Vector animation (i.e. Flash) with DV at DVinfo.net

Andres Lucero · May 19th, 2003, 06:38 AM

Anyone have experience inserting vector animation over their live-action video, or know how to do it? I want to capture from miniDV and output to DVD (not the web).

If not, anyone in Austin know Bob Sabiston? :)

Zac Stein · May 19th, 2003, 07:40 AM

WHat exactly are you trying to do with the vector graphics?

DV is a raster medium, so no matter what you do, you are ultimately stuck in 1 fixed rez. I find after effects is much faster to work with than flash, and can do practically the same thing if it is going to a video piece. This is of course in combination with illustrator.

any specific questions?

Zac

Nigel Moore · May 19th, 2003, 07:46 AM

If all you're looking to do is comp vector and DV for non-web use, you do NOT want to go anywhere near Flash. Zac's right, the best job for this would be a compositor app like After Effects or Commotion.

You could do it in some NLEs, such as Premiere, but it's more difficult and you're somewhat limited.

Rick Spilman · May 19th, 2003, 09:20 AM

I've only tried it once with some success. I used it for a particular text animation that I didn't feel like recreating. It was OK for what I was doing. Not sure how a more complex animation might look. I just exported the FLASH animation as an avi file with a green background and then keyed out the background.

There are a variety of ways to export a Flash movie, including as an Illustrator, eps or png sequence. Might be worth trying to see which works best.

Keith Loh · May 19th, 2003, 10:41 AM

I use a combination of Illustrator, Flash, *and* After Effects to do these clips:

http://www.keithloh.com/video/umbrella/index.html

The encode is a bit poor but you'll get the idea.

However, I can't really speak to the resolution factor. I try to make all my initial source files (Illustrator) in higher than screen DPI (I'm past that phase so I forget what PPI exactly). After I do the animation in Flash I throw it back into AfterEffects to cut into the live action.

Zac Stein · May 19th, 2003, 11:41 AM

Keith, that looked very cool.

By the way just to be annoying, all of what you did IS possible with just illustrator and after effects, you would simply just use masks to draw the edges or stroke your objects, much much much faster than tweening.

But hey, it looked cool!

Zac

Andres Lucero · May 19th, 2003, 12:39 PM

<<<-- Originally posted by Keith Loh :

http://www.keithloh.com/video/umbrella/index.html

-->>>

This is very close to what I want to do, so it looks like I'll be investing in more Adobe products in the future. I had never considered After Effects for animation, so thanks to all that suggested it.

Keith Loh · May 19th, 2003, 03:07 PM

All in After Effects eh? To tell you the truth, I don't really like Flash that much so if I will explore your method in After Effects to see if it will speed that up in the future.

Imran Zaidi · May 19th, 2003, 03:15 PM

This isn't like what Keith has done... it's more of a straight vectorizing of existing video for a fun animation effect.

It's unfinished, but seeing as how I haven't gotten back into it in a while, I guess I'm done with it. :P

http://www.theseventhlevel.net

I used a tool called Flix Pro to do it. It's a tool that not only converts your video into flash-video format that allows you to show video without the user needing a plugin (other than flash), but it also allows you to convert your video into vector animation. Kinda neat stuff:

http://www.wildform.com/flix

The tool can do more detail than what I preserved... I just personally liked the less-detail approach.

John Garcia · May 19th, 2003, 06:41 PM

damn, thats pretty awesome. lol...maybe I should try it!?

Rick Spilman · May 19th, 2003, 07:00 PM

I'm really pissed off at Flix Pro right now. The original version worked ok. Then I paid to upgrade and the new version was slighly better but was trickier to set up. A month or so ago I was offered a free upgrade to whatever version and now I can't get it to encode at all. When I get some time I will go to their forum and try to figure out what's wrong.

