ErgodoxEZ Split Ergonomic Keyboard for Video and Music

My Microsoft Sculpt was failing me.  I don't know if it was my incredible typing speed (ha!) or faulty hardware, but there were way too many "failed strokes" for me to keep using a wireless keyboard.  I love the Sculpt's layout, low profile, and portability, but it doesn't matter how good something feels if it doesn't work.

I started coding for design at the turn of the Millennium (so fun to say!), and quickly learned how bad a "regular" keyboard is for 10 hours or so of daily use.  Back then, there weren't a whole lot of "ergo keyboard" options; the MS Natural Keyboard was pretty much it.  But I found that my shoulder/wrist issues necessitated getting my mouse closer to the keyboard (my arm was sticking out to far to the side), so a keyboard with no number pad became imperative. Thus, I figured out how to saw off the number pad (as well as configuring various incarnations of track pads and tiny track-balls incorporated into the keyboard housing in various locations).

When Microsoft released the Natural Keyboard 4000, I upgraded, but again had to saw off the number pad.  Finally, in 2013 they released the Sculpt, and to my joy, it came with the numpad detached!  However, after years of use, the "wireless-ness" of the Sculpt can no longer fulfill my needs.  Thus, the search for a new wired keyboard began.

There is a dirth of one-piece split keyboards with no number pad.  And once you get into two-piece "coding" boards, the price goes up dramatically.

I researched for a couple of months, and the ErgodoxEZ and Dygma Raise ended up as my two finalists.  However, the Dygma uses it's own (though still open-source) Bazecor software for layout and functionality, which even after a couple of years in the real world seems to still have many issues (as reported by regular users), so I was definitely leaning toward the Ergodox, which utilizes a more established and ubiquitous open-source software and has many "compilers" available online for easy access and use.

Over the years social media and template-based web design has turned me off to designing for the web and the coding that used to go along with it (HTML, PHP, Java, etc.), but I still use a keyboard for 8 to 10 hours a day; it's just spread over more activities, the primary being video and music editing.

I began researching split mechanical keyboards just for their ergonomic benefit, but I quickly became very interested in how I could utilize the magic of programming the layout and key functionality to improve my editing workflow.

Now that I had decided which board was going to be best for me, I started watching eBay and Craigslist to find something a little more affordable than the $350 (!!!) the ErgodoxEZ was going to cost new.   The boards on eBay were mostly in auction format and still going for nearly retail.  Craigslist had pretty much nothing listed except a Dygma Raise for pretty much MSRP.  However, after a couple weeks of diligently watching, I got super lucky and found someone "cleaning out old stuff" who was selling an early model ErgodoxEz (no tent legs, no back light) along with a "Let's Split" tiny, mechanical, split keyboard for $100!

I've spent the last couple of weeks familiarizing myself with how everything works, developing my keyboard layout, switching out key caps, loving the "clickity-clack" of mechanical switches, and getting used to using a keyboard that looks and feels nothing like a "regular" keyboard.

For the configuration part, you just create a layout using Ergodox's free online configurator (or one of the many others out there), then click "compile" and download the binary hex file to your computer.  You then use a tiny little executable called "Wally" to flash the hex file to your board.

The fun part is the vast array of functionality with which you can program each key (multiple functions, macros, etc.).  The fact that you can use layers is also great.  Basically, with a keystroke, the entire keyboard can have each and every key reassigned to a new function... and you can have pretty much as many layers as you wish.

I began my journey with the Ergodox by looking for layouts that others had created for video/music editing, and surprisingly, I couldn't find a single one.  I don't know if it was due to sub-par searching skills, or the fact that these boards are targeted more at coders and gamers, but I couldn't find anything with "video," "editing," "Premiere," or even "Adobe" in the description.  After a while I finally found a layout with "Avid" in the title, but it appeared to be just the default keyboard layout.

What I quickly learned is that there are so many layouts available online in Ergodox's un-curated database that it would be futile to try and find one that fit my exact needs.  It has taken a few weeks, and I'm still making changes on a daily basis, but it's getting to a point where I am definitely in love with this board and what a customized layout can offer.

One thing I decided early in my keyboard development was that I was going to base the general layout on the "status quo."  I think a lot of people go so far outside the realm of normalcy that when they don't have their personal keyboard with them, they can't use a "normal" board!  I find this dilemma frustrating enough when I'm on someone else's computer, and I just don't have a split keyboard or my trackball or ShuttlePRO, so I didn't want to paint myself into a corner getting used to a keyboard layout that would alter my muscle memory into oblivion.

Thus, the first layer of my layout is based largely on the MS Sculpt that I have been using for the past seven years.  I have tweaked the layout a bit to maximize functionality with Adobe Premiere, but it's largely just a "normal" keyboard layout.  However, a lot of the "extra" keys are programmed with dual functionality or even macros that allow me to execute Premiere functions more quickly.

At first, I was worried I was going to have to program all the "shift" functionality for each key, but evidently that's an Operating System thing, so you don't have to program for that.  Any key in combination with "shift" does what it would normally do on any keyboard: lower case and capital, but also symbols with their pre-assigned secondary functions (i.e. ";" becomes ":" with the shift key).

The second layer I created for media and navigation.  I set one of the first layer keys as a "momentary switch" so that when pressed and held, the rest of the keyboard becomes controls for the media player, navigation arrows, etc.  The second layer also hosts my "mouse keys."  The Ergodox has some cool "mouse" functionality that I haven't played with much yet, but basically they make it possible to control the cursor as you would with a mouse, except with key strokes.  It sounds clunky, but evidently it's pretty effective once you get used to it.

The third layer I created as symbols and numbers, with the layout based on an actual number pad (along with it's specific functionality).

And that's about as far as I've gotten to date  I'm not sure if I'll create a fourth layer loaded up with macros and multi-function Adobe Premiere and After Effects keys, but right now I'm just getting used to and enjoying the improved functionality afforded by the current layout and combination keys.

