Does someone know if Apple Motion has the equivalent of After Effects "Guide Layer"?

A convenient way to build your graphics or animation is to bring a temp background layer in your timeline. Of course you don't want to render the background with the graphics, After Effects has a very convenient "stamping": right-click on your layer, select Guide Layer = the layer won't be rendered in the output.
I can't find something similar in Apple Motion and I spend my time turning the layer on and off. If someone has a solution, please let me know!

Need to update Sony AMA Plug-in for Media Composer 8.6.3

The joy of tracking software across multiple manufacturers websites to keep your editing station going. Today: Avid Media Composer 8.6.3.

Dang!

- How to check installed plug-ins in MC:
Project window / Info

This is what I have:

AMA Plugin Info:

 MediaCollector MVP Plug-InAvid Technology, Inc. 2.1.1.3415

 AS-11 Plug-In Avid Technology, Inc. 1.5.0.3431

 AVCHD MSP Plug-In Avid Technology, Inc. 1.3.9.3435

 Avid MXF MSP Plug-In Avid Technology, Inc. 2.1.1.3414

 MSP_MXF Plug-In Avid Technology, Inc. 1.15.5.3452

 WaveAiff Plug-In Avid Technology, Inc. 1.4.1.3414

 AVCHD MVP Plug-In Avid Technology, Inc. 1.3.9.3435

 AS-02 Plug-In Avid Technology, Inc. 1.6.0.3452

 Avid Image Sequencer Plug-In Avid Technology, Inc. 1.2.1.3414

 QuickTime Plug-In Avid Technology, Inc. 1.6.7.3444

 MVP_CanonXF64 CANON INC. 2.0

 RED R3D Plug-In (R3DSDK v4.6) Avid Technology, Inc. 1.11.0.6745

 MVP_MSP_SonyXDCAMEX_64bit Sony Corporation 1.9001

 SonyXDCAM_64bit Sony Corporation 3.4000.0.381

So these two underlined Sony XDCAM 64bit have to go.

- AMA Plug-ins folder location (on Mac OS X 101.10.5 Yosemite):
Boot HD/Library/Application Support/Avid/AVX2_Plug-ins/AMA

Actual folder content. Two Sony XDCAM Plug-ins in there. Bye now.

Avid AMA Support Page:

http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/Download/en394827

Avid AMA Plug-ins Compatibility Chart:
http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/compatibility/Media-Composer-AMA-Plugin-Compatibility-Chart

Sony Software Download page:
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/download/software_for_sony_equipment

Sony XAVC / XDCAM AMA Plug-in Download Page - Version 3.51 is the one for MC 8.6:
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/download/pdzk-ma2

Now installed, and showing the proper version in MC:

MVP_MSP_SonyXDCAMEX_64bit Sony Corporation 1.9300

SonyXDCAM_64bit Sony Corporation 3.5100.0.398

FCPX nothing happens when trying to import ProRes from Sony FS7 XDCA - XDROOT

Odd behavior from FCPX when trying to import ProRes footage from the FS7 / XDCA recorder.
The XDROOT folder structure is intact. It has been copied from the Sony card to HD. The card has been freshly formatted, there is no other footage on the card.
FCPX just hangs (nothing happens - rolling ball) when looking at the folder from Import window.
On the other hand, directly drag and drop the .mov file from the XDROOT/Clip works just fine.
Any ideas?

Using Import from FCPX... Stuck there, nothing happens.

Drop & dragging the .mov file works fine though.

Note: Premiere sees the file inside the XDROOT, so does Resolve.

Error 503 from App Store

Today I get an Error 503 from the App Store, and I cannot update. Hmmm...

Update: Looks like the update went through, even though the message kept popping several times. Back to work.

Premiere vs. FCPX - Part 4

When there are lots of media files inside a folder (I have folders with 800 files in them) Premiere does not load all media and skips files (randomly? I can't tell...) That's NOT GOOD! How am I supposed to track what's been ingested, and of what's not???

