Boyd Mccollum
Forum Replies Created
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You may want to get the Apple Pro Training Series (APTS) book “Shake 4: Professional Compositing and Visual Effects” by Marco Paolini. While the APTS books are an excellent method of learning the different applications, they also serve as mini tutorials on different features in the applications – just do a chapter or lesson relevant to your immediate need. I often use them as references guides for things I know how to do, but don’t do often enough to remember off the top of my head.
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[Steve Eisen] “Rumor has it, the price of the crossgrade is going to change sometime soon.”
This isn’t a rumor, the special price for the crossgrade is scheduled to end December 20, 2006. To go from 4.5 to 5.1x FCP Studio currently costs $199. If you wait, it will cost $1299.
here’s the link to the crossgrade page on Apple: https://www.apple.com/universal/crossgrade/
If you have reasons for continuing to cut on 4.5, you can still do so. I’m not sure how well 5.1 will run, if it does at all, on your G4 machine. Remember, just because you buy the crossgrade doesn’t mean you need to install it immediately. But buying now will save you $3300 in the future – enough to upgrade the G4.
The other downsides are that eventually you will run into support and compatibility issues (with folks’ lack of expertise on older versions of the software, with newer versions of the OS, and other apps).
just my $.02.
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[Dan Powers] “Option Drag. Then bang the whole timeline is now pushed down.”
You’re describing an insert edit. You need to release the Option button before releasing the mouse. As you Option+Drag, the cursor turns into an arrow. When it’s facing right, it act’s as an insert edit (pushing everthing to the right in the timeline), but when you release the Option button first, the arrow points downwards and it become an overwrite edit. Be careful that the track you are doing the overwrite edit on is empty – it’s easy to overwrite something that you don’t want to.
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It’s sounds like your problem might be in your Motion export settings – did you export using the Lossless Movie settings set at highest quality? You might also choose to export it using DVCPro50 and with the appropriate frame rates. Also, can you preview your Motion projects on your external monitor to see how it looks and is the problem only in FCP? (I’m not a motion expert, so take this all with a grain of salt).
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normally this is an issue of viewing the text on your cinema display. Have you taken a look at them on an external NTSC monitor?
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Caveat: I’m not a lawyer…. (nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express, but I did read Wikipedia)
Laws are a little more complex than what is actually written and often require lawsuits to help clarify the meaning and scope of laws. This is especially true when you have laws that come into conflict with each other. In this case, you have the DMCA (Digital Mellenium Copyright Act) on the one hand and you have Copyright/Fair Use on the other (I know, not a single law, but a series of established rights).
A couple of cases that have helped to clarify the DMCA have happened. The first is Universal v. Reimerdes where the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) sought to prevent the distribution of DeCSS which allowed for the circumvention of the encryption on DVDs. In this case, the MPAA won. But the First Amendment ramifications really weren’t addressed.
Another case was Chamberlain v. Skylink, dealing with automated door and gate openers. The issue was that Skylink reversed engineered the rolling code system that Chamberlain used for their garage doors so that Skylink’s universal remote would work on Chamberlain’s system. Chamberlain invoked the DMCA and alleged that Skylink circumvented the technical measures Chamberlain implemented. This time, the plaintiff lost (Chamberlain).
Part of the ruling in the Chamberlain case seems apropos to this issue of copying a DVD:
“The plain language of the statute … requires a plaintiff alleging circumvention (or trafficking) to prove that the defendant’s access was unauthorized-a significant burden where, as here, the copyright laws authorize consumers to use the copy of Chamberlain’s software embedded in the GDOs that they purchased. ”
“The DMCA does not create a new property right for copyright owners. Nor, for that matter, does it divest the public of the property rights that the Copyright Act has long granted to the public. The anticircumvention and anti-trafficking provisions of the DMCA create new grounds of liability. A copyright owner seeking to impose liability on an accused circumventor must demonstrate a reasonable relationship between the circumvention at issue and a use relating to a property right for which the Copyright Act permits the copyright owner to withhold authorization-as well as notice that authorization was withheld. A copyright owner seeking to impose liability on an accused trafficker must demonstrate that the trafficker’s device enables either copyright infringement or a prohibited circumvention.”
The first case impacts the actual creation of technology that can be used to circumvent the encryption that movie companies have on their DVDs. So even an academic person working on the technology could be in violation of the law. I don’t think the court really addressed that issue. This case really applies more to the creators of Mac The Ripper, DVDxDV, etc. The case was brought a fews ago, so I’m not sure what the current legal thinking is on these matters, as there are companies making apps to rip DVDs.
One reason that I think the ruling in the Universal case is too broad is that the MPAA isn’t the only organization (or rather it’s members) that makes encrypted DVDs, and piracy isn’t the only reason encryption on DVDs is circumvented. Down the line, another case (or additional laws by Congress) may need to be brought to address these issues.
The second case seems to say that the DMCA doesn’t take away my legal right, under the Copyright Act/Fair Use, to make a back up copy of a movie or software that I own. In addition, if I rip a DVD that I’m the copyright owner of, or where the copyright owner gave me permission to use, then there is really no violation of the DMCA, unless I sue myself.
As for the situation with the original poster, the director and producer, more than likey, do not own the copyright to the actual film(s), and are probably not in a position to grant permission. OTOH, I don’t think the actual copyright holder, on the off chance that they actually notice or care, will make any effort to stop this practice. It’s like no one gets pulled over for jaywalking in a private Cul de Sac. Everyone – directors, editors, producers, DPs, camera operators, etc – in this industry has a reel. Productions usually promise copies to members of the crew for their reels (though delivery is another matter), so permission from the copyright holder is implied.
REMEMBER: If in doubt, talk with a lawyer. I’m not a lawyer, and the above is not intended to be legal advice (and could be incredibly flawed in its reasoning 🙂 If anyone with a better understanding of these issues would like to chime in, that would be great!
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[boydmcc] “Control-click in the gray area under the motion bar and select Time Remap>Time Graph. You should see a graph with the keyframes that you added.”
this is actually an optional step. It allows you to visually see the change you are making.
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Use Clip Keyframes (located down a the lower left of the timeline window, between the Audio Controls and Toggle Clip Overlays buttons). Turn on Clip Keyframes
Back in the timeline, select the Time Remap Tool – sss and click on the frame in the clip that you want the freeze frame to start. You’ll see a blue motion bar and a keyframe added. Move the playhead forward in the timeline by the duration of the freeze frame (1 sec, 5 sec, etc). Add another keyframe on the clip (not the motion bar).
Control-click in the gray area under the motion bar and select Time Remap>Time Graph. You should see a graph with the keyframes that you added. With the Remap Tool selected, place it on the clip at the second keyframe. When you click it, a yellow tooltip box comes up. At the bottom you’ll see “Speed Left”. Drag the Remap tool to the left until the value reads 0%. That is your freeze frame. The speed graph will be a horizontal line.
If you are going to return your clip to normal speed after the freeze frame, you’ll need to click the Time Remap tool on the last frame of the clip and drag it to the left until it reads Speed Left: 100%.
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oops, my bad!
you’re absolutely right, and that’s how I’ve used it – don’t know why I thought it could also re-render. Thanks for the follow up.
Boyd
“excuse me while I go crawl under the manuals…” -
you can also use the Render Manager to render any sequence in any project, opened or closed, as long as the files are in the current render scratch disk. Go to Tools>Render Manager. I’ve used it, it’s a great a tool.