Adobe AFTER EFFECTS CS3 PROFESSIONAL User Manual page 86

To very quickly give video footage a more film-like appearance, import the footage twice, and interpret each footage
item with a different field order. Then add them both to the same composition and blend them together. The misin-
terpreted layer will add some film-like blur.
After Effects automatically separates fields for D1 and DV video footage items. You can manually separate fields for
all other types of video footage in the Interpret Footage dialog box.
Select the footage item in the Project panel.
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2 Choose File > Interpret Footage > Main.
Choose an option from the Separate Fields menu.
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Click Preserve Edges (Best Quality Only) to increase image quality in nonmoving areas when the image is
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rendered at Best quality. Then click OK.
Note: If the field settings in the Interpret Footage dialog box are correct for the input footage and the field settings in the
Render Settings dialog box are correct for the output device, you can mix footage items of different field orders in a
composition. If either of these settings is incorrect, however, the frames will be in the correct order, but the field order
may be reversed, resulting in jerky, unacceptable images.
Determine the original field order
The field order for an interlaced video footage item determines the order in which the two video fields (upper and
lower) are displayed. A system that draws the upper lines before the lower lines is called upper-field first; one that
draws the lower lines before the upper lines is called lower-field first. Many standard-definition formats (such as DV
NTSC) are lower-field first, whereas many high-definition formats (such as 1080i DVCProHD) are upper-field first.
Note: Upper-field first corresponds to Even Field First in an ElectricImage file.
The order in which the fields are displayed is important, especially when the fields contain motion. If you separate
video fields using the wrong field order, motion will not appear smooth.
Some programs, including After Effects, label the field order when rendering interlaced video files. When you
import a labeled video file, After Effects honors the field order label automatically. You can override this field order
by applying different footage interpretation settings.
If a file does not contain a field order label, you can match the original field order of your footage. If you are not sure
which field order was used to interlace a footage item, use the procedure below to find out.
Select the item in the Project panel.
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Choose File > Interpret Footage > Main.
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3 In the Interpret Footage dialog box, select Upper Field First from the Separate Fields menu, and then click OK.
In the Project panel, press Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you double-click the footage to open it in the
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Footage panel.
5 If the Time Controls panel is not visible, choose Window > Time Controls.
In the Footage panel, find a segment that contains one or more moving areas.
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Using the Next Frame button
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Moving areas should move consistently in one direction. If the moving areas move backward every other frame, the
wrong field-separation option has been applied to the footage.
Note: Analog capture cards can vary. DV or footage captures from IEEE 1394 (FireWire/i.Link) are always lower-field
first.
in the Time Controls panel, step forward at least five frames in the Footage panel.
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