[Perry Sheppard]

I took another look at the code you provided and I think I understand how it’s working. I added the start and end times for the specific text item because I need to stagger the three animations for the three text layers, but they all have the same out time. I’ll sort that out once I have an understanding of the base code you provided.

I took a stab at modifying the code you provided, so it doesn’t rely on keyframes, but I know I haven’t gotten this right. I think I’m misunderstanding the valueAtTime, how to declare a time value, and how to declare a value and reference it at a specific time.

slideStart = comp("Master").layer("SlideContent2.csv")("Data")("Outline")("SlideStart")("SlideStart 0");
startTimeText = comp("Master").layer("SlideContent2.csv")("Data")("Outline")("Text1Start")("Text1Start 0");
endTimeText = comp("Master").layer("SlideContent2.csv")("Data")("Outline")("Text1End")("Text1End 0");
slideEnd = comp("Master").layer("SlideContent2.csv")("Data")("Outline")("SlideEnd")("SlideEnd 0");

slideOn = slideStart
slideIn = startTimeText + 2
slideOut = slideOff - 2
slideOff = slideEnd

move_in_duration = slideIn - slideOn; //could also set this as a number for the transition length
move_out_duration = slideOff - slideOut; //could also set this as a number for the transition length

if (time < slideStart + move_in_duration) { //
valueAtTime(time + slideOn - slideStart);

} else if (time < slideEnd - move_out_duration) {
slideIn; // hold at key 2

} else {
valueAtTime(time + slideOut - (slideEnd - move_out_duration))
}

[Perry Sheppard]

Thanks Filip. Given what you’ve said, and that I only have one layer animator with keyframes, I suspect I’d be better off writing an expression to set the values using expressions without the need for keyframes.

Is there an example where I could set values at specific times like I would using a linear expression, but that would work with four points on the layer instead of just two?

This would be:
1. Start time of the layer and its value
2. In time of the layer and its value
3. Out time of the layer and its value
4. Off time of the layer and its value

Thanks again. I cannot tell you how much I’ve benefited from the shared knowledge available here. It’s much appreciated.

Best,
Perry

[Perry Sheppard]

I’m really new to writing expressions (about a month in), but I’m working with the same kind of setup. I’m sure there are better ways to do this, and keep in mind I’ve only been doing this for a month, but I’ve set my project up, so:

1. I use master layers that exist outside of the comp you want to duplicate to drive properties that you want to be shared.
2. Any references inside of the comp to be duplicated should be specific to that comp with relative references (thisComp.layer…). See #4 below for a note on this.
3. Any references outside of the comp (like to a master layer) are absolute (comp(“Master”).layer…)
4. Your comps to be duplicated should use a dynamic variable for references (honestly, I don’t even know if that’s the correct term). I’ve been using ‘thisComp.name’ to append my references. So, comp ‘0’ has a ‘0’ appended to the end, comp ‘1’ has a ‘1’ appended to the end, etc. You can also use index numbers if the slide comps end up as layers in a master comp.

Here’s an example of the code I’m using to dynamically change the references to rows in a csv file:

myTextLayer1 = comp("Master").layer("SlideContent2.csv")("Data")("Outline")("FinalText1")("FinalText1" + " " + thisComp.name);

This says: myTextLayer1 has the content of what is in the ‘Master’ comp, on the layer ‘SlideContent2.csv’, in the data of the csv, in the column of the csv ‘FinalText1’ and row ‘FinalText1 ‘the name of this comp’.

So, for comp ‘0’, the data returned from the csv is row ‘0’, for comp ‘1’, the data returned is row ‘1’, etc.

Again, I’m really new at this (and coding), so there may be more efficient ways to do this, but this one is working for me.

[Perry Sheppard]

For code reference, see below. I was planning to add 4 keyframes to the relevant layers/sub-properties where necessary and use the code below. I know this doesn’t work (valueAtTime is the wrong parameter to use for this), but thought I’d include it in case it clarifies what I’m trying to accomplish.

keyAnimationStart = 1;
keyAnimationIn = 2;
keyAnimationOut = 3;
keyAnimationEnd = 4;

startTimeText = comp("Master").layer("SlideContent2.csv")("Data")("Outline")("Text1Start")("Text1Start 0"); //only need to change these values
endTimeText = comp("Master").layer("SlideContent2.csv")("Data")("Outline")("Text1End")("Text1End 0"); //only need to change these values
slideStart = comp("Master").layer("SlideContent2.csv")("Data")("Outline")("SlideStart")("SlideStart 0"); //only need to change these values
slideEnd = comp("Master").layer("SlideContent2.csv")("Data")("Outline")("SlideEnd")("SlideEnd 0"); //only need to change these values

myAnimationStart = startTimeText;
myAnimationIn = startTimeText + valueAtTime(key(keyAnimationIn).time);
myAnimationOut = slideEnd - valueAtTime(key(keyAnimationEnd).time) - valueAtTime(key(keyAnimationOut).time);
myAnimationEnd = slideEnd;

valueAtTime(key(keyAnimationStart).time + myAnimationStart);
valueAtTime(key(keyAnimationIn).time + myAnimationIn);
valueAtTime(key(keyAnimationOut).time == myAnimationOut);
valueAtTime(key(keyAnimationEnd).time == myAnimationEnd);

[Perry Sheppard]

Found a post yesterday that suggests that AME 4.2.x has auto-enabled ‘Frame Blending’. So, anytime your input frame rate is different than your output frame rate Frame Blending turns on and slows everything to a crawl.

I ran a quick test and a 2.5 hour render dropped to 0.5 hour when I changed the frame rate to ‘same as source’. Unfortunately, there’s no way to turn Frame Blending off.

So, if Adobe is listening, I’d like to make a simple request for a ‘Frame Blending’ enable/disable checkbox in AME.

[Perry Sheppard]

I think I’ve tracked this down to be a problem with Media Encoder CS4 update 4.2 (which was part of a standard update release from Adobe). Based on the tests I’ve done, it impacts Flash .f4v encoding, but not MPEG or standard .mov encoding (I don’t have time to test every encoding set). I’ve concluded that it’s a Media Encoder/Flash problem (technically I didn’t test enough to say this with certainty, but I’m fairly confident it’s the case). On our test machines, a 1 hour encode increased to 9 hours on the same file after the 4.2 update was installed (using .f4v encoding).

Media Encoder CS4 4.1.0.107 is reasonably stable and does not introduce the extended render time problem so we uninstalled all Adobe products, used the CS4 cleanup utility (available at Adobe’s website), then reinstalled clean. Turned off automatic updates, updated everything except Media Encoder, tracked down the appropriate updates to get us to Media Encoder 4.1.0.107 and installed them manually. Problem fixed.

Great right? Not really. Getting a clean install is really painful (just try it) and takes a lot of time; if you get it wrong, you have to start from scratch. So, my new MacPro Desktop 16 core 8gb machine automatically updated the other day and now renders slower than an iMac 2.66.

I contacted Adobe almost 3 months ago about this problem. They have yet to call back even after harassing them repeatedly. I even offered to help test and troubleshoot with them since we had one computer down and two identical systems running properly. No luck. I couldn’t recommend Adobe products now with any confidence.

Also: the XMP fix mentioned above has no impact on my render times.

Of interest: After Effects CS4 (fully updated) renders .f4v at approximately twice the speed as Media Encoder CS4 (fully updated) on the tests I’ve run. It’s still too slow (less than real-time) but better. Oddly, the identical settings in these two apps created two f4v files of different sizes (the After Effects file was about 10% larger).