In CS3, making layer in still photo

Which technique works best to cut an image from a photo to build a layer for animation? If Photoshop which tool cuts the image and which function turn it into layer? If AE, then same question. I can't find topic in training video.

You duplicate your background layer in Photoshop so you have foreground and background elements then use masking to isolate the parts of the image you want to have on each layer. These layers are arranged in 3D space in After Effects and you animate the camera position. Simple as that.
If you are completely lost with these instructions you need to start with the basics of Photoshop and the Basics of AE. There is not a one click solves my problem solution. This requires careful work by hand, planning, and the right kind of shot.
The effect is sometimes called the "Kid stays in the picture effect" from the movie of the same name. The technique is far older than the move and goes back to the earliest days of film production using matte paintings, razor blades and photographs.
I hesitate to put up this link because it sounds like you are very new to Photoshop and AE if you don't have any idea how to separate elements in an image but here it is anyway.

Similar Messages

Making simple Cross desolves at the end of still photo clips from my library. Not making a clean disolve beteen. Single frames from the previous clip are flashing half way through the desolve. Did both a drag and drop and insert disolve.

Making simple cross desolves at the end of still photo clips from my library.
Not making a clean disolve between clips.
Single frames from the previous clip are flashing half way through the desolve.
Did both a drag and drop and insert disolve.

Making simple cross desolves at the end of still photo clips from my library.
Not making a clean disolve between clips.
Single frames from the previous clip are flashing half way through the desolve.
Did both a drag and drop and insert disolve.

Problem exporting Premiere Pro CS5.5 projects with still photos and h264 video

I'm a longtime Final Cut Pro user and evaluating Premiere Pro for my workplace before making the switch. I have been running into several problems when I try to export raw h264 video from a Canon 5D combined with still images on a Macbook Pro. Either I receive an error in Premiere Pro saying, "Error compiling movie. Unknown error." or Adobe Media Encoder appears to continue exporting (the time elapsed bar continues to move) even though the time remaining stays frozen once it hits a photo it doesn't like. It's not always the same photo.
I've spent several days trying to troubleshoot the issue, including batch resizing all photos to 1920 wide (to match the video settings), and it hasn't work. The sequence is currently set to render in ProRes 422. I've also tried HDV 1080p30 and MPEG-4. I cannot find any consistency with the errors. Occasionally an export will work, but every couple still photos will look like green static. I've also tried batch converting the photos in Photoshop to PNG and GIF without any luck. I'd include my default export settings but I've pretty much tried it all. I'm just trying to figure out what's causing the error since the message is very vague.
Couple other notes:
There's plenty hard drive space available for export
I can export the DSLR video (h264, 1080p30) without still photos no problem
I can edit the same still photos and video in Final Cut with no problem
I have the same problem with auto-save on and off
I tried re-installing production premium, deleting the preference files and cleaning the media cache - no luck. I also tried exporting under a different user account and it wouldn't work.
This is driving absolutely crazy. I'm affraid to use PP on deadline because I don't see any issues until it's time to export. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
- McKenna

Thanks Todd. Your questions were actually very helpful. I'm using a Macbook Pro with an Intel Core i7 processor and NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics card. I'm running OS 10.6.8 and have the latest updates installed.
When I disabled the GPU acceleration, I was able to render and export without a problem. The problem only occured when using the GPU acceleration and mixing h264 with still photos. It also affected both rendered previews and the final export. I'm assuming its a support issue with the graphics cards, but it would be great if you had any other ideas. I appreciate your help.

