[Carsten Orlt]

if your not affecting the clip (apply any effects directly to it) you can always export from fcp – add layers – switch of the clip and save motion project. then import the motion project into fcp and cut it on a video track above your clip.
because motion creates an alpha channel it will be composited onto your base track. then just replace the clip as you like.
really depends on if your applying effects to the clip in motion that only exist in motion.
Carsten

[Carsten Orlt]

Hi
the only way I could figure out to avoid the gamma shift problem is to use the Animation codec as an in-between.
So export what you need from FCP as Animation codec, do your AE magic and render out as Animation codec again from AE. Import to FCP put in timeline and render. Comparing the original with the reimported clip you will still see a gamma shift but it is so minimal that you can’t pick it anymore.
give it a try…

[Carsten Orlt]

Hi
I as well can confirm your observation. I’m still on G4 DP1.4 and same problem here.
I made it a habit now to move my arm (holding on to the pen) of the tablet.
Bit annoying but actually gives you some exercise too…
Anyway I don’t know if Apple is aware of it, but I sure hope so as I could live without this problem quite happily
Cheers
Cofe

[Carsten Orlt]

Isn’t this all academic anyway?
I do as well work with German Broadcasters all the time and for DigiBeta I put down -20 dB as reference tone and program peak at -10dB (and write this down on the ‘Maz-Karte’/Tape-Report). For Beta SP it’s -9dB ref and 0 dB program peak. I’m in Australia so my VTR’s are set to +4dB (against +6dB in Germany), BUT this has nothing to do with the signal on the tape , but only how the VTR inputs/outputs the signal (that’s at least what I understand from my techo).
So whatever signal comes out the Multibridge (or any capture card for that matter) is not important as such but you have to adjust the levels according to your recording device. If digital to DigiBeta it’s a one to one relationship (what you see on the computer meter will be the same on the VTR meter), If analogue you just have to set your output to the references requiert by German Broadcaster’s (-9dB ref/0dB peak). If somebody puts that tape into their machine in Germany it will have the exact same levels no matter of the VTR setup or Multibridge setup (if the VTR is calibrated correctly)
Thing of it as (forgive me techno savy people as this might be simplistic 🙂 that all this dB mumbo jumbo is only about how a say 1 volt signal on the video tape is converted to dB. On the tape its always 1 volt.
Hope that helps
Cofe

[Carsten Orlt]

don’t have final touch so i can’t check, but have you tried to ‘force’ render the varible speed clips regardless of them being realtime (if they are?) (you have to select to include rt+preview fx render under the render settings menu). This way you would create a render file on disk which the xml might point to when opened in Final touch?
Cofe

[Carsten Orlt]

have a look at Stibs fcp plug ins at: https://66.193.230.226/~stib/
if you want a cheap glow filter this one is as cheap as it gets: it’s free 🙂
Cofe

[Carsten Orlt]

The best plug in I found and bought is Final Plug from Wavearts:
https://www.wavearts.com/FinalPlug5.html
This is Peak-Limiter which does exactly what you want and it does it perfectly well.
When I edit/mix I adjust volume to about -10 (or-12) but don’t bother about the occasional peak.
Then I nest or export my audio tracks so I then can apply Final Plug to the whole track(s).
It works in FCP or Soundtrack Pro (and any other audio software).
Not only can you set the max level but through the threshold level adjustment you can compress the signal to get more subjective volume without acceding the max level. Quite amazing how far you can push it without audible distortion.
This not only helps broadcast but does also wonders for web or dvd delivery!
You can download a demo that works 30 days to get hooked 🙂
Cofe

[Carsten Orlt]

John
right click on the coloumn headers in the browser and choose to display ‘thumbnails’
this gives you a still of the clip.

The crashes in regard to quicktime export (I presume uncompressed footage) are know.
I’m not sure to what Aurora is up to with the Igniter but you may want to drop them a line to ask.
Also from reading the Aurora forum it looks like users have problems with the Igniter and
OS 10.4.x and FCP 5.x and some made the same decision as you to go back.

Cofe

[Carsten Orlt]

Dan
sorry to hear!
I’m running (after this minor adjustments) FCP5.02 rock solid for 4 weeks. So its working.
ok my specs: G4/1.4 DP/Firmtek SATA card +1 Firmtek 2 drive enclosure/Pipe Studio
all latest updates for OS and FCP Studio package and Pipe drivers.

Its probably stating the obvious but you may want to trash the FCP settings and obj. and RT caches, Uninstall Pipe drivers, reinstall.
If you already done that, you might have to face the ‘system rebuild’ option.

Sorry I don’t know anything else to do, as if our 2 sytems are not exactly the same there are quite a few variables…
You should definitely drop Aurora a line, because they might have heart something from other users that could give you a lead.

Cofe

[Carsten Orlt]

Dan
I have a Pipe too, using the same workflow (DV offline, Uncompressed Online) and noticed the following:
When I use the thumbnail coloumn in the browser, the system had the erratic crashes you have.
Also choosing ‘desktop only’ in the Pipe system preferences pane made a big difference. The Interceptor function wasn’t stable.
Changing these 2 things made my system rock stable, and I can happily switch between software and finder and not once the system crashed.
If you use either, give it a try
Cofe