A Scanner Darkly Effects Tutorial (Well sort of...)

As this movie has prompted a slew of requests for "how to achieve this effect...", I thought I'd post this which I amended slightly from a tutorial in issue 18 of 'Practical Digital Video' magazine. (I have no connection with this magazine apart from buying this particular issue)
I've tried it in a short sequence and it works...sort of!
You'll need Photoshop and fiddle around with the values to achieve the best effect.
I've done this using FCP4.5HD and 10.3.9, but should work in other versions.
Find a sequence that you want to work with and go file>export>QuickTime conversion.
Under ‘format’, choose ‘image sequence’, then under ‘options’, choose TIFF as the format and change the Frames per Second to 25 (If working in PAL).
Select the ‘options’ button and change the compression to none.
Save the files to a new folder (as there will be lots of them).
Next, you need to open one of the files in Photoshop in order to experiment with it to find the best effect.
Go Image>Pixel Aspect Ratio and choose the one that best suits your needs.
Control click the background layer in the layers window and choose Duplicate layer.
Name this new layer ‘Shading’ and hide it by clicking on the eye icon to it’s left.
Select the background layer and go Filter>Artistic>Cutout and change the values to suit your image’s needs. As a starting point, try Number of Levels=8, Edge Simplicity=4 and edge fidelity=2.
Next select the ‘Shading’ layer and then go Image>Adjustments>Desaturate.
With ‘Shading’ still selected, go Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast. Change the values until the edges stand out more. Try increasing both by 25.
Next go Filter>Stylize>Glowing Edges. Change the parameters until little detail is left outside the main edges. Start with Edge Width=2, Edge Brightness=10 and Smoothness=10. Click OK.
Then go Image>Adjustments>Invert. This inversion may reveal more detail which is not wanted so to limit this you can go back to Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast and change the levels again if necessary. Try Brightness=10, Contrast=40.
Now, in the layers tab, (with the ‘shading layer’ still selected) change the blending mode from ‘normal’ to ‘darken’.
Next you need to automate this process, in Photoshop, for each frame. Close the current image without saving and open a new one. The ‘History’ window has a tab to it’s right called ‘Actions’ – click on it.
At the bottom of the Actions window is a series of icons. The second from the right lets you create a new one. Click on it and name your action; once you’ve clicked on record, every step you take in Photoshop will be recorded to enable you to use them again later on.
Repeat the steps you previously took, starting with the aspect ratio change and ending with the composite mode change (from normal to darken)., using the values you have set for your images. Once the final step has been taken, go Layer>Flatten Image. Click on the square to the left of the red circle to stop the recording.
Lose your current file without saving it. Go File>Automate>Batch. Make sure ‘Source’ is set to ‘Folder’ and choose your folder of exported images. ‘Destination’ should also be set to Folder. Choose or create a folder where your modified files will be sent to.
Activate the automation process by clicking on OK. Photoshop will now transform each of your images based on the values given to it by the ‘Action’ you created.
Depending on the number of files you have used and the speed of your Mac, this process may take some time.
To import your files back into FCP, drop the folder of modified images into the browser. To turn your still back into moving images, ensure that sequence you originally exported is open, drag the folder from the browser to the timeline to an empty video track above the original video and (ensuring the arrow is pointing downwards) release the mouse.
(Depending on your Mac’s configuration, the sequence may not play back properly - in this case, you could export the sequence again , making it self-contained, before re-importing.)

Wow. I think I'll just remove xfce and all the stuff and just start from scratch with LXDE along with some other packages I want. I'll just have to make that list...
~LXDE -PCManFM +Thunar probably
~system-config-printer
~I've heard a lot about laptop-mode-tools and how great it is in LXDE. I need a good power manager that works.
~Firefox for web browsing, although I hate that slow beast, it's probably my best shot as far as compatibility with web pages and overall use goes (unless someone could suggest a nicer browser for linux?
~Openoffice (sigh) unless there's a better alternative? I would use abiword but I hate that it has it's own stupid .abw format. If only it could use .odt by default and had MS Office filters just as good as openoffice!
Um.. ya
Also, is there any one simple command that will remove ALL of my GUI tools except for X11 (and my xorg.conf)? I don't like package hunting and deleting in small groups. Or if I did remove X11, then would all my apps like firefox and gimp that require a GUI be removed as well?
Last edited by Redrazor39 (2009-01-11 17:18:36)

