Dave Schweitzer
Forum Replies Created
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As far as I remember (haven’t done AVR-77 in quite some time) the import was quicker than Animation, but I don’t remember the render out of AE being all that different. I guess some testing might help.
You may already be doing this, but I recently was taught how to stack several output modules on one render in order to save out to various codecs. It takes no more time than rendering one file, but when finished I end up with various flavors of quicktime for whatever purpose.
Instructions: Make Movie to the Render Queue, where the comp will be in line with the default Render Settings and Output Module. In the Compositions pull-down menu select Add Output Module and adjust the settings for each output needed. Recently did a logo fly-in with Alpha at the beginning to send to a Meridien and an Xpress Pro DV. I saved out Meridien 2:1 full over a black BG, Animation with Alpha Unmatted, Alpha Only, Avid DV with a numeric crop 2 top 4 bottom ( 486>480 high), Animation/Alpha Unmatted with same crop, and Alpha only with same crop. The blue render bar went through once and when finished I had six QuickTimes ready to send off to my client. Took all of 10 minutes . Before this I would have rendered each one out separately – an hour!
Good Luck!
Dave
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Nope, animation is still the best. Although last few times I did AE stuff in MJPEG-B at high and it came over just fine, plus was quite a bit smaller than animation.
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The compression is the same, but there are at least a couple other differences to keep in mind.
Since you didn’t fill in your profile I have no idea if you’re working in NTSC or PAL. My experience is 99% NTSC, so some of this may be incorrect for you.1. the Avid DV codec is set to a 601 color space for NTSC television, with blacks at 7.5 IRE and whites at 100 IRE (using levels of 16-235). The standard DV codec uses an RGB color space – same as for computers, with levels of 0-255. This really isn’t much of an issue, though, since upon import you can tell Avid the incoming files have RGB levels and Avid will adjust the levels to 601. If you’re not going to broadcast, or if proper video levels are less of an issue for you than the way the video looks, importing with your import settings set to 601 will leave the levels alone and give you ultra blacks and superwhites. For some things this can look nice, but again the levels will be incorrect for NTSC.
2. Timecode will be lost in the import. If your other apps assign tape timecode to the DV upon capture it will be stripped by Avid, which assigns every clip the starting TC you have set in your General settings. The timecode can be modified once these clips are imported, but it may not be important to what you’re doing so if you need to know, just ask and some cowhead will walk you through it. -
Of course, your original photoshop file is unchanged. Avid creates a new media file in the OMF folder upon import, and subsequently works with that new file.
If you move your photoshop file offline after import the Avid OMF file remains for you to work with. -
Wow!
That must’ve been some Killer Egg Nog! -
The firmware issue is only an issue if you have a new Dual-Core G5. You didn’t say if you do or not. If you do, than I can say yes this is a pain in the @$$. I recently helped a client by bringing my Powerbook in just to update their mojo’s firmware for their new Quad. Moved the mojo back to their 4.6.5 G4 and had to downgrade the firmware to use it. Back to the Quad? Let’s have that Powerbook again. See where this is going? I’m not in LA, so I can’t swing by with my Powerbook, but what you’ll need is any G4 or G5 with Tiger to install your Xpress Pro 4.8.2 onto (using your dongle of course), update the mojo’s firmware and move it over to the Dual-Core which will now see it. Plus it works very well.
Oh, and then leave that mojo where it is, because if you’re tired of reading this then just wait until you get to do it for yourself!Dave
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And, depending on the model Avid you’ve got, there’s the relatively new Avid Pan & Zoom effect, which achieves the same end.
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Try re-installing QuickTime. From what I’ve read this may help.
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I’ll try to address a couple things…
Question 1 is the toughest, since I understand from your post that the exact same file would import for you in the past. What could have changed since then to cause your Xpress to refuse a file that it accepted before? Only things that come to mind are corrupted MCState settings files or User settings files. Try trashing your MCState files (there are two. One in your User and one in the Settings folder).
Question 2 is a little easier. I did a test with a couple random mp3 files. One imported flawlessly while the second gave me > QuickTime Error! This file cannot be imported <. The only difference was that the "good" file had constant bitrate LAME encoding while the "bad" one had variable bitrate LAME encoding. Maybe you could get the mp3 re-encoded and sent to you? And finally Question 3. Avid has reserved keyframable speed ramping effects for those willing to pay for the Adrenaline or higher, so Xpress users don't get Timewarp. Possible workarounds...do the speed effect the way you described, but cut your video into more, smaller chunks so that the change is less noticeable; export to After Effects and do the effect there; buy SpeedRamP, an AVX plugin from 3Prong at: https://www.3prong.com/; or search for some other program or plugin that’ll do it for you.,Good Luck!
DS
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Usually the only time it is slow for me is when I’ve got boxes checked to convert to WAV audio (or AIFF or something other than what it is) or setting the sample rate (to 48000 or 44100 if it’s not already what it should be – plan ahead). Was there no blue bar progress showing files being written? Usually it very quickly writes the files and I can follow the progress. Most of the time I…
Consolidate and Embed audio into the OMF.
Make sure to set the audio format and sample rate to what the PT guy will be using before digitizing, and not convert during OMF export. Without fail, the export will be at the eleventh hour and noone likes to wait for anything at that point.Sorry to hear about your experience on the PC.
DS