Michael Hancock
Forum Replies Created
-
I’ve been wondering this for a while, so I’ll just go ahead and ask. Why in the world do you need a second row of buttons? I use an old Avid Xpress at work (having learned to edit on an Adrenaline), and there are only about 2 buttons I ever use. Everything else is custom mapped to the keyboard. The less I touch the mouse the happier I am and the faster the edit. Am I simply an exception to the rule? Then again, I’ve only been editing for about a year, so maybe there are lots of features I’m not utilizing. Why do you need a second row of buttons? Thanks.
Michael.
-
Yes. Open the project you want to bring the composition into. Do a “File–>Import”, go to the project is that has the composition in it that you want to import. Import the entire project. It will import the project as a composition (I think), as well as a folder that has all the elements of the project in it. Viola! The composition from that project is now in your new project, ready to be changed, dropped into a new comp, etc…
Michael.
-
If you got the boxer from ribbitfilms.com like you said, you should have been able to download a matte for it as well. If you didn’t download the matte, go download it now. We’ll wait! 🙂
Now, once you get the matte, put it on a layer above your boxer and make sure both clips start at the same point in your timeline. Then select Track Matte on the actual footage of the boxer (the lower layer with the actual boxer, not the layer with the black and white version of the boxer–that’s the matte you’re going to track). Set it to Luma Matte, or possibly Inverse Luma Matte or whatever it’s called (I’m not in front of AE right now and I’m tired). This will create the perfect key for the boxer since ribbitfilms already did it for you.
From there you should be ready to rock and roll. If you need to resize the boxer or do anything crazy to him like rotate or put into 3D space, precompose your boxer layer and the track matte layer. Then any resizing your do will affect both. Good luck, let me know if this helps.
Michael.
As far as text goes, do exactly what Mr. Roberts suggested and you’ll be rockin’ and rollin’ in no time.
-
I’ve used Avid Pan and Zoom a couple of times, and it takes some getting used to. It also used to be kind of buggy, if I remember right. Then again, I used it over a year ago so maybe it’s rock solid now.
Stage Tools, however, is a breeze to use, renders relatively fast, and has always given me great results. The picture quality is excellent and the moves are smooth. The other day I had to make a move on a web address so I just Alt+Print screened the web page, loaded the picture into StageTools and zoomed in on it. Even when zoomed right up close to the web address it was nice and clear.
So, my opinion is that stage tools is worth the investment, especially if you’re going to be zooming on a lot of pictures. Take my advice with a grain of salt however, because I haven’t used Avid’s Pan and Zoom in a long time. No need to with StageTools. 🙂 Others in this forum should be able to give you a more balanced view.
Michael.
-
Sorry. You don’t need 3D space. I spaced out for a moment there. Just take your regular 2D layer and make an elliptical mask. Then click on Mask Shape, Ctrl+C to copy it, delete the mask or set it to NONE, then set a keyframe into your position parameter of your star and Ctrl+V to paste it. You now have position keyframes for your star to follow in an elliptical pattern. You may have to adjust the anchor point to get it where you want it. You can further fake 3D space from here by animating the scale as it travels around the path. Star gets larger as it comes around the front of the head, then smaller as it goes around the back. Sorry. Hope this helps to clear things up.
Michael.
-
I actually did this a couple weeks ago for a promo I was working on. There are several ways, depending on your footage. If your talent is filmed on a green screen it’s pretty easy. Here’s the down and dirty way I did it.
Make your stars or whatever you want animating around the person’s head. Make it a 3D layers and animate it going in an elipse a little bigger than the talents head. You’ll want the front of the stars to come down lower than the back. Key your guy out and make it your second layer (your 1st layer if for your background). Above that put your stars (layer 3) and position them so they go in front of the guy’s head. This will take care of the stars going around the front of the guys head. Because AE isn’t a true 3D app, you have fake it from here. Where the stars are supposed to go behind his head, you’ll need to duplicate your key of the guy and put it on a layer above the stars (layer 4). Now your guy is in front of and behind the stars so they’ll look like they’re coming out of his face. From here just mask his head off so you can see the stars in front. Now the stars are visible on the front and should look like they’re disappearing behind his head. You may need to tweak the mask from here, but you’re pretty much done!
If your talent isn’t on a green screen, welcome to rotoscoping. Same as above, but you’ll need to cut your talent’s head out from the background first, then the rest is the same.
Hope this helps. I’m sure others will have much faster and easier ways, but this can get you started.
Michael.
-
By LOG clips I assume you’re logging clips then batch digitizing. With that assumption, here’s what you do:
I’m not in front of the Avid right now (I’m at home about to catch some well needed sleep), but here’s what I remember (and I’ll double check it tomorrow and repost if I’m wrong).
Open the capture tool (Ctrl+7).
Click one of the buttons up the top to put yourself into log mode.
On your keyboard you can map PLAY FORWARD [looks like this: >, and is mapped to L on my keyboard] and PLAY REVERSE [Looks like this: <, and is mapped to J on my keyboard). Use these two keys to shuttle through the tape, using the MARK IN and MARK OUT keys on the keyboard. Remember, pressing PLAY and PLAY REVERSE multiple times will speed up how fast you roll through the tape. Mark your in, mark your out, and it should be ready for you to just type in the name of your clip. If it isn't, hit TAB a few times until you're in the box to name your clip. Name it, then hit F4. This will log the clip into your selected bin. Now, you can have your Avid set to then go to that bin for naming, or you can have it set to stay on the CAPTURE window. If you have set to stay in the CAPTURE window, you're ready to keep shuttling, marking INs and OUTs, naming, then F4 to log them. Voila! You are now logging clips without even touching the mouse. If your Avid keeps throughing into the bin after logging, however, change your settings. I can't remember what the setting is or where it's at--I'll check tomorrow if you need to know it. When the tape is through, select offline items, Batch Digitize and take a well earned break. Let me know if this works, and I'll test it again tomorrow at work to make sure I'm accurate. Michael.
-
When you render, go to your Make Movie render queue and click on the output module. At the bottom of your options is Audio. Be sure the Audio box is checked. It’s easy to forget to do this. I’ve rendered countless animations only the discover after the fact that I forgot to enable the audio. Pretty discouraging after a multi-hour render.
Hope this works.
Michael.
-
Check out the link below where the person is asking for an opinion about a Century Fisheye Lens. Mark Von Lanken posted a reply with a link to a demo of a wedding he shot. It’s probably the most beautiful wedding video I’ve seen. You may be able to find some inspiration/ideas for there. I’d give you some more pointers, but I’ve never shot a wedding video (they scare me to death). Hope this helps some.
Michael.
-
If you’re looking for explanations about different AE effects, always search the Cow, or click on the Tutorial link at the top left of the page. It’s helped me countless times. A quick search under the Tutorial link, then clicking on Host Application, then clicking on Adobe After Effects will give you the following link:
Hopefully this can shed some light. I’ve tried the Shatter effect a few times and been very frustrated by it, and I still have no good idea how it works. Luckily, though, when I needed it the Cow led safely me back to the barn. 🙂 Hope this helps.
Michael.