One final note: my ErgodoxEZ came with blank key caps, which is fine for "hands on" (literally) typing, but when I'm editing video and recording music, my hands are rarely fused to the home row.  Instead they are often handling peripheral controllers or jotting down notes.  Quickly finding keys is difficult with nothing printed on them! Luckily the "mini split" that came along with the Ergodox had printed keycaps.  I switched out all the ones that would work (letters and a few symbols), and then I penciled in the symbols and functions on the rest of the blank keys.  Obviously pencil marks aren't going to last long (not to mention they're hard to see), so I'm looking for a decent solution for printing on key caps.  I have seen a few people online having success with laser etching/engraving and toner, so I may try that at some point, but it would be nice to find a more permanent way to quickly mark key caps with their assigned functions.  That's really my only "gripe" at this point, but everything else is a great improvement upon my previous situation!

If you want to try out the layout I have created (and alter it for your own use), here is the link to Ergodox site:

Adobe Essential Graphics - Not Ready for Prime Time

With Premiere CC v14, Adobe is forcing us to switch from Titles (now "legacy" titles) to the new "Essential Graphics" system.  In theory, this is a better system for titles and light graphics (you can even incorporate motion), but they released the "feature" WAY before it was ready for public use.

My first gripe is a big one: you cannot "nudge" type areas with the arrow keys.  To move a text field, you have to either physically drag it (not precise), or use the horizontal/vertical transform controls in the Essential Graphics panel (not convenient).

While there are many other issues, the rest of this post will be dedicated to file management for graphics (files) used in "motion graphics templates."

If you place a graphic (a logo, for instance) via the "new layer" drop down choice "From file" in the  Essential Graphics panel, Premiere just drops the file into your project wherever it feels like it.  If you've got twenty or more folders in a project, good luck finding your file (you can use "reveal in project" from the timeline, but wtf?)! So once you add a file via the Essentials Graphics panel, you'll need to manually move said file to a Motion Graphics (or some other) folder to keep things from getting super cluttered.  Additionally, if you create a "Master Graphics Template," Premiere copies the graphic file that you've utilized to a system folder (not just a bin in your project) that Premiere creates called "Motion Graphics Template Media." This new folder on your hard drive will be filled with folders that have been named with randomly generated strings of characters as if Adobe is trying to prevent us from finding OUR OWN graphics files.  Each Graphics Template has it's own folder named by a long random string (i.e. 0df6380f-23b8-467c-9040-8d2e5dc1096e), but then that folder has a subfolder named simply by the SAME NAME as the Graphics Template you created.  WHY IS THE RANDOM STRING FOLDER NECESSARY?! The bigger question is this... why can't Premiere just access the graphic from it's original location (thus preventing the need for TWICE AS MUCH space to store the file)?  If you need to export your template to a new location or another computer, I could see copying the files then to keep them in the template, but create a duplicate right off the bat? Inefficient and confusing to say the least.

Another issue that drives me nuts: there doesn't seem to be an option to "update Motion Graphics Template" if you make a change to it in your timeline.  For instance, if you're using a template and you make a small adjustment to the text, you only have the option to "Export as Motion Graphics Template" at which point you can either save the template again with the same name and then go back into your library, figure out which is the old template, and manually delete the old one, or give the adjusted template a new name (at which point you will STILL need to delete the old template that is now obsolete from your library).

Finally, as referenced in the above issue, if you create two Motion Graphics Templates and place them in the same library, and you name them with the same title, Premiere will not let you know that you've created a title with the exact same name.  In other words, you could create 30 Motion Graphics Templates, all with the same name; then when you need to use the template you created, you have to sift through all the templates with the same name to see which one is the correct one.  Brilliant.

Windows 10 Clip Board "bin"

For years Windows users have had to install third-party software to be able to store more than one item on their "clipboard" (where things go when you cut-and-paste [Ctrl]-C or [Ctrl]-X).  But with a recent update to Windows 10, Microsoft has finally implemented a multi-item clipboard "bin."

The usual cut-and-paste shortcuts still work as they always have, but now you have the option to [Win]-V (windows key + v) and a pop-up will present you with a list of all the things you've cut or copied since turning on your machine last.  This means that from one page, you can cut or copy many items and have access to ALL OF THEM when you go to the location you want to paste those things.  No more going back and forth from various tabs or documents to cut and paste.

This is an incredible time saver.

And not only can you access things you've previously cut or copied during your current session, but you can PIN items to the clipboard for permanent access!  This is a major boon to my daily workflow.

Now instead of having to create a document with commonly used bits of text (common correspondence, various signatures, common strings, etc.), I can pin those things to the clipboard and access them straight from Win-V anytime I wish!

That is an even bigger time saver.

When you open your clipboard, each item will have the ubiquitous "triple dot" next to it.  The options from that menu are "delete," "pin," and "clear all."

If you use multiple Windows devices, you can also choose to sync your clipboard so the items are accessible across as many devices as you wish.  Just type "sync clipboard" in your Windows search bar and follow the instructions!

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The Easiest Way to Convert MKV to MP4 (MOV)

I recently wanted to do a little content editing of an MKV file.  I really didn’t want to spend time converting the file (and losing video and audio resolution), but every “trick” I could find online involved downloading software for demuxing, converting, etc. (things that take time, and mostly things that alter the original video –not to mention things that often come from shady sources).

So I thought about it for a bit, poked around in some of the (free) software I had readily available, and found a solution.

An MKV file is just a container.  Thus, I figured I could just change the extension (.mkv) to something else more “useable” (like .mp4) and mess with it that way.  Just changing the extension made Adobe Premiere unhappy (header issues), but as usual, VLC handled it just fine.  Not only that, but VLC ultimately turned out to be the solution for what I needed to do.

