dropeed frames during fades

hi guys,

i've noticed a strange thing happening every so often. fades and dissolves appear jerky, no matter if rendered or not. on closer examination (i.e. stepping through the section frame by frame), i found that the image only updates every other frame. in other words, two adjacent frames are exactly the same.

i can delete the fade/dissolve and apply it again, then everything goes back to normal. this is quite painful, however, especially if i have a lot of fades.

i couldn't find out when exactly this is happening. it's just there all of a sudden. any idea what is causing this problem?

stefan

--
macpro 2x3 ghz dual core intel, 10.6.8, FCS 2

Are you working with h.264 files? If so, convert them to ProRes.



www.strypesinpost.com

everything is prores already, so that can't be it. i just switched back to my session after fixing all the fades. they played fine and now they're all bad again. this problem is driving me nuts!

stefan

--
macpro 2x3 ghz dual core intel, 10.6.8, FCS 2

List your clip and Sequence Settings. Are these the default FCP cross dissolve?


www.derekmok.com

ok, sequence settings (most of these are defaults i haven't touched except for frame size and compressor):

general tab:
1920x1080 (HDTV 1080i (16:9)
pixel aspect square
field dominance upper (odd)
editing timebase 25 (same as footage)
quicktime video settings
compressor Apple ProRes 422, Quality 100%

video processing tab:
Render in 8-bit YUV
Process Maximum White as 'White'
Motion Filtering Quality (Normal)

i guess the timeline options and audio out tabs don't matter.

render control tab:
filters and frame blending for speed are checked.

Render
frame rate: '50%' of sequence editing timebase
resolutions: '50%' of sequence frame size
codec: same as sequence codec

Quality: Normal
Always use best quality when rendering movies: checked

======

Clip settings:
i can only find this menu item when i right-click a clip in the browser. but if i select it, i get an error:
"No items have files that are applicable to this operation."

not sure if that really means a problem. i've never seen this. what's the menu item for?
===

yes the dissolves are the FCP standard 'cross dissolve' type.

thanks,
stefan

--
macpro 2x3 ghz dual core intel, 10.6.8, FCS 2

it gets even stranger now:

most sections in my sequence use two video tracks superimposed. v1 contains some still images for the background, v2 normal video footage. the timeline is purple, btw.

in sections where the sequence only contains a single video track, everything is fine. as soon there are two tracks, FCP only plays every other frame. if i step through the clips frame by frame with the arrow keys, i can see that only every other key press give me a new image, even though time code in the timeline window progresses for each frame.

i don't even understand that, but now get this: when i disable v1 in the timeline (the one with the still images), the timeline turns orange in all sections where there is data on v1 (presumably because these sections are no longer rendered). but now each frame of the v2 plays back fine.

now i turn on v1 again, timeline remains orange, and everything plays back fine. what's the problem you ask? when i want to export my sequence, FCP renders, timeline turns purple, and now i'm back to a sequence that skips frames.

this is driving me crazy - any idea what might be causing this?

stefan

--
macpro 2x3 ghz dual core intel, 10.6.8, FCS 2

does nobody have an idea what's going on here, especially with regard to my last post in this thread?

thanks,
stefan

--
macpro 2x3 ghz dual core intel, 10.6.8, FCS 2

I'm guessing this has something to do with it:

> Render
> frame rate: '50%' of sequence editing timebase


www.derekmok.com

hm, i wondered where that came from, too, when i saw it. then again, the entire sequence should be affected, but it isn't, only the sections where there are still frames superimposed (or fades on the video track).

i fiddled with the parameters 'field dominance' and 'field reordering' on a copy without really knowing what i'm doing, because reading up on this (http://lurkertech.com/lg/fields/) is way over my head. but what do you know... eventually i managed to export a working sequence.

this may be nice, but because it was trial and error, it isn't. i don't feel like poking around in parameters i don't understand and hope that i eventually get something that works. that leaves an uncertain feeling that it might not work somewhere else, for example. in addition, when i drag my first clip to the timeline, i'm always asked if i want to match the clip's settings (as i'm sure you've all seen), so i assumed FCP made the appropriate adjustments.

food for thought...

thanks,
stefan

--
macpro 2x3 ghz dual core intel, 10.6.8, FCS 2

> hm, i wondered where that came from, too, when i saw it. then again, the entire
> sequence should be affected

> only the sections where there are still frames superimposed (or fades on the video track).

If something doesn't need rendering, then that setting won't be affecting it. Did you try setting it to 100%?


www.derekmok.com

derek,

i just tried that and the 100% setting made no difference (other than a change in timeline color to a darkish yellow-green). still only 50% of the frames wherever there are two video tracks playing.

another thing i just tried is adding some video material on v1 instead of still images. then it works (even at the 50% setting). is there something i should know about adding stills to the timeline? these are just a bunch of jpegs at pretty low resolution.

confused,
stefan

--
macpro 2x3 ghz dual core intel, 10.6.8, FCS 2

>i just tried that and the 100% setting made no difference (other than a change in timeline color
>to a darkish yellow-green).

Re-render that portion, or disable clip, and re-render that portion. And those are NOT defaults. The default is always 100% for both render frame rate and resolution.



www.strypesinpost.com

strypes Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >i just tried that and the 100% setting made no
> difference (other than a change in timeline color
>
> >to a darkish yellow-green).
>
> Re-render that portion, or disable clip, and
> re-render that portion. And those are NOT
> defaults. The default is always 100% for both
> render frame rate and resolution.


you know this is so bizarre, i did what you suggested. just turned the track off and on and rerendered. rendering took a hell of a lot longer than usual, and then it worked! i get all my frames. i then switched back to 50% out of curiosity and still all frames play back.

i don't know what the 50% setting is supposed to do really, but i know that i never switched to 50% in the first place. i've never even opened that panel and you said that these are not defaults. so i really wonder what made that setting switch.

anyway, back to the real editing task now. thanks much!

stefan

--
macpro 2x3 ghz dual core intel, 10.6.8, FCS 2