Rob Webster
Forum Replies Created
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Has anyone tried Serv-U? It’s software that sets up your own PC as an FTP server. You can tag only certain folders to be available to the outside world, and you can password them. If it works as promised, then you wouldn’t have to worry about having to go through a provider to set up FTP for you. I used a trial version of it a couple of years ago to get some files to my brother, and it worked like a charm, but I’m not sure how it stacks up to other options when business depends on it.
-Rob
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I like to use the Channel Mixer, under Effect->Color Correction. Just check the monochrome box at the bottom, and then you’ll only use the first three sliders to determine the amount of red, green, and blue to use for your black and white image. The combination of the three numbers should total 100, unless you want an overall brightening or darkening. The default is that red is at 100%, but that’s usually not too flattering for skin tones and tends to wash them out. I like having the reds at 20% or less, and use lots of the green. Adding too much blue tends to produce more grain in your black and white image. If you’re tweaking and you like your basic percentages, but need to give more or less overall exposure, then the fourth slider will adjust your constant and let you bring it down or ramp it up. Overall this effect may be a little more course than adjusting curves for each color channel as other methods allow you to do, but it’s usually a quick way to get very good results, better than simply desaturating.
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Try this:
Create a colored solid the size of your comp, and apply the CC BAll Action effect, found under “Simulation” in your list of effects. Plug in these numbers for the effect, and then tweak from there. For Scatter, enter 13. Make the rotation axis the Y axis. Make the twist property the Y axis. Set the twist angle to 1 X 0.0. Set the grid spacing to 18 and the ball size to 22. To get your molecule to spin, just animate the rotation (found right below the Roation Axis option).
It’s not really a double helix with the cross bars found in a true DNA strand, but it’s the look. This may at least give you a starting point to begin experimenting.
-Rob
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Some of the shots are definitely made with true 3D applications, not with AE. If you’re unfamiliar with how 3D works in AE, it does what’s called “3D postcards”, meaning, AE can place flat 2D layers in 3D space and move them around. What AE does not do is rounded 3D objects, like some of the animated people or football helmets shown in the video. The 3D Invigorator Plugin for AE is an exception – it does do true 3D as a plugin within After Effects, but it has its limitations. What you saw in the demo reel may have used After Effects for part of it, but lots of it used something else.
The train at the beginning wasn’t After Effects. The brief clip where the individual states fall into place to make a map of the US? That could have been done in After Effects, because the states are flat, 2D layers. And the closing title with the company’s name, done with 3D lettering, could have been AE because that’s the type of animation that the 3D Invigorator does well with.
-Rob
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GenArts Sapphire plugins will do exactly what you need, but they’re expensive, and certainly not worth purchasing just for the one project you’re working on. But the Sapphire Sparkles plugin is the one you’re looking for, if you have it.
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Well, I’m a bull, and I download the tutorials just to hear Bessie. Then I jsut sit and replay and replay and replay….
Seriously, your audio is great. I listen through good speakers, bad speakers, headphones, and iPod, and if you can get speech to sound that good on that many types of speakers, then you don’t have any audio problems. And as someone else noted, I’m continually amazed at the terrible audio quality of some very popular podcasts, but yours have never been a problem.
-Rob
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I hadn’t thought about that – that’s a very good option. Though I kind of like the idea of having a little camera instead of my $3600 camera. That way if I need to strap it to a helmet or wrap it in plastic for a rafting trip, I’m not risking as much. Realistically, though, after years of doing this, I haven’t had many opportunities for shots like that. But maybe I’d seek more out, too. 🙂 Next thing you know, I’ll be strapping cameras to my toy remote controlled helicopter. Thanks for the suggestion!
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Is that the same as the ZR700 in the states? It seems to be, as best I can tell. Excellent suggestion. Thanks!
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To help beat isolation, it may be possible to pull the audio into an audio editor, and EQ the audio to highlight beat frequencies and make them stronger, making it easier to get the radio waves to behave as you want. Then you can reimport your original audio later. SoundKeys is easiest, but if you don’t want to purchase that, then give AE the best audio you can – not the best sounding for the final video, but the best for extracting the data you need.
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To help beat isolation, it may be possible to pull the audio into an audio editor, and EQ the audio to highlight beat frequencies and make them stronger, making it easier to get the radio waves to behave as you want. Then you can reimport your original audio later. SoundKeys is easiest, but if you don’t want to purchase that, then give AE the best audio you can – not the best sounding for the final video, but the best for extracting the data you need.