In VLC, you can save a file (right click the file in your playlist and select “save” from the list), and under the “settings” options you have “convert” and “dump raw input.”  First I tried utilizing the RAW option, but when it went to “streaming” after clicking “start,” there didn’t seem to be any progress, so I tried the next option.

Using the “convert” option, you can select pretty much any preset to do what we want to do, but I wanted an MP4 so I chose the first thing on the list:  Video – H.264 + MP3 (MP4).  Of course I don’t want MP3 for my audio (I want to keep the original file format), but don’t worry!  The next step is to click the tools/settings button next to the profile drop down. There you will see tabs for “video codec” and “audio codec.”  In each of those settings, you can choose “keep original video track” and “keep original audio track.” Once you do that, you simply click “start” and you’ll see your progress bar tick away.  It took me about four minutes to ouput a 2 hour movie that was originally 17.8 GB as an MKV.  However, the new file was now 11.4 GB, so obviously something had changed (and I assume resolution was lost, thought the file still looked pretty similar to the original).

I actually created a profile called MKV to MP4 wherein I selected the “original video” and “original audio” options with an MP4/MOV container, and the subsequent “conversion” took only around 20 seconds.  I had opened and closed VLC several times, but I suppose the conversion could have still been using cached files.

UPDATE: If the original audio format (like the audio in the file i was using) isn’t an audio format that VLC has in its output codec selection, trying to utilize the “original audio” option will create a file with no audio.  I’m not sure why it does this, but to correct for the problem, I changed my profile to convert the audio, and set up the audio as a high bitrate AAC with a sample rate the same as the original (48KHz).  The resulting file was a bit larger than the previous and took longer to output (because it’s actually converting the audio), but now has audio and can be imported into Adobe Premiere.

It turns out that the RAW dump is actually the better option if you’re trying to keep the file exactly like the original (just changing the extension), it just wasn’t showing me a live process when it was outputing a file.  I tried the RAW option again, and sure enough, after about four minutes (the same amount of time the above “convert” option took), I found I had an MP4 exactly the same size as the original MKV.  Unfortunately the file still wouldn’t work with Premiere, althought now i just get a “generic error” when trying to import the MP4 into Premiere.

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Red Giant MisFire Setting Definitions

The problem with MisFire is that I have NO IDEA what the different settings of each thing do.  I end up having to look stuff up every time, and when I do, I usually end up at this page, so I’m reposting here (basically so it’s easier for me to find!).

Major props to whomever posted this information online at:

http://www.aemoban.com/Source_Files/AE-misfire.html

I can’t figure out what the aemoban site is (the top tier is in Chinese), so I’m reposting the information here (because who knows when that page will disappear).  No copyright infringement intended.  Just making the information available to the filmmaking community!

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MisFire Plug-ins

MisFire adds a host of tools to your effects arsenal to simulate film damage. The main MisFire plug-in is a single complete tool that offers 13 different effects. Each category of effect can be turned off individually using the category switch. The effects are: Fading, Funk, Splotches, Dust, Flicker, Vignette, Displacement, Grain; and 3 different types of scratches, Microscratches, Basic Scratches and Deep Scratches.

The main MisFire plug-in is accompanied by individual plug-ins for each effect category. For example, if you only want to apply grain and basic scratches, you can apply these as individual effects called Misfire Grain and Misfire Basic Scratches.

MisFire plug-ins are not a perfect duplication of every type of film defect. Film defects are wide ranging in their appearance and include problems caused by dust, dirt, film wear, duplication problems, splicing, irregular exposure or improper storage of the film medium. These defects can show up in the frame or be caused by improper projection. MisFire attempts to artistically emulate a number of these defects.

 

MisFire Fading

Fading causes an overall lightening of your image that is exhibited as lower contrast.

Fade Amount: The default value is 100, lower values will lessen the effect.

 

MisFire Funk

Funk provides for tone variation across the frame. This simulates a film negative with lightness variation across the entire frame that may be caused by improper storage or in an environment where fungus or mildew could form. This is similar to the splotches but occurs throughout the frame and will persist from frame to frame.

Funk Opacity: The default is 15%. High values may look unnatural but feel free to adjust to taste.

 

MisFire Splotches

Splotches manifest as a local dirtiness or discoloration of the frame. This can happen on any frame and will usually only persist for a frame or two at a time.

Number: Controls the number of splotches on any given frame where the scale controls the size. The Scale value at 1.0 will cover about 40% of a standard DV-size frame or about 16% of a 2K film frame.

Transparency: Controls the darkness of the discolored areas. You may need to lower the value on very bright footage (to make the splotch less prominent) or raise the value for very dark footage to bring out the effect.

Frequency: Determines how often a splotch will appear in a sequence. The default value of 50 will cause a splotch to appear on half of the frames. Try lowering this value if you want the splotches to occur less frequently.

 

MisFire Dust

Dust essentially draws bits of black and white material onto the frame. This is effect is similar to the small particles that appear on film that has been run through a projector numerous times. The defaults are meant to generate a small amount of both black and white dust that is very noticeable.

NOTE: While a number of categories include a Frequency control, each category determines its frequency separately, so splotches won’t necessarily appear at the same frame as dust or any other category of effect.

Black Dust Amount, White Dust Amount: Control the maximum number of black or white dust particles appearing in any one frame. For large frame sizes, you may want to make this value much larger to increase the appearance of the dust.

Opacity: Specifies the transparency of the dust particles. The default is 100%, which makes the particles quite noticeable. If you want the dust to look smaller in the frame, try lowering this value to between 40 and 60%.

Frequency: Determines how often a dust particle will appear in a sequence. The default value of 50 will cause dust particles to appear on half of the frames. Try lowering this value if you want the dust to occur less frequently.

 

MisFire Flicker

Flicker causes the image brightness to change from frame to frame. This is similar to the uneven brightness caused by the degradation of an old print.

