Utilities Category: Digital Rebellion Blog

How to change default preferences for our online tools

Sat, 31 May 08 02:19:27 -0600

I recently had a question about this. We have several useful online tools in the resources section of the site, many of which are used by people on a regular basis.

However, if you consistently work with a particular format (e.g. HDV) or work in meters instead of feet, it can be annoying to have to change the settings each time you want to use it. Here's how to get around that.

1. Delete your old bookmark for the page.
2. Go to the page and select the settings you would like to be the new defaults.
3. Click "Link to this calculation".
4. Bookmark the page.

For bonus points, you could create separate bookmarks for different settings - e.g. one for HD projects and one for SD for example.

"Codec overrun" error when installing our applications

Mon, 26 May 08 01:17:14 -0600

A couple of people have emailed me to say that they are getting "codec overrun" errors when trying to mount disk images of our applications.

This error means that the file got corrupted during the download process. The most probable reason for this is that they are using download manager software such as Speed Download that breaks up the file into chunks and downloads each one separately before piecing them back together.

Some people have reported that they receive this error when sharing their internet connection via Airport (for some bizarre reason).

The solution to this problem is to either disable such software or download the zipped alternatives that I have now made available on every product page.

FCS Remover
Preference Manager

New tool: Power Load Calculator

Sat, 24 May 08 01:16:19 -0600

We've just released a new online tool to the resources section of our site - Power Load Calculator.

Power Load Calculator allows you to calculate the load on a particular circuit when certain devices are plugged in. For example, you can calculate whether or not the circuit breakers in a location can handle the lights you want to use and if not, the size of the generator that needs to be hired. This sort of thing is better discovered during pre-production and not on the day of shooting, so this calculator is very useful in that regard.

You can also calculate the minimum circuit breaker size for a given power load which is very useful if you are upgrading a building's power supply in order to accommodate your needs.

As usual, there is also an iPhone edition available.

Check out our resources section for more tools.

Why FCS Remover misses out the Final Cut Server database

Thu, 24 Apr 08 15:57:16 -0600

I've been getting this question a lot lately. FCS Remover removes all of the files on the disk but it does not remove the Final Cut Server database. This can cause problems when reinstalling because the installer does not ask you for information such as the profile (e.g. Video Production) and Media / Proxy Media locations again, as these are stored in the database and not in a preference file on the disk like most of its other applications. This database is hidden away in the depths of the filesystem and this thread on Apple's discussion boards suggests Apple's thoughts on the subject of removing it:

Apple and myself worked on this issue for the past two hours. We found the solution and I got mine fixed in about 30 seconds. However, Apple has respectfully asked me not to post the solution here for a variety of reasons. This IS new software and they are working very hard on providing resolutions in their support area and in FCS updates.

While I would love to help all of you... please wait for Apple to offer their solutions. It will def. be better than the quick fix that we found tonight.

It sounds like Apple is aware of the problem and wants to be given the opportunity to fix it in their own time. I will respectfully grant them that opportunity, although I am prepared to add support in FCS Remover should Apple choose not to fix the problem.

New tool: Lens Angle Calc

Tue, 22 Apr 08 15:07:52 -0600

We've just released a new online tool: Lens Angle Calc. This allows you to calculate the horizontal or vertical lens angle from a given frame width / height and lens focal length.

This is very useful because it allows you to plan your shoot on paper and work out exactly where the camera should be placed before you even arrive on set - saving valuable time and avoiding awkward situations in small locations where you can't see the subject on your widest lens with your back against the wall. It is invaluable for effects work, where everything must be planned out in meticulous detail.

It can also work out the focal length of the lens from a given lens angle and frame width or height - very useful for working out which lens should be used in a certain situation.

Lens Angle Calc
Lens Angle Calc (iPhone version)

See our other web applications here.

FCS Remover 1.0.7 released

Fri, 18 Apr 08 13:14:03 -0600

We've just released FCS Remover 1.0.7.

The biggest new feature is Final Cut Server support (thanks to Morten Schmidt for helping with this). Clicking "Remove Final Cut Server" will remove the Final Cut Server software but not Compressor or Qmaster. To remove these as well, you will have to click "Remove Final Cut Studio" as unfortunately these two applications overlap into both pieces of software.

It also removes some Final Cut Studio support files that were missed out in previous versions.

