[Richard Mamary]

Thanks again Dave. I just finished replying to your last post.

“Hey, fine details are tough for video. Get used to it. Try to avoid it.”

I was prepared to hear that. And, to take the medicine.

I just figured I might as well put it out there…

Best,

Richard

[Richard Mamary]

“If this was a sequence of still images, I don’t know why you had to go to FCP before you imported the footage into AE.
I can’t think of a single good reason for it… but I always seek enlightenment.”

Thanks again Dave. All I do is seek enlightenment!
And, neither can I. Because it’s the opposite!

The sequence of stills was prepped in PS, rendered in AE, and then imported into my FCP timeline.
FCP does a lousy job with still sequences.

But then, once in FCP, there was the strobing of the line under the gurney. So I had to go back to AE to re-render it, and wanted to know if there was a solution in AE, (rather than having to go back to PS, as I have had similar, “occurences,” in the past with animated still sequences.)

I suppose in this situation, PS is probably the only reliable solution.

Now, my big issue is this moire pattern, on a horizontally striped shirt on one of the subjects in this doc. I just posted. it

[Richard Mamary]

“Also, I usually turn motion blur on for the zooms (or moves) on stills- this increases render times but eliminates the flicker.
There is no need for 300 dpi resolution for video – 72 dpi is just the same.”

Thanks Ted, I will experiment with motion blur, when I am having that trouble again, and I will use 72 dpi (ppi), from now on, in these still sequences, which will also save me a lot of file space. But, in the future…

I’m learning here, so I don’t know if it makes any difference, but the stills I am using are 300 ppi, not dpi.

Are ppi, and dpi basically the same (interchangeable?) Just one is used for printing, while the other is used for video?

“I presume this stuff is 720P, and NOT 1080P.” “Another thought: AE may have interpreted the footage improperly.”

Thanks for the all the input Dave. Yes the project is 720p. I checked the stills “interpretation,” and the fields are set to none.

However, I ended up going back in to Photoshop, and masked out the troubling area and repaired it.

I didn’t want to have to do it this way, because I was trying to find a better, more universal method, that might allow me to avoid going back to Photoshop, where I originally prepped the stills. I have had this occur before, and rather than always return to PS, I wanted to see if there was an AE solution. One less step.

Now, I have a bigger problem, and will make a new post.

Thanks again!

[Richard Mamary]

Thanks Andy for the idea.

I will read up, and try it out.

[Richard Mamary]

Thanks Andy for your reply.

To make sure I will be overly redundant with my info.
Fyi, the exported mov is then being imported into a Apple Pro Res 422, FCP timeline.

There are only four images in this group.
All of them are 300 pixels/inch

1. 3648×2736
2. 2736×3648
3. 3648×2736
4. 3648×2736

First, a screen shot of my AE composition settings.

and one of AE’s output, (Apple Pro Res 422.)

Next, my FCP project settings.

[Richard Mamary]

Matt,

Thanks again for getting back to me.
I had tried Command F9/F10, and it didn’t work.

But, Hallelujah, I found a way after everything else failed.
The projects autosave vault.

I managed to open up a version from several days ago, in which the troublesome sequence was not corrupted, and it opened up in the timeline when double clicked. And, luckily all it needed was a few minor tweaks to bring it up to date. I am lucky that I hadn’t done a lot of work since that version was autosaved.

So I am copying just that sequence to a new project, and then will copy and paste the clips within, into the main projects timeline. Wheew!

So it’s all good. Joy all around.

So, I will remove all the nested seq.’s from my main timeline and replace them with the clips within each.
Now, when I work on my separate sub-sequences, I will no longer nest them when finished, but just copy the clips inside and replace the updated versions onto the main timeline. No more nesting for me…

Thanks again for all your thoughtful input.

Best,
Richard

[Richard Mamary]

Thanks Matt,

I had previously tried copying the nest from the timeline into the browser after renaming the older sequence, but it still wouldn’t open on the timeline.

I had hope with your option. I was excited to try it. But it didn’t work.

I am noticing that when this nested sequence is copied and pasted into the browser, its icon is for a clip, not a sequence, so its actually no surprise that it only opens in the viewer. It’s like FCP forgot it was a sequence, and not a clip.

Anyway, from all my posting around, I am getting feedback that using nests this way is really, really ,not an advisable workflow. What I am getting from the feedback is if I want to edit a scene in a separate sequence fine, but then copy and paste the clips themselves, not drag the sequence into the timeline.

It’s hard learning, and doesn’t help me now. So I may have to rebuild that lost nested sequence.
In the meantime, I have to fix the project by eliminating all the separate scene sequences from my timeline, and replace them with just the clips inside each.

Hopefully I wont find others that will not open…
Thanks again for the help.
Best,
Richard
I still remain hopeful though that someone will come up with a suggestion that will work!

[Richard Mamary]

I thought maybe when I got back, 90 minutes later, there might be a reply.

But now it’s 150 minutes later and still no replies. (sigh) Usually if there’s an answer it comes quick.

Has no one had this happen to them before?

Is it ill advised to work with nested sequences the way I described?

I now have posted the same at Apples FCP discussions, and lafcpug, and no joy anywhere…

Now, I am getting worried.

[Richard Mamary]

No, I’m in NYC…

[Richard Mamary]

Hey Eric, thanks for all the help along the way.

I was away for a couple of days… Hopefully, you are still following the thread.

I did spend a bunch of hours and masked out the windows with the moire effect, (only in the first 30 secs), and put a combination of blur, contrast/brightness and selective color filters, and actually got a nice result. At least it doesn’t have all that distracting moire-ing right from the get go. It gives the viewer a little chance to drop in.
I don’t know how much more of that I will do though.

No doubt, your best friend in post, is good prep, and attention to detail in production. As you know, I had no such luxury. And so post, can only be a world of pain with improperly prepped and planned footage. You know what I mean…

I am a little confused as to the interlaced monitor comment.
Where am I watching on an interlaced monitor. My 24″ 1080p computer monitor?
I was also watching the final DVD on a 46″ 1080p Samsung. Is that also an interlaced monitor?

I am self taught at everything I do with NLE’s, AE or whatever CC I do. So I am far, far, from being able to make any kind of judgement, only guesses. But that guess is, considering how how much fluctuation there is going on with the auto aperture, and how little detail is to be found in either the dark or blown out areas, even though it would no doubt look better, there would probably be no miracles, even if I could afford pro services.

As to my options. I can’t afford any pro route, as much as I want it to be perfect. (I was looking at the Cinevision website. And, I have encoder envy! What do they charge for that? Is that one of the software encoders you mentioned could be tens of thousands?)

I will do some CC, scene to scene. as you suggest. All I know is basic stuff working with levels, saturation, B+C, etc. I am self taught working with the histogram, (though I am sure I could be better!) And, I still haven’t tackled utilizing FCS’s “Color,” yet. There may not be enough time for me to learn and use it on this project. I will get the tutorial going though.

So, I wish that I had any resources whatsoever to bring you in to have a look, and if nothing else, give me your assessment, but I have been hemorrhaging my own cash, just to work on this
.
i am very, very grateful for all the gratis help and advice you have given me thus far. As this is a labor of love, I know your helping me will result in some Karmic substantial paying work, to flow in your direction.