[Bj Ahlen]

If you don’t have somebody nearby with CS2, e-mail the CS2 .indd file to me at bja7777 (at) yahoo (dot) com.

I’ll convert it to a .inx file you can open in InDesign CS (assuming you have the free Adobe plug-in for this).

[Bj Ahlen]

…specifically in FCP 5.1.2, and all bitrates will be supported (18, 25, 35 Mbps).

[Bj Ahlen]

DVCPRO50 is 4:2:2, which when rendered to 4:2:0 on the DVD will keep at least the 4:2:0 part of its color resolution. (This is only 99% true due to different definitions of the color sampling, but close enough).

If you create graphics etc. in 4:1:1 and render to 4:2:0, you end up with 4:1:0, i.e. not much color information.

If you want the best quality overall, use GNicer or equivalent to chroma-smooth the 4:1:1 footage to a decent 4:2:2 and mix this with your 4:2:2 generated footage.

[Bj Ahlen]

From the Google video poster: “The skaters were filmed skating on green boards, then the boards were edited out.”

Motion control cameras are pricey even to rent, is that really likely here?

[Bj Ahlen]

DPX is a log format, so it will only give identical RGB values where the log curve intersects the linear curve.

Mac<->PC could be a problem of different gamma.

[Bj Ahlen]

I bought it after MGLA, great practical plug-in.

For a few hundred bucks more you could get Shake today with its very powerful nodal compositing, but that’s a whole ‘nother app to learn.

[Bj Ahlen]

[SiMarsh] “When using Quark in the past I usually create a postcript file of the finished document one page at a time and then Distill them all at once later. It would save time if I could automate the process to single page files in one go?”

Choke, cough. It’s time to leave Quark behind. I never ceased to be amazed at how much Quark users were willing to put up with just to do basic work.

Unlike Quark, InDesign is robust enough to handle larger documents.

Unlike Quark, InDesign creates great PDFs without ugly workarounds. Printing is also a LOT faster, and there certainly isn’t the need to do a separate distill pass later out of desperation.

If the magazine receives a 40-page PDF, they can easily extract to a new file any page(s) they want, that’s Acrobat 101.

Spend $19.95 on a 1-year subscription to Layers Magazine, it’s a good resource for learning InDesign and the other Adobe apps that tend to get involved also, even if they are not your main shtick.

There is also Indesign Magazine, a downloadable PDF magazine for $39 per year (with promotional code “sampler”), that is packed with practical tips that will have you crying in your coffee over all the time you could have saved the last couple of years.

[Bj Ahlen]

After Effects UI and stability and UI performance are no problem on MacBook Pro. Deep effects and compositing are not so hot maybe 3-4x slower than a quad G5 (depends on codecs and disk performance also).

Photoshop is absolutely fine for normal interactive use, feels about like a regular G5.

It is highly likely that Apple will introduce the new MacPro towers at WVDC in August, and you can already preorder them from at least one dealer.

And yes, you could expect to have a hard time getting any reasonable bids on eBay for your new Quad G5 at that time…

[Bj Ahlen]

After Effects UI and stability and UI performance are no problem on MacBook Pro. Deep effects and compositing are not so hot maybe 3-4x slower than a quad G5 (depends on codecs and disk performance also).

Photoshop is absolutely fine for normal interactive use, feels about like a regular G5.

It is highly likely that Apple will introduce the new MacPro towers at WVDC in August, and you can already preorder them from at least one dealer.

And yes, you could expect to have a hard time getting any reasonable bids on eBay for your new Quad G5 at that time…

[Bj Ahlen]

I did have to go through the usual QT 7.1.1 install, Adobe’s 4.03 update, validating all fonts, etc., but after that, ID worked perfectly in Tiger.

I haven’t even installed the other apps in the CS, because I was concerned about Rosetta performance.

However, judging from the friskiness of ID, and seeing comparisons of Rosetta vs. G5 native, Photoshop should be no problem for most any normal use.

After Effects will have to stay on my AMD dual core machine though. I do heavy stuff and this is not for Rosetta, especially since Apple is still noodling on the plug-in interface standard for Intel Macs. I’m glad they’re taking the time to get it right, but this is a total blocker for many.

I also just received my Shake today from Apple, will use that for a lot of stuff instead of AE, this was not an option until last week for me…