[Kevin Camp]

it definitely seems like a bug, however it seems to be with levels… experimenting with curves seems to be working as expected.

doh! darby’s right, and curves shows the same thing… (double doh!)

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

now that i think about it, if you do need a 1280×720 output, just drop the 960×360 comp into a 720p comp and then choose layer>transform>fit to comp and render that…

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

mpeg2 typically conforms to video standards, so that may conflict with 960×360, 30fps comp…

so you may find that you need to go with 1280×720 and a standard frame rate (23.98, 25, 29.97, 50, 59.94).

the frame size is the part that could complicate things.. since 720/6 = 120, that’s 2x the 60 height of the led screen, but the width ratio would not be the same — 6×1280 = 7680px, but double the led screen width would be 11520px, so you could be looking some squeezing to make that work out… that’s if the 960×360 doesn’t work.

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

you might read though this fcp thread to see if it helps… sounds like there may be a setting in mission control to allow apps to occupy more than on monitor…

doh!
edit : here’s the thread

https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/344/24454#24454

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

it sounds like the the tech wants one file that he will cut up and reassemble for playout.

i would think he’d give you the size of the file that he wants, but if we do the math 5760 x 60 in 6 horizontal layers would make a 960 x 360 comp as the final comp.

as mathew and dave point out, you’ll want to work in a 5760 x 60 comp, then take that comp into the 960 x 360.

at that point you’d duplicate it 5x and position the duplicates so they are stacked vertically like a layer cake, but each offset horizontally by 960 px. then render that for the tech.

i may have missed it, but you’ll also want to have a frame rate to work with (i’d assume 30fps, but the tech should let you know). he should also give you a file type and codec… my best guess would be avi encoded as cinepak or maybe uncompressed, but uncompressed has a pretty high data rate for how these systems are typically configured.

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

if you make your star as a mask on a solid rather than a shape layer, you can manipulate the individual points, however you’ll lose the shape properties (like inner and outer radius).

just create a new solid, then (with that solid still selected) use the same star tool to create the star. since you have a layer selected, it will make a star shaped mask. you can then use the pointer tool to select a point and move it.

to animate that, you’d twirl down the mask properties and keyframe the mask path.

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

weather talent typically look at an offscreen monitor and can see themselves over the graphic (they also use the same maps and graphics every day and know what they will be over).

with out a hardware keyer, you might try using sheets of acetate and dry erase markers to create overlays to put over a monitor that shows the output of the camera camera. you’d could draw the points they needed to interact with on the acetate and and they’d be able to see themselves and the drawn points to be able to know where to point to,,,

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

you can use the timing of the keys and interpolate new values using ease() or linear() functions, so something like this may work for you.

max = thisComp.layer("Null 1").effect("Slider Control")("Slider");
min = 0;
w = wiggle(5,5);
t1 = key(1).time;
t2 = key(2).time
if (time<=t1) min;
else if (time>t1 && time<t2) ease(time,t1,t2,min,max) + w;
else max;


obviously change the ‘Null 1’ layer to your control null name and you can change the w value to your wiggle values and link it to your slider.

since the expression adds wiggle(), you’ll want to set the actual values for both key frames to 0.

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

try this and see if it works…

create a null, parent it to the shape layer and position it on the right edge of the shape layer.

then try this expression on the position property of the layer that needs to stick the edge of the shape layer:

target = thisComp.layer(“Null 1”);
fromComp(target.toComp(target.anchorPoint));

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

here’s a list of known issues with several cs versions for lion:

https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/known-issues-mac-os-10.html

nothing for ae, the photoshop issue seems easily resolved you can check any other software from cs4 that you use.

i would make sure that you have the latest updates for both cs4 and the osx version.

i did have an issue with apples proapps codecs at some point after upgrading to snow leopard where i couldn’t read previously encoded quicktime files that use xdcam. to fix i had to get copies of the older codecs from another machine, but it’s worked fine ever sense.

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW