need help with ripple effect

[videovillageidiot]

does anyone use the ripple effect? i'm using it to indicate the start of a dream sequence and it was fine - the video "wiggled" and "rippled" - until...

i wanted to add a framed photo to the scene i just put it on a separate track above the video. hmmm...when i applied the ripple effect to both the video and the still, only the video rippled. the still image got a scalloped edge and a slight "wavy" appearance and that was it. come to think of it i had also added the camera view effect so it was at the correct angle so that it "fit" with the rest of the scene. i'm not sure if that is relevant to my problem.

then i tried doing a freeze frame of the video and the overlaid still together and tried to ripple that and i don't remember exactly what happened but it didn't work - if i remember correctly, it just did the scalloped edge and wavy look but no "wiggle".

so i thought the ripple effect does not work on still images. but tonite i've been trying things and i'm getting weird results...

i had a psd of one of my animated characters moving thru a jpg of a room. when the underlying room has the ripple effect, but the character above does not, the room jpg shows a scalloped border and a wavy appearance but does not do anything else - i.e. it doesn't "wiggle" like my video did. the character moves thru the room just as i would expect since no effect other than changing position was added.

when i gave both tracks the ripple effect, the room jpg behaved the same as above and the character (a psd with transparency) now shows the scalloped edge around it and has the wavy appearance. it moves thru the room as before, but neither the room nor the character "wiggle".

here's where it gets very odd... i copied the attributes of the original video clip that i had applied the effect to onto the psd character. Wow. it no longer moves thru the room because the original clip was stationary; but now it "wiggles" - and it's really an interesting look, kinda' like the character is a scuba diver kicking back to the surface.

and even more weird? when i moved the room jpg out from the track below the character? the character no longer wiggled?!?!?!?!?!

i've been tinkering with this all nite and i know there were other scenarios, but, at this point, i can't keep track of all that i've done in trying to figure this out.

is there something about this effect i should know? my help for version 4 is very limited - links to online help end up in an error page.

any insight would be great. Thanks!

[RJ Johnston]

Some effects work on video but not stills, so if you have a still image, you should export it and make it a video. Then drop the video on the timeline and add the ripple effect to that.

Some effects don't seem to work if other effects are applied as well, in which case you have to export the sequence with just the ripple effect applied, or with just the other effects applied, then drop the exported video on the timeline and continue by adding the other effects or the ripple effect.

[videovillageidiot]

Thanks RJ for taking a stab at it. Looks like we're the only 2 people left who use 4.0!!

I don't know how to tell which effect is only for a video - and this one does work occasionally on a psd image - just not consistently, even when I've verified the effects are the same on the one that works as the one that doesn't. and the thing where it stops rippling if the image on the underlying track is removed is just odd.

i haven't tried exporting it as a video yet as i kept trying to see why it would/would not work as a psd.

oh well - i guess it may or may not work. not the answer i hoped for, but...oh well.

a big thank you for the help, though!!

[RJ Johnston]

There isn't anything that says if an effect works on video only. It's just that if it doesn't work on an image, you have to see if it works on a video. If it works on a video, then convert the image to video.

Sometimes you have to keyframe the effects. Did you try that?

I don't have 4.0 installed anymore. I'm just going by general experience with all the versions.

[stanatou]

I still use PE4 and am able to apply the ripple effect to both a video on track 1 and a jpeg on track 2. The effect seems to work as long as it's the first applied effect (i. e. below the standard 'image control', 'motion', and 'opacity' but before anything else). However, even though the jpeg does ripple, I can't seem to get rid of the scalloped edges where PE is filling in the portion of the frame vacated by the effect. Also, if you use the motion property to re-position the jpeg, the effect stops working.

Stan

[RJ Johnston]

Stan, you jogged my memory.

When I wanted to apply the ripple effect to a clip with other effects, I exported the clip with the other effects, then applied the ripple effect to the exported clip.