Home
Akaba
Audio
Blue Box
Effects
Hints
Keybrd Shortcuts
Misc/Hardware
Search
Titles
Tutorials
Credits
Links
Growing
Lines with Akaba (1)
Growing
Lines with Akaba (2)
Akaba
Pip Clip From Off Screen
Performing
‘Colour Blocking’ With Akaba
Moving
Brush On Akaba
What
takes a little time to realise is that Akaba is a collection of different
functions - drawing, frame grabbing, titling, animation etc., as opposed to a
series of steps that you progress through from one end to the other.
Each function has its own uses and techniques and Akaba easily allows you
to combine them with each other - and with monument, spice rack etc.
But it does help to visualize Akaba as a box of different tools, each
with its own application and adjustments etc. That you choose according to the
task in hand.
The
AKABA software seems fairly robust so if you have problems it will most likely
be that you forgot to select the correct settings.
When
you first start using Akaba:
Note
that AKABA operates on the clip selected in the Clip Bin - not the clip selected
in the storyboard! So you
must go select the clip you want to write on or extract from in the s/b then
after you have completed your AKABA operation on that clip, put it on the s/b.
Take
particular care to select the right MODE for what you are trying to do.
Remember that when you select
SOLID or TRANS SOLID it will take the colour from the colour palette in the
Settings box but when you select GRADIENT or TRANS GRADIENT it will take colour
from the gradient palette.
Make
sure you choose BRUSH or PEN according to what you are trying to do
Pen
for drawing and brush for frame grabbing and inserting.
When you first start it is very easy to forget that you have to keep
making these selections i.e., MODE and BRUSH/PEN each time you go from one type
of Function to another.
There
is no batch rendering in AKABA so an "object path" has to be rendered
before you can go on and do the next one. Render times are long if the object covers a lot of real
estate - so for example panels moving
Across
the screen to become backgrounds for titling take timeeeeeeeeeee to render.
Once
you get comfortable with the basics and start doing more complex layering and
mixing you will find it very helpful to make a "plan" for the build
that you have in mind. This
is because you need to work back from
The
(envisaged) final result to determine the timings/colours/moves etc., that you
need for the background and early parts of the composition – for example,
allowing time for the transitions you will be putting in at the
If
you devote some care and concentration to mastering the basics of AKABA at the
beginning you will soon find you have an incredibly powerful tool that will let
you do fantastic things with Casablanca and the limits are only your
imagination!
Growing
Lines With Akaba (1)
Here's how to get a growing
line on a map, for example, using a combination of Akaba and Casablanca's
transition f/x. Step-by-step procedures developed from various list inputs and
personal testing.
1. Create the background clip on which the line will be drawn, and of the length
you want the drawing to occur.
2. Select the preceding clip and add it to the Sb and then enter Akaba.
3. Select the line colour desired on Akaba's Settings menu.
4. Select the pen button on the Settings menu and select line size.
5. Select Solid on the Mode menu.
6. Select the brush button on the Functions menu. Place the cursor at the
beginning of the desired line and then hold down the left button and draw the
desired line to completion.
7. Release the left button and right click to exit the drawing mode.
8. Render and exit Akaba.
9. Add the new "Annnnn" clip to the Sb to right of the clip added in
Step 2.
10. Go to the Transitions menu and select Wipe 1 (a transition that come on the
Registration disk); set Range to length of clip.
11. Set the Wipe 1 direction arrow to the direction that the line is to grow.
12. Render and make a Scene, if desired, of the result.
You can also use a Video Spice Rack transition.
10. Go to Transitions menu and select VSR Wipes 1 and set Range.
11. For L-R or R-L motion set Effect to Basic Wipe-v; if B-T or T-B set Effect
to Basic Wipe-h
12. Set Blur to 0.
13. For L-R or T-B motion set Mode to Backward; for R-L or B-T motion set Mode
to Forward.
14. Render and, if desired, make a Scene of the result.
If the motion is more complex, for example, if it changes direction more than
ninety degrees, then the line may have to be broken down into shorter segments.
I
have done just what you want many times. It
results in a line that grows smoothly and cleanly on your map or graph with no
noticeable blue box effects. It
involves using AKABA, the Blue Box FX, Colour to Gray FX,
The
steps are as follows:
1)
Make a two frame still of the map scene to be used. Colour it to gray. Reduce the contrast to 12 %.
Save it as a scene in your clip bin.
Trim to 1 frame.
2)
Enter AKABA with the scene and tint it a colour different than the line you want
to draw. It is usually best to tint
it the average colour of the original map on which the line will eventually
appear. This will eliminate blue box edge effects.
Draw the entire line in the colour desired on the map where you want it
to go. You will be able to see the
map features so you can accurately draw the line.
Render and exit AKABA.
3)
Using the still function, make the AKABA scene in your clip bin as long as will
be needed for the sequence involving the growing line.
Make and empty scene of the same length which is the same colour as the
tint used for the background on which the line was drawn.
