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Question

Base video (to be used several times with different audio files) + newby issues

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
January 18, 2023
5 replies
1480 views

Hei everyone,

I am kinda new to After effects, I am able to to simple animations and motion graphics, but still I miss some basic principles that surely are making me do a lot of useless efforts, so I realized that the best option was to ask some expert her directly!

MY GOAL:

- I want to create a base video for a series of video podcast, so I need a base video which is going to be the same every time, where each time I just need to add a new audio file, and it should work everytime.

- The video is an animated audio spectrum with some moving elements in the background

WHAT I HAVE DONE SO FAR:

- I managed to have a cenetered double audio spectrum, it is linked to my sample audio files (to test)

- I do have the moving elements working properly and following the planned paths

MY ISSUES:

- I am struggling understanding how composition and project works: I do create a new project/composition, but each file is linked to this specific project, and if I copy/paste the same, for example, audio spectrym, in the new project this is pasted extremely small, it is not resizable (if I do so it is distorted and pixellated), and If i reupload the audio files and like them again to the spectrum, they work but all the setting are gone, so it is basically quicker to redo it from scratch.

- I do use a 4k background that I made with another softare, it looks ok in the prview, but it turns pixellated when rendered, why?

MY QUESTION:

- I have plenty of questions, but manly I would like to understand the proper method to actually get to have a properly working baseline video, where I can each time add different audio files, and have it working...

THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH!

This topic has been closed for replies.

Mylenium

Legend

Check AEscripts.com. There's all manner of scripts there, including no doubt one that can copy & paste your keyframes n times.

Mylenium

Legend

The long rendering could be that pesky encoding bug where directly rendering to AME takes forever. In such a case it is recommended to render a format like ProRes directly from AE and encode it later. The rest sounds like you have some massive issues with hardware acceleration or caches. In such a case the usual drill applies: Update/ check your graphics driver and relevant settings in AE, consider trashing the preferences and also reinstalling AE. The paths and duplication should not hzave a significant impact on performance, so there's nothing wrong with that.

Mylenium

B

Bjørn13Author

Known Participant

I was now meanwhile already trying an alternative solution, if eventually it will fail I'll try this, I think it will be the case.

Any suggestion about copying/pasting on the same layer, but with a constant distance between loops?

Mylenium

Legend

That is indeed weird. I'm stumped.

Mylenium

B

Bjørn13Author

Known Participant

That sounds bad : /

Meanwhile, I had a new issue... I was trying to render a video WITHOUT some elements, just as a background, to add elements in the future over the base video, but after 18 (eighteen) hours of rendering, it was still at 20%...

So I decided to simplify the layers, hoping to have a lighter project, but I just don't manage to make it work...
So, my question is (see attached screen as reference):

- I would like the number 1, 2, 3, and so on, to repeat after a while like shown in the screen, following the same path, is it possible to copy/paste (somehow) the same pagh ON THE SAME LAYER?
Because if I try, it duplycates it, adding more weight to the project, i guess.

2) why was the rendering time for a project with a base background image and few paths effects taking SO LONG to render? (my ram usage was shown at 4%), GPU I don't know but it never took so long and I make more complex motion graphics using tops half an hour...

thanks again!

Mylenium

Legend

If the artwork schrinks despite the same comp size, it likely has keyframes, a changed transform setting or any such thing. If it's based on shape layers you could even have inadvertently scaled a shape group inside it. Changing the spectrum and shapes should not be much of a problem. You would simply replace the audio in the project window and/ or replace it in the timeline with e.g. holding Alt while drag & dropping the new audio on the selected layer in the timeline. For adapting texts you can easily resort to the quadrizillion sourceRectAtTime() tutorials that turn up in a web search such as this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In4miXUdxko

Easy enough to adapt for whatever you need. For anything more we would need specific info such as a genuine screenshot with the relevant properties revealed via a UU shortcut thingy, which is probably also what you should do regarding your scale issue, now that I think of it.

Mylenium

B

Bjørn13Author

Known Participant

I don't have any issue related to what this video explains, but I still have issues with resizing elements in different projects:

1) same resolution, elemnts gats pasted microscopically

2) if I resize in any way, the get ultra pixellated no matter what, and all the settings (like waveform size, frequency, colors) get lost

Mylenium

Legend

Sorry, but this is way too vague to really make sense of it. You have to provide actual screenshots and proper info about the composition settings, render settings and all that. Ultimately I think that's what it comes down to: You are treating AE as if it had an "infinite" canvas and stuff in it has no fixed resolution when the exact opposite is true. The composition dimensions define the resolution and of course an audio spectrum created in an HD comp will look a lot smaller in a larger comp just like a 4k background will look much less pristine when scaled down to another composition size. Or in simple words: There is no such thing as an "universal" resolution in AE. Similar things could be said for setting output resolutions, render settings and whatnot. It might perhaps be a good idea to start at the beginning and actually read the online help. No offense, but most of what you said indicates that you haven't and that's why you struggle. So maybe take that hour out of your day and study up on the basics.

After Effects User Guide

Mylenium

B

Bjørn13Author

Known Participant

I of course have read what I could and tried to follow tutorials as well, but with the time I have, I cannot do better, that is why i rely on this support forum, for vert specific questions.

I attach now a screenshot of the main graphics of the video, with two notes.

- First of all: the second composition (where I have tried to paste the audio spectrum) had the exact same resolution as the first one, so I do not understand why. It becomes like 30 time smaller when pasted.

- Second point: i tried now to underline two elements in the video screenshots that I would like to change for each video, I explain myself better: the background should stay the same, always, the moving elements as well. The spectrum and the squares have to change for each video, because the spectrum has to be linked to a specific audio each time, and the squares contain a different text each time.

Hopfullythis is clearer now, i am sure that if you still believe this is too vague, it is because there has been a misunderstanding, because an expert of After Effect is surely able to "fix" this issue in a couple of steps, i believe. Not trident to be rude at all, I am blaming myself if you do not understand what I say now.

Thanks again.

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