text:
Animation from bottom to center, then rotate to 45°
Tell me that I'd better use. From below, a diamond should emerge and be placed in the center. then it turns by 45° and increases in size and becomes a square. I created layers in Photoshop. on one - a diamond in the center. on the second - a square in the center with enlarged dimensions. then imported psd in after effects. And... What should I do next? Have I made the layers correctly?

Hi - please add some screenshots - you'll get better answers.

Your next step is to go to a library and get a book on animating in After Effects, or go to youtube and watch some of the gazillions of AE tutorials. Come back when you've done some basic research and have a specific question, and we'll be super glad to help.

@stib, sorry :( I already know how to make basic animation and create first AE video

Create a square shape.  Center it to the screen using align.
Move the time indicator forward in the timeline.
Go into the transform of the shape layer, and keyframe the position, rotation, and scale, by clicking the little stopwatch next to each of these.
Go back in the time line and move the object down to the bottom, by dragging or lowering the Y value under position.
Go passed the first point you made in the timeline when you keyframed and you should already see the shape moving up.   Now just increase scale size.
Adjust keyframes to the timing you want.

That's the basic premise.

scale changes Y position and after encreasing bounds square lift to bottom

Manipulate scale on the shape object, not the layer.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
How to produce Video with DVD Chapters on a Network Drive?
Is there any way to produce a DVD set of files that can be played off a network drive ?
The reason I ask is that authoring on a fairly powerful modern PC using windows 10 and a recent version of Power Director 14+ is creating Discs that break up badly and freeze during playback.
I've wasted no end of discs.
I need to produce something from the Power Director that will have chapters so that for example a week's holiday you could select Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday etc
Jumping to points rather than having to fast forward the whole film is of course a big advantage of DVD's.
Hope someone can help - power director don't even reply or if they do nothing they suggest works.

You could create a HTML page which has buttons that references the parts (Chapters) of a video file on a network drive

↑ this. Interactive menus on a network is kinda what HTML was invented for

Check the format and bitrate that you are burning your DVDs at, it should be "MPEG-2 DVD" format, maximum video 9800Kbps, maximum audio 912Kbps. Buy a small package of rewritable DVDs to practice, and burn DVDs that you know you don't want to keep for a long time.
First save a backup copy. Edit your "C:\Users\your user here\AppData\Roaming\CyberLink\PowerDirector\10.0\profile.ini" file and change these parameters:

See Cyberlink's "Burning" and "Quick Guide to Choosing the Right Video Output Format" or Apple's "Encoding Video Materials for DVD" for more information on choosing formats and rates.
PowerDirector University's YouTube channel has this video: "CyberLink PowerDirector 13 Ultimate | DVD Menu & Disc Authoring Tutorial" along with many others, as does Sharper Turtle's channel: "PowerDirector 15 - How to create and edit chapter titles.
A video is a better format for explaining the intricacies of DVD menus and chapters, rather than a StackExchange answer with an endless series of menu screenshots each explaining one way.
Once you have created your .ISO file save it to your network drive rather than burning it to DVD, and use a Player that doesn't object to reading .ISOs off of a storage disk rather than a DVD.

Thanks. The key for me was that I didn't realise I could use a media player to play the .iso file. Once I knew that I settle for VLC on the computer and Chromecast the desktop then a bluetooth keyboard remote with media keys. They the skip would return to the Main Menu and the chapters could be navigated. The bluetooth keyboard was a big improvement on the need for constant use of the laptop itself.

Glad to be of help. Creating a really beautiful Menu is an art. You can create really nice ones that play videos in the background (like out-takes, or previews of the Chapter) along with a music track. It depends on how much spare space you have left over. Maybe in the months to come you'll get even better answers. VLC reads almost anything.

source: Stack Exchange

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

sort: votes


text:
Audio level goes up and down in rendered output [After Effects]
I render my AE project using Media Encoder, but when I check the output, its audio level clearly changes and go up at some parts and down on other parts! and its not consistent at all.
The thing is that sound doesn't have any problem. I check sound in Audition and its good, I even check the sound in AE and it doesn't have any problem on RAM preview.
It's the first time that this problem occurs.
Any idea for what to check in AE or AME?
Thanks.

Check your comp to make sure you don't have several layers with audio playing at the same time. And also, don't use After Effects for audio. It's like using a screwdriver to cut bread—wrong tool.

Have you export the audio only from audition & does it have the problem then ?
Does the audio have a compressor on it? You could use one to keep the levels consistent.
Are you sending from AE to encoder with the sound file ? Try using premier as a middle man. Bring the AE sequence & Audition project into premier and export from there. Could be that AE is ignoring your mix because it’s AE. Alternatively you could export direct from AE the vision and the audio only from audition and stick the two together in premier.

If the source material is in stereo, but you are rendering any part of the chain in mono, it could be a stereo phasing issue. Maybe some sections of the audio track are in phase and others out of phase?   Make sure everything is in stereo, and that the left channels are panned left, the right channels are panned right throughout.
If you mix out-of-phase stereo audio down to mono, it will cancel itself out, resulting in lower output, or sometimes no output.
See this answer for more:
Premier Pro Audio Quality Poor and Muffled After Export


text:
AviSynth can't open my AVI file: "AVISource: Couldn't locate a decompressor for fourcc dvds"
I simply want to open an AVI file with AviSynth and feed it into VirtualDub. However, when I open my .avs script (consisting of just one AviSource() call), I get the following error:
Avisynth open failure:
AVISource: Couldn't locate a decompressor for fourcc dvds
(H:\Videos\QTGMC\test.avs, line 1)

The required dvsd codec seems to be installed, according to software called GSpot (which identifies a video file's required codec's). Does anyone know why I can't open this file and how to fix it?

The error message would indicate your codec doesn't have the correct functionality. Maybe it is faulty. You could try reinstalling.

@DrMayhem I must have come pre-installed, since I never installed it. And I can't find it anywhere.

In case anyone has the same issue in the future, I solved it by installing Cedocida codec: http://www.cithraidt.de/cedocida/index.html#download.
Using DirectShowSource() instead of AviSource() also works.


text:
What would a video look like without the shutter separating frames?
If the shutter wasn't in the picture, what would you get? Are there any examples of this available? I've searched, but couldn't come up with anything. Is this an impossible thing? Or are the results so unremarkable it's not worth showing? Would it just be a continuous blur of motion?

a lot of cameras don't have shutters, can you tell by the video? or are you asking only about film cameras?

@dandavis So perhaps I'm not understanding fully how shutters work, as I'm curious about digital. I thought the shutter was always in effect and needed to separate the frames of the video.

to greatly simplify, many cameras can just turn the sensor off between frames, clearing the last captured image and demarcating a new one. Early CMOS sensors needed time to be read and reset, during which additional light could interfere with readings. "electronic shutters" became possible as sensors gained the ability to buffer the capture and curtail input while streaming out the pixel data. CCDs could always do this. In short, we don't always need shutters and such video looks fine in well-designed systems.

@dandavis Ok, thanks. So is there an answer to what would happen if the sensor was not turned on and off and the shutter was not used? For stills, that's long exposure, but what would happen in video? Would it be a video that builds upon itself with motion? Like a long-exposure still in progress?

yes, if the buffer were not electronically reset-able, it would look like a print developing or an in-progress long-exposure. You can simulate that in PS by giving each frame a layer and blending them with "sum"

@dandavis I'm wondering why I can't find any video of this? I might not be entering the best search terms for it. Any suggestions?

The answer to this will differ based on if you are really talking video or film.
In either case, you'd have no control over shutter speed, which would mean you were locked at the exposure time of the frame rate you were shooting in.  This would greatly limit your exposure options which would either impact ISO/film grain or the depth of field or both.
With no shutter on film, the film would be exposing as it advanced and would thus be a streaked mess.  It would be stopped for a longer time than it's moving in most cameras, but you'd still be able to see the streaks distorting the image.
With no shutter on video, you fair a lot better.  Since the sensor itself isn't moving, you'd just have continuous scanning that wouldn't be that noticeably different.  Practically speaking, you still have an electronic shutter though because there is a blanking interval where the sensor has to read and dump charges, so there is going to be down time when the sensor isn't collecting photons and during this time, the "shutter" is effectively closed.  In fact, it's fairly common for video cameras to use a pure electronic shutter rather than a mechanical one.

It might be possible to have some sort of continuous live feed where every sensor was connected to a pixel on a display which would have no shutter. And if you had analog equipment that could handle the enormous bandwidth you could technically record it without samples. But why.

@stib you still have to choose a time to reset the photosite.  That would be, in essence, a shutter.  Otherwise the sites would all rapidly exceed their collection limit and you'd just have a white screen.  Or are you just talking about doing away with the collector all together and instead just have every photosite directly feed a screen through an amplifier with no actual collection?  That would be very, very noisy at a minimum as the collection is a necessary step to differentiating signal from noise.

Either way, we're talking a highly specialized device that individually links each photosite to an led or something similar in a display.  No existing display or sensor operates in this manor, so it would have to be completely custom fabrication.

Yeah, I'm not talking practical, I'm talking theoretically possible.

