expensive software not working

Hokay,

So, I'm trying to take the FCP tutorial on how to use Color. I am running a G5 2.0 GHz dual processor PowerMac, with a GeForce 6800 Ultra AGP graphics card and 7 GB of RAM.

I select a 55 second sequence. The media is all on an eSATA RAID 0, and it's all DV, so the drive should be plenty fast.

First, I tried just sending it to Color. But, I get this "Importing Final Cut Pro XML" message, and a wheel that just keeps spinning. According to the System Monitor, my CPU is working its hardest. Then, I tried exporting the sequence from FCP as an XML file, and importing that into Color. Same result.

So, I try opening up a simple clip. I go to file>import>clip. Nothing happens. I try finding a clip in the Setup window. I can't get to any drive other than my startup drive, so I find some old quicktime file on my startup drive. I select it, and click "Import." Nothing happens.

Can anybody tell me what I am doing wrong? Please?

I also tried right-clicking a DV clip in the finder, and selecting "Open with Color." This also did not work.

Your system is below the minimum specs and Color included free with FCS so not sure how it's more expensive. Anyways- Color depends a lot on the graphics card for performance and it works best with ProRes and uncompressed. So I'd first suggest converting a clip to ProRes first and sending that to Color. If it still dies then it's your system specs- at least upgrade the graphics card. Here are the full specs:

Color-Specific Requirements

* The standard graphics card in any Mac Pro, 17-inch MacBook Pro, 24-inch iMac with Intel Core Duo, or 2.5GHz or faster Power Mac G5 Quad:
o ATI Mobility Radeon X1600
o ATI Radeon X1600
o NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT, 7600 GT, 7300 GT, 6600, or Quadro FX 4500
* A display with 1680-by-1050 resolution or higher
* A three-button mouse for full functionality

-Noah

Final Cut Studio Training, featuring the HVX200, EX1, EX3, DVX100, DVDSP and Color at [www.callboxlive.com]!
Author, RED: The Ultimate Guide to Using the Revolutionary Camera available now at: [www.amazon.com].
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Nothing is included "free" with the FCS. You buy the whole package, and the whole package costs $1200, and it's all supposed to work.

According to this page: [store.apple.com]

"The minimum system requirements to install ALL Final Cut Studio applications" includes the hardware that I have. In fact, my GeForce 6800 Ultra should be well suited to the software. And, my 7 GB of RAM should be plenty. And my G5 PowerMac 2.0 GHz dual processor should be just fine.

According to the Color specific page (http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/specs.html), the only additional "highly recommended" hardware is the ATI Radeon X1900 XT. But, since it is supposed to work on AGP macs, and I have the highest end AGP graphics card ever built for a mac, with the highest benchmarks for Apple Pro applications, I would think that it would at least WORK, if maybe a hair more slowly than their recommendation.

So, if what you are telling me is that my hardware is not capable of running Color, than I am telling you that Apple is guilty of false advertisement.

However, I suspect that there is a different answer. Anybody? Please?

I run color on less and it works fine.
Dual 2Ghz G5 with only 2.5 GB RAM.

Something else is wrong.

Johan Polhem
Motion Graphics
www.johanpolhem.com

NoahK Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Your system is below the minimum specs and Color
So I'd first
> suggest converting a clip to ProRes first and
> sending that to Color. If it still dies then it's
> your system specs- at least upgrade the graphics
> card. Here are the full specs:
>
> Color-Specific Requirements
>
> * The standard graphics card in any Mac Pro,
> 17-inch MacBook Pro, 24-inch iMac with Intel Core
> Duo, or 2.5GHz or faster Power Mac G5 Quad:
> o ATI Mobility Radeon X1600
> o ATI Radeon X1600
> o NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT, 7600 GT, 7300
> GT, 6600, or Quadro FX 4500
> * A display with 1680-by-1050 resolution or
> higher
> * A three-button mouse for full functionality
>
> -Noah

I believe you need at least a Quad G5 to even use ProRez codecs. Used to be a MacPro only or not, but Apple has fixed it up a little.

Not sure what a 2.0 Ghz Mac AGP can do with Color as Apple specifically states that while you can LOAD the applications on a slower system with a lower rated video card; Color will not operate optimally on a slower machine that a Quad G5. In fact my Quad G5 does do Color but not well without an upgraded PCI Express Video card.

Actually, I got Color working fine on my machine. It was a matter of following the prep instructions posted by "janghos" to a tee. You can't have anything in your sequence with a speed effect, or any sort of compositing, and it all has to be on V1.

I am sure everything will work better when I upgrade my system, but for now, Color does work, and it works fine.

_________________________________________________
"[Final Cut Pro is] so pretty when [Final Cut Pro is] faithful to me."
-- Pixies

one work around for the fact that Color can't import speed changes, graphics, multi track composites, etc., is to simply export these sections as FCP movies. The trick is to be using your final Res and codec version (online vs offline version) at this point, and exporting with FCP mov not QT is the best way to be sure your mov export specs are exactly the same as your project sequence specs. Then import the FCP mov files back into FCP and edit into your sequence, as one track, then send to Color. You should obviously set up an new sequence for the version with the mov imports,
saving your sequence with the speed changes, composites, etc.
When exporting the FCP movs, you can use "make self contained movie" or not, both options will work. NOT checking the self contained option saves drive space. But I like to use self contained for archiving reasons. That way the movs are not dependent on the render files and original captures
to function, but it's just a preference, not self contained with work great, as long as you keep all your render files and media in tact while using the movs in FCP. Self contained just means that FCP makes a complete independent duplicate of the media. But if these exports are small sections of your sequence as opposed to your entire sequence, the extra drive space needed will be small as well.

Hope this helps,
Paul Buhl