[Justin Skotarczyk]

Thanks guys, this should have been a no brainer.

David’s method is the one I ultimately utilized as it was the most intuitive.

Filip, I think the method you described will yield the most accurate result, but how can you input new values for the anchor point without altering the layer’s position?

Justin Skotarczyk
Designer/VFX Artist
Mosa
Royal Oak, MI

[Justin Skotarczyk]

Filip,

Thanks for the advice, I’m definitely going to try that smooth expression! Keyframing using easy ease keyframes has been driving me nuts.

Much obliged!

Justin Skotarczyk
Designer/VFX Artist
Mosa
Royal Oak, MI

[Justin Skotarczyk]

Well, the text does already look like embroidery. Do you mean using an animated alpha to generate the image?

Justin Skotarczyk
Designer/VFX Artist
Mosa
Royal Oak, MI

[Justin Skotarczyk]

It sounds like you’ve done the research, and found a usable, cost feasible solution.

I know people that run both of those programs on an older iMac with no issues.

The more you get into really complex projects with hi-res footage and intense animations, you may begin to see some limitations.
For practice however, that computer should more than suffice.

Justin Skotarczyk
Designer/VFX Artist
Mosa
Royal Oak, MI

[Justin Skotarczyk]

Following your suggestions, I played with the collision EPS and subsampling, but cannot seem to isolate a cause for the text to continue pulling. Somewhere around Subsampling at 8 and Collision EPS at 16 I get a somewhat desirable effect, but every parameter I adjust seems to set me back to either collisions with way too much bounce or an awkward halt and pull.

I also notice that the text seems to be colliding just above the surface of the plane. There seem to be so many adjustable parameters I don’t know where to begin!

What fundamental concepts am I missing that are causing these results?

Justin Skotarczyk
Designer/VFX Artist
Mosa
Royal Oak, MI

[Justin Skotarczyk]

Why yes, my setting are as you described! I will implement your recommendations, thank you very much!

Justin Skotarczyk
Designer/VFX Artist
Mosa
Royal Oak, MI

[Justin Skotarczyk]

David,

Thank you for that explanation. That makes much more sense to me!

Justin Skotarczyk
Designer/VFX Artist
Mosa
Royal Oak, MI

[Justin Skotarczyk]

I figured out the issue. Encore tends to squish menus down to 720×480 regardless of the fact that it’ll accept 720×486 and 720×540 compositions as menus.

We ran a few tests to confirm this, and ended up rebuilding our menus in Photoshop using a 720×480 template, and used that file to reanimate in After Effects. After doing this we were able to get near seamless video transitions in Encore.

Justin Skotarczyk
DI Film
justins@milagropost.com
Milagro Post
Detroit, MI

Freelance VFX Artist
skoproduction@yahoo.com

[Justin Skotarczyk]

Assuming there is no real quality loss importing HDV, I’ve opted to simply convert the HDV QT’s to an image sequence, such as targa.

I need to play with this a little more as I am having weird import issues on our iQ, but I think the image sequence is the route to go for the type of workflow I am going for.

Justin Skotarczyk
DI Film
justins@milagropost.com
Milagro Post
Detroit, MI

Freelance VFX Artist
skoproduction@yahoo.com

[Justin Skotarczyk]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I would definitely go with the MacBook Pro, and from stories I am hearing, openGL may not be that much of an important factor for AE.