Adobe, Photoshop (25.6.0), Why Is "Make Frames From Layers" Completely Out Of Whack?

 Adobe Photoshop 25.6.0 weirdness...

Adobe, what on earth are you thinking? I have stills, numbered 001 through 005. I use File / Script / Load Files into Stack.

I select my 5 pictures, click on Sort By Name, and OK.

Photoshop imports all 5 slides and stacks them in order, great. I now have 5 layers with 001 at top, and 005 at the bottom. So far so good.

001 being selected, I click on Create Frame Animation. The Timeline populates with 001 as the first image of the animation, OK.

Then I go to the Timeline hamburger menu, click and select Make Frames From Layers.

Photoshop populates the Timeline with 5 frames, except... they are in REVERSE ORDER! 👀😡 👿 005, 004, 003, 002, 001.

Why Adobe?

So then I have to add a step, select all the frames in the animation, click again on the hamburger and select Reverse Frames. Now it's in the correct order.

This behavior DOES NOT MAKE ANY SENSE. Why would we want to sequence images in reverse order as default? Seriously?

See for yourself.

How To Copy The Names From A Bunch Of Files In macOs Finder, And Copy Them Into Numbers

 In the Finder window, select all the files you want to copy, and Copy (Command + C.)

If you go to Numbers spreadsheet directly and try to Paste the content of the clipboard, it might work, or it might not work. Depending on the file, it will paste the content of the file instead of the names of the files, which is what we want.

For some reason it works with this list of pdfs:

But sometimes it does not work with other files, even pdfs. In other apps, we could use "Paste Special / Paste as Text" or something similar. No such function in Numbers - Hmm, hmm, hello Apple?

So we have to use a workaround with TexEdit:

Open Textedit, create a new document, then select Format / Make Plain Text. Paste the clipboard (Command+V) and the list of names appears.

Copy the list of names from the TexEdit document, and paste it into Numbers, this time it works! The list of names is being copied as text, as we intended.

Final Cut Pro Incorrect Timecode From Sony A1 On Import - Fix

 When importing media from some Sony Cameras, A1 point in case, the timecode is not recognized, all clips start at 00:00:00:00. NO GOOD!!

It appears that Final Cut Pro is expecting the card structure to contain a "PRIVATE" folder. If the Private folder is not present, FCP defaults all Timecode to zero. Dumb.

Here is the YT explanation and fix by Felipe Baez.

Example, this Sony card is structured with DCIM (photos) and M4ROOT (video) folders, the PRIVATE folder is missing:

As a result, FCP default all Clips Timecode to zero. In the list you can see that the Timecode for each clip starts at 00:00:00:00 No good!!!

After copying the content of the card onto my drives, I added a PRIVATE folder at the top of the arborescence and put the M4ROOT folder into it. It looks like this now, the M4RROT folder is inside a PRIVATE top folder:

Lo and behold, now FCP reads the Timecode properly! Whoa!

Note: you have to IMPORT the media. Drag and drop does not work, if you drag and drop media the Timecode is still not recognized no matter what.

Thumbs up to André Fernandez and Felipe Baez, for figuring this out.

Avid Media Composer | First (2)

 Media Composer is not likable, but is Media Composer First usable?

 It is slow to launch. Feels like Premiere on molasses.

 You have to be logged in with your Avid credentials.

The Welcome page opens with a huge advert, and Create Project or Open Project, with a Project Location button.

You cannot alter the Format from the Settings page, Raster dimensions and FR are greyed out.

You must first Go to Source Browser, Select Import, and a Project Properties window will pop up. 

 You can make the same Project Properties window pop up by linking to some media, and then dragging it into the Timeline.

 Available Rasters are HD 1080, HD 720 and SD. Available Edit Rates are 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, and 59.94fps.

 It has the familiar rigid, overcomplicated, over customizable UI. The same familiar cluttered workspace. Concepts and features as same old.

