Douglas Bowker
Forum Replies Created
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OK, here are things that will be critical for this to work:
USB Formatting: Must be FAT32, which is readable by both Mac and PC. This is absolutely the first thing that needs to be verified.
As already stated, NTSC and PAL do not apply anymore. These were/are old broadcast standards. 1080p at either 30fps or 24fps is standard today. Use whatever frame rate the video was shot in.
However: what you DO need to be concerned with is reliable, smooth playback. To that end, 4K should be absolutely OFF the table. You have no idea what the computer is going to be and USB 2.0 (which nearly all USB drives are) is not high bandwidth. I’ve done volunteer work for both elementary and high schools (including public and private) in the US and the tech I’ve encountered can be ALL over the map!
Even in the same school, one class might have higher-end Mac, and another class might have a 15 year old PC running Windows XP. Or another could have a brand new PC, and the next class has one of those all-in-one iMacs with a CRT screen! I am not exaggerating; this is based on actual experience. You might not have to assume the very worst, but probably a good standard would be: what kind of computer do your parents own? Also: assume that level of technical expertise too, because I’ve encountered many teachers (even highly experienced, really GREAT teachers) who are utterly technology-phobic. Others love it and are very comfortable with anything, but you need to cater to those who are not.
-Don’t export via Premiere; use Media Encoder if at all possible.
-Reliable playback settings:
MP4: VIDEO: 1080p at 30fps, Variable bitrate (10-12mbps) sRGB color space AUDIO: 256kbps 16-bit
TESTING: Make one USB stick with your video on it, and go play it on the worst computer or laptop in your office, like the old sad-looking one used in payroll or whatever. Then go play it on your parent’s computer, or on an under powered Chromebook; basically anyone you know that has a garbage piece of tech with a USB port: stick it in and hit Play. Look and sound OK, with no stuttering? Good to go!
No? Dial the playback compression to 8-10mbps, maybe the Audio down to 128kbs.
Good luck!
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I’ve been a Xeon believer for around 15 years but last December I replaced my motherboard, RAM and processor with an AMD and all I can say is your mind will be forever blown by their latest generation of chips. I got 24 core (48 virtual, yes 48!) chip and it’s by FAR the largest leap in performance I can recall. Plus I got the MSI Creator motherboard which actually is designed around high-end performance for animation and video editing.
Bottom Line: Intel has been deliberately dribbling out their chips (always at a premium too) when the OBVIOUS truth is that they’ve been able to build super high core count CPUs all along. Why obvious? Just look over at Nvidia! They’ve had chips with insane core counts for years now! Yeah, I know partly it’s the specificity of the graphics instruction set, but even that can’t really be the main reason. If it was then you wouldn’t have people running crypto currency machines filled with Nvidia cards doing the work. No, it’s that Intel held back because it could. No more! Sure, I’d consider going back my next custom build if they become “actually” competitive again, but only then. Right now my MSI Threadripper is killing it, and it even runs quiet!
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I am far from a color expert but I do use After Effects extensively and have dealt with a lot of situations re:different color spaces. Here are a few principles to keep in mind.
As another already said, 32 bit is going to be your starting point if you know transforms are going to be needed.
Interpret Footage: This is especially important. This is like the lens or filter even by which everything that comes after with be dictated by. If used incorrectly it’s like straining your sauce before you add it to a meal! Luckily, “Interpret Footage” is not a destructive process of course, but my point is that if you reduce the color space in this step (which is what you’re doing by going from Log to rec709) then you can get that range back until you reinterpret said footage, right? So always start “wide” apply whatever LUT is appropriate afterwards within your layers or Composition.
Output: This may or may not involve a final transform, depending on the customer. I would think for a Canadian broadcaster they’d provide you with whatever that final spec. should be, but in any case I usually Pre-compose my entire final Comp and add an Output Transform to match whatever is appropriate. That might as simple as going to sRGB for compression for web or MP4 compression, rec709 for most broadcast and some film. Or nothing at all because whomever is getting your file will do it themselves.
When in doubt, with mixed Footage or from sources I’m not sure about, I just set the project up with Adobe RGB color space as it plays nice with 32 bit and is reliable for keeping things artifact free. Hope some of that helps!
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The video hits the nail right on the head, which to be honest is all glaringly obvious to anyone not enamored with, in love with or otherwise is not looking to worship their hardware but just wants it to work. Apple makes luxury goods the way Louis Vuitton makes luxury luggage, or Rolex makes watches. Pretty, high maintenance status symbols that require “special” handling and care. As an animation and video professional I’ve learned to build and repair any number of machines over the years, some brand-made, some some custom. Hands-down Apples are always the most time consuming and difficult to fix or upgrade.
It’s like each step of the way they had an evil engineer that deliberately tried to think of the most obscure way to put the thing together! Owners will almost always cop the company line about it being more “elegant” because no screws are visible or some other corporate kool-aid. Don’t make me laugh! It’s got nothing to do with it, and besides that is just letting the tail wag the dog. Sure, on the lower end Dell and HP also make machines difficult to fix or upgrade too, but not with their production oriented workstations or higher end laptops. There’s nothing to say you can’t have a well designed and elegant machine that is also convenient and easy to service. Oh, right! That would have been the old Mac Pro machines!
