Friday, August 29, 2008

Migrating After Effects Between Macs

Chris Meyer | 08/29- 07:59 AM

It’s not just a matter of copying files from one computer to another…

With the recent announcement by Adobe that After Effects CS4 will not run on PowerPC-based Macs, some users are thinking about upgrading their hardware. With new hardware comes the question about how to get all of your software moved over. In the old days, you might consider just dragging folders from one drive to another. Sadly, that often doesn’t work anymore.

In the case of After Effects CS3, if you are moving it to a new computer, make sure you first run the program on your old computer, and under the Help menu select Deauthorize. If you don’t do this, you’ll lose an install of the program (you only get two per serial number). Additionally, you might want to bring your preferences along, so that you don’t lose your custom render settings and output modules, workspaces, and the such. These preference files can be found in Users > (your user name) > Library > Preferences > Adobe > After Effects > 8.0. If the folder is too large, you can empty the cache folders; they will be rebuilt if you need them.

By the way, when it comes time to upgrade to CS4 - and we don’t yet know when that will be; Adobe hasn’t announced a release date yet - if you want to remove CS3 from your computer, you will not only want to deauthorize your old serial number should you want to move the install to another computer, you will also need to deinstall AE CS3; you can’t just drag its folder to the trash. You will find the deinstaller in Applications > Utilities > Adobe Installers. However, it’s always a good idea to keep the most recent version around along with the new version, especially since clients who want project files may not have updated as quickly as you have.

Then comes the plug-ins. When quizzed on the matter, major plug-in distributors Toolfarm and Red Giant Software both noted that it is better to reinstall than to drag. Sean Safreed from Red Giant elaborated: “Our plug-ins on Mac require our installer because some are still installed in ~/Applications/Adobe After Effects CS3/Plug-ins and others are placed in the Mediacore folder in the Library to be shared for use with Premiere Pro. The plug-in also can have accessory files like the 3D Stroke presets that live next to the plug-in. Also, our licensing file lives in the Preferences directory on the Mac.” As a result, Sean says “would recommend against drag-installing since this means getting a lot of components put in the right place for everything to work correctly.” Michelle Yamazaki of Toolfarm concurs: “We usually recommend re-installing over just dragging, even though it’s a big pain. That way you make sure the presets and all that are there.” However, she notes that any plug-in set that installs “just by dragging, as opposed to using an installer, of course, will work.”

Of course, some prefer to laugh (or at least giggle) at danger, cloning their hard drives (a popular application for this is SuperDuper). Test each program and plug-in set after copying, see what doesn’t work, then reinstall just the problem applications and effects. It’s up to you decide which is a bigger potential time soak.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

AJA Io HD drivers updated

Adam Wilt | 08/20- 07:24 PM

Important fixes and enhancements in the version 6.0 driver

AJA has released version 6.0 drivers for the Io HD, AJA’s external video I/O box and format converter connected using FireWire800.

Version 6.0 adds a bunch of new features:

• Support for true progressive (in addition to PsF) 1080p capture and playback.
• Support for 720p/23.98 and 525i/23.98.
• Stand-alone mode for format conversion with no Mac attached.
• “Plug and Play” on FireWire without needing to reboot the computer.
• Simultaneous component and composite outputs.
• Audio delay controls for better A/V sync.
• Io HD’s LCD can be set to show timecode instead of secondary format.
• Better active output format listings in Io-using applications.

It also fixes a long-standing bug with frame-level metadata in ProRes422 captures: Io HD-captured ProRes now shows up as 10-bit video in Shake (and other apps that look at frame-level metadata), whereas before Shake saw the video as only being 8-bit. (The Io HD’s ProRes has always been 10-bit, but it didn’t look that way to Shake without an intermediate render in FCP.)

I had discovered the 8/10-bit issue back before NAB, and bothered the daylights out of AJA’s long-suffering support folks about it (with a tip of the hat to the unfailingly responsive and polite Rudy Van Kol), so the first thing I did when I saw the V6 driver was download it and test it. I can’t yet vouch for everything on the feature list, but I was able to install the software and upgrade the Io HD’s firmware just now without any problems, and I have verified the 10-bit metadata fix in Shake.

Huzzah, therefore, for AJA and version 6.0 Io HD drivers!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Accessorizing RED ONE

Adam Wilt | 08/12- 11:39 PM

It takes more than a body and a lens to make a shooting package.

A fully-loaded RED ONE at Digital Cinema Society’s PCDP meeting.

Today most of the items on our RED ONE order changed status from “Backorder” to “Completed”, so it seems like a good time to discuss kitting out the cameras for real-world use. 

Monday, August 11, 2008

HP Brings DreamColor Accuracy to Mobile Power Users

Scott Gentry | 08/11- 08:50 PM

High resolution “DreamColor” display now in a notebook.

Today at SIGGRAPH 2008, HP expanded its DreamColor technology portfolio with the introduction of a powerful mobile workstation – the HP EliteBook 8730w Mobile Workstation with DreamColor Display – that offers professionals exceptional color accuracy.

In addition, HP introduced the HP EliteBook 8530w Mobile Workstation, the HP EliteBook 8530p Notebook PC, a custom calibration kit for the now-shipping DreamColor LP2480zx Professional Display, and two additional high-performance displays to meet the demands of a new generation of visual computing customers.

“Mobility is becoming increasingly important to our most demanding, power-user customers,” said Stephen Dewitt, senior vice president, Personal Systems Group – Americas, HP. “HP is delivering on creative professionals’ most exacting computing needs by enabling power users to take their highly tuned graphics workstations with them wherever they go.”

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Review: Panasonic BT-LH1760 17” LCD Monitor

Adam Wilt | 08/06- 12:56 PM

The highly capable 1760 is a worthy upgrade from the 1700W.

Panasonic BT-LH1760, showing cross hatch, WFM, VITC, audio meters at the top, and 90% safe area marker with half-shaded background.

The $4500 Panasonic BT-LH1760 is a 17 inch, 1280x768 video monitor with multiple analog and digital inputs and a 100/120 Hz refresh rate for crisp motion rendering. It displays NTSC, PAL, 720p, and 1080i/p signals in both analog and digital, and offers a high-resolution waveform monitor for all video inputs, as well as a vectorscope, timecode, and audio level monitors for SDI inputs. It also has a wide selection of aspect ratio and safe-area markers available.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Make the Entrance Pupil Your Friend

Art Adams | 08/05- 09:47 AM

Eliminate parallax errors on pans and tilts (for fun and profit)

I’m helping a friend build a three RED camera panoramic camera system that will shoot a 180 image, combining three 60 degree images in post. One of the more important things to consider when doing this kind of work is finding, and aligning, the “pivot point” of each lens to eliminate parallax errors that can occur during panning and tilting.

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