[Walter Soyka]

Hi Eugene,

I just responded to your post in the Live Events forum — but I must have missed this one before I responded.

Rather than asking your AV contact for a specific setup, in which case you will get what you ask for, maybe you could describe to them what you are trying to accomplish. Ask them about blended projection. See what they come back to you with. You can use them as a resource to help you get this done right. They may be able to help out with the rental of a playback system designed for multiple displays, from a synchronized DVD system as Dave has mentioned, to a Dataton Watchout system, to sync-rolled DDRs.

Walter Soyka, Principal
Keen Live, Inc.
Presentation, Motion Graphics & Widescreen Design
RenderBreak: A Blog on Innovation in Production

[Walter Soyka]

I don’t think that anyone is frustrated with you; rather, we’re trying to help.

As I mentioned in the original thread on the After Effects forum, I don’t think you’re asking the right questions upfront. Before you worry about the After Effects setup, you need to sort out the physical setup, because this will determine what you need to do in AE.

It sounded to me like you were currently planning on using three 4:3 projectors side by side. That’s not a good solution for a seamless widescreen display. Instead, you want to overlap the projectors slightly, 15-25% with an edge blend (with each image feathered on the sides in the overlap area), to make a seamless display. This will result in something narrower than a 12:3 display.

Once you have your projection finalized, then you can worry about how to design the content for it, but not before. I’d suggest that the correct resolution will be neither 2160×480 nor 3072×768. You will want to create your media at exactly the resolution of the blended projection display, which will be 768 pixels tall. We can’t suggest a horizontal resolution yet, because the question of projection and the amount of overlap is still up in the air.

I ask again: are you alone on this, or do you already have someone helping you with the projection? Who’s responsible for physically setting up the projectors? Are you working with an AV company or a production company? If there is someone, you need to talk to them about how they are planning on setting up projection. If not, you should try to get some help on this, because you really need the edge blend in projection to make this work well. Are there any other visual sources besides your video? If not, will the projectors have the edge-blending feature built-in, or will you need to manage the edge-blend upstream of the projection? How did you arrive at the solution you’re currently considering?

There are a lot of considerations, but this is certainly not an impossible task. However, you might need some additional resources beyond what you are planning now to make this event a sucess.

Walter Soyka, Principal
Keen Live, Inc.
Presentation, Motion Graphics & Widescreen Design
RenderBreak: A Blog on Innovation in Production

[Walter Soyka]

Dave, you hit the nail on the head with your first post:

[Dave LaRonde] “Here’s the crucial question: how is the completed video going to be played back when it’s projected?”

Walter Soyka, Principal
Keen Live, Inc.
Presentation, Motion Graphics & Widescreen Design
RenderBreak: A Blog on Innovation in Production

[Walter Soyka]

[eugene park] “So what would be the ideal ratio and setting you think? “

The answer is “it depends.” You are working backwards right now. First you need to define the physical space, then the display devices, then the projection pixel space, then the playback system, and then finally your AE setup.

[eugene park] “This is actually my first time doing a project like this, and definitely don’t want to risk getting fired over this.”

And from another post:
[eugene park] “I will only be there to install and set up exhibit”

Are you working with anyone else on this? An AV or event production company? Who is responsible for setting up the projectors at the venue? Is there more to the installation than your module?

If you’re responsible for all of this, including the physical installation, then I’m afraid you’re in over your head a bit right now. There are a lot of considerations on the engineering side as well as the content creation side.

Walter Soyka, Principal
Keen Live, Inc.
Presentation, Motion Graphics & Widescreen Design
RenderBreak: A Blog on Innovation in Production

[Walter Soyka]

Your aspect ratios don’t match. The pixel space you quoted is 4:1, but the projection space you quoted is 3.6:1. Are you sure that your pixel space is really 3072×768?

Projectors should never be edge-butted to create a widescreen image, but the pixel dimensions you have quoted suggests edge-butted 1024×768 projectors. They are usually edge-blended to make the transition from one projector to the next seamless. The narrower aspect ratio of your projection space suggests such a blend. You should confirm your playback requirements and system before you try to design for it.

There are a variety of playback solutions specifically designed for this kind of work. We do widescreen design and consulting on projects like these, and you can find a lot of great information on the Live & Stage Events forum here on the COW.