Still Photo Aspect Ratio Confusion

Apologize for asking a question on this topic as I have been through the forum and realize the topic of aspect ratio comes up often. I have not however seen this question answered. Quick background:
-Working with HD Video footage imported as SD as I am burning non-HD dvd's and I have heard the conversion in IDVD and Toast from HD is not great;
-Using photos imported from Aperture in FCE;
-Sequence is NTSC anamorphic as I want 16:9 but without HD;
My question is about the aspect ratio of still photos when I bring them into the timeline. I have experimented with saving photos in different aspect ratios: 853x480 and 720x480. When I import into FCE the 853 shows a square pixel and the 720 shows a NTSC pixel. From what I have read this is due to the way FCE interprets the aspect ratio and assigns an pixel aspect. When I view each in the viewer they both look correct when I click the corresponding pixel aspect from the top of the viewer. It is when I move these to the timeline that I get confused. The 853 gets an adjustment of 18.52 and the 720 gets an adjustment of 33.33. What do these adjustments actually represent? Is it a percentage, a number of pixels, something else? When I read about it in the Manual it seems to state that FCE adjusts for the difference between the still and sequence, but then why does it adjust the 720 since it has the same pixel aspect as the sequence? I then tried changing the Pixel aspect of the 853 in the browser to NTSC and moving it to the timeline. I get the same 33.33 adjustment. The 33.33 does not look correct in either of them, but when I change it to 18.52 it looks correct (with the pixel aspect at square, with it not checked it looks "skinny" or squished).
Only thing I can think is that it has something to do with the anamorphic adjustment and the squeezing that goes on with it as 18.52 as 853 (widescreen) is 18.47 percent wider the 720.
At this point I am really not sure how these will display when I make a dvd and display on a widescreen tv. I would prefer not to do this by guessing or looking at the picture, but instead by understanding what FCE is doing and making sure I have the settings and adjustments correct.
Sorry for the long message, but would really appreciate any advice

Michael,
sorry to disagree, but for sure I was not clear, and the topic is quite complex. So I decided to provide an overview (as much as I can...) of the various combinations of clips inserted into various sequences with all settings - possibly on my web site (I'm afraid other posters are getting bored about all this math).
But since this is taking quite a bit of time, let me just tell you now where I disagree about your findings. When I'll have my overview completed I hope that will better explain what I mean.
_Your point 1_.
I'm pretty sure you (unwillingly) are importing your 16:9 square pixel NTSC clip into a +4:3 CCIR pixel NTSC sequence+ (not your original 16:9 anamorphic NTSC sequence). Please check your sequence settings by selecting the sequence in the browser in list view and reading the Frame Size, Pixel Aspect, and Anamorphic fields.
a. If your sequence is in fact +4:3 CCIR pixel NTSC sequence+, by applying the formulas you get:
- PARclip for +16:9 square pixel NTSC+ clip = 853/853 = 1 (as for any square pixel clip)
- but PARseq is not 1 (as you write) but 640/720 (square/actual pixels) = 0,8888
- Adjust = PARseq/PARclip = 0,8888/1 = 0,8888.
- Since Adjust is <1 Motion Aspect Ratio = - 100* (1/0,8888 -1) = -12,5 as you experienced on FCE. BTW this means that the imported clip has to be squeezed vertically by 12,5% (as opposite of horizontally).
b. If your sequence instead really is +16:9 anamorphic NTSC+ as you seem to imply, then 18,52 is correct as you confirm yourself with "Agree that in the four cases you list it agrees...": it is in fact the 2nd case in my 4 cases list.
_Your point 2_.
Here I suppose the sequence is +16:9 CCIR pixel NTSC+ which has PARseq = 853/720 = 1,1852.
But I'm not clear what you mean by "720/640 NTSC clip". My guess is that you mean a +4:3 CCIR pixel NTSC+ clip,
then PARclip = 640/720 (square/actual pixels) = 0,8888
then Adjust = PARseq/PARclip = 1,1852/0,8888 = 1,3333 and Motion Aspect Ratio = 100*(1,3333 - 1) = 33,33 as you experienced
_Adjust formula_.
I think this formula in your earlier message is incorrect: Aspect Ratio (in Motion/Distort) = - 100 * (1/Adjust-1) if Adjust ≤ 1; seems like the formula: Aspect Ratio (in Motion/Distort) = 100 * (Adjust-1) if Adjust ≥ 1 works at all times including <1 as follows 100*(.875-1)=-12.5.</div>
This not true (well it is true only for Adjust = 1...). As an example if Adjust = 0,8888 then 100*(0,5-1) = -11,12 (wrong value for this pixel adjustment), while -100*(1/0,8888-1) = -12,51 which is the correct vertical squeeze !!
Why 2 different formulas are needed ? because when Adjust is >1 a +horizontal squeeze+ by Adjust is necessary to fix the pixel aspect ratio misalignement, when Adjust is <1 a +vertical squeeze+ is necessary by 1/Adjust... (figures will help as soon as they are ready for... publishing).
I'm sorry these posts are so long, I try to make them as clear as possible, but the topic is a bit messy and, even if only fractions are involved in this math, their actual meaning is not always intuitive...I'd really appreciate any comment also by more experienced users of FCE/FCP...
Thanks
Piero

