Michael Hancock
Forum Replies Created
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You can customize your export options to all sorts of different thing–hit the Options button when your Export dialog box pops up (the box that lets you choose where to save your Export to). I don’t know that MPEG-2 is available anymore, though. That’s why Sorenson is now included whenever you buy Avid software (unless you bought the Academic version–no third party programs with that).
Regarding Quicktime Reference–no degradation of quality at all. In fact, it’s probably the most pristine export you can do since it’s just a reference to your actual media on your drives. That’s why it’s only a few kilobytes in size. You take the Quicktime Reference to Sorenson, Procoder, Cleaner, or another compression program to do more conversions (like MPEG-2) with better quality.
If you’re looking for a Compressor type program like FCP has–Avid doesn’t have one. I guess Sorenson Squeeze, but even that’s not integrated like Compressor. Remember, Avid is an editing app first and that’s where their focus lies. They provide additonal programs for your other stuff (compression, titling, etc…) but it’s an editor first and foremost.
Michael.
PS. You can make as many export settings as you want and save them under any name you want. Just go to your Settings Tab in your Project window, choose the Hamburger menu to Show All Settings, select an export setting, hit Ctrl+D to duplicate it, double click it to open it up, then change the parameters to whatever you want!
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I have no idea why it isn’t working. I just opened Xpress Pro v5.2 here and have the motion effect button in my source monitor as well, so I loaded some footage and hit it. Up popped a little box where I could set the speed, the blending interpolation, or choose the Fit to Fill option. It should be working.
About the last thing I can suggest would be new user settings. Just create a brand new user, open a project, and see if it works then. User settings do become corrupted sometimes and weird things happen–this may be one of them. If a new user setting fixes it then remap your keyboard, layout your workspaces, etc…and save a copy in case they’re corrupted again. Otherwise, a reinstall may be worth trying. Uninstall the Avid software and reinstall it to see if it fixes the problem.
As far as applying an effect then editing the parameters–in Xpress Pro you can’t. I applied a basic Speed Ramp timewarp effect to a clip in the timeline then tried to open the Motion Effect editor–it doesn’t do anything here either! I’m wondering if it’s just something that was left by accident from the Media Composer code (since Xpress Pro is simply a limited version of Media Composer). Weird. It wouldn’t even do anything when I just hit the Motion Effect button in the timeline without having applied a motion effect to my clip–I figured it would have at least let me set the speed of the clip. I guess not, though. It does work from the source monitor, though.
Good luck. Let us know if you get it working. If I come across another possible solution I’ll be sure to post it.
Michael.
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Under your Clip menu make sure Render on the Fly is checked.
Michael.
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If you’re a one man band or a small shop that has the storage space (or is working on smaller, shorter projects) and you’re going to online everything from the start then Avid may not be the best choice. Especially if you want a suite or products all from one company (like the integration of the Adobe Creative Suite or Final Cut Studio). I rarely offline anything because everything I cut now is shortform so I can afford to cut in an online resolution (say uncompressed for everything). However, I prefer the speed of editing on an Avid. It’s much more rigid than FCP or Premiere as far as moving clips around the timeline and all, but it’s what I prefer, and for any effects I go to After Effects, Photoshop, or Illustrator, so I don’t need an all in one package. The editor is most important to me, and Avid’s editing system is the best I’ve used as far as speed and ease of cutting.
If you’re working or are going to work with an offline/online workflow Avid really can’t be beat. It has the best media management in the business so you don’t have to worry about bringing your final cut back at an online resolution. Apple’s media manager is often lovingly referred to as Media Mangler because it struggles to work properly without being very, very careful and really understanding what it’s doing. Even then, it butchers stuff. Avid, on the other hand, is almost idiot proof. Decompose, recapture, batch import and you’re back online. I personally think that’s one reason Avid is still used so much. It’s a tried and true workflow that have been proven to work over and over and over. It’s reliable. The software is less reliable now than when it was all hardware based, but I still find it very rock solid (you’ll hear others disagree, I’m sure).
As you learn more about Avid and get deeper into the program I think you’ll start to appreciate it more, especially as you memorize and customize your keyboard/interface to work best for you. However, if you learned and have been cutting with FCP or Premiere for a while you may never like Avid. I’ve found that most people like the first NLE they used the best, and I think it’s because they probably spent the most time with it and it’s the most comfortable for them. It’s like a movie–if you see the original first, the remake is never as good.