Frequency: Operates the same as in the Dust or Splotches categories, where the value specifies the percentage of frames in a sequence that will have change. The default value of 50 means that half of the frames in a sequence will change in brightness.

Flicker Amount: Controls the degree of brightness change. The default of 10 will cause only a small variation.

 

MisFire Vignette

Old film tends to exhibit a lot of darkening around the edge of the frames, which is often a result of the lens and camera that were used to shoot the film. Vignette will mimic this aberration. Unlike other MisFire effects, Vignette does not animate or change from frame to frame.

NOTE: Magic Bullet Looks includes an integrated Vignette tool that you can use as a replacement for MisFire Vignette. The two produce similar results but Looks' Vignette can be integrated into a Look rather than applied separately.

Size: Controls the overall width of the darkening where a value of 0 will darken all the way to the center and value of 100 will not darken the frame at all.

Intensity: Simply changes the amount of darkening.

 

MisFire Displacement

Often old or mishandled film prints can exhibit a warping of the image caused by a physical bend in the film frame itself. Displacement offers a very simple control for warping the image.

Amount: Specifies the level of warping in the image. With this control, a little goes a long way. This category of effect does not auto-animate so you may want to keyframe the Amount value.

 

MisFire MicroScratches

MisFire offers 3 different styles of scratches. MicroScratches are very thin, faint black lines across the entire image. Film is often scraped as it run through a projector, creating faint black lines on the frame, and this damage is what is replicated.

Number: Does not correspond to the number of scratches, but instead is a measure of the density of the scratches—higher numbers yield a denser field of black lines.

Opacity: Changes the transparency of the lines. The Number and Opacity controls should be adjusted in tandem. If you raise the Number control, you may want to lower the Opacity, or vice versa.

 

MisFire Basic Scratches

Basic Scratches generates thin bright or dark lines that wiggle or move from frame to frame. Unlike the MicroScratches or Deep Scratches effect, Basic Scratches will not cover the entire frame but will gently fade toward the top or bottom of the frame.

Number of Scratches: The specified number of scratches that will be drawn on the image.

Maximum Duration: Controls the maximum length that any one scratch will appear on the image. The duration is determined randomly for each scratch and can be between 1 frame and the maximum specified number of frames.

Invert: Lets you specify either dark lines (when it is on) or light lines when it is off.

 

MisFire Deep Scratches

Deep Scratches generates a colored scratch that appears to have depth, and to wiggle or move from frame to frame. This colored scratch mimics a physical scratch on the film that has removed some of the film resist, letting light through that is pure in color. The scratches can shift left or right by a random amount that varies from 0 to 5-7 pixels, depending on the size of your image.

Number of Scratches: The specified number of scratches that will be drawn on the image.

Maximum Duration: Controls the maximum length that any one scratch will appear on the image. The duration is determined randomly for each scratch and can be between 1 frame and the maximum specified number of frames.

Tint Color: Specifies the color of the scratches. The default color is close to pure green, which is the color of real scratched film.

 

MisFire Grain

When most people think of film, they think of grain. While some film stocks do exhibit noticeable grain, this type of effect is best used sparingly. The Grain category generates more than just random noise. If all you want is random noise, a simply noise filter applied on top would work fine. The Grain controls go beyond this by letting you create the multi-colored clumps associated with true film grain. Grain offers ten different controls for specifying the amount of grain and where it appears on your image.

NOTE: Magic Bullet Looks includes an integrated Film Grain tool that you can use as a replacement for MisFire Grain. The two produce similar results but Looks' Film Grain can be integrated into a Look rather than applied separately and its speed is generally 3-4 times faster.

Color Noise: Lets you simply specify whether the grain is the same on all the color channels Red, Green and Blue. This control is on by default. If you turn it off, you will notice that the colored grain disappears and is replaced by a tinted noise, based on the Red, Green and Blue percentages.

Amount: Gives you control over the density.

Red, Green, Blue: These three controls specify how much grain appears and how soft it is. The Red, Green, and Blue controls are specified as a percentage and these bias the Amount setting. For example, the Red control defaults to 28.22%. This means that only 28.22% of the Amount value is used in the Red channel of your image. If these values are all the same, then the grain will have the same amount applied to each channel. They are interrelated and related to the Softness controls.

Softness Red, Softness Green, Softness Blue: These three controls let you soften the grain on each color channel. Smaller values mean harder edges, larger values add a more diffuse look. It is best to stick with small values in these controls. They are interrelated and related to the Color controls.

Suppression Black, Suppression White: These two controls determine whether the grain is drawn in purely white or black areas . The percentages specify the percentage of brightness or darkness in the frame where the grain will NOT appear. For example, 10% Suppression White means that the grain will not draw in the very brightest pixels in the image and will only appear fully in areas that are 10% or less of fully white pixels.

 

MisFire Gate Weave

When a film frame passes through a projector, sprockets outside the image area control the vertical motion of the frames through the projector. Over time, a film can be become warped or the sprockets can wear, causing the frame to appear to move side to side. This kind of motion is called Gate Weave and this effect mimics it.

Weave Frequency: Controls the speed of the left-right motion of the frame. Small values cause the frame to move slowly. High values will cause the frame to move quickly from side to side.

Amplitude: Measured in pixels. The default of 5 pixels will cause the frame to move left or right 5 pixels then return to center.

Noise Frequency: Varies the motion by the percentage you choose. Small values will cause a slight variation of the motion, while large values will cause the frame to appear to jitter.

 

MisFire Post Contrast

Film often appears with higher contrast than video. Over time the darkening or contrast change can be quite pronounced. The Post Contrast control lets you quickly add this effect.

Contrast: Applies a darkened high contrast effect. The default value is fine in most cases. Values beyond 50 will likely look unrealistic. Negative values can cause the image to appear to wash out.

