brutal…
It seems you are trying to use AE as if it is a video editing software… which makes what you want to do VERY difficult.
Off hand… if was me… I would import your completed AE created composit into a editing software and do what you are trying to do in about 1/5 the time it would take using AE.
That being said… if you going to use AE… the only solution that comes to mind is to rebuild each layer to eliminate the spaces. I know that is not much help… hopefully, someone else has a better idea. Unforutunately-or-fortunately, I am not experienced at trying to do what your are trying to do because I would use an editing software to attempt what your are attempting…heck, even the MicroSoft freebie would probably work – assuming your using Windows.
Joe Moya
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Along the line…
I have used a Magic Bllet created night effect as a top layer (or bottom layer)… kind of depends…. you need to experiment.
Then use the original as a second layer…
Change the opacity to help manage the night effect. A lot of the problems have to do with shadow changes and backlighing (or lack of backlighting) that changes throughout the video.
This is faster because you are starting from a layer that has the basic “night” characteristics that Magic Bullet created.
This method takes time… but, (to me) it seems to be faster than just starting from scratch and trying to add layers with various color adjustments.
No matter how you slice it… this day to night thing will take a lot of time and probably not look as good as you would like.
Joe
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Oh…
I forgot to add…
Once you have the line revealing around the worker as you like it… (i.e., using a simple mask reveal changing positions using keyframes as decribed in my previous post)…
Then save the composition as a avi., mov., etc. file.
Take that saved animation showing the reveal… and add the new background of where the worker is working. Now you have the worker with revealing line on the top layer and the background showing the worksight.
Bam! project is done… in my mind, that should take about 15-20 mins. if your not rushed and know AE well… or 30-45 mins. if you struggle with AE commands.
Joe Moya
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Well… to make the line to “draw itself”…
Well… you could make your life miserable and try to trace the outline again using the technique simular to handwriting…
Or… you could just simply take the existing line and place it on a layer that is the background to a mask that simply reveals the outline over a the progression of the composition (i.e., you are changing the position of the mask with keyframes). That would be the easy way to do it.
Take your pick… miserable way or easy way…
You don’t need to overthink this project… it appears the hard parts have already been done using PS… now, it appears you simply need to apply a moving mask (or masks – depending on the kind of reveal you want) to gradually reveal the line surroung your person (which is a layer that should be above the mask and line (i.e., order of layers are – person, mask (moving), line).
Funny thing about using a mask on your project… you could have gotten a 100 dollar editing software to acoomplish this effect. Or, you could have done what I would have done… spend about a couple of thousand dollars on special effect software. 🙂
FWIW Joe Moya
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I’m on Windows… IE6…
But… that wasn’t the problem… Unfortunately… My reading ability was on version -1.0. 🙂
BTW, your Example 10 (Fire Logo) links to family tv (familytv.co)and not an aep file.
Joe