ProKit 6.0.1 breaking Final Cut Studio

ProKit 6.0.1 came out last week with bug fixes for Logic and Aperture. No Final Cut Studio changes were mentioned, and in fact it would seem that a number of people have experienced problems after updating:

Apple Discussions - Installed Pro Kit 6.0.1... all Pro Apps down!

Apple Discussions - DVD Studio Pro 4.1.2/ProKit Update 6.0.1

LAFCPUG - WARNING - Just did Prokit update

Ken Stone - Last week's Pro Kit update 6.0.1-DVD studio Pro crashing

For the record, I know several people who have installed this update successfully with no problems whatsoever, but as this update doesn't specifically address anything in Final Cut Studio it's better to give it a miss.

Anyone experiencing issues should report the bug to Apple or leave feedback. There isn't a fix for this as of yet but some people have managed to repair it by restoring the old ProKit.framework file from their Time Machine backups or from another machine on their network.

(Note: FCS Remover won't help in this instance because ProKit is now integrated into OS X and FCS Remover never removes files that reside in the System directory for safety reasons.)

Update: Here's how to fix it.

FCP error: Project is unreadable or too new for this version

If you're getting the error message "Project is unreadable or may be too new for this version of Final Cut Pro" when you try to open a particular project, it may be due to one of three reasons:

1. The project was created with a newer version of Final Cut Pro. Make sure you have the latest version, or alternatively ask the person who gave you the project to export an XML file that you can import into an earlier version.

2. The project's metadata may be invalid. Use Project Repair to fix this.

3. The project is corrupt. There is unfortunately no fix for this. You will need to restore the project from a backup or autosave. Our FCP Versioner software automatically backs up your project every time you save it, and Autosave Cleaner can archive autosaves so that they are never automatically deleted by Final Cut Pro.

Removing the codec name from a Compressor destination

Whenever you export a Compressor batch, Compressor normally appends the name of the codec to the file, such as "-DV NTSC" for instance. This isn't always desirable.

Here's how to remove it:

1. Go to the Destinations tab.

2. Click the plus button (+) and select Local.



3. Browse to a location.

Important: Do not browse to the same directory as the source files otherwise the new files will overwrite the source media.

4. Under Output Filename Template, set it to Source Media Name. You can use the drop-down button to select template options.



5. Drag the new destination onto the clips in your batch.



6. If you want to use the new destination by default in all new batches, go to Preferences and set Default Destination to the destination you just created.

FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin 1.0.4 released

Last week we released version 1.0.4 of FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin, a tool to maintain, optimize and troubleshoot Final Cut Studio over a network.

Here are the significant new features in this version:

You can now specify a network interface to listen on

By default, the software will listen on any available network interface and a random open port to simplify configuration.

However, if you have Xsan set up on your network, you will have a network interface (ethernet port) reserved specifically for Xsan metadata use. In version 1.0.4, you can now set a specific interface to listen on which will ensure that data is only sent on that interface and not on the Xsan interface.

You can also set up a specific port to listen on if desired. Deselecting this option chooses a random open port.

Note: For now, Bonjour broadcasts are still sent on all interfaces regardless of which setting you choose. This is less of an issue because Bonjour uses very little bandwidth, but it will be addressed in a future version.

Extra statistics in Info dialog

The Info dialog for each client now displays more statistics about each system. The most important change, however, is the addition of the connected IP address and port. If you have connection issues and set up a specific network interface and port to listen on (as detailed above), check this dialog to ensure it is in fact connecting to the correct IP and port.

Support for beta software updates

You can now enable beta software updates for all client computers, which will allow you to install the latest FCS Maintenance Pack beta automatically on all systems at once.

Important: If the client computers are running restricted (non-administrator) user accounts, you will need version 1.3b2 or higher. They will not work with version 1.2.8.


FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin is priced at $69 for a 5-user license and $129 for an unlimited user license. Each client requires a separate version of FCS Maintenance Pack, with bundle pricing available. There is a 15-day trial of Network Admin that works with the 15-day trial of FCS Maintenance Pack.

