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Adobe CS4, welcome to the world of 64

Date: August 8, 2009  Author: David Gallagher  Category:

CS4Ever since the inception of Adobe’s various software programs, they seem to have maintained a pretty solid reputation in certain circles.  Certainly Flash, Dreamweaver, After Effects, and of course, the most popular amonst the public, Photoshop.  Over the years they have released different versions, always promising leaps and bounds but not all the upgrades have been worth the additional funds.  Well, here we go again.  Adobe CS4.   The newest in a long line of software upgrades, which like all the ones before it, promise new features and better workflow, so the question is, is it worth it?  

The answer really comes in two different forms, I know that’s not what some want to hear, they just want a quick YES or NO but really it’s not that simple.  While some of the programs such as Flash have had their workflow changed from their standard layout and have had some intuitive features added such as object based animation, 3D transformations, and meta data support, just to name a few, really most haven’t done too much.  And unless you’ve been living with Adobe Cs2 for the past two years, I can’t really seem to think that most will find these editions something they’ll “need” to continue to serve their clients.  However, there is one BIG factor that may sway those to open their wallets.  Adobe CS4 is now optimized to run in a 64 bit platform, which may sound like a gimmic but having tested the difference I can assure you that this should be taken under serious consideration for those who consider time and efficiency a factor in their work.  For myself, working with CS4 After Effects on a 64 bit Vista platform, while maybe not black and white, did made a difference, and was still noticable enough for me to say “Hmm, now THATS interesting…”

Overall I would say if your working well with CS3 and booting along fine, don’t bother, but if your looking for an edge, and have the system to run it, you may want to grab the new Adobe Cs4 either packaged or indiviually, because you WILL notice a better performance from a 64 bit platform.  I’ve included an interesting look at one of the new features in Adobe After Effects CS4 via video below, it’s called the Cartoon Effect.


Can you export an Alpha Channel from Avid?

Date: August 4, 2009  Author: David Gallagher  Category:

imagesI ran into this question years back, and at the time began desperately searching for an answer as I was on the clock with a client.  Having worked with Avid at that point for many years I had never really attempted to export an alpha channel directly from Avid, since no client had really requested it, but I assumed that it was possible based on the docs that come with Avid and of course just plain common sense.

But then I discovered the fatal misconception that common sense and software don’t always go hand in hand.  Even if the documentation says it does.  So here are the facts people, and I’m gonna make this as clear as possible. 

If your reading this, you probably know what an alpha channel is but for the newbie’s I’ll make it real simple.  So first of all what is an alpha channel? 

An alpha channel is a portion of each pixel’s unused data that is reserved for transparency information.  Really, it is essentially a mask, it specifies how the pixels colors should be merged with another pixel when the two are overlaid.  Now back to issue at hand, the big question is can you export an alpha channel unmatted from Avid?

NO.  YOU CANNOT EXPORT A STRAIGHT UNMATTED ALPHA CHANNEL FROM AVID.  

There it is.  I know that the documentation may say differently but I think whoever wrote it was drinking the Jim Jones Koolaid at the time, or at least should have shortly there after because there is no codec, export option, or miracle that can provide your client or whomever with an unmatted alpha channel for them to import into whatever they are using and drop a background in.

It’s amazing how years later this is still an issue with Avid, despite constant complaining from it’s users and people who are desperately convinced that there is some way or form to do it.  There isn’t.  And Avid moderator ( via their website ) and customer support now admit that there is no way to do from within the Avid software.  The only solution is to bring the footage or sequence into a third party software ( such as AE ) and re-export the footage from there. 

So I just thought I would clear that little misnomer up since even today it is still a question on the minds of editors who run into this problem usually when they are on a deadline and begin to panic.  Until Avid fixes this, we’ll all just have to deal with it.