[Jimmy Brunger]

Thanks Luke,

I’ll use the PS capture for now, but let me know what you find..

Also might be worth mentioning grabbing via PS whilst Deck Control is in 10bit mode won’t make any difference to the quality of the image will it? I can’t see any. Though, like I said 10bit grabbed via Deck Control looks alot diff to 8bit w/Deck Control. Both look washed out and yellow compared to the raw data from PS though. For reference I have Deck Control set to BMD compression in both 8 and 10bit modes.

*AE 5.5 Pro – *PS CS1 – *Combustion 3
————————————-
Win XP Pro SP2 / Intel P4 3GHz / 2GB RAM / GeForce FX5200 / BMD DeckLink Pro / Sony BVM-20G1E / DVS SDI Clipstation

[Jimmy Brunger]

Plugged it all in and had a fiddle…Deck Control works a treat, plus I can grab stills and PLAY video, but not capture video or lay off video. Drops frame too much..

I think my drives are too slow and are not striped. Do I really need 10,000RPM SATA drives? Would 7200’s do the trick? I was going to get more storage anyway but 10k ones cost a helluva lot more!

Still capture and deck control is good enough for now, until I get more drives.

Any tips for cheapish drives appreciated.

*AE 5.5 Pro – *PS CS1 – *Combustion 3
————————————-
Win XP Pro SP2 / Intel P4 3GHz / 2GB RAM / GeForce FX5200 / BMD DeckLink Pro / Sony BVM-20G1E / DVS SDI Clipstation

[Jimmy Brunger]

Thanks Steve1 & Steve2! Really useful info there.

Now…where was that convincing arguement for my boss to buy me a super speedy dream machine…. 😉

*AE 5.5 Pro – *PS CS1 – *Combustion 3
————————————-
Win XP Pro SP2 / Intel P4 3GHz / 2GB RAM / GeForce FX5200 / BMD DeckLink Pro / Sony BVM-20G1E / DVS SDI Clipstation

[Jimmy Brunger]

That’s the one! Very useful that. I think I’ll still save up from Pro Animator though, it’s a no-brainer by the sounds of it, for what I’m going to use a 3D app for it’s cheap as chips.

*AE 5.5 Pro – *PS CS1 – *Combustion 3
————————————-
Win XP Pro SP2 / Intel P4 3GHz / 2GB RAM / GeForce FX5200 / BMD DeckLink Pro / Sony BVM-20G1E / DVS SDI Clipstation

[Jimmy Brunger]

That’s the one! Very useful that. I think I’ll still save up from Pro Animator though, it’s a no-brainer by the sounds of it, for what I’m going to use a 3D app for it’s cheap as chips.

*AE 5.5 Pro – *PS CS1 – *Combustion 3
————————————-
Win XP Pro SP2 / Intel P4 3GHz / 2GB RAM / GeForce FX5200 / BMD DeckLink Pro / Sony BVM-20G1E / DVS SDI Clipstation

[Jimmy Brunger]

I usually render out at 0>255 from AE or Photoshop and then when a final digibeta master is made it goes through our house clipper/legaliser to bring everything within safe.

Is this an OK way to go? Or should I sort it out earlier in the process…I’ve wondered about this recently. Only problem is – if I set a levels adjustment layer in PS/AE as suggested by many to be the best way to ensure broadcast safe it means (especially in PS) that my mattes are not totally right, as they wouldn’t be pure white or pure black and so the editor has a pain keying them.

Thoughts?

*AE 5.5 Pro – *PS CS1 – *Combustion 3
————————————-
Win XP Pro SP2 / Intel P4 3GHz / 2GB RAM / GeForce FX5200 / BMD DeckLink Pro / Sony BVM-20G1E / DVS SDI Clipstation

[Jimmy Brunger]

Ahhh…sorry Steve – of course! So does more RAM speed up RAM previews in the same way then? I was told not so long ago that previews was all Proc/GFX card intensive as far as speed is concerned and more RAM just equalled more frames to cache?

James – with regards to extra RAM neccessity – if you use other apps at the same time as AE then the extra RAM will come in handy there, as the 2GB limit only applys to each individual app. EG: if you have AE working it’s tail off using the full 2GB, then Photoshop for instance will have access to the other 2GB on your system, after the OS has taken it’s chunk.

I guess with the 3GB switch for AE you need to make a judgement based on the facts there are out there. I think quite a few people use it to no detriment, but there are some horror stories.

I am thinking of maxing out my RAM to 4GB, mainly cos Im jumping around apps so much it’d be good to have more open at once and giving AE a full 2GB (or 3) would help too. If it speeds up previews aswell then bring it!

Graphics cards – there should be a list on Adobe’s site, but I’ve got quite an old card and AE works ok with that. Guess it depends on your Open GL requirements.

*AE 5.5 Pro – *PS CS1 – *Combustion 3
————————————-
Win XP Pro SP2 / Intel P4 3GHz / 2GB RAM / GeForce FX5200 / BMD DeckLink Pro / Sony BVM-20G1E / DVS SDI Clipstation

[Jimmy Brunger]

I believe you can use the shatter effect to fairly good reults aswell – treats it like a proper 3D object for lights, etc. Can’t remember the details, but I found the tutorial on here somewhere..Have a look around and see if you can find it.

If I find the link I’ll post it here.

*AE 5.5 Pro – *PS CS1 – *Combustion 3
————————————-
Win XP Pro SP2 / Intel P4 3GHz / 2GB RAM / GeForce FX5200 / BMD DeckLink Pro / Sony BVM-20G1E / DVS SDI Clipstation

[Jimmy Brunger]

I believe you can use the shatter effect to fairly good reults aswell – treats it like a proper 3D object for lights, etc. Can’t remember the details, but I found the tutorial on here somewhere..Have a look around and see if you can find it.

If I find the link I’ll post it here.

*AE 5.5 Pro – *PS CS1 – *Combustion 3
————————————-
Win XP Pro SP2 / Intel P4 3GHz / 2GB RAM / GeForce FX5200 / BMD DeckLink Pro / Sony BVM-20G1E / DVS SDI Clipstation

[Jimmy Brunger]

AE natively will only use 2GB – as it is a 32bit app. You can switch something in the registry called the “3GB switch” to force it to use 3. Do a search on here for that and you’ll find how to do it. I think there might be something on the microsoft site about it too, but they don’t recommend it (to cover their @sses..)

Speed of preview/rendering I think is more to do with your processor/s and your GFX card (if using OpenGL to render) than RAM. From what I understand RAM only enables you to preview more of your project/have more info open at a time. Exactly what effect RAM has on speed when rendering I don’t know. Anyone?

I guess it can’t hurt to have more rather than less!

*AE 5.5 Pro – *PS CS1 – *Combustion 3
————————————-
Win XP Pro SP2 / Intel P4 3GHz / 2GB RAM / GeForce FX5200 / BMD DeckLink Pro / Sony BVM-20G1E / DVS SDI Clipstation