Similar Messages

A Scanner Darkley Effect

I kind of have a loaded set of questions here to have the outcome look like the movie A Scanner Darkly. First of all this is my first time on this forum so if that has been discussed then I am sorry, I looked around and really couldn’t find anything. I am a student and for my final project in my animation class we are allowed to use a variety of techniques. The one that I want to use is an effect called rotoscoping, which is what the movie A Scanner Darkly used in case you didn’t already know. We have to do a 15 second psa. So 15 second times 30 fps is going to end up with over 3,000 frames to export and then edit in illustrator with the live trace effect. Does anyone know
a) How to export every frame as an image
b) To add a live trace effect to a full set of images (possibly in bridge)
c) To re import the frames so they are at 1/30 of a sec instead of the 10 seconds that FCP defaults image duration.
Basically I am trying to find a few shortcuts because filming, editing, exporting the frames, editing them then reimporting over 3,000 frames is going to take forever.
Thanks any help is appreciated.

First of all, check your math. At 30fps, a 15 sec PSA will be 450 frames. Not as bad as you thought.
Second, you can easily set the default length of still images in FCP. Go to User Preferences, and then the Editing tab. You can choose a duration for Still/Freeze. Just remember, it only applies to new images you've pulled into the Browser (not ones that are in there already).
Third, remember that the real Scanner Darkly film used highly specialized software to create its effect. Start at page 22 of this magazine to get the skinny:
http://www.videography.com/pdf/0706_videography.pdf
That being said, there are shortcuts you can do within FCP/Motion (the Video/Find Edges filter comes to mind), but it's never going to look exactly like the movie unless you invest super amounts of time. The balance/compromise is up to you.
Good luck!

[svn] 3538: -Fix package names for Animate3D and Rotate3D effects as well as their instances .

Revision: 3538
Author: [email protected]
Date: 2008-10-09 09:47:00 -0700 (Thu, 09 Oct 2008)
Log Message:
-Fix package names for Animate3D and Rotate3D effects as well as their instances.
-added to manifest.xml and mxml-2009-manifest.xml so they would be included in the compile
Ticket Links:
http://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/mxml-2009
Modified Paths:
flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/mxml-2009-manifest.xml
flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/flex4/manifest.xml
flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/flex4/src/mx/effects/Animate3D.as
flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/flex4/src/mx/effects/Rotate3D.as
flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/flex4/src/mx/effects/effectClasses/Animate3DInstance.a s
flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/flex4/src/mx/effects/effectClasses/Rotate3DInstance.as

From man pkgbuild:
It is also possible to specify an optional filename, which is helpful with weird URLs and for handling multiple source files with the same name. The syntax is: source=('filename::url')

Will After Effect work well for adding subtitles to a music video?

Will after effect work well for adding subtitles to a music video? Or is there an easier Adobe product I should use?

Is there a way to protect music and video after a change is made to the beginning of a finished movie so as not to throw off the already completed music and video timeline?
If you are referring to music in the "floating" green background, then no. It will automatically readjust itself to the start of your project each time new material is added to the beginning of your project. On the other hand, you can add your music to a clip rather than a background and this audio you can "pin" to a clip so that it remains in the same position relative to the clip and any following clips which it may overlap.
ADDED: Oops! Looks like Winston beat me out here...
Message was edited by: Jon Walker

I'm back! Well, sorta...

It's hard to keep a good man down... welcome back to the real world!