4)
Place the tinted map scene on the sb. Place
the empty scene to the right on the sb. Select the shift FX that moves in a direction which is
generally opposite to the direction the line will be growing. Select the transition length equal to the length of the
scene. Render and make a scene of
the result. You will now have a
scene where the line shrinks along the desired path on the background.
5)
Use the reverse function to make the line grow instead of shrink.
Place the result on the sb.
6)
Make a map scene using the original map with the original colour and contrast
that is the same length the scene with the growing line.
Place it on the sb to the left of the scene with the growing line.
Select the Blue Box FX and render.
If
you want, you can go back into AKABA and make an object or a symbol follow the
end of the growing line.
Akaba
Pip Clip From Off Screen
Recently someone posted a not saying they could not
figure out how to use AKABA to move a pip clip from off screen into the main
scene. I recently had the need to do this and looked into how this might be
accomplished. I
found that it could be done using the following procedure:
1) Select the scene that contains the pip clip. If the pip clip is not to be
animated, you need only use one frame. Enter AKABA with this scene and make a
paint brush of the portion of the scene you want to move into the
main scene from off screen. It can be as small or as large as you want.
2) Without rendering, exit AKABA. Select the main scene into which the pip clip
will be moving.
3) Enter AKABA with the main scene. Paste an image of the paint brush pip clip
into the main scene off screen where you want the starting position to be. AKABA
allows this position to be completely off screen if it is to the right and/or
the bottom. The amount you can go off screen is limited at the top and the left.
4) Go into the keyframe mode. Input the rest of the key frame positions along
which you want the paintbrush pip clip to move. The first position will be the
one you previously identified when you pasted the pip clip into
the main scene before entering the key frame mode.
5) Render while in the key frame mode and check your
work out by playing back the scene with the moving paintbrush pip clip. The
paintbrush pip clip will start off screen and move into the screen along the key
frame
positions you have identified. Adjust the key frame positions if necessary.
Re-render and check your work again until satisfied that you have what you
want...
Performing
‘Colour Blocking’ With Akaba
How
to make a colour scene into black & white and leave one item, such as a
flower, in colour, with otion, using AKABA.
“Colour Blocking” is the technique of having some
particular object in an image in colour while the remainder of the image is
black and white. Although some
real-time processing systems such as the MX-50 can do this quite easily, there
is a way to do it with Akaba. The results will vary depending on the particulars
of the video being used and the type of object and its movement. Here are the
steps:
1. Trim the original clip & place at the end of
storyboard.
2. Go to the Image Processing screen and apply the
Colour to Grey effect. Save as a Scene and replace original clip on the Sb with
this new scene.
3. Select the original clip and enter Akaba.
4. Select a chromakey colour to paint with.
(Usually a blue or green. Use a colour that doesn't
closely match a colour in the area you want to keep in colour in the final
rendition. Also, make sure you set the Saturation control - the slider at the
bottom of the colour menu - to about half saturation.)
5. Paint out the areas of the colour image that you
want to keep black and white. A solid rectangle works well for the large area
and a large soft edged airbrush for close to the transition area.
6. Lay in your keyframes to follow the motion of the
coloured object through the duration of the clip.
7. Render.
8. Place new Akaba clip after the black and white
clip on Sb.
9. From the Transitions screen, select Blue Box.
Match mask colour to the chromakey painted area. In Full Size Preview (V3.x),
adjust the Colour Range to completely remove the chromakey colour.
10.
Render and create a scene from the result.
Moving
Brush On Akaba
I just want to ask a question about Akaba. It says
you can have a brush moving when you use the same scene as the brush was taken
from. When I pick a brush from the same scene and move it around and back to the
original spot. After I render it, the brush disappears and becomes filled in
with the background. Not just that
but always my cursor disappears. Maybe you could outline exactly how to make
e.g.: someone’s head move away from the original body, float around and go
back to the original spot. Explain both ways it works fixed and animated.
Here is a quick explanation:
Select the clip containing the person who's head you want, in the clip bin
Go into AKABA
Select the Brush in the Settings box
Select one of the five stores
Open its lock
Select the circle (for example - this is best to cut a head)
Click OK and the clip appears
Place the circle on the head and size to cover just the head - click the left
button
The store comes back with the head in it - if you've got it how you want it -
click OK Make sure the lock is still open.
Select the freehand tool, place the cursor where you want the head and click
left. If you don't like the position you put it in just go back to the main
Akaba menu and click the little (delete last move) arrow then position the head
again. I sometimes repeat this four or five times until I get it exactly where I
want it - it can be helpful to mark the starting position with a wax pencil on
the screen then at your next attempt you can see where you did the previous one
from.
Click render and wait (have a cup of tea)
Quit Akaba and play the clip - it should now have the original and another head
both talking.
To do the same but just make a still of the head, repeat the above but leave the
store locked. You can also quit Akaba, go back to the Edit menu, select any
other clip, return to Akaba and paste the head into that clip.