I talked to the DP and he was referring to a particular shot that I had not seen in my bins. Bizarre, I had to go back to the drive to look at the original media, and bingo! The shot was there and it had not been imported! I had to go through all my import bins, and I found out a bunch of files that were missing, I had to re-import them one by one. Adobe you MUST FIX this!

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Now, what?  I needed to use my media drive onto another machine, when I came back to continue editing in Premiere it lost track of some files... Why is that?  It's the same drive, same folders, same folder structure. How is that possible? Got the relink window open waiting for me to point at media files... Forget this.

OK so after I closed everything and restarted and launched Premiere and opened the project again, the third time Premiere started finding the missing media by itself, good.  Now it's recreating waveform and all this crap, so I got to wait.   All right, the cut is back, at least nothing is missing.

Export XML in FCPX stalls / seems to freeze

Quick note re. Export XML in FCPX: it can take a while!

Sometimes one can feel that it's frozen and that something is wrong, but it just needs some time to complete.

As an example I have this 4min. cut that took over 5min. to export to XML.  That's a long time!

At first I thought something was wrong because the Export bar was stuck at 25% and FCPX icon was bouncing from the Dock.

Stuck there for 5min.

But after patiently waiting for 5min. it went through. I suppose the more complex your Project, the longer it takes to complete.

How to reveal dupe material in FCPX?

Gosh I find myself in need of making sure I'm not using the same material twice in a cut.  I'm cutting this project in FCPX, and darn it! I can't figure a way to do it!

There is Dupe Detection in Avid, Show Duplicate Frames in FCP7, Show Duplicate Frame Markers in Premiere, where is dupe detection in FCPX???

Nowhere! Ooh!... Lament.

More FCPX Auditions weirdness...

All right so I've detailed some of my griefs working with Auditions in FCPX, now I'm back at it with another project, and I'm having MORE problems.

So I've created a bunch of Auditions from yet another giant VO file, and all the 28 or so Auditions clips are properly timed inside a Secondary Timeline.

So far so good. Now I want to Overwrite to Primary Storyline, so first I have to Lift from Storyline, fine that works, and then select all the 28 Auditions clips and Overwrite to Primary Storyline... It does NOT work.  Only 6 out of 28 Auditions do Overwrite. Why is that?

If I select one of these Auditions, Overwrite to Primary Storyline is GREYED OUT.  Why?  It;s not the number of clips inside the Audition, there are 3 or 4 clips in the Auditions that "work" and the ones that do not. It's not the length. WHAT IS IT?

Oh well, I guess I will keep Auditions in a Secondary Storyline.

I cannot download any attachment with Gmail (Part 2)

This problem is driving me nuts!  I wrote about it previously.

Not only do I have to systematically save to Google Drive, now it sometimes DOES NOT EVEN SAVE to Google Drive.

Gmail shows that the document is in the Google Drive, but when I go there NOTHING!  Restarting Safari doesn't do anything.

I found a temporary workaround though: Right-click on the attached document / Copy link, then open the Safari Show Downloads window and Paste. Presto the download starts.

Puff... It's MADDENING that I have to go through this crap to download a simple attachment.

I cannot download any attachment with Gmail (Part 1)

What the heck is going on?  I've been having on and off problems with downloading attachments from gmail recently.  It sometime works, sometimes not.

Now it looks like the download button stopped functioning altogether.  It does't work with the Download button on the attachment as part of the message, it does't work with the download button after opening the attached document by clicking on it.

I can Add to Google Drive and then download from there, but that's a waste of time.

Ideas?

I'm on Mac Yosemite 10.10.5, Safari 10.0


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UPDATE!  I found the answer and culprit(s): freaking Safari Plug-ins! 
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UPDATE!  NOPE! - I thought that was the problem, but it is NOT.  I CAN'T download any attachment. Read on if you want, but that stuff below didn't fix the problem.