So as most of you know I recent left the IT industry to pursue my zen job and ran off to run a Kayak rental shack with no computers in sight, or even electricity... This was awesome. It was peaceful, it was zen, and it was one of the best experiences ever.However, I have recently left the Kayak shack to come back to technology... Well sort of... I recently accepted an offer from a start-up company that designs fixed wing and multi-rotor drones for mapping and agriculture. My new position: Test Pilot and Systems Engineer. My time will be split between test flying drones,designing drone systems, and traveling to some crazy places to teach people how to use them. I'm going to be working a lot with Raspberry Pi's and Arduino stuff so it's putting me in a lovely position to become active in the community again :-). Not sure if you'll see me...
This topic first appeared in the Spiceworks Community

Help with Flash CS3 Particle Effect Tutorial Code

I did the tutorial from http://www.schoolofflash.com/2008/03/flash-cs3-particle-effect/. I used a star to replace the circle. Here's my code:
var starsArray:Array = new Array();
var maxStarss:Number = 8;
function addStars(e:Event)
    var stars:Stars = new Stars();
    stars.x = stage.stageWidth/2;
    stars.y = stage.stageHeight/2;
    stars.alpha = Math.random() * .8 + .2;
    stars.scaleX = stars.scaleY = Math.random() * .8 + .2;
    stars.xMovement = Math.random() * 10 - 5;
    stars.yMovement = Math.random() * 10 - 5;
    starsArray.push(stars);
    addChild(stars);
    stars.cacheAsBitmap = true;
    if (starsArray.length >= maxStarss)
        removeChild(starsArray.shift());
    stars.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME,moveStars);
function moveStars(e:Event)
    e.currentTarget.x += e.currentTarget.xMovement;
    e.currentTarget.y += e.currentTarget.yMovement;
var myTimer:Timer = new Timer(50);
myTimer.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, addStars);
myTimer.start();
This time, I'm trying to make the stars shrink and transparent as they move away from the point. So I coded it like this:
import flash.events.Event;
var starsArray:Array = new Array();
var maxStarss:Number = 8;
function addStars(e:Event)
    var stars:Stars = new Stars();
    stars.x = stage.stageWidth/2;
    stars.y = stage.stageHeight/2;
    stars.alpha = Math.random() * .8 + .2;
    stars.scaleX = stars.scaleY = Math.random() * .8 + .2;
    stars.xMovement = Math.random() * 10 - 5;
    stars.yMovement = Math.random() * 10 - 5;
    starsArray.push(stars);
    addChild(stars);
    stars.cacheAsBitmap = true;
    if (starsArray.length >= maxStarss)
        removeChild(starsArray.shift());
    stars.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME,moveStars);
    stars.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME,animeStars);
function animeStars(e:Event)
    trace(this.starsArray);
    this.scaleX-=0.01;
    this.scaleY-=0.01;
    this.alpha-=0.01;
    if (this.alpha<=0) // remove this object from stage
function moveStars(e:Event)
    e.currentTarget.x += e.currentTarget.xMovement;
    e.currentTarget.y += e.currentTarget.yMovement;
var myTimer:Timer = new Timer(50);
myTimer.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, addStars, animeStars);
myTimer.start();
I couldn't make it work. All I got was an error message saying "
1084: Syntax error: expecting identifier before rightbrace.
Help?

It is because of this line of code at the end
myTimer.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, addStars, animeStars);
if you read the documentation on addeventlistener it looks for these type of arguments to be passed
addEventListener(type:String, listener:Function, useCapture:Boolean);
animeStars is not a boolean it is a function. Since you already have animeStars in your addStars function you can exclude it in the last event listerer. try this:
myTimer.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, addStars);

New to flash (well, sorta)

So I just got Flash CS5. I've worked with it before in high school but I've forgotten some things about it. The most I know right now is how to motion tween. What I'm asking is for some good tutorials/help or anything that could help me in starting a project or two I wanna do to pass time.
I want to create a small game or two, but I'm not sure where to start (on the creation of it). If anyone has any good resources for games that'd be nice. Also whats a good type of game to start making? I've been thinking a gambling game of some sort maybe.
I want to also maybe create an animation short (1-3 minutes). I'd like a tutorial on basics on how to import and use sound, move body parts of certain 'characters', and any other relevant stuff.
My priority is the game, though. I'm not too good at writing stories it seems.
Thanks!