 

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Windows Doesn’t Always Load ICC Color Profile for Monitor

I recently installed a new EVGA GeForce 750Ti video card in an older machine.  I had some points on a credit card that would make a card in the sub $200 range “free,” so I did some research on video cards and upgraded my rather ancient GTX 260 (which I actually used while cutting our feature film in 2009!) to decrease my rendering times and allow for a bit more oomph when utilizing CUDA processing for effects and on-the-fly rendering in Adobe Premiere.

The GeForce 750Ti is basically the “sweet spot” for cost/power in gaming cards, which are the poor man’s video-editing cards (though, as of this posting, NVIDIA has released the GTX 960, which is the new sweet spot in this category).  I would have loved to install a higher-end “Adobe Approved” Quadro card(s), but this option is cost is prohibitive at the moment (we’re putting money into camera equipment), so this is a decent band-aid for this particular editing rig.

We use Xrite EyeOnes (i1) with EyeOne Match 3 (v.3.6.2) software to calibrate our monitors.  However, after installing the card, I kept getting the dreaded “pink screen” hue almost every time I’d reboot the machine after calibration.  The most common cause for this malady is a bad video cable (I’m using a super-thick (24AWG) and fairly long 15 foot DVI Cable, so this was definitely a possibility).  However, I checked my cables (using DVI, HDMI, and even Display Port), and the cable was not the issue.

I also checked my system defaults to be sure Windows was calling up the custom i1 color profile as the profile for the monitor.  The profile was marked as the default and appeared to be the active profile in the color settings, so I assumed it was being used.

I couldn’t figure out what was going on, so I thought maybe it was the card.  I RMA’d the card, and Amazon sent a new one.  p.s. I really appreciate their policy of sending a replacement before they require you to send the defective unit back.  They give you a month to return the item once they send out the new one, so I didn’t have to go without a video card while waiting for the replacement (yes, I could have put the old one back in, but I was enjoying the decreased rendering times too much).

The new card arrived. I installed it and ran color calibration on the monitor.  For a couple of days, everything seemed great, until one day… the dreaded pink screen had returned.  I spent three more days researching the issue before I finally came across the solution.

It turns out there are not one, but TWO places where Windows 7 64-bit has settings for loading the monitor’s ICC color profile.

Yes, you can set your monitor’s ICC color profile at Control Panel>Appearance and Personlization: Adjust screen resolution>Advanced settings>Color Management (tab)>Color Management (button), but there is another place you need to do some tweaking in order to tell Win7 to actually USE these settings.  How stupid is that?!

So on the Advanced tab where you can select your defaults, there is a button at the bottom called “Change system defaults…”

In that panel, there is an “Advanced” tab, and at the bottom right of that panel there is a box called “Use Windows display calibration.” You must tick that box to get Windows to actually use your ICC monitor calibration setting each time it starts (even though it would appear, from the previous panel, that Windows IS using the default).  Unbelievable.  Why even have the option to set a default if the system isn’t going to USE that default without this “secret setting?!”  It’s not really a default if you aren’t using it, is it. Grrrrrr.

Many thanks to user “badspell68” for posting the solution to this problem in this thread:

http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/162431-color-profiles-calibration.html

p.s.  I think it’s worth nothing that the “pink hue” we experience when the EyeOne custom ICC profile isn’t properly being utilized is a result of the physical monitor settings.  I usually just calibrate the monitors using the “easy” setting in the EyeOne software, but at one point I actually went through the “advanced” setup which involves calibrating your calibration device to the ambient light in the room (our room is currently fairly warm on the color spectrum) as well as adjusting the physical settings on the monitor (not just changing the settings using software).  When I did this, EyeOne had me set the red hue of the monitor higher than it had previously been (higher than what looks good to the eye), thus when the custom color profile is not being utilized (when the monitor is displaying “as physically set”), the screen has a pink (red) hue in the white areas.

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Movies I Play On a Loop Hoping They Seep Into My Brain to Permeate My Being and Work

Not even necessarily my favorite or the best movies of all time… just movies I want floating around in my head and heart (in no particular order)…

• The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

• Raising Arizona (1987)

• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

• Adaptation. (2002)

• Brazil (1985) – director’s cut

• Rounders (1998)

• Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

• Amélie (2001)

• Being John Malkovich (1999)

• Delicatessen (1991)

• The Cell (2000)

• True Grit (2010)

• Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

• Ocean's Eleven (2001)

• Out of Sight (1998)

• The Usual Suspects (1995)

• The City of Lost Children (1995)

• CQ (2001)

• The Long Goodbye (1973)

• Blade Runner (1982) – director’s cut

• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

• Where the Wild Things Are (2009)

• Pulp Fiction (1994)

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Change Premiere Pro Sequence Clips from 29.97 to 23.976 and Retain the Edit

Who knows if anyone else will EVER need to do this, but…

Recently I was editing a project for someone who had shot the footage at 29.97 fps.  I started composing my edit, and then decided I wanted to use the “Modify>Interpret Footage…” option to change the frame rate to 23.976 (meaning the footage would display 80% slower).

Since I had already chopped up and composed all the footage, there was really no good way to simply “make Premiere do it” automatically, so I had to figure out a way to have all the in and out points of my 29.97 footage correspond to the exact frames of my 23.976 footage.

If one were to simply reinterpret the footage (in the Project Window) of the clips already used, the clips would not update properly on the timeline (every clip would shift inside itself and all the clip in/out points would be wrong).

I only had 15 clips (around 25 minutes of footage), so the work around I came up with was to duplicate each clip, and then place the duplicates in a bin called “23.976.”  I then used the “(Right-Click) Modify>Interpret Footage…” command on each clip in this new bin to change each clip from 29.97 to 23.976 (you can do it as a bulk command by selecting all the clips in the bin and right clicking to make the change to all clips at once).

