Joseph W. bourke
Forum Replies Created
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Stephen –
Take a look at DekoCast, a formerly Pinnacle Systems product, now owned by AVID. We use one to play to air files created on our other Deko products (FXDeko, TypeDeko (these are used to make the lower thirds and full-screens))or motion graphics and lower third templates made in After Effects, Photoshop, etc.. It has the ability to link to News software (ENPS, etc.) so that CG type is input by News Producers (a scary thought, indeed, but it works)then linked to a template for on-air playback.
Here’s a link to get you started:
https://www.avid.com/products/dekoCast/index.asp
Joseph Bourke
Art Director / WMUR-TV -
In your timeline view, just right-click the bar where you see “source name” or “layer name”. You’ll get a pop-up – select “columns” then “comment”. There’s a comment field now available for every layer in your comp.
You can now choose to hide or reveal these layer notes to refresh your memory, or if you need to pass the project on to another user, to clue them in to your intentions.
Joe Bourke
Art Director / WMUR-TV -
In your timeline view, just right-click the bar where you see “source name” or “layer name”. You’ll get a pop-up – select “columns” then “comment”. There’s a comment field now available for every layer in your comp.
You can now choose to hide or reveal these layer notes to refresh your memory, or if you need to pass the project on to another user, to clue them in to your intentions.
Joe Bourke
Art Director / WMUR-TV -
I agree with Jean. It depends totally upon the content of the piece you’re intro-ing. If you’re doing a piece for sales oriented content, you want to be into the body of the piece as soon as possible, so 3 to 5 seconds is great. I’m currently working on a news magazine format open in which there’s an upfront open that’s about :08 seconds long, followed by teases for what’s coming up in the show (which I consider to be part of the open). I’m making sure that the animated bar that brands the teases has the same strong production values as the open. Opens that I do for News have to be short and splashy, so I make sure the logo for the story is parked by :02 to :03 seconds in at the latest, then I let the motion-graphics do their thing for :15, so that the Directors have “panic pad”. Usually they’re out by :04 or :05 though.
If you’re doing long-form opens, the sky’s the limit, and you might want to use the logo animation to somehow set the stage for the upcoming content; that is, images/thematic content from the show built into the logo animation, that sort of thing. It’s art I tell you!
Joe Bourke
Art Director / WMUR-TV -
I’ve done several of these projects, mostly using Combustion, but the technique will work for any compositing software. We bought a package of small (1/2″ to 3/4″) neon orange dots at Staples, and put them on the TVs we were doing the moves on in a five dot pattern; one at each of the four corners (as close to the edge as possible) and one at dead center. This enabled us to do a pretty accurate track on the TVs, and gave us scaling points as well.
As a secondary part of the process, I pulled a frame from about the center of the move, took it into Photoshop, and painted a black mask with alpha that perfect covered the screen. When I did the track, I used the mask layer to cut out whatever video I needed for the particular TV; this made it possible to easily replace the video if need be, since I was using the mask layer to cut the alpha, and tracking/scaling the mask to the background footage.
If you have the budget, rent a motion-control rig, and do several passes; one with the dots, in which you pull focus throughtout to keep the dots in focus, and one that’s lit for the final shot. The motion-control rig will give you two identical passes, so all you need to do is track the shot with the dots, then replace with your final, beautifully lit footage and you’re done. I don’t know whether AE will import camera tracking info, but Combustion would allow you to import an ASCII file direct from the motion-control rig, so tracking is totally unnecessary. Good luck.
Joe Bourke
Art Director / WMUR-TV -
Until you weigh-in on what you specifically need to do with the box, I’ll give my opinion on the Chyron VS Deko VS Inscriber. I’ve had experience with all three, and I would strongly lean toward the Deko box. They all talk to each other (we have the old Type-Dekos, FXDekos, and the new Deko1000, and we have no problems with interoperability. Plus, they come with a programming language that allows you (if you’re somewhat of a gear-head) to create macros, menus, and custom screens that will take user input for Weather forecast pages, etc.. They are very intuitive to use (the lowest level of CG operator can sit down at it, and be functioning in a short space of time), and almost impossible to crash.
That said, there are probably more Chyrons out there than Dekos (although that seems to be changing quickly), so if you’re looking for operators, you might find a larger pool with Chyron experience.
On the Inscriber front…run the other way! I’ve used Inscriber in our Discreet Logic Edit box, and it is the most counter-intuitive software I have EVER used (it even beats Lotus Notes for uselessness). The GUI is impossible to master without using the manual, which is poorly written; there are commands that are described in the manual which don’t work the way they are described, and, to make matters worse, it regularly just locks up and you lose the graphics you were working on. Good luck in your choice.
Joe Bourke
Art Director / WMUR-TV -
Hey Tea –
Try this one on for size…it’s a freebie from Buena Software called Camera Flash. It does a really nice job of gradually burning out the whites, and makes for a great transition that you can cut at the point that the colors are all (or almost all) blown out.
https://www.buena.com/ee/cameraflash.shtml
Joe Bourke
Art Director / WMUR-TV -
I had to do a massive tracking project that was shot with a motion control rig, involving 5 vintage television, in which I had to replace dots with footage. I started out in AE (at the time, it was either 5.0 or 5.5), and soon discovered that it was not up to the task. I ended up doing the entire project in Combustion, but there was still a huge amount of single frame tweaking (hundreds of frames).
I hope for your sake that AE’s tracking capabilities have improved with version 6.0, so it’s not a total nightmare, but be aware that any tracking project is not going to hit the nail right on the head; there’s always a large amount of cleanup, mask tweaking, garbage masking, hand shifting of keyframes, and other headaches that make for lots of time. If you’re billing this out, I would add 25 to 50% to the number of hours just to protect yourself from the inevitable. Good luck with it. Contact me direct if you have any more questions. I’ve done a few of these projects, and at the end of the road was very happy with the results, but it was hugely tedious.
Joe Bourke
Art Director / WMUR-TV
jbourke@hearst.com -
I agree with Steve on this. It was definitely done with a motion-control camera rig, which allows you to track a shot, then perfectly duplicate it again and again, plus you can export the tracking info to other systems/software. The background plate looks as if it might be 3D, but it could just be a real forest shot. If you look at where the multiple people’s feet hit the ground, there’s absolutely no disturbance of the leaf litter, so it’s definitely a composite, albeit a very good one.
Joe Bourke
Art Director / WMUR-TV -
Butch –
A slight gaussian blur will help a bit, but you can’t get resolution out when there’s no resolution in. The best thing you can do is to set a standard and reject stuff that’s below it. I’m constantly given graphics by both our News department and outside clients that are way below the threshold. By calmly explaining why it’s going to look like garbage, and giving them a minimum file size to go on for a 720×486 (or whatever size you use) graphic, you’ll train them to make sure they get you what you need. I use a file size of 1.3mb as my minimum, knowing that I can get by with quite a bit less (with .jpg files, I can make a 300kb file look just fine as a full screen). I’m regularly given client logos that are web graphics, and asked to make them full screens. Just say no!
Joe Bourke
Art Director / WMUR-TV