Acceptable File Size and Resolution for Still Photos in Keyframe Motion

Hello Hello
I know that FCE HD (as other Video Editors), will automatically fit a still photo's size to it's default capability of 720 x 480 Correct?
Well, in regard to making the best possible ZOOMS, and Pans from Still Photos, is it neccessary to re-size all your photos (from an external editor like photoshop), to a specfic size?
According to an older book for FCE, it sez that actually photos re-sized to 720x534 with a resolution of 72 are best. *The proper proportion for NTSC.
And I noticed that when I inserted larger JPG still sizes (like about a meg), on the FCE timline, and when applying Panning, or Zooms, some of the rendered images with motion didn't pan or zoom smoothly.
Is that because those file sizes were TOO large?
Well I have soooo many stills that need to be imported into this particular project that it would be a lot easier for me to just generally reduce these stills (by percentage).
And is the magic resolution amount supposed to be 72?
Because if that's the case I can re-size all my photos to 72, and try to keep the file sizes down to say 300 KB's or so.
Sound like a plan?

Thank you guys
"basically, you should try to make your images large enough so they never have to be scaled beyond 100% in the motion tab in fcp."
Actually as I mentioned some of these file sizes are very large. About 800-900 KB's - and what as a result, what I've noticed is that I actually had to DECREASE the viewing area in both the Browser Window, and the Canvas Winbow just to be able to see the whole image.
Ok - so the 72 DPI is not as important as the dimensions of the photo. But as I said I have soooooo many of these that it would take me forever to manually re-size them all not to mention the fact that re-sizing some of them (odd shapes),would throw the images out of balance.
So again I ask - if there is NO motion applied to the photo, file sizes of about 200 to 350 KB's appear just beautifully ....
BUT
If I need to PAN or ZOOM, is it ok to laod a 1 MEG sized JPG onto the timeline and start working with Keyframe?????
In fact in some cases I'm actually using these larger file JPS's (1 meg or more), so that they TOTALLLY fit the canvas window (cropping them by enlargment)
*With some clipping of the original image of course ...
Why do I do this?
So that you don't see the usual border with horizontal images, or vertical images - know what I mean?
Thanx

My still photos look blurry on burned iDvds

I've been trying to make a DVD of still photos. My DVD from iDVD is blurry when viewed. It's blurry wether I look at it on a TV or the computer, so it's not a screen quality issue. My photos are nice and clear on iDVD when making the disc, but the disc quality is horrible. Looking at the forums it seems that I'm not the only one with this issue, but all the suggestions either don't make sense to me or I can't make them work. It seems as though some have had success making an iMovie and then making a .mov file in HD, then dragging it into iDVD. I can't drag the .mov file into iDVD. I also cannot burn the .mov file to disc. I'm starting to hate Apple for telling me how intuitive my computer is. If it was so intuitive a computer dummy like me could figure it out. Very frustrated...

Hi
I think that this have several reasons
• No DVD can do the same quality as Your Mac Screen - NON. DVD is as standard SD-video and can not be any better.
• Assemble SlideShows in iMovie'08 or 09 or 11 then Send to iDVD - will make things even worse
a. iMovie'08 or 09 or 11 - can only deliver every second line to iDVD resulting in 50% loss
b. Share to iDVD - makes iMovie to render and so bad - Better is to Share to Media Browser and from iDVD import from it's Media Browser - iDVD renders so much better
So to get best quality DVD is not the way - Blu-Ray or photos on a memory stick can be so much better or even projected directly from the Mac - will give best quality possibly
To get an as good DVD as possibly
• Use a program that can do SlideShows and export them without any loss eg
◊ iMovie up to HD6 (previous versions)
◊ FinalCut any version
◊ FotoMagico™
are what I use.
I let iDVD do the rendering
I use Verbatim DVD-R disks
I set down burn speed to x4 (less burn errors and DVD works on more Players)
Yours Bengt W

Still Photos in iMovie

This may have been asked by another user in the past, but I can't see one at this time. Anyway, I was making a "movie" in iMovie using some still photos mixed in with some video. At any rate, the still photos when viewed in iMovie have jagged edges along straight lines which ruins the quality of the photo. I have tried several procedures to try and resolve this issue, but to no avail. When building a slide show in iPhoto, these same pictures are crystal clear. I have even taken these iPhoto slideshows and exported to quicktime and copied and pasted these into exported iMovie movies, but that seems like too many steps. Besides, since iMovie allows pictures to be imported, I would hope that they should still remain high quality.
Thanks for all your help in advance!

hi Tully:
Read what Matti Haveri has docomented on the 'jaggies' in imovie:
iMovie HD 6.0.3 renders jaggy still images when sending them to tape or iDVD
http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/iMovieHD_6_bugs.html#jaggystills
Sue

Why are still photos blurry when I play movie?