I think it would be unremarkable as to be not worth showing.
Knowing that motion pictures are just a regular sequence of still images, what separates frames is, well, holding the image frame still for the exposure time (which is somewhat controllable, but generally about half of the frame rate period). Yes, the shutter does blank the light from exposing the film or sensor for a brief period of time (or in the case of electronic shutter, blanking and resetting the sensor).
The excellent YouTube video How a Film Projector Works (only 9 minutes) by Bill Hammack, a.k.a. engineerguy, shows how a movie projector operates. I can't recommend this video enough (as well as all of his videos). There is so much information presented, incredibly clearly demonstrated.
Early in the video, note that the projector does not smoothly move the film strip past the lamp and lens. If that were the case, it would be a blur of information, and you could barely make out some of the film detail. Instead, the film frame is held stationary while its image is projected. Then, when the film is advanced, a rotating shutter blocks the lamp from projecting the image through the lens. I like to make the analogy of a stage play closing the curtains while the stage set is changed, then the curtains are drawn to display the new set. You didn't see the stagehands and props moving. You only get to see the placed sets.
The process of capturing film is almost exactly the same, only rather than using a lamp to project through a developed frame, light coming through the lens has to expose a stationary frame of film for a fixed period of time. In the projector video, note that a single frame is actually projected 3 times by use of a 3-bladed shutter wheel, in order to increase the flicker rate (apparent frame rate) beyond the flicker fusion threshold of about 60-70 flickers per second.
But in a film video camera, a single shutter wheel exposes the stationary image frame for (about) half of the single frame period. This is controllable by a sort-of variable-sized rotary disc shutter wheel. This control over the single-frame exposure time is known as the shutter angle. The reason to control the shutter angle is to allow for more or less motion blur to be recorded in the film frames.


text:
Which of these two crude green screen lighting setups is better?
The following two low-budget, crude green screen lighting setups differ in the positioning of the screen lights relative to the talent. Which is better?
1) Screen lights further away from the screen than the talent:

2) Screen lights equidistant with the talent from the screen:

Light the green screen with separate lighting and then light your talent with additional lighting, you want to get an even light on your green screen and then light your talent to taste

So the second is better?

Well the 2nd is better. But the correct way is to light your Green Screen first, and you want to have it lit so it's a flat 70 IRE. You'll need a monitor with a Waveform option, and the waveform should pretty much be a flat and very thin line at 70 IRE.
You can't do that visually (eyeballing).
Then you place your talent so that they are separated as much from the BG as possible, casting no shadows onto it.
Light you talent with the same color temperature light as the green screen.
Hitting your talent with a hairlight that is gelled 1/4 magenta will help reduce edge issues.

As well as avoiding shadows, another reason you want to get the green screen as far away behind the talent as possible is to avoid any green spill. (that is, green color cast light being reflected off the green screen and hitting the talent)

Neither are great options, you should have an extra light on the subject and side light with an overhead fill (third light).


text:
Voice activated camera using USB MIDI
I want to send control output of an auto mic mixer (AT mx341/non Midi) to a Roland V1HD video switcher that accepts MIDI using an Arduino Uno in between. When mic one is hot, I want camera one selected, mic 2 to camera 2--up to 4.
This should be simple, but I don't want to use a computer or other controller in between.

Have you looked at page 9 of the mixer manual regarding control-voltage-out? You are going to want to detect voltage using the arduino, and then send the appropriate midi message. Beyond that, this is sounding a lot like and electronics question, there is a stack for that. https://www.audio-technica.com/cms/resource_library/literature/7bb55cf7c7902ca0/at_mx341a__om.pdf

An arduino is a computer. So your plan is to use a computer in between. Or your last sentence is quite confusing.

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is not about music practice or theory as outlined in the help center.

I also want to change butons (1,2,3,4) in "Roland v1HD" with arduino via MIDI.
Who can help ?
https://static.roland.com/assets/media/pdf/V-1HD_RC_guide_e01_W.pdf


text:
FFmpeg only and only change H264 profile and level?
I am use FFmpeg v4.1 . I want to change H264 profile and level but I want other settings to stay the same. I just want to change the profile of H264.
I'm using this code, but I'm getting the error.
-vcodec copy -profile:v high -level 4.0

How can I do that?

With vcodec copy, you can only change the level using a bitstream filter. Why do you want to do this?

@Gyan Thanks for comment bro. Forget the reason. How can I do this?

Use -vcodec copy -bsf:v h264_metadata level=4.0. Profile can't be changed. ffmpeg version 4.0 or newer required.

@Gyan it didn't work bro. I have encountered an error:  [NULL @ 00000072411504c0] Unable to find a suitable output format for 'level=4.0'
level=4.0: Invalid argument

Oops. -bsf:v h264_metadata=level=4

I noticed later too :)

How do I combine these two codes? -bsf:v h264_metadata=level=4 -bsf:v filter_units=remove_types=6

-bsf:v h264_metadata=level=4,filter_units=remove_types=6

Thanks for everything, bro. Back to the top; we are unable to modify the H264 profile with the -vcodec copy command. I understand this. Well, how do I change the h264 profile without corrupting the original settings?

I guess you cannot copy the video codec as you are changing the video profile, using this command worked for me
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -acodec copy -profile:v high -level 4.0 output.mp4

Here I am only copying audio codec.


text:
FFmpeg - Folder Convert
I am use FFmpeg v4.1 .
How can I convert all '.mp3' files in the "ab1" folder to the "cd2" folder with the same file names as '.mp3'?
The process I'm going to do is:
-acodec libmp3lame -b:a 192k -ar 48000 -map_metadata -1

Possible duplicate of Batch conversion into a new folder with ffmpeg

Those questions didn't touch on the folder detail. This is probably a stackoverflow question, but anyway…

You can use a bash for loop.
cd ab1
mkdir cd2
for f in *.mp3; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:a libmp3lame -b:a 192k -ar 48000 -map_metadata -1 "cd2/${f%.*}.mp3"; done

This assumes your OS supports bash shell scripting.

Cross platform solution with Powershell (Cross-platform, but only Windows has powershell installed by default. Mac or Linux users have to install it).
ls "\path\to\source\folder\"|?{$_.extension -match (".mp3")}|%{
  ffmpeg -i $_.fullname -acodec libmp3lame -b:a 192k -ar 48000 -map_metadata -1 ("\path\to\destination\folder\" + $_.name)
}

the |?{$_.extension -match (".mp3")} means where the item's extension matches ".mp3" and is only necessary if you have other files in the source folder.
"\path\to\source\folder\" or "\path\to\destination\folder\" need to be replaced with, er, the path to the folders. One or the other can be omitted if your current directory is the source folder, or destination folder respectively. This can be an absolute or relative path.
to make the folder if it doesn't exist just mkdir "\path\to\destination\folder\" before running the command.


text:
FFmpeg can't convert eia_608 subtitles: "Data Ignored since exceeding screen width"
I'm trying to convert iTunes movies that were previously decrypted to an mkv file with FFmpeg for use with Kodi. I want to keep stereo audio and h264 video the same, which I can do. Subtitles I want to convert to some other format, like subrip. On some movies this works, namely ones with "mov_text" subtitles. However some iTunes movies have eia_608 subtitles which, when I try to convert them, throw this error:
[Closed caption Decoder @ 0000014b2b92eec0] Data Ignored since exceeding screen width
It continues to throw this error hundreds of times until it finishes.
Here's an example of the output. The eia_608 stream isn't the default subtitle format for this one, but you get the idea: https://pastebin.com/uerFwFna
Is there anything I can do to fix this? I've tried updating FFmpeg to the latest build, copying the subtitles format (Matroska is apparently incompatible with it), and extracting it to a separate .srt file results in garbled subtitles. What can I do to fix this?
Also, this warning message cuts off the progress text a bit which is funny. Idk why that's happening, lol.

It's a warning, not an error. The subs are still converted.
The EIA-608 standard specifies a maximum of 32 characters per line and the ffmpeg decoder is enforcing that.
A workaround is to use ccextractor to get a SRT file, and then proceed with that.


text:
Camera Is Shaking Slowly After Changing Its Position
In Unity 3D I have a series of camera movements, but some don't successfully complete. Instead of the camera coming to rest, it ends up vibrating around the target location.
I have the video of my problem here so you can see what I mean:
Youtube video of my problem
The final two transitions demonstrate it very clearly of you want to jump straight to them, but the first but shows how I have the transitions set up.
Can you let me know how to stop this oscillation?
Camera is shaking because it is updating it's position Constantly the ( flag boolean must be false ).
Here is the code.
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;
using UnityEngine.UI;

public class camMOVE : MonoBehaviour {
    public Transform  handleview;
    public Transform pressureview;
    public Transform wallview;
    public Transform sechandleview;
    public Transform pressuretwoview;
    public Transform switchview;

    public GameObject handlebtn;
    public GameObject pressurebtn;
    public GameObject wallbtn;
    public GameObject handletwobtn;
    public GameObject pressuretwobtn;
    public GameObject switchbtn;

    public float transitionSPEED;
    Transform currentVIEW;
    public bool flag = false;
    public bool isReached = false;
    Vector3 currentangel;
    public List<GameObject> modelparts;

    private void Start(){
        handlebtn.SetActive (true);
        pressurebtn.SetActive (false);
        wallbtn.SetActive (false);
        handletwobtn.SetActive (false);
        pressuretwobtn.SetActive (false);
        switchbtn.SetActive (false);

        foreach (GameObject obj in modelparts) {
            obj.GetComponent<BoxCollider> ().enabled = false;
        }
    }

    private void Update(){
        if (flag) {
            transform.position = Vector3.Lerp (transform.position, currentVIEW.position, Time.deltaTime * transitionSPEED);
            //transform.position = Vector3.MoveTowards (transform.position, currentVIEW.position, Time.deltaTime * transitionSPEED);