FCS Remover allows you to remove Final Cut Studio 1 and 2, Final Cut Express and Final Cut Server at the press of a button.

Bug report
Feature request

Preference Manager 1.0.4 released

Sat, 12 Apr 08 12:04:35 -0600

We've just released Preference Manager 1.0.4. There's only one new feature but it's a big one.

We've completely overhauled the backup system so that backups are now stored in one compressed file instead of several folders. A lot of users want to synchronize settings between, say a work machine and a home machine. This new feature makes it much easier - just keep a copy of the file and Preference Manager on an external disk, install Preference Manager on the second machine and double-click the file. Easy.

However, these changes have caused old backups to be completely incompatible with the new version. They won't even appear in the Restore list. Don't worry though - I added a function to convert old backups to the new format. Just go to File > Convert Backups to New Format. Browse to your backup folder (default is ~/Library/Application Support/Digital Rebellion/Preference Manager/Backups), select all of your old backup folders and click the Open button to convert them to the new format. The old folders will remain on the disk in case you need them but if not, they can be safely deleted.

Preference Manager is a utility for trashing, backing up and restoring Final Cut Studio preference files, button bars, keyboard layouts, window layouts, user plugins, column layouts, track layouts and custom settings. This allows you to repair problems and copy useful settings to a second machine.

Thanks to everyone who put in feature requests and bug reports. Keep them coming.

To be notified of future updates, subscribe to our appcast or this blog.

Preference Manager 1.0.3 released

Fri, 11 Apr 08 12:26:37 -0600

We just released Preference Manager 1.0.3. This is a quick bug fix version that repairs a rather annoying bug some of you were getting - the dreaded "The volume 'Digital Rebellion' does not exist" message.

I was aware of it and had fixed it a couple of days ago. I was planning to delay the release until early next week, as I had several features I wanted to implement over the weekend but unfortunately the number of reports I received about this bug prompted me to release this fix early.

Lots of people have been contacting me with suggestions for future versions, some of which excited me a lot because they were such great ideas. Keep it up, I appreciate it a lot.

Submit bug report
Submit feature request
Subscribe to our appcast

Preference Manager 1.0.2 released

Wed, 02 Apr 08 12:38:51 -0600

Sorry for the lack of blog updates recently; I have been working in Italy with intermittent internet access. But I'm now back and we've just released Preference Manager 1.0.2. It offers the following changes:

Bug fix: A check is now performed for unmounted external volumes. If you set your backup location to an external disk and unmount it, the app will copy files to the default location until you plug it back in.
Feature: Added New Folder button to Browse dialog.
Feature: A lot of you requested it and here it is: you can now back up FCP button bars, keyboard layouts, column layouts, window layouts, track layouts, custom settings and user plugins.

("User plugins" refers to plugins residing in your ~/Library/Preferences/Final Cut Pro User Data/Plugins directory)

For those not yet aware, Preference Manager is an application that allows you to trash, backup and restore your Final Cut Studio preference files. This allows you to create a "working configuration" backup and restore to that when things go wrong. It also allows you to copy across your settings, window layouts, button bars etc, when you switch to another machine.

To be notified of future software updates, use the built-in application updater, subscribe to this blog or subscribe to our appcast.

Preference Manager v1.0.1 released

Fri, 21 Mar 08 10:12:22 -0600

I've been getting a lot of feedback about our new application, Preference Manager. A lot of you have really good ideas and we've just released Preference Manager 1.0.1 to take some of these suggestions into account. Here are the new features:

Bug fix: The help link is now correct.
Feature: You can now set a custom backup location (in Preferences). This feature was highly requested.
Feature: If a backup exists, you now have the option of overwriting it.
Feature: There is now a "Show in Finder" button in the Restore dialog.

Keep that feedback coming in via the bug report and feature request forms.

New tool: Preference Manager

Wed, 19 Mar 08 17:43:47 -0600

We've just introduced a new tool - Preference Manager. This application allows you to trash, backup and restore your Final Cut Studio preference files.

Preference files store information about user preferences, window and toolbar placements, and launch settings. Sometimes these can become corrupted, causing problems. Preference Manager allows you to trash corrupted preferences and keep backups of working preference files in order to quickly restore your settings.

