www.ssontech.com

[laer]

Hi. I'm currently evaluating the demo version of SynthEye. The internal workings (tracking) seem to work very well, and I'm very impressed.

However, one of the critical things I need to evaluate is how well it works with AfterEffects (CS3).

For one thing, although I understand the demo not allowing you to export, I find the 'sample exports' very confusing, and currently I can't seem to import any of the sample files. I get a 'unexpected end of file' for all three versions of the AE sample file (which is not exactly giving me a great feeling about dishing out $500 for this program so far). I'm trying to load them by using file/import (then changing it to 'All Files' and selecting the file).

I'm also not sure what exactly they are referring to when they say to rename the sample file so it matches the location of the footage (flyby). Are they talking about the file name of the txt file (that one of the sample files is), or something inside the file (...although I didn't notice any reference to the file location in there).

Also, judging by some of the posts in the forum, there seems to be issues with exporting the data to AE... namely things like scale, which concern me. I've tried (in the recent past) to transfer XSI camera data to AE using a variety of 3rd party programs, but each one had scale issues (if they even worked at all), and came with a list of complex workarounds that had to be done to get it to work (which still didn't work anyway). So, I'm getting the feeling that a clean 'works out of the box' camera data export to AE is just a fantasy. I was kind of hoping that SynthEye (which, like I mentioned, seems to work amazingly well as far as the tracking part goes) would be.

Can anyone guide me through how to get this sample export working in AE CS3? Also, could AE users please comment on their experiences with SynthEye and AE (problems, etc)? It would really help my decision here. If this works well with AE, I'm sold...

Failing that, is there some contact number where I can speak to a salesperson?

Thanks in advance...

Running WinXP Pro SP2

[laer]

UPDATE: Got it to work. Just kept trying to import it, and at one point it gave me a different error (AE doesn't support .ma files). And then then next attempt succeeded.

Not sure what happened, so I'm afraid I can't give any clues or suggestions to those following this thread trying to find an answer too (if they are having the same issue).... other than, I guess, 'Keep trying to import it'!

[ece3k]

I have been using SE with CS3, 4 and 5...no problems that are not my fault. Scaling can be a little awkward at first, but once you figure it out, no problem.
Remember that a layer, to sit on the ground, should have its anchor point moved to the bottom edge, orient your world properly in SE, and you should have no issues. Just open the .ma export in AE, drop in a layer, anchor point adjust, hit 3D layer on, position to x=0 y=0 z=o (or wherever you have a null on the ground, scale to taste....and there you go.
All the best,
Erik

[GraphicsKid]

That post was over a year old man, he probably doesn't even look here anymore. Thanks for the advice though!