            //for camera rotation
            currentangel = new Vector3 (Mathf.LerpAngle (transform.rotation.eulerAngles.x, currentVIEW.transform.rotation.eulerAngles.x, Time.deltaTime * transitionSPEED),
            Mathf.LerpAngle (transform.rotation.eulerAngles.y, currentVIEW.transform.rotation.eulerAngles.y, Time.deltaTime * transitionSPEED),
            Mathf.LerpAngle (transform.rotation.eulerAngles.z, currentVIEW.transform.rotation.eulerAngles.z, Time.deltaTime * transitionSPEED));

            transform.eulerAngles = currentangel;
        }
    }

    public void Handleview(){
        currentVIEW = handleview;
        handlebtn.SetActive (false);
        flag = true;
    }

    public void Pressureview(){
        currentVIEW = pressureview;
        pressurebtn.SetActive (false);
        flag = true;
    }

    public void Wallview(){
        currentVIEW = wallview;
        wallbtn.SetActive (false);
        flag = true;
    }

    public void Secondhandleview(){
        currentVIEW = sechandleview;
        handletwobtn.SetActive (false);
        flag = true;
    }

    public void Pressuretwoview(){
        currentVIEW = pressuretwoview;
        pressuretwobtn.SetActive (false);
        flag = true;
    }

    public void Switchview(){
        currentVIEW = switchview;
        switchbtn.SetActive (false);
        flag = true;
    }

}

I don't understand where you are looping between the different objects you want the camera to move to. I would try to go through all these steps:

setup the elements you want to be filmed, and add them to an array.
Create a flow. Call a method that will start lerping the camera to the next object (transform), and if the camera arrives the next object, call another method that will wait for 1 second and then call the method from the beginning again. Here some pseudocode
IEnumerator startAnimation(){
  yield return new WaitForSeconds(.1f);
  // choose next object to move to
  // change flag to yes
}

void Update{
  if( flag ){
    // detect if camera is moving near the next transform/position
    // call delayAnimation();
    // flag = false to stop animation
  }
}

IEnumerator delayAnmiation(){
  yield return new WaitForSeconds(.1f);
  startAnimation();
}


text:
How to use subtitles filter to a video VFR ( variable frame rate ) video?
I have created a VFR (variable frame rate) video from a list of images by using the following ffmpeg command.
ffmpeg -f concat -i concat.txt -vsync vfr -pix_fmt yuv420p output.mp4

where the concat.txt is a text file which contains the list of the image locations and durations in the below format.
file image01.png
duration 3
file image02.png
duration 5
file image02.png

I have a subtitle file (.srt file) that I would like to add to the generated video by using the subtitles filter.
I tried to use the subtitles filter by running the following command
ffmpeg -i output.mp4 -codec:a copy -vf subtitles=subtitles.srt -max_muxing_queue_size 4096 outputWithSubtitles.mp4

I find that the resultant output file does not show any subtitles.
I find that if instead of VFR video if constant frame rate video is generated, then this issue is not observed i.e., during the generation of the first video from images if -vsync vfr option is not used, then a constant frame rate video is generated and using subtitles filter works.
Is there a way to use the subtitles filter on a VFR video?

Possible, but tedious. With VFR input, there may not exist any frames to draw upon during the time interval of a subtitle entry. You can try to ensure there are, by adding duplicate entries to your concat text, with duration values modified to ensure that frames exist during those times, with one duplicate entry for when the subtitle disappears.

Do note that your subtitle command, even if worked, would generate a CFR output. You need to carry over the -vsync vfr option.


text:
How to lock and scroll image, using smartphone green screen mockup?
I've got this video, where the lady is scrolling an app. I could simply use chroma key, but the guy's hand is moving all the time and the app image layer wouldn't follow.
How can I do that, in addition to the scrolling effect?
Ps: any editing tool solution would work for me. Although Sony Vegas would be really cool.

You will need to:

track the motion of the screen, using whatever tracking tools you have at your disposal. A 3D track or a corner pin type track will both work, because it's a flat rectangular screen. The quality of the track is what will sell this shot.
key out the green screen, using whatever keyer you have. Looks like a good key, so you shouldn't have too many problems
create the animation of the screen scrolling. This is probably best to do manually using keyframes, perhaps with the original video as a guide layer if your software allows it. There is no point tracking the movement of the fingers, as the scrolling continues after you flick with your fingers on a phone screen, so it has to scroll independently.
composite the app screen animation behind the original layer, using the tracking data to fit it to the original screen's position, size and rotation. You might want to add additional layers to the composite: e.g. a subtle reflection layer would help sell it.


text:
How to deparent object between frames in Maya?
I'm a computer-science student making a video with motion-capture data in Maya for a course. I am a real beginner.
In our story we have a character that loses her sword at a certain point. Our sword is parented to her hand and we have motion capture data (of the character) losing it. How do we deparent the sword in the middle of that animation to animate it separately? (Or, preferably, apply a basic-physics system to it so it falls realistically?)

Use constraints to do this:

Select the parent (the hand), then shift + select the child (the sword). Warning, selection order matters.
Rigging > Constraint > Parent Constraint > activate Maintain Offset if there's an offset between both pivot points.
Set a translation keyframe (shift + w) and a rotation keyframe (shift + e) on the sword.
By setting those keyframes, the sword now has a new attribute in the Channel Box, called Blend Parent 1. You can animate it to choose between unconstrained (value = 0) or constrained (value = 1) by the hand. If unconstrained, you have to set keyframes on the sword to place it inside the worldspace.


text:
Are the robots in the transformers films really transforming?
I was always wondering if the robots in transformers had millions of parts like LEGOs and the different parts snapped on and off and rotated in a completely mechanical way, but I feel like the VFX artists cheated a lot and make parts appear and disappear magically out of thin air. What do you think? I am not sure if this is the right place, but the robot sequences is VFX and this stackexchange seems to be about VFX.

This might get an answer on Movies & TV as well.

Are you asking if Transformers obey real physics and the conservation of space? Probably not, since that's boring, would require a level of detail that animators (basically artists) would not typically tolerate, and probably would put the kabosh on major elements of the story.

1. They HAVE to cheat
First of all, having a part that is not showing in the frame will consume render time to be computed, even if it is not showing. The files are heavier to handle and all the process becomes sluggish.
2. Transforming in a 3D program is given by 3 main operations

Moving
Rotating, which they are pretty obvious in a transformation.

But you also have

Scaling. If you have something scaled so tiny that you can not see it, the geometry is still there consuming resources of the computer that are wasted.

3. The goal is
Telling a story, a fantasy story about fictitious characters, not to be accurate on a transformation.
The other main goal is to make things look cool, somehow logic and accurate but mainly cool.
4. Autobot's universe actually has parts that "disappear"
Take for example the Spark humungous building-sized cube. It does not only compress in size to be handheld... It would have the density of Jupiter nuclei, weighing the same as a building. But somehow things there just went "poof"... So, again some liberty can be used on the transformations.

Animations like this are always created within 3D tools like blender, Cinema 4D or other 3D engines. Basically you have a 3D scene with all the objects that you can select, rotate and move. You put them together like you want them when for example representing the robot. Then you save this state with all the positions of the single objects.
When transforming the robot to a car, the objects are animated to rotate in a specific way, or or maybe break into many single pieces. But all of this is done in other programs and sometimes there might be a kind of programming behind it to define specific animations.
After everything is ready and animations are set up, you can render the movement and export the whole thing as a movie clip. This is just a basic explanation to understand the single steps of creating the animation and then using the created clip for the edit. If you want to learn more about it check out this movie. In fact, it is even more complicated and before they could create the animation they also created little models of these transformers

Probably worth nothing the difference between something like Blender (an artist's program for making art) and AutoCAD (an engineer's program for making real and usable things). In Blender, objects poof out of existence all the time to make the images you want. In AutoCAD it literally won't let you.


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How do I crop out Region of Interest (ROI) from .mp4 video using FFMPEG?
I would like to crop out ROI from specific .mp4 file. User needs to define the ROI by specifying X,Y,Width and Height in percentage between 0 and 10000.
For example, if someone specifies X=4000, and Y=3000 that would mean that top left corner (starting point of the crop) is located 40% to the right from bottom left corner of the video, and 30% down from top left corner of the video. Width and Height should determine bottom right and top left corners.
I am currently doing some tests on this image:

I expected following command to crop out 50% of the width and 50% of the height of the image, starting from top left corner:
ffmpeg -i test.png -filter:v "crop=in_w*(5000/10000):in_h*(5000/10000):in_w:in_h" -c:a copy roi.png

For some reason I get bottom right quarter instead of top left quarter of the image. What am I doing wrong?

EDIT
Once I change command to:
 ffmpeg -i test.png -filter:v "crop=in_w*(5000/10000):in_h*(5000/10000):0:in_h" -c:a copy roi.png

I get top right quarter of the image:

Since I specified X=in_w, and Y=0, this means that (X,Y) is top-right corner of the image. If that is true, and W is 50% of in_w, while H is also 50% of in_h, and I specified (X,Y) to be at top right corner, how did FFMPEG decide that it needs to go to the LEFT of the (X,Y) coordinate and not to the RIGHT in order to make the crop?
Because if it went to the right like it normally does, it would go out of range I guess. How is this logic implemented? I would like to know so I know how to program edge cases for it.

The 4 parameter for crop are: w:h:x:y. You are providing width and height values for x and y - try 0:0 for x:y.

Also, all video filters measure x & y from top-left corner.

@ChristianLindig Thank you for your comments. Would you please look at the edit version of the issue.

@Gyan I would appreciate if you take a look as well.

