20:04:45 [FM] AE pro has the same new features as std plus a few more
20:05:55 [FM] Let's just summarize a bit std
20:06:31 [FM] It has a new set of tools with text
20:06:50 [FM] painting & masks tools on a palette
20:07:27 [FM] There is a new engine to support Text from Photoshop
20:07:54 [FM] & to transform text in any way we might want
20:09:04 [FM] you can also paint, clone & erase directly on a layer in a non destructive way
20:09:30 [FM] and use paths as strokes
20:10:18 [Mitch] cool
20:10:37 [FM] we can also import layer sets from PS into AE & it preserves the sets as nested compositions
20:11:41 [FM] there is a new option when importing PSD files
20:11:53 [FM] Import as Cropped Layers
20:12:42 [FM] & that keeps the layers size to a minimum opposite to the normal import
20:13:10 [FM] that makes the layers size = to the composition size
20:13:45 [vidfreak] i dont understand
20:14:04 [FM] Yes?
20:14:13 [vidfreak] the last 2 sentences
20:14:29 [vidfreak] i mean wat the import as cropped layers does
20:14:45 [FM] Ok
20:15:20 [FM] when you import a PSD file with layers into AE
20:15:57 [FM] you heve three options: merged, as composition
20:16:21 [FM] & as composition - cropped layers. Rigth?
20:16:29 [vidfreak] yes
20:16:36 [Mitch] yep
20:17:16 [FM] So the normal import as composition makes all the layers the same size as the Composition
20:17:31 [FM] ok?
20:17:38 [vidfreak] ok
20:17:43 [vidfreak] i got that
20:18:27 [FM] & the cropped Layers option just imports the layers with theyr original size in PS
20:18:49 [vidfreak] uhuh
20:19:35 [FM] If you download the project files from the last discussion you can test with that to see the difference
20:19:46 [Mitch] if you're importing a 100x100 pixel file with cropped into ae it leaves it at 100x100 instead of making it 740x540 if that is your composition size
20:20:08 [FM] precisely
20:20:15 [vidfreak] ic
20:20:45 [FM] well now on to the Pro features
20:20:52 [Mitch] cool
20:21:05 [FM] The first thing that strikes me as most interesting difference from 5.5
20:21:19 [FM] is the new Motion Tracker
20:21:37 [FM] which offers faster performance, enhanced accuracy,
20:21:53 [FM] and controls that give you additional options for tracking motion.
20:22:13 [FM] Now you have a new Tracker Controls palette instead of the former clumsy panel on the layer window.
20:22:28 [vidfreak] i have a question
20:22:43 [FM] yes?
20:22:57 [vidfreak] what can this motion tracker tool be used for in real life projects?
20:23:35 [FM] mainly two different things
20:24:12 [FM] #1 stabilize footage from a hand held camera
20:24:48 [FM] #2 track motion from an object inside a shot
20:25:11 [FM] & apply that motion to another layer
20:25:17 [Mitch] like if you want to put a logo on a moving object?
20:25:24 [vidfreak] cool
20:25:30 [krezrock2] heyas
20:25:36 [psturgill] Are there ways to do what the motion tracker do without the Pro edition?
20:25:42 [FM] yes that would be one possibility
20:26:01 [psturgill] you can do that with keyframes throughout right?
20:26:13 [Mitch] a lot of keyframing...
20:26:13 [FM] Yes, manually which is not too realistic
20:26:24 [FM]
yeap
20:26:55 [vidfreak] is there any way to make animations except keyframes
20:27:15 [FM] as an example you can make someone lift a car
20:27:54 [psturgill] that is cool
20:27:56 [FM] Keyframing IS necessary for animation
20:28:39 [FM] that's the way you tell to the application what is going to happen & when
20:28:51 [vidfreak] so if i want to make 2 objects at a distance from each other going in circles there is no other way other than keyframing?
20:29:43 [FM] no unless you have a script to do it automaticly for you, but still keyframing
20:30:10 [vidfreak] oh ok thanks
20:30:53 [FM] I was saying about lifting a car: if you put some white handles on someones hands
20:31:25 [FM] & that someone mimics lifting a car or a heavy volume
20:32:15 [FM] you can motion track the white spots & make another layer the target for the keyframes
20:32:23 [FM] you generate this way
20:32:30 [FM] ok?
20:32:42 [Mitch] ok
20:33:45 [FM] another use for this is of course to composite 3D over hand held footage
20:34:42 [FM] you stabilize the footage, make the composite & destabilize it back with the 3D already on
20:35:04 [FM] It adds in realism to acomposited scene
20:35:22 [vidfreak] how do u stablize the footage?
