[Marc Stowe]

I really tried about everything I could including reasoning with the Adobe rep but it just seems to boil down to the fact that there is no current solution for making markers work with merged clips. Some folks were suggesting using something like Pluraleyes to sync things up. My understanding is that this creates a new clip that includes the synced audio and behaves properly with Premiere’s markers.

iMac Intel Core 2 Duo 2.16 2GB

[Marc Stowe]

I have had exactly the same problem you describe. Duplicate markers in merged clips and loss of marker data. I spent about an hour speaking to an Adobe customer support representative and after we did a screen share, updated CUDA drivers and all sorts of other, seemingly unrelated hurdle jumping, he told me that markers are not supported within merged clips. This revelation did not come at the onset of our conversation but at the end, just as he was about to escalate the case. My sense is that the marker system is on the half-baked side or, since merged clips were a somewhat recent addition, somehow fundamentally incompatible with merged clips, thus requiring a significant rewrite of the software.

I explained as firmly as I could that using markers within merged clips represents, what I consider, a very typical work flow. The rep tried to explain that I could add markers to clips prior to merging them. I told him this wasn’t sufficient and he then said I was free to post a feature request to the Adobe site.

So, in short and according to Adobe themselves, markers don’t work with merged clips. That leaves me searching for an alternative workflow when editing interviews shot dual system.

iMac Intel Core 2 Duo 2.16 2GB

[Marc Stowe]

Thanks for the confirmation. In terms of actual application I believe I understand it is best to render out a straight alpha channel and you must also use a file format that supports alpha channels. The thing I read in C4D manual that is confusing me now pertains to the use of the Background object. It maintains such objects will block the alpha channel. Is it a terrible imposition to ask anyone for a simple scene, perhaps just a cube with a cast shadow that is set up to generate an alpha channel for import into FC so I can look at the render settings? It would really make my week! Thanks for the help so far.

[Marc Stowe]

Can you get a drop shadow for the object you render in C4D to affect the background plate in FC? Say I render a space ship and wish to composite it into footage of a cornfield, to make the shot believable my ship needs to cast a shadow on the ground. Is it possible to do this with material rendered in C4D or am I going to have to paint my own shadow? Thanks for any help.