Finally, 3072×768 video isn’t as scary in its bit rate requirements as it sounds. It’s only 13% bigger than 1920×1080.

Walter Soyka, Principal
Keen Live, Inc.
Presentation, Motion Graphics & Widescreen Design
RenderBreak: A Blog on Innovation in Production

[Walter Soyka]

Sounds like you have a very open-ended project; sounds like fun!

I think your idea of an interactive installation about music is a great start, but still very broad. It sounds almost paradoxical, but I’d bet you’d find it a lot easier to be creative if you had some more constraints.

You could come up with a thesis statement your project will make about music. Perhaps “music is rhythm” or “music ties us all together.” Then, look at the disciplines you’ve studied, and think about how you can express that central thesis in each of these — it should help you tie them all together into a cohesive whole.

You could explore a particular genre of music. Break it down — what are the basics of the form, who were the great talents that shaped it, what was society like as the form became popular, etc. You could explore a particular artist, or a particular instrument.

Remember, the multimedia itself isn’t the point; you’re conveying some feeling or meaning on your topic through multimedia.

I hope this helps — and good luck with your project!

Walter Soyka, Principal
Keen Live, Inc.
Presentation, Motion Graphics & Widescreen Design
RenderBreak: A Blog on Innovation in Production

[Walter Soyka]

Yes, mirroring the display should do it — or opening the composition full screen on the second display.

System Preferences > Displays > Show displays in menu bar

This will add a little monitor icon to your menu bar, and you can set the display resolution and toggle between mirror and extension mode from there.

Walter Soyka, Principal
Keen Live, Inc.
Presentation, Motion Graphics & Widescreen Design
RenderBreak: A Blog on Innovation in Production

[Walter Soyka]

Hi Andrei,

Apple first shipped Quartz Composer in Tiger, so that might still be in play. You’d need to install the “Developer Tools” package from your Mac OS X Tiger disc. Then dig through the “Developer” folder on your hard drive to find Quartz Composer.

Walter Soyka, Principal
Keen Live, Inc.
Presentation, Motion Graphics & Widescreen Design
RenderBreak: A Blog on Innovation in Production

[Walter Soyka]

Thanks for describing what you’re looking for — this helps quite a bit.

FCP will not help you, as it doesn’t handle live video.

Are you familiar at all with compositing? You will need an alpha channel in your footage if you just want to add them to the scene; otherwise, you’d have to try to pull a key, rotoscope, or layer them with another blend mode.

I think either one of the options I mentioned earlier will still do the trick. Try the demo of BoinxTV — it might be just what you need. If you are feeling a little more adventurous, you could write a Quartz Composer patch to accomplish this exact effect. QC has a little bit of a learning curve, but this is a very straightforward patch.

Walter Soyka, Principal
Keen Live, Inc.
Presentation, Motion Graphics & Widescreen Design
RenderBreak: A Blog on Innovation in Production

[Walter Soyka]

Before you rule out doing this within Watchout, you might consider the pros and cons. The biggest advantage of doing this entirely within Watchout is that it is far easier to make last-minute changes. The biggest disadvantage is that your toolset during production will be limited.

For the initial edit, in either FCP or Avid, I’d try to think of it in terms of “channels” of video — not necessarily in terms of Watchout’s final 4 outputs, but rather as the inputs for your compositing. For example, you might have a full screen channel, you might have 4 split screen channels, you might have 2 half-screen channels, etc.

I’d place and scale them all within a separate reference sequence to help visualize the timing of the edit as a whole. At this point, I wouldn’t worry about the moves and compositing; I’d just focus on the timing of the edits.

Once I had the individual pieces cut, I’d export as Quicktime movies and composite in After Effects. This is where I’d add the moves, scaling, etc. If you are ultimately working in 4 discreet screens, you must take into account the negative space among them — you can discuss this with your Watchout programmer.

Finally, export for Watchout and compress. You’ll also need to discuss the preferred specs for delivery with your Watchout programmer.

Walter Soyka, Principal
Keen Live, Inc.
Presentation, Motion Graphics & Widescreen Design
RenderBreak: A Blog on Innovation in Production