16 replies to this topic

[wagsy]

Hi
Well after messing around with After Effects here and there over the years, I downloaded the latest version from Adobe to see how it goes to maybe make some motion stuff like Camdiver has.

The trial download was like over 1 GIG in size...but once loaded up it looks and feels better to drive than the earlier versions.

Have tried it out with HDV (cineforem AVI) material and it even handles that, but due to the endless complexity of the program, I was wondering if anyone else out there uses it. Maybe a few tips would be good.

I would suggest you have a 3 GIG+ processor and lots of ram if you are going to try it out. I was using all of my 2 GIGs up for Ram Renders and it even can network render but have not worked that out yet.

[peacedog]

I would suggest you have a 3 GIG+ processor and lots of ram if you are going to try it out. I was using all of my 2 GIGs up for Ram Renders and it even can network render but have not worked that out yet.

Can't say I have the latest version, but I do have 6.5 and it handles great on my 2Gig iMac. I found AE invaluable when cutting my last documentary, particularly with regard to still image pan & zooms.

[Drew]

I use it for apply Magic Bullet filters and other correctional stuff(when I really have no life). Been using it for many years. Whaddya wanna know?

[Mary Lynn]

Hey Wagsy. I use it sometimes, but it's a curve for me. Took a class once just to get the hang of the basics, and it did me well. Mostly I use AE to animate stills when I'm not getting satifactory results (too much flicker, etc., lack of smooth motion) from Final Cut Pro. But I love it most for doing 3D-type animations because it has a "z axis" in multiple camera mode (not sure if that's the technical phrase). So I can extract something in the foreground of a still and animate it against the background using the z axis, as well as the y and x axes, to give a little more depth to the movement. (I love that stuff!) But wish I knew more about using the program--it's really powerful.

Mary Lynn

[Steve Douglas]

I took that class with Mary Lynn and, indeed, it is very valuable...I use it mostly when I am using Digital Anarchies Psunami plug ins for a project. I have 6.5 now and the company is sending me ver. 7 for a review. From what I can see, 7, has a very different appearance with some interface changes. I will find out when it gets here. My big complaint is that the rendering time every time I make the slightest change is a pain in the butt and greatly interupts the workflow in the studio.
I'm not an expert with AE but if someone has suggestions as to the steps to reduce that render time, clue me in. Was working with it last night while testing the new Knolls Light Factory 2.5 and whine, whine, whine on the preview renders. Nuff said
Steve

[wagsy]

Cheers folks, good to hear others are using it and yes it seems to have endless controls/effetcs etc. This Version 7 is different to the other versions in layout and I quite like it but Steve you are right in rendering every little thing. Editing DV is allot faster than HDV but I suppose that will chage as the computers get faster.

Was trying to match up the effects with a sound track and it can do it but it's takes allot of time on HDV material, ram render watch , adjust ram render watch etc...

No classes here for me but in the last few days have picked up quite abit on how to drive it and will keep playing with it in DV mode as it is allot faster working in that format.

Also manage to render out HDV and DV clips from my little tests and also it can somehow go from Premiere Pro to After Effects like Premiere Pro to Photoshop can for graphics edits. Will try to figure that out.

Steve you get to play with all the cool software Just downloaded Knolls Light Factory 2.5 to try out in Premiere. It also seemed to installed a heap of cool tranistions...in a folder called Burger..it is suppose to do that?

Cheers

[Steve Douglas]

Good question....I don't recall seeing that but I will contact the company rep and ask about it. Perhaps it is just a PC thing but I don't see it in my AE, Motions, or FCP plug ins folders. HMMMM, Burger huh, did you get fries with that?
Steve B)

[Drew]

Editing DV is allot faster than HDV but I suppose that will chage as the computers get faster.
Was trying to match up the effects with a sound track and it can do it but it's takes allot of time on HDV material, ram render watch , adjust ram render watch etc...
No classes here for me but in the last few days have picked up quite abit on how to drive it and will keep playing with it in DV mode as it is allot faster working in that format.
Also manage to render out HDV and DV clips from my little tests and also it can somehow go from Premiere Pro to After Effects like Premiere Pro to Photoshop can for graphics edits. Will try to figure that out.

Wags, 7.0 threw old hands like me. The new interface is busy but at least the short keys are the same (pretty much). If you have a Open GL graphics card, previews are faster than the dynamic Adaptive preview. You can set up Open GL acceleration ONLY if AE detects open GL cards. Alternatively, there are a few HD SDI cards that offer hardware acceleration for AE like Aja's Kona.
I wouldn't use HDV as an editing codec in AE. There will be generational losses.