Now, I know there are a few other apps on the market that do this as well, so what makes Preference Manager unique? Well, for a start, it works for the entire Final Cut Studio suite, not just Final Cut Pro. In addition, it is completely free, you are not limited by the number of backups you can perform, you can assign names to your backups, and it is Leopard-compatible.

As always, we are trying to create a genuinely useful application, so your comments and suggestions are encouraged.

FCS Remover 1.0.6 released

Tue, 18 Mar 08 04:32:05 -0600

We've just released a new version of FCS Remover, taking it up to 1.0.6. This update offers no new features but makes changes to some elements of the automatic updating facility. It is a recommended update because in the next few days we are going to make some changes that will cause problems with it.

FCS Remover is a program to automatic the uninstallation of Final Cut Studio and Final Cut Express. It has many uses such as wiping an old version before updating, downgrading to an older version or simply removing the entire suite from your machine.

FCS Remover 1.0.5 released

Fri, 14 Mar 08 14:34:17 -0600

We've just released FCS Remover 1.0.5, based on much-appreciated user feedback. This new version offers Final Cut Express support (version 3.5 (HD) and 4, although earlier versions may work as well) plus a couple of bug fixes.

If you don't know, FCS Remover is a tool that allows you to completely remove Final Cut Studio (and now Express as well) and its associated components. Why would you want to do this? Well, maybe you are planning to upgrade to a later version and want to fully uninstall the previous one in order to improve the stability of your upgraded system and reduce issues. Or you might be one of the unfortunate few experiencing problems with a particular patch and wish to downgrade.

Alternatively, you may be swapping project files between your up-to-date machine and a machine running an earlier version, although an XML export is the recommended way of dealing with this problem.

Whatever the reason, we always appreciate your feedback, bug reports and feature requests.

Subscribe to our appcast feed to be automatically notified of future updates.

Apple announces iPhone SDK

Thu, 06 Mar 08 14:48:06 -0700

Apple today gave details on its iPhone SDK (Software Development Kit). You can read more about it on AppleInsider. What I'm going to focus on is our iPhone apps and how this affects them.

Firstly, our offline apps will be replaced by SDK applications. They haven't been updated in a while and they are slow, so it makes sense to do this.

The standard (non-iPhone) web apps will stay. The iPhone web apps will probably stay too, as they don't need much extra work.

Applications will be delivered via iTunes, and will remain free.

None of this will happen until the iPhone 2.0 firmware is released in June. Note that Apple is limiting it to the US at first but will gradually roll it out to other countries.

FCS Remover 1.0.4 released

Wed, 05 Mar 08 16:09:19 -0700

I just commissioned a quick patch for FCS Remover, bringing it up to 1.0.4. The removal of some extra frameworks was added in v1.0.3 but the corresponding package receipts were not removed, leading the FCS installer to mistakenly think that the frameworks were installed when they weren't. This caused some "missing framework" errors when starting FCP up after reinstalling.

This is now fixed in v1.0.4. Apologies for any inconvenience caused by this bug.

To be notified of new updates automatically, subscribe to our appcast feed.

NewsFire now completely free

Sun, 02 Mar 08 00:32:01 -0700

I just heard that the developer of NewsFire is now offering the popular Mac feed reader for free. I recommended this even when it cost money (I am a paid user) so I recommend it even more now that it is free.

So what is it and why do you need it? Well, those little orange buttons you see on web pages are links to RSS feeds. An RSS feed is a tiny file containing textual information such as posts from a blog or software updates. If you have a favorite site or blog, you can be notified of updates without having to visit the site every day. Obviously this saves a lot of time and bandwidth.

I didn't think I needed one until I tried it, and the time I saved was tremendous. If you see a new site you like the look of, put it in your feed reader and forget about it until the next update. Visiting a site to check for updates that don't exist is very inefficient.

NewsFire is a great program because, as the developer himself says: "Unlike other readers, NewsFire is designed with a deliberately minimal interface. The news is what matters and it takes center stage." And now it's free, so try it out.

We have several feeds on this site, listed here. We also have an appcast feed that tells you when one of our applications is updated.

[via TUAW]

FCS Remover 1.0.3 released

Fri, 29 Feb 08 15:35:10 -0700

We've just released version 1.0.3 of FCS Remover. This doesn't offer any new features - it's just a small release to chase up some Final Cut Studio files that were not deleted in previous versions.

