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After Effects Tip
2001-09-27 13:37:18
I have a tip for you *newer* After Effects users who have just started with 5.0. If you're going to program anything computational for effects or audio to video relations, javascript is the language of choice.
Ok, so that wasn't much of a tip. Here's a real one: Use expressions!! They make things so much easier...
In my latest AMV the last scene includes two characters lying on their backs on the beach. This was a JPG image. I then move those two characters down and have a scene of waves crashing on the beach following right after it, at the same speed. You can't tell they're two seperate objects because they move in absolutely correct sync.
Here's how I did it:
1. I first positioned the JPG (beachlay.jpg) to be in the center of my movie and the waves (waves.avi) above it. I made sure to note the amount of space between the AVI and the JPG (Basically, the difference between the (x,y) values. Do NOT lose these numbers!). So my difference was (0,-400).
2. I then decided which was going to be the "parent" of this effect (beachlay.jpg) and the "child" (waves.avi).
3. After clicking on my two layers I opened up the position property on both (just press "p" when you have the layers selected).
4. When they opened up, I clicked on the word "Position" of the child layer and went to the Animation menu (at the top) and select "Add Expression" (or shift-alt-= for you keyboard nuts). You'll notice the position property opening up to reveal three little icons in the timeline when you do it.
Note: the first icon, when clicked, shows you the speed that your parent layer is travelling and your child is following.
I will explain the second button in a second, it's what links two layers together.
The third button just gives you javascript options and expressions for your child layer. Not to be used in this project.
5. With that knowledge, I clicked the second button and dragged that cool wiggly line over to the word "position" in the beachlay.jpg layer. Once I let go of the mouse button, the two layers became linked. Remember, you have to link CHILD to PARENT! Not the other way around!
6. Now here's where things got screwy. I noticed that the child layer had now taken the exact X,Y properties of the parent layer! They were on top of each other! I had to edit my expression in the child layer in order to fix this. It looked something like this:
this_comp.layer("beachlay.jpg").position
That basically meant that this_comp (the composition I'm working in) .layer("beachlay.jpg") (the parent layer) .position (the X,Y values) are now the values of the child layer. I didn't want them to be EXACT though! I wanted space between parent and child layer.
This is why it was smart to note the difference between the JPG and the AVI in the beginning! I said the difference in my x-value was 0 and the difference in my y-value was -400, right? Here's how I changed the expression:
[this_comp.layer("beachlay.jpg").position[0], this_comp.layer("beachlay.jpg").position[1]-400]
Even more confusing, eh? Let's break this down.
the []'s are to tell the script it's a modified (x,y) value. In other words, [] is replacing the () in (x,y). So now look at the code. We know "this_comp.layer("beachlay.jpg").position" already, but what is ".position[0]"? the [0] is another way of saying "ONLY the x-value". [1] is the y-value and [2] is the z-value (if you're working in 3d mode).
NOTE: ".position" alone means x,y, AND z) but ".position[#]" means x, OR y, OR z.
So before the comma, everything there tells the child layer to follow the same x-value as the parent layer.
Now the part after the comma reads like this: "this_comp.layer("beachlay.jpg").position[1]-400". We know the first few parts, and we now know what [1] means, but what is -400? That's the difference in y-values that I was talking about before. When you do your own project, if your difference is -215, then put "....position[1]-215". If it's 300, then put "....position[1]+300". Multiplying (*) and dividing (/) work also if it applies.
So all that line is saying to the child layer is to keep the same x value as the parent, but keep the child 400 pixels above the parent, no matter what value the parent takes.
That's it! And you thought you'd never use algebra in anything...
Just a quick recap:
1. Position items
2. Who is child and who is parent?
3. Open up position property
4. Add expression
5. Link child to parent
6. Fix expression
Just six steps! The first time you do this it'll take an hour to figure out :P. The second time will take you five minutes, maybe even less. I may add more tips later on as I continue to learn this program myself. Have fun! -
Not so bad after all
2001-09-25 11:41:59
So, our video didn't get shown during the primary hour(s) of the Pro/Masters. It did, according to what I hear, get played afterwards at the later showing, so at least some people saw it. We also had some of the more respected AMV makers giving us great reviews, so it basically was shown to the audience I wanted to reach. I still feel bad for Nightowl, though, he wanted to actually see a reaction. Maybe next year (and/or Otakon)...
