[Michael North]

Yea … as it turned out:
A couple of days ago, I did -just that- in AfterEffects with an extremely large 360
that was too big for even Photoshop.
I thought for sure that I would get seams that would prove impossible to work around.
But … to my surprise … I was able to piece them (and keep them) perfectly together.
So … today I went back to the Motion Project I’d been testing with and split the panorama, that Motion had been objecting about, into three pieces of 4000px. And sure enough, I was also able to put them back together seamlessly …
The output looks great.

The more time I spend in Motion the more I like it …
I’m starting to feel at home with the “Way” of the program.
But I’m also starting to get the feeling that it really wants about 20 gigs of ram :o)

Thanks for the reply

[Michael North]

Here is the exact quote from the dialog box:

“This media is too large to render at full resolution, and will be shown at a lower quality.
The maximum size is 4096×4096”

The project itself will output at 1920×1080.
I only need that much of the back drop showing, at any one time.

I’m I miss reading this dialog box?
Can I get the full resolution (all the detail) of my panorama when I move the camera across it?

I’m running a three way test right now with Motion vs Aftereffects vs Lightwave.
Lightwave seems to be kicking everyones butt … but
It’s a -bunch- of extra steps, files and rendering time.

Motion is totally new to me … so
I’m mostly thrashing around on it. Can’t seem to get a camera-target.
And the perspective view seem to only give me -one- perspective

AfterEffects is an old friend … but I’ve never used the
camera for 3D effects and can’t seem to get a perspective view at all.

What I’m doing is very very simple.
I just want to move a 1920×1080 window/viewpoint
around a very large (16000×3000) panorama …
But I need to squeeze every last bit of detail out of the large Photoshop file …

OK … I got that off my chest … back to testing 🙂

Thanks

[Michael North]

I was looking at both sets of eight indicators that Activity Monitor gives you.
And ALL of them were up about a third.
But … if I remember right, I was looking at them when FCP was exporting via quicktime compression.
So … Maybe they were reacting to the QT algorithms …

It seems kinda nuts that a program like Motion is pissing away the opportunity to use those cores 🙁

[Michael North]

I’m wondering if the amount of RAM is governing factor …

The Activity Monitor shows FCP is using all eight processors …
And, it’s not using up all my RAM (6gigs)

The same footage (image sequences) in Motion, uses up all the RAM
and is only working two cores at a time.

Also:
The first week I had my Mac Pro, I was running on only 2 gigs of RAM.
And AfterEffects did not use all the cores.
As soon as I got more memory, AfterEffects jumped all over the other cores
and became a multiprocessor monster …

… so it’s got me wondering if Motion needs 10 or more gigs.
Anyone running Motion with a ton of RAM?

[Michael North]

When I saw the title of this tread
I thought it was going to focus on how to treat, message, process and cajole
standard resolution clips into looking their best when stretched to HD.

I’m thinking about upgrading to Studio 2 in a few days.
One of the things that caught my eye (watch the tutorials on the Apple site)
was the slow motion quality processing.

I was hoping that some combination of that processing power would
help enhance the stretching of standard clips into the realm of 1920×1080.

Anyone have a favorite recipe using Motion/FCP ?

Thanks

[Michael North]

[Noah Kadner]Open Image Sequence in QuickTime Player and then save as self-contained movie …

What! …. please tell me that Motion doesn’t have issues with image sequences …!!

I’m thinking about buying Studio 2 in the next few days.
But … I need the combination of Motion and FCP to deal with
large image sequences (7000) frames. As many as eight of them at a time.

To convert to a quicktime movie first is unworkable.
The conversion time, drive space and additional step would severely hamper work flow.

I’m on the fence right now between updating to CS3 or getting Studio 2. I can’t do both and I’ve been leaning towards Studio. But it’s got to deal with image sequences “somewhere close to” as quick and painless as AfterEffects …

Does it?

I don’t need to do a lot with them, once I get them in the timeline.
Right now, I’m using a Trial of AfterEffects CS3 and it’s dealing with the image sequences quite easily.
But I was looking forward to playing with the other goodies in Studio 2.

Is anyone using the FCP/Motion combination for compositing?

Thanks

[Michael North]

You right! …. my bad
I -am- thinking in terms of Studio 2 vs AfterEffects.
I should have titled the post that way.

In fact, all I really wanted to know was that FCP/Motion
wouldn’t make me wait after every import …

Yes … I set up the Image Sequences as one frame per frame 🙂 in FCExpress.
After FCE does its song and dance upon import
it composites fine …
Except of corse there’s a small issue with 1920×1080 size frames.

From the training videos on the Apple site it “appears” that Motion
would deal with image sequences well …
And in combination with FCP would make a good tag team.

Aside from the size of the image sequences, my compositing needs
are not -that- demanding. As long as FCP doesn’t coke on the files like FC-E
the available effects should be more that enough. And when you throw in Motion,
and the rest of Studio 2, I think it would be a bigger bang for the buck.

And … I -do- have to edit video as well; mostly in preparation for use on cards within Lightwave.

You’re right … neither FCP or Motion are sold as compositing programs.
Apples compositor would be … Shake … right?
I hung out with the Shake demo and hated everything about it 🙂

I’m not a new to AfterEffects. I just have an old version (6.5)
that doesn’t run well on that Mac Pro.
So my choice is to upgrade to CS3 first.
Or … upgrade to Studio 2 first.

I’m I correct to assume that FCP can deal with ACVHD?
iMovie deals with it on a Device level … but … this is perhaps better left for a different post.
… after I do a little bit of searching on this great form.

Thanks Walter … for your informed replies …

Michael North

[Michael North]

Thanks for the response.

It seems to me that there’s a huge overlap.
Especially if you add Motion 3 to the Mix.

I would love to have them both … but that’s not feasible right now.

It’s the delay after importing that I’m experiencing with FCExpress
that has me hesitant about going to FCP instead of AF …

I’m not totally sure what that delay is about
and weather or not FCP/Motion has it too.
-That’s- what I’m hopping to find out here …

I need to bring in seven or eight tracks of Image Sequences,
in 1920×1080 targa format from Lightwave; each about 7000 frames.

Aftereffects can do it with out breaking a sweat.
FCExpress can to it, if I take a lot of coffee breaks 🙂

It seems like FCP/Motion should be able to do it
unless they too go off to “conversion limbo” every time I import something big.

Motion -is- a compositing program … right?
And FCP can deal in multilayer tracks with alpha channels … right?

It seems like the combination of those two programs
should let me do anything that AE can do, with in reason.

That’s -IF- they don’t make me wait while they convert everything I import
into “intermediate Codec” or something …

Help 🙂

[Michael North]

Thanks!
I was able to put the markers to work right away!
Just a few here and there made all the differance …
As for pre-comping;
I really don’t want to work that way : )
I have enough “compartments” as it is.
If fact, the reseason I have so many layers
is that I’m De-preComping : )
The markers are making it do-able.
Thanks again