For those that don't know, FCS Remover is a freeware utility to remove the entire Final Cut Studio. Why would you want to do this? Well, it's a good thing to do if you are upgrading from a previous version of Final Cut Studio or Final Cut Pro. Sometimes upgrade installations do not work very well so an installation from scratch is recommended. The best way of doing this is to completely wipe your hard disk, but we understand that not everyone wants to do this. FCS Remover fills the gap by removing Final Cut Studio and leaving the operating system and your other files intact, allowing you to install a new version.

Other people use it for reinstalling an unstable installation of FCS, while others use it to downgrade to a previous version in order to save Final Cut Pro projects to an earlier format for compatibility reasons.

FCS Remover can be downloaded here for free. Also keep an eye on our appcast or this blog for updates and new releases.

How to clone and restore your system

Fri, 22 Feb 08 15:25:17 -0700

This is a quick guide to cloning and restoring your system. I'd advise that you print this out and keep it in a safe place by your machine so that you won't waste time looking for it when your machine goes down.

Cloning your machine will create an exact copy of every single file on your computer onto a second hard drive. This can be either an internal or external disk. I'd advise external over internal because if something damages your machine, the external disk won't get damaged as well. The best time to create a clone is right after you have done a fresh Erase and Install of your operating system, have installed all of your apps and are ready to go.

Cloning
1. Download and install Carbon Copy Cloner.

2. If you are cloning to an external drive, connect it now.

3. Fire up Carbon Copy Cloner from your Applications folder. In the dialog that appears, select your system drive as the source and set your backup drive as the target.

4. Under options, make sure "Copy everything from source to target" is selected. You must check "Erase target volume" too, so as not to cause conflicts with data already on the disk. If you do not check this, the drive may not be bootable and this whole process would be pointless.

5. Click Clone and wait for it to finish. Be aware that this could take several hours.

6. Unmount your external disk (if applicable) and keep it in a safe, dry place, not too hot and not too cold. If you're paranoid like me, I'd advise connecting it to your machine every so often and verifying the disk in Disk Utility to make sure that it everything is ok.

Restoring
So the worst has happened. Your system is completely hosed and you have a deadline in 12 hours. What do you do?

Temporary Solution
1. Mount your backup disk, go to System Preferences and click on Startup Disk. If it is an external disk, it must be connected via FireWire in order to be bootable.

2. Select the backup drive in the drives list and click Restart.

3. The system will now restart in the backed-up "fresh" operating system.

This is a temporary solution to help you get your project finished without wasting time. You are advised to follow the permanent solution below.

If you have an external disk, make sure that it doesn't get disconnected either deliberately or accidentally. That's a good way to cause a kernel panic, which is never good. Don't put the machine to sleep. Shut the machine down completely before unplugging the drive. I once forgot the machine was asleep and unplugged it and my system completely froze. Not good.

Permanent Solution
1. Backup any data that you do not want to lose.
2. Boot to the backup hard disk as detailed in the Temporary Solution above.
3. In Carbon Copy Cloner, clone the backup disk over the startup disk. Follow the steps for cloning above but select your backup drive as the source and your startup disk as the target.
4. You must select "Erase the target drive".
5. Click Clone and wait for it to finish. Again, this could take several hours.
6. Go back to System Preferences > Startup Disk and set your startup disk back to the old drive and click Restart.

FCS Remover 1.0.2 released

Sat, 16 Feb 08 04:53:51 -0700

We've just released FCS Remover 1.0.2. FCS Remover is a free utility for uninstalling Apple's Final Cut Studio suite.

This update offers the following features and fixes:
* Compressor and Qmaster support
* Now removes Final Cut Studio codecs
* Now removes some extra files that were missed out in previous versions
* New automatic update facility

This is just a minor update to fix a couple of things. I've been receiving a lot of feedback and the next version will not only be faster, but it will allow you to select which Final Cut Studio products you wish to remove. I am planning to rewrite the application for the next release so please be patient. Your comments and suggestions have been noted though and the update facility will notify you when additional versions are available.

You can file bug reports and feature suggestions here:
Bug reporter
Feature request

As always, your feedback is highly appreciated.

I also wanted to let you know that we now have an appcast feed up and running. You can import this into an RSS reader such as NewsFire and be instantly notified of new application updates, complete with a link to install them immediately.

