Adobe After Effects Help Thread

[raziel666]

Congrats for a very useful thread, I had wanted to use AFX and was almost desperate and ready to give up, because of color conversions, ruining of image and stuff, when I accidentally visited this place. What I want to ask is:
1) Is there any other codec (except for the Uncompressed Video - the default of AFX) for lossless extraction to RGBA mode? I'm asking, because for a couple of minutes that I want, it need so much space (enough GB's). I tried the ffdshow lossless codec, but it doesn't allow me to save in RGB+A mode.
2) I have the episode in pieces so as to put the overlay in the pieces that I want. I have thought of making a seperate avs script for each part (straight avisource for the simple parts and avisource with overlay for the parts that need AFX) and then combine all the pieces in a 10th avs script, where I have the avisource + avisource... command (the argument of each avisource is the respective avs script) plus filters, resizing, subtitles and stuff. Is there any other way to do it or is there a possibility of something going wrong by loading avs scripts into avisource? I've done a little test and things seem to be fine. Any help is appreciated. Thanks a lot.

[TheFluff]

1. Lagarith is generally the weapon of choice. (The good old HuffYUV also works, but it doesn't compress nearly as much.)

2. You should generally use import() instead of avisource() on .avs scripts, but I'd say you're making stuff awfully over-complicated. See this post for a way to do it all simply with just one raw avi file and a lot of overlay clips.

[raziel666]

Ok, Lagarith worked just fine - extremely small sizes compared to the uncompressed RGBA. The problem that made me work with smaller parts of the raw and not the whole is because when I import it in AFX, I cannot in the whole raw, because when I skip to the end to work with karaoke I get error messages (the raw is a 1280x720 one, wmv). So I had to cut it into pieces.
Now about the import thing. My script is as follows:
LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\Anime Utils\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\VSFilter.dll")
AVISource("pt_1+2.avs") + AVISource("pt_3.avs") + AVISource("pt_4.avs") + AVISource("pt_5.avs") + AVISource("pt_6.avs") + AVISource("pt_7.avs") + AVISource("pt_8.avs") + AVISource("pt_9.avs")
TextSub("subtitle.ass")

Some of the .avs contain only the avisource("part_x.avi") command and others the script for the AFX overlay (as mentioned in post #42 of this topic). What I can't figure out is how I will combine 8 avisynth scripts into one with the use of import. Is it the same, but replacing AVISource with import? I haven't found any example of import() + import()... that's why I'm asking.
Another thing that came to mind is if I can use the same overlay method, if I get a screenshot from the video, edit it in photoshop, render it through AFX and overlay it on the original video. For example, if the there are some static parts in a video (some signs, etc. in kanji) and erase all the other image and keep only the translated signs, can I overlay them over the original video? I hope this makes sense. Thanks a lot again for all your help.

[TheFluff]

Yes, import() works just like any other Avisynth source function (i.e. it returns a clip). It's perfectly fine to say import()+import().

However, in your case it's probably simpler to do just one avisynth script (at least, that's what I would've done), like this:

loadplugin("X:/plugins/vsfilter.dll")
# assign sign clips to variables
sign1 = avisource("sign1.avi")
(...)
sign4 = avisource("sign4.avi")

# assign source clips to variables
pt1 = avisource("pt1.avi")
(...)
pt8 = avisource("pt8.avi")

# overlay signs on source clips
#(if you need to overlay on specific frames of the source clips only, use the insertsign() function instead)
pt2 = overlay(pt2, sign1, mask=sign1.showalpha())
(...)
pt8 = overlay(pt8, sign4, mask=sign4.showalpha())

# combine
pt1+pt2+pt3+pt4+pt5+pt6+pt7+pt8

textsub("X:/foo.ssa")

As for overlaying images, yes, that works too (but be aware that most apps only save 24-bit bitmaps (no alpha channel, hence no transparency mask)). Use imagesource() for loading images. If you render it through AFX and get a one-frame video, you may want to use the loop() function to make it as long as needed, first.

BTW, if you want to make AFX behave in a nicer way with your raw, you may want to encode it to lagarith first, too (or just make an xvid workraw).

[raziel666]

I found lagarith to be much quicker than ffv1 i had been using until now. Also the xvid workraw would be a good idea but I've used to doing this cut into pieces/rejoin thing. And there's no way you can mess when trimming frames. You are right, the bmp is 24bpp but I've found this for anyone who's interested
http://www.axialis.com/tutorials/tutorial-misc001.html
It's a tutorial on how to make a 24bpp picture into 32bpp RGBA. I haven't tried it to see if it truly works though...

P.S. Fluff, thanks again, you are a saviour.

[Knez]

I have another question.

Is it possible in the AE timeline to show you number of frames instead of times?

Tnx again.

[Devastator]

Originally Posted by Knez

I have another question.

Is it possible in the AE timeline to show you number of frames instead of times?

Tnx again.

Yes, it's actually quite simple.

File -> Project Settings (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+K), in Display Settings, select Frames.

[raziel666]

Next to the series of the never-ending problem is this. I made the following script, under Fluff's instructions.

LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\Anime Utils\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\VSFilter.dll")

# Assign overlay videos

overlay3 = avisource("logo.avi")

overlay5 = avisource("title.avi")

overlay7 = avisource("middle.avi")

overlay9 = avisource("karaoke.avi")


# Declare video sources

part1_2 = avisource("part1_2.avi")
part3 = avisource("part3(logo).avi")
part4 = avisource("part4.avi")
part5 = avisource("part5(title).avi")
part6 = avisource("part6.avi")
part7 = avisource("part7(middle).avi")
part8 = avisource("part8.avi")
part9 = avisource("part9(karaoke).avi")



# Declare overlays

part3_ovr = overlay(part3, overlay3, mask=overlay3.showalpha())
part5_ovr = overlay(part5, overlay3, mask=overlay5.showalpha())
part7_ovr = overlay(part7, overlay3, mask=overlay7.showalpha())
part9_ovr = overlay(part9, overlay3, mask=overlay9.showalpha())


# combine

part1_2 + part3_ovr + part4 + part5_ovr + part6 + part7_ovr + part8 + part9_ovr



TextSub("ep1_gr_final.ass")

Everything seemed to be fine, except that I found that from the four overlays, only the first one works well. All the rest appear black (where it should be white). The render was of course done in RGB+A, with Color Straight (Unmatted) as I read in some post above. I have to note that when I try each overlay seperately works just fine. The problem is when they are combined. Any ideas?

[Devastator]

You're using the same video to overlay on parts 3, 5, 7 and 9, using the mask from part 3.

part3_ovr = overlay(part3, overlay3, mask=overlay3.showalpha())
part5_ovr = overlay(part5, overlay3, mask=overlay5.showalpha())
part7_ovr = overlay(part7, overlay3, mask=overlay7.showalpha())
part9_ovr = overlay(part9, overlay3, mask=overlay9.showalpha())

Changing it to this should fix it.

 part3_ovr = overlay(part3, overlay3, mask=overlay3.showalpha())
part5_ovr = overlay(part5, overlay5, mask=overlay5.showalpha())
part7_ovr = overlay(part7, overlay7, mask=overlay7.showalpha())
part9_ovr = overlay(part9, overlay9, mask=overlay9.showalpha())

[raziel666]

OMFG! This happens when you copy-paste lines. Thanks a lot.

[Knez]

When I try to import SSA script with kanji trough Shinjipierre's SSA->AE script I get the following error message:

Anyone knows how to solve this problem?

[B17cH]

His script doesnt support unicode. you can try getting Paul script. look somewhere in this thread it has link to it.

[shinjipierre]

Erm, i can import kanjis, it must depend on the way your characters are coded.

well, I'm not an expert in those things

http://liddo.fr/ssajap.ssa << this one works

[[darkfire]]

That file is in UTF-8 is that guys kanji in shift-jis instead

[G.U.N.D.A.M]

Q: how can i add a pic to my karaoke

[TheFluff]

Several ways.
1. If it's static, use imagesource() and overlay() in avisynth.
2. If it's going to jump around with the karaoke, do it as:
a) a vector drawing with ASS drawing commands, or
b) a custom-drawn font glyph.
3. Use Adobe After Effects and do whatever you feel like doing.

For 2a, see also:
http://www.malakith.net/aegisub/viewtopic.php?t=291
http://www.malakith.net/aegisub/viewtopic.php?t=185

[Otacon_]

Hi, new here and wanna start with thanking everyone for making this thread. I have wanted to learn how to make those awesome karaoke videos for years now and never got any support from the fansubbers But now I now they use AE so that's a god start

I have only one problem tho and that is what tools to use except AE? I have made regular subtitles using Substation alpha before and I read you can import SSA files to AE using either Shinjipierre's import SSA v0.7 or SSA Karaoke Animator by Paul Tuersley (the last script seems easier to use for a noob). So if I encode a video with lagarith lossless coded I can create an .ssa file to it and import it to AE along with the lossless video? From there I start applying the animation effects to the text right?

You probably ask your self why I don't read the tutorials on adobes website and the answer is because I'm only interested in the karaoke part and due to lack of time. So please help out and don't get to annoyed at my silly questions

Edit: Watched Shinjipierre's tutorial and that's some crazy stuff! Gonna have to study AE allot before I can probably make 3 sec of karaoke haha!

[zalas]

Originally Posted by Otacon_

You probably ask your self why I don't read the tutorials on adobes website and the answer is because I'm only interested in the karaoke part and due to lack of time. So please help out and don't get to annoyed at my silly questions

Edit: Watched Shinjipierre's tutorial and that's some crazy stuff! Gonna have to study AE allot before I can probably make 3 sec of karaoke haha!

Yup, trying to do karaoke in AfterFX without knowing the basics of video editing and AfterFX use is like trying to snipe when you barely know how to use a gun.

[raziel666]

I would like to ask if there's some way (using either Shinjipierre's or Paul Tuersley's scripts) to make the imported kanji text layers to appear vertically and not horizontally. Thanks.

[Otacon_]

Originally Posted by zalas

Yup, trying to do karaoke in AfterFX without knowing the basics of video editing and AfterFX use is like trying to snipe when you barely know how to use a gun.

I have knowlagde of video editing and typesetting but not advanced typesetting and AfterFX. Anyway I have learned to use Aeigisub today and i like it very much. But I have one simple question and that is if I must add the effects to the fonts in Aeigisub or can I use the basic typesetting function if I'm going to import the ssa file to AfterFX late on and frpm there apply all the effects like font color etc?