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Transparency Crashes Avid in a 2K Project?
I’m cutting a project in 2K 2048×1152 24p in DNXHR SQ. Everything has been going grand until I added PNG graphics which have transparency in them. I bring them into the project via AMA and can cut them into the timeline without issue. But once they’re in the cut then every time I use the red selection arrow to move anything I get an ‘assertion failed’ pop up. Basically, I can no longer move ANY VIDEO clips in the timeline until I remove the graphic clip. This happens with different user strings, virgin user settings, new timelines that I’ve cut the sequence into.
So… is Media Composer unable to handle transparency on a 2K project? I’m up a creek if I can’t plate my graphics.
Avid Media Composer 8.3.1, FCP 7, cutting on an iMac Retina 5K, 27″ 4Ghz iCore i7 with 32GB of RAM
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3 Replies
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You don’t AMA and work with graphic/still files like that. You import them, and in the options, make sure they include their alpha. This makes the imported file be a key, rather than a regular clip.
Shane
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Actually, in Avid Media Composer 8.3.1 it won’t let you import graphic files for larger than HD projects. You get a popup that says to use AMA linking only. And once you’ve done that it won’t let you transcode to MXF format because of the transparency. Again, this is all on larger than HD projects like 2K.
I just upgraded to 8.4.0 and it seems to have ‘fixed’ that issue as I am suddenly now able to import PNG or TIFF files as graphics with transparency. I’ll update if overcutting the graphics makes my assertion errors go away.
Avid Media Composer 8.4, FCP 7, cutting on an iMac Retina 5K, 27″ 4Ghz iCore i7 with 32GB of RAM
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Just thought I’d update for anyone who has this problem and is scouring the web for help: I upgraded to Media Composer v8.4.0.37275 which seemed to resolve about 90% of the issues I was having. I can now import PNG and TIFF files with transparency into a 2K project. HOWEVER, every now and then I still get the assertion error and crash if I have a NewBlue Titler Pro clip in the timeline as well as a transparent media file clip (even the newly created ones).
I am on NewBlue Titler Pro v1 and have no idea if v2 solves this issue with 2K projects. I’m not going to spend $299 for a basic titling tool in higher than HD projects that, really, should be coming free with Media Composer. For now I popped $50 and bought Apple Motion and am getting very good, very quick results that import perfectly and don’t crash my system.
TL;DR Avid is still struggling to support 2K and above projects.
Avid Media Composer 8.4, FCP 7, cutting on an iMac Retina 5K, 27″ 4Ghz iCore i7 with 32GB of RAM
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