Go to: Safari / Preferences / Security

There is a box for Internet plug-ins, I turned OFF "Allow Plug-ins", and bam! I can download attachments just fine.

 When "Allow Plug-ins is checked, one can click onto Plug-in Settings and you get to see what's there, what's allowed to run or not, and make changes.

But darn it! With 8 Plug-ins installed already and hundreds of websites, forget it!  I'm not tweaking these by hand. I think I'll simply delete them all and re-install with an eye on it.
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To remove Safari plug-ins: Go to 

• /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/
• ~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH19241?locale=en_US&viewlocale=en_US

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Interesting info from Safari help:


Allow Plug-ins

Let Safari show plug-in content on websites.

Websites use plug-ins for pictures, music, video, animation, interactive features, and other enhancements. Some plug-ins track your browsing history.

Click Plug-in Settings to see which plug-ins are installed, disable or enable plug-ins, see which websites you visited use each plug-in, and set blocking policies for plug-in use.

To disable or enable an installed plug-in, deselect or select the checkbox to the left of the plug-in name.

To set a blocking policy for a visited website that uses a plug-in, select the plug-in on the left, select the website on the right, then click its pop-up menu and choose a policy:

• Ask: When you visit the website, Safari displays a placeholder instead of the plug-in content. You can click the placeholder to allow the website to use the plug-in.
• Off: When you visit the website, Safari will first attempt to load content without using a plug-in. If a site still requires a plug-in, Safari displays a placeholder instead of the plug-in content.
• On: Safari lets the website use the plug-in, unless it’s blocked by macOS File Quarantine. For more information, see the Apple Support article About the "Are you sure you want to open it?" alert.
• Enable Security Protection: Safari prevents the website from using the plug-in if it’s blocked by macOS File Quarantine. To run the plug-in, hold down the Option key, click the plug-in’s pop-up menu, and deselect Enable Security Protection. Deselecting Enable Security Protection may present a security risk, so choose this option only for a website you trust.
• Run in Safe Mode: Safari lets the website use the plug-in but runs malware checks. To run the plug-in outside of Safe Mode, hold down the Option key, click the plug-in’s pop-up menu, and deselect Run in Safe Mode. Deselecting Run in Safe Mode may present a security risk, so choose this option only for a website you trust.

To set the blocking policy for other websites that use a plug-in, select the plug-in on the left, then click the “When visiting other websites” pop-up menu and choose an option described above.

Premiere vs. FCPX - Part 3

Premiere is very sluggish on this short film, granted I'm not using the proxy workflow, and I have a lot of disparate materials. And some large stills.

FCPX seems to degrade the playback on the fly in such case, but never gets stuck the way PP does. I'm set at 1/2 playback by the way, and sometimes a few seconds pass without anything happening on screen, then it catches-up all of a sudden, and I've missed everything in-between.  All audio goes bonkers as well, it degrades to the point of unbearable noise being introduced. Solution? Stop, and play again.

I like a lot the fact that FCPX always keeps the timing right, no stuttering, only in rare occasions, and the image is never degraded to the point that Premiere degrades it if you playback at 1/4 for ex. That's very, very comfortable. Premiere (and After Effects) still lack on this point.

Even at 1/4, PP is not reacting fast enough to show you images of each clip if you hold the up or down arrow to navigate the timeline. FCPX does, it does not skip clips randomly the way PP does.

Man I HATE this zooming feature of Premiere, and I keep hitting Shift+Z to make my cut fit the Timeline. What is the shortcut to do that in Premiere? Ah! It's "\", well I am remapping this to "Shift+Z" in PP Keyboard Shortcuts. There, and "\" now goes for Zoom to frame.

Grrr, while I'm at it, I am also remapping Add Edit and Add Edit to All Tracks to "Command+B" and "Shift Command+B", instead of "Command+K".