Steve Roberts
Forum Replies Created
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I think drive space would be an issue, along with RAM. Why not do a rehearsal? Make comps at the expected frame sizes, take PSDs at those sizes, apply some effects, and see how many frames you can RAM preview at full res, half res. Then you’ll get an idea of how much RAM you’ll need.
Anyway, I recommend you get a bigger hard drive, and 8 GB of RAM at least. Regarding the hard drive, figure out how long the project is and how big the frame size is, and figure out how much space you’ll need, calculating all source files and renders.
But if you have the money, yes, get a new 8-core with the X1900XT and 8-16GB of RAM. If you don’t have the money, just get the extra drive space and RAM.
And consider using proxies — check the help.
Anybody else?
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How is AE interpreting the file? Maybe AE is separating fields when it shouldn’t?
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The Nvidia FX 1500 is irrelevant. Doesn’t matter. So it’s OK.
I’ve worked with DVCPROHD 720P footage on a dual G5 with 4.5 GB of RAM, no problem. But DVCPROHD is compressed — basically DV100 (not DV25, not DV50). No big deal, can use firewire drives. When I did RAM previews, I often had to preview at half res, every other frame, but it was okay. I think you shouldn’t expect to make long previews at full res, playing every frame.
Regarding the monitor, I used a Decklink SP to preview to a Sony PVM SD monitor. The Decklink card was able to scale down the footage to play on the monitor. It wasn’t pixel-per-pixel, but it was fine at the time.
Hope that helps.
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You may be able to apply time remapping. Keyframe it to skip the fifth frame, then apply a loop_out expression, replacing “cycle” with “continue” so the pattern continues through the clip. Make the graph visible to help you. You may need to change the number of keyframes in the expression, but it’s possible. I’ve done it.
You may also consider rendering to a sequence, then deleting every fifth image in the finder/windows explorer. That’s not as hard as it seems — try arranging the list so the fifth, tenth, fifteenth (etc.) images appear in the same column in the window so you can find them faster. Once that’s done, you re-import the sequence, choosing “force alphabetical order” so it becomes 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,11,12,13,14 …
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Heh … I’m saying that AE can make vector-based SWFs, but I’ve never tried to make the same thing in AE and Flash. Nor would I ask anyone to do that. 🙂
I suppose that if you made a small vector SWF in AE by following the rules, then tried to make the exact same thing in Flash, they would probably be the same file size. This is only probably true, since I’ve never tried it. Maybe you should try making a red circle cross the screen in both apps and see how that turns out.
But don’t forget — in AE you gotta follow the SWF “supported features” rules to avoid making a movie that’s a whole mess o’ rasterized JPEGs.
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Layer>new solid. Pick a colour.
Using one of the mask tools, draw a mask around the solid in the shape you want.
Set the solid’s opacity to what you want, or experiment with transfer Modes. (check the help)
Click the text tool and start typing to add a text layer.
Move them where you want.That should get you started.
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If you search the AE help for “SWF”, you’ll find a section on “supported features” or something. This lists the characteristics of a comp that can be exported to SWF and stay small. If you follow those you should get a small file.
Consider that before you design the thing — you may need to go back to Flash if AE is too restrictive.
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So maybe post in the Expressions COW — there may be a way of holding the results of the expression.
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You could convert the expression to keyframes, then select them all and convert to holds, or maybe precomp the layer then apply Posterize Time …?
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Certain non-Quicktime formats can only be accessed from the Export menu. That can include SWF, FLV, WMV, WAV, clip notes and others.