[Paul Rijkaard]

Darby Edelen
If you want to mix the 3 color channels in varying amounts to end up with a grayscale image then I would recommend looking at the Color Correction > Channel Mixer effect.”

Hi, yes thanks – my question relates to the specific channel mix that corresponds to the gray channel in calculations, which of course could be generated within channel mixer at some point.

has anybody seen this information published?

It otherwise renders calculations as an inaccurate art – contradicting the specificity inferred by its name

[Paul Rijkaard]

This image has a ready built mask in the blue channel.

copy the blue channel and run a curves adjustment on the new channel increasing the contrast by creating a steep curve (bring both the whites and black towards the centre of the graph.

this will start to look good, be careful not to blow the image detail out so leave some grey between the tree arms

next work over the image carefully with a soft brush set to overlay mode with a low opacity (approx 30%)with white as the foreground colour, paint over the branches – making the light areas lighter (this will not greatly effect the dark areas)

finally touch up the mask using a white paint brush set to normal.

when you have a good black/white mask with soft edges – load the selection by cmd/ctrl clicking the blue channel copy icon and back in the layers palette inverse the selection (ctrl/cmd + shift+ I) make sure the tree layer is selected and hit the make layer mask button at the bottom of the layers palette.

good luck

[Paul Rijkaard]

Ok thanks for the help

just one final question,

I am being handed the footage as 50fps 1080i Avid DNX120 codec

it has already been edited and graded on an avid system and im just doing some cover up work (although I would prefer to work on the pre-graded footage.

can you simply explain to me:

will footage shot/supplied on 50i already have fields separated?

nothing is broadcast at 50 fps, right?

thanks

Paul Richards

[Paul Rijkaard]

thanks that is very helpful

but two further questions

1. the footage is pal what comp frame rate should i use for this?
2. by deinterlacing and then interlacing will the footage noticably degrade in quality? if so can this be curbed?

thanks

Paul Richards

[Paul Rijkaard]

Hi ok here goes:

What format is your source media: DV pal (16:9 anamorphic)

What are your capture settings? DV pal anamorphic

What are your timeline settings in FCP? DV pal anamorphic

How are you exporting the footage from FCP? native uncompressed quicktime (export as quicktime)

How is your footage interpreted in AE after import? The footage appears in Project window as 720 x 576 and then shifts pixel ratio when I move it to the comp

What are your composition settings in AE? Pal D1/DV widescreen square pixel, 1024 x 576 widescreen, square pix, frame aspect ratio 16:9, 25fps, full resoltion, 11 mins duration

What are your render settings/output module in AE? I go file>export>as quicktime movie> … Settings: compression type: Animation, frame rate 25 fps, key frame every 24 frames, millions of colors +, Best quality, No sound, size: compressor native, no filters, uncheck prepare for internet streaming.

Does the rendered footage look correct when played in QT Player? What does it say in the Info palette (cmd-I)?

Rendered footage cannot usually play at full speed in QT due to size of file, it staggers, hangs etc. The info palette on a number of clips has read that the frame rate on the clip is not 25 fps, but sometimes 24.3 or 22.79, it reads as animation codec. However this file is fine when placed straight into DVD pro and burnt with a simple burn.looks great on screen.however some of the clips are noted as 25fps and these still cause problems in fcp. The problem is that the ghosting or stagger caused when playing back the footage in QT (due to less than 25fps playback) appears within the later generations of this clip

Thanks for your help, there must be a solution within this I can’t believe adobe and apple can’t be friends

[Paul Rijkaard]

Hi Steve, if you are still there or anybody else…

have had another problem with the same footage animation codec QT produced in AE. for your interest it is a chaplin-esque clown routine (images are on http://www.paulsimonrichards.co.uk)

OK so i have exported the file from AE fully rendered (11 mins long)
wanting to cut up the sequence to make edits/ showreel footage/ website footage etc.

I have tried to import this to FCP, and to avoid probs with cutting and playback I made rough cuts from the QT file in QT pro.saving the clips as separate files –

however the newly saved files contain the problematic ghosting which has been saved into the graphic of the file. so when used in FCP/color/DVDpro it appears stunted and ghosted.

the clip has captured the image of a computer up to speed.

Is this a problem with the animation codec coming from adobe to Apple applications? I am now frustrated that I have a fully rendered project which looks great as is from AE but cannot be coloured or cut in an apple application without data loss?

should I rerender the project in AE with a different codec? if I output as motion JPEG A and then work in FCP/color then export as animation is this a lossless process (not reprocessing the jpg).

thanks for your help

Paul

[Paul Rijkaard]

Hi Jon

Thanks thats very interesting

I must say I have been a loyal user of FCP for 7 years but have just today looked at downloading a trial version of premier to see if I can change my outlook

Will take a look

out of interest – do you have any ideas on this compatability problem – is it just a glitch on our systems? surely lots of users export Animation codec from AE to FCP?

[Paul Rijkaard]

thanks thats really useful,

so just finally – I then get confused when I read that if I export from FCP as quicktime this will give me the best image quality including the superwhites etc.no compression involved.

Assuming that Animation is a compressed version of quicktime can it then be true that the compressed version can deliver higher quality images but with a smaller colour range?

If exporting from AE there is no straight quicktime option? so going for an option such as animation will retain the best quality but always the colour range is clipped? as it always incurs some compression?

If an animation clip is included in a DV project and is exported as quicktime movie will this be a lower quality image when compressed to MPEG and viewed on DVD? I have done some tests and noticed image/ color shifts

Thanks for your support it really helps

Paul

[Paul Rijkaard]

thanks steve,

1st I have a full copy of AE pro so that shouldn’t be a prob

can I confirm the correct workflow from here

to export from AE as DV and forget about animation?
is this the same as exporting animation footage as DV in quicktime?

Im a little confused about codecs can you recommend any good reading for the applications of animation vs dv? or motion jpegA?

The output is currently straight to DVD and no need to play to tape but I need to firm up my workflow