20:35:34 [Mitch] cool
20:36:09 [FM] It's the same philosophy as the motion tracking
20:37:01 [FM] but this time the target layer is the footage itself
20:37:35 [Mitch] i see
20:37:42 [FM] AE tries to make the refernce points we choose
20:38:08 [FM] stay fixed on the same place relative to the composition
20:38:49 [FM] while the footage moves around to compensate the hand shakes
20:39:00 [FM] ok?
20:39:31 [Mitch] ok here
20:39:33 [vidfreak] ok
20:39:50 [FM] You can add new track points by choosing New Track Point from the palette options menu.
20:40:12 [FM] which was something you couldn't do before
20:40:40 [psturgill]
this is making me think that I should have gotten the
Pro instead of Standard..
20:41:26 [FM] It's alot more expensive
20:41:55 [FM] Each new point tracks position only.
20:42:02 [psturgill]
yea.. that is what held me back..
20:42:04 [FM] You cannot apply the additional tracking data directly to a target layer, but you can refer to the data in expressions.
20:42:18 [FM] From a little experiment I have made it seems much more accurate than the one in 5.5.
20:42:34 [FM] & faster too! questions?
20:43:00 [Mitch] cool, no questions
20:43:10 [psturgill] nope
20:43:28 [FM] ok! moving to another subject
20:43:33 [FM] There is a new keying plug in in AE 6 Pro: Keylight!
20:43:49 [FM] It is far better than the native AE chroma tools & you can pull a reasonable key faster.
20:44:01 [FM] I used on a test a low res still & used the keylight with all the default options
20:44:11 [FM] just picked the chroma colour & got a very good key.
20:44:24 [FM] The original picture had glass transparancies & reflections, & thin hair... I was impressed!
20:44:28 [Mitch] wow very cool
20:44:47 [FM] It has some more advanced options that gives you more control on your work but needs some careful reading of the enclosed tutorial.
20:44:47 [psturgill] can you just explain 'keying' and when we would use it...
20:45:30 [FM] In this case we are talking about Chromakeying
20:45:41 [vidfreak]>[Mitch] hey mitch wat is this keying he is talking about?
20:46:01 [FM] are you familiar with the concept?
20:46:07 [psturgill] I think that sometimes I get confused between all the keying options
20:46:17 [vidfreak] no
20:46:20 [psturgill] it replaces a certain color with something?
20:46:26 [Mitch] fernando, is this like when i use a green screen?
20:46:27 [vidfreak] yeah me 2
20:46:38 [FM] Precisely
20:46:39 [vidfreak] can you go over it a little
20:47:14 [FM] You would have a green or blue background
20:48:01 [FM] & key out that color to replace it with somthing else
20:48:36 [FM] Now the options are fairly complicated to go over them here
20:48:51 [vidfreak] ok
20:49:07 [Mitch] essentially making the background transparent so i can use another background...
20:49:14 [FM]
but we might just do a discussion about that if you
can convince mitch
20:49:54 [FM] just schedule one for whenever you can
20:49:57 [Mitch] that's ok, there are some good green screen tutorials at digitalvideofuel.com done by rocky
20:50:19 [FM] yeap that's right
20:51:01 [FM] The good thing about this new plugin is that it gathers all of the options
20:51:33 [FM] that you had in scattered over different plugins
20:52:10 [FM] that allows you to control better what you are doing
20:52:18 [FM] ok?
20:52:30 [psturgill] how often do they come out with new versions?
20:52:42 [Mitch] yea, sounds a bit better
20:53:13 [FM] I don't really know
20:53:23 [Mitch] about every year or so with a new release...
20:54:01 [Mitch] maybe 18 months sometimes
20:54:03 [FM] just a tip the this plugin is a third party tool
20:54:15 [FM] so it has its own installer
20:54:33 [FM] has to be installed separatly
20:54:34 [psturgill] was reading their Plugin SDK and they are going to use the .NET compiler in future versions...
20:55:01 [FM] that's right paul
20:55:52 [FM] ok may I move on?
20:56:02 [psturgill] yep, sorru
20:56:05 [psturgill] sorry
20:56:07 [Mitch] ok
20:56:14 [FM]
it's ok.
20:56:27 [FM] AE 6 introduces application scripting to automate some tasks especially the Render Queue.
20:56:40 [FM] Scripting does not access individual properties of a layer
20:56:50 [FM] so it does not overlap with the functionality of expressions but it is based on a similar model.
20:57:01 [FM] Scripting takes control the application itself, the Project window, and the Render Queue,
20:57:14 [FM] from which expressions can in some cases receive data but to which expressions cannot make changes.
20:57:25 [FM] If you are familiar with Actions in PS this is similar but AE doesn't provide a recorder or an editor:
20:57:36 [FM] Scripts have to be created & edited outside AE (with NotePad or similar) & saved on the scripts folder.
20:57:45 [FM] There are already some sample scripts you can test by going to the File > Run Script >... menu on AE
20:57:45 [vidfreak] so what problem does this scripting feature solve?
