[Walter Soyka]

[Alberto Bedin] “What about output format? Is it better exporting in .tiff then in .tga? What about .rpf? Does they all support alpha channels?”

TIFF and TGA can both carry uncompressed RGBA, but as Chris mentioned, TGA can be touchy and TIFF supports higher bit-depths.

RPF is an option, and it can carry a lot more information from a 3D scene. See Import RLA or RPF data into a camera layer in the help.

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 Libby] “We have had lots of trouble connecting to these kinds of devices because many video cards are too smart. They require feedback (about allowable resolutions, etc) from the monitor they are connected to. Unfortunately switchers or distribution networks that we have access to, don’t provide this feedback to the card.”

If you are using DVI, you might look into Gefen DVI Detectives.

You program them with the display’s EDID information, then connect them to your computer before the switcher or router.

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]

[Jason Myres] “Radeon 4870”

Jason, you’re absolutely right.

I thought this card wasn’t compatible with the Mac Pro 1,1 — but as long as you are running Mac OS X 10.5.7 or higher, it apparently works. There are a couple user reviews on Amazon describing their configurations:

https://www.amazon.com/ATI-Radeon-4870-Graphics-Upgrade/dp/B001V3O2HW

This card will vastly outperform any of the others I listed.

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]

[Jason Tan] “Yes, you are right. I m on multiple screens and each screen is 1366×768 pixel in size. I have deliver the media to every screen. Im currently using this system: https://www.samsunglfd.com/software/magicInfo_pro.do“

You’ll have to do some research and find out what the playback system requires. Do you have to give the system one big movie file that it spreads across multiple monitors, or do you have to give it one movie file for each monitor?

I haven’t used Samsung’s system, but many systems like this prefer a separate movie for each screen. Although the screen’s pixel count may be 1366×768, the software may prefer standard resolutions like 720p or 1080p.

[Jason Tan] “Last but not least, what is a 4K footage ?”

4K footage just refers to the frame size — 4096 pixels across. It sounded like you were trying to render out and play back one monstrous video file. Most computers will struggle trying to play back 4K footage in real time.

In general, the workflow for a multi-screen install is driven by the displays and the playback system. You have to work backwards from their requirements into setting up your After Effects project.

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]

Is the Dynamic Link log completely inscrutable, or might there be some more information on the crash there?

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’ll keep Chris’s expression in my back pocket, too — he really knows his stuff, and if he’s concerned about limitations of loopOut(“continue”), it’d be good to have his code around if you run into them.

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]

The 2006 Mac Pro (which is sounds like you have) uses EFI32, which really limits your graphics card options. The 2008 models use EFI64, and have much broader compatibility.

In addition to ATI’s 1900 XT, the ATI Radeon 3870 is supposedly backwards compatible with your Mac Pro 1,1 model. Apple released a custom NVIDIA 8800 GT for the 2006 Mac Pro, but good luck finding one. If you get any of these cards, make sure that you are buying the Mac edition. A PC graphics card will not work out of the box.

The graphics card really isn’t a factor for After Effects.

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]

[Mitch Spicer] “There is obviously some color correction, some lighting effects, and various other alterations but what IS the rewind – just a bunch of pictures/videos smushed together with some kind of turbulent effect?”

It’s tough to tell on YouTube, but it looks to me like a filmstrip of images being pulled through the gate. There’s also some subtle movement on the Z-axis as it settles in and out of high-speed rewind.

I think the sound design really sells the effect in this spot.

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]

[Sean David] “I see that I can edit the length of the clip there too. Not quite as nice with e.g. the slip tool in PPro etc. but workable.”

I’m not familiar with Premiere Pro, but you can easily perform a Slip edit in After Effects.

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]

Well, that, or this:

loopOut("continue")

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