[Weston Jones]

Thanks for the link! Going to browse those apps and see if anything works.

It would be nice if the software worked on 10.6 and higher.

[Weston Jones]

Ah, OK, got it, thanks!

[Weston Jones]

Thanks guys. My footage is all ProRes 422. I was able to export the comp using the file>export process (to quicktime). It exported fine. In this situation, this will work for me.

Copy/paste sounds good to, if need be I’ll try that. Strange though. Yeah CS6 is on the way here.

Thanks!

[Weston Jones]

So I might be totally wrong, in which case I would love your feedback. (I linked to another post you were commenting on, you know your stuff!)

Well…here is my logic:

The footage I’m working with are slow tracking shots of architectural exteriors that I shot with the DSLR attached to my car. I’m about 20 feet from the building, wide lens (18). When I say slow, the car is idling so an object takes about 10-20 seconds to move from the right side of the frame to the left. And the image is pretty high contrast with a good amount of detail (poles, signs, shopping carts, things with hard edges etc.)

So in the 30fps comp, when I’m time stretching at intervals that are not either 200% (60 slowed to 30) or 100% (60 playing every other frame), I’m getting judder similar sounding to the horizontal movement of a line across the fame that he talks about in the adobe post. Yes? No?

This quote sums it up: “The only speed where you’ll get a nice solid line in every frame or field is one that is an exact multiple of the frame rate. IOW, 1 frame 1 pixel of movement, 1 frame 2 pixels of movement, and so on”

I think that is the issue combined with a cinematography issue that he also mentions: “One basic rule of thumb that almost always works is the “Seven Second Rule.” If it takes 7 seconds for the key element in your scene to move from one side of the screen to the other your shot will probably work.”

Does this make sense? I think I’m getting noticeable judder because of the type of imagery I’m using. If it were footage of a figure walking around in different directions or something less directional and constant, I don’t think I would be having this trouble.

As I mentioned, I have to animate the speed over time between 200% stretch and 100%. I’ve resorted to playing with motion blurs, which so far I haven’t gotten perfect. Is there another workflow you would suggest? Maybe use timewarp instead of time remapping? Real Smart Motion Blur?

Thanks for any input!!

[Weston Jones]

found some answers here: https://kb2.adobe.com/community/publishing/908/cpsid_90843.html

the main point:

“The sub pixel interpolation problem can be easily seen can be seen by viewing your comp a frame at a time while zoomed in to say 800% and observing the edge detail. This problem can be especially nasty when you’re trying to do a smooth title or credit roll that uses thin fonts. The horizontal lines that make up fine type can almost completely vanish between fields or frames if the text is moving at the wrong speed. You can test this out by creating a single pixel high horizontal line in AE and animating it from bottom to top of the frame. The only speed where you’ll get a nice solid line in every frame or field is one that is an exact multiple of the frame rate. IOW, 1 frame 1 pixel of movement, 1 frame 2 pixels of movement, and so on. Move at 1 frame and 1.33 pixels of movement and the line will appear to completely disappear then return as the line moves up the screen.”

so multiples between 100% stretch and 200% will judder. hmmm, will have to resort to some motion blurring. I think pixel motion will be the way to go…but it’s still juddery and sometimes creates artifacts.

some more resources that may be helpful to others:
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/2/1015294
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/202/894510

thanks for your feedback Ted!

[Weston Jones]

Pixel Motion. Which seems to work, but just takes so long to export.

My hope was to only have to do frame blending on a final export. For an easier workflow, what I’m doing is multiple passes of speed editing. Basically I’m composting an hour long single dolly shot that speeds up and slows down, so I’m trying to make it all one speed. To do this is is easier to do pieces at a time. So for instance once I get the speed evened out between shots, I want to adjust the overall speed.

Also my concern is with multiple exports, re-imports, and exports using pixel motion, is that there might be artifacting.

Maybe I could just precompose? But I thought you couldn’t frame blend a precomp. If the footage has frame blending enabled within the precomp, will adjusting the speed of the precomp then be properly frame blended?

Hopefully this makes sense. Long day. Thanks!

[Weston Jones]

Yes, I’m affecting the speed using time remaping. Right now by using the “stretch” controls and some manual tweeking in the graph editor to animate speed chamges.

[Weston Jones]

just did your suggestion. estimated time remaining is 9 hours. much better than 96. DARBY EDELEN AND CREATIVE COW YOU ARE MY SAVIORS

[Weston Jones]

Thanks for the great ideas!

After writing my first post I also did this:
Made a new comp of 1920×642. Then I copied all my layers from the larger comp, parented them to a null and scaled it down 60%to to fit the new comp. Then rendered at 100%.

Is this essentially the same as the process you suggested? Or will time/quality be saved using the collapse transform route?

Thanks again

[Weston Jones]

Thanks a bunch for the info Tim! Haha I had no idea about the color conversions, that explains a lot.

Yeah we were unprepared to deal with the RED files and didn’t really know what we were getting into…hopefully this helps someone else before they fumble through it like we did!

In general, could anyone suggest what is their preferred post process whn having to do FX work? There are probably other threads on it but perhaps it’s OK to reiterate here.
From what I’ve learned here:

1)Tanscode footage to intermediate format
2)Cut scenes in FCP or PPro sequence
3)Import above sequence into AE
4)Precompose each layer (shot) in the resulting AE sequence and work on FX
5)Export sequence and combine with audio mix/color work in FCP or Ppro

(the last step seems wonky to me, as coming out of AE I have one video file. I guess I could export each layer? XML?)

Or perhaps just bring in a stero mix and do final exports out of AE?

Thanks!