How to run Color below its minimum requirements

Color has some pretty stringent requirements. This tip will tell you how to run Color when you do not meet the minimum system requirements. Why would you want to do this? Well, maybe you have a slow machine and just want to grade a couple of simple shots or perhaps you would like to learn how to use the software before buying a new machine. Whatever the reason, here's how to do it.

Note that Apple doesn't set minimum requirements for the sake of it, and you may experience strange behavior from this tip. I wouldn't advise this for production use.

When you launch Color, it will tell you specifically what is wrong with your configuration. In this case, it is less than 128 MB of VRAM (graphics card memory).



1. Go to Applications, ctrl-click on Color and select Show Package Contents.



2. Browse to Contents/Resources.

3. Double-click minsys.plist to open it up in Property List Editor. Alternatively, you can open it in TextEdit. You might want to save a backup of this file before you change anything.



4. You will see several self-explanatory options here such as minimum QuickTime version and minimum system memory. Go to AELMinimumVRAM and change it from 128 to something lower. As I am running it on a system with 64 MB of VRAM, I will change it to 64. Just set it to something lower-than or equal-to what you currently have.



5. Save the file and open Color.

If your screen resolution is set too low, the Color interface will be tiny and unfortunately this is a side-effect of hacking the system requirements. Obviously they are there for a reason.

This tip applies to all programs in Final Cut Studio, not just Color.

Update: Our System Toolkit utility now automates this task. Just select the application name and tick Low Minimum Requirements.

Final Cut Server released

It's Tuesday, which means more goodies from Apple. Apple today released their long-awaited and much-delayed Final Cut Server software, based on the Artbox software they bought from Proximity.

Final Cut Server is an asset management system that allows you to keep track of your media. It is especially useful for facilities with a large stock footage library or companies dealing with large amounts of footage, such as news rooms.

It is also useful for smaller facilities as well. I particularly like the versioning system which tracks changes made to a file, showing you who made the change and when, and offering you a way of reverting the changes if necessary.

One of my favorite features is the event system. You can ask Final Cut Server to watch a specific attribute such as a metadata field and perform an action when that is changed, such as uploading files to a server.

The server software is Mac-only but the client software is for both PC and Mac (this probably had something to do with the delays). Here are the system requirements:

Server software
* A Mac computer with a 1.8GHz or faster PowerPC G5, Intel Core Duo, Intel Core 2 Duo, or Intel Xeon processor (Intel Core Duo, Intel Core 2 Duo, or Intel Xeon processor recommended)
* 2GB of RAM (4GB recommended)
* AGP or PCI Express Quartz Extreme graphics card (Final Cut Server is not compatible with integrated Intel graphics processors)
* Mac OS X v10.5 or later
* QuickTime 7.4.1 or later
* A CD drive for installation
* 500MB of available disk space

Client software for Mac computers
* A Mac computer with a 1.25GHz or faster PowerPC G4, PowerPC G5, Intel Core Duo, Intel Core 2 Duo, or Intel Xeon processor
* 1GB of RAM
* AGP or PCI Express Quartz Extreme graphics card (Final Cut Server is not compatible with integrated Intel graphics processors)
* A display with 1024-by-768 resolution or higher
* Mac OS X v10.4.11 or later
* QuickTime 7.4.1 or later
* Java for Mac OS X v10.4 Release 6 or later
* Final Cut Pro 6.0.2 or later for Final Cut Pro integration
* 20MB of available disk space

Client software for Windows-based computers
* A PC with Windows XP (SP2) or Vista
* 1GB of RAM
* AGP or PCI Express Quartz Extreme graphics card (Final Cut Server is not compatible with integrated Intel graphics processors)
* A display with 1024-by-768 resolution or higher
* QuickTime 7.4.1 or later
* Java SE Runtime Environment (JRE) 6 Update 4 or later
* 20MB of available disk space

Important areas to note:
* The server software is Leopard-only.
* You must fit a separate graphics card to the machine as the on-board graphics will not suffice. Also note that the G5 servers do not even have on-board graphics. This also affects any machine that you connect to it as well, which rules out MacBooks and low-end PCs.

Final Cut Server is now available for $999 (10-client version) and $1999 (Unlimited version). Interestingly, the upgrade for the 10-client version is $999 which makes it cheaper by a dollar to upgrade the 10-client version than it is to buy the unlimited version outright.

Exporting chapter markers to DVD Studio Pro

I am constantly seeing posts on Apple's support boards by people who can't get this to work. This seems to be a common problem so I'm going to give a step-by-step workflow followed by troubleshooting tips at the end.

1. In the Final Cut Pro timeline, navigate to the point you wish to place the marker, press M once to place a regular marker and then press M again to open up the Edit Marker dialog.



