unable to solve cause of this pixelization issue in my AE CS5 project...

N

Nicholas Natteau

Veteran
I'm having some trouble with a WWI map of Europe that I created in Illustrator after I apply a luma transition effect in After Effects CS5. My problem is that my layer becomes totally pixelated after applying the effect. The transition effect is set to "Stencil Luma"

Please see these photos here:

http://gallery.me.com/nn00#100024

Pleasse take a look at the "AHE" (Austro-Hungarian Empire) layer. After applying a luma transition the layer is totally pixelated.

Is there anything incorrect that anyone can see from my settings??? Thanks in advance.
 
I'm not sure if I see the pixellation, or if the 3rd image was supposed to show pixellation

maybe try the collapse transformations switch ?

344fceo.jpg
 
Hi PDR,

Thanks very much for helping. But I believe the comp file has has to have "collapse transformations" off in the main comp. Collapse Transformations is on in the AHE comp.
Yes, the third image shows the Austro-Hungarian Empire as totally pixelated around its borders. Notice how all the other states have sharp borders, but only AHE has totally pixelated borders.
 
ok history and geography were not my strong subjects :)

you probably are referring the southern border of the southern most grey "country" ?

"pixellated" usually refers to blocky image like a grid, or macroblocking... I think a better description would be "blurry"

The reason I suggested collapse tranformations, is you can get pixellated artifacts when it's turned off, because vector images (e.g. illustrator files) become rasteriszed instead of being treated as vector images



Your "circle out" layer in your AHE precomp doesn't extend the full length, maybe that has something to do with it ?

How are you applying the transition? are you doing this through transfer modes on a layer? What is being keyframed ?
 
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Thanks again PDR,

The "circle out" is a QuickTime movie so unfortunately I have no way of stretching it in the timeline.
It's inside the AHE comp which inside the main comp . Is that the wrong way to do it? Thanks again very much for your help.
 
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What is it a movie of? Is the timing important? What are you trying to do with it ?

You said "luma transition effect" - describe how you set that up. How is the transition occurring ?
 
Hi PDR,

I just uploaded the "circle out" luma transition movie here. The file all the way to the left, sorry it's black on black background so you may not see it initially but just look for the small camera icon on the thumbnail on that page. I'm trying to use it as a luma matte to fade in the new countries. Do I need to group this movie with the target nation in a separate comp? Or can this be done in the main composition?

http://gallery.me.com/nn00#100024

If the quicktime movie doesn't play on the page just try downloading it. It's only 2 seconds long.

What happening is: I have the targeted nation set below the "circle out" movie matte which is set to "stencil luma". I'm trying to use this circle out luma matte to fade in the targeted state/nation/empire etc.
 
To be clear here, is the problem the "blurry" edge on the southern border?

You already have it in a precomp, the AHE precomp - when you view it in that composition (not the main comp), is the edge blurry there once the transition has finished ?

The "circle out" layer is scaled down to 17%, and the leading edge is rough and blurry in that animation, a bit like edge in the 3rd screenshot. Are you sure the layer the right size ? Try scaling it up a bit. Another way to check this is to temporaily change the transfer mode of the circle out layer to "normal", solo the layer and preview it in the AHE precomp
 
Exactly, it's the southern border that's all pixelated. In the pre-comp, no blurry edge, tack sharp. The blurry edge problem occurs in the main comp and I just can't figure it out. It's driving me crazy. Been struggling with this issue two days now. Thank you very much for your continued help.
 
What effects do you have on the AHE-F layer ?

Do you have any masks on the AHE layer (the one in the main comp) ?

Put the AHE layer in a separate comp (nested comp) by itself without any other layers (temporarily just for debugging/testing) - still blurry edge?
 
HI PDR,

The only effect I have applied to my AHE-F layer is a color tint. And even when deleting the tint the blurry edges were still there. No masks no it either. Tried putting it by itself, still blurry.
 
Sorry, I have no more ideas :(

I tried your "circle out" stencil luma transition video clip on some test layers/shapes here, and cannot replicate what's happening to you

If nobody else has any ideas here, you might try asking at the videocopilot.net forum, or creativecow.net forum
 
Issue finally resolved!!! It turns out I didn't have to make any separate comp for this effect. Now I feel beyond dumb! :)
AHE or targeted state had to be set to "luma matte" for the level above.

The only issue remaining is that the state now disappears as soon as the "circle out" matte movie finishes. Do you know any way for the layer to remain visible after the matte has finished transitioning into the layer? Thanks so much for all your help since Saturday. I really appreciate it.
 
If you've set it up as a luma matte track matte in the main comp, enable time remapping for the top layer, then on the last keyframe, right click and "toggle hold keyframe", then extend the layer length (just drag it)

It's still weird , because the other method should have worked as well
 
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