The crop filter arguments specify a crop window of the given width and height whose top-left corner is at co-ordinates (x, y) measured from top-left corner of the input frame. The entire crop window must be contained within the frame. So, to start with, w <= iw && h <= ih.
Then, x+w <= iw && x >= 0 and y+h <= ih && y >= 0. If this condition isn't meant, x or y will be adjusted to auto-center the crop window along that axis, e.g. for a 100x100 input, if w = 50 and x = 60, then x is adjusted to (100-50)/2 = 25.

Thank you for your help! This is info I've needed :)

@OzanÇakıroğlu, if it is what you needed, why not accept this answer (clicking on the check mark near it)?

@MarianD He already did, then unmarked it a few days later. He also changed his user name here to a different identity and deleted a couple of other Qs which I had answered.

@Gyan - it's very, very unseemly behavior, incomprehensible for me. But maybe he has some important reasons to do such things, hidden from others.


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Duplicating keyframes in After Effects
I've made a basic animation where an element quickly changes position multiple times, e.g:

Top left corner
Middle
Top left corner
Bottom right corner

I'm trying to duplicate these keyframes a couple times so that the animation lasts longer.
Is there a way to do this? I've read up on copying / pasting keyframes to different layers, but I can't find a way to paste them onto the same layer

Click the layer were your made the keyframes
Press U or P to reveal the keyframes
Highlight the keyframes. You will know it's highlighted since the color of the keyframes is colored blue(see screenshot below)

CTRL + C to copy the keyframes
Move your time indicator to the next time you wanted
CTRL + V to paste the keyframe
Note: You need to properly copy the Start and End of the keyframe so that you won't mess up the animation

You can easily copy and paste keyframes in AfterEffects:

In any non-empty composition, select a property of any layer (e.g. position), and click the stop watch to create a keyframe at the current time.
Move the cursor/indicator to another time. Click the keyframe icon left next to the stop watch to add another keyframe.
Create as many keyframes as you like.
To copy one or multiple keyframes, select them on the timeline and press Ctrl+C / Cmd+C. (You might want to open hidden properties first in order to see the keyframes, or press U to open/close the keyframes of the current selection.)
To paste keyframes, select a property (e.g. position) of any layer on your timeline (it can be the same layer), place the cursor/indicator where you want the first keyframe to appear, and press Ctrl+V / Cmd+V.
You can copy & paste keyframes of several attributes (e.g. position, scale and rotation) from one layer to another in one go. To do this, select all keyframes of one layer, press Ctrl+C / Cmd+C, then select one or more other layers and press Ctrl+V / Cmd+V.
Pasting from one property to another doesn't always make sense, e.g. you cannot paste position keyframes into the scale property. AE will complain with an error message.
Some other properties allow even more flexible copy & pasting, e.g. you can copy a mask path and paste it into another object's position. This is useful if you want to have an object follow a mask path.
Related: You can select several keyframes at once and scale them on the timeline by pressing Alt and dragging.


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Export size balloons to a multiple of source material
I have a relatively small video of a screen recording of about 600kB in H.264 / VBR. Now I wanted to edit some unnecessary parts out. So I edited the clip and exported it, just to discover the size balloons up to 18MB. I used the "Share" button on the top left and an Apple Device 1080p preset.
The result is the same, for iMovie or FCP.
Is there an export method that preserves my original small video size or let me encode in VBR?

When you click on the share button you will see “Add Destination “. In the window, you see all the possible export formats.
Formats with “Small” or SD will make the export file size smaller. Try MPEG if your device can play it.
However, with small file sizes, your tradeoff is low video quality in most cases.

How does SD/Small preserve my original size? I do not want to size it down. The problem is that the file size increases, despite being the same resolution as the source material.

Exporting will use different codecs wrapped in a container file. Depending on what you choose for a codec, this will mean different file sizes as a result. If you don't have an editing software which natively supports the codec from your original file you will always have differences in file size.

I assume your original footage was already automatically transcoded from FCPX to make it compatable for editing.

My original footage is a 600kB MP4, and I export it to a 5.4MB MP4 using Compressor. I can't even get the file size down to original if I manually reduce the bitrate.

MP4 is the container file, However the inside can be may things, hence the diffence in file size.

It is both H.264

Still, how the settings process the footage with the codec will result in different file sizes.

@ErikAigner "I can't even get the file size down to original if I manually reduce the bitrate" — this I find hard to believe. File size is a product of bitrate and duration.

Yes, but there is not even an option to chose variable bitrate. A constant bitrate is just terrrible for screencasts where only small parts of the image change. When you come from a source movie that has VBR, obviously a CBR output will be bigger.


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After Effects expressions to sum numbers and control charts_2
Link to Original Post/Question > After Effects expressions to sum numbers and control charts.
The answer featured in the original post was nearly the solution I needed for my specific problem. My question is this: Is there a way that I could get, say, four numbers that change randomly and constantly, yet equal 100 at all times?
For example, I was wanting bars in a bar graph to animate along with polling numbers that are still in flux. Let me know if I need to explain more.
I have followed the example in the previous post and have written the following expressions for ease of use:
Layer 1 [Text]
Source Text Parameter
val1 = Math.round(thisLayer.effect("Slider Control")("Slider"));

val2 = Math.round(thisLayer.effect("Slider Control 2")("Slider"));

t = val1 + val2;
val1 + " + " + val2 + " = " + t

Layer 2 [Bar 1]
Scale Parameter
val1 = Math.round(thisComp.layer("Text").effect("Slider Control")("Slider"));

val2 = Math.round(thisComp.layer("Text").effect("Slider Control 2")("Slider"));

t = val1 + val2;
[ val1*100/t, 100 ]

Layer 3 [Bar 2]
Scale Parameter
val1 = Math.round(thisComp.layer("Text").effect("Slider Control")("Slider"));

val2 = Math.round(thisComp.layer("Text").effect("Slider Control 2")("Slider"));

t = val1 + val2;

[ val2*100/t, 100 ]

Have you tried giving a random integer to number a and then determine number b by just "b = 100 - a" ?

If you use random(50) for the first three numbers the average value of their sum will be 75. So you can simply make the last number 100 - (num1 + num2 + num3).
However there is a chance that the three numbers could add to more than 100—up to 150 in the edge case that random(50) gives the result 50 for each one, thus summing to 150. So you could make the third number random(Math.min(50, 100 - (num1 + num2))). This would mean that if the first two numbers added together were more than 50 it would limit the maximum value of the third number to equal or be less than enough to make the sum total 100. I'm not a statistician so I don't know if this would mathematically be perfectly random, but that usually doesn't matter for the purposes of motion graphics.
Which begs the question: why not just make all four numbers just random(50)? Over time the sum will tend towards exactly 100, it might just not add up to 100 at any one time.
But whatevs, the expression for scale would be:
Scale (bar1 )
r = random(100);
[ r, 100 ]

Scale (bar2 )
r = random(100 - thisComp.layer("bar1").transform.scale[0]);
[ r, 100 ]

Scale (bar3)
oneTwoTotal = thisComp.layer("bar1").transform.scale[0] + thisComp.layer("bar2").transform.scale[0];
r = random(Math.min(50, 100 - oneTwoTotal));
[r, 100]

Scale (bar4)
r = 100 - (thisComp.layer("bar1").transform.scale[0] + thisComp.layer("bar2").transform.scale[0]  + thisComp.layer("bar3").transform.scale[0] );
[r, 100]

Is there a way that I could get, say, four numbers that change randomly and constantly, yet equal 100 at all times?

Yes. The maths is below.

Create four random numbers.
Add the four random numbers (“random total”)
Divide each random by the total (giving us “normalised” numbers)

For example: four random numbers [0.83, 0.09, 0.95, 0.18] and the total: 2.05
Each divided by the total [0.405, 0.044, 0.463, 0.088]
Multiply each by 100, and add them – the sum of the four “normals” = 100.

Here’s one way you could apply this to a composition.
Start by adding a Null layer, and then:

Add four Slider effects, name them “randomA” to “randomD”
Option-click each slider and add the expression: random()
Add another Slider effect, name “randomTotal”, with expression that adds them: effect("randomA")("Slider") + effect("randomB")("Slider") + effect("randomC")("Slider") + effect("randomD")("Slider");
Add four more Slider effects, name “a” to “d”
Add expressions to each: effect("randomA")("Slider") / effect("randomTotal")("Slider") * 100; swapping “randomA” for corresponding randoms (“randomB”, “randomC” and “randomD”).

Below is a screenshot:

Then it’s just a matter of adding text layers that use the sliders “a”, “b”, “c” and “d”, as their source text with Math.round(). And bars that are scaled with the same inputs.


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Cutting videos into individual clips - loss of quality?
I have over 100 videos, each around 5-10 minutes long. From each video, I might only need two or three clips that last maybe 10 seconds at most. I want to create a montage out of all these videos using only small snippets from each video.
This is the first time I've ever done something like this. What I planned to do was to extract each clip from their respective video and then use that clip for the montage. This is mostly to save space and to avoid having a huge project file with many different cut up videos, as I barely need even 5% of all the videos I have.
However, I'm concerned the quality will be lessened when I cut up the videos like that first. Is that in general a valid concern if all you're doing is cutting up videos with no editing? Or is that handled differently by different video editors?
(I'm using Hitfilm Express btw.)

Theoretically, encoding will always reduce the video's quality although it may not be noticeable. And it is not necessary to encode (use codec) in video trimming. But, if your video editor (Hitfilm Express) uses a codec to encode as default and does not have an option to do video trimming without using codec or encoding, the video quality will be reduced.

