[Michael Hancock]

Why does it have to to be deinterlaced? If you interpret it right in AE (lower field first) and kick everything into full resolution and high quality, you should have good footage.

Ask for a quicktime export, same as source (720 x 486), in the animation codec. Or uncompressed if you don’t mind having an enormous file. This should give you a high quality file to work with.

If you definitely need it deinterlaced, check in the After Effects forum about deinterlacing footage. Something about doubling the frame rate then dropping it into a comp at some other frame rate to seperate the fields, etc… Basically only really good if you’re going to be rotoscoping. Anyhow, let me know if this works for you, and when I get to work tomorrow I’ll check to make sure I’m telling you right. Going off memory right now, and that memory is pretty shot right now.

Mike.

[Michael Hancock]

Set it up like you want it, then go to Window—>Workspace and save it. Now save your project. This will make it the default workspace the next time you open your project, and also (I think) for every new project after that until you close the program with a different workspace enabled. Then that becomes the default workspace for that project and new ones (I think). Someone much more knowledgable about the program will soon correct me if I’m wrong.

Mike.

[Michael Hancock]

Animatte, from my basic (read: limited and long ago) use of the effect is basically like creating masks in After Effects. I haven’t tried this, but it might be worth a shot (and I might actually have time tomorrow to test it!):

V2: Person talking. You animatte this to cut them out.
V1: Background.

Now, try stepping into the animatte effect on V2. Apply your Sapphire blur. Step out. Did it blur just the person, or both the person and the background? If it did both, try this:

V2: Person talking. Animatte them.
V1: Background.

Now:
V2: Step into the person you animatted. Replace them with a white title.
V1: Replace your background with a black title.

You have essentially created an alpha channel. Two options from here, one should work, one probably won’t. This one probably won’t:

Collapse the tracks, move the collapsed track to V3, apply matte or luma key, put your person back on V2 (now the fill), apply Sapphire blur to them, V1 gets the background.

Otherwise, export the V2 White/V1 Black piece, reimport and you have one piece of media you can use as an alpha. Possibly. Hopefully. Again, all of this is theory, and hasn’t been tested. Don’t hold me accountable, but if it works, feel free to sing my praises. 🙂

Also, I might have the White/Black reversed. I can never remember how alpha channels are supposed to be set, so you might need to make the person filled with Black and the Background white. Experiment. Let me know if any of these ideas work (if you try them). Thanks.

Mike.

[Michael Hancock]

Amen to that Ron. It’s almost impossible to catch all typos. Pick up any magazine and read it cover to cover–chances are very good you’ll find some.

I started as a copywriter and made it my mission that no typo ever go to print or to air. Well, I wrote and helped produce a half hour medical show that was proofed by me, the editor, the owner of the ad company, the sales rep, the media buyer, the vice-president of the ad agency, the talent, about four doctors, and everyone else who worked in the building (about 20+ people in all). It was given the green light and aired for about 2 months before we realized, in one 5 minute section, we’d spelled “disc” (as in the disc in your back) as “disk”. Oops. With that many eyes, we should have caught it, but mistakes happen.

The fact that there were so few typos is amazing and all forgivable given the incredible content of the magazine and entirely too small of crew that worked so hard to produce it. If typos bother you, offer all of your free time to proof read every single page before production. Considering what an enormous source of help and inspiration and learning this site (and the magazine) have provided to me, I would in a heartbeat. If you want another proofer Ron, just ask.

Thanks to all who worked on the magazine. Far and above one of the greatest I have ever had the pleasure to read. The fact that it’s free is almost a crime, considering the wealth of knowledge it provides. Thanks again, and I cannot wait for the next issue.

Michael.

[Michael Hancock]

If you’re only wanting to add ONLY a drop shadow, just drop the S_Dropshadow Matte directly onto your title. It will replace the matte key and affect just the title. However, if you want to add any other effects (like S_WarpTransform to resize or move the title), you’ll need to use the sandwich method.

Mike.

[Michael Hancock]

If you’re only wanting to add ONLY a drop shadow, just drop the S_Dropshadow Matte directly onto your title. It will replace the matte key and affect just the title. However, if you want to add any other effects (like S_WarpTransform to resize or move the title), you’ll need to use the sandwich method.

Mike.

[Michael Hancock]

I assume you’re using Sapphire V1, because V2 allows you to click “Apply to Title/Matte” or something along those lines. So, assuming you’re using Sapphire Effects V1, you need to make a sandwich.

First, you have to combine the matte and fill by applying the S_MakeRBGA effect. Don’t nest it onto your title. Just drop it on. It will combine the matte and fill and your background will disappear. Don’t panic. Just select any and all other effects you now want to be applied to that title–in your case, the S_EdgeRays effect. For all of these effect, nest them–meaning hold Alt and then apply them. When you have all other effects added to your titles, add the S_Layer effect. This will revive the matte of your title and composite it over your background, as well as give you additional options, like foreground/background saturation, overlay modes, foreground/background opacity, scaling the darks/lights of the foreground/background or composited image, etc…

Sapphire effects are unbelievably powerful and kick major ass, but take some practice to understand. Remember this–when applying to anything with an alpha key, make a sandwich that goes like this: Drop S_MakeRGBA directly on, replacing the matte key effect(this is the bottom bun)…ALT drop all other effects (these are meats, cheese, condiments of your sandwhich)…ALT drop S_Layer or another compositing effect on top (Top Bun).

Mike.

[Michael Hancock]

I assume you’re using Sapphire V1, because V2 allows you to click “Apply to Title/Matte” or something along those lines. So, assuming you’re using Sapphire Effects V1, you need to make a sandwich.

First, you have to combine the matte and fill by applying the S_MakeRBGA effect. Don’t nest it onto your title. Just drop it on. It will combine the matte and fill and your background will disappear. Don’t panic. Just select any and all other effects you now want to be applied to that title–in your case, the S_EdgeRays effect. For all of these effect, nest them–meaning hold Alt and then apply them. When you have all other effects added to your titles, add the S_Layer effect. This will revive the matte of your title and composite it over your background, as well as give you additional options, like foreground/background saturation, overlay modes, foreground/background opacity, scaling the darks/lights of the foreground/background or composited image, etc…

Sapphire effects are unbelievably powerful and kick major ass, but take some practice to understand. Remember this–when applying to anything with an alpha key, make a sandwich that goes like this: Drop S_MakeRGBA directly on, replacing the matte key effect(this is the bottom bun)…ALT drop all other effects (these are meats, cheese, condiments of your sandwhich)…ALT drop S_Layer or another compositing effect on top (Top Bun).

Mike.

[Michael Hancock]

Render it out using Fluidmotion. If you don’t have fluidmotion, check out http://www.3Prong.com They have an effect there called SpeedRamP. I haven’t used it, but I’ve heard it’s nice. You can download a demo and try it out.

Michael.

[Michael Hancock]

What version of AdvantEdge are you running? I just went through all of our plugins yesterday and realized we were running AdvantEdge 1.0 and there was an upgrade to 1.6. It’s made all the difference in the world–added some stuff, fixed some stuff. For a while, whenever I tried to use the plugin it would tell me there wasn’t a license. I sat staring at the dongle poking out of the system while this thing told me it wasn’t legit. Haven’t had that problem since the upgrade. If you aren’t running the newest version, check online for the upgrade and see if it helps.

https://www.ultimatte.com/

Mike.