>>When using flash is there a typical group of
files/folders in the root
>>directory?
For the web generally any file that will generate a web
document such as an
html file or a server side script and the Flash Movie File.
>>What file would be used to tell the browser where to
find the movie?
>>Is it default.htm, with the embeded tags? Sorry about
the newbie
>>questions.
The Flash Movie is a file that is loaded by the OBJECT tag
for Windows IE
and EMBED tag for other web browers. How the tags get there
can range from a
static html document to a serverside script. Even a static
html document
having Javascript write out the OBJECT and EMBED tags.
Basic Flash files are
1. MyMovie.fla - the Flash Document you keep in the
development computer.
Only accessible via the Flash Authoring software.
2. MyMovie.swf - a Flash Movie that can be played in the
Flash Player. Most
commonly placed on the web server and will require a web page
with the
OBJECT and EMBED tags to load the movie. Also can be loaded
externally by
projectors discussed in next item.
3. MyMovie.exe and MyMovie.hqx are Flash Movies that include
the Flash
Player and can be run from the Windows and Macintosh desktop
respectively.
Also called projectors. No web browser is involved so no need
for html tags.
If you look at File->Publish Settings and the Format tab,
you see what files
you can choose to publish. The above are the most common and
most useful.
Lon Hosford
www.lonhosford.com
May many happy bits flow your way!
"noapples" <[email protected]> wrote in
message
news:e3il71$amk$[email protected]..
Thanks for your reply, I think I'm beginning to understand.
When using flash
is
there a typical group of files/folders in the root directory?
What file
would
be used to tell the browser where to find the movie? Is it
default.htm, with
the embeded tags? Sorry about the newbie questions. Thanks.

TUTORIAL: NSDictionary Sorting By Value using NSNumbers and NSStrings

Even though this may be a basic topic for some, I struggled with it as usual, so here's what I learned.
Very short, a few screen captures, and a half a page of text total.
As usual shows the source code, and I included the project.
This is what I learned today while hanging around the forum.
Got some great help, and would particularly like to thank RayNewbie for getting me on the right track, and etresoft who tried to help me with the hybrid bindings problem that was eventually solved by xnav, and K T as well for trying to get me on the right path with my myriad of messages...
ABOUT THE DICTIONARIES :
http://www.journey-of-flight.com/bhxcode/how-to/0105_Sort_Array_ByValue/index.php
I really am grateful to those who take the time to help.
Thank You...
Bill Hernandez
Plano, Texas

When I first created the project I was going to use arrays, and as it turned out I used arrays, and a couple of dictionaries, one original and one sorted with the results.
I created a new project, and took some of the screen captures again.
The corrected project, that reflects the correct topic is :
http://www.journey-of-flight.com/bhxcode/how-to/0105_Sort_Dictionary_ByValue/index.php
Sorry for the goof...
Bill Hernandez
Plano, Texas

Pleasantville Effect Tutorial Help Needed

Here is the tutorial:
http://www.lafcpug.org/tutorials/basicpleasantvillelook.html
I'm fine until #9. My object I'm clicking is orange. Should the Limit Effect color bar (blue in the tutorial) slide to the orange color? I drag the saturation slider all the way to the left but everything goes black and white. Please help.

This might help too:
http://www.proapptips.com/proapptipsvideotutorials/879F6B61-CFF9-4FD1-8D43-FDF89 605611A/5FB37E30-CA68-42CF-9492-E8E89FAFE83F.html
Good luck,
CaptM

Film effects question of sorts

I don't deal a lot in film I'm more of a print & web guy however I'm wanting to know how the new Ford Mustang Commercial was made.
Were all the effects for it done in After Effect & photoshop? Whats the process of to make that style effect?
If you haven't seen the commercail heres a link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiyhXf_KVc0
Thanks in advance.

Well, that car never existed. It's 100% 3D animation. Only the back plates are shot for real.
Mylenium

MDB and Trasaction problems...well sort of

OK, I've got this MDB that gets messages off of Queue A, does some work and then sends a response to Queue B, where something is listening.
This work flow works very well for me.
What happens when something goes wrong? I'm using container managed transactioning so if I get a runtime exception the container puts the message back on the queue and reties a few times. After those few tries the container gives up and and throws a System Exception.
Here's the problem...how do I send something to my response queue to tell my waiitng app that the transaction failed. I can't use timeouts on the listener side b/c I have no idea how long these processes could take when working correctly.
HELP :-)

If anyone who has anything to add to this scenario...please do!!

Anyone know of a good AS3 fire effect tutorial?

