Stereo Scripts for After Effects
by Chris Keller
on
Aug 2, 2009 at 10:52:17 am
Hey there,
I have spent the last few months developing some scripts for After Effects that dramatically enhance the stereoscopic workflow. These are the main features:
Automatically generate the right view for a scene (using a very flexible camera rig). This relieves you from doing your compositing work twice.
Create anaglyph, side-by-side or interleaved previews of your 3D scenes, do global mastering like convergence adjustments and color grading and render the final left and right view separately
Perform elaborate preparation (that is, alignment) of stereo footage
I have tested and improved the scripts during my work as a stereoscopic compositor, and I can say now that they accelerate my work by at least 400-500 %.
The biggest obstacle is probably to learn how to use the scripts. Since they are quite complex, I strongly recommend that you at least take a look at the first page of the included info document. Also, I am currently recording two very basic video tutorials to give you a practical introduction.
Re: Stereo Scripts for After Effects by Chris Keller on Aug 3, 2009 at 10:59:11 pm
Here's the first tutorial explaining the stereo workflow for motion graphics. It's probably not the best tutorial ever, but it should help you get started. The second part, dealing with preparing and editing stereo footage, will follow in a few days.
Re: Stereo Scripts for After Effects by Chris Eller on Aug 5, 2009 at 9:43:44 pm
Chris Keller, this is Chris Eller ;)
Thanks so much for the hard work you've put into these scripts and video. With stereo productions ramping up, time savers like these are going to turn into life savers for folks.
I'm an AE noob, not for lack of trying though. I'll have to see how this can fit into my workflow; I'm using Premiere at the moment and working on the two video streams and coordinating effects on them both is not without its problems.
--
Chris Eller
* Advanced Visualization Lab - Indiana University
* Chris Eller Photography, LLC
* Starrynight Productions, Inc.
Re: Stereo Scripts for After Effects by Chris Keller on Aug 14, 2009 at 3:29:59 pm
Sorry for the late response, but I had some biiiig stuff going on (actually, I had to watch American Dad S1-4).
Here's the second tutorial, which gives you an idea on how you can process and edit stereo footage very fast and smoothly:
http://vimeo.com/6094201
@ Mr. Eller (great name, btw!):
Your Premiere workflow is one of the main reasons why I wrote those scripts. There still is no such thing as the perfect stereoscopic video software. Nuke, Fusion et cetera at least offer plugins or basic support for processing stereo footage by now, but as for the Adobe products, stereo work has been rather tedious. Since not everyone's budget allows for expensive cameras, live 3D processing units and stereo mastering suites, I too believe that there are many people waiting for those (as you call them) "life savers". I can only say that without my scripts, many of my past projects would not have been possible in the given time. Also, I am finally able to focus on the creative parts of the job. Ok, enough self-praise... ;)