We constantly strive to make things easier and if you have any suggestions for further improving Network Admin, we'd love to hear them.

FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3 Beta 2 released - Corrupt Clip Finder supports all FCS apps and more

We've just released a beta of the next major version of FCS Maintenance Pack, version 1.3.

This version offers many exciting new features, some of which are summarized below.

Corrupt Clip Finder now supports all Final Cut Studio applications

Corrupt Clip Finder can now search for corrupt clips inside Motion, Color, Soundtrack Pro, DVD Studio Pro and LiveType project files.

It can now also search for corrupt image files and flag up images that are larger than 4000 pixels, the maximum allowable image size in Final Cut Pro.

QT Repair is now multi-threaded

QT Repair now uses all of your available cores to scan files, resulting in significantly improved processing times. For best results, run it on Snow Leopard, as it benefits from optimizations made in 10.6.

QT Repair presets

QT Repair now offers you several presets for getting the most out of your files. It significantly reduces the learning curve and ensures that you don't waste time using settings that won't repair your file.

Keyboard shortcuts now supported for all apps

Keyboard shortcut support, introduced in beta 1 for QuickFix and FCS Housekeeper, has now been extended to all applications in the suite. Growl notifications, however, are still limited to QuickFix and FCS Housekeeper.

FCS Maintenance Pack uninstaller

FCS Maintenance Pack now has an uninstaller, included on the disk image. This makes it easy to go back to the stable 1.2.8 release after installing the beta, should you wish to do so.

Network Admin now works on restricted user accounts

FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin, our tool for managing FCS Maintenance Pack over a network, now works correctly with restricted user accounts when used in conjunction with FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3b2.


These changes are in addition to the many changes in the previous beta.

Please note that this is a beta release designed for evaluation purposes only. It is not intended for use in a production environment. If you require a stable version please use version 1.2.8 instead.

This will be a free update to all users when the final version is released, so if you buy version 1.2.8 today you will not be penalized for it.

To download this update, either visit the FCS Maintenance Pack product page or, if you have an existing version of FCS Maintenance Pack installed, go into the Preferences menu of Software Update and select the option to check for beta updates, then go to File > Check for Updates.

It's also worth noting that in addition to our regular appcast, we now have a beta appcast to separate beta updates from stable versions.

Final Cut Pro bug - Long delays with extended markers

There's a bug in Final Cut Pro 7 that causes the application to beachball when you load transitions into the Viewer. This seems to occur if you have long clips with long extended markers in them (i.e. markers with a duration longer than one frame).

Here's how to replicate:
1. Go to the Effects tab and drag a Bars & Tone generator into the Viewer.
2. Change the duration to 30 minutes (00:30:00;00) and bring it into the timeline. Repeat this step to add a second clip next to the first.
4. Select the first clip, press M to add a marker and then press M again to open up the marker settings dialog.
5. Set the marker duration to 15 minutes (00:15:00;00).
5. Add a cross-dissolve transition between the two clips.
6. Double-click the transition to open it in the Viewer. It will take several seconds to open and will probably beachball.

Observations:
* The extended marker does not need to pass through the transition in order for this to occur.
* Shortening the marker to 20 seconds only causes a brief delay.
* The effect still occurs with short master clips but it was lessened and did not beachball on my system.
* The effect is exacerbated if both clips on either side of a transition use long extended markers.
* This only seems to occur when you use the default transition length or values close to it (00:00:08;28 for NTSC). If you lengthen the transition significantly, it loads much faster. I'm not sure why this is - perhaps it was an anomaly on my system.
* The quantity of markers makes a difference. Loading the transition for a clip with ten 30-second markers takes significantly longer than loading one for a clip with just a single 30-second marker.
* The length of the clip on the timeline is irrelevant. It is the length of the master clip that makes the difference. This explains why even relatively short markers can experience this effect, as there may be a large number of them within a single master clip.