20:57:56 [Mitch] i wonder why not...
20:58:44 [FM] It solves some of the tasks you may want to AE to do unatended
20:59:07 [FM] Like managing the render queue
20:59:31 [vidfreak] o ok
20:59:42 [FM] There is actually a sample script for AE to email someone when the render is finished
20:59:59 [vidfreak] cool
21:00:14 [Mitch] cool
21:00:17 [FM] Mitch I didn't get it?
21:00:38 [FM] the "i wonder why not..."
21:00:39 [vidfreak] what language is this scripting done?
21:01:02 [FM] based on java
21:01:03 [Mitch] you just said there isn't a recorder for scripts and i was wondering why not
21:01:21 [vidfreak] ic
21:01:24 [FM] which is the same as expressions
21:01:34 [vidfreak] so you can only write in java or can you also write in c
21:01:39 [vidfreak] and other languages
21:01:43 [Mitch] java or javascript?
21:01:53 [FM] I guess they didn't have the time to implement it
21:02:09 [vidfreak] hmmm
21:02:12 [Mitch] 6.5 i guess
21:02:26 [FM] Let me check on that one... just a sec
21:04:01 [FM] ECMA standard JavaScript
21:04:20 [Mitch] that makes more sense...thanks for looking fernando
21:04:42 [FM] I don't know what ECMA stands for though... lol
21:05:22 [Mitch] i'm not sure either....
21:05:48 [FM] That's all I have for today... I didn't have much time to explore it more but it seems to me it
21:06:20 [FM] pretty much summs all there is to the pro new features
21:06:40 [Mitch] cool, thanks alot fernando!
21:07:02 [Mitch] Before everyone leaves
21:07:22 [FM] I hope this helped some of you guys to decide wether or not to buy the pro version
21:07:24 [psturgill] thanks
21:07:25 [Mitch] Thanks for coming I'll post the log within a few days
21:07:51 [Mitch] the next session is very different, Premiere Pro for beginners in 2 weeks
21:08:05 [psturgill]
boy do I need that..
21:08:10 [vidfreak] cool
21:08:18 [vidfreak] thanks for the help fernando
21:08:20 [Mitch] that's all from me...
21:08:27 [FM] Besides I made this from the point of view of the difference from the two pro versions
21:08:42 [vidfreak] yeah
21:08:43 [FM]
thank you all for coming
21:08:49 [vidfreak] got a lot of my concepts clear
21:09:02 [vidfreak]
thank you for leading this session
21:09:17 [FM] great! I'm always glad when I can be of help
21:09:38 [Mitch] yea it was a big help
21:10:06 [FM]
& I got rid of the headache
21:10:11 [Mitch] fernando, this is a bit off topic but Premiere Pro ships with a SteadyMove plug-in
21:10:26 [FM] yes
21:10:41 [Mitch] good the headache is gone
21:10:44 [psturgill] ECMA = European Computer Manufacturers Association... it is a standards board
21:10:45 [vidfreak] i dont think so
21:11:00 [vidfreak] because i have it premiere pro and it doesnt have it
21:11:07 [Mitch] somehow i didn't mention it in the tips discussion...
21:11:09 [FM] good, thanks paul
21:11:39 [Mitch] you have to install it separately from the PPro install disc
21:11:40 [vidfreak] does ecma javascript= genaral javascript
21:11:53 [vidfreak] oh ok
21:12:33 [Mitch] it is probably close to the latest version, that's my guess
21:12:39 [psturgill] C# was submitted to ECMA to become a standard language...
21:13:04 [vidfreak] ok thanks
21:13:13 [psturgill] what effect folder does SteadyMove go into?
21:13:23 [FM] but mitch, SteadyMove is a third party plug in
21:13:34 [vidfreak] yep
21:13:51 [FM] while the motion tracker is native to AE.
21:13:51 [Mitch] it goes into a separate folder under video effects
21:14:17 [psturgill] ah, I must not have installed it then
21:14:21 [Mitch] yea but steadymove comes with, there is a pro version that can be purchased
21:14:38 [FM] & I don't know if there was any involvement from the same team
21:15:09 [Mitch] i don't know
21:15:17 [psturgill] has anyone attempted to make a plugin?
21:15:21 [FM] ok but what was the question then? sorry!
21:16:08 [Mitch] wasn't a question, just a comment that PPro has also implemented video stabilization
21:16:22 [FM] Not yet paul. I'm more into delphi (Pascal) & I would have to tranlate all the c++ header files into pascal
21:16:36 [FM] ok mitch! .)
21:16:48 [Mitch] steadymove is in the 2d3 folder
21:17:04 [Mitch] 2d3 is the vendor
21:17:22 [FM] I think it was due too, given the fact that there are a lot of amateurs usin premiere
21:17:34 [psturgill] I will have to install that later tonight