Going to a Motion seminar, any questions?

Hey all I am going to a Motion seminar on Tuesday at Apple Canada headquarters and if you have any questions I will ask there if I have the option

post here or email me if you want anything asked
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DAVE at Movies Rock in Toronto

Hi David,

here is the question I like to ask,

1) Since the project file of "Motion" using XML Interchange Formal, so that, any technical document about motion's XML can be found on the Apple web site ?

2) What is the reason for the stage size is limited to 2048 x 2048 pixel ? same case as the maximum imported still picture is also limited to 2048 x 2048 pixel only.

Many Thanks!

Have a nice day.
Antonio Hui

Great
keep-em coming
DAVE at Movies Rock in Toronto

hi David,

Here is the detail about question 2,

Due to the limitation of the import pic size. The only way is split the pic into multi pieces and stitch them inside "motion"

However, the result...

... very poor.

It's need to create overlapping before import to "motion".

-----------------

here are the informations about the process.

- original outputted from FCP in 3840 x 1280 pixel.

- Split them into two pieces using GraphicConverter with split option, left and right, 1920 x 1280 pixel each

- create a project in DV(PAL) and change the aspect radio to "Square"

- import to "motion" and offset each pic for +960 and -960 pixel, in same layer

- and than play with that layer for scale, rotate...etc.

I found that the width of the black edge between pic will changing.

also, one more limitation is found, because the layer that contain the stitched pics is already larger than 2048 px. It's not possible to add filter on it too.

Thanks Again !
Antonio Hui

Where is that picture from Antonio?

Hi Tom,

There is my home town Hong Kong. The picture is stitched from 10 photos within FCP and output in one pass without retouching.

here is the picture in original size (3840 x 1280 pixel)
[homepage.mac.com]

Welcome to Hong Kong, on your holiday !
Antonio Hui

"What is the reason for the stage size is limited to 2048 x 2048 pixel ? same case as the maximum imported still picture is also limited to 2048 x 2048 pixel only."


This is a limitation of the graphics card, not Motion. Just the same for the 9600 & 9800's only being 8bit cards. Just wait for everybody complaining about those limitations when newer cards are released.

Peter

.... and the picture with the black line on the middle is exported from "Motion"
[homepage.mac.com]

Finally, I found that, the black line issue could be solved, while the anti-aliasing output option is switched off, but the picture quality is also degraded.

Antonio Hui

Agree, must be some problem there, but Apple need to solve it.

The point is, with this limitation, "Motion" will never be a good tools for PAN/SCAN. You know, now a day any still digicam with more than 3 million pixel (2048 x 1536) with beyond the import limit.

Antonio Hui

Plus, one thing need to correct, The ATI 9800 pro can handle 10 bit output (with the Dual integrated 10-bit per channel 400 MHz DACs) for previewing. And, "how to re-capture it for output" is the issue of "Motion".

Antonio Hui

OK I am totally confused now.

What is the question you want me to ask?

DAVE at Movies Rock in Toronto

Sorry David, I made you feel confuse.

1) The first question remain unchanged that's about where to find the motion's XML document.

2) What is the recommendation from Apple about how to work with oversized picture ?

Thanks !
Antonio Hui

ok sorry this was just getting a little hard to follow

DAVE at Movies Rock in Toronto

Hey Antonio,

The project size (or "stage" is limited to the maximum resolution of the graphics card. In the case of the nVidia GeForce 5200 and the current ATI cards, the largest texture that can be drawn by the card is 2048x2048. Since all processing in Motion is done in the GPU, it simply cannot handle an image larger than that. So while you can tile two 1920 images together into a 3840 layer, Motion cannot process that entire giant 3840 image. It will crop the result to 2048.

Also, some filters, like blurs, cause the image to grow. So if you have a 2048 image and apply Gaussian Blur, the image grows slightly, exceeds the 2048 limit and gets cropped.

As I mentioned before, though, this limitation is not built into Motion: it is a limitation of the GPU. As GPUs come out that support higher texture sizes, Motion will, too.

Hope this helps.

Hi Doyle,

Thanks for you reply. I understand that is the limitation of the current graphic cards those are used for motion.

However, it could be solved by software, I guess. The idea is, while the oversized picture is detected by the motion, motion will turn them into pieces (build a mesh and texture mapping) and group them together automatically. so that, user can play will it as a single graphic object.

Yes, I already know how to do it manually and how to due with the filters, but a build-in import routine will be much helpful. I don't want to split my 8k still photos everytime because of this limitation.

Would someone tell how to write this import routine ?

Antonio Hui

> 1) The first question remain unchanged that's about where to
> find the motion's XML document.
It will be coming to the developers section soon


> 2) What is the recommendation from Apple about how to work with
> oversized picture ?
They (Apple Canada presenters) didn't realize this problem but will look into it and pass it on the tech support/programers

DAVE at Movies Rock in Toronto

There's no need for a separate XML export because the .motn Motion project files are straight XML. Just open them in Text Editor to have a look.

We are talking about the motion's XML reference manual, it is similar to the FCP one.

[developer.apple.com]

Antonio Hui

Thanks for your help, David.