[N. Row]

Thanks for the advice.

Why so harsh on this fixture? Curious how you became so passionate in your hate!

THanks

[N. Row]

If you had a 1000w FEL lamp what would you prefer to replace it with in the same fixture? I’ve read elsewhere that the FEL lamps are obsolete and another ANSI lamp might work better.

I’ll check out Lowel’s website.

Thanks for the information. I work in post and these lights are really for 5th unit kind of stuff and I’m getting my mind around this stuff.

[N. Row]

Not sure if this is what you are looking for, but at times we use Autodesk Maya with the Maxwell renderer for some still shots that require extreme realism.

The problem with Maxwell, however, is that a single render can take over a week on 16 processors for one, high-resolution still (10000×10000 pixels).

https://www.maxwellrender.com/

Not sure if this is what you are looking for.

[N. Row]

High Pass is a sharpening technique, but I think you are trying to racoon these faces?

Racooning is where you roto a protection mask around the eyes, eyebrows, nostrils and mouth and face shape (thus the word raccoon since this is what your masks look like). You then apply a blur to the non-detailed areas, and re-introduce a little grain afterward and possibly high-pass the protected areas. This technique can soften crows feet, bumps, blemishes, etc.

This is a pretty standard retouch technique used on older models and model/actresses, close-ups, and beauty shots of teenagers as well… No ones perfect enough for the camera it seems.

Hope this helps.

[N. Row]

You can also try the “Posterize Time” effect if you need to output a standard framerate.

[N. Row]

Looks like you used fractal noise?

Well, improving is pretty subjective. Here are some ideas I’ll toss up:

Maybe in addition to the smokiness, have a tear or rip open up as well. Using Reshape, or Mesh Warp and few matte layers to pull the rip open for the devils to emerge from.

Instead of fractal noise to generate smoke, try something with Trapcode Particular, instead.

Perhaps use a few more matted layers with transfer maths on them (Screen, overlay, multiply, etc.) Displacement Map may add something as well based upon your fractal noise.

However, I really think some particles can help sell the effect.

Looks like a fun movie! Hope this helps.

[N. Row]

Try turning off OpenGL if you have it on. I just created a similar comp with shatter and my poly in Shatter are not backface culling/inverting like yours are.

It might be an issue with your graphics card or driver software.

Hope this helps.

[N. Row]

You might be able to cobble together something like this, but it would be limited to one camera angle and would not be very flexible.

As mentioned above, the most flexible way to do this would be in a 3D package by UVing your artwork onto a flat surface and then run the surface through some deformers, like a flow or sine deformer.

However, that said, you could try using Bezier Warp (or Mesh Warp) on an over wide pre-composed comp with your flag artwork running through it horizontally. Place that comp in a conformed comp (NTSC for instance) and apply the Bezier Warp to it and play with the control handles.

You could link the various related tangents (With Bezier Warp) with expressions with offsets. This method would not allow orbiting but might set you in the right direction.

Hope this helps.

[N. Row]

CC Particle World lacks a world time parameter.

However, Trapcode Particular has precisely what you are looking for. A parameter called “Physics Time Factor”, which allows you to freeze or reverse the calculations of the simulation. You may also move the camera at will or use expressions to drive camera position from an AE Camera, etc, as well.

See this video:
https://www.trapcode.com/movies/p-bounce.mov

A great great plug-in.
https://www.trapcode.com/products_particular.html

[N. Row]

I have a little more info. They are using FCP 6.03 and the latest Quicktime 7.4.5.

They exported XDcam from their time-line using Quicktime Conversion Utility. Apparently they are cutting in XDCam EX. Not advisable to cut with GOP video…

I can only think the latest QT package is causing some issues.

Thanks for the input.