Illustrator: release to layers situation

So some of my Adobe Illustrator-savvy students complain that the "Release to Layers/Sequence" is a pain to use to actually release multiple Illustrator layers to "top-level" layer status. Well, there's an App for that. Ok, not really, but there's a SCRIPT for that.

It works really well! I found it on the Adobe forum:
https://forums.adobe.com/thread/287812

The script is downloadable here.

And then select your top-level layer, break the groups down based on how you want to animate them, then choose "Release to Layers Sequence." Go to File/Scripts/OtherScripts, and navigate to the JET_X_Layers.jsx file.

OMG magic! It pops all your layers to top-layer status, perfect for After Effects! Bangarang!!

Vimeo compression notes

QT 7: movie to MPEG 4

Settings: H264, 5000kbps, 1280x720, 29.97

Video options: Main, best

Audio tab: AAC-LC, 320 kbps, Stereo, 44.1, Best

480p is 854x480 when it's 16:9, 640x480 when it's 4:3
720p is 1280x720

Time-saving tips in AE

http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/10-time-saving-tips-in-after-effects/
http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/10-more-time-saving-tips-in-after-effects/

Designing a graph?

Fake a graph!

Use http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx?ID=f132839312fa483da5701072d851594e
And type in your info. Download a PDF. Design it pretty in AE or Illustrator. And done.

MOV to WMV....ugh

Flip4Mac: awful translation of gradients and lights, no custom settings for the Standard edition. Pro (where you can increase the bitrate) is a hefty $160

Aimersoft Video Converter: free edition comes with a watermark. Used a high bitrate but still looks awful.

Wondershare: watermarked, but good quality.

MPG streamclip: uses Flip 4 Mac, awful at default, $160 to upgrade.

MacX Video Converter Free Edition: keeps crashing

MPG converter: won't do larger dimensions

Tune4MAc: fails

WinXMOV converter: crashes

http://video.online-convert.com/convert-to-wmv just as bad as Flip4Mac

PCHand MediaConverterPro: unregistered version converts up to 3 minutes

In conclusion, when you're on a Mac and you have to convert MOV to WMV your best bet is Flip 4 Mac. (Or to kick it old-school and find a Mac with Cleaner installed that always did a nice job for us in ye olde times...)

How to Terminal Render in AE

0. In AE, if you want to render more than 1 window in the Terminal, in AEP render settings, make sure "render multiple frames simultaneously" checkbox is on. If you're going out to ProRes in the end, render 16-bit Tiffs (change in Render Settings) that are set to Trillions (change Millions to Trillions in Output Module window). ProRes is 10-bit so it'll dumb down your 16-bit Tiffs. Set output of these tiffs to a folder on a drive that has TONS of space (can be 40MB per frame)

1. Cmd-space in your Finder

2. type "terminal"

3. open terminal, copy-paste the text: /Applications/Adobe\ After\ Effects\ CS5/aerender -project 

(yes, with the space at the end of the line of text, also attached as TextEdit doc)

4. drag-drop your project file from Finder to land at end of text.

5. Then make another Terminal window (Cmd N) and repeat steps 3 & 4.

6. When render is over, import folder as Sequence, set framerate, and output your QT.

Color separation in Photoshop

How to separate an image so you can do trippy color-separation effects to it.

Before After

   

1-Click on your Layer window.

2-Make a new layer, name it Red.

3-Locate the Channels Tab (usually under Layers) or go to Window/Channels to bring it up.

  

4-In the Channels window, click on Red. The other eyeballs should be off.

5-You’ll see a black-and-white representation of your image. White is where that color is fully present, Black is for absence of that color, grey is for in-between values of semi-Redness.

6-Cmd-click the Red thumbnail to load it as a selection.

7-Back to Layer window.

8-Edit/Fill. Use Color, and make red value 255.

     

9-Red is 255 as below.

10-Turn off eyeball on Red layer.

11-Repeat steps 2-9 for Blue and Green

12-Turn on your Red Green Blue layer eyeballs again. Turn off your original layer eyeball.

Image should look creepy as in the below.

   

13-Make a new layer, fill it Black. Image continues to look creepy.

   

14-Select your color layers. Set their blending mode from Normal to Linear Dodge (Add).      

15-Image back to normal...Or is it?