[Steve Douglas]

Wags,
I've contacted the company reps about Burger and they sent my query off to customer support. Will let you know what I find out when all is said and done. What do you think of the new Knolls so far?
Steve B)

[wagsy]

Steve...me being me, I think it was a set of free effects I downloaded and installed the same day and forgot about them.

BURGER

Sorry for the troubles...

Had abit of a play with some cineforms HDV AVI's. Abit slow like in after efftecs but will try some on normal DV files. Let you know how it goes.

Drew, I'm looking at getting one of the NVIDIA Quadro FX 560 cards so will see if that improves performance. It has open GL

Paul

[Drew]

Wags
There should be a list of Open GL supported cards on Adobe.com. I'd check there first.

[Steve Douglas]

Well, they just sent me AE7 Professional to install; I will also install the new GridIron’s Nucleo Pro which is supposed to greatly speed up render time. Now that I am off vacation and back to work I don't seem to have as much time to spend on here as I would like and I have a feeling that this is one review that will take some time to do but will get back to all once I am done. Interestingly enough, enclosed with the AE7 software are a two disc DVD tutorial set produced by Total Training whose products I have been fairly impressed with in the past.
Steve B)

[wagsy]

Steve that's a huge package.
Hope you can learn abit and pass it on.

I have just rebuilt my complete system as the new NVIDIA Quadro FX540 pci express arrived yesterday and wanted to start a fresh with it. Now I have twin screens and realtime video out via componate or composite or DVI or a third VGA screen..cool even when you play a video clip it feeds out to the TV...

Will load up After Effects again my end and see how it goes with the new overlay card.

[Steve Douglas]

Remember to drag over your 3rd party plug ins for AE as they don't automatically migrate
Steve B)

[gothamboy2000]

Hi
Well after messing around with After Effects here and there over the years, I downloaded the latest version from Adobe to see how it goes to maybe make some motion stuff like Camdiver has.

The trial download was like over 1 GIG in size...but once loaded up it looks and feels better to drive than the earlier versions.

Have tried it out with HDV (cineforem AVI) material and it even handles that, but due to the endless complexity of the program, I was wondering if anyone else out there uses it. Maybe a few tips would be good.

I would suggest you have a 3 GIG+ processor and lots of ram if you are going to try it out. I was using all of my 2 GIGs up for Ram Renders and it even can network render but have not worked that out yet.

Hmm... Well, I've used it a fair bit and used to work for the After Effects team so I might be able to help.

Rendering speed can be affected by a DOZEN things (render preview resolution, processing speed, size of the source footage, how many frames you skip during a preview, how much of the frame you render during preview, etc.) In short, second only perhaps to 3-D rendering applications, After Effects can bring even the beefiest machines to their knees. Motion tracking got a great deal faster in 6.5 (orders of magnitude faster in fact) and, though I left just before version 7 was released, I assume that's been increased further. Naturally, the Open GL functionality makes 3-D work jaw-droppingly faster provided the card supports what you're trying to render.

As for hardware recommendations, I don't know that a mega-machine is necessary for simple color correction tasks, but certainly if you'll be blending footage into a 3-D show intro with mulitple layers, that rendering time will take a hit.

As for the Grid Iron software that's included, it increases rendering speed by distributing rendering across multiple machines. AE has, for years, supported multi-machine processing, but required that the footage be cloned across all machines in the network. Grid Iron's X-Factor plug in uses the much-touted grid rendering approach allowing multi-processor rendering WITHOUT the distribution of footage.

By all means, post any specific you want to know. I may need to dust off my AE skills a bit but I can certainly ask the team if an issue arises I can't answer.

Daniel Brown
Recovering Adobe Dude
www.adobeevangelists.com

[richorn]

Hmm... Well, I've used it a fair bit and used to work for the After Effects team so I might be able to help.

Jeez Daniel! Talk about understatement. You know more about the software than just about anyone on the planet...

BTW, LTNS! notice my change of address... no longer at Warner Bros... will send an email with the new contact info.

[gothamboy2000]

Jeez Daniel! Talk about understatement. You know more about the software than just about anyone on the planet...

BTW, LTNS! notice my change of address... no longer at Warner Bros... will send an email with the new contact info.

I SWEAR I didn't bribe him to say that...

Just when I think I have that program figured out, I talk to Brian Maffit for 60 seconds. Pretty much puts my knowledge base back in perspective.

Hey Rick! Speaking of which, I'm looking for a job... hehe...

Danielsan-->
daniel AT downloadculture DOT com