I don't know the software you're using, but in general if you have the time, processing power and drive space, the first thing I would do is convert the files (probably overnight) into a format that won't suffer from re-editing, like ProRes. Then perform my edits, then convert to the delivery format after I'm happy with the edits.


text:
After effects loop part of movie clip
I have one movie clip and it has few events which I want to repeat for few times. I used this and similar other tutorial to achieve this. Ideally I tried following,

Select Clip and Pre-compose it (so that I can use that repeating
part independently. I have tried without pre-compose also and got
same result)
Right click > time > enable time-remapping
Goto the expression panel (alt click clock symbol)
Put expression as loopOut() and click outside
Create keyframe between between start and end of my desired clip part

However, this doesn't work. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong?
To better explain the my desired output, lets assume I have 5 min video clip (===) and I want part from 3 to 4 min (+++) to repeat 2 times.

0 ====3+++4====5

So now my video should become 6 min with clip from 3 to 4 min repeated twice.

0 ====3+++4+++5====6

I am using Adobe After Effects CC 2019.

LoopOut() loops after the last keyframe, and by default it loops all the keyframes. Unless you have a specific need to use expressions, this would be easier to achieve by just setting keyframes.

Once you have time remapping enabled, go to the 3 minute mark and add a keyframe.
Then go to the frame one frame before 4 minute mark and add another.
Select the last three keyframes (3 minutes, 4 minutes and 5 minutes in your example).
Copy them ctrlc.
Delete the last keyframe
Park the playhead one frame after the 4 minute keyframe and paste ctrlv. The 3 minute keyframe should be at the exact 4 minute mark. Since the timing of the subsequent keyframes is undisturbed, the video will run at the right speed.

Your keyframes should look like this:
0=====3+++④3+++④=====5 ←keyframes
0.....3....4....5....6 ←time

(the ④ indicates the frame one frame before the four minute mark)

for extra credit change the first 4 minute keyframe (the one that has the 3 minute keyframe right after it) to a hold keyframe (Right-click and Toggle Hold Keyframe). This is because if you have motion blur or frame blending on it can cause strangeness as the layer is "rewound" between the two keyframes.


text:
Any tips for compositing liquid materials over live action footage backgrounds - C4D & After Effects
I’m working on a music video with some animated liquids  reared in cinema 4D that I want to integrate over the top of some love action footage.
So far I have been exporting the liquid animations from C4D with a transparent background and simply placing over the top of my footage in after effects but the results aren’t great, since this way there are no reflections or refractions occurring between the liquid and video footage.
Does anyone know how to do this correctly to make the two elements feel genuinely integrated?
Should I be importing my video footage into c4d and exporting everything as one?
Many thanks in advance!

Capture a spherical high-dynamic range image on set from the location where the liquid will appear.  You can use either a mirror ball, 360º camera, or stitch together a panorama from multiple images.  Then, use the image in the luminance channel of a material, drop the material on a sky object, and place the sky object in your Cinema scene.  You'll probably want to make use of the "compositing" tag on your scene elements to help control what appears in your render passes (which is where you'll find the object buffer).  You can set up global illumination to cast light from the sky object if you want, but if all you're looking for is transparency, refraction, and reflection, you don't need to.
You can experiment with the HDRi textures already included with C4D, and practice compositing the rendered image before you go to all the trouble of setting up an actual light probe.  Just search for "HDR" in the content browser and pick something similar to your scene.  Often, you can get away with using these built-in ones.
You'll also want to experiment with the render settings to get something usable in your compositing app.  At minimum, you're going to need an alpha channel of some sort, you can use an object buffer to isolate where your liquid is, but you'll also need transparency, diffuse, specular, reflections, and more, depending on how you go about compositing the image.  Much of the specifics will depend on the input image, the liquid you're trying to simulate, your compositing software, and the desired end result.  Experiment, watch internet tutorials, and ask experts for specific advice whenever you get stuck.  Good luck!


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Glass/Magnification Effect — After Effects
How can I achieve this glass distortion effect that is caused by the circle in the middle? I am trying to achieve exactly the same level of distortion around the edges etc.
Link to the original Instagram post

You can use cc_glass for this sort of thing. There are great tutorials by andrew kramer from videocopilot, they might help you. Alternatively, this effect could also be created using a lens distort - you might want to try slapping it onto an adjustment-layer and masking the layer with a circle.


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Displacement Map: After Effect to Lottie
Now displacement maps don't work for Lottie (by Airbnb), but is there a way to still make them work?
Like the random() function on the opacity of a frame doesn't work by default either, but it works when I convert the expression to keyframes Animation > Keyframe assistant > Convert expression to keyframes.
Is there any way to make this work for displacement maps as well? I would like to make a glitch effect on an image and I don't know any other way but with a displacement map.
If it is possible to break up the image in random squares and move them while fading in/out I guess I would have the same glitch effect more or less.
Any help to get me in the right direction is appreciated.

Thanks Billy! Probably a good idea!

It's going to have to be a workaround. To break up the image you could use a collection of alpha mattes and vary their opacity, with duplicates of your original layer with their position offset random amounts.


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iMovie 4K resolution to Keynote – apparent loss of resolution
I exported a 4k resolution video from iMovie on my MacBook Pro. I imported it into Keynote in order to crop it. I noticed that upon exporting from Keynote, the resolution of the video was markedly reduced.
In Keynote, I had exported the cropped video using File → Export To → Movie. Upon export, the resolution field only gave me 720p, 1080p, and Custom. I clicked on Custom. This gave me three compression types: H.264, Apple ProRes 422, and Apple ProRes 4444. I tried saving the cropped video using each of these three options. However, in each case, the video appeared to be reduced in quality (presumably resolution).
My question is: How can I crop a 4K video in Keynote and export it without reducing quality/resolution?

I had the same problem. I changed the dimensions to 2160×3840 and exported and the quality was excellent. Hope this helps.


text:
Green blocks instead of sequences in premiere timeline
Instead of sequences of shots/audio clips, my timeline shows solid green blocks.
How do I display these blocks in sequences, i.e. with each shot/audio clip showing as a small block?

Hello Guy. Welcome to GDSE. Please, please, please never use all caps on this site, or anywhere on the internet. It reads like yelling the reader in the face and at least here that is considered very rude.

Can you post a screen shot, and some more detail about what you're doing. Did you receive the project from someone else? How were the sequences made?


text:
Path shape not masking text through Track Matte in After Effects
I'm trying to hide some text using a path I'm tracking around someone in order to 'hide' the text behind him. Because the text will be moving independently of the person it'll be hiding behind, I'm using a shape layer as my mask with Track Matte. But, it seems the path shape isn't being filled by AE because it isn't hiding the text. Other shapes in the layer are still behaving as expected and hide the text when they intersect, but at no point is my text masked by the pen shape. Nothing I've found on google has been helpful, as most of the tutorials are on converting shapes to paths, but not the other way around. Is there a way to fill the penned out shape so that the mask actually works? Or did I waste around 2 hours tracking the edge of this guys body only for there to be no way for it to be used as a mask?

Your approach is really creative, but I'm afraid you could have made it much easier on you.
If your text is moving on its own, you can simply pre-compose the text layer. That way, the newly created precomp doesn't move, allowing you to draw a mask around the person if needed. Remember to only draw a mask where the text touches the person, you'll easily create bigger masks than you have to (speaking from experience) which will take up unnecessary time.


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Is there a way to improve h264_nvenc output quality?
I'm compressing some videos for archiving, and I came to this configuration which gives me a nice overall quality on a small size:
ffmpeg -threads 4 -y -hide_banner -i input.mp4 -vf scale=-2:480 -c:v libx264 -b:v 200k -preset slow -tune animation -movflags faststart -pix_fmt yuv420p -an -f mp4 -pass 1 NUL
ffmpeg -threads 4 -y -hide_banner -i input.mp4 -vf scale=-2:480 -c:v libx264 -b:v 200k -preset slow -tune animation -movflags faststart -pix_fmt yuv420p -pass 2 2-pass-x264.mp4

This output quality is acceptable for my needs:

But I would like to enjoy hardware acceleration, it is way much faster.
So I tried:
ffmpeg -hwaccel nvdec -y -hide_banner -i input.mp4 -vf scale=-2:480 -movflags faststart -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:v h264_nvenc -b:v 200k -maxrate 2M -bufsize 1M -rc-lookahead:v 30 -rc:v vbr_hq -preset slow -profile:v high -level 5.1 -an h264_nvenc.mp4

But this gives me an output with worse overall quality, and in complex parts, things gets worse:

Is it possible to achieve near same overall quality (for low bitrate) using h264_nvenc encoder?

Not really no. Newer Turing based nvidia cards will produce better quality than previous generations. But since nvenc is fixed function, and not software running on the GPU it’s not upgradable, or modifiable except for a few options like presets.

I tried every possible option, this is really a shame.