 I just imported my first media, dragged it to the Timeline, and... Media Composer already hangs! What a piece of garbage. Alright, force quit the fomo.

 Restarting the app, taking forever to launch. Open my project, OK things are still there. Playing the clip in the Timeline, interesting the Timecode indicator is not counting frames, it shows 01:00:09:-- 

 OK, whatever, performing a few edits, working fine.

 Now let's try to export. Output, Export to File.

ONLY AVAILABLE FORMAT: Quicktime. ONLY AVAILABLE CODECS: DNxHD (looks like crap),

or h264 (Faster, Best, or Better Quality) and THAT'S IT.

And ONLY AVAILABLE OPTION FOR AUDIO is PCM. Mono or Stereo.

DNxHD or h264 and that's it? HUGE limitation for export right there! I mean really? Avid?

I also read in the forums that THERE IS NO WAY to open MC First Projects in MC Regular. What?

OK, I have to pause right there, I'm not sure this software is worth exploring any further. 

Avid Media Composer | First (1)

 We love to hate Avid.

 Media Composer is great when you are working on a movie with a budget, and a decent post team. For anything else, I stay away. Outside of the cinema niche, the need for speed and the mixed media reality makes Media Composer a nonsensical choice. Media Composer is too slow and too temperamental for smaller projects that need to move at speed.

 You cannot throw any media at Media Composer. Example: link a 4K h264 mp4 file, drop it into a HD timeline and watch Media Composer fail and hang miserably! So you have to first convert heteroclite media to something Media Composer likes. Already you are losing momentum.

 If you are a film students working on your short film, by all means learn and use Media Composer. It's a great learning experience, you must understand formats and codecs, you have to think and prepare your media in advance, you can afford getting stuck and last minute surprises.

 Producers and directors working on your feature narrative or documentary with a decent budget and a normal schedule, please hire me to edit on Avid Media Composer. We will hire assistants and the staff needed to keep the Avid running smoothly.

 Everybody else, please stay away! Use Final Cut Pro, Premiere, or Resolve. Any of these NLEs run much more smoothly compared to Media Composer. Spend less money, less time editing, avoid daily aggravations, keep your hair and your sanity. Trust me.

 With that said, Avid needs new customers and is reviving the free version of Avid Media Composer First, version 2023, with limited features in the hopes to woo new users to the platform. Again, for most projects you will be better served with the aforementioned NLEs.

Go to Avid.com/media-composer and download Media Composer First

Sign-in, or Create an Account  if you don't yet have an account with Avid, it's free.

 Download the installer, it will install Avid Link as well. And then try Media Composer First for yourself.

 What's the experience like? My impressions and comments will follow in a series of posts. Read on!

Vimeo Is Yet Again Changing Its Offering (C) If You Are A Current "Plus" Subscriber

 If you are a current Vimeo "Plus" subscriber, your upgrade plans look like this: Pro, Business, Premium.

Pro gets you the grandfathered Pro plan (not available to new subscribers.) Business and Premium are the same upgrade offers as for Pro subscribers. At least that's consistent.

Again no mention of VOD or video subscription services, just a vague "Sell your videos to fans worldwide". For info, the grandfathered current Pro plan allows for VOD.

Vimeo Is Yet Again Changing Its Offering (B) If You Are A Current "Pro" Subscriber

 Vimeo has new plans with new names and new rules. Depending on your status, new or current subscriber, the offer differs, as does the nomenclature...

For you, current "Pro" subs, this is the current offer to upgrade: Business or Premium plans.

Business and Premium have no upload limits vs. 20GB with the grandfathered "Pro".

Total storage is 5TB for Business, 7TB for Premium, 1TB for Pro.

Premium gets live streaming / events goodies.

Pro, Business, Premium get unlimited stock photos, videos, and licensed music.

Notably, there is no mention of VOD or video subscription, just a vague "Sell your video directly to your fans". What form does this take? No idea.