After Effects Layer disappears on Render or Pre-Compose

I was battling with this until I realized the Layer (Text Layer) had the option "Guide Layer" accidentally turned on. (Layer options are accessible with Right+Click.)


After I turned it off, the Layer rendered / Pre-Composed just fine.

How-to re-install FCPX

I updated to the new FCP in Apple App, but it did not do the update for some reason: FCP was still in the previous version, even though it showed that the new version had been installed in App Store.

Consequently, I was not able to upgrade again, so I had to... Re-install, following Apple guidelines.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5149

That took longer of course, but did the trick. Back to work.

Show Library Folder inside your User Folder - Mavericks MacOS 10.9...

For some reason the Library Folder inside your Home Folder is hidden by default... Go figure.  To show it again, double click your Home Folder (under "Users"), to open it into its own window.
From the Finder menu choose: "View", "Show View Options". There is a small tick box: "Show Library Folder". Check it, your done.

-- This option only shows when the Home Folder is open.

How-To Uninstall Adobe Creative Cloud Apps

My HD is getting crowded, too many versions of Adobe apps. 

Here is the proper way to uninstall applications according to Adobe:
https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/install-apps.html


Uninstall apps
You must uninstall the apps if you no longer need them. Do not drag the files and folders to the Trash or Recycle Bin.
Mac OS
Open Finder and go to/Applications/Utilities/Adobe Installers
Double-click an Adobe product to uninstall
Follow on-screen instructions


Windows
Open the Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features
Choose an app and click Uninstall/Change
Follow on-screen instructions

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.

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.

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