Scott Frizzle
Forum Replies Created
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I agree; in most cases rotobezier masks are easier to animate. With regular bezier points, in practice you are sometimes having to move 3 points (each point on the mask along with its two control handles) for every one point that you’d have to move with rotobezier. THis can really add up on a complex mask. If you’re not having to make geometric masks, rotobezier is the way to go for sure.
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I’m not sure if this is exactly what you’re looking for, but I’ve done similar things using Digital Anarchy’s 3d Assistants. Just for one example, you could use the Matrix Creator to create a large grid of images, keyframe the position of your 300-400 layers, then use Cubic Distribution to scatter the layers in 3d space, then use the Matrix Creator to reassemble the layers. The drawbacks are that you will be managing a lot of layers in your comp, and if the images are of different sizes you will have to have the 3d Assistants scale the layers so that you don’t have gaps in your matrix. Also, the transition to your large image is going to be up to you, but I’ve done this using a simple dissolve along with tranfser modes to get the grid of pictures to eventually create one large image.
The advantage to this approach is you will maintain individual control over each and every layer, so you can switch around images should you need to, and since the images exist in a real 3d environment you will have carte blanche as far as camera moves are concerned.
Let me know if this makes sense; I’d be happy to be more detailed if need be.
-scott
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It is possible under Tiger for applications to access more than 2 gigs of RAM, but AE can’t do this yet. Apple’s Motion 2 can access more than 2 gigs of RAM under the same OS.
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I got around the problem by making the artboard huge in the illustrator file, but I”m still interested to see if this setting can be ignored by AE or turned off in Illustrator. This issue has bitten me twice now…
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One more thing: Keep in mind that even though AE can only use 2 gigs of RAM, you might want to have some left over for other apps if you have several running at once, as I often do. If you have a bunch of apps running under 2 gigs of RAM, AE will not be able to use it’s maximum.
I also recommend not buying extra RAM from Apple, as they really inflate the prices.
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I’d go for the ATI X800 XT over the Nvidia 6800 Ultra. Performance is similar, but the ATI card only takes up one slot. This was big for me, because I only had one slot available after my Decklink and 2 SATA cards.
Personally I always go for the most machine I can afford, period. I think over time you benefit more from having your main work machine be as fast as possible than having an extra render machine that only really helps for renders. Theoretically X Factor would help here, although I agree with the above post that it is not that impressive in my experience and not worth the hassle. With that in mind, you should see a fairly linear increase in render times with an increase in processor speed, so I’d compare that to the cost difference and see if the ratio justifies the extra power.
I certainly would not question the financial motivations of others, but considering what animation costs these days, if you factor the savings you’d get on a new, less capable machine versus a top of the line machine over the life of these boxes, I think the speed advantage of the top end machine would actually save you more money (time=money) in the long run. That said, you can only buy what you can afford, so there you have it; I’ve solved nothing for you ; )
Good luck!
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Jose, stay on them, I will do the same. Now that it’s clear that this is not just a fluke on a single system, they might pursue a fix, even if it’s just a matter of them letting ATI know about it.
I would reply to that message and let them know what the deal is. I will do the same and maybe that will get the ball rolling.
-scott
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Yes, Jose, I have the same setup with the same problem. Usually a restart of Cinema will fix it for a while, but it creeps back in. I ahve dome some fairly extensive testing, and I’mm 99% sure this problem is specific to C4D (MAC) and the ATI X800 XT. I reported this problem to Maxon, and they said they had not heard any other reports of it yet, and things were sort of left up in the air. Perhaps now this warrants further investigation on their part. I would recommend getting in touch with Maxon tech support; perhaps once they know this isn’t just one isolated case they will pusue a fix (or get ATI to pursue one.) I also tried ATI’s tech support, but I found it to be horrible. Their whole system seems designed to frustrate you into forgetting about your problem. Once you do get through the layers, they send you some form email that tells you to install the latest driver.
Let me know if you find anything out, and I’ll do the same.
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I don’t disagree with your assessment, but if developers like Maxon are hedging moving forward with 64 bit versions of their apps because of Apple’s 64/32 bit approach, then there is a problem; possibly just one of communication between Apple and its developers. If Apple is going to stay with this 64/32 bit approach for the forseeable future, then hopefully they are communicating this to developers like Maxon, who seem to be waiting for the other shoe to drop so they can go ahead and make a totally 64 bit app and not have to double their efforts first supporting the 64/32 bit OS and then the totally 64 bit (including GUI) OS.
The document which I quote above states “Cocoa and Carbon Application GUI frameworks are not ready for 64 bit programming.” The wording of this leads one to believe that they will be eventually. I can understand a developer hesitating in light of this.
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Gotcha.
Yes, that’s an interesting question. If it’s not terribly difficult, having access to more RAM would be a nice addition while we wait for true 64 bit support. This applies to apps like After Effects as well.
I hope we don’t have to wait until the next major revision of OS X to see true 64 bit support, but it wouldn’t surprise me…