[Roland R. kahlenberg]

Check to ensure that you have the latest updates for AE 5.5. Try rendering again. If it fails then try rendering a comp from another AEP. Next step would be to reset preferences – hit Ctrl+Alt+Shift while AE is initializing – wait for a prompt to confirm deletion of the Prefs File.

If these steps fail, then report back.

HTH
RoRK

Intensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations

Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects CS6 ACE/ACI

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

You need two thingies –
1) an outline that defines the edge – sorta like a stroke effect around just the edge of the area. You will need this layer to have an Alpha Channel to define the transparent and opaque areas.

2) the layer in (1) has to be a 3D layer or Particular to use it as a Layer Emitter.

Particular’s Help Doc which is accessible via its Options hyperlink (Effect Controls Panel) provides other relevant information on the topic.

HTH
RoRK

Intensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations

Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects CS6 ACE/ACI

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

A Shape Layer should make this easy. Simply draw your path with the Pen Tool. Switch off the Fill property and adjust Stroke Width and its other properties to suit your needs. Shape Layers are Continuously Rasterized – no issues with pixelation when you zoom into it.

HTH
RoRK

Intensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations

Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects CS6 ACE/ACI

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

Well said Darby. You took the springs right out of my keyboard. 🙂

Cheers
RoRK

Intensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations

Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects CS6 ACE/ACI

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

Try posting this in the COW’s AE Expressions Forum -> https://forums.creativecow.net/adobe_after_effects_expressions

You will do well to provide URLs with info on the subject matter.

HTH
RoRK

Intensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations

Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects CS6 ACE/ACI

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

[Daniel Crooks] “for testing create a precomp with a piece of footage in it. Bring that into another comp and apply Warp VFX. now go back to the precomp and apply a mask to the footage. Come back to warp comp and view channels as “Straight RGB”, then turn off the Warp effect and you’ll see what i mean…”

Hi Daniel, apologies for not being able to understand/appreciate your issue but my immediate thoughts are that you should commit to the masking prior to applying WS VFX. Your workflow requires the mask to be applied prior to nesting+WS VFX.

I see no rationale, in fact it’s wrong to WS in a higher level comp and then to go back down to the precomp to apply a mask/matte as either one of these affects the pixels that will be used by the WS algorithm. However, I don’t see how such an unwanted workflow will disaffect an inherent Alpha Channel.

Further, I can’t see any issue with what you’ve described, albeit briefly, it all seems like what one would expect with a Straight Alpha. I am also curious as to why you would require WS with footage that contains an Alpha Channel – this is exactly the step where I thought you could re-work your workflow, ie, apply WS followed by some CG to create the Alpha Channel.

Perhaps it’s best that you post a few embedded JPGs – an AEP would be exceptional. I’m also thinking that the issue is not with WS itself but with being able to output a Straight Alpha from AE – for output to an online suite. If so, I’ve passed this ages ago and the solution is beyond my existing memory’s capacity. Again, an AEP and/or screen caps will be good.

Cheers
RoRK

Intensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations

Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects CS6 ACE/ACI

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

It’s a strange issue indeed. Are you working with 3D layers? If so, set each layer slightly apart in z-space by 1 (or less) pixel. There are obvious issues when AE has to render layers that share the space XYZ space. If this doesn’t solve the issue then I suggest that you post the AEP here so that folks can take a look at the comp.

Cheers
RoRK

Intensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations

Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects CS6 ACE/ACI

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

AME should be ideal if you’re going to use one of Adobe’s app.

HTH
RoRK

Intensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations

Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects CS6 ACE/ACI

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

Straight RGB always produces harsh edges AFAICR. I just tried Warp Stabilzier FX (renamed accordingly in AE CC) and the inherent Alpha Channel stayed consistent with expectations – good quality.

HTH
RoRK

Intensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations

Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects CS6 ACE/ACI

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

[Doug Alvarez] “So you’re saying mask out everything in the shot but the monitors in a precomp?”

Not everything! Just the characters/objects that are moving in the scene. Objects in the distance are not an issue. It’s those that cut across the frame, close to the camera that are a huge issue.

HTH
RoRK

Intensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations

Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects CS6 ACE/ACI