Rhett Robinson
3
AE Expressions Coins
3
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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Hi Brian,
I’ve personally learned to work Maya the best, because of the “personal learning addition” (free) version. There are disadvantges, because the projects you make with the PLE will not open in the full version. After using it for a while, I *really* like the way Maya feels, but there may be changes on the horizon, as Alias and Autodesk are coming together I think, so Maya and 3DS may become merged, or something.I’ve surveyed most, and I think the most bang for the buck is Cinema 4D. It opens/exports more formats than almost anything, and seems to include a lot more goodies for a whole lot less money than most of the others (like solvers, particle add-ons, etc.). I’ve played quite a bit in C4D as well, and was impressed with the user following/ready tutorials on the net, and it’s ability to work with other file types.
It looks like they have a demo, but I’m not sure how full-featured it is. The Maya PLE is pretty complete, but doesn’t include things like fluids.
https://www.maxon.net/
https://www.alias.com/eng/index.shtml(yep – it’s already part of AutoDesk…)
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I’d really like to see some layer cycling work. I’ve made a few things “grow”, which is the effect I’m most interested in, so maybe what I need the most are tips on how to speed up that process in Illustrator. Illustrator is actually a strong suit for me, but the way I’ve been doing it is definitely a slow process.
I’d like to see more layer map using video; there was a nice piece that was a theatre-style tv with layer maps all over, which really helped, but I’m still clueless as to an original composition.
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Whoops! Hi again Steve, I didn’t see much info in your profile, but did a search, and realized your standing with Adobe! Admittedly, I was hoping that a few changes to the AE file would allow me to open it with 6.5 (like Pagemaker 7, and 6.5) , but I’m pretty sure you’d know!
Thanks,
Rhett -
Hi Steve,
Thanks for your response! I know a lot of changes were made to AE aside from the interface (from Mylenium’s review). Would you be willing to send me a file?
Thanks,
Rhett -
Hey Colin,
Thanks for the quick response! I modified my comp by putting in 10 .eps files that I resized in Illustrator (to continuously rasterize as they get bigger), lined them up in a dock-like fashion, pasted the expression on the scale of each (I couldn’t find a way to do that all at once), and it worked beautifully! That’s a cool one that I’ll definitely use again! I tried a couple of other variations as well, changing the scale factor etc. I was toying with trying to have a little more “easy-ease” look to the scale, but had little success. Anyway, regardless, like I said, this is really good to me, and I appreciate your help!
Rhett -
Hey Colin,
Thanks for the quick response! I modified my comp by putting in 10 .eps files that I resized in Illustrator (to continuously rasterize as they get bigger), lined them up in a dock-like fashion, pasted the expression on the scale of each (I couldn’t find a way to do that all at once), and it worked beautifully! That’s a cool one that I’ll definitely use again! I tried a couple of other variations as well, changing the scale factor etc. I was toying with trying to have a little more “easy-ease” look to the scale, but had little success. Anyway, regardless, like I said, this is really good to me, and I appreciate your help!
Rhett -
Hi Colin,
Realize I’m getting in the middle of this, but I usually try to work and understand most of the projects on the boards. Part of the problem is I guess I don’t know what effect I’m working to achieve, so…Anyway, just from guessing, I set up a 5 second 640X480 comp, then put a photo on one layer, and applied the expression youd posted to the scale. It complained, so I made a 50X50 solid layer above just named “mouse layer”. The expression still complains, saying the results need to be of dimension 2, not 1. I reread your instructions several times, saying to pickwhip the layer for the mouse layer, but I guess I’m still not getting it… any suggestions, or perhaps even a link or desription to the effect?
Thanks in advance for your help, and I greatly appreciate you posting expressions. Although I’ve generated a few of my own, I typically modify ones I’ve seen that are cool, or simply use the pickwhip with the “built-ins”, as I’m definitely a student, and not a master!
Rhett -
Hi Colin,
Realize I’m getting in the middle of this, but I usually try to work and understand most of the projects on the boards. Part of the problem is I guess I don’t know what effect I’m working to achieve, so…Anyway, just from guessing, I set up a 5 second 640X480 comp, then put a photo on one layer, and applied the expression youd posted to the scale. It complained, so I made a 50X50 solid layer above just named “mouse layer”. The expression still complains, saying the results need to be of dimension 2, not 1. I reread your instructions several times, saying to pickwhip the layer for the mouse layer, but I guess I’m still not getting it… any suggestions, or perhaps even a link or desription to the effect?
Thanks in advance for your help, and I greatly appreciate you posting expressions. Although I’ve generated a few of my own, I typically modify ones I’ve seen that are cool, or simply use the pickwhip with the “built-ins”, as I’m definitely a student, and not a master!
Rhett -
To be honest, Although I liked the faster previews by sharing 2 other machines on a gigabit hub, I found Gridiron to be too problematic for daily use, and just use the good old fashioned (but extremely powerful) multiple machine render. I found Gridiron did speed up rendering, because AE does not have to re-render the “green areas” that it’s created a preview for
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Hi Kim,
In my opinion, the TMPG converter from PegasysIs by far the best choice. PC only, but If you crank up the quality, you’ll be pleased. You get 2 weeks to try out the MPEG2 for free, but the MPG1 Encoder is unlimited.
I also use the HUFFYUV codec, which is lossless, as the intermediate. I used to use a program called Videoserver that would allow AE to act like a frameserver, and skip the intermediate step of creating an AVI or MOV file, but I can’t get it to work now that Adove adopted the mainconcept encoder. I’ve found the Mainconcept output to be of substantially reduced quality, even when set to DVD settings.
Rhett