[Mike Sevigny]

Hey Steve,

You can set markers on your timeline and add notes within them. Simply go to where you want the marker in your timeline, select a clip if you want it on the clip, then go to Layer>Add Marker. Now if you double click on those it will allow you to write notes. The first line in the note will appear as the name of the marker on the timeline. You can right click or drag these to manage them at any time.

I wouldn’t mind having a window with the nearest marker’s notes written in it. Anyone know of such a thing in After Effects?

Mike Sevigny

[Mike Sevigny]

you’re right, that was my mistake. I’m sitting in front of after effects now and it’s not working with an adjustment layer or solid. What I was describing was a workflow I used a while ago but now that I think about it, we had BCC’s wire removal tool which I don’t have here.

If you have your clone working on your image, you could try an expression for the position of your clone (within the plugin). Add the position of your null to the position of you clone to result in an animated clone moving with your scene.

a = effect("CC Simple Wire Removal")(1); // your current clone position
b = thisComp.layer("null_layer_name").transform.position; // the position of the null
a+b // your output

You’ll likely have to apply this to your clone source too. That wont account for the rotation but maybe that won’t be so bad to animate when the position is locked in. Or maybe someone has a math.equation they can share for rotation.

I’m sorry I might have lead you down the wrong path. I hope you’re finding solutions.

Best,
Mike Sevigny

[Mike Sevigny]

1. Under the ‘Physics’ tab you’ll find ‘gravity’, set it to a negative number, that will give you the slow rise.
2. For the quick burst use the ‘velocity’ under the ‘Emitter’ tab at the same time as ‘air resistance’ under ‘Physics’.

Mike Sevigny

[Mike Sevigny]

For sure, you can use any non linear editor to do that (Premiere/FCP). I sometimes do it right in QuickTime Pro.

You can copy and paste audio streams from one QuickTime file to another and save it as a self contained file. This way you don’t lose a generation of quality on the video.

1. On your audio Quicktime set the In and Out of what you want to copy, then go to Edit>Copy
2. In the second Quicktime (video) you can go to Window>Show Movie Properties. In here you can delete any existing audio the file may already have.
3. Now go to the beginning of the video and got to Edit>Add to Movie
4. Now save as self contained file.
5. Test to make sure your audio to the file is not just a reference to the original by renaming or moving the original audio quicktime and trying to play your new file.

You’ll likely want to do it in Premiere or FCP but the Quicktime Pro method is a neat trick when you’re in crunch time.

Note: If you’re outputing to FLV, you may want to render a Quicktime out of AE and then make your FLV together with the audio in the non linear editor.

Mike Sevigny

[Mike Sevigny]

hey Jurjen,

I’m not at all familiar with your setup but since no one replied.. I would make sure it’s not a silly error like having spaces in your destination path ‘Coffee Company’. I try to avoid this when organizing my files in case some piece of software doesn’t like it.

If you have solved it, please post the results.

Mike Sevigny

[Mike Sevigny]

My suggestion is to do it in premiere or FCP (NLE). This will automate all of your footage being tracked/stabilized. Both of them have a feature to track the center of the frame or a region of interest that you choose and stabilize the whole clip. I think that’s what you want. Otherwise you’re doing it manually in After Effects. Also I’m pretty sure there’s a version of lock & load for after effects but I don’t know if they still make it.

Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful,
Mike Sevigny

[Mike Sevigny]

Hey Ashraf

What you’re describing are practical effects. Bald cap and makeup will go a long way. If he turns his head too fast or DOF gets in the way you’ll quickly find you have a nightmare on your hands in post.

In terms of tutorials, you’re looking for face/head tracking tutorial so you can attach adjustment layers and paint to his face and head. I would be thinking track marks. Use an eyeliner pencil to put dots on his face.. but these will have to be painted out. You may actually have to matchmove his head in some cases which really ramps up the workload.

Depending on your skill level this may be out of reach. If I was supervising I would opt for makeup and only be hired for cleanup.
Not an easy task unfortunately..
Mike Sevigny

[Mike Sevigny]

Hey Amir,

The effect you’re looking for is ‘video to ascii’ to give you somewhere to start. Here’s a tutorial I found that seems to have the expression you’re looking for.
https://oldmanfoltz.com/wp/convert-video-to-ascii-art-in-after-effects/

Pretty neat… bookmark.
Mike Sevigny

[Mike Sevigny]

For the stabilizing it sounds like you need something like
NewBlue Stabilizer or Lock & Load X to batch everything right in the NLE. Check out their tutorial section and see if it’ll do what you need.

NewBlue Stabilizer
https://www.newbluefx.com/product/stabilizer

Coremelt – Lock & Load X
https://www.coremelt.com/products/lock-and-load-x.html

Mocha should have worked in after effects though. In case you still plan to run all your clips through After Effects you can do the following to batch your renders.

1. Import all your clips and drag them to the 3rd icon from the left at the bottom of your project panel (Create a new composition)

2. In the window that pops up you can choose to put all the clips into one composition and sequence them (render them out as one long video), or create a new comp for each clip (maintain the current file structure).

3. Once you’re ready to render.. Select one of the compositions in the project panel and go to Composition>Add to render queue

4. In the new panel click on the down arrow next to the yellow word ‘Lossless’, go to ‘Make Template’. In the popup window setup the render settings you want (edit button), name it and then make it the default video template.

5. In the render queue panel click on the yellow text to the right of ‘Output To:’ and select a common folder where all the files will be rendered to.

6. Now you can select all of the other Compositions at once in the project panel and add them to the Render Queue.

Render.

Good luck,
Mike Sevigny

[Mike Sevigny]

hey Niklas,

I’m not sure this will look perfect when your done with it no matter what technique you use. the motion blur will be a real pain. Here’s what I would try if I was faced with it.

1. Track the shot in mocha and attach the movement to a null object
2. Create a solid and parent it to your track, then roto the character on the solid to use it as a matte.
3. Create an adjustment layer, parent it to the null, apply wire/rig remover effect and adjust it to get rid of your grid

Some additional work to bring it all together will likely be necessary. Hopefully this is a good starting point.

Good luck!
Mike Sevigny