Mike Zimbard
Forum Replies Created
-
Yea those tape tube environment look pretty awful. A 3D application would probably do a better job at something like this than trying to use AE, but that may not be an option for you. As Michael suggests definitely make sure all your texture sources are legitimate, but you can also check out https://www.virtualsetworks.com/ which should give you some higher quality pre-made environments. Good luck!
-
-
I’ve had this issue before and used animated masks to get rid of the parts that are intersecting. I’m not sure if that’s an option for you here, and obviously with a lot of layers it can be tedious, but it is a way of cleaning up these little imperfections between the 3D layers. You can try breaking AEs 3D space with an adjustment layer, but I think that will just give you the feeling of 2 overlapped 3D layers and instead of “cutting something off” which I think is what you’re after. Good luck.
– Mike
-
I remember digitaljuice.com showing at NAB years ago. Had all kinds of lower thirds, animations, etc for all different themes. Good luck!
-
Mocha is a terrific package, but just keep in mind that it’s not match-moving software. It can track perspective, scale, and rotation, but will not solve for a camera. So if you’re looking for true 3D tracking on a budget you’re better off going with Syntheyes, PfHoe or The Foundry’s new CameraTracker which plugs right into CS5!
-
I am a very big fan of practical effects wherever possible because sometimes there’s no substitute for the real thing and no matter how much you tweak it’s still not going to look “real.” I’d suggest using the camera techniques you’re describing and make sure you shoot at 60i since everything was interlaced video back then. Wardrobe, props, etc all will play a part as well to make it look properly dated. That will give you the right frame rate and look but it won’t feel old and crappy enough. As a final step I’d lay off to VHS and then recapture the footage. Should give you exactly what you want and will definitely be authentic. Good luck.
– Mike
-
Hey Joe-
One way to work offline ProRes and then online in Color with the .r3D files is to use Clipfinder (free download). You can export a Final Cut XML into clip finder and then replace your .MOV files with .R3Ds and then export a new XML to bring into Color. Good luck.
– Mike
-
Marco-
Unfortunately I cannot offer a definitive solution, but we have been experiencing this as well and like you say it is quite maddening to constantly be re-exporting files. I have some thoughts as to why this might be happening, but can’t consistently re-create the issue so it’s very difficult to pinpoint.
Our workflow is slightly different than yours. We’re using FCS 2, AE CS 4, Kona 3 card and our 3 rooms are configured in an XSAN 2.1 (4 promise raids). Our footage is coming in from RED either 2K or 4K, but everything is transcoded into ProRES HQ 2048X1152 before our Final Cut edit. For greenscreen shots we then export self-contained footage to composite in After Effects. A portion of times during that process if a shot has been keyed and then AE is re-opened, an error will be reported saying the clip is offline and it will no longer be able to play in Quicktime. VERY frustrating. Also, similar shots seem to pose a constant issue (meaning this problem keeps happening to the same clips, whereas others are fine).
One fix has seemed to be exporting the problem clips from FCP onto a local drive (not on the SAN), opening up those files in QT Pro, then saving self-contained back to the local drive, and finally copying that file to SAN. Definitely an annoying process. Luckily we only work in short form spots so none of these clips are too long, but if you have clips of any length I would think this would really start adding a lot of time to your workflow.
A couple of things have changed in our workflow in the past few months and that’s when this problem arose. We formerly used to capture from HDCAM tape and work 1920×1080 ProRes HQ in FCS 2 and AE CS3. Around the time we switched to AE CS4 is also when we started receiving RED footage consistently so there are two new variables in play. Now in CS4 our new frame size from pro RES is 2048×1152. My thought is that maybe that frame size could be causing some kind of quicktime corruption. Marco – what frame size are you working in?? Is it “non-standard?” Also, CS4 is the other variable, but as Dave was saying I usually find AE to rarely be a culprit with these kinds of issues. But it’s so bizarre, I can’t rule anything out.
Furthermore, it shouldn’t be XSAN related because we’ve been on 2.1 since last June with no issues. However, after installing CS4 and working with these larger frame sizes, this problem has appeared to crop up more when one artist is working in Final Cut and another artist is receiving exported shots for AE compositing. Permissions issues?? All of our permissions from the XSAN are read/write for the 3 stations and our engineers have verified this.
So this problem us scratching our heads as much as you. If anyone can offer some thoughts it would be hugely appreciated. Thanks!
– Mike
-
Very cool indeed. Will need to try that one out. Great find!
-
That conversion plug-in is now part of FCP. Set your Kona FCP easy setup to be 59.94 Varicam DVCPROHD. After your clip is captured, click on it and then select “Tools>DVCPROHD Frame Rate Conversion….” From there you can pick the frame rate you would like to turn the clip into. Hope this helps.