Tim Kurkoski
Forum Replies Created
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Go to the Options bar at the top of the screen. There’s different buttons there for creating a shape or a path with the pen tool.
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Problem with AE is that it normally actually keeps VERY good track of your files, so it’s hard to fool it into thinking a file is offline.
The best bet, therefore, is for you to back up the file on another computer or disk, then remove it from the original location. Open the AE project, and it should be offline. Save and close the project. Put the file back, reopen the AE project, and re-link at least one of the references. Sometimes AE will automatically fix the others, but no guarantees. (Might want to work on a copy of the project file if you really have that many layers.)
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No. Have to RAM preview or Audio preview to get audio.
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AE’s 32-bit mode (hereon referred to as HDR) uses 32-bit floating-point calculations. That means that there is an exponentially larger number of values available for the color channels, and a simple numerical scale (8-bit uses 0-255) won’t cut it.
HDR instead uses a scale from 0 to 1.0. Zero represents black, and 1.0 represents white. Values inbetween are represented using decimal values (roughly a percentage, but notice that the precision of the decimal value is very high). Now here’s where the of HDR magic happens: you can have values that are lower than zero and higher than one. This means that you have values that are blacker than black and whiter than white.
How on earth can this be? Isn’t white, well, white? For a computer yes, but computers are limited in the range of colors they can display. HDR is meant to represent the colors of the real world, which a computer can not fully represent on screen. The 0 to 1.0 scale for HDR represents only the values that fit within the computer’s range, and values outside that range are relatively brighter or darker. It looks a little like this:
-…..0…..1…..+
Between 0 and 1 is what the computer can display, but in the real world there’s useful color information outside the range. It might be a very bright reflection off a metal surface, or a very deep shadow in a dark forest. They don’t display on a computer because they’re too bright or too dark. In the past, you’ve either had to clip off those values to white or black, losing the useful color information, or you had to compress them into the computer’s range, which can throw off the overall luminance balance of the image.
HDR provides a new way to access the overrange information. If you adjust the range (using AE’s Exposure effect), like so:
-……..0…..1..+
then you’ll get more of the highlights in the image to look correctly exposed. You’ll lose a lot of the darker colors into pure black at the same time, but it’s one of those artistic choices that you have to make.
I don’t know if I’ve explained this well at all, but those are the basics of why HDR uses a different scale for color and luminance values. The help files for AE 7.0 or Photoshop CS2 have more practical info, and there are plenty of web sites and books out there you can look up. Try downloading some sample HDR files and playing with them in AE and Photoshop CS2 (if you have it). Play with the exposure and you’ll get to see what I’m talking about.
As for your problem with the 32-bit option being grayed out, 32-bit is only available in AE Pro, so it would make sense if you’re using AE Standard.
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How are you playing back the video?
Space bar is a regular preview, and doesn’t play audio.
Zero on the keypad is RAM preview, and will play audio.
Period on the keypad is audio-only preview.
You can change the playback options in the Time Controls palette. You may want to check those settings if you’re still having trouble.
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Did you import the PSD as a single file or as separate layers? If you’ve deleted or renamed one of the layers in the original PSD, this would generate the bad file reference.
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Dynamic Link only works in the one direction: import AE projects into Premiere Pro (or Encore).
The crashing problem you’re having when importing the Premiere Pro project into AE is probably this:
https://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/327949.html -
After Effects doesn’t do true 3D. It can only do 2D planes in 3D space. (Commonly called “postcards in space”.) You can’t do curved objects.
There are plug-ins that do work in real 3D. You might be able to get away with a simple one, like CC Sphere, or you may want to try Conoa or Zaxwerks for more sophisticated options.
Of course, the real answer is to use a 3D rendering application to create your 3D shapes, then render them and import them into AE.
Regarding Shatter, it’s an extremely useful plug-in, often used for more than just shattering things. To see what you want, you probably need to change the View option in the effect properties. It defaults to wireframe to save memory.
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No, not in Premiere. Editing applications don’t really work that way. After Effects has a pen tool you can use to do this with (as well as many other options).
Your best option will be to create a matte in the shape that you want using Photoshop (or if it’s a simple shape, use the title tools in Premiere), then set it up as a track matte with the appropriate video files. Make sure to read up on track mattes in the help files, they can be a little tricky.
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Do you have the supermac codec installed on your computer? I’ve never heard of that codec, it’s possible it may not play nicely with Premiere.
Googling it… Supermac is a company. Which codec of theirs are you using?