Michael Hancock
Forum Replies Created
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Avid’s had a 99 title per bin limit for a while–since a 1.something release. I found this out when I was doing a corporate video for a hospital that was very, very graphic heavy. After 99 titles Avid told me I couldn’t save another title to the bin–did it not give you the same warning?
If I remember right, it told me I couldn’t and I had to open/make/choose a new bin to save the title.
Michael.
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Map Fast Forward and Rewind to your A and S keys (the default Go to Next Edit and Previous Edit) to avoid entering trim mode when you do Go to Next Edit/Previous Edit.
You can map zoom in and zoom out to your Up and Down arrows–I think it’s a menu command, More Detail and Less Detail. It’s either a menu command or a button. Search around the interface–it’s there and it can be done, I’m just not in front of a system right now to check for you.
Mike.
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Are you running at ATI graphics card? If so, that’s probably your problem–Avid plays nice with nVidia, and that’s about it (on the PC side).
If you are running nVidia, which graphics card are you running and what driver version is installed for that card?
Michael.
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The last few releases of Avid have been buggy–5.5 to 5.6.x on Xpress Pro, and 2.5-2.6.x on Media Composer especially.
However, 5.7 and 2.7 both seem much more stable. 5.7 especially is a lot more responsive, has less errors (actually, I don’t think we’ve had errors since we went to 5.7), and overall feels like a good, solid release.
Grinner does have an opinion of dissent sometimes, but he’s also been there and done that. Much of what I learned on Avid I’ve learned by searching this forum and reading his posts. While I disagree with some of his opinions, I also respect them because the man knows his stuff and he helps first, then tears Avid apart.
Avid needs that, just like Apple needs it, Adobe needs it, we all need it. Help me fix my current problem, then remind me what else is wrong so the product gets better in the future.
My 2 cents.
Michael.
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The beauty of Avid is that you don’t have to save in and “earlier” version. It’s almost completely backwards compatible. If you have effects or new functions in a new version of Avid that aren’t available on an older version those functions will be missing, you’ll still be able to work.
The best way to take your project from 5.7 to 5.5 is to make a new project in 5.5 under the same name as your 5.7 project, then bring only the bins and media over. It will relink, it will work exactly as 5.7, and when you’re done you can take it back to 5.7 if you want.
We have a MC Adrenaline version 2.6.3 (soon to be upgraded to 2.7), and Xpress Pro 5.7, and an ancient Xpress Meridien 6.1. The Meridien is very different from the MC and newer Xpress Pro, but we take media and bins back and forth without problems. The catch is that the Xpress Pro won’t play all the resolutions of MC, the Xpress Meridien won’t play all the resolutions of Xpress Pro and MC, and it won’t deal with MXF files. But as long as we transcode to the right resolution (or work in the right resolution from the start) and work with OMF media, there are no problems at all. It’s nice.
Good luck! Taking projects from 5.7 to 5.5 will be a cakewalk.
Michael.
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It will keep the render, but because Avid renders from the Top on Down, it will recognize the render only for the video that’s underneath it. If you paste it over video that’s even 1 frame different you’ll have to rerender.
Mixing down will destroy the alpha, so that won’t work.
What resolution are you working at? Depending on your system, you should be able to play at least 1 alpha stream in realtime. If you have multiple effects you’ll have to either render those, or render your animated bug. If you’re on an Xpress system and you’re working in 1:1 you’ll have to render regardless, because it will allow only 1 stream of 1:1, and an animated alpha is 2 streams (1:1 for the matte, 1:1 for the fill). Your best bet is to lay it over and over, then set it to render at night.
Good luck!
Michael.
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Go to your Media Creation settings, check that Filter Based on Resolution is Unchecked. This should let you see your USB drives. You can also go to File–>Mount All. This should mount your USB drives and let Avid recognize them.
Also, go to the drive this media is on and delete the database and index files. When you restart Avid it will notice they’re missing and rescan the drive, rebuilding the databases and relinking your media.
Good luck.
Michael.
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If you have Norton running, the first thing I’d try is to completely uninstall it. Disconnect your computer from the internet, completely unintall Norton, then try to output again. You may still have problems, but Norton is notorious on Avid systems for causing problems. That’s where I’d start.
Michael.
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To create a 16bit comp–go to File–>Project Settings (on a PC the shortcut is Alt+Shift+Ctrl+K). A box will pop up where you can change your bit settings–I know on AE7.0 you can choose from 8, 16, and 32. 16 should be fine for what you’re doing. Hope this helps you! Also, don’t forget to set your Render Settings for 16 bit as well.
Michael.
PS. Note, I believe there are some effects that are only 8 bit. Rendering these in 16 bit won’t make them 16 bit, but 16 bit will take advantage of 16 bit effects. There’s probably a list in the AE help file that lists all 16 bit effects.
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I love it and prefer it over every NLE I’ve every used that didn’t have modes–and Avid’s the only one that seems to!
Why I like it: when I’m editing, I can click anywhere in the timeline to move around. I’m not limited to grabbing a little arrow on the playbar, or lmited to a little playbar track. If I want to move down to an audio cut 3 minutes into my timeline I just click right on the audio clip I want to hear. In Premiere or FCP or Edius–you click on the clip, you might move it. Maybe only a frame or two, maybe a lot more, but you grab that clip and start moving it whether you want to or not. That can screw up a timeline really fast.
I agree with Jon, too. If you set your workspaces up right and find your groove it can be much more productive (at least for me) to jump in and out of modes rather than having access to everything all at one. When I’m in Trim mode, it’s because I am going to trim. That’s it. I don’t want to accidentally trim a cilp when I’m trying to set an In point, and Avid gives me the control I need so that doesn’t happen.
Michael