Visual Effects Category

List of video formats supporting alpha channels

I had a request for this list, so here it is. It is a list of popular video formats that support alpha (transparency) channels. It also includes a few image formats that are used for video work, like TIFF.

I may have missed a couple, so let me know in the comments.

File FormatMaximum Alpha Bit-Depth
Apple Animation8-bit
Apple ProRes 444416-bit
Avid Meridien Compressed8-bit
Avid Meridien Uncompressed8-bit
Cineon16-bit
DPX16-bit
Maya IFF32-bit
OpenEXR32-bit
PNG16-bit
RLA32-bit
RPF32-bit
SGI16-bit
SGI RAW16-bit
Targa (TGA)8-bit
TIFF32-bit

Posted by Jon Chappell on Saturday February 2 2008 9:14 AM to Video Editing, Compositing, Visual Effects
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Workarounds for the QuickTime 7.4 rendering issues in After Effects

I have heard claims that it is caused by DRM and I have heard claims that it is just a case of adjusting a preference.

The preference in question is the "Show legacy encoders" option. Unfortunately I can't test this out myself as I don't have the CS3 version of AE and I wouldn't really want to install QT 7.4 even if I did. However, people are reporting that adjusting this preference makes no difference. I would imagine that this is correct, as the option simply shows and hides encoders in the QuickTime menus.

This problem only affects sequences longer than 9:59 (I have also heard 9:57 but it doesn't make much difference) in length. If you are exporting sequences shorter than this, you will not be affected.

The bug only affects QuickTime exports. A workaround is to export to an image sequence (I recommend TIFFs). Final Cut Pro doesn't work well with image sequences and it will really slow down your timeline, so I recommend then converting the images to a movie in QuickTime.

To do this, fire up QuickTime and go to File > Open Image Sequence. Choose the first frame of the sequence and click Open. Select your desired frame rate and click Ok.

You now have two options: you can go to File > Save As and save it as a self-contained movie or the second option is to go to File > Export and choose an export format. The former will make no changes to the quality of the images and the second one will recompress it to a given format (such as DV). The latter option is recommended if you are placing it in a Final Cut Pro sequence, as it will not require rendering if you match the sequence settings.

This workaround can be applied to any application that is having difficulties with the latest QuickTime update.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Thursday January 24 2008 1:37 AM to Apple, Visual Effects, QuickTime
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After Effects 8.0.2 released

Adobe has released a new patch for Macintosh After Effects users. This patch allows you to natively import and work with Panasonic P2 data, and adds Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard support.

More details of bug fixes are available here.

This does not, unfortunately, fix the QuickTime 7.4 rendering issues, although Adobe are "working with Apple to resolve the problem".

Posted by Jon Chappell on Tuesday January 22 2008 5:03 PM to Software, Visual Effects
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QuickTime 7.4 causes issues with After Effects

After some users found problems with QuickTime 7.3, some are reporting issues with 7.4 as well.

The QT 7.3 update broke non-current versions of Final Cut Pro, causing log and capture dropouts among other things. If you were hoping the latest update fixes the problems caused by the previous patch, I'm afraid you are out of luck. You will need to downgrade to QT 7.2.

Additionally, After Effects users are reporting that version 7.4 is causing rendering issues for them. They are finding that AE will stop rendering after exactly 10 minutes with the message "After Effects error: opening movie - you do not have permission to open this file (-54)". The only solution so far is to downgrade back to QT 7.2 or 7.3.1 or wait for Adobe or Apple to issue a patch. Windows users have been reporting these issues as well, and the issue seems to affect widespread versions of AE.

There is a post on Apple's support boards that gives a way of "hacking" QuickTime back to 7.2 by installing 7.3 or 7.4 and then copying over the old 7.2 files. This is a quick and dirty way of doing it but I would not advise it. Final Cut Pro is a professional and complex application and for best results, I recommend backing up your files and performing a complete Erase and Install. This creates the most stable environment for running the software. You do not want it to fail at an important moment, particularly if you make your living from using it. Remember not to reinstall QuickTime 7.4 again afterwards!

Always remember the Golden Rule: Don't install updates on a production machine unless you have a way of quickly getting everything back to normal (such as a clone), and DEFINITELY don't install anything in the middle of a project.

Update: Some After Effects users are coping by rendering out their sequences in 10 minute segments, putting them together in Final Cut Pro and then exporting them as one movie clip. Obviously this significantly increases the total rendering time and you should make allowances for the extra time burden.

