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John Deer
Level 1 (149 points)
Mac OS X

Q: Video files not showing in Shake.

This may sound really dumb and might be but I can't bring in most of my video files into Shake.  When I choose File In and choose the video file I get a black screen and scrubbing only shows a black screen.  As soon as I try anything I get all kinds of QuickTime Errors in the Console and keep getting errors of "First frame must be less than last frame in range."  There are some video files that are the same format and size that I can work with but most just show up as a black screen.  Really don't work with Shake that much but FCP's SmoothCam is just not working at all.  SmoothCam is worse than raw footage.

12 Core, 16GB RAM, Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on Jun 24, 2011 3:43 PM

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John Deer

Q: Video files not showing in Shake.

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  • by Patrick Sheffield,

    Patrick Sheffield Patrick Sheffield Jun 25, 2011 12:00 AM in response to John Deer
    Level 7 (29,175 points)
    Jun 25, 2011 12:00 AM in response to John Deer

    Don't use H.264 and try checking the AutoAlpha button in the FileIn node...

  • by John Deer,

    John Deer John Deer Jun 25, 2011 7:31 AM in response to Patrick Sheffield
    Level 1 (149 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 25, 2011 7:31 AM in response to Patrick Sheffield

    The .mov files are not compressed at all.  They are .mov right out of the camera.  If I send the same clip to Shake from FCP I can work with them.  I will try your AutoAlpha button some time this weekend.  I am trying this to see the difference between SmoothCam in both Shake and FCP.  FCP's SmoothCam filter is just not working as stated in the Forums.

  • by Patrick Sheffield,

    Patrick Sheffield Patrick Sheffield Jun 26, 2011 10:49 PM in response to John Deer
    Level 7 (29,175 points)
    Jun 26, 2011 10:49 PM in response to John Deer

    When you say "right out of the camera", that sounds an awful lot like H.264... what kind of camera we talking about?

  • by John Deer,

    John Deer John Deer Jun 27, 2011 7:45 AM in response to Patrick Sheffield
    Level 1 (149 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 27, 2011 7:45 AM in response to Patrick Sheffield

    The video files are .mov from AVCHD unless FCP converts them to H.264.  The camera if a Canon Vixia.

    First off I am a helicopter pilot.  Shooter next.  I know my knowledge of these apps is limited.  I don't live in the apps but have a working knowledge in using them.  Been pretty good in the past.  I am almost on the verge of purchasing Lock and Load because SmoothCam in FCP is not working as it should.  FCP is so much easier when applying other corrections, colors etc., after SmoothCam.  I was trying to compare quality between Shake and FCP.  Actually had to send the customer DVD's of un-smoothed footage because SmoothCam in FCP actually made the footage worse.  Thanks for your help.  I need all I can get.

  • by Patrick Sheffield,

    Patrick Sheffield Patrick Sheffield Jun 27, 2011 9:53 AM in response to John Deer
    Level 7 (29,175 points)
    Jun 27, 2011 9:53 AM in response to John Deer

    How did you convert from AVCHD to .MOV?

     

    As you can see from this grab, AVCHD doesn't contain movies:

     

    Screen shot 2011-06-27 at 9.51.38 AM.png

  • by John Deer,

    John Deer John Deer Jun 28, 2011 11:36 AM in response to Patrick Sheffield
    Level 1 (149 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 28, 2011 11:36 AM in response to Patrick Sheffield

    Patrick,  now you will see first hand my ignorance.  As far as I know FCP did it.  Since moving into digital camera and away from tape I have always understood that FCP automatically converts the AVCHD to .MOV since AVCHD is not native or cannot be used by FCP.  At least that is what I was told by a FCP Apple technician during a separate issue.

  • by Patrick Sheffield,

    Patrick Sheffield Patrick Sheffield Jun 28, 2011 12:43 PM in response to John Deer
    Level 7 (29,175 points)
    Jun 28, 2011 12:43 PM in response to John Deer

    Okay, so you used Log & Transfer to convert the AVCHD files to Quicktime Movies it would seem.

     

    What codec did you use? If ProRes 4444, that comes with an alpha channel, but that shouldn't affect your ability to view it. Have you tried the auto-alpha checkbox?

  • by John Deer,

    John Deer John Deer Jun 28, 2011 3:26 PM in response to Patrick Sheffield
    Level 1 (149 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 28, 2011 3:26 PM in response to Patrick Sheffield

    Patrick, again thank you for your help.  I did use the codec ProRes 422 for the Compressor codec, if I am stating this correctly.  I had been advised to use the ProRes422LT but don't know if this would help at all or if I can reintroduce the footage or change everything for the best usage.  There are some technical issues I just don't understand and the more I research about settings the more I get confused.  So, this is where I am now.

  • by Patrick Sheffield,

    Patrick Sheffield Patrick Sheffield Jun 28, 2011 3:52 PM in response to John Deer
    Level 7 (29,175 points)
    Jun 28, 2011 3:52 PM in response to John Deer

    422 is fine, you needn't re-transcode.

     

    And just so you know, FCP/Motion's SmoothCam was ported from Shake...

     

    Have you tried the auto-alpha checkbox?