[Simon Bonner]

How about if you animate the brightness of the smoke layer right up to maximum after it reveals the text? So the layer gradually becomes completely white?

Simon

[Simon Bonner]

Better still, parent the camera to a null object, make the null into a 3d layer, and move the null to move the camera. This is easier than moving the camera itself because the view of a camera is defined both by its position and point of interest properties. I know this might sound like I’m making it more difficult than it needs to be (adding an unnecessary layer!) but trust me, it is much more efficient.

Anyway, Andrew Kramer has a tutorial on how to do flyby titles, so maybe you could check that out: https://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials.html?id=26

Some of his other titling tutorials talk more about parenting cameras to nulls etc.

Simon

[Simon Bonner]

Hi Jiri,

Try adding your levels to an adjustment layer and drawing the mask onto that. Then track the footage, add the track data to a null, and parent the adjustment layer to the null. I think this works…

Simon

[Simon Bonner]

This is a pretty general question! Why not just take a lot at the product descriptions at Adobe and Sony?

I can say that Premiere is what I do my editing in and it is fine for that purpose. You can add titles and animate them across the screen, and also animate pictures and footage. For more advanced effects, you’ll want After Effects.

[Simon Bonner]

You could nest your original comp into a new comp with the correct settings, then right click on the precomp in the composition panel, select transform from the pop up menu and choose to fit the layer to the composition width (or height, whatever looks best). This will alter the scale property of the layer. You can manually alter the scale, but this way ensures you get it just right.

Simon

[Simon Bonner]

Hi Oliver,

When I have blending mode issues, I just export my menu comp (minus subpictures) from AE as a jpeg (or a movie if it has motion elements) and set it as a bg to the menu in encore. The menu in encore would be a psd of the same comp from AE but with only the subpicture elements.

Hope this works for you too.

Simon

[Simon Bonner]

Excellent, glad to hear there’s a solution. The footage looks good – if you’re not happy with the flash, try using the one provided by Ryan Wieber at ryan-w.com (if you’re not already – hard to tell!) I’ve found it looks quite good if used at moments of maximum impact.

https://www.ryan-w.com/ryan-w/clips/flash.mov

[Simon Bonner]

I don’t know if it is technically possible to have a highlight appear beneath another layer, but there is possibly a way you can fiddle it to make it look like this is what is happening. Incorporate the button text, or whatever the button is, into the subpicture. Then put this on top of the button. When you highlight the button, you’ll actually be seeing the subpicture, and not the original button.

[Simon Bonner]

Aha… That ain’t good… Sorry, I wish I had a clue what was going on here, particularly as I will no doubt want to use the preset in CS3 myself at some point.

[Simon Bonner]

It’s no coincidence I rewatched that podcast recently to remind myself of some techniques!

I’ve been thinking that another thing that could be done – to create a ‘bad’ stop motion effect – is messing with the exposure for a frame or two every few seconds, or shifting the position of the footage by a few frames occasionally to give the impression that the camera has been budged out of place. Don’t know whether you’re going for this kind of look, but it could help to sell the effect.