[Steve Roberts]

Sorry, Stuart … I don’t see the script …?

[Steve Roberts]

Yep, a shortcut like that would be nice. Did you try the AE Expressions COW?

Or you could copy the original object, then move the copy and scale it up until it matches the size of the original. Then delete the original.

[Steve Roberts]

“Format” is pretty broad.

You deliver in the format requested by your client. Maybe you mean “codec”?

If so, then you should work in the highest-quality codec your system can support. If you’re editing video, you want to use the codec your system can play back. For example, I can’t play back uncompressed 1080i, but I can play back DVCPROHD 720p. Regarding AE, since instant real-time playback isn’t possible with any codec in AE, you can work in uncompressed HD or RED if you have to — AE has to render everything.

Usually AE artists work in a high-res intraframe codec such as Animation, PNG, Photo-JPEG, 8-bit uncompressed or similar to avoid recompression. Then they render to a codec required by the editor or editing app.

In AE, don’t work in interframe-compressed codecs such as MPEG-2 or HDV.

If you need more info, let us know.

Anybody else?

[Steve Roberts]

Maybe your AE prefs file is set to interpret Animation-compresses movies as 1 fps, or as a sequence?

It doesn’t make sense, but weirder things have happened …

[Steve Roberts]

Weird. Have you tried exporting out of FCP using current sequence settings? (10-bit unc)

… but I see you need alpha coming out of FCP. In that case, this wouldn’t work.

[Steve Roberts]

I like Mocha.

I once did a job where I had to paste text on flat surfaces in steadicam-style shots. When the crew was able to place enough markers to suit Mocha, it did the job quite nicely. However, when there weren’t enough markers in enough frames (e.g. when revealing the surface in the shot), I had to pull out Syntheyes and export its data to Cinema 4D. I was lucky that the Syntheyes shots had enough parallax-creating objects in the shot to make it work.

This is just a reminder that more than one tool may be necessary to do the job. 🙂

[Steve Roberts]

I like Twixtor when it comes to creating intermediate frames, doubling a frame rate or slowing things down to 50%.

Ideally, of course, you should re-do all the CGI at 50p.

All of this should be at extra expense, since the client has changed the original specs, apparently.

[Steve Roberts]

Hey Kasey,

I’m one of those guys who likes the look of progressive instead of interlaced. To each his own.

If it looks interlaced, it is interlaced. To check the field order of an interlaced movie, import it into AE, make sure fields are separated (interpretation) and opt-double-click on it. In the window that comes up, use the PageDn key to step through the file. If it plays normally, the interpretation (upper or lower first) is correct. If it jerks pack and forth, the interpretation is incorrect.

Regarding Number 5, if you have stuff flying around in your comp over interlaced footage, render interlaced in the same field order as your BG footage. This way the flying stuff will be interlaced properly.

Imagine an interlaced movie (sequence, whatever) as a series of comb-like images. Programs that are just used to progressive frames can only see them that way — as comb-like images. However, AE can be told to take the alternating lines and make a sort-of frame, then take the other alternating lines and make the next sort-of frame, and so on. Thing is, it only shows every other sort-of frame, because there are two of those for every real frame in a comp. This is what happens when you separate fields on interpretation. When you take a comp with a field-separated movie and render interlaced, it remembers the extra sort-of frames and interlaces them back into the frame.

I hope that makes sense.

Big caveat: never scale an interlaced image or movie. It makes irredeemable crapola. You can spot these by interlacing lines of varying width. If you see that, you’ve made an interlaced movie incorrectly, possibly by scaling it in the output module, or by scaling without separating fields. If somebody gives you one of those, you need the unscaled source to make anything with it. Anyway, if your interlacing lines are of constant width, you’ve made them correctly. Use the PageDn tip to check field order.

Render progressive if you’re just, say, color-correcting interlaced footage that you interpreted fields-off. This way, each frame in the comp is a comb-like image (you know, the interlaced look), and it gets rendered exactly as it came in – as a comb-like image. If you render that sort of comp “interlaced”, you would get the same result Each field will be an identical comb-like image.

Encore doesn’t need an interlaced source. Nobody needs an interlaced source. Things that can display interlaced can handle progressive: they just treat a progressive frame as two identical fields! 🙂

Regarding the alarmingness, if you want an interlaced final, render the comp with flying stuff interlaced. The final can be rendered with fields or without, but if there’s no movement, scaling, whatever, the footage will not be altered if you’ve interpreted it “no fields”. If however, you had interpreted it with fields, you should render with fields, otherwise AE will only render frames, losing half the temporal info … sort of.

Hope that helps …

[Steve Roberts]

It all looks good at first glance. Details:

1. Please get a DVD burner. They’re cheap. Seriously. If you can’t burn and play a DVD that you author, you’re working blind.
2. You’re using NTSC non-square pixels when working at 720×480 right? If not, you should. Sorry, had to ask. 🙂
3. Why use interlaced if you don’t have to match something interlaced? I and others find interlacing too much of a hassle with little or no benefit.
4. Did you confirm that your interlaced renders are indeed interlaced?
5. When you re-render, you should only render interlaced if you have something moving (keyframed motion) in your comp and you want an interlaced result. Otherwise, don’t render interlaced, because rendering progressive just leaves your interlaced sources unchanged.
6. Regarding the pillarboxing, when I’m simulating a 16:9 DVD, I see no pillarboxing. Can’t speak for 4:3. Maybe the DVDsp COW can help.

Hope that helps…

[Steve Roberts]

Can you show us the expression and tell us how it applies to your animation?