[Wr Sampson]

Cool idea. I’m going to mess with it a bit. The movement goes with a beat, so I could even start with markers generated by SoundKeys and modify them.

Thanks!

[Wr Sampson]

Cool idea. I’m going to mess with it a bit. The movement goes with a beat, so I could even start with markers generated by SoundKeys and modify them.

Thanks!

[Wr Sampson]

Thanks for the suggestions Steve. The stroke render idea is a good one. Keyframes to follow the hands are probably the way to go too. The camera is static.

Tracking his hands precisely yields a very lopsided shape because human movement just isn’t exact. What I was hoping was that the X and Y values from a tracker would be available in a graph or table so that I could grab a whole region and hold them constant.

Sam’s idea of writing an expression is something to try as well.

Thanks again!

[Wr Sampson]

Thanks for the suggestions Steve. The stroke render idea is a good one. Keyframes to follow the hands are probably the way to go too. The camera is static.

Tracking his hands precisely yields a very lopsided shape because human movement just isn’t exact. What I was hoping was that the X and Y values from a tracker would be available in a graph or table so that I could grab a whole region and hold them constant.

Sam’s idea of writing an expression is something to try as well.

Thanks again!

[Wr Sampson]

I use Vegas almost exclusively on PC and have had great success rendering to many formats. It’s a very slick interface: much more intuitive than the “bin/trimmer/canvas” paradigm of FCP and Premiere.

Sony Media has demos to download. btw…Don’t let the Sony corporate, razzmatazz scare you away. Vegas was originally designed by the good folks at Sonic Foundry in Madison, WI.

If you want to dip your toe in the water of the Vegas style interface, you could get a copy of Vegas Movie Studio, their entry level editor for under $100. If you like it, Sony offers many upgrade paths to Vegas.

I wouldn’t recommend spending the extra bucks for the DVD authoring stuff (DVD Architect). DVD-Lab Pro is much more powerful for less money.

Hope that helps.

[Wr Sampson]

Pierre,

The Twixtor two frame transition is really cool too. With most loops, I only need to generate a couple Twixted frames to make the movement look fluid.

Thanks. This works even better than the morphing.

[Wr Sampson]

Sounds like you might be trying to use the paint tools in a Comp window. If you are in a Comp window, you will only be able to move a layer or add and edit points. Make sure to double click on the layer you want to paint, then select the paint tool.

I have a lot of fun with the Brush Dynamics settings in the Brush Tips tab. Pen pressure and tilt can be used to Size, Angle, Opacity etc…too much fun.

Also, if you use the Write-On option, make sure to spin open the Paint layer under Effects. Each stroke can be key frame edited for properties such as roundness, spacing, diameter. You can get some great animated effects this way without a lot of effort.

[Wr Sampson]

I have a demo of RE:Flex working now. The Auto-Align function gets me 95% of what I need. The trouble spots can be handled by small open masks. Looks like a plug that could pay for itself pretty quick.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I can now plan to spend XMas watching football instead of crunching through 120 masks.

Warren

[Wr Sampson]

I just got a Wacom Intuos 3 to use with AE 6.5 for Mac. The Write On option works great. Pen pressure and tilt can be assigned to Brush Size, Angle, Roundness, Opacity and Flow in the Brush Dynamics dialog.

After you have recorded your strokes, many characteristics of the strokes are keyframe editable.

[Wr Sampson]

Thanks Eric,

Is this the technique of using buttons over video in the subtitle track?

Cool idea. We might end up using it. I think the buttons on Motion Menus have a bit more flexibility, but the buttons over video concept is a good one.

Warren