[Simon Bonner]

Just import the original AE project file into your new project as if it were a regular footage item. It will appear in the project window as a new folder. Go in there, delete what you don’t want and keep what you do. Job done.

Simon Bonner

youtube.com/simonsaysfx

[Simon Bonner]

Hi Rudy,

AE is not intended for playing back footage and audio in real time like an editing programme, so you will always have to wait for things to ‘load’ whenever you ram preview.

However, the speed of this loading is hugely affected by the type of video. Bigger videos (larger frame size) will take longer. But compressed video will also take longer. This is because compressed videos don’t contain ‘full frames’, only the data needed for players / programmes to ‘rebuild’ all frames. This rebuilding takes time, hence why compressed video takes longer to load.

Best to stick to uncompressed. You can always work at half resolution.

Simon Bonner

youtube.com/simonsaysfx

[Simon Bonner]

Yes, yes you will.

Simon Bonner

youtube.com/simonsaysfx

[Simon Bonner]

Alternatively, if you want to go for the American (i.e. garish) look, try this free download from videocopilot.net

https://www.videocopilot.net/blog/2008/07/breaking-free-news-templates/

Simon Bonner

youtube.com/simonsaysfx

[Simon Bonner]

Hi again, Chris

As you say, if you have 720×480 and the comp settings say 16:9 anamorphic, then whatever it looks like in AE you will be rendering out the exact format you need to get a 16:9 DVD. I don’t know why Squeeze isn’t recognising the format of your video, but I have had problems like this before myself (Premiere thinking my videos are 4:3 when I know they are 16:9 – I just have to set them up manually). Perhaps it is something to do with using an older version of AE? Not sure. I have only been using it since AE7.

Anyway, you could always leave squeeze out of the equation and let your DVD authoring software compress for you. When I use Encore it always gets the interpretation right.

Simon Bonner

youtube.com/simonsaysfx

[Simon Bonner]

I would add a new comp-sized adjustment layer then lock the footage layers below. Ram preview the whole shot. That way you’re not having to load each frame continuously as you rotoscope. Then draw a mask on the adj layer and animate it frame by frame (well, do 10 frame intervals then fill in the gaps where necessary, to cut down on the number of keyframes you need). When you’re done you can copy the mask to the footage layer, or maybe use the adj layer as a track matte for the text.

I wrote this quickly so apologies if it doesn’t make sense – or work!

Simon Bonner

youtube.com/simonsaysfx

[Simon Bonner]

Hi Chris,

You don’t want to use square pixels, stretch or anything like that. NTSC DVDs can only use 720 x 480 pixels, and if you use square pixels you will have more pixels than the dvd can cope with.

The way you get the proper 16:9 is by different sized pixels to standard 4:3, but the NUMBER of pixels is the same.

If you set your comp to NTSC widescreen NON-square pixels, you will have done everything you need to in order to make sure it will work as a 16:9 video on a DVD.

NOTE: It might initially look squashed in AE because the programme by default shows everything on screen in square pixels, but if you toggle the button in the bottom right of the composition panel (hover over them one by one and you’ll find the one you’re looking for), you can correct the view to 16:9 so you can see what you’ll expect to see on the DVD.

ALSO NOTE: Rendering this format as QT and opening it in QT player will give a video that still looks squashed because the player doesn’t automatically recognise that the pixels should be displayed in non-square format. Don’t worry – your DVD software will get it right.

Simon Bonner

youtube.com/simonsaysfx

[Simon Bonner]

Hi Craig,

If you just want random bobbing motion you should use a wiggle expression. It’s the easiest expression there is and a good place to start learning. You just alt+click the stopwatch for the property you want to animate (position) and type into the box:

wiggle(5,10)

This will make the layer move by 10 pixels 5 times a second.

If you would like to move the clouds only in the vertical, you’ll need to use a very slightly more complicated expression. But I explain how to do that in this video tutorial:

Simon Bonner

youtube.com/simonsaysfx

[Simon Bonner]

Christian,

Did your movie stutter when you played it in AE? Could be because it is not playing in real time. If it stuttered once you had rendered it out using an uncompressed codec, this could just be because your computer is too slow to play this kind of video. It is not unusual for really high spec machines to have problems playing back uncompressed HD that are fine once they’re compressed for delivery.

Maybe you could try rendering a test copy as a compressed h.264 QT movie and see if the stuttering is still there.

Simon Bonner

youtube.com/simonsaysfx

[Simon Bonner]

Hi Paul.

If you just want the static frame to last longer, you don’t need to use time stretch at all. Just hit ctrl+k to open up the comp setting dialogue then set the comp to be longer. Hit OK. Then, back in the comp, extend the length of the logo (and any other layers it’s composited over) to the end of the comp.

Simon Bonner

youtube.com/simonsaysfx