Workarounds:
* Give your markers a color that is not used for any other purpose, then go to Edit > Project Properties and hide markers for that particular color. This resolves the issue, and if you need to see them again, just go back to Project Properties and enable them. This is my recommended solution (thanks Nick).
* Use shorter or fewer markers.
* Split up master clips or export your timeline as a reference movie and put the markers on the exported clip. This workaround works better if your project is short.
* If you are using cross dissolves, consider emulating the effect with opacity keyframes instead.
* Instead of using extended markers, use single-frame markers with a color coding scheme - e.g. red for the beginning marker and green for the end marker.

Test Notes:
* I tested this on Final Cut Pro 7.0.2, OS X 10.6.4, QuickTime 7.6.6.
* Thanks to Thomas Berglund for his assistance in helping me replicate this.

FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin 1.0.3 released

Last week we released FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin 1.0.3, an important maintenance update.

FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin extends FCS Maintenance Pack to allow tasks to be performed simultaneously over a network. The Network Admin interface gives system administrators all the tools they need to manage, maintain and troubleshoot Final Cut Studio systems on their network.

With just one button press, administrators can repair Compressor, clean Final Cut Studio caches, analyze crash logs, synchronize plugins, troubleshoot problems and much more - saving time and allowing them to get on with more important tasks.



Notable changes in this version:

Improvements to software update mechanism

Previous versions of Network Admin used Sparkle to manage admin updates, with client updates handled separately by the Software Updates dialog within Network Admin. In some cases this would complicate things because you would need to install the client update first before the admin update.

We have now replaced Sparkle with a proprietary system that allows us to deliver all updates directly to the Software Updates dialog, providing a seamless update experience. Client updates are always installed first and Network Admin then closes to update itself before relaunching. This greatly simplifies things and means that you no longer need to worry about accidentally installing things in the wrong order.

Client updates can now be set remotely

With version 1.0.3 you no longer need to change client settings on each client one-by-one - you can now do it remotely from the admin interface.

FCS Maintenance Pack is priced at $69 for a 5-user license and $129 for an unlimited user license. Each client requires a separate version of FCS Maintenance Pack, with bundle pricing available. There is a 15-day trial of Network Admin that works with the 15-day trial of FCS Maintenance Pack here.

We constantly strive to make things easier and if you have any suggestions for further improving Network Admin, we'd love to hear them.

FCP Versioner 1.2.5 released - significant speed and accuracy improvements

We've just released a new version of FCP Versioner, bringing it up to version 1.2.5.

FCP Versioner is a backup and versioning utility for Final Cut Pro. It automatically backs up Final Cut Pro projects in XML format and generates changelogs to show exactly what has changed between revisions.

This version is aimed at improving the speed and accuracy of changelog generation and simplifying the results to improve readability.

It features the following notable changes:

Significant improvements to changelog generation speed

While we cannot improve the time it takes to generate an XML file (only Apple can change that), we can improve the time it takes for Versioner to process changes from one revision to the next.

FCP Versioner 1.2.5 performs these tasks significantly faster than version 1.2. As an example, one of my test projects took 3 minutes to generate changelogs for all 20 revisions on version 1.2. This time was reduced to 4 seconds in version 1.2.5, a 45-fold increase. We're not promising a 45-fold increase for all projects, but you should definitely see significant improvements in this area compared with the previous version.

Improved readability

FCP Versioner 1.2.5 now removes extraneous information to simplify the results.

For instance, if you change the start point of a clip on the timeline, version 1.2 notifies you that the start point and the in point of the clip changed. While this is perfectly accurate, it is unnecessary information because changing the start point implies that the in point was changed. Version 1.2.5 now simply notifies you that the start point changed.

Another example occurs when you modify two stereo-paired tracks. Version 1.2 notifies you of the change twice (once for each track) while 1.2.5 only notifies you once, as you would expect.

These are just a few of the many tweaks and under-the-hood modifications in FCP Versioner 1.2.5. It is available for Final Cut Pro 6.0.2 and above (the optional autosave feature requires version 7) for $59 and a 15-day trial is available here.