Video disappears when Selectiong Variable Speed

[Jonathan Proby]

I have a done a bit in motion, and with large projects (either a lot of effects, big HD, long project) I have often found a video disappearing when making a change. The really annoying thing is that when I export it the video is still gone.

My Solution:
Break up the project into smaller chunks. Or if you are doing multiple layers of effects, turn off all but the first layer and export. Then bring the newly effected file back into Motion, and add more effects.

If you are only doing time remapping you probably can’t turn off other effects, but you can cut it into smaller chunks (on one project I was working with 10-15 second clips.

I hope this helps

-Proby

[Brian Dowtin]

I had the same problem – linking to motion from Final Cut.

The fix: after selecting ‘Variable Speed’ in the time remap window, (and the preview goes black) go in and select it again.

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To reproduce the problem : Export clip to Motion. In Motion – you’ll find the clip in a Group (Group 1) , Select the clip, go to Timing, and in the Time Remap field select -‘Variable Speed’; The preview for Group1 – turns to checkerboard, and the main preview window turns black.
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Hope it helps!
‘Brian

[Stephen Smith]

Select what again? I tried reelecting Constant speed and then variable speed again and it did not work. I saved it at Variable speed, closed out Motion and re-opened the same project and then the clip was back. I have no idea as to why it does that.

Stephen Smith
Utah Video Productions

Check out my Motion Training DVD

Check out my Motion Tutorials

[Albert Oconnor]

I tried the solutions listed here and though re-selecting “variable” does bring the preview of the video back, I cannot play the video in Motion and adding keyframes is pretty much impossible.

But the solution I found was two-fold.

I was right-clicking a video clip in my FCP timeline, selecting “send to Motion”, also, this clip in my FCP timeline did not have the same Compressor as my timeline nor any of the other clips in this timeline. So I “export > Using Quicktime Conversion” the chosen clip from my FCP preview window creating a new clip with the same compressor as my FCP timeline compressor, then in Motion > File Browser tab > select the “newly exported QT file you just made” and import it into your Motion project. Voila! You can perform variable speed tricks to your heart’s delight with this video clip and then either export it as a new finished QT clip to import into FCP or import this new Motion project into FCP and render. I know this response is a year old but better late than never.

Bert O’Connor

[Don Simpson]

You, sir, are a God.