And please, enough with the fantasy arguments that they’ve got a lock on beautiful or ergonomic products. First it’s pretty obviously untrue at this point, and second that’s not an excuse for bad design overall. As a trained industrial designer I find their products diverged from anything like “form follows function” a long time ago. Each new laptop or computer they come out with gets less easy to use, takes away obviously useful (if not vital) features like USB, HDMI, SD card slots and ethernet ports. All of which my sleek Lenovo laptop has built in, which has a better graphics chip, more RAM and cost half of what my wife’s Macbook Pro did. I can run animation programs and anything Adobe can throw at it and I had it set up with a 2nd monitor in less than 5 minutes, no adapters needed. And BTW how does have a tangle of adapters and dongles hanging off that Macbook look appealing?
Let’s put this in the context of an automobile: How about taking away all the exterior door knob/handles so that it looks “sleeker?” Good idea? As long as you have the special remote key you’ll have no problem right?
Oh, and how about remove the radio and have it Bluetooth only access via a smartphone? “Oh, look how elegant it looks inside!”
And then let’s make access to the engine have no visible seams! Let’s require mechanics have have a whole new set of proprietary tools, making it impossible for the owner to even add windshield washer fluid or oil. Nope, they need to bring their car to the Smart-Guy Bar! Any of that sound even remotely appealing or at all defendable? I didn’t think so.Apple was a company that truly cared about real design innovation 20 years ago. They had incredible engineering teams, hired brilliant industrial designers and pushed the envelope in terms of making tools for artists and designers. Nothing will ever take that away. The first few generations of iPhones were a revelation for me! I couldn’t believe all the thoughtful features and details they’d put into them.
But then about 8-10 years ago everything changed. It was all about the money, period. Artists and designers were not where the big money was at. Spoiled teenagers were never going to lust after the next video editing machine, and even then couldn’t be induced to buy a new one every two years. What they used to spend on real engineering now went into marketing to the point where you could actually make lesser products and have people pay more for them, and defend it more than paid corporate communications managers. Now that’s genius. Evil genius maybe, but that’s OK, right?
Doug Bowker
3D Animation Motion Graphics, and Video for the Medical and Technical World
http://www.douglasbowker-motiongraphics.com
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I thought with Premiere CC 2014-15/Suite there was built in support to import/export to ProRes. No? I’m almost certain I exported a sequence out like this for a colleague not long ago.
Doug Bowker
Motion graphics, video and 3D Animation for the Medical and Technical World
http://www.dbowker3d.com -
Unfortunately, in this situation at least, pretty much all the acceleration coding that Adobe has applied in the last 5 years has been ever more Nvidia-centric. They state it right there on the the Hardware Requirements page: https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/system-requirements.html There is not one card/GPU listed that is not Nvidia. So then Apple, being how it is with needing to do its own thing, loads up their high-end workstations, pretty clearly designed for video editing and such, with AMD GPUs. Maybe they work great for FCP or other editing but there is a world of difference in the Adobe products if CUDA is turned off (and I have a dual-Xeons with 24 cores, with 24GB of RAM so it’s not like my workstation is under-powered on the CPU front). It’s like performance is cut more than in half.
One thing about CPU and RAM allocation I’ve found is to set 3-4 GB of RAM per CPU. This will seem to not use all CPUs, but rendering in AE, Premiere or ME will definitely run faster and more stable.
Doug Bowker
Motion graphics, video and 3D Animation for the Medical and Technical World
http://www.dbowker3d.com -
Yeah- that seemed to do the trick for me too- just hadn’t got around to posting. Thanks for yours. In the meantime I also found a little more info about this as well.
These guys wrote a simple script to make sure all CC programs are CUDA enabled all in one go. Pretty handy.
https://www.studio1productions.com/Articles/PremiereCS5.htmAlso: make sure both at the Bios level (for a PC) and in Power Options that you do not allow the system to throttle down PCI or PCI-X. This power saving option will suck the juice out of your graphics card.
Doug Bowker
Motion graphics, video and 3D Animation for the Medical and Technical World
http://www.dbowker3d.com -
I’ve been wondering about this myself. I just got on-board with the latests CC as well, and though every other program seems to have it’s performance amped up, ME is definitely having some problems. Trouble is, it’s the only program that has as many rendering options. After Effects has this tiny list of exports compared to ME.
Doug Bowker
Motion graphics, video and 3D Animation for the Medical and Technical World
http://www.dbowker3d.com -
Hey thanks. That is a great out of the box way of looking at it- I think I may be able to apply it in After Effects as well. The good thing is, the brush is dark orange and the arm is dark yellow- both provide a high level of contrast to work with.
Still, one of the biggest problems is actually separating the snow as it’s blowing of the truck from the sky. But I’ll definitely look into your idea either way.
Doug Bowker
Motion graphics, video and 3D Animation for the Medical and Technical World
http://www.dbowker3d.com -
Those are some good points, though the thing that seems odd is that the players are ones from multimedia rental companies. I would assume that given the field, they’d have machines updated and ready to play all formats- but then again, maybe not. The whole situation is made more difficult because it’s like playing telephone. I’m never quite sure what I’m asking or suggesting is actually making it through.
Thanks for the ideas.
Doug Bowker
3D Animation for the Medical and Technical World
http://www.dbowker3d.com