I am making a video slideshow using Adobe Premiere Elements 9. Most of the video is made up still photos. When I playback the video the still photos are blurry. What should I do to prevent this? Thanks!

I read your article Bill, and that just seems like a massive amount of work for the average individual who wants to put together a movie. Is all of that really necessary?
With PS, or PSE, and Scaling Actions, one can do batch processing of entire folders of images in moments. That linked article gives setup tips for doing batch scaling very easily, and the Action, plus Automate to Batch, will work on entire folders. My workstation will automatically process ~ 500 4000x3000 pixel images to 720x480 in about 2 mins.
There are two benefits when Scaling stills in an image processing program, prior to Import into an NLE (Non Linear Editor) program:
The processing overhead is greatly reduced
The quality is greatly improved, as the Scaling algorithms in an image processing program, are much better *
If one wants to let the NLE program do the processing, and one has many large images (especially at still camera resolutions), then they WILL need a very powerful computer.
Good luck,
Hunt
* PrPro, as of CS5, has improved the quality of Scaling, but the overhead issue still exists.

Sequence finished - PAL iDVD - Still Photos Pixelated

I have finished a sequence which contains video and stills taken be digital cameras.
I use iPhotos to sort the photos.
When I look at the output either in FCE canvas or after I burned an iDVD (and watched it thru my PowerBook) the still photos look very pixelated; much worse than the video. So what I am saying is this is not an iDVD issue altho the iDVD slideshow of the same images looked great.
I don't think the choice of PAL on the iDVD was material as the image was pixelated in the FCE canvas. But, in past projects I have ignored pixelation when viewing in FCE Canvas as the image seems to improve once one views the DVD.
I used three methods to import these photos into FCE, drag and drop directly from iPhoto into the FCE Browser pane, create a still image through Still Life and create a still image through iMovie. In both the Still Life and iMovie I did not creat any movement and 'shared' both as dv.
I would be grateful for another solution. Surely people use still images successfully in FCE.
As I am in the US I do not have access to a PAL DVD. I am making this movie up for friends in Australia.

Taking NTSC material to PAL (or vice versa) within Final Cut always looks pretty bad to me in my opinion. You really need a good software standards converter like Graeme Nattress' standards converter to do this correctly.
As far a the still images go, you still haven't said if you're looking at the output on a video monitor. The material is being rendered into an interlaced video format for that type of monitor.
How large are the images? A high resolution image that has to be scaled significantly to fit video resolution and have the pixel aspect altered may have too much detail to be modified and then compressed well in a highly compressed format like DV. You're taking your 1.2MB frame and compressing it down to the equivalent of a 120KB frame. If you start with a frame that fits the right resolution and is the correct pixel aspect Final Cut will have to do less to the image, and you're more likely to get a better result.

Want to know if Premiere Elements has the capability to show movement on a still photo? Such as zoom

I am thinking of purchasing PE 12 if it has the capability to take a still photo and move the camera around on it like many videos I have seen. I am currently using PE 9. Thanks for any help on this subject.

Railfan Ken
What are you doing in Premiere Elements 9.0/9.0.1?
Are you keyframing the Motion properties of Scale (for Zoom) and Position (for Pan) to get a pan and zoom effect?
or
Are you using the Edit Header/Effects/Presets and one of the presets for a pan OR zoom effect (the Presets allow for only a pan per picture or a zoom per picture but not a pan and zoom per picture).
or
Have you been using the Elements Organizer 9 Slideshow Editor to create a slideshow with the pan and zoom feature there and then transfer the Elements Organizer 9 slideshow to Premiere Elements?
If it is the Premiere Elements 10, 11, or 12 Pan and Zoom Tool that is making you think to laterversion than 9.0/9.0.1, perhaps the following Adobe document may give you more information on that.
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/premiereelements/using/WSeffff8bffc802084-494411db12fd35452dd- 8000.html
ATR

How to use portrait still photos in Premier Pro CS4

I am new to Premier Pro and want to insert a bunch of still photos into a video I am making of a recent vacation. A lot of the photos have a portrait orientation, and when I import them into Premier Pro, they are automatically turned to landscape. Can you tell me an easy way to have the pictures flipped 90 degrees? I do not want to show the motion of the flipping - I just want the pictures to be oriented correctly. I am fine with a fill border on the sides of the pictures. Thank you!

