[Dave Johnson]

I do it the way Charles suggested (overwrite with new renders) unless I want to save previous versions for comparisons, but since you don’t want to close FCP, AE won’t overwrite files that are in use and usually returns an error that says just that.

[Dave Johnson]

I’m very glad to hear you found a solution, Lawrence.

I understand what you mean about a clean install being impractical sometimes … my personal experience has been that, the few times I didn’t do a clean new version install, I ended up spending more time dealing with and resolving various issues than a clean install would’ve taken. So, I now carefully plan upgrades around workflow (i.e., never while anything other very minor projects are pending).

[Dave Johnson]

You just need “easy-ease” keyframes … right click on any keyframe and select “easy-ease”. If necessary, you can then go into the graph editor and adjust the amount of ease for the easy-ease keyframe(s).

[UPDATE] Or, what Michael said. ;~)

[Dave Johnson]

It’s been some years since I’ve used or had installed any of the Flaming Pear plugins so I can’t offer direct details, but instead of just reinstalling the plugin over the original install, I’d try this:

[1] uninstall it completely following the developer’s instructions explicitly (from the manual or website)
[2] manually search your system for any related folders the uninstall may have missed and delete them
[3] download the most current installer from the developer’s website even if it appears to be the same version you have already (many plugin developers are better at writing software than at updating their websites or correctly identifying minor updates)
[4] completely re-install the plugin

By the way, as far as “I’ve heard that plugins are for amateurs”, my experience throughout my 20 years in the TV business has been that it’s more often than not amateurs who say that since they’ve never had to consistently produce on deadline and, therefore, don’t realize the whole reason most plugins exist is to allow professionals to do in an hour what would would otherwise take two hours … it’s true that 90% of plugins merely replicate things that can be done with native tools … the key is that they do it faster and, as any real professional understands intimately, time is money.

[Dave Johnson]

Vincent made some good points so I’ll just add my two cents as someone who does “live in the video world” and just stumbles over to this forum occasionally …

I learned Illustrator early in my career (something like 15+ years ago), am very glad that I did and still use it frequently (even in some cases when I don’t have to). However, the reason I mentioned that I learned it early in my career is that it was far more necessary then for video editors than it is today. Similar to the way Photoshop now includes all sorts of capabilities that were once exclusive to video and motion graphics programs, many video and motion graphics programs now include capabilities that were once exclusive to vector art programs like Illustrator.

So, my opinion is:
[1] learning Illustrator is still helpful for video editors, but no longer essential for most
[2] the degree to which it’s helpful or essential depends on the specific types of work you do and your workflow preferences … in other words, it’s still hard for me to imagine editors who do motion graphics, special effects, composting, etc. not knowing Illustrator, but not all video editors do those things

[Dave Johnson]

It’ll help if you mention specifically what versions of FCS you had and are upgrading to. Even without that info, I can tell you that not only is it essential that you close all programs while installing and restart afterward, but the proper way to “upgrade” FCS to avoid any strange problems is to do a full re-install of the Final Cut Studio suite instead of installing over an older version. In fact, it’s really best to first wipe the hard drive and do a full clean install of both the O/S and the FCS suite. That is, unless you’re just talking about an “update” (a minor bug-fix type update) rather than an “upgrade” (from FCS2 to FCS3).

[Dave Johnson]

I’m with Dave … Although I don’t always do this when working with programs from the same developer and suite (i.e., Photoshop or Illustrator & AE), I’ve found it best to close my FCP project while I’m modifying AE or PS files it refers to so that when I re-open it, the new versions of modified files are automatically in place without any need for reconnecting, redoing edits, etc.

It sounds like you don’t want to close FCP while you modify files for whatever reason so perhaps your problem is that you’re not emptying the trash either … if I recall correctly, FCP finds media files even if they’re in the trash.

[Dave Johnson]

Steve, I remembered commenting in this forum string recently and and thought you might find this related article interesting:

https://www.cnbc.com/id/38226703/FCC_Policy_on_TV_Expletives_Is_Overturned_by_NY_Court

A good example of why it’s best to leave such calls to lawyers (by way of a network or station’s Standards & Practices or Programming office).

[Dave Johnson]

Something like that would be great, but I seriously doubt any such thing exists for AE. With so many plugin developers doing their own thing, it seems it would be extremely difficult to write software that could reliably indentify updates that are often hard enough to find manually on the developers’ websites.

If it did exist, I’d gladly pay more than $2-3, but only if I were very confident that:

• it worked with all, or at least the vast majority, of the bazillion AE plugins out there rather than just the few Trapcode Shines of the plugin world … um, I mean Red Giant Shine (see #3)
• would continue working not just for a few weeks, but 12-24 months later once my AE version and operating system have changed
• would continue working once half the plugins I own were sold to other developers and re-written (as has consistently happened every few months for the past decade)

[Dave Johnson]

When I wanted to confirm my understanding of the same issue going from CS2 to CS3, AE expert Mylenium provided some useful details about this subject on the Adobe forum …

Mylenium – 10:45pm Feb 5, 09 PST (#2 of 4)

As Navarro said: Should be no problem. Be aware, though, that several of the “Edit original” and “Open in Bridge” type functions will always resort to the most modern version and these functions thus will not work fully in older versions. If e.g. you chose to “Browse Presets” in AE CS3 with CS4 already on your system, it would open Bridge CS4 and you would be able to view the presets, but could not apply them with a double-click as you would otherwise. Also expect some confusion when working with MPEG stuff. You may get warnings about missing CoDecs in Encore and Premiere or weird licensing warnings (“not included in trial version” and such…)