Tip:
You can change the frame rate of your animation in the Timeline
Animation palette. This will have a direct effect on how your
final processed piece looks.
This also
has a direct effect on timing. At 10 FPS, your transition should
be complete somewhere in the neighborhood of frame 20 to 30
(two or three seconds). For this example, we're using frame
25 to mark the full phase in.
So for this
example, I now want to click on frame 25 in the PASeq timeline
and enter in the final number of strokes. Then I will Option-click
on frame 25. Studio Artist will handle everything in between
for me, adding strokes from frame 1 until it reaches the final
stroke count I've set at frame 25.
Phase
out
If you want to fade out the same way, the process is similar.
First, you're going to need to know the total length of the
piece you're going to process. If you're creating your PASeq
with the footage that you plan to use for your final render,
then Studio Artist has already given you an appropriate number
of frames in your PASeq timeline. If you're not using your footage
for this, you're going to have to do some calculating. Multiply
the length of your movie (in seconds) by 10 to get a frame count
that correlates in Studio Artist. If you are working with a
10-second piece, that's 100 frames. By default, Studio Artist's
PASeq window only gives you 20 frames to work with. You can
change this number in the Timeline Animation palette.
Note:
Extending the bar in the Timeline Animation palette gives you
a maximum of 100 frame. You can manually enter a longer number
in the frame filed.
So let's
say you're dealing with 100 frames, and you want a 25-frame
fade out. The first thing you want to do is Option-click on
frame 76. This will let Studio Artist know that you want to
maintain maximum strokes until frame 76, at which point it will
start decreasing strokes to whatever number you set at frame
100, which is your final frame.
To set the
value to 0 at frame 100, click on frame 100 in your PASeq timeline.
Then go back into the Paint Synthesizer and enter 0 in the Max
Strokes field, and then Option-click on frame 100.
You now
have a complete phase in and phase out.
So now let's
say you want to add in a second set of strokes that phases in
at a different rate from the first set. It's almost exactly
the same process, but with one exception.
First, check
the Record button in your PASeq window again; select your preset;
and click Action. When you stop it, this new action will appear
in your PASeq window right underneath your first one. Set the
first frame to zero strokes using the method outlined above.
Now I want
this second set of strokes to begin phasing in just as the first
set finishes (frame 25). So after I've set my first keyframe
at zero strokes, I'm going to add another keyframe at frame
24 just by Option-clicking on that frame in the PASeq timeline.
This tells Studio Artist to draw zero strokes from frame 1 to
frame 24.
I want my
second set of strokes to phase in after about two seconds, or
20 frames. This means I'll set my next keyframe at frame 44,
using the method explained above. To fade this out, we'll also
just use the method described above.
Additional
effects
I mentioned earlier that I'm using two additional effects
in my example for this tutorial–Image Compressor and Geodesic
Watershed. These are my two favorite Image Operations in Studio
Artist. They're called Image Operations because, unlike Paint
Patches, they do not use individual strokes. Rather they process
an image much like a Photoshop filter does.
Image Compressor
is to an image what a compressor/limiter is to audio. That is,
it restricts your image's colors to a certain range based on
the color on your Canvas. The effect is similar to saturating
an image. In fact, the Image Compressor I used for this footage
was set only to affect saturation. The image was a bit muddy
without it, so I thought it would help.
Before (top) and after using
the Image Compressor.
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