Bret Williams
Forum Replies Created
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[Andrew Kimery] “I think the the 2016 MBP has it’s own set of issues uniquely related to the current state of using USB-C adapters.”
Might be true. I’m kinda reserving my final judgement until I do a complete reinstall from the OS up and get my hands on the OWC TB3 breakout box. I think perhaps the TB and usb dongles could be problematic. Right now I’m using one TB adapter to step down to TB2 to drive my display, raid, and AJA) all in a series, a USB dongle to drive my USB 2 hub. I also have power plugged into a third USB C port. The open port I use to attach random USB3 portable drives. I use USB C to USB 3 cables for those. For most things, a cable is a simpler cleaner better idea than a dongle/adapter. So with the OWC TB3 hub I’m hoping that the dongle/adapters/crasing issues is solved. I have no problems when using the laptop just as a laptop. so it’s definitely hardware/driver related. Could be the AJA as AJA and BMD products really aren’t too happy about being hot swapped.
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https://BretFX.com FCP X Plugins & Templates for Editors & Motion Graphics Artists -
On a day to day performance, I can tell you my iMac from 2012 is a much more solid machine. I’m using the MacBook Pro 2016 (top of the line). Just a couple layers of unrendered effects send the fans roaring. And FCPX has no noticeable difference in performance. Even when Im running all the media off the insanely fast internal.
And when Ive got it hooked up to LG thunderbolt monitor, Pegasus raid, and AJA, you can count on 4-5 crashes a day of the entire system. Probably due to the adapters and such not reconnecting when it goes to sleep.
The keyboard is pretty cheap too but Im sorta getting used to it. The ports on the right don’t really click in like the ports on the left either. You really have to mash the cable in all the way on the right. Overall the build of the 2016 feels cheap to me. The track pad is this cheesy little hollow click. Not like previous laptops with a good solid click.
Oh, and the battery life flat out sucks. It forces you to use the 4gig GPU with and sort of media related app like affinity or FCP which will suck a battery dry in 2 hours. Otherwise you can count on 3-5 hours for the battery. And that’s with the screen brightness way down. The touch bar us constantly having errors, freezing, etc. But the only app that has used it for anything worthwhile is Photos, and Affinity Photo.
So I haven’t done any major rendering tests, but day to day, using it as my main machine is a lesser experience than using my solid 2012 imac with 32 Gigs. I’ve only switched to the MacBook because I need the portability.
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https://BretFX.com FCP X Plugins & Templates for Editors & Motion Graphics Artists -
If you mean stutter then you could use the strobe effect from motion published to FCP X. Or download my freebie called smooth strobe.
https://bretfx.com/product/smooth_strobe/
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https://BretFX.com FCP X Plugins & Templates for Editors & Motion Graphics Artists -
My bad I did say glow didn’t I? Somehow David figured it out anyway.
I did a tutorial on it as well. https://bretfx.com/create-your-own-fcp-x-outline-plugin/
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https://BretFX.com FCP X Plugins & Templates for Editors & Motion Graphics Artists -
Click the filmstrip in top rt of your timeline. Choose a different timeline view. You’ve got it set to thumbnail only.
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https://BretFX.com FCP X Plugins & Templates for Editors & Motion Graphics Artists -
That’s great!
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https://BretFX.com FCP X Plugins & Templates for Editors & Motion Graphics Artists -
Hey David-
It is indeed a hassle to do what you’re looking for. It’s a convoluted mess of masks and clones. I built this effect for a plugin called Outliner. You can outline anything with an alpha. And you can then fill the outline with a color, texture or drop zone (your video). The plugin is at https://bretfx.com/product/outliner/ and you might just find it easier.
But If you want to try it yourself, to the best of my recollection the gist would be to add an outline to the clone using a glow effect, with a zero range. THEN use the source as an inverted matte to knock out the inner part of the clone. Then you’ll have to turn the source layer back on because using it as a matte turn it off. Told ya it gets convoluted.
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https://BretFX.com FCP X Plugins & Templates for Editors & Motion Graphics Artists -
[Andrew Kimery] “1. Many programs use the GPU for basic operation so having a strong GPU locally is still worthwhile (which is why Apple doubled down on GPUs in the nMP). “
FWIW I have the top nMBP with 4gig gpu and I have an iMac late 2012 27″ with 2gig GPU. 4 years apart and 2gigs of GPU apart and there is zero discernible difference. And I’m playing back very complicated timelines full of custom motion projects and such. In my mind the nMBP seems a little less responsive scrubbing around and such.
I’m literally opening the same project on the same raid. First plugged into the nMBP, then plugged into the iMac.
I’ll do render tests at some point.
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https://BretFX.com FCP X Plugins & Templates for Editors & Motion Graphics Artists -
You mean it hides stuff you can’t use at any given point? Yep. For that it’s good. Just like the inspector. Wouldn’t it be great if we could just touch the inspector?
The touch bar may indeed be somewhat useful in certain cases, but I’d rather have a touch screen. It’s kinda hard to not believe they came up with this stop gap measure to put off cannibalizing iPad Pro sales for another year. By the same means I think they’ve put off making iOS a more professional operating system to put off cannibalizing the laptop line.
Or am I stating the obvious?
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https://BretFX.com FCP X Plugins & Templates for Editors & Motion Graphics Artists -
You can probanly do the same thing with keyboard shortcuts I just don’t go that deep into shortcuts. So this is a good use case where they’ve enhanced function with a visible function you wouldn’t think of or wouldn’t usually learn. The team at FCP X wasn’t quite as inspired, placing the mist well know well used keyboard shortcuts and functions in the touch bar. In fact they actually make you take extra steps vs a mouse in many cases.
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https://BretFX.com FCP X Plugins & Templates for Editors & Motion Graphics Artists