On my 29.97 clip timeline I then placed each 23.976 clip above it’s corresponding 29.97 clip.  I then moused over the original 29.97 clip audio (unmodified in length) to determine the original clip length, and then used the “(Right-Click) Speed/Duration…” command to change the 23.976 clip length to be exactly the same as that of the original 29.97 clip (use actual min/sec/frames instead of percentage).

Next, one needs to make sure that the 23.976 clip on the time line matches the clip in the 23.976 bin exactly.  To reiterate… when you change the speed of the clip on the timeline, it DOES NOT change the clip in the bin, thus you need to update the clip in the bin with the correct “Speed/Duration…” setting.

Before changing the length of the clip in the 23.976 bin, you will need to clear any in/out points that may have been created and left over during the original edit/composition. This means you’ll need to double-click on the clip in the 23.976 bin to open it in your Source Monitor, then right click and select “Clear In and Out.”

You could skip placing the 23.976 clip on the timeline by simply mousing over the 29.97 clip to determine the original clip length and then just changing the “Speed/Duration…” of the clip in the 23.976 bin, but I placed the 23.976 clip on the timeline so that I could verify that the 29.97 and 23.976 clips were identical frame by frame.

Mouse over the corresponding 23.976 clip on your timeline to see the full clip duration.  Right click on the clip and select “Reveal in Project” to go to the corresponding clip in your Project Window (in the 23.976 bin).  Right click on the clip and select “Speed/Duration…” and make sure the clip in the bin is the exact same length as the corresponding clip on the timeline (which has already had its speed altered to match the 29.97 clip).

At this point you can go to your composition timeline, double click a clip to open it in your Source monitor and then make note of the in/out points.  Next double click the corresponding clip in your 23.976 bin to open that clip in the Source monitor and set your in/out points to match the 29.97 clip, and drag the clip to your composition timeline (you can grab the video between your in/out points by grabbing and dragging the little “film strip” icon right below your source window).  You now have a time altered (Speed/Duration) 23.976 clip to match the regular 29.97 clip.  Be sure to put your clips on alternating tracks so that when you expand your 23.976 clips back to their original speed (80% slower) there is room on the time line for this expansion.

Finally, select your clips and reset them back to 100% (from their altered times to match the 29.97 clips) and line up the in/out points of each clip.

What a pain in the ass.  If someone knows of an easier way to accomplish the above, PLEASE post in the comments!

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Red Giant Universe Legacy 1.1 “Swish Pan” Transition Blocks Out Video When Used with Text Title

I sometimes like to use the Red Giant Universe “Swish Pan” effect on text intro/outro by dropping the transition onto the beginning or end of a title (text) clip.  Since I am using Adobe Premiere CS6, I must use the “Legacy 1.1” version of Red Giant Universe transitions.

I was finding that anytime I tried to use Swish Pan, any video “behind” the transition effect (below the clip on the timeline), was getting blocked out by the transition.  In other words, when the Swish Pan was happening, I was looking at a black screen with the text doing it’s thing (no video visible –only text).

What I discovered is that the effect defaults to a 100% background opacity, which does not allow the effect to work correctly with a text title (where the background needs to be completely transparent).

The fix is to click the “custom” button at the bottom of the “Effect Controls” panel for Swish Pan.

You will get a pop-up dialog box that contains a field for “Background Opacity.”  You need to change that background opacity to 0.0 and then the transition will perform correctly with your text title.  You may also want to change the “exposure boost” at the bottom of the list from 1.0 to 0 so you don’t get a brightness “pop” when the effect occurs.

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Enabling CUDA for Adobe Premiere Pro

I’m pissed at Adobe, and I feel like a chump.

For several years I’ve been using Premiere Pro (CS4/CS6) without harnessing the CUDA capability of my graphics card (192 CUDA cores, to be precise).

How could this possibly happen?

Well, Adobe’s software will only “look” for the cards that are listed in a text file called “cuda_supported_cards.txt.”  This text file is by NO MEANS comprehensive.  In fact, it lists VERY FEW cards.

There is a program in the Premiere Pro system directory (C:/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Premiere Pro CS6) called GPUSniffer.exe.  If you run this program from the command line, it will show you the exact name of your installed video card(s).  When you add this card (be sure to use the exact name listed by GPU Sniffer) to the “cuda_supported_cards.txt” file, only then will Premiere harness the CUDA power of your graphics card.

Once you have added the name of your device to the approved list that Premiere Pro uses to verify the card, the “GPU accelration” option will be available under the General tab of your Project Settings.

Specific instructions:

1. Type CMD into your Start Menu search field (at the very bottom of your Start Menu).
2. Right click the cmd.exe program in the list and select “run as administrator.”
3. Navigate to the appropriate directory (C:/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Premiere Pro CS6) first by typing “cd\” to get to the root (c:) and then “cd Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Premiere Pro CS6” to get to the Premiere Pro directory.
4. Type “GPUSniffer.exe” and take note of the card listed in the information returned.
5. Open Notepoad with admin privileges (right click on the Notepad program icon and select “run as admin”), then navigate to the same directory (C:/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Premiere Pro CS6) and open the “cuda_supported_cards.txt” file.
6. Add the name of your card to the list (it must be EXACTLY as it was listed in the GUP Sniffer dialog), and save the file.
7. Next time you open Adobe Premiere Pro, GPU Acceleration will be available from the drop down in your project’s “General” tab of settings.

UPDATE: You may also need to do a regedit fix documented here: https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1061522?tstart=120

• Go to Regedit
• Find this key by selecting Edit and then Find at the top:- " 0cc5b647-c1df-4637-891a-dec35c318583 "
• Within this key, there is a value called: "ValueMax"
• This value represents the % number of cores the system will park - the default is 100% (ie: all Cores are potentially park-able)
• Change the value from 64 to 0 so the "ValueMin" and "ValueMax" are both zero
• You will have to find the key a few times and repeat the process for each time it is found - the number of instances will depend on the number of power profiles in your system

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Adobe Premiere AudioPrefetch.cpp-87 Error

[UPDATE: 11-15-14] The “definitive solution” is at the end of this post.

