[Walter Soyka]

Animation is lossless, but it’s 8-bit, so you may see a difference when compared with 10-bit footage. Also, rounding errors will accumulate faster.

Without color management, you may see inconsistent color.

After Effects processes in RGB, but is capable of reading and writing YUV files. Starting with CS3 and Media Core, After Effects handles RGB-YUV conversion and avoids Quicktime’s dodgy implementation.

Final Cut has a couple different render settings; if you are working in YUV, FCP will re-render RGB animation codec footage to match your timeline and render settings.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Walter Soyka]

Sounds good, Nick. I’d love to see what you come up with. Good luck with your contest!

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Walter Soyka]

If I recall correctly, Varicam’s SD monitor out is composite, right? That means you’d have to use composite in on the projector. Does Varicam letterbox or anamorphic squeeze on output? You’ll have to reconcile the 16:9 camera format with the 4:3 projection format.

The more flexible option might be renting a switcher to handle the format conversion for you.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Walter Soyka]

I’m another Dataton Watchout user, so that would get my vote — but Thomas has been diligently pressing me to evaluate Wings. I think either package could suit your needs.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Walter Soyka]

I had to look up the projector. The daily rental of that camera is almost the total purchase cost of that projector, which is at least 5 years old. I hope you are not expecting much from it.

Does your Varicam have the option of an SD downconvert on its monitor output?

If not, you will need a scaler or switcher inline between your camera and the projector.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Walter Soyka]

Here it is:

https://library.creativecow.net/articles/rabinowitz_aharon/multi_machine_rend.php

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Walter Soyka]

[Mike Sumner] “Sounds like an after effects job.”

It could be AE, or Nuke, or your compositor of choice… but the shoot is critically important to pulling off the shot.

If this were me, off the top of my head I’d want to shoot each element separately, possibly over greenscreen, then composite them back together. Taking elements from the same footage at different speeds means that not only must you roto out the waiters for the fast shot, you must also roto and clone out the waiters for the slo-mo version. You’ll also have to deal with food appearing/disappearing from the tables at both speeds, because these elements will seem to cross time.

It’s deceptively complicated shot. Maybe there’s some way to keep the concept but simplify the execution?

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Walter Soyka]

[Mike Sumner] “I want to shoot a wide shot of a restaurant, where we see diners in fast motion; I’d like the waiters to be in slow motion. If I shoot on a locked off camera, is there a way in FCP of combining the two images?”

To do this from the same shot will require a lot of planning, test, and rotoscoping. FCP does not have a good roto toolkit.

I’d want a good VFX supervisor on the shoot.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Walter Soyka]

[Rodrigo Silvestri] “I am exporting that sequence to a unique ProRes file. I am looking for a way to import that ProRes file to FCP and have it cut as the current H.264 sequence.”

You can use Color to notch a single clip with an EDL.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Walter Soyka]

[Nick Lyons] “I seem to come across a problem after creating in Cinema 4D of which effects to use in AE to give my video the spice it needs.”

I don’t think that the video needs spice. Technically, what you have is pretty good, although I think the text is a little hard to read.

What this needs is meat. It needs to communicate something about the brand or the identity of “The Game Station.” It needs creative — a concept, a story that tells us a little bit about “The Game Station,” keeps us interested in watching the clip, and builds a relationship between the viewer and “The Game Station.”

To continue the food metaphor, when you have the meat, selecting the spices becomes a lot easier. You will choose spices that reinforce, enhance, and complement the flavor of your dish. To come back to motion design: time, space, shape, motion, color, and light — they are all elements which are critical to the integrity of the piece, and not just razzle-dazzle dropped on top to mask the hole where something is missing.

[Nick Lyons] “Is there a website that teaches commonly used effects used in AE to spice up precreated footage? I added some VC effects to the video. Let me know what you think and where I can improve.”

Your work will not stand out if it’s just like everyone else’s.

As I said before, you’ve executed well — and if you start with stronger creative, I think you’ll produce very strong work.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events