AfterEffects n00b w/questions...

[quantbits]

First of all, thanks in advance for replying to this post! =)

I am making a Honey & Clover.
It deals with unrequited love with Takmeoto, Mayama, and Yamada.
It is set to Goo Goo Dolls "Iris".
http://shinjixikari.com/misc/amv.html

I had thought of doing several compositions in AfterEffects, but I realized I'd have to chop every block of audio via Audigy (unless there's a better way).

1)Should I just make 1 large composition in AfterEffects? If not, how should I do compositions and transfer to Premier?
2)I've seen the video size here to 80MB ~, so I was wondering what rendering/codec settings you used to make it that small.
3)Should I cut directly via Virtualdub, or just keep all the complete avi near my files? which process degrades more quality?
4)where do I get more AfterEffects plugins? seems like I'm missing "stabilize motion" and quite a few.

I'm sorry for such long inquiries, but thank you for your time!

[mirkosp]

I'm not a pro, but these are my suggestion:

1) It depends on how much effects you wan to put in your amv. If every frame should be composed or whatever, than I would suggest to directly use After Effects. If, instead, you need just some parts, the best thing you can do is actually finish your video in Premiere without the effects and then open the premiere project with after effects. There should be a composition and some files. Double click on the composition and you will have your premiere timeline in the "after effects version" (which means a single layer for every clip etc.). Everything is still on sync as on premiere, but you can now add layers and effects as you want, without the need of rendering anything.
2) I would suggest two possible ways of compressing your video once finished. The first, and, imho, best, is making an mp4. You can find a guide for mp4 compression here. The other way is making an avi - using XViD as the codec. The guide for compressing in XViD is located here. Please, note that when you are compressing the xvid, you should remember to compress your audio and mix it to the encoded video track, as explained here.
3) If you were asking about what to do to compress the video, the former answer I gave you should have already covered it. Just to be sure about it, from your video editor export as an avi (using huffyuv or lagarith as codec. if you really wish, you can export as uncompressed). You will not loose quality. The other things depend on the way you choose to compress.
4) I think that in the Adobe site you can find almost every plug-in ever made.
I would like to suggest you the Trapcode plug-ins, though, which I consider the best plug-ins for after effects. You have to buy them, but a demo is available (althought, with the demo, a watermark will appear). If you have other question about after effects, try to read the guide that zarxax made. It is a bit outdated, as it referrs to the version 6.5 and was made back in 2004, but I think that the most important things are still covered. Oh, in this guide there are also some links to suggested plug-ins. The guide is located here.

Not sure if everything I said is right, so if you find mistakes, please correct them.

[CrackTheSky]

1)Should I just make 1 large composition in AfterEffects? If not, how should I do compositions and transfer to Premier?

Absolutely not. Although it can be done, you will drive yourself crazy making a million layers, nesting compositions, etc. Render out a losslessly-encoded loop from Premiere and import it into AE, apply the effects, render it out of AE and put it back on your Premiere timeline. There might be a simpler way since both AE and Premiere are Adobe products, but I wouldn't know since I use Vegas and that's how I deal with transferring between AE and Vegas.

[Krisqo]

1)Should I just make 1 large composition in AfterEffects? If not, how should I do compositions and transfer to Premier?

Absolutely not. Although it can be done, you will drive yourself crazy making a million layers, nesting compositions, etc. Render out a losslessly-encoded loop from Premiere and import it into AE, apply the effects, render it out of AE and put it back on your Premiere timeline. There might be a simpler way since both AE and Premiere are Adobe products, but I wouldn't know since I use Vegas and that's how I deal with transferring between AE and Vegas.

As far as I know, After Effects should be able to fully import your entire Premiere Pro project turning the timelines in Premiere into their own compositions in After Effects with each edit being it's own layer. Just put a couple of timeline markers where you want your effects in premiere so you can easily find the clips in After Effects.

As for the guide being out of date, most of the basics hold true from 6.5 on up so its a worthwhile read IMO.

[mirkosp]

1)Should I just make 1 large composition in AfterEffects? If not, how should I do compositions and transfer to Premier?

Absolutely not. Although it can be done, you will drive yourself crazy making a million layers, nesting compositions, etc. Render out a losslessly-encoded loop from Premiere and import it into AE, apply the effects, render it out of AE and put it back on your Premiere timeline. There might be a simpler way since both AE and Premiere are Adobe products, but I wouldn't know since I use Vegas and that's how I deal with transferring between AE and Vegas.

I think it is possible to make an amv entirely in after effects. Million layers? As long as you know what to do, they will not be a problem. Dealing with compositions is also easy. If you were to ask me, I'd say that the best way is the way I decided to use: a general composition where I import the others. The other compositions are specifically used for a kind of beat sync or whatever I need. Doing this way, everything stays very well ordered and it's easy to find anything I wish to change. You just have to get used to the after effects interface. I would like to note that working with an extended desktop will help and the work will be very faster and easier.
And, as Krisqo said, it is true that you can open without any trouble the premiere projects in after effects. Exchanges between adobe applications are fully and well integrated. Just remember to double click on the composition you have when you open a premiere project in after effects, so it should be easier to apply an effects to just a little part of the composition.

[post-it]

1)Should I just make 1 large composition in AfterEffects? If not, how should I do compositions and transfer to Premier?

Absolutely not. Although it can be done, you will drive yourself crazy making a million layers, nesting compositions, etc. Render out a losslessly-encoded loop from Premiere and import it into AE, apply the effects, render it out of AE and put it back on your Premiere timeline. There might be a simpler way since both AE and Premiere are Adobe products, but I wouldn't know since I use Vegas and that's how I deal with transferring between AE and Vegas.

... the true question is, "how Many Frames are you going to modify before you have re-written the Anime itself" ???

.. AE and other programs like it are great for creating things .. but when you reach 6,509 frames of updates, shouldn't you be asking yourself, "why YOU are not the Animator instead of the Anime which you are updating??"

.. I only raise this point because of a trend I'm starting to see at the org.

[Scintilla]

the true question is, "how Many Frames are you going to modify before you have re-written the Anime itself" ???

.. AE and other programs like it are great for creating things .. but when you reach 6,509 frames of updates, shouldn't you be asking yourself, "why YOU are not the Animator instead of the Anime which you are updating??"

I'm guessing because, no matter how many frames you're modifying, it's still easier and less time-consuming than animating the whole thing yourself.

[quantbits]

thank you for all the replies.

Premier Project opens in AfterEffects, but my raw files are all in xvid, which is incompatible.

could someone suggest a program to convert it to a format AE can wok with?

[mirkosp]

thank you for all the replies.

Premier Project opens in AfterEffects, but my raw files are all in xvid, which is incompatible.

could someone suggest a program to convert it to a format AE can wok with?

Convert them to Huffyuv or Lagarith or Uncompressed with VirtualDubMod. That works fine, but it will require HD space.

[quantbits]

thank you for all the replies.

Premier Project opens in AfterEffects, but my raw files are all in xvid, which is incompatible.

could someone suggest a program to convert it to a format AE can wok with?

Convert them to Huffyuv or Lagarith or Uncompressed with VirtualDubMod. That works fine, but it will require HD space.

heh I reserved 20G just for rendering and storage of stock video, and I have 14 left. should not be a problem =)