[Zak Mussig]

We have 1 Intel Mac Pro and 3 G5 PowerMacs all running 5.1.x… no problems. John is right, Universal is for PPC and Intel. 5.1 is a good update to do, even on the PPC architecture.

Zak

[Zak Mussig]

I just did a quick test while I was thinking about it…

I dropped a Motion project file with alpha on V1 of a new sequence, and exported the sequence as Animation (millions + colors) without rendering it. Imported the resulting file, and it has an alpha channel. So there that is.

Zak

[Zak Mussig]

Jake,
Since you’re getting source material on DVD, I’m assuming there’s no copy protection put onto the disc. I had one of these come in last week…
I copied the VIDEO_TS folder to my hard drive, opened Compressor, dragged the video object files (.vob) into Compressor, and exported the files as QT .movs with a DV codec.

I used DV, but you could use any SD codec you like. I imagine that “full-quality” becomes a relative term once the original video has been compressed to MPEG 2, so you might try a test with a few codecs on the same clip. No use wasting drive space with a high-end codec if you aren’t gaining anything from it.

Depending how much footage you’re talking about, what your workflow looks like, and how you archive, you may want to take the time to dump the converted footage off to tape and capture the footage from that for the sake of having footage you could reliably recapture. I didn’t do this, but I was dealing with 20 minutes of what became DV footage, so it just got archived to DVD with the rest of the project.

Hope that helps,
Zak

[Zak Mussig]

I have heard, but not tested, that you can export with alpha from FCP so long as your sequence settings use a codec that supports it (animation) and you export without rendering your sequence. The reasoning I heard was that rendering the sequence would flatten your layer with alpha into the back background whereas exporting without rendering would maintain the alpha channel in your clip. Take that with a grain of salt, and good luck.

Walter’s comment about the matte is probably more sound.

Zak

[Zak Mussig]

No worries… I came back to check on the thread now that I’ve had a cup of coffee and was feeling more and more like a big huge jerk. Glad everything is straightened out. Thanks VenoAlex for clarification on the January thing… I couldn’t remember if was beginning of the new year or some time in November or December.

Zak

[Zak Mussig]

I think the big difference between 5 and 5.1 on the Mac Pro is that 5.1 will install and run… which can be huge. 5.0 is the PowerPC only release. 5.1 is the first universal version of FCP. You have to have 5.1 to use it on a Mac Pro. If you have FCS, it’s just a $50 or so “crossgrade” fee, and a bit of a wait to get replacement install discs from Apple. That’s only for a few more months though, so you should jump on it before it becomes a $250 or so upgrade.

Sorry you got the first pre-coffee post of Monday morning.
Zak

[Zak Mussig]

They’re fast. I have the Quad 3 GHz like Walter, but with 5 gigs of RAM. Everything is noticeably faster compared to the dual 2.5 GHz PowerMac this system replaced, even Photoshop. We don’t use After Effects here, so I can’t really speak to that, but Photoshop’s speed is just fine for me, even under Rosetta. I definitely don’t spend my day in Photoshop like a graphics person does, but it hasn’t at all been a weak link in work I need it for. I could see wanting to wait for CS3 and a Universal version of AE before moving an entire group of people who use PS and AE constantly over to Intel Macs, but I don’t think you’d take much of a hit by doing it now… especially if your G5s were older. Editing on my dual 2 GHz G5 at home drove me nuts after getting this thing. Just make sure any G5s you keep around are kept at the same FCP version number as the new systems, or you won’t be able to open projects from the newer systems should you have the need. I don’t think you’d be disappointed

Hope that helps a bit,
Zak

[Zak Mussig]

Mattyc has the right idea… just bring your Motion project into FCP, and drop it in your timeline. That will take care of you.

Since you mentioned that you’re doing this in a school environment, let me offer another option. My first job after school was working with high schoolers teach video production and FCP editing. Most of the students were working on eMacs, and trying to bring Motion files directly into FCP as suggested took FOREVER to render. Now I’m a full-time editor, but I’m still scarred by the eMac experience. Here’s what I do now…

Do your Motion project however you like (no template required). Export your project with the “Lossless+Alpha” setting, but change a few key settings. Click the options button. The Compressor should be Animation. Select the Output tab and uncheck the use current project and canvas settings box. Now you can uncheck the Premultiply alpha box. This will give you what is called a straight alpha channel, which incidentally is an option in the alpha channel column in FCP.

The alpha channel will be automatically recognized, but you’ll need to render since you’re presumably working in DV, and your graphic will be in the animation codec.

If you need to update your graphic just make your changes in Motion and re-export, replacing the old file. This isn’t ideal if you’re constantly making tons of changes, but is a workaround for long Motion render times in FCP.

Hope that helps,
Zak

[Zak Mussig]

Funny comment David… but I’d imagine FCP 6 and the Motion-based Shake replacement would probably have been out for months or years before my FOIA request even got processed.

I’ll check out the LAFCPUG website some time after the event and see what’s available.

Zak

[Zak Mussig]

Michael,

I live in St. Louis and as much as I love that events like this happen, I hate that they’re always seem to be on a coast. I’m wondering what the odds are that there will be a quicktime stream or download of this event some time after it happens. For what it’s worth, I’d gladly throw down $5 after the fact to watch a video of this event from my fly-over state home sweet home.

Thanks,
Zak