It’s just the nature of hardware accelerated video encoding. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

Specify bitrate as -b:v 0 made the trick forme, the overall bitrate bumped from 2m to 16m.
ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -c:v h264_nvenc -b:v 0 out.mp4

h264_nvenc is able to encode in constant quality, at least from Pascal onwards. I had to do quite some digging around the internet to figure out how to properly use it, but finally found a working formula.
A command like below will record in constant quality, and the CQ value 26 will produce about the same but slightly better quality, measured with VMAF, as a libx264 encode with the following options: -vcodec libx264 -level 4.1 -profile:v high -tune film -preset medium -crf 23. The H264_Nvenc bitrate was about 19% higher than the libx264 encode, but it had a slightly better VMAF score. I made these tests on some 1080p60 game recording, but also on some 1080p movie trailers.
ffmpeg -i input.mkv -c:v h264_nvenc -preset p6 -profile:v high -tune hq -rc-lookahead 8 -bf 2 -rc vbr -cq 26 -b:v 0 -maxrate 120M -bufsize 240M output.mkv

Important:

Unless you set the Max rate and buffer size via -maxrate 120M -bufsize 240M, the CQ mode doesn't behave accordingly and lowering its value won't yield better results.
The Constant Quality mode is activated by specifying Variable Bitrate rate control together with a CQ parameter, a bitrate set to zero, and the above two parameters set to some large value which won't limit the output. Don't be afraid of those values, as bitrate will be quite good.
The limits above will force the encode to produce a Level 5.1 encoding. Even higher limits like 300/600 produced a video with Level labeled 6.2, which had trouble playing correctly in NLE's as Vegas Pro. If you require a certain maximum Level, ensure the maxrate and buffer size ar within the level's limits and check the resulted output.


text:
How to stop horizontal scrolling lines caused by fluorescent light (USA and NTSC)?
I'm trying to record something for a school project and my lighting is underneath fluorescent lighting. My camera is set to 30 fps but records at 29.97 fps (seen on pc). I've tried to copy the clip, move it up and forward by one frame and set the opacity to 50 but it doesn't work. How can I stop the horizontal bars without changing lighting?

These lines exist because the refresh-rate of the light is different and undividable by your framerate. One solution is to set the framerate to the Hertz of your light (which must be known for this case) or to use a light with a refresh-rate that is dividable by your framerate. If none of this is possible, you can still try to deflicker footage using deflicker gizmos for nuke, which work the best from my experience. This should always be your last option though, since the result will not look stunning.

Your Problem is listed in the AV ARTIFACT ATLAS as FLUORESCENT STROBING.
This short tutorial shows how to adjust your camera:
How to AVOID FLICKER and STROBING While Filming by Blue Mantle Films


text:
Is there any "concatenable" video format I can use for sequential streaming?
I'm writing a server and I have to play commercials on demand, so I'm trying to avoid re encoding video.
I assume that video containers have headers and meta data, so it would not be possible.
Is there a format (preferably compressed) that is proper to stream one video after the other without re encode or stopping the streaming? Concatenable in a binary sense, and still playable.

Welcome! If you haven't already, look at HLS and MPEG DASH for widely adopted methods of solving your problem.

I really don't know much about video formats, but this seems exactlty what I'm looking for, allied with fragmentation might do the trick, tyvm.

For server applications and automated, scripted concatenation and encoding, I recommend you take a look at ffmpeg.

I did it! Can I post my solution here as an anwswer? (It has some c# code)


text:
How do I Import an Adobe Animate file with a transparent background into After Effects
I've created a frame-by-frame animation in Animate and have exported the file with an alpha channel so the background is transparent, but when I import the MP4 file into After Effects, the file has a black background.  I haven't exported it yet because I have a lot more editing / animating to do on this project, but can anyone tell me how to make the background clear so the animation fits to the background I have created on After Effects.  (I've tried to import the Animate file but it doesn't work as I know this may be a way around it.)

To export out a video so it has an alpha channel! I hope, You need to export the file as an SWF file and I hope it'll work for you!


text:
Combining a video and a masking video
We have recieved 2 video files:

the video with the main character dancing in the middle
an identical file in terms of the animation but the main character is in red, whilst everything else is black.

I imagine the latter is some kind of a mask.
What we would like to do is combine them, so you can only see the bits in file #1 that overlap the red bits, whilst ignore all the black?!?! eg. Just the dancing character that we can choose a different background.
It's like the hard bits been done, we just need to combine them.
We have the full adobe suite, but if someone could point us in the right direction?
We had a play, and added both assets in Premier, and as an example set the #2 file to multiply blend mode... It's the effect we want, but obviously the main character has a red overlay.
Any ideas would be much appreciated.
Thanks

Method 1

In your timeline, stack the matte clip on top of the character clip and add the Ultra Key effect to the matte with the red color as the key.

Nest those two clips, and place another Ultra Key effect on the nest, this time keying the black.

You'll probably have to mess with the ultra key settings a bit (transparency, choke, and soften) for both applications, but after you've got that set you should have a masked clip ready to place on a new background.

Method 2
There's also a way to do this with the Track Matte Key effect that yields slightly different results, you can decide which method works best for your matte.

In your timeline, stack the matte clip on track 3, the character clip on track 2, and your new background on track 1.

Add the Luma Key effect to the matte.

Add the Track Matte Key effect to the character clip with the Matte set to Video 3 and Composite Using set to Matte Alpha

Adjust the Threshold in the Luma Key effect in the matte clip if the keyed content is transparent, or adjust the Cutoff if you can still see the black.

I find that the first method gives more control over how the final key looks, but Ultra Key is a complicated tool and the second method is a little more straightforward.

In Premiere
To avoid the trip to AE you can do it in Premiere, but it does increase the complexity of your timeline. You use the Track Matte Key effect, plus a colour key effect. It's a little tricky, but here's the basic set-up:

start with your three layers. On the bottom, the background that the dancing man is going to be in front of. Could be empty if you just want the infinite blackness of the Void. Above that, the dancing man, and above him the red/black matte layer.
select the red/black matte layer and apply the Colour Key effect (there seems to be a bug where it's spelled Color, but Adobe refuses to do anything about it). Use the eye-dropper to select the red colour of your matte. No, actually select the black of the outline. If you turn off the video 2 visibility at this point you should see a red man dancing in front of the bg.

select the dancing man clip and apply the Track Matte Key. Set the Matte source to Video 3, the layer with the red/black matte. Nothing will happen yet, patient you must be.

the Track Matte key applies the alpha of one layer to another layer, but it uses the alpha of the layer before any effects are applied. To force it to use the alpha created by the colour key you have to nest the layer with the colour key effect. Right click the red/black matte clip and choose Nest…. This will create a sequence with just the red/black matte in it and replace the original clip with that sequence.

At this point with all the layers visible you should see you dancing man over the background layer.

In After Effects
Another way is to put do step 1 above, and then select all the clips and choose Replace with After Effects Composition. This will create an After Effects project with the 3 clips in it. In After effects you would create the composite thus:

on the second layer (dancing man) you need to set a track matte. In the modes/switches panel (if it's not visible hit f4) set the Track Matte to Alpha Matte

now you need to create the transparency for the top layer. If the layer is CGI using the Set Channels effect to use the red for the alpha. Set Source Layer 4 in the effect controls to the top layer; the red/green matte, and set Set Alpha to Source 4's to Red

since we're using the red as the alpha, we'll actually have to reverse the matte. On the second layer, change the track matte to Alpha Inverted and now you should have a dancing man over the background.

You could also use any of AE's multiple colour key effects to create the transparency if the Set Channels effect doesn't wotk. To name a few, there is a simple Colour Key effect, a Colour Range, a Linear Colour Key and Keylight, in rough order of complexity.


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Create motion lines in After Effects
How can I create waves like these which follow the user's motion?

This will most likely require motion tracking.  In this case, you attach many tracking points to the character's arms and hands.


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wrong subtitle start time when trying to hardcode them into video using ffmpeg
I am very new to FFmpeg.
I am trying to cut a portion of a video and hardcode the subtitle of that same portion in the output file.
My command is:
ffmped -ss 01:01:00.0 -i input.mp4 -vf subtitles=input.srt -t 00:02:00.0 output.mp4

I get the output of that portion with a hardcoded subtitile, however the subtitle is from the beginning of the file, not the subtitle starting from 01:01:00.0.
What am I doing wrong?

FFmpeg normalizes timestamps to start from 0 after seeking. So workaround is to copy timestamps and then set output ss to exclude unwanted portion of input.
ffmpeg -ss 01:01:00.0 -copyts -i input.mp4 -vf subtitles=input.srt -ss 01:01:00.0 -t 00:02:00.0 output.mp4


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Animating an end of a line along a path. (In After Effects)
So in the image below you see 4 "frames". This is how I see this animation playing in my head.(sorry for quality). Basicly, what I wanna do is to animate one end of a line sliding on the path of the circle. One end (let's call it B) will be moving on the circle, while the other end (A) will be stationary.
So I kinda know how to change position of a point on a path(and thus animate it), but I don't know how to make it move along some defined trajectory (or path; in this case the circle's arc).
Also, a quick small question: is it possible to import a file from Adobe Illustrator into After Effects such that AE recognises the shapes as paths(I mean the ones that are paths in Illustrator). When I do the import, AE thinks those are just images, you know, general objects, not paths. I wanna do some geometry animation, so It'd be helpful I that kind of import would actually work.

Importing stuff from Illustrator to AE is still a pain. Overlord is a good plugin that makes it a bit easier - it can transfer shapes to and from Illustrator. Also this script helps with putting selected objects in Illustrator onto their own layer.
If you want to move the end of a line around, you could make a null that follows the path of a circle.

Make a circle shape in AE. Make sure its position and its Shape position are 0,0.
Convert the circle path to bezier. Keyframe the path of the circle at the start of your timeline.
Copy this single keyframe.
Make a null at position 0,0
Paste your keyframe data into the position data of your null.
Make a New solid layer.
Add a Beam effect to it.
Make sure the beam's length is set to 100%.
Parent one end of the beam to your null layer.
Move the other end on your circle.

