Dave Johnson
Forum Replies Created
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My suggestion that “a clean install is always best” seems to have been misunderstood and/or taken out of context so, just to clarify, what I was getting at is installing a new O/S version and new software suite on a new drive that is independent of the existing software installs and drive (which obviously still requires significant time, although less than the alternatives, in my experience).
The idea is a clean install of everything, yet without discarding the functional and stable setup before the new setup has been fully job tested. This approach may not be possible in every circumstance, but I still believe it to be the best option when available.
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Just FYI, Dave, the Animation and PNG codecs aren’t exclusive to Mac Land (nor are any other standard codecs I can think of besides ProRes).
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And you’re not getting any errors messages?
If not, I’d start looking at each of the things that can make AE go berserk like not having the latest update installed for whatever version you’re using, having OpenGL rendering turned on, having multi-frame rendering turned on for a system that doesn’t have enough processor power and/or RAM, using sources that are in weird non-standard codecs or stacking way too many lights, cameras, 3D layers and complex effects on a system that can’t handle it.
If you’ve done what Dave said, this is not the issue, but may be worth considering anyway … your output module is set to only render the work area. That may be the default, but personally, I never use anything other than customized render settings and output modules … and one of the first things to change is Time Span from “Work Area” to “Comp Length” since it seems asking for trouble to expect anyone to remember to reset every precomp and comp work area before rendering.
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Peter,
The scenario you described is exactly the one my employer dropped on me and one other guy about 10 years ago now (minus the HD part since it wasn’t available yet then). So, I’ll tell you how it all played out so you get a sense for how right Dave and Bob are about there being nothing simple or cheap about this.
By the way, at that time, I’d been a Producer/Director/Writer/Videographer/Editor (not an Engineer) for only about 5 years (after another 5 of what was more or less on-the-job-training combined with schooling) … the other guy had literally zero TV/Video experience except what he picked up from working with others who did.
After very, very, many very long nights and weekends, not to mention lots of the company’s money, we pulled it off, but this is the important part … only by hiring professional TV systems integration companies when we were allowed to. Unfortunately, when we were allowed to was unrelated to when we actually needed to.
It’s even more glaringly obvious today than it was then that what I call “the wanters” (like the stomping, screaming kids in the mall we want to smack even though they belong to someone else) clearly had no idea what they were getting into with an attitude exactly like the one Bob described, but 10 times worse since it was coming from otherwise very intelligent Ivy league types who had obviously never before been told they can’t do what they want. Basically, it was “just buy a camcorder and plug it into TV for us” so we don’t have to get our hands dirty (didn’t put that last part in quotes because that’s just what they were thinking, not what they actually said).
Anyway, the company now has what it wants (ability for executives to frequently do live TV interviews conveniently without leaving the office), but I’m here to tell you that, by trying to do it basically for free, it wasted tons of money over the course of many years … and the worst part is, still has a mess to show for it.
For example, even though we’ve spent lots more money on new studio space, a custom set, HD cameras, lighting, etc., etc.; to this day, we still have barely airable remotes. Why? Because, one of the very many significant and practically irreversible bad decisions that was made was to have the in-house maintenance staff run fibre throughout the buildings as they were being built instead of having it professionally done. I’m sure we’ve all heard the weakest link in the chain analogy before. So, now what? Shall we start tearing down walls and re-running clean fibre?
I guess the main take-away is that, even though my post is so long, I’ve actually only mentioned tiny bits of the bigger picture … and, trust me, it’s not a picture you want any part of. My advice is that you find the largest TV systems integration company in your area (the one that does the local TV stations), pay them a few thousand dollars to send out some Engineers for a point A to point B needs analysis and proposal that’s all-inclusive (staff, equipment maintenance, equipment replacement, etc., etc.). Then, show the results to the powers that be to make absolutely sure that they have at least some idea of what they’re getting into before you go any further … or, it’ll all be your fault in the end.
I’m going to stop now because I can actually feel the veins starting to protrude from my temples from just thinking about this subject. I hope you found my input helpful. Cheers.
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It seems very unlikely they’ve left any projection equipment in an old closed down movie theatre so you’ll need to borrow or rent a projector and connect that to something like a laptop or portable DVD player.
It sounds much like you’re doing this as a Good Samaritan type deal for the kids so you might ask the group of appreciative parents if any of them have access to a projector (like those used for {PowerPoint presentations) and pick the best one offered since they’re obviously not designed for theatre-size screens or circumstances.
That’s all I got … I hope its heplful.
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In case you weren’t just talking about computer monitors, the primary reason for outputting video work to a broadcast monitor in addition to the computer monitor(s) the editing software is on, when you’re doing work for TV, you can see what viewers will see, which is rarely what you’re seeing on a computer monitor (in terms of color, gamma, etc.).
If you were just talking about using multiple computer monitors, whether to use one large or two medium-size computer monitors is really a personal preference and others have already covered the reasons they prefer one or the other.
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Grant,
If you thought you were confused before, how about now? It’s all part of my evil plan to take over the world with David Johnson clones. lol -
That’s great info, Walter. Thanks so much for your help yet again.
Man, I sure wish the O/S and software developers had given us more forewarning to start saving up our pennies before dropping the long-awaited 64-bit bomb on us! lol
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Sam,
As Dave L. suggested, are you sure you’ve got the letters on separate layers and you’re importing an .ai into After Effects as a comp?
The AI letters have to be on separate layers … not just separate groups or clipping paths within one layer). The .ai file also has to be imported into AE as a comp … the “import as” checkbox has to be changed to “comp” from the default “footage”.
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The file path to the log files depends on what platform you’re on and what version of AE, but it is most often in the same location as the .aep project file you’re rendering from. The log file often doesn’t have info that is detailed enough to be helpful anyway.
First, I’d make sure you have OpenGL turned off and also that you have “render multiple frames simultaneously” turned off unless your system can handle it (multiple processors and/or cores, as well as enough RAM to feed all cores … I believe a minimum of 2Gb per core).
If you’ve tried rendering more than once and it stops at the same time each time, there’s something going on at that frame that is causing the problem. It’ll help diagnose if you mention what exactly happens at that frame such as what kinds of effects and how many, what codec(s) you’re working with (both source and render), whether you’re using things like 3D layers, lights and cameras.