New tool: Pixel Aspect Ratio Calculator

Sun, 10 Feb 08 02:06:44 -0700

We've just released a new online tool on our site. Pixel Aspect Ratio Calc will take two image resolutions and work out the pixel aspect ratio needed to convert from one to the other.

It can also work out the necessary square-pixel resolution of a still image that will fit perfectly into the non-square pixel video frame. If you have ever tried to resize still images to fit into an NTSC frame, you will understand how useful this tool is.

Pixel Aspect Ratio Calc is available in two versions:
Pixel Aspect Ratio Calc (standard)
Pixel Aspect Ratio Calc (iPhone edition)

See our Resources section for more tools.

Essential tools: Perian

Thu, 07 Feb 08 10:21:13 -0700

Perian's icon is a swiss-army knife and that couldn't be a better description. It is a codec pack for QuickTime that allows you to play back a whole host of formats including AVI, DivX and 3ivX. These are PC formats that we editors get given from time to time and it is incredibly useful to have a free Mac component to view them with.

Some people have reported problems with it but I personally have experienced none so far.

The brand new version 1.1 (just came out today) features the following changes:
* Major performance improvements
* TrueAudio, MP1, and DTS audio support
* Slice-based multithreaded decoding for MPEG-1/2/H.264
* Apple H.264 now handles AVCHD/interlaced video
* Compatibility fixes for QuickTime 7.4 and Leopard
* Objective-C GC compatibility
* Fixed a crash in Toast
* Better subtitle rendering
* Subtitles play during MKV loading
* Snow support
* Miscellaneous bug fixes

Perian can be downloaded here for free.

FCS Remover v1.0.1 released

Mon, 04 Feb 08 11:29:35 -0700

Just a quick patch to fix a couple of issues with the first release.

Changes:
* Added Final Cut Pro HD 4.5 support.
* FCS Remover no longer removes third-party plugins.

FCS Remover v1.0.1 is available here.

About FCS Remover
FCS Remover is a utility for Mac OS X designed to uninstall Apple's Final Cut Studio and its related components. This can be useful for downgrading to a previous version or removing an old installation before upgrading.

FCS Remover is freeware and is designed for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and 10.5 Leopard.

Tool updates: Web clip icons now available

Tue, 29 Jan 08 06:34:10 -0700

With the iPhone 1.1.3 firmware, Apple added the ability to bookmark web pages ("web clips") onto your iPhone home screen. This is a great new addition that allows you quick and easy access to favorite web sites. Unfortunately, the default icon for the web clip is a tiny shrunk-down version of the page, which looks very unsightly, not to mention confusing for similar-looking pages.

We have now updated our online tools to replace these shrunk-down images with the relevant application's icon, as has been requested by several people recently.

View the updated iPhone applications here:
Footage Calc (iPhone version)
Film Rate Calc (iPhone version)
Aspect Ratio Calc (iPhone version)
Depth of Field Calc (iPhone version)

As always, we appreciate feedback on these applications. Just use the link at the bottom of every page.

New online tool: Depth of Field Calculator

Tue, 29 Jan 08 06:27:48 -0700

This tool will calculate the depth of field for a given sensor or film type, aperture, focal length, and subject distance (the distance from the camera to the person or object you are focusing on). A lower number means that a large proportion of the background will remain in sharp focus and a higher number means that a smaller proportion (if any) will be in focus.

It also includes presets for popular video cameras. Selecting a preset will automatically change the sensor type to fit your camera.

We have two versions:
Depth of Field Calc (standard)
Depth of Field Calc (iPhone)

This tool was created as a result of feedback by users of our other other tools. We always appreciate feedback so we can create the best possible experience for you. Just use the feedback link at the bottom of every page to send your comments anonymously.

DiskWarrior 4.1 adds Leopard support

Fri, 25 Jan 08 01:17:49 -0700

I've mentioned DiskWarrior before. It has been a life-saver to me, and is well worth the asking price of $99.95. It will diagnose and fix hard disk problems that Disk Utility cannot. DiskWarrior is an essential editors' tool in the fight against data loss.

Version 4.1 adds Leopard support and support for Leopard-specific features such as the ability to repair Time Machine volumes.