The dreaded AudioPrefetch.cpp-87 error has been present in Adobe Premiere Pro at least since version CS4 and continues to wreak havoc through CS6.1 and possibly later (CC?).

Adobe has answered with everything from “simply cut and paste your timeline onto a new one” to “you must completely reinstall your software.”

Unfortunately, neither of these is necessarily the answer.

The issue has to do with playback and rendering the audio wave form (the visual representation of the audio wave). I assume the term “prefetch” means the program is trying to “fetch” the audio wave image before it is played back on the timeline.  When it cannot do this, the error is spawned.

The error seems to occur most often (if not always), when Premiere is trying to play a clip that has been conformed to a non-native format. For instance, if you have a clip that you shot at 59.97fps but then conformed to 23.976fps so the clip would play in slow motion, and if you are allowing the audio to play, you will eventually get this error.

If you minimize the audio clip (click the triangle to the far left in the timeline) so that the wave form is not being shown and therefore not being rendered, the error will not occur.  If you are not using the audio (most often if the clip is slomo, you will not be using the audio), you can simply “unlink” the audio from the video clip (right-click, unlink) and delete the audio portion of the clip.  The error will no longer occur.

If you are doing something weird (like I often am), and you actually want to PLAY the slow-motion audio and need to see the waveform in order to edit in/out points, key frames, volume, etc., you are simply out of luck and will need to keep closing the program (making sure to click “close” a million times on all the prefetch error dialog boxes that are likely stacked up behind your main edit window), then re-opening the project and working until the error occurs again.

The “copy/paste to a new timeline” fix has been the go-to answer for years.  The idea is that doing this will resolve any issue with a corrupt clip on the timeline.  While it’s not a total fix (it does seem to work sometimes), I have noticed that the “copy all the clips on the timeline to a new sequence” solution does seem to extend the amount of time you will have once you re-open the program to work on the new sequence/timeline.  Just be sure that once the error occurs, you copy and paste everything to a new sequence and then delete the old sequence without ever playing either the old or new timeline/sequence.  Bear in mind, this solution means you will lose all settings you had for the original sequence (track names, mixer channel names, key frames on the timeline (not key frames on the clips), etc.).

[UPDATE: 9-30-14] Now I’m getting an AudioPrefetch.cpp-99 error in CS6.0.5. It behaves exactly the same.

[UPDATE: 11-15-14] I have been working on a project with a lot of overcranked footage, and utilizing a lot of the overcranked audio.  As such, I have come up with what I will call the “definitive” solution to this issue.  The problem is a result of Premiere having to process “slow motion” audio in real time (on the fly).  Thus, I figured the solution would be to convert the slo-mo audio to “regular” audio.  Simply right-click any active slowed down audio on your timeline, open in Audition, resave as a “normal” file, and then import that file and replace the audio clip (highlight the new audio file in your bin, right click the slow motion audio clip on your timeline, right-click and select “replace with clip from bin”).  Golden.

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Vimeo “Hide this video from Vimeo.com” Problems

Sometimes you need to share a video with people without making it available to the entire internet community, and password protection is not the preferred method.  I recently had this issue come up when I needed to post a music video that was being shopped around to various online outlets (blogs, new agencies, etc.), but the client’s PR firm didn’t want the people to have to use a password.

Anonymity is your friend in these situations; a link that is published nowhere is often as “secure”  (at least as inaccessible) as a published link that is password protected.  If people don’t know where to look, they can’t find/see the video.

Vimeo has recently added this functionality to their Pro accounts (YouTube has had it for a long time), but I was having a heck of a time getting it to work.

When I ticked “Hide this video from Vimeo.com” in the privacy settings of my video, the video was marked with a “private” sash/label in my video listings.  When I sent the link to people to view, accessing the page simply returned a message stating:

Permission Denied

Sorry, there is no video here.

Either it was deleted or it never existed in the first place. Such are the mysteries of the Internet.

Very frustrating.  The whole point of an unlisted link is to be able to send it to people so they can access the video.

Turns out Vimeo’s unpublished functionality ONLY works with embed.  So a video that returns the above message when you send the link IS visible to others, but ONLY when embedded.

The work around (to send a link), is simply to place the word “player” at the beginning of the link and to make sure “video” is in the path.  So, “http://Vimeo.com/hiddenlink” can be accessed as “http://player.vimeo.com/video/hiddenlink”

Why Vimeo has it set up this way is beyond me, and they need to fix it so you can share your hidden video with links more easily (without having to figure out this workaround on your own since it is posted NOWHERE on their site).

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What’s the Difference between Preset Bins and Custom Bins in Adobe Premiere Pro?

This question was kind of driving me crazy, as there didn’t seem to be any clear cut answer anywhere on the web.  So here it is…

Custom Bins simply store shortcuts to presets.

Preset Bins actually store the presets.

I mean, they’re both containers for data stored elsewhere, but this is how they function within the Premiere interface: one holds links, the other holds the actual presets.

Thus, Custom Bins allow you to organize presets while leaving them in their original location, which is useful when setting up a bin for commonly used presets.

Preset Bins are great for holding presets that are project specific.  For instance, I’m currently working on a project with some pretty bizarre color balance and level settings.  It’s not likely that I’ll ever use them on another project, so I’ve set up a Preset Bin named with the title of the project.

On the other hand, I use things like Cross Dissolve, Reverb, Brightness/Contrast, Colorista, and Exponential Fade in most of my projects.  Thus, I’ve set up a Custom Bin named “COMMON” with those effects in it.

And now you know.

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TeraCopy: Better than Windows Explorer but still lacking

I do a lot of file copying.  Most people do.  However, as a filmmaker, photographer, and recording artist, I do a lot of copying of massive amounts of data (my machine is currently running a >800GB transfer that’s been going for more than 20 hours).

