Tuesday, June 17, 2014

FCPX 10.3 Adjustment Layer below clip is de-activating Crossfade to Color

I added an Adjustment Layer below a series of clips - in order to adjust another series below it.

On the above series of clips, I had some clips with crossfades to Color (to white in this instance.)

Well the adjustment layer directly below the clips nullifies the crossfade to color, instead I get BLACK.

Not what I want.

Removing the adjustment layer below the clips containing crossfade to white re-establish the proper crossfade to color transition.


--- Update: This problem seems to have been fixed with FCP 10.3.1 update. It's now behaving as you would expect.



Thursday, June 5, 2014

FCPX and the trackless concept

I like the trackless Timeline in FCPX after all, for the most part.

Tracks still make a LOT of sense to me when organizing the timeline - It's visually immediate. All interviews on V1, all B-Roll on V2, all Texts on V3, GFX on V4, etc.

And it works just as well for audio: production tracks on 1&2, VO on 3, Music on 4&5 ...


Nodes are cool, the trackless Timeline of FCPX is cool, roles feel like they're gonna be cool. But trackless is not gonna work until it's really INTELLIGENT.

When I quickly slip a white background under a cropped still, note that the still has to be ABOVE the background, OK. That is even obvious to the Apple designers. There is some track layer intelligence built-in, the kind we are used to want.

Now if I COPY said background and paste it under a second cropped still... guess what.

It pastes ABOVE the still. It does not know it has to go UNDER. What the f*%$? It's a background.

With tracks my background always goes where it needs to: inside its own track, BELOW the stills track. That's currently a SUPERIOR behavior because it saves me time. I don't have to re-organize my layers constantly.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Sony XDCAM Transfer to FCP7

People are reporting problems with importing Sony's F5, F55 Mpeg2 into FCP7.

I installed the XDCAM HD Transfer app:
http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/micro-xdcam/resource.downloads.bbsccms-assets-micro-xdcam-downloads-PDZKP1XDCAMTransferSoftwareTC

In FCP7 I use: File/Import/Sony XDCAM

That opens the XDCAM Transfer app, from there you can point to your camera card, and the clips will load in the Transfer window. Select the clips you want to import and click Import button.

For me Log &Transfer does not work with Sony's XDCAM in FCP7. (FCP7.0.1 / 10.9.6 Snow Leopard.)

What's your experience?



---
For memo:

XDCAM FCP7 plug-in v1.2:
http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/micro-xdcam/resource.downloads.bbsccms-assets-micro-xdcam-downloads-PDZKLT1LogandTransferPlugInVersion12

Sony's XDCAM software page:
http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/micro-xdcam/resource.downloads.bbsccms-assets-micro-xdcam-downloads-XDCAMSoftwareDownload.shtml

---
For FCPX:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4724
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/pdzk-lt2

---
Current Sony Software:
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/download/software_for_sony_equipment

Avid Media Composer buy/rent/upgrade confusion 2014

This Avid new offering of Media Composer is confusing.

Oliver Peters mention in the below article the Annual Support renewal plan for v6.5 or above owners: 
http://digitalfilms.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/avid-media-composer-software-v8/

Current Media Composer owners (MC 6.5 or higher) can upgrade to MC 8 simply by purchasing a single year of support at $299 before the end of 2014. No matter how they got there (new purchase or renewal of an existing license) the software license is now on the current plan.


But on Avid Community it seems that all owners can upgrade (before end of 2014) under the plan: http://community.avid.com/forums/p/127296/728503.aspx
Q: Do I have to change the way I buy Avid software? Can I just continue to buy an upgrade when I need it?

A: If you have Media Composer but aren’t currently on an Avid Support plan, you should sign up for the yearly Avid Support renewal plan for $299 USD, which includes software upgrades/updates and support for one year from the date of purchase. That’s like paying for a single upgrade, but getting a whole year’s worth of updates and upgrades, plus a team of world-class support experts available when you need help. If you neglect to join the Avid Support plan in 2014 (or at the end of your support contract), you will have to purchase the product anew, or subscribe to a monthly or annual plan in order to continue to receive the latest features and support.

If you haven’t upgraded Media Composer recently (you own a release prior to Media Composer v6.5), you can effectively “upgrade” your license to v8 by purchasing an Avid Support renewal plan at $299 in 2014. This includes the Avid Support plan that provides software updates/upgrades and support for one year. At the end of that year, the software will continue to work, but to continue receiving new features and support, you will want to let the plan auto-renew yearly for $299 USD.


So it looks like you can buy the yearly Avid support plan no matter what version you own. But then you must continue to pay for the support indefinitely if you want to get upgrades in the future. --- Or am I missing something?

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

FCPX Missing Media

Today for the first time I got missing Media in FCPX. And with SD material at that, a first for me in FCPX.

Also the audio sample rate shows 6kHz instead of 48kHz. That's fucked-up.

---
Actually I'm not sure how to name this phenomenon, since I tried to Relink these missing files, and the Relink Window shows NOTHING selecting either "Missing" or "All".

I any case the clip is there in the Browser, it's there in the Timeline, but it's EMPTY.

There is no info except for Name/Start/End/Duration in the Browser nor in the Inspector. Everything else is empty, but the "container" is there.

---
Got nowhere trying to Relink, so I re-imported the Media, and that WORKED.
It "populated" the previously "empty" clip in both the Browser and the Timeline.

The info for the clip is back in the Browser and in the Inspector.

Incidentally that duplicated the clip, now present twice in the Browser. Still the "gone missing" clip shows incorrect SR at 6kHz, but the re-imported Media/Clip displays the correct SR. So I "Move to Trash" the old clip and now everything is back to normal.

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Note: I remember having the "Remove silent channels" option turned ON in the Import windows, there might be a bug with this. I made sure to turn it OFF before re-importing.

---
Note2: After re-importing, my audio was still EMPTY - I had several tracks of audio in the clips, but they were all turned OFF except for one.

I had to turn a second track ON and OFF again in the Inspector in order for FCPX to have the audio come back in my single track in the Clip and the Timeline.

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Have you ever experienced something similar?