NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2002

[Ken Tanaka]

John,
Yes, you can accomplish all of that with the standard suite of plug-ins and filters in AE. (I used the ripple effect recently to create the illusion of text under water; it worked extremely well.) If you're interested in taking it for a spin, I think Adobe offers a free trial download of the standard edition of AE.

In all fairness, FCP is no lightweight when it comes to compositing and effects. It's free Boris Graffitti-like filters rival and/or surpass AE's standard package in terms of text processing. But AE is still the king of the hill for special effects.

[Paul Sedillo]

Jeff,

Just finished loading it. Holy cow this thing is fast. I can live without the features of Explorer. Thanks for mentioning this nifty app.

QUESTION: How do you load the nitro boster pack? I am not a Mac person, so these things are all very new to me.

[Paul Sedillo]

Jeff,

I figured it out! One other question, do I have to run the script each time I start my Mac?

[Jeff Donald]

The script stays loaded until you change a preference. If the preference file is rewritten you need to run the script again. If there are others who have not figured out Terminal use this http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/17113 This may actually be a permanent patch for Chimera. I haven't checked into that yet.

Jeff

[Mike Butler]

Jeff,
Yep, using DV NTSC 48KHz and DV NTSC 48KHz Superwhite (the other choices wouldn't even seem like they'd work--like PAL or RT Offline, which I haven't tried).

Ken,
do you mean that you don't use many effects--or the ones you use are so high-end or unusual that they have to be rendered?

[Jeff Donald]

The other common error is not turning off view external video. It's under Audio/video settings>external>none. If that doesn't turn on RT effects then you need to reinstall FCP.

Jeff

[Ken Tanaka]

Well, probably like most others, the cross-dissolve is my staple effect. But I don't use the standard "real-time" cross-dissolve transition, favoring a 3rd party version that has a less linear curve. So, right off the bat, there goes one "real-time" opportunity. The standard fade-in/fade-out is my other staple. But beyond those I do not use many other video effects beyond occasional color correction.

[Mike Butler]

Yep Jeff, got the External Video-none thing covered---looks like it's re-install time...Yukk!

[Mike Butler]

OK Ken, I guess like everybody else I use the dissolve the most, but I use the standard native one in FCP. So now I understand why you don't use it if the aftermarket version is more custom...it used to be nice having the instant feedback of RT on the dissolves, though.

I don't know if I ever was able to get RT rendering of the color correction. I'd use that tool all the time if it did that, I love the results but hate the wait.

[Jeff Donald]

Here is the permanent patch plus adds features to Chimera. http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/17113

Jeff

[David Slingerland]

hello can anybody help me with converting a real stream i have downloaded, spaceshuttle launch, to quicktime so i can inport it into fcp?
FCP on it self does not recognize real (from realplayer) i tried it a bit with cleaner but it gave me a error on trying to convert...
thanks,

[Nathan Gifford]

If you can convert it to an AVI, then you can convert it QT. Two-step process, and likely to generate noise at each transcoding.

[Jeff Donald]

Real is a proprietary format and they license very few third party plug-ins. To my knowledge only the newly released Cleaner 6 http://www.discreet.com/index-nf.html can work with Real format media. You might want to look around Real's web site in the producers area to see if they offer any plug-ins etc.

Jeff

[Mike Finnerty]

Problem solved ?!?

I think that I've solved my problem. I tried burning on a Maxell disc and the results are fine.

Very strange . . . I had burned in the past on the Apple branded discs without any problems but since upgrading to Jaguar and performing the firmware upgrade the Apple branded discs that I burned could not play back properly in my set-top DVD player.

The Maxell disc worked, so I'll stick with those for a while. I haven't thrown out the bad discs yet...I'm going to try them elsewhere to see if they play back ok. So, maybe I'll still be able to salvage them.

[Ken Tanaka]

For those considering purchasing the new PowerBook here are some notes from my first few days with this beast. Note that my "comparison" is with my previous PowerBook G4-500, so diffrences from later models might not apply.

Cosmetic appearance: Identical. The case size and finish are identical to earlier models. During the past 1.5 years since the TiBooks were introduced there have been various reports of paint degradation problems. I never experienced such problems with my G4-500. But, at least to my eye, the paint appears to be identical to predecessors. The only real cosmetic difference is the typeface used for "PwerBook G4" under the screen.

Ports: Also identical to the G4-500. 2 USB, 1 Firewire, 1 SVGA, 1 audio-in, 1 ADC, 1 RJ45 (network) and 1 RJ11 (modem).

Airport (802.11b): Now included with and installed in this model. Halleluja. The signal range seems to be at least as wide, and perhaps a bit wider, than the G4-500.

Screen: Same size but a bit brighter and higher resolution than my G4-500. It's now absolutely perfect for video editing and for AfterEffects work.

Keyboard and Trackpad: Same (good) feeling as G4-500.

CD-RW/DVD-R Drive: This model now comes with a special model of Apple's "SuperDrive" which is identified by the system profiler as a "DVD-R UJ-815" made by Matshita. Integrating a CD/DVD burner into such a thin chassis was a real work of product engineering! The slot feed mechanism of this drive also feels a bit more reliable than that of my G4-500's CD/DVD drive. The new drive (really) grabs a disc after it's been 2/3rds inserted into the slot. The old drive's rollers pulled a disc, with some push-help, after perhaps a 1/3 insertion.

Hard Disk: This model ships with a 60Gb system disk. Although its rotational speed is only 4200rpm it's a dense 2-platter (I believe) drive and its read/write performance feels more akin to that of a 5400rpm drive. I had absolutely no trouble capturing DV clips to it (which I only did for test purposes). It has a very snappy feel.

Heat: Heat management was a problem with my G4-500 PB. The bottom plate could become hot enough to produce a mild burn on bare skin. Remarkably this 1GHz PB barely seems to get warm! The warmest spot I've detected is on the bottom where the hard drive is mounted. Clearly Apple has done some serious reengineering of their heat management system. I have noticed that the system's fan seems to stay on more often than off. But it's been very quiet. (I've read that it's actually a 2-stage or dual fan that can kick into overdrive if needed.)

Power and Battery: Unlike my PB G4-500, this unit ships with a very tiny, light DC power adapter/battery charger, the "block" of which can either be plugged directly into a wall outlet or connected to a special extension cable (included) when extra length is needed. The computer-end plug features a cool led which shows the battery's charge status. Battery life seems pretty good. I've managed to get 3.5 hrs from a charge without taking any heroic energy-saving measures.

General Performance: Excellent. Photoshop, Final Cut Pro 3 and AfterEffects 5.5 really do very, very well on this platform.

If you're considering asking Santa for one of these honeys but have additional questions I'll be glad to answer whatever I can.