[Neil Orman]

I really appreciate this guidance, Blaise! I am able to modify the captions’ aspect ratio, but can’t seem to get it to the 1080 size of my sequence. So I thought it might be the open/closed captions thing you mentioned as a possible prerequisite, but that option is greyed out. Below are screenshots of what I’m seeing. Please let me know if you or others have any additional thoughts, and thanks again.

[Neil Orman]

Yes that’s right, thanks Dave, neither ‘set to frame size’ nor ‘scale to frame size’ is working. Nothing is happening when I choose either option.

Very strange, as it always worked before, so I assume it has something to do with my recent PPro upgrade to this version. But this version has been working well in other ways.

Just let me know if you have any guidance, thanks again!

[Neil Orman]

I see it now, thanks very much Tero!

[Neil Orman]

Thank you Tero and Todd! I’m asking the event order as you advised, and will heed everything mentioned. Just one question on Todd’s point on ProRes. I don’t actually see that as an option in ‘format’ when I choose ‘export settings.’ Within PPro, how does one choose ProRes? I’m checking with the event organizer first as suggested, but just wanted to check on that, as ProRes is often cited as the best format when I’ve asked.

[Neil Orman]

Much appreciated, Warren. It’s great that it shoots 4K. Do you happen to know roughly how much that increases the file sizes for the video? Twice as much?

[Neil Orman]

Thanks Cassius. My colleague, who created the map, actually figured this out, by having me ‘save as’ by a different name, and make PDF-compatible. But now I have a new issue, in case you or anyone else knows. When I import into AE, it’s only including a small part of the map. I believe this is because of the artboard size, because this seems to be the portion that’s included in the artboard. So I’m trying to increase the artboard size, to include the whole map. But now it’s saying the artboard size can’t exceed the canvas size. So I’m trying to increase that. Just let me know if you or anyone knows how to solve that, because with that I think I’ll be good!

[Neil Orman]

Thanks Cassius. No, just one artboard. I am noticing that when I open the file (it’s a map that I didn’t create), it’s saying it cannot find a linked Photoshop file. But it still opens, within Illustrator, after asking me if I want to ignore or link to a different file. Could this be the reason AE won’t import it?

[Neil Orman]

Thanks for the quick response, Michael, and your questions! I’m interesting in everything you named, but most immediately: I work at a science nonprofit, and get called on to make a lot of science animations and videos, particular related to space and microbiology. For one space-related video, for example, I wanted to make an animation of a satellite orbiting the Earth, which I don’t know how to do in a realistic way. And for many science videos, I want to create animations from scratch (I have decent Photoshop and very basic Illustrator skills) that show a scientific process. So the most immediate need is those kinds of science animation-related skills. Other things that occur: animating slick-looking titles, both for people’s names and the openings of videos, expressions, blending modes, and, in general, I want to use 3D in more advanced ways than the limited bag of tricks I have now. But those can wait if I need to focus. But if there is a more general, exhaustive course that covers a lot of these, I’d be interested in that too. Like I said my employer is willing to pay for this, and this is a long-term need.

[Neil Orman]

Thank you very much for those tips, Vince and Mark. Vince, I am making some lights available to our social media people. So we do have that important end covered, thanks. And Mark, that Mevo camera didn’t seem a good fit for us, but I appreciated that info. I’m still struggling with this decision a bit, so just wanted to revisit this once more. Any other quick tips would be appreciated, from you guys or anyone. The main issue is I’m trying to upgrade the set-up for our Facebook Live events a bit, but also get equipment our young, non-technical social media associates can handle without help. (They operate largely independent of me (the video person at our nonprofit), and I’m just trying to help them out.) My plan now is to recommend a USB webcam, any stand or tripod necessary (rather than the boxes or stacks of books they’ve been using to raise the laptop to the right height), and some kind of simple external USB mic:
-Webcam: Since they’re nontechnical, and they run these events themselves, I’d rather avoid the need for camcorders they might struggle with or break. But I do want to give them some flexibility to do slightly wider or more distant shots (as opposed to just one person right next to their laptop). Like Vince said, that $1000 Panacast 2 camera B&H recommends seemed like overkill, and the mic choice seems more important. Would any typical $50 Logitech webcam be sufficient, or is there anything in-between that would help the video side (and hopefully be a lot closer to $50 than $1000.) And it’s fine if any standard webcam is sufficient, and it’s just a matter of mounting or positioning it somehow.
-Webcam stand/tripod: Any quick suggestions here? As I haven’t dealt much with social media events, I’ve never encountered the need to position webcams like this. Like I said, when they’ve needed to adjust the height of the shot previously, they’ve used boxes or books to raise their laptops.
-Mic: A B&H rep said the BlueYeti USB mic ($130) would be a good choice, and emphasized things like its varied polar patterns. I believe the Blue Icicle Vince mentioned is to allow typical, XLR mics to connect to a PC, so perhaps that’s better or just as good. But I wanted to see if people thought pairing a webcam, on a stand/tripod, with the Blue Yeti mic would support slightly more varied or small group events?

[Neil Orman]

Thanks Greg. I work for a nonprofit that typically won’t spend on things like this, but I’ll keep that in mind and appreciate the advice.

Best,
Neil