The native Windows Explorer copy feature makes me nervous, because sometimes it drops data or runs into trouble with transferring data, and basically, for lack of a better term, just craps out.

A while back I finally found a copy program I like to replace the simple “cut and paste” in Explorer.  Checksum verification was the single most important feature I was looking for.  Basically this means each file is analyzed and assigned a number and then checked against the transferred file once copied.  From the ubiquitous Wikipedia: “A checksum or hash sum is a small-size datum computed from an arbitrary block of digital data for the purpose of detecting errors that may have been introduced during its transmission or storage.”

When I shoot photos or video, I need to be absolutely sure the data is not lost or corrupted during transfer.  Checksum verification helps mitigate this problem.  I never transfer anything important without running checksum verification.

For this reason, I love TeraCopy.

I also love that you can pause a transfer, and also that you can initiate several transfers that will run in the order you set them up (rather than try to run them all at the same time… though that options exists as well).

I wish you could pause a transfer or test, shut down your computer, and come back to it.  It doesn’t seem like there is anything that would prevent this from being possible (TeraCopy would just need to store the same “pause” information and then access it once the computer was restarted).  This would be AMAZINGLY helpful for when you’re in the middle of a large file transfer but need to shutdown or restart your computer.

My biggest complaint with the program is that Code Sector brags about how FAST TeraCopy copies files.  They say it over and over again.  It’s even their freaking TAG LINE (see photo).

In all my personal experience and in EVERY review I’ve seen online, TeraCopy is proven slower than just about any transfer program out there… including Window’s native “cut and paste.”

But the thing that has REALLY been annoying me lately is just how insanely slow the file check runs after the actual transfer takes place.  It actually takes CONSIDERABLY longer for TeraCopy to run the Checksum verification after the transfer than it does to actually transfer the files.

I would REALLY like to know what is going on there.

There have also been quite a few times where I’ve initiated a large file transfer and then left it to run overnight, only to come back in the morning to see an error from TeraCopy that states simply “TeraCopy has stopped.”  Uh, ok.  What about all the bragging on the TeraCopy product page about how TeraCopy will try again and again to transfer a file, but ultimately if it fails it will simply skip the file instead of crapping out (like Windows Explorer)?  From the product page: “In case of a copy error, TeraCopy will try several times to recover and, in the worse case scenario, will simply skip the file, not terminating the entire transfer.”  This has not been the case in my experience (on many occasions).

Still, though slower than Windows Explorer copy, I feel more secure transferring my precious data with TeraCopy.  Perhaps it’s a false sense of security, but at least I sleep a little better at night knowing that checksum verification has been run after the file transfer.

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Authoring Mixed Aspect Ratio DVD’s in Adobe Encore

This is an old issue, but one that still comes up often enough for me.

I haven’t authored a 4:3 DVD in years.  This is because I haven’t seen a 4:3 screen in years.  Almost every television and computer monitor is now being made with a 16:9 (widescreen) aspect ratio.

However, we still delve into the archives often enough to find SD video that was shot 4:3.

When creating a widescreen DVD in Adobe Encore, these 4:3 videos usually wind up getting “stretched” on the screen to force 4:3 to conform to the 16:9 aspect ratio.  This is especially problematic when the video stretching makes your wife’s butt look wider than it actually is (doh!).  Thus, finding a solution was imperative.

For a specific example: I recently created a "wide screen" DVD of 20 or so archival live dance videos, along with some newer live dance videos as well as some dance for the camera pieces we had recently created.  Some of the archival videos were from quite a few years ago and had been shot 4:3, though most were shot 16:9.  When viewing the DVD (which is created as 16:9), there were still a few videos displaying 4:3 stretched to 16:9 rather than "pillar boxed" so there was no stretching.

Most of the clips were also rendered out of Premiere with the correct MPEG-DVD settings so that no transcoding was needed.  However, a few videos were still being transcoded by Encore, and this is where the problem was arising.

The solution for me was to go to those videos, right click on the video asset (not the timeline, but the actual video), "revert to original," and then "select transcode settings."  From here I could set the transcode setting as 16x9 HQ DVD instead of "automatic" so that the final video output was widescreen instead of the 4:3 that was getting stretched (Encore wants to leave a 4:3 original video as 4:3, which might make sense, but is not what we want for a 16:9 DVD!).

Hopefully this information helps someone find what they're looking for.

Argo is a Remake (why is no one talking about this fact?)

When I first saw the trailer for Ben Affleck’s new movie Argo, I thought, “Huh, they’re remaking that.”

Later, as Ben Affleck was getting more and more press and praise for this “original” film, I began wondering why no one was talking about it being a remake.  I was positive I had seen the film, and remembered enjoying it quite a bit (the plot, at least).

Then when Wired magazine started taking credit for breaking the original story as if it was all theirs, I started getting really annoyed that I wasn’t hearing anything about Argo being a remake.

When I tried to research the original film, I found that it was incredibly difficult (well… at least by today’s standards) to find any information on the subject.  Was I crazy?  Had I imagined this entire film?!

Finally, however, I found some answers.  Argo is a remake of the 1981 film “Escape from Iran: The Canadian Caper” (brilliant title, no?).

Here’s an image from the original movie that I found via the webpage of some guy actually selling a homemade DVD of the made for television movie!

Here is the Wikipedia page highlighting the actual events upon which this film was based.

To the right is the actual (fake) movie poster created by the CIA for the fake movie Argo.

So… while I think the film is going to be fun, and I’m REALLY excited about the art direction and production design, I wish people would quit talking about it like Ben Affleck is the Lord Almighty reigning down from on high, and that wired is responsible for bringing the (admittedly very cool) story to light, especially since this is ABSOLUTELY a remake of a made for t.v. movie from 1981.

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