AE ENHANCERS

A lot of people like to work at 720x540 square pixels, but need to final output D1 aspect ratio 720x486.

This usually involves a tediuos process of creating a 720x486 D1 Comp, adding the 720x540 Comp to it and resizing it to fit.

This script automates that process with the option of adding the new D1 comps to the Render Queue.

The script also allows for user definable prefix and suffix to be added the names of the new 720x486 Comps.

Basically the script takes any selected Comps (they can be any size, but i imagine the more common sizes will be 720x540 and 648x486) and puts them in a newly created 720x486 D1 Comp and resizes them to fit. It then asks you if you want to add these new Comps to the Render Queue.

*** New features in AE7 now allow adding an Animation Preset to the newly created Comp. Check the link below for that new script***

Note that if no Comps are selected, it processes all the Comps in the project.

* If there is enough interest, I can create a PAL version of this script.

Credit goes to Byron Nash for writing the original Compify Script.

You can download the script here http://aescripts.com/2005/08/25/compify-720x486/

I might be missing something - but surely it would be easier to just stretch the item in the Output Module and save as a template?

Not if you plan on field rendering, AE field renders before it does the stretching in the output module, so it would stretch the fields and create a bit of a mess..

But if you are frame rendering, then yes, you can definitely do it in the Output Module.

Based on input from Trish Meyer, I modified the script to Collapse Transformations in the D1 comp, so that the layers are not antialiased again when scaled.

the same link is still valid:

COMPIFY-720x486.jsx

This is also my preferred method opposed to stretching in the O.M. because if you plan on adding any effects to the overall comp, you can do it in the script. For example:
200 elements to deliver. all 720x540. Need to be rendered with magic bullet "Broadcast spec" applied. Run this type of script, and not only resize and dupe the comps, but also apply Broadcast spec to each comp - vwala, 200 comps in the render queue with broadcast spec applied, 720x486 and ready to go. Literally saves HOURS worth of tedious work.

I recommend either using this script, or getting an intern. Either way, doing it by hand is not a smart way to work, IMO.

c

It is fairly easy to modify my script to have it add any number of effects (like the broadcast spec for example). If this is beyond your scripting knowledge, send me an email and i'd be happy to customize it..

Thanks Lloyd, but my comment was in reference to something I've used in the past. I was just commenting on why the method you're using here is useful by example. Thanks though! I'm actually interested in comparing our scripts, I haven't read through this one yet - unfortunately I'm away from my regular machine for a few weeks, so I don't have the script available to post.

Chris Kelley
Animator & Developer
http://www.35interactive.com

Hey Chris,

Sorry i wasn't more clear, I was offering the help to anyone not you specifically..

Anyway.. since i realized that making it user definable might be a good idea, i created a new verision of the script that puts in a user definable Effect (like Broadcast Colors or Broadcast Spec, but it could be any Effect). You simply type the name of the effect that you want applied and the Script will add it when it creates the new 720x486 Comp.

You can get that script here:

COMPIFY-720x486_w_Effect.jsx

Hi,

I tried to use your script to scale a 1920 x 1080 footage to 720 x 486. But it scales it down to (0.3,0.4)..

What am I doing wrong? my footage framerate is 30 fps and is square pixels. My composition is at 24 fps and has 0.9 aspect ratio.

What are the correct parameters I should use to build the formula?

Thanks,
Payal

I found my mistake.. I didnt see that the scale values were multiplied by 100 in setscale method. So this works fine.

Now one quesion. Is there any similar formulae to fit the comp into letterbox size?

Thanks,
Payal

Hey Payal,

Thanks for pointing that out, I modified the script to work with non 4:3 footage and put it in a letterbox. I think this is what you are asking for.

Same link is still good for both scripts

COMPIFY-720x486.jsx
COMPIFY-720x486_w_Effect.jsx

-Lloyd

Hi,

I think the link you provided for the AE 7 animation preset version is dead...could you relink?

thx,

thanks for pointing that out.. it's been fixed

COMPIFY-720x486_w_Preset-AE7.jsx

great script. couple questions though. is it possible to modify the script so that more than one effect can be added, and settings of eihter effect be adjusted? for example, if in addtion to the broadcast colors, i wanted to add a levels pass as well with the output white setting adjusted to 249.

i know nothing about scripting whatsoever. i was able to figure out enough to change the default prefix and suffix, but thats about the extent of it for me. any help or suggestions here would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

tom

oh yeah, i'm running 6.5, otherwise i'd use the version for 7 and just save a preset with the settings.

heh. actually i've got another question. is it possible to have it make a new comp from a selected movie and have it do the same thing, rather than having to make a 720x540 comp first? the reason i ask is i usually render everything at 720x540 and then create a new project to convert my movies to D1.

guess i just need to learn some scripting...