What @TomH said, but instead of the beam effect you can create another shape layer using the pen tool to create a line with just two points. Then use an expression to set the points on that path.
First create a null and put it at the starting point. Do the same for the end point, but parent the end null to the circle.
Now we'll create an expression for the line. alt-click the stopwatch for the Path property of the line. Then you should do something like this for the expression:
var startNull  = thisComp.layer("Null 1"); //null 1 is the start null
var endNull  = thisComp.layer("Null 2"); //null 2 is the end null, duh.
var p1 = startNull.transform.position; //first point on the line
var p2 = endNull.toComp(endNull.transform.anchorPoint); //the end null's position is relative to its parent. toComp translates a point on it (the anchor point in this case) into comp co-ordinates.
createPath(points = [p1, p2], inTangents = [], outTangents = [], isClosed = false)

This will create a line between the two nulls. When you apply the expression you might find that the line is offset. You need to set the position of the line layer to [0,0] and it should line up perfectly.

Nice. It's crazy to me how tricky it is to do seemingly simple geometric things in AE sometimes

There's always more ways to do things in AE.


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Ceiling fan 3d rotation animation in after effects
So i had This Fan:
which i converted to this using 3d effect in illustrator :

and then i imported the .ai in after effects and converted the vector layers to shape layers. Now i want to rotate the fan like a real ceiling fan but i cant find a way to do it. Please help me out here. I am new to adobe.

use After Effects own 3D functionality. This will work way better.

@dom I tried 3d layer option it showed me 4 fields orientation and x,y,z rotations i tried various combination but it did'nt work out.

could you be more specific? Maybe add a screenshot of your view in After Effects. Oh and of course you should import the original fan into AE.

using orientation rotate 90° on the x axis to make it parallel to the ground, and using the individual angle controls rotate around the z axis to make it spin.


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what is the best software that can crop and trim video?
it needs to work with mkv files
has to have a gui because the crops are different for each video
should be lightweight, I don't want to install premier just for this

You need to provide a little more information. Do you simply want to trim and crop? If so, windows life movie maker could be your thing. What sort of knowledge do you have in video editing? ffmpeg could be something for you if you are more skilled with a terminal.

@FlorianClaaßen Do you simply want to trim and crop? Yes as mentioned in the title. windows life movie maker could be your thing. movie maker has been deprecated and unavailable  in W10 for two years now. ffmpeg could be something for you if you are more skilled with a terminal as mentioned, a gui is required.

Does this answer your question? Good open source Video Editors?

It's overkill to just trim and crop, but for general-purpose editing, Davinci Resolve from Blackmagic Design is excellent; the Studio version is a one-time $300 purchase (or included with many of their hardware products), but the baseline version is free-of-charge. I'm not adding this as an answer because I'm not sure product recommendation requests are allowed here -- most Stack Exchange sites don't permit them.

I don't know if it is "the best" because that is a relative term. But a great option is VirtualDub2.
It is a GUI, preview the cropped result and you can directly stream the audio so it does not recompress for example.
You can also resample the rendered video because cropping changes the dimensions of it.

For anyone wondering, Adobe Media Encoder is great for trimming and cropping large amounts of video at once. Drag video files into the window, choose a preset, and hit the play button. You can create your own presets to reuse.
However .mkv is NOT SUPPORTED.

If it doesn't support .mkv, I don't see how it answers this question...


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How do I make a video background on Pencil2D transparent?
I'm using the Pencil2D application. How do I make my animation have no background? It has the settings but I can't seem to use them; when I go to File and Export as Movie it shows "Exporter Settings"; it shows transparency but I can't click it and I don't know why. I just want to have a transparent background and add a video to my background for a video animation I'm making.

What video format are you exporting as?

You need to slow down, take a breath, and help us help you. What software are you using?

The program is Pencil 2D. I would guess you have to change the video format to something that supports the Alpha channel like MOV.


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Scale Video, Without 'ffmpeg Scaler' converting colorspace from RGBA to YUV
I have a video in RGBA space contained in MPNG codec. Which is in 4K. I need to Convert that into a 1080p File... SO i Used this -
ffmpeg -i input.mkv -vcodec libx265 -vf scale=1920:1080 -sws_flags lanczos+accurate_rnd+full_chroma_inp+full_chroma_int -pix_fmt gbrp "x265GBRP.mkv"

But, I think ffmpeg converts rgb to yuv420p for scaling the
footage.... I can See some Artifacts that yuv420p creates, like when
you have Gradients... And also the Color is WASHED OUT! in output

This Image was the Output:
And this was the Input Frame:
NOTE: As both the Files are in RGB ColorFormat.... My Video Decoder is Not the Problem.... (And these Images are Screenshots of Extracted frames from the Input and Output File)
DEBUG LOG - txt File - GDrive
Something extra -

Missing complete uncut debug log output of ffmpeg conversion.

Sir, I Updated It with the Log.. Is that What you meant with Debug Log Output, Sir?

no, i meant with "-v debug"

okay, Sir.. I am Doing that

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SMVtX9t4eaEbj_X2iUwCcbmqeu1waDKV/view?usp=sharing

Well, There is a Way, I Can First Convert Those Images to RAW Video using "-vcodec png" with Scaling it.... Then I can encode that file


text:
Does HEVC Support 16-Bit RGB Color Format?
I have some 3D Rendered Frames in 16-bit rgba Color Format.... I don't Wanna Lose Any Data... Because I have to Use those in editing.... But With Thousands of Frames in 4K File Size Matters.... So Why not Encode to H265
I Know How to Do a yuv 12 Bit Convertion.... I Know how to Do a RGB 8 bit conversion.... Using FFMPEG
But I Can't Figure Out How I would do 16Bit to 16Bit Conversion in x265 codec using FFmpeg..
And would not like to convert to yuv... But If there are No choiche with RGB then I might wanna do yuva444 16 bit... But I also can't figure that out too!

Use openEXR, and use zip compression if you want smaller files; HEVC still has compression artifacts, and is computationally expensive to decode.

As long as you're working on one shot at a time, any halfway decent computer should be able to handle 4K this way.  Just keep the shots short, and you'll be fine, then string them together after you've comp'd the EXR's, and compress at that stage if you're running out of space.

Which editing s/w? x265 does not support 16-bit.

h.265 is not an editing codec. Use proxies if you want to keep your 16bit footage intact.

Thank you, Sir, Gyan.... I have been Flowing your Answers for over weeks.... about FFMPEG.... Learnt So much from those....❤

As, Sir Gyan Commented... HEVC Doesn't Support 16-bit....

I don't Wanna Lose Any Data...

Okay that makes sense.

But With Thousands of Frames in 4K File Size Matters.... So Why not Encode to H265

That makes sense in a vacuum, but it's incompatible with the initial goal.  The reason that H.264 or H.265 is so much smaller than your initial image sequence is because those codecs use lossy compression.  You can't make such a conversion without losing any data, even before we get to the fact that H.265 doesn't support 16 bit RGBA formats.
You need to figure out whether your goal is to make it as small as possible, or to preserve all of the data.  Those are mutually exclusive goals.
It's also worth considering what you are actually planning on doing with your rendered frames.  Does your editor even support 16 bit RGB internally, or is it converting to something else as a working space?  Are you ultimately outputting to a destination format that will preserve the quality?  And if not, are you doing any color corrections or effects in your editor that actually benefit from having it during the intermediary steps?
In a VFX studio, a typical workflow would be to render to EXR images, then post process those EXR images so they have lossless compression, and any black void are in the image is cropped so the data window is only a subset of the display window.  Then use those optimized EXR frames directly in compositing or editorial rather than making something like a QuickTime or MP4 file as an extra step.  You can use something like oiiotool to autocrop the EXR files.

Yeah... It does support 16-bit WorkFlow. And We are currently Focusing on Youtube... Their VP 9 codec uses yuv420p. But we would still like to keep a yuv444p16le/yuv444p12le format with us. And doesn't H.265 Contain More data than Prores/DNxHR with same Bitrate?
I like EXR. But That Contains a lot of Space. Currently we are working on 24fps 4 Minute target Video. Fully Animated. But that makes nearly 6 Thousand Frames. 6 Thousand Frames in 1080p with exr is gonna cost around Half a TeraByte..... And we would need like 3500MB/ps SSD For viewing those in Realtime. Only a Samsung NVME can doit

I meant, isn't HEVC better in quality than ProRes/DNxHR with Same Bitrate?

You are right, EXR Contains All of that data.... But For the Sake of Storage and Realtime Viewing, We are ready to Consider Somewhat compressed Files.... And with some tests we thought about encoding in HEVC with around 70-90 Thousand MB/s Bitrate

Even a ProRes 444 4K with Alpha Contains around 1500MB/s  That is Like, You would need a Super WorkStation For that. We can go upto files about 150MB/s

Thank You, For Answering, Sir....❤

For what you are doing, yuv 12 Bit seems perfectly fine (or overkill).  There's no obvious reason you need 16 bit RGB for realtime playback and posting a YouTube Video.  You only need to perfectly preserve half-float data if you are doing stuff like post relighting or st mapping in comp with data channels.  If you really need to revisit it in perfect quality, archive the scene files and you just re-render it.

I appreciate your thought. And yes 12-bit is perfect. I was just curious about 16-bit.... Thanks


text:
YUV to RGB/sRGB color space conversion using ffmpeg
How to convert an mp4 file with YUV color space to RGB or sRGB color space using ffmpeg? I am trying to upload my video to YouTube and I read somewhere that RGB video looks better than YUV one.
Thanks.