Rotating still in the Effect Controls is somewhat work intensitive.
If you have Photoshop you can batch rotate them.
Otherwise open them in the Windows Viewer, rotate and close.
If al is well the still will now import correct.

Still photos flicker and transitions glitchy in 6.5

I am using Premiere 6.5 on a pc with vista. I am making a still photo video and maybe my initial settings are wrong. The preset I am using is dv-ntsc real time preview standard 48kHz. When I playback my timeline, my transitions are not smooth and are "bar-like" (for lack of a better word). The photos that have motion on them flicker. I have reduced the interlace on the photos with motion, I have rendered my timeline. I have tried the gaussian blur, but that makes the photo worse. I made sure the Rendering setting is at lower field first. Should I click on optimize stills? Can I reset my project settings after I have put everything on the timeline? All of my photos are .jpgs The only thing I can think of that I am doing wrong is my settings! I want to export this to a DVD. I have made an MPEG file and an AVI file and that obviously doesn't matter. This project is due in 4 days and I don't want to start over in another software program. Please offer any advice you can. Thank you!

The first thing you need to do is provide the DETAILS about your pictures... especially including how they were created and their pixel size
Some other general reading...
How to ask a question http://forums.adobe.com/thread/416679
This is aimed at Premiere Pro, but may help
A link with many ideas about computer setup http://forums.adobe.com/thread/436215?tstart=0
Work through all of the steps (ideas) listed at http://ppro.wikia.com/wiki/Troubleshooting
If your problem isn't fixed after you follow all of the steps, report back with the DETAILS asked for in the questions at the end of the troubleshooting link

Does still photo resolution determine maximum movie quality?

I am making a movie combining relatively low quality jpegs and dv footage.
It seems that I read somewhere that if you are going to combine still photos and dv footage that you have to import the video first or else the resolution of the photos will set the maximum resolution of the whole movie. Is this true?
Thanks,
Artlover13060

Artlover,
Never heard that one before, but what do I know? The following may be totally wrong, but I feel like taking a stab at this, so if I'm wrong, I'm sure I will be quickly pounced on. I believe that iMovie sets a maximum resolution on imported photos, your low quality ones will be used as is, I imagine. They have to be converted to a video format anyway. The video clips will be used as is, but sized as 720X480 to fit your TV screen. Am I right folks?
Forest

Adding still photo to video

I have a short video that I want to add a few still photos into, but I don't want to disrupt the flow of sound. What I mean is, the sound needs to keep lined up with the video even when the still is playing. I tried to crop the portion of video I wanted to eliminate and checking it's size and making the still the same size. Deleting the video and placing the still in it's place. I don't think this will work because the still can't be made the same size as the eliminated video. I hope I'm saying this correctly.

There is a function called Paste Over at Playhead, accessed from the Advanced menu, that is designed to handle this sort of thing.
So, if you want to insert a still into a video, and have the audio continue to play while the still is playing, you would first check the box in your iMovie general preferences to Extract Audio When Using "Paste Over at Playhead". Then you place your still in the timeline, Control-copy it, place your playhead in the spot in the video where you want to insert the still, and then select Paste Over at Playhead from the Advanced menu. The still will be inserted and the audio will continue to play while the still is being played.
If you do not want the audio to play while the still is playing, follow the same procedure as above, except first go to your iMovie general preferences and uncheck the box that says Extract Audio When Using "Past Over at Playhead".
Play around with it a little until you get what you want.

I need to add text over a still photo in iMovie. Following directions that always worked before but not this time.

I am running OS 10.6.8, an upgrade that I did after Christmas. A couple of times a year, I need to make a video of my students' performances, and have always been able to add text over the still photos before, using the directions in iMovie "help." However, this time, I am not able to choose a title style; no amount of clicking makes anything show up on the selected still photo. And no amount of trying to choose the font style makes anything show up either.
This is iMovie 09; is it possible that it is not compatible with my OS upgrade?
I've been able to insert still photos into the video footage, but can't add any titles or acknowledgements. Thank you so much for your help! Since I only do this a couple of times a year, it always takes me forever to accomplish, which is why I printed off the Help directions to follow.

just to make thing clear (sorry for sounding impudent!)
you do .... :
create a New Project
make a selection of an Event and add it to the Project
select a title and drag it onto the clip?
iM does work with your OS ...

In CS3, making layer in still photo

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for