As for this video going online, we're very close. I gave him two re-edits of parts I wanted changed and we're still in talks about what needs to be fixed. Thankfully, we won't have to do much so those who liked it for what it was won't get any nasty surprises. Class is about to start, so I am going to jet. -
wow, bummer
2001-09-23 23:21:14
Always expect the unexpected... So I didn't win the Best Romance Professional award at AWA, though that was no surprise. Lostboy had a great video ahead of me. It won best video as well, so it was almost inevitable.
As for the Masters, I'm rather upset at how things turned up, though it made sense. Nightowl and I didn't win Masters, either, which I exptected, but I was assuming they'd play our video with the five others that were in the final six. Turned out they didn't play our video at all because of the nudity. No sex, no *graphic* violence, but naked Rei rising and Asuka's two second exposure at the beginning. Afterward (as I was told), they played a Kite video. Ok, maybe something doesn't make sense.
So it doesn't make sense. But whatever, I've been through this before (aka Otakon banning EBYT-R) so I should have seen this coming. I'm, like, the king of banned videos :P I'm still proud of this video, though, and it's still going to be released online and at the .org, so I'll leave it to friends and fans to check out what they missed out on at AWA :P.
Oh, and in a related story, I saw the beautiful Vampire Hunter D2 with one of the other amv.org'ers, and the movie is absolutely gorgeous. If you live in the CT/NJ/NY, go find it and watch it. 'Twas truly wonderful. -
"Double Agent" rocks.
2001-09-17 17:13:05
Ok I am not usually a Rush listener. Tom Sawyer makes me sick on certain days. After listening to "Double Agent," though, I can't get enough of it. The hard art-rock sound (in 1993, no less) is something so perfect only Tool could duplicate in perfection (though a lot dirtier). It also has that great transition of safe haven sound, then hard and dirty, then complete stalker soundtrack, all in one song. It's absolutely Perfect Blue. Epochof7 is a genius to make this AMV first.
I spotted his AMV on the AWA tape, and although the video itself was o.k., it had enough influence on me that I could pick certain scenes and re-do them to make it much more emotional. This isn't much of an effects opportunity, since the anime is rather scary in itself, no effects (other than a strobe) would make it any worse than it is. That'll be new for me. For once I'd be able to stick straight to video editing without added effects. I'm sure some people would love to see that as my past videos were almost dependent on visual effects to heighten the mood. I won't complain about them, though. EBYT-R got into finals and I was confident to put N(ITAOT) into the Masters, so it's not like the effects were "cheating."
I definately need to try my own Perfect Blue/Double Agent AMV at some point. I'll ask Epochof7 if I can do it, but let's face it, if I didn't know he made this vid before, and if I had not had an identity here, I wouldn't have to ask. That is rather silly and/or sad, but it makes sense. I will say this, though, there are scenes in his AMV that are really irreplacable. Now that, I agree, I will have to ask about using. I really hope he let's me do it. I totally have an outline going on this video. I would finally get some practice with strobes, too. Here's praying, eh? -
Numb (Is There Anybody Out There?)
2001-09-15 15:54:54
That's the official title now for the video competing at the AWA Masters competition. Interesting how it came about... I first thought of ITAOT from the first line of song from this video and thought that'd be a great way to sum up the entire project, being that it was about Asuka and Shinji being numb and unreceptive to everyone around them. What sucked, though, was its corniness, but it would work for the time being.
When Nightowl was struggling to finish editing and export AND upload to the AWA server all within two hours before the official end of the deadline (this is why I love him, he can handle pressure), Nightowl said the long ITAOT title wouldn't fit for Macs. What would fit was "Nightowl Pictures - Numb" and I was fine with that. All of a sudden Numb sounded really great, but was too much like the U2 song, and everytime I thought my project under that title, I'd think of the U2 video instead. It still made a rockin' title, though... so with a little thought, "Numb (Is There Anybody Out There?)" became the official title.
JOURNAL: gambitt (Jeff Heller)
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