May 19th, 2003, 06:38 AM	#1
Andres Lucero Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 75	Vector animation (i.e. Flash) with DV Anyone have experience inserting vector animation over their live-action video, or know how to do it? I want to capture from miniDV and output to DVD (not the web). If not, anyone in Austin know Bob Sabiston? :)

May 19th, 2003, 07:46 AM	#3
Nigel Moore Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Switzerland Posts: 358	If all you're looking to do is comp vector and DV for non-web use, you do NOT want to go anywhere near Flash. Zac's right, the best job for this would be a compositor app like After Effects or Commotion. You could do it in some NLEs, such as Premiere, but it's more difficult and you're somewhat limited. __________________ _________________ Time flies like an arrow Fruit flies like a banana

May 19th, 2003, 10:41 AM	#5
Keith Loh Air China Pilot Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Posts: 2,389	I use a combination of Illustrator, Flash, and After Effects to do these clips: http://www.keithloh.com/video/umbrella/index.html The encode is a bit poor but you'll get the idea. However, I can't really speak to the resolution factor. I try to make all my initial source files (Illustrator) in higher than screen DPI (I'm past that phase so I forget what PPI exactly). After I do the animation in Flash I throw it back into AfterEffects to cut into the live action. __________________ -- Visit http://www.KeithLoh.com \| stuff about living in Vancouver \| My Flickr photo gallery

May 19th, 2003, 03:07 PM	#8
Keith Loh Air China Pilot Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Posts: 2,389	All in After Effects eh? To tell you the truth, I don't really like Flash that much so if I will explore your method in After Effects to see if it will speed that up in the future. __________________ -- Visit http://www.KeithLoh.com \| stuff about living in Vancouver \| My Flickr photo gallery

May 19th, 2003, 07:40 AM	#2
Zac Stein Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 730	WHat exactly are you trying to do with the vector graphics? DV is a raster medium, so no matter what you do, you are ultimately stuck in 1 fixed rez. I find after effects is much faster to work with than flash, and can do practically the same thing if it is going to a video piece. This is of course in combination with illustrator. any specific questions? Zac

May 19th, 2003, 09:20 AM	#4
Rick Spilman Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Jersey City, NJ Posts: 366	I've only tried it once with some success. I used it for a particular text animation that I didn't feel like recreating. It was OK for what I was doing. Not sure how a more complex animation might look. I just exported the FLASH animation as an avi file with a green background and then keyed out the background. There are a variety of ways to export a Flash movie, including as an Illustrator, eps or png sequence. Might be worth trying to see which works best.

May 19th, 2003, 11:41 AM	#6
Zac Stein Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 730	Keith, that looked very cool. By the way just to be annoying, all of what you did IS possible with just illustrator and after effects, you would simply just use masks to draw the edges or stroke your objects, much much much faster than tweening. But hey, it looked cool! Zac

May 19th, 2003, 12:39 PM	#7
Andres Lucero Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 75	<<<-- Originally posted by Keith Loh : http://www.keithloh.com/video/umbrella/index.html -->>> This is very close to what I want to do, so it looks like I'll be investing in more Adobe products in the future. I had never considered After Effects for animation, so thanks to all that suggested it.

May 19th, 2003, 03:15 PM	#9
Imran Zaidi Trustee Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 1,315	This isn't like what Keith has done... it's more of a straight vectorizing of existing video for a fun animation effect. It's unfinished, but seeing as how I haven't gotten back into it in a while, I guess I'm done with it. :P http://www.theseventhlevel.net I used a tool called Flix Pro to do it. It's a tool that not only converts your video into flash-video format that allows you to show video without the user needing a plugin (other than flash), but it also allows you to convert your video into vector animation. Kinda neat stuff: http://www.wildform.com/flix The tool can do more detail than what I preserved... I just personally liked the less-detail approach.

May 19th, 2003, 06:41 PM	#10
John Garcia Regular Crew Join Date: May 2003 Location: Honolulu, Hawaii Posts: 199	damn, thats pretty awesome. lol...maybe I should try it!?

May 19th, 2003, 07:00 PM	#11
Rick Spilman Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Jersey City, NJ Posts: 366	I'm really pissed off at Flix Pro right now. The original version worked ok. Then I paid to upgrade and the new version was slighly better but was trickier to set up. A month or so ago I was offered a free upgrade to whatever version and now I can't get it to encode at all. When I get some time I will go to their forum and try to figure out what's wrong.