oh no i don't mean it's cut too quickly, i mean the movement is really fast... people move like they're in fast forward...

Neo - my version plays fine - it dosn't seem to be in fast forward. Could be the .wmv codec on your system? (or just some over enthusiastic acting from the extras :p )

EDIT: I just watched it again and I did notice what you were saying. especially the scene inside the UFO.

Mat, did you time remap the footage or possible your comp settings are not the same as source video??

yea, 'interpret footage' and 'projects settings' (I like 'trim project to current time line, but then again, Im simple :) ) are very important. anyway you have a few people onto that. If you are going to become a director you better act like one. do you get 'director classes' at school (uni whatever)?

Its obvious you dont. The kids are taking the shots and the film as a bit of fun, which it is until you enter it in a competition or a fexstival. you have to spend a lot of time with the main actors, up to you what method you use, method, Klien, , both centre on 'in character' if thats what you want. theres more but Im not a director, I just have to put up with their egos.

anyway, whether the movie is fast or slow (I like the fast look reminds me a bit of the 50s Si-Fis' )

so you better try and figure how you are going to approach the actors, the extras and the human props (they dont speak) and get then 'in the feel.' your work as usual is superb but falls flat with the acting, no-one gets shot with a smile on their face and no-one faces laser shooting UFOs with a smile on there face..., the movie falls flat on this piont. (I could go on about the acting but I know by now you know what I mean.., oh yea, I don't remember any shadows, always helps)

take care dude.., did I send you that tut' on AE?? Let me know, I don't remember, at the time I was being chased by ghosts

take care my friend.

Thanks for your thoughts,

I'd love to get a couple more shots and tell the people not to smile as they are about to be kiled by a death ray but unfortunately everyone on the module gets the same footage, no extra shots are allowed and we're not allowed to change the order of the shots. Pretty strict but I guess it'll make the jobs of the people who are marking it a little easier.

I've done nothing to the time line, all footage was shot and Maya, After Effects and Vegas were all rendered at 25fps. Now that it's been mentioned, I see it myself, any ideas? Could it be the way I've compressed it?

Cheers again,

Mat.

Tricky to answer without knowing your workflow. Did u composite/key in After Effects then render out in order to edit in Vegas? If so, what was your After Effects output format that was used in Vegas?

Hey there Dave,

yeah, all compositing and Keying was done in After Effects then I rendered each scene seperately as lossless AVI at 25fps to take into Vegas.

Only the scenes that contain CG were rendered as AVI, the ones with straight footage were imported into Vegas as JPEG sequences, could that make a difference?

Mat.

It is possible (although image sequences are usually fine). I suggest you compare your original footage length with the image count (using 25 images per second) to make sure there anr't any dropped frames. One way to check is to import your original footing into vegas into another timeline and u can compare them side by side.

Also, what have you got planned to go into the screens in the UFO interior. I'm in AE atm mucking around with some ideas. Below is a pic still to give you an idea...

There is a bit of shrinkage in the time span on the compressed WMV, less than one frame doesn't really account for the keystone cops style video though.

Out of interest, what settings would you use to get a good quality compressed file from Vegas?

I really like the image that you've posted there, I've got to use the footage that you already see in the portholes and monitors though. I'm allowed to chop it up, make it fit the various screens and add effects but essentially I think it's another method to make marking the project slightly easier for the tutors (everyone has the same footage and script, lets see what they come up with). I don't see any harm in overlaying something similar onto the footage, how would I go about making something similar?

Apologies for so many questions and also thanks for your help,

Mat.

I forgot the image that I so carefully prepared!!

Here it is.....

The timeline diff shows that something has gone a little pear shaped - but 1 frame should not make any difference at all. Have you played your original source video - if everyone was given the same, then maybe when it was captured from the dv cam there might have been some frame rate hiccup?

I'd be more than happy to explain how to overlay some cool effects over your footage to go into the screens and also how to use a AE effect to make the footage stretch to fit the monitor screens - but here might not be the best place (alot of non-maya stuff). Feel free to hit me up on MSN if u prefer (my addy - tidddles@hotmail.com)

might be stupid question but what was the frame rate you captured it in? you didn't mention and anyway its a mute question now and I guess you dont know how it was captured at all, as the footage was given to you ('all people get the same footage'). If it was footage from a tut it might be NSTC.., depends what camera was used, theres a lot of things it could be but you have to deal with what you got so it seems.

make it work for you,play on it.., Im sure you can work it out yourself, you're a dam good artist.

Hey there Mirek,

The footage was shot at my university (I managed to evade the lens by hiding in the bar!!) at 25fps, edited by the tutors and made available to us for download as seperate scene files containing either JPEG or Targa stills.

The problem's sorted now, I had only told AE that I wanted to use 25fps 2 of the 3 times that it seems to require for it to understand!!

Cheers,

Mat.

Hey Mat, looks like your making progress on this, I've just sent you an e-mail, on this, looks like you sorted it though!

After effects can be a bit of a pain you tell it that the comps 25 fps and when you render it sometimes defaults to the codec (think it might be the codecs) native fps

we live and learn :)

looks good mate (shadows?? cant remember) no crits from me (how real is the ship supposed to look) the guy that one of the lads put you onto, at creative cow.., I tell you mate they have some effects for AE that will make your vids look pro in a flash.., film magic pro .., i think its called that, well worth the money mate.., very amazing, you may have seen the demo on the site the lad a few posts back put you onto. really works.

I dig the look you got going there, Im red with envy :) Makes me want to just keep pluggin on

looks like you got the AE beast at least on a leash :) want to have a serious headache..? Shake!

Matt,

First time I have looked at this thread and I'm glad too see your enjoying VFX. It looks so much fun :). Anyway just a small, but may irritate, point. When the ship sails over the building it should get some light from the white building reflecting back up to its underside allowing it to show more detail when more light is refleacted under the object, this would be the same for any light coloured surface the object is close to (ground etc..). Also consider the refractions and reflections from building and windows.

As I said very small point but may be worth considering this in post prior to going into final or R1 on your project. Lucky its only the CG that needs redoing and the live shot.