[Rhett Robinson]

Setting a new beginning point is a good idea, especially if it sticks on certain frames. You could also try setting the time length to “custom” in the render queue setup, and prepare a number of different renders to run sequentially… a few minutes at a time. You could try with 2 in order, and if it works, you could set up all the items in the render queue and walk away… almost like a single render.

[Rhett Robinson]

Thanks XONIKZ,
Yes – I was aware of the lower-end limitations, but after reading some documentation, it appears a plugin would be able to take it, in one fell swoop, colorize, anti-alias and utilize the bit depth change. I downloaded the AE SDK after looking at a number of posts on creating a plugin for AE, but guess I’m not so interested as to buy Virtual Studio to make it happen. I’ve got a number of ways to resolve this issue, just always thought this is one of a number of possibilities. My guess it would take someone that’s scripted plugins before a very short amount of time using the TiffLib work that’s already been done. I’ll try to bug some of the locals about it!
Rhett

[Rhett Robinson]

Man – hadn’t been there in a long time! I found lots of great stuff in a hurry! – Thanks for the reminder.

[Rhett Robinson]

If you make a custom shatter map (basically just puzzle pieces), animate it in shatter as you’d like (probably no gravity, etc depending on the look you want), then precomp or put it in a second comp and reverse the time, use time remapping, etc. I’ve also done it the hard way (which wasn’t too bad), and split a photo into 30 pieces or so using a puzzle piece map to make a custom selection each time and make a separate layer in photoshop for each piece. Then, import as a composition into after effects. When all the layers are stacked, the puzzle is whole. What I liked about it was the ability to give each piece a better bevel/lighting. What I liked about shatter with a single photo was the ease with which a little depth is available. Also, with shatter, you could build it once until your’re happy, then duplicate your comp, replace the map and the photo by dragging, adjust a few settings. I bet you could burn through 30+ photos an hour, after doing the first 15 minute setup!

[Rhett Robinson]

Okay – so I’m rarin’ to go tonight, and I’m hoping there’s more to this question than meets the eye. If not, after you learn how to Z-position something, check out the tutorial on z-scale… although not a “real” 3D app, there are some things you can certainly do to help sell the illusion.

http://www.creativecow.net/articles/rabinowitz_aharon/z_scale/index.html

[Rhett Robinson]

You’ll see it again and again… there are several free 3D apps out there that will do something like this with ease (especially if you add the AE panache to it to beautify your lack of 3D experience). Blender is REALLY powerful, but it’s unlike most other 3D apps, so the knowledge is not very transferable… well, the concepts are.

Anyway, until you’re ready to make the plunge, I’d try some of the free stuff – there are lots of generous folks out there!

[Rhett Robinson]

Ooooh
I didn’t know that. I played with the demo (about 2 days out of the 30) but was getting adjusted to the interface and didn’t get any further, so I’m still in 6.5

That’s a nice addition; I may have to check it out further – thanks for the tip!

[Rhett Robinson]

Most 3rd party plugs will do what you’re expecting. There are a number of ways to do it without, that you will find here, but they are not using Fog 3D. After making fog, I saved the project in a place where I keep lots of repeatable assets (okay, so the “parts bin”), because you just need to adjust it next time. You can render it out separately too, and use it again as a video source. Usually it’s easiest to generate a couple of layers of light “clouds” that pass each other, but I bet there’s already a *great* tutorial out there on making fog. I’ve done it before, but been a long time. I don’t know where all you look, but I come here first for a quick tutorial/thread search, then work my way down the link list to find out what to do. I understand though – when you click on the “lightning” plug, you get “lightning” (convincing or not), not a screen that stares back with no response.

[Rhett Robinson]

Okay, easier to make a more realistic rope in a 3D app, but in a few moments, I made one quick comp using the “beam” plugin, precomped it and applied the “CC Bender”, adjusted the start and end to slightly outside the ends of the beam, and it was fairly convincing. If it was my project, I would probably create very simple expressions using the pickwhip to make the bender endpoints follow the beam endpoints with a little offset added, and probably add a second expression that’s sort of a “random” within a range of values for the amount of bend… a little digging on Dan’s site will get you there in a hurry.

Good luck

[Rhett Robinson]

Okay,
so not knowing how you’re doing it… the echo effect is an option, as suggested earlier, but as far as the CC Motion Blur, you need to put that effect on a precomp of your rotating blades (as opposed to in it’s original comp position) and that will work… if you’re already doing that, well…. but if not, give it a try.