Dan Dennis
Forum Replies Created
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Those are helpful workarounds. Thanks!
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So, the question is – are you sticking with FCP or moving on to Avid?
And agreed, ranting and raving serves no useful purpose, but new issues are being discovered every day, so sometimes rehashing old ground to bring people up to speed is helpful. My two cents.
“A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.” — Robert Heinlein
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Sad to say, Illustrator is probably your best (and only) bet. Adobe Acrobat might possibly allow you to pull out the extraneous elements, but Illustrator give you greater control over groups and layers. Yes, sometimes it can be labor-intensive and frustrating. You might consider asking your clients to provide you with AI files instead of PDFs – whoever creates their print media should be able to accomodate.
“A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.” — Robert Heinlein
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Unless you’re planning on shooting 2K or RED at any point in the future, you can’t go wrong with 1920 x 1080. It really all depends on what your film’s format is. Of course, you can always produce your intro in 4K, but that might be overkill (and may choke your computer unless you’ve got an 8-core flamethrower).
“A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.” — Robert Heinlein
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Sebastian,
It sounds like what you’re looking for is similar in nature to the disclaimers offered by satellite and cable companies for failure to deliver their product (programming). They bear no liability for things like equipment failure, acts of God, etc., meaning if you don’t get your WWE Raw then you can’t sue them. This might help explain why Dish, DirecTV, AT&T U-verse, et.al. have such shoddy customer service.
What you’re bound to do as a professional is provide someone a promised product for an agreed-upon fee. No ifs, ands, or buts. I have worked in TV and corporate video for nearly 30 years, and I can tell you that, no matter how much money you spend on equipment, something’s gonna break. And it doesn’t matter if it’s the best equipment in the world or something you picked up at First Saturday on the sidewalk. If the customer doesn’t get what you promised them, it’s your fault. You can put as many disclaimers in your contract as you want, absolving you from fault should something break, but if I was the customer I’d go find someone who was more confident in their equipment. And confidence in equipment translates into confidence in abilities – and that’s what customers are paying for as much as the final product. If you’re not comfortable with the gear you’re using, then your client will see that, and they won’t be comfortable with you.
If it means taking out a small business loan to buy some more reliable (read: expensive) equipment, then do that. But don’t highlight your potential shortcomings with a “technology waiver.” (On the flip side, if you buy more expensive gear, you can charge more to amortize the cost. But your skills still have to say you’re worth it.)
Sorry to be so blunt, but you don’t stick around long in this business by being anything less than forthright – with your customer, and with yourself.
“A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.” — Robert Heinlein
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Jason,
Can you export to the desktop and copy to the firewire drive?
“A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.” — Robert Heinlein
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Do you have more than one firewire input into the computer? It may be that you need separate firewire buses in order to capture. It sees the camera as the second device in the stream, but it’s not capturing because the drive is the first device.
If you have the budget (and if the laptop has a PCMCIA or ExpressPC slot) consider getting a firewire card. They’re not that expensive, and it may solve your problem.
“Like the fella once said, ain’t that a kick in the head?” – Dean Martin
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You can recapture DV through SDI, as long as your deck supports it. Capture using the Uncompressed 10-bit setting. Then create an Uncompressed 10-bit sequence. Uncompressed 10-bit is essentially lossless. Your color effects should also be lossless. Then you can output whatever format you want.
“Like the fella once said, ain’t that a kick in the head?” – Dean Martin
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Long time reader, first time poster:
It’s not just an FCP issue – it happens to me all the time in Avid too. I’m trying to control the deck from the keyboard, but all I see in the clip name field is a bunch of jjjjjkkkkklllll. It’s a pain to remember to click in the machine control section of the window, but it’s still easier than using the shuttle/jog controls with the mouse.
Just gotta remember to do it, is all.
“Like the fella once said, ain’t that a kick in the head?” – Dean Martin