Aaron Cadieux
Forum Replies Created
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Hello,
I am going to making a jump from CS3 to CS5.5. In order to do that, I will be building a new dual Xeon Quad-Core 64 bit PC this spring. Some of this “Dream Machine” is based off of using B&H’s Adobe Production Suite optimized turnkey editing PCs. By building my own machine, I found that I can significantly improve on many aspects of the B&H machines and still stay well below their price. Here are the components I’ve picked out for my dream machine.
3.06GHz Intel Xeon Quad-Core (Bloomfield) – 2 for $610
nVIDIA Quadro 4000 with 2GB RAM – $726
Intel 510 Series (Elm Crest) SSDSC2MH120A2K5 2.5″ 120GB SATA III MLC
Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) – $239 (will be primary drive)EVGA Classified SR-2 270-WS-W555-A2 LGA 1366 Intel 5520 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HPTX Intel Motherboard – $550
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL – 6 for $240
Blackmagic Decklink SDI – $295
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit
With this machine, I will be editing my projects on a Lacie 4Big Quadra external array connected via eSATA. I have the array set to RAID10.
I guess my first question is, will this machine effectively run Adobe Production Suite CS5.5?
My second question is in regards to RAM. I have the motherboard maxed out at 48GB of RAM. Obviously the machine itself will run like a clock with that much RAM, but how much of that RAM will the Adobe software bundle actually be able to utilize?
I posted this in the Premiere forum, because that’s the software that I’ll be using the most on this machine.
Thanks and I look forward to hearing your responses.
-Aaron
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Laura,
At $9 an hour, you are already very underpaid. If you didn’t sign a non-compete when you started your position, then you are in the clear. If your employer has a problem with you moonlighting when you’re getting paid $9 an hour, you have every right in the world to tell him/her to get bent.
-Aaron
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Not sure on the fix, but in the future, you might want to convert all of your raw XDCAM material into self-contained .mxf files using the Sony Clip Browser software. That way, all of the .mxfs are in one folder with no sub-folders. Once you link one, Premiere should find the rest. I only use the raw XDCAM BPAV material as a raw footage item for archiving.
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Thanks Andy.
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Bob,
Thanks for your input. I met with their in-house guy and shadowed him for the day. The job is 70% graphics for print, 10% web site updating, and 20% video. I am pretty much a video guy. I shoot video. I edit video. I do some video graphic stuff. But I’ve never considered myself a print graphic designer. I’m talking like print graphics for mailers and newspaper ads. So when I say “I don’t like” graphic design, I don’t mean in regards to video graphics. I have no interest in graphic design. I didn’t go to school for graphic design. If the job were 70% video, I might consider it. But, I agree with you, and think I would be better of freelancing.
Best,
Aaron
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Tim,
I appreciate your viewpoint. But it leaves me with the question of what do I do with my current freelance clients?
-Aaron
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Sam,
Thanks for your response. I agree with the full-time AND freelance thing. Even with my old job, it was getting harder and harder to juggle it with working freelance. Freelance work kept coming and I was often forced to work on freelance stuff on weekends. Even with the flexible arrangement that I had, free time was hard to come by. I am married and need at least some time to spend with my wife. I really enjoy the freelance stuff. I really enjoy working for myself and not having to answer to anyone. I like the direct relationship with clients.
As far as working freelance for the dealership goes, I don’t know that they would go for that. They want an in-house guy that they have direct control over. They want a salaried employee that they can throw as much work at as possible. One option would be for me to offer them all of their video work for a flat yearly rate. The graphic design and web end of the job makes me nervous. I am not really into either of those things (especially web), and I am worried that I might hate it.
Thanks,
Aaron
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Shooting the CEO of a large corporation is always interesting. Sometimes you’ll have the “communications director” come in and “brief” you on what to ask, what not to ask, and how to address the CEO when he comes in. Almost as if you were meeting the Queen of England or something. Then, the CEO usually comes in with an army of butt-kissing yes-men who dote all over the CEO and tell him that he poops ice cream and that his flatulence smells like roses. And no matter how crappy of a job the CEO does, the yes-men tell him it was the greatest interview they’ve ever seen. It’s all really pathetic. I could never work in a corporate environment regularly.
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I don’t have much tolerance for the “but the student with the cheap camera and the PC can do it for less” complaint. Amateur is amateur and professional is professional. If someone needs a professionally produced video, they will seek a professional. If someone is looking for a professional video from an amateur or a student, then that client wouldn’t have been worth your time in the first place. Even if a student or amateur were to own a DSLR and a robust NLE, it still doesn’t mean that they will match the quality of a professional. Look at it this way, a kid can spend $300 on a baseball bat, but it won’t make them a good hitter. If you do quality work and put in the time, you will see results no matter how many low-end video producers are out there.
Aaron
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Another trick to getting a shallow DOF, in addition to positioning the camera far away from the subject, is to blast the subject w/ enough light that you can throw on your darkest on-camera ND filter (if your camera has a built-in NDs) and shoot w/ you camera’s iris wide open. The more open the iris, the more shallow the DOF will be. In order to keep the 2nd ND/wide-open iris partnership in-tact, you can physically move your key light further away from or closer to the subject depending on your exposure needs. To help, set your camera’s zebra lines to 70. W/ 70, you should have a hint of zebra on the subject’s face, which is the ideal exposure for human skin. Hope this helps.
Aaron