Prem Pro HDV file, After Effects, slow motion

[Mark G. Roberts]

I've been struggling with this for a few days now. I've read quite a few articles and posts on here so any help would be really appreciated.

Previously I've been exporting files to AE from a PremPro 2.0 PAL (50i) Standard Def project (using HDV footage imported from HDV projects to get best downrez to SD). I export a deinterlaced movie SD AVI file from Premiere Pro 2.0 using File Export Movie and slow it down using After Effects pixel motion frame blending and get some pretty good results. Of course the problem with this is that the progressive output from PremPro is halved in quality although the fluid motion achieved in AE is worth it.

I film and capture HDV from the Canon XH-A1. I can capture in PPro2 and also HDVSplit.

What I would like to be able to do is the following.

Use AE's slow mo to create the files in 1440x1080 for Premiere Pro 2.0 to read back in but without losing quality through deinterlacing. I have Magic Bullet to use as an option within AE7 too although was hoping to avoid having to use that as it can be very slow. I want it to be as quick a process as possible but to give the best slow mo I can acheive given the tools I have.

So the idea I had was to export a 1440x1080 progressive file from to AE for slow mo processing, export it and then use that back in Prem Pro. That way I won't lose the quality by standard AE/PremPro deinterlacing once I import it into a SD resolution project.

After Effects 7.0 struggles with HDV native files so I need to convert from Premiere Pro before it goes into AE.

I need a format AE will like (please would someone be able to advise me of the successful export options from PremPro2)

I've tried all sorts of export formats from AE7 including Quicktime H264. The AE output files seem to get stuck after a few frames or won't play in Premiere Pro 2.0.

Does anyone already do this and have a workflow they could share with me? I can't afford to go for anything like a Matrox card or Canopus at this stage.

Any help appreciated.

Cheers
Mark

[Mike McCarthy]

Assuming you are using short clips, use uncompressed AVI files (Compression None). For long clips, invest in Cineform NeoHDV or AspectHD for compressed HD AVI files.

You should NOT deinterlace your source clips before applying the slowmotion effect. You want all the temporal data you can get. How much are you trying to slow them down. I am not sure if there are advantages to scaling it down at the same time, but I believe so. This would be my workflow.

Capture HDV MPEG. Export AVI from PPro (Uncompressed or Cineform) with NO deinterlacing. Import into AE and interpret fields properly. Setup SD comp. Scale and retime footage in that comp, using Pixel motion interpolation. Export in your prefered SD format, probably uncompressed. Optionally, use the AE filed renderer to create slowmo interlaced SD output.

[Mark G. Roberts]

Thank you Mike, that worked perfectly. I hadn't tried using Uncompressed HD AVI as I was worried about the file size and didn't think my PC would cope with them but actually they work superbly.

You've meant I can get back to work now (well, at least tomorrow) and stop banging my head against my monitor.

For anyone else's reference this has worked well on footage from half speed (via Overcranking 50i footage in AE) right down to 10% speed using pixel motion blending.

Thanks once again.

[Mikko Lopponen]

Originally Posted by Mark G. Roberts

Does anyone already do this and have a workflow they could share with me? I can't afford to go for anything like a Matrox card or Canopus at this stage.

Use uncompressed. I personally use Huffyuv to encode files going into AE. Then I do slowmotion work and bring them back into premiere. Works well.