Update #2: Apparently, this issue also affects Cinema 4D and is related to an update in QuickTime's Digital Rights Management (DRM) code. Presumably this is a conflict with code designed to prevent people from copying or distributing iTunes-rented movies.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Thursday January 17 2008 10:07 AM to Apple, Visual Effects, QuickTime
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Cinital Previzion Advanced 3D Virtual Set System

CinemaTech has an article about a startup company called Cinital that has developed a 3D keying system for virtual sets. This part is not new, as I have used Serious Magic Ultra 2 (now owned by Adobe) in the past for previewing the key on-set using virtual sets and images. I would not use Ultra 2 for compositing the final image as it did not offer nearly enough control over the final image, but this system looks like it offers plenty in that department.

Where this system really shines, however, is in the tracking system. I have not seen this anywhere else. You can move the camera about and rack focus from the foreground subject to the background and the virtual set will change accordingly. That is very time-consuming to perform in post production but this system does it in (almost) real-time. This is best illustrated by the video at the bottom of the CinemaTech link.

There are no pricing details on their web site but unconfirmed sources state that it is around $85,000.

[via HDForIndies]

Posted by Jon Chappell on Wednesday January 9 2008 4:24 PM to Compositing, Hardware, Visual Effects
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Peter Jackson to create TinTin movie using performance capture

DreamWorks has acquired the rights to the classic comic series TinTin, about the faithful Belgian reporter and his dog Snowy. It will be a trilogy - Peter Jackson will be directing one of the movies, Steven Spielberg will be directing another, and the third director is currently unknown (unconfirmed reports suggest that if they can't find anyone, Spielberg and Jackson might co-direct it).

Andy Serkis will be playing Captain Haddock in the film. I would imagine he would be good for this role considering he played a similar role as the gruff ship's cook in King Kong.

The films will be visually faithful to the original cartoons, as they will be employing the latest performance capture technology to create a cartoon version of the film using real actors. This technique was most recently seen in the movie Beowulf, which is currently in the running for a Visual Effects Academy Award.

Serkis is no stranger to motion capture of course, having played Gollum in Lord of the Rings and Kong in King Kong, but this will be his first performance capture movie.

[via BBC News]

Posted by Jon Chappell on Monday December 17 2007 1:51 PM to Industry, Visual Effects
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15 movies to compete for Visual Effects Oscar

In an increasingly-digital age of filmmaking, the Visual Effects Academy Award is gaining in prominence. Not so long ago, only three or four titles would be considered but 15 are being considered for the 2008 Academy Awards.

The full list is:
  • 300
  • Beowulf
  • The Bourne Ultimatum
  • Enchanted
  • Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
  • Ghost Rider
  • The Golden Compass
  • Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix
  • I Am Legend
  • Live Free or Die Hard
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
  • Spider Man 3
  • Sunshine
  • Transformers
  • The Water Horse


My money is on Spider Man 3, purely because of the Sandman sequences. Those are incredibly difficult to recreate in a computer. Another contender could be The Water Horse, although I think water interactions would be easier than sand interactions.

[via Variety]

Posted by Jon Chappell on Friday November 16 2007 3:53 AM to Industry, Visual Effects
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Vue 6 xStream for Mac released

I've been waiting for this day for ages. The Windows version has been out for a while but the Mac one's only just come out. The standard version of Vue 6 has been out for a while for both platforms but I've been holding out for the xStream version.

This software lets you create breathtaking 3D landscapes incredibly easily. It has a technology called Ecosystems that allows you to duplicate objects with random variations such as scaling, rotation, etc, making the objects look more natural. It can also change the densities of the objects based on the elevation of the ground they are on because in real life, trees get thinner as the ground gets higher. It has a lot of really great features that I won't go into now but they're listed in detail on e-on Software's Vue 6 page (not to be confused with eyeon Software).

The xStream version takes that one step further by offering integration with your favorite 3D modeling package. Now you can create a complex atmosphere with sunlight and fog and integrate it seamlessly with your models.

This software was used for Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (and probably 3 as well) and ILM have publicly endorsed the software, and that's a pretty big endorsement.

They offer a free Personal Learning Edition for you to play around with, as well as some pretty cool movies on their site. I suggest you check them out because this software's pretty amazing.

Trial page: http://www.e-onsoftware.com/products/?page=try
Vue 6 xStream page plus videos: http://www.e-onsoftware.com/products/vue/vue_6_xstream/

Posted by Jon Chappell on Friday September 14 2007 6:31 PM to Software, Visual Effects
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