Another reason Avid is used so much is because it just keeps working. A lot of shops are still running old Media Composers on G3s and G4s. At my last job I was using an Xpress Meridien that was discontinued and had been for a few years–couldn’t update the software, the hardware, or the OS, but it was a workhorse and produced just as much as our newer XPress Pro and Media Composer. If your system still works, there’s no reason to switch unless you just want the latest toy or have to move on to work with a new format. And if you’re offlining on an Avid, it’s easy to online in a newer Avid than learn an all new edit system to online/offline with.
Those are my immediate thoughts. I’m sure others will chime in with their reasons why Avid is still used and why it’s worth learning. Honestly, learn as many NLEs and other programs as you can. It’ll only make you a better editor and make you more marketable.
Michael.
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A precompute is a title or imported graphic/video with an alpha. Basically, it’s a render file. You can’t put a speed effect directly onto a precomputer, and the workaround is kind of a nuisance.
Regarding a motion effect to an actual clip–are you just hitting the motion effect button on your timeline, or are you actually applying a motion effect from the effects palette?
Unfortunately, Xpress Pro doesn’t let you keyframe a motion effect, so it’s hard to get exactly the speed you want and speed ramps are all but impossible. If you go to your effects palette you’ll find several motion effect options, or you can do a Fit to Fill of your source clip to your timeline. Then, when you hit the motion effect button on your timeline toolbar your motion effect editor will open up.
Does that make sense? If you have a motion effect button available on your source monitor toolbar (you can map it if you don’t) it should open up a box where you can set the speed percentage when it gets cut into the timeline. Have you tried this, and it’s not working?
Michael.
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Avid has a physical USB dongle that holds all the license information and blesses your system to run. You can install your Xpress Pro software on 10,000 PCs and Macs, but only the system with the dongle attached will run Avid.
Installing multiple copies of Avid on several computers on a network won’t mess anything up. You’ll just need to take the dongle to the machine you want to use, plug it in, open Avid, edit!
Michael
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Actually, what you’re doing is about as good as it gets.
Avid FreeDV doesn’t talk to any other version of Avid. You can’t share projects between FreeDV and Xpress Pro, and you can’t share their media. Exporting a self-contained quicktime or .avi then reimporting is your best bet. You might have faster import times if you export in an Avid codec, but I’m not sure. Avid FreeDV may not have fast imports–gives you incentive to buy Xpress Pro.
If your Master Control system won’t be using Xpress Pro when you’re using it you can install Xpress Pro on your system, transfer the media and project file, then borrow the dongle. Plug it in, open Avid, edit, take it back to Master Control when they need it. Otherwise, you’ll have to keep exporting and importing.
Michael.
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Where are your OMF and MXF files stored? All of the OMF files need to be in your OMFI MediaFiles folder in the root of your media drive. For example, if your media drive is M:\ then your OMF files need to be in M:\OMFI MediaFiles. And OMFI MediaFiles needs to be spelled exactly like that spaced exactly like there, down to the capitalization of certain letters.
Your MXF media goes in a different folder, and I don’t have an Avid in front of me. From memory it’s something like M:\MediaFiles\MXF\1 or another numbered subfolder. If you have other projects online you’ll see where the MXF media goes.
If these files are already where they belong then delete your database files in the OMFI MediaFiles folder and all of the MXF numbered subfolders. When you relaunch Avid it will rebuild the databases and relink the media.
Let us know if this helps.
Michael.
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Have you unlinked the clips, then tried to Modify them? If they’re still linked to media I don’t believe you can’t change the video or audio settings via Modify. Hold Shift+Alt+Ctrl (I think) and go to the Clip or Bin menu and where it normally says Relink it should now say Unlink. You can unlink them, modify to capture A2, then batch capture.
Michael.
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Do as MichaelP suggested. Take an external drive formatted to NTFS (for Windows), copy your media to it, then hook it up to your Mac. You won’t be able to write to it, but you can copy your media from it (you can read from it). Transfer the media from the NTFS drive to your Mac drives and edit away.
Michael.