Make sure that you are adding the markers to the sequence itself and not to an individual clip. There are some rules though - Don't place one within 1 second of the beginning, don't place one within 1 second of the end and don't place them less than 1 second apart.

2. Click the button marked Add Chapter Marker and it will automatically insert some text into the box. Do not change this text; just click Ok.



Repeat for every marker.

3. Go to File > Export > QuickTime Movie. Do not export as QuickTime Conversion. Under the Markers drop-down, select DVD Studio Pro Markers.



Or Go to File > Export > Using Compressor. This will not display a dialog box but you will be able to see markers on the timeline in the Preview window.



4. Export the file.

5. Open up DVD Studio Pro and drag the exported file onto a track.



In the timeline, drag the edge of the horizontal scroll bar to decrease the size of the timeline and see everything at once. You should be able to see all of your chapter markers.



6. Go to Simulate and double-check that they work.

Troubleshooting

• I think most problems are caused by not knowing the restrictions on chapter markers. This is from the FCP 6 manual:
  * No chapter marker should appear closer than 1 second to the beginning or end of
  your edited sequence.
  * A chapter marker should be at least 1 second away from any other chapter marker.
  * A maximum of 99 chapter markers can be placed within a single program.
  * When you export from a sequence, only sequence markers are exported; markers in
  clips are ignored.
  * When you export a clip from the Browser, the clip's markers are exported.


• Markers within nested sequences will not be exported.


• You must select DVD Studio Pro Marker and not Chapter Marker under the QuickTime export options.


• Don't put chapter and compression markers in the same marker!


• I have had better luck with DVD Studio Pro Marker rather than All Markers in the QT export dialog.


• Be aware that if you export a QT movie with markers and then import it into Compressor, you will lose your chapter markers if you do not have Compressor 3 (included with Final Cut Studio 2).


• I have heard of people having success by trashing their preferences. We have a free utility that will automate it for you - Preference Manager.

Let me know if you can think of any more troubleshooting tips.

QuickTime 7.4.5 released

Apple just released QuickTime 7.4.5 to coincide with the release of iTunes 7.6.2 and Front Row 2.1.3. The coincidence of these releases suggests that the QT update specifically affects those applications and offers no specific benefits to Final Cut Studio. If you have a working system, DON'T install it!

On the other hand, if your system is not working, you have nothing to lose. I'd advise cloning your system beforehand though, as a non-working system could potentially be made even worse by this update.

Here are the links... use at your peril!
QuickTime 7.4.5 for Panther
QuickTime 7.4.5 for Tiger
QuickTime 7.4.5 for Leopard

I have also updated our list of QuickTime downloads.

Preference Manager 1.0.2 released

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

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.

Shake error: Disk cache locked

When Shake restarts after a crash, you may be familiar with this message:



But what does it mean and which option should you choose?

Shake has two caches - one that stores whole frames and another that stores tiles (segments of frames). These two caches work together to speed up rendering and the responsiveness of the interface. These caches operate both in memory and on the disk. Although they are not quite the same, think of them as a similar concept to Final Cut Pro's render files.

When you quit Shake, it copies the memory cache to the disk cache (if you've ever wondered why there's a delay when you quit Shake, that's the reason) and leaves it on disk so that it is there the next time you open Shake.

If your machine crashes or you force-quit the application, this process does not take place and the disk cache becomes invalid. You are given the choice of moving the old cache to a temporary location and creating a new one (recommended) or disabling caching altogether (recommended only if you are running two copies of Shake on the same machine). Copying the cache to a temporary location allows you to salvage any required information from it before trashing it.

Speaking of which, if Shake crashes a lot, you will end up with lots of temporary caches cluttering up space (mine took up over 1 GB). Every so often, you should go to /var/tmp/Shake and delete all of the folders marked TempCache. Do not delete the one marked cache, as that is your current cache. Note that you will probably not be able to browse to the /var folder because it is hidden so it is recommended to go to the Go menu in the Finder and select Go to Folder and type the path in.

So in summary, when you get that message, you are recommended to click Ok and delete the temporary cache later. You might experience a loss of speed and responsiveness (most likely not noticeable) but Shake will gradually speed up as the cache is refilled with data over time.

P.S. I really should write more Shake articles. If you have any suggestions as to what you'd like to see, please let me know.

New tool: Preference Manager

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

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.

Final Cut Server coming soon?

Apple just mysteriously added a new category to their discussion forum named Artbox. Now, if you recall Artbox was originally developed by Proximity and was purchased by Apple two years ago and turned into Final Cut Server.

It was announced at NAB 2007 and slated for release in the summer of that year, but never came. It was then pushed back to January 2008 but still has not been released. I hope this is a sign that preparations are being made for its release.

The most plausible answer of course is that it's just a support section for existing Artbox users (rather late though, considering Apple purchased them in 2006), although I am not aware of Apple doing this for Final Touch users before the release of Color.