[Matt Callac]

[Steve Eisen] “Adobe’s manuals are also HTML”

And that’s exactly why I avoid the after effects help at all costs. I search the cow AE forum before i consult the HTLM manual…and it pays off. At least the AE forum search highlights my search words.
-mattyc

[Matt Callac]

I can understand not including paper manuals. The only use I’ve had for them is using them to prop up a clients broken laptop screen….but seriously…no PDFs…that sucks. HTML based help menu’s suck. PDF’s (in my opinion) are much more functional…. Looks like I’ll be extracting the PDF documents from my apps before I update.
-mattyc

[Matt Callac]

[david bogie] “All I wanted was everything that was broken to get fixed and every broken promise to be finally met.”

AMEN.

[Matt Callac]

[Neil Sadwelkar] “I also had to write a formula to change the duration to 3 sec less.”

Was this really necessary? Couldn’t you have deleted all the info in that column? If memory serves me FCP doesn’t need duration column for a batch list. In fact it only needs nam, reel, media start,& media end.
-mattyc

[Matt Callac]

It’s times like this I wish I were better with excel.
-mattyc

[Matt Callac]

I agree with Walter. I’d avoid editing in HDV and use ProRes. Also automatic duck is great. I use it almost daily. Also don’t forget to make your client quack like a duck once once you import the xml into AE.
-mattyc

[Matt Callac]

[Zane Barker] “especially when livetype has been perfectly built into motion for years now.”

NO…livefonts have been integrated. Live fonts and livetype are not the same thing. Live fonts are a part of livetype….. a part that i’ve only used maybe 3 times ever.

[Zane Barker] “There are no “technical solutions” to your “artistic problems”.
Don’t let technology get in the way of your creativity!”

I don’t think it’s too much to ask to be able to have a dollar sign smaller than the actual numbers behind it. It’s simple to do in AE and simple to do in Livetype. It’s a pain to do in motion.
-mattyc

[Matt Callac]

[Zane Barker] “I don’t know one professional editor that has even opened Live Type in well over a year,”

I’ve used livetype in every one of the 200 or so projects that I have done over the past year. It’s a great tool and over the past 5 years of using it…it’s crashed all of twice. It’s integration with final cut is top notch…and it’s incredibly easy to modify single characters in a text element.

Motion on the other hand has been a nightmare. It still crashes regularly….it’s inegration with Final cut has gotten better but could still use some work. About 1 out of 7 times i use motion i have to render the movie out of motion rather than use the “seamless integration” with final cut because of some render problem or layer shifting. All that aside….the #1 thing that keeps me from using Motioin for text is it’s virtually impossible to modify part of a text file without modifying the whole thing. If I want to make shift the baseline of one word in a text element…. it will shift the baseline of the whole element. And this isn’t an isolated incident for me. It’s been every version of Motion since V1 on 3 different machines.
-mattyc

[Matt Callac]

I’d talk to the post house and talk to them to find out the best way for you to deliver it to them.

I usually suggest 10-bit uncompressed quicktime when people bring me something to layoff. DV-makes graphics look terrible.
-mattyc

[Matt Callac]

I think the word shane is looking for is annoying… ease keyframes in FCP are annoying especially if you want scale movement to ease out and stop together.
-mattyc