It needs to be realistic looking fire. I'd also like the
option to attach it to objects/images in my flash file. I've
searched google until I'm blue in the face and can only come up
with either flash 8 or AS2 or something that is nothing like what
I"m looking for.
Even if its just a tutorial on how to make a box with
realistic fire blazing inside of it I could use that for something.
Thanks in advance.

Have you seen Seb Lee Delisle's particles? He has an AS 3.0
class for them and he's been able to mimic smoke, sparks, etc. You
may be able to toy around with the class and get what you are
looking for.
www.sebleedelisle.com

Looking for "kidnaped" letters effect tutorial

Hi everyone. I was looking for a tutorial on how to make letters appear like are cut out from a paper and assembled in a "kidnaped" message. Like in old movies. Here is an example:
Much like this but maybe a litle more serious and realistic. I searched on google with different keywords...but with no help. Maybe you guys could help me and tell where I could find a tutorial on how to make it on photoshop (CS6 is what I have). Thanks

You could try these free fonts: http://urbanartz.deviantart.com/art/Kidnapped-font-346486247, http://www.fontsaddict.com/font/erpressung-normal.html. And search for other similar fonts so that you can get some variation in the style of the letters - https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=kidnapped+font&client=firefox-a&hs=OXe&rls=org.mozilla:e n-GB:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Fm2CUuCDD5GA7QaxsYBI&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1770&b ih=982.
Cheers,
Neale
Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your children
If this post or another user's post resolves the original issue, please mark the posts as correct and/or helpful accordingly. This helps other users with similar trouble get answers to their questions quicker. Thanks.

MY B.T INFINITY UPGRADE (WELL, SORT OF UPGRADE!)

Hello....
About 7 days ago i posted up in here some quieries about the BT INFINITY UPGRADE and wether i should do it or not co'z of conflicting information from Customer services e.t.c...
Well, Im pleased to report back that my internet speed HAS Increased, But not by Much!..>
Before i was pulling this (wired Connection)
Now Im Pulling this!..
So, ive Kinda had a upgrade, Not the Magical 75mb/19mb i was Kinda Promised..but hey ho!, a speed upgrade is a speed Upgrade i spose!...
Finally, Above all Else, Its better than my previous supplier could EVER GIVE ME!....
IN YOUR FACE VIRGIN MEDIA!

Not bad, once everyone has upgraded your speed may stablise. I would also suggest rebooting your modem and router in order early in the morning to see if you pick up a better sync speed/IP Profile and you may get a faster throughput.
IT SUPPORT TECHNICIAN - Comptia A+ Certified, MTA Qualified and MTSC qualified

[SOLVED - well, sort of]Ipod album art -----

I know this topic has been explored fairly frequently in the past, but I just wanted to check in (what with amarok2, libgpod 0.7, etc) with the current state of getting album art onto an ipod. (Arch 64 here, by the way, if that makes a difference).
1. Amarok 1.4 - it used to transfer the art, but it doesn't seem to anymore. Everything else about it works the best of all these programs.
2. Amarok 2 - doesn't do album art or playlists (that I can see, at least) yet .... will keep on eye on this one.
3. Rhythmbox and banshee - I want to try them, but neither will recognize my ipod (2nd gen nano, mounted via pcmanfm to /media/ipod. I'm using openbox, with a hal rule to mount all ipods to /media/ipod)
4. Songbird - very promising, but no album art support yet and it's pretty chunky.
5. Exaile - It sees my ipod, but doesn't want to copy any music to it. It also crashes when I try to delete or edit a playlist on the ipod (exaile-bzr won't compile for me)
6. Floola - I really want to love this program because it does everything - photos, calendar, etc. But it's horribly unstable (both windows and linux versions) for me, trying it with multiple different ipods.
7. gtkpod - well, it works....slowly (we have about 6000 tracks in our collection)....weirdly....but I guess I'm stuck with it for now??
Please help with any fixes for #3 or any other ideas.
Thanks!
Scott
yes, yes, I know, the music is the key....album art really not THAT important in the big scheme of things thus amarok1 installed from AUR!
Last edited by firecat53 (2009-04-23 20:58:50)

I use albumart-qt to embed the covers in my songs.... then it should be independent from the way you transfer your music...

A Scanner Darkly Effects Tutorial (Well sort of...)

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