Note, however, that you cannot repair Leopard volumes from within Tiger, so if you were trying to repair a Time Machine volume it would fail.

FCS Remover - Easily uninstall Final Cut Studio

Mon, 21 Jan 08 09:07:36 -0700

By popular demand, we've just created a new tool on the site that allows you to uninstall Final Cut Studio. One of the Mac's biggest failings is the lack of software uninstallation options. In order to remove an application, you must delete the program from Applications and then trawl through the Library folders and delete all related files. This is tedious and there is a real risk of accidentally deleting something that shouldn't be deleted.

With Final Cut Studio, the problem is particularly apparent because recently, many users have discovered hardware and software compatibility problems with the latest versions. They wish to downgrade to a previous version but they cannot install a previous version unless the latest version is removed. Simply deleting the Final Cut Pro application in the Applications folder doesn't work.

FCS Remover automates this process, moving Final Cut Studio applications and support files to your Trash without disturbing your documents. It is better than general purpose third-party uninstallers because it is designed specifically for Final Cut Studio and so you can be certain that it is not automatically removing files it should not. For safety, it moves your files to the Trash rather than deleting them outright so you can see exactly what has been moved before you click "Empty".

FCS Remover is a free download for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and 10.5 Leopard. We would appreciate your feedback and suggestions.

Footage Calc updates

Wed, 16 Jan 08 13:51:41 -0700

Our online tool for calculating the disk space requirements of various video codecs has just been updated. It now supports the following file formats and codecs:

* AJA KONA 10-bit RGB
* AJA 2Vuy
* Cineon
* Maya IFF format
* MPEG-2 at 6.2Mbps, 5.0Mbps and 3.7Mbps fixed bit rate
* OpenEXR
* SGI
* SGI Raw
* Softimage format
* Uncompressed Targa images (TGA)
* Uncompressed TIFF images

Footage Calc
Footage Calc (iPhone version)

These additions are all based on user feedback. Use the feedback link at the bottom of every page to tell us your likes, dislikes, bug reports and suggestions.

Tool updates

Sat, 12 Jan 08 06:18:54 -0700

We've updated some of our online tools to reflect the feedback we've been receiving from you.

Footage Calc
* Slightly improved loading speed of mobile version.
* Support for Uncompressed 720p and 1080p 4:2:2 at 8-bit and 10-bit
* Improved accuracy of AVID PAL 2:1 Best

Film Rate Calc
* Slightly improved loading speed of mobile version.

Aspect Ratio Calc
* Slightly improved loading speed of mobile version.
* Changes you make in one dialog transfer across to the others. For example, if you type 1280x720 into the Res box in the Aspect Ratio dialog and then switch to Height, the width and aspect ratio in the new dialog will reflect the previous calculation.
* Extra statistics - you can now view the unrounded aspect ratio, and round width and height calculations to the nearest 16th.

Remember that we always appreciate your feedback and are committed to providing a genuinely useful service. Just click the feedback link at the bottom of the page and leave your thoughts.

Tool update: Aspect Ratio Calc

Tue, 01 Jan 08 10:58:09 -0700

We've just updated our online Aspect Ratio Calc tool based on your feedback. The tool now features a list of preset formats to choose from such as DV NTSC, HD 1080, 2K Academy, etc. Clicking on one of these will populate the text boxes with common image sizes for these formats.

Other additions include the ability to specify custom aspect ratios rather than just those contained in the list, plus several bug fixes.

We have a standard and an iPhone version available.

Keep up the feedback. We're always interested to hear how our products are helping you and, conversely, what isn't quite working. To leave feedback about a page, use the link at the very bottom.

Essential Tools: OnyX

Sun, 23 Dec 07 02:58:35 -0700

Mac OS X has a lot of maintenance features built into the operating system. Unfortunately, some of these features only run in the early hours of the morning (if the machine is on, of course) and some can only be run manually.

OnyX has the capability to run all of these manually or you can schedule more convenient times for these to run. It has a lot of features including checking your hard disk for impending failures, checking the structure of system files, extra options for customizing your system that are not present in System Preferences, repairing permissions, and optimizing your system's performance. These are essential tools to ensure the smooth running of your system. When you make a living from your computer, you want it to always perform at the peak of its capabilities.

OnyX is freeware and is available for Mac OS X versions 10.2 - 10.5.