Might be worth mentioning that recompressing your video using a lossy codec cannot possibly improve its quality. If you have a lossless master then you could convert from that.

ffmpeg -y -i output.mp4 -c:v libx264rgb output_264.mp4

Output #0, mp4, to 'output_264.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : mp42
    minor_version   : 0
    compatible_brands: isommp42
    encoder         : Lavf57.83.100
    Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (libx264rgb) (avc1 / 0x31637661), rgb24(progressive), 636x360 [SAR 1:1 DAR 53:30], q=-1--1, 27.05 fps, 13524 tbn, 27.05 tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : VideoHandler
      encoder         : Lavc57.107.100 libx264rgb
    Side data:
      cpb: bitrate max/min/avg: 0/0/0 buffer size: 0 vbv_delay: -1
    Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 44100 Hz, mono, fltp, 69 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2018-02-04T15:39:08.000000Z
      handler_name    : IsoMedia File Produced by Google, 5-11-2011
      encoder         : Lavc57.107.100 aac

ffprobe output_264.mp4

Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'output_264.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : isom
    minor_version   : 512
    compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41
    encoder         : Lavf57.83.100
  Duration: 00:07:50.02, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1006 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (High 4:4:4 Predictive) (avc1 / 0x31637661), gbrp(tv, gbr/unknown/unknown), 636x360 [SAR 1:1 DAR 53:30], 928 kb/s, 27.05 fps, 27.05 tbr, 13524 tbn, 54.10 tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : VideoHandler


text:
Why can't add I Motion Graphics Templates to Premiere Pro 2020 Timeline
So basically, the issue I am running into is as described in the subject. I am trying to add a motion graphics template that I made in Adobe After Effects 2020 and installed to Adobe Premiere Pro 2020. I simply can't add it. Premiere won't let me add it to the timeline. I've tried adding other templates that come with Premiere and those don't work either. I am really new to Adobe Premiere and other Adobe products so I must just not know something simple.
My basic system specs are: Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700 CPU @ 3.60GHz, 3601 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s), OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Home, Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 16.0 GB, Total Physical Memory 15.9 GB, Available Physical Memory 8.12 GB, Total Virtual Memory 25.6 GB, Available Virtual Memory 15.5 GB.
I have attached a link to a video file showing me trying to add the different templates and failing. Let me know if I should add anything else.
loom video link to me trying to add mogrts

Hi. Welcome to GDSE. Sorry about this, but video editing questions are off-topic here. So, I've flagged this for migration to Video Production Stack Exchange.

I don't work with MOGRT too much but I assume this is similar to working with AEP comps that you live-edit within Premiere.
Try either dropping into the project first, then into timeline.
Try rolling back to last 'main' version of both AE and PP - so still using 2020 but e.g from 14.5 to 14.0 - often issues appear with PP/AE mismatch during small updates and dynamiclink can be unpredictable.
Hope this helps

Do exactly as shown
You need to create a new sequence
And drag and drop the motion graphics file into it


text:
How do I download FFmpeg build for windows 7 64 bit? (Zeranoe’s are offline.)
There are two windows build on ffmpeg.org

gyan.dev
BtbN

The first one can’t be downloaded securely.
The second one has lots of files. Which files should I download?

The msg for gyan.dev downloads is a false alarm. All files are delivered via HTTPS. Select Keep instead of Discard.
Chrome shows the same message for Google Earth downloads as well.
This is apparently an initiative by Google to ultimately prevent mixed content downloads in Chrome.


text:
Stroke effect with square cap
I'm trying to create a simple logo reveal, and have drawn a path over my logo like so:

It would be a lot easier if I could set the end points of my path so that they were square instead of rounded (like I can in Illustrator) but there appears to be no options for it?

Make your strokes using the pen tool directly as a Shape Layer instead of the way you're doing it.
You will see an option for line caps and line joins. They can be round or square:

To reveal the logo, put your original logo on the layer beneath the Shape Layer, then set the Track Matte on the original logo to Alpha Matte.  It will use the alpha of the layer above. You may need to press the "Toggle Switches/Masks" button to reveal the Track Matte options on the layer:

Do the reveal animation by adding a Trim Path to your Shape Layer:


text:
There are several blending modes in Adobe Pr. Is there a way to "ease into" a mode without having it abruptly change?
I have a clip of around 10 seconds. I want the first half to be in normal blend mode, but the second half to be in "Lighter Color" blend mode. (I am inserting that clip inside another clip and want it to blend with it in a non obstructive way in case you need to know why I'm asking).
The problem is that I can't seem to find a way to make it slowly change blend modes (like a fade) over the course of that 10 second clip. Is there a workaround for this?
If there is a solution with Ae as well I'd still like to know.
Thank you in advance.

I don't think you can keyframe this.
I would duplicate my clip, and set one with the first blend mode, the other with the second.  Then crossfade between the two.


text:
Can I import an entire folder into After Effects and/or Premiere, in such a way that newly-created files will be imported automatically?
One of the most maddening things about my workflow in After Effects and Premiere is that whenever I record a new piece of footage (e.g. recording a new .mp4 in OBS) or create a new image asset (e.g. saving a new .png from Photoshop), I have to manually import that specific file into my project.
It's a given that anybody who's working in these programs is going to have the source assets for their project organized in a single, sensible folder structure on disk. For example:

myproject/myproject.prproj
myproject/footage/010_somefile.mp4
myproject/footage/020_anotherfile.mp4

Then, within myproject.prpoj, I've imported those assets in a way that mirrors their structure on disk: I make a bin called "footage", then import the video files from my footage directory into that bin.
If I record a new file called 030_yetanotherfile.mp4 and place it into my footage directory, I then have to take the extra step of manually importing it into Premiere (or After Effects, depending on where I'm working). I've already put thought and effort into how my source files are structured on disk, so it's extremely frustrating to have to waste time manually keeping my project files in sync.
Is there a way to have Premiere and/or After Effects automatically import newly-added source files? I just want to be able to import a folder and have the program automatically pick up changes from disk, as opposed to having to manually pick individual files ad nauseum.

I think the Pro IO plugin allows you to have "live bins", so as you add a file, it appears in After Effects etc.. I haven't used it though.
https://aescripts.com/pro-io/


text:
What is involved in the film/sound synchronization process?
The title says it all: what is involved in synchronizing a film's audio and visual elements, particularly in regard to music.
Given 30 seconds of video and 30 seconds of music meant to accompany it, is the process any more complex that making sure the two tracks start at the same time?
Presumably there's also an issue of cutting film and sound and re-aligning them.
But at core, is it more than aligning start points? And if yes, how so?

The one thing you don't want is some damn director re-cutting after you submitted all your cues :\ There's nothing less fun than re-arranging everything with awkward 7/8 & 17/16 bars just so your hits still match.

I'd bet that you also have to align the end points and several intermediate points (think YouTube video playback syncing).

In the old times, begin and end points were aligned using a clapboard!

This question needs more details. Are you asking about actual celluloid film? There are many formats, some include the audio as an optical track so it is always in perfect sync. You also mentioned video, so what format, codec, etc.?


text:
Why do we still shoot 23.976 if NTSC and PAL have been replaced?
I watched this video and had loads of questions.

If NTSC ran into problems with colour and therefore slowed down 30 to 29.976, and 24 to 23.976, why didn't PAL have the same problems and slow down 25 by 0.1%?
If PAL and NTSC have been replaced DVB-T, ATSC, ISDB-T, DTMB, why do we still talk about them everywhere, and they show up in settings on cameras? So do the new standards display true 24 and 60 fps? What about 25 fps in PAL regions? Do PAL and NTSC regions still exist?
So, what is the point of my camera shooting 23.976? Why don’t we all shoot 24, and let NTSC TV slow down the playback at 0.1%? Alternatively, why not just shoot true 24 because all modern TVs can display it anyway? Is it something to do with the electronics in the camera?
The video says delivering at 24 is obviously for DCP projection at digital theatres. So does that mean that if I shoot and deliver at 23.976, it won’t project properly? Why don’t we all shoot and deliver true 24 if TVs can display it anyway? Why is there still this issue with 24, 25, 30 fps, depending on NTSC/PAL regions of 50/60Hz?
So what happens if I shoot 23.976 and deliver at 24? Will there be duplicated frames? Or does it become shorter in length? Vice versa, what if I shoot true 24 and deliver at 23.976? Are there skipped frames? Or does it become longer? Likewise, what about compatibility with 25 fps? Say, if 23.976 or 24 was to be broadcast in PAL regions, which you mention have been replaced?

Could you please make the text more readible and reduce the number of very similar sub-questions? Also try to separate them into several question posts when possible and add context where needed. E.g. the point 1 could be asked separately from the rest. The idea on SE is to ask 1 specific question at a time and not 21 - this confuses people. It's okay to group a couple of closely related questions, but in this case you have overdone it, in my opinion.

23.976fps still exists because it's a standard. Cameras became designed to shoot it, non-linear editing software suites were designed to edit them, and devices were designed to play them. Even though NTSC went away, cameras still shot in 23.976fps. Even if they could shoot a flat 24fps, it causes issues in the edit room.
Putting 24fps footage on a 23.976fps timeline will have some issues but can be mitigated by being slightly slowed down or with pulldown. However, you will run into issues with multi-camera setups and syncing audio, hence this
discussion about editors complaining about audio sync drifting.
In the end, 23.976fps still a standard because if cameras switched to 24fps, it would cause issues in the edit room, and if editors used 24fps timelines, it would give pretty much everybody after them in the pipeline a hard time. Even if everybody could adapt to 24fps, most delivery standards are designed for 24fps anyways, so it'd have to be converted back to 23.976fps at some point in the pipeline, therefore it'd make it much less of a hassle to just shoot at 23.976fps anyways.

PAL was an improvement over NTSC, a superior solution, that simply didn't have the harmonious problem that NTSC ran into with the introduction of the colour signal, which is the root cause of the slowdown from 60,000/1000s to 60,0000/1001s, and as a corollary becaus of telecine, from 24,000/1000s to 24,000/1001s.

Legacy support, backwards compatibility.

Same as 2.