http://provideocoalition.com/index.php en markspencer@mac.com Copyright 2008 2008-07-02T15:08:00-08:00 http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/smartin/motion_and_the_ooo_part_2/ http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/smartin/motion_and_the_ooo_part_2/#When:15:08:00Z In Part 1 of our exploration of Motion’s Order of Operations, or OoO (which you can find here), we looked at a situation where a drop shadow applied to a layer would rotate with the layer because transformations are calculated after effects. Today, we’ll look at another common issue that can arise when working with still images. 2008-07-02T15:08:00-08:00 http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/smartin/the_hd_survival_handbook/ http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/smartin/the_hd_survival_handbook/#When:16:58:00Z Philip Hodgets has released a PDF (download) handbook via his Pro Apps Tips website that basically covers everything a digital video artist needs to enter into the High Definition video world. 2008-07-01T16:58:00-08:00 http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/smartin/motion_and_the_ooo_part_1/ http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/smartin/motion_and_the_ooo_part_1/#When:15:30:00Z The OoO? Some sort of secret society? Almost - OoO stands for Order of Operations, and if you’re not familiar how Motion calculates the changes you make to layers and groups, you might not get the results you want. Let’s take a closer look. 2008-06-24T15:30:00-08:00 http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/smartin/what_inspires_you/ http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/smartin/what_inspires_you/#When:20:55:00Z You are deep in the middle of a complex project, racing to beat a tight deadline, and you’re stuck. Where do you find that creative spark? For me, the last place in the world is in front of a computer. I find that when I’m sitting at the computer, it’s time for perspiration, not inspiration. In other words, if my idea is already at least partially formed, I can get busy executing and problem solving. But coming up with a new approach? Never happens in front of a screen for me.  2008-06-18T20:55:00-08:00 http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/smartin/great_motion_graphics/ http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/smartin/great_motion_graphics/#When:23:54:01Z Apple’s new iTunes ad featuring Coldplay performing Viva la Vida is IMHO just outstanding. The work gets better and better. You can see a hi-def version of the ad here. They continue the general them of silhouettes of live actors on colorful backgrounds, but they reveal more features of the band, and the background is composed of richly saturated blues, cyans, purples and pink light shining through smoke, floating bokeh-like particles, and streaks that fly off the performers. The style and the way the background interacts with the band and the music is all just...yummy. But you know, I just felt like I’d seen it before....after looking at my Leopard desktop, I realized why: By the way, there are already a couple of online tutorials on how to imitate the look in Photoshop: here and here 2008-06-13T23:54:01-08:00 http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/smartin/could_this_be_the_card_weve_been_waiting_for1/ http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/smartin/could_this_be_the_card_weve_been_waiting_for1/#When:23:54:00Z Yesterday AMD announced a new graphics card, the ATI Radeon HD 3870, which they say they expect to ship by the end of June. For anyone who has bought a new Mac Pro recently and has been trying to optimize its performance, this comes as potentially very good news. The current upgrade that Apple sells, the GeForce 8800 GT, has not lived up to its performance potential, causing not a small bit of frustration for Motion users. As many of you know, Motion depends heavily on the GPU, rather then the CPU, for its real-time playback capability. Whether this new ATI card lives up to the press release time will tell, but the stats are impressive: 512MB of 256-bit GDDR4 frame buffer memory and 320 stream processors. It has two dual-link DVI interfaces, so you could drive 2 30” monitors (although that does split your VRAM and impacts Motion’s performance). It supports PCI Express 2.0 AND is backwards compatible with the PCI Express architecture that you may have if bought your Mac Pro before this year. Oh, and the best news? It’s slated to cost $219 - well under the $279 cost of the 8800. Check out more information on this card at barefeats.com - we’ll all be keeping a close eye on this one! 2008-06-13T23:54:00-08:00 http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/smartin/motion_quick_tip_importing_illustrator_and_photoshop_files/ http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/smartin/motion_quick_tip_importing_illustrator_and_photoshop_files/#When:21:15:00Z When working with Motion, you’ll often import content that was created elsewhere. For example, Illustrator and Photoshop are two powerful applications for creating and manipulating images. They both work very well with Motion, but to get the best results, you need to know about setting in Motion that isn’t necessarily obvious or easy to find. Motion Graphics, Post Production, Training 2008-06-09T21:15:00-08:00 http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/smartin/whats_in_a_name/ http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/smartin/whats_in_a_name/#When:17:47:00Z As any editor knows, good media management begins by establishing proper naming conventions.  In a perfect world, proper clip names would be entered during the logging stage.  However, due to tight deadlines or perhaps shear laziness on the part of the editor, media file names are sometimes injested or captured with non-descript file names such as “untitled” or, as is the case with the Panasonic AG-HVX200, transferred with their 6 digit camera-assigned file names. This article will show you how to rename your files directly in the Browser using Final Cut Pro 6.  Below is an screen shot of an edit in progress using clips transferred from an AG-HVX200.  Before you can rename the file, you first must locate the Master clip.  Park your playhead over the clip to be renamed, then press Shift-F to reveal the clip in the Browser.  The clip will become selected. In the Browser, give your clip a meaningful name. From the Modify Menu choose Rename>File to Match Clip. You will be warned that what you are about to do will modify the original file. Go ahead, live life on the edge… Because of Final Cut … Editing, Post Production, Production, Training 2008-06-04T17:47:00-08:00 http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/smartin/rendering_motion_projects_in_final_cut_pro/ http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/smartin/rendering_motion_projects_in_final_cut_pro/#When:16:01:00Z If you have begun to explore Final Cut Studio’s application integration by embedding your Motion project files into your Final Cut Pro sequence, you may have noticed a rather large increase in render time for that sequence. Part of the cause of the increased render time is due to the level of complexity of your Motion project, but there’s a setting in Final Cut Pro that can dramatically reduce render times with little to no impact on the quality of your Motion project—except for certain types of projects. In Final Cut Pro, select the sequence, press Command-0 (zero) to bring up the Sequence Settings, and select the Render Control tab . By default, the Quality setting for Master Templates and Motion Projects is set to Best. If you change it to Normal, you should see a significant reduction in render time. If you uncheck “Always Use Best Quality When Rendering Movies” you will reduce render times even further. The only projects that require the Best setting are ones involving vector objects like shapes and text that are increased in size over 100% - for example, flying a camera through some text. Do a test render of a section of your .motn clip in your FCP sequence by setting In and Out points with both the Best and the Normal settings to determine if you need the Best settings - for most situations, Normal … Motion Graphics 2008-05-20T16:01:00-08:00 http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/smartin/cinema_craft_encoder_mp_for_compressor_3/ http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/smartin/cinema_craft_encoder_mp_for_compressor_3/#When:18:19:00Z Cinema Craft, the industry leader in MPEG-2 encoding for DVD, is going to release a Compressor 3 plug-in by the end of this month. I wrote an article on Ken Stone’s site that takes a look at both the plug-in itself and the technology behind it...the Cinema Craft Xtream encoding engine. The majority of Hollywood releases on DVD have been encoded using the Xtream engine, and it’s the same engine that’s at the core of the Cinema Craft Encoder MP plug-in for Compressor. In addition to high quality, Cinema Craft Encoder MP is a full Compressor plug-in (vs. a QuickTime Component) so it has access to all of Compressor’s features like frame controls and geometry. If you’re going to be in Los Angeles on May 21st, 2008, I’m going to do a demo of the software at the May LAFCPUG meeting.BG 2008-05-14T18:19:00-08:00