Blank / partially blank export result from Motion via Compressor

Hi all!
Final Cut Studio 3 / Mac OS 10.6.8
I have a set up of two semi-old iMacs. One is a white 2006 iMac, the other is a 2007 iMac. I work with the 2006 iMac because the screen is better, but as it is slower I would like to send processing jobs to the 2007 iMac as it already acts as a server for many things. So I set up the 2007 as a node. What I am making are UI animation demos in Motion. For example I have a 768x1024 (vertical iPad resolution) px / 60 fps / color (without alpha) / solid background / 8 bit depth project that has two layers made out of Photoshop Exported .png's and a move animation (nothing mind blowing) and I am trying to export it to an Uncompressed Apple Animation with the source settings and millions of colors +. Now when I allow it to segment the jobs (as an example) the result turns out so that the segments that were sent to render on the node (the 2007 iMac) are blank, but the ones that were rendered locally are perfectly fine. When I disable the segmented jobs, it sends it to render entirely on the node (which is ok with me, since I'm just trying to take the load off the 2006 iMac) it comes out as a completely blank checker board. What am I doing wrong? I understand I can just open the files on the 2007 and export them there, but I would really like to not have to walk to it every time, since I export many versions in a matter of minutes.
If I missed any important part of the process, please correct me.

Ok, tried it with the regular Millions of Colors, but without change - the segments of the timeline that were distributed to render on the node (2007 iMac) came out blank.

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Artifacts when rending a simple two minute video from Motion or Compressor

I keep getting artifacts randomly throughout the videos I export, whether i export directly from motion or via compressor, and regardless of which "Share" option I choose or which codec I use (including ProRes - all of them). I've tried literally every preset and even made my own. Its very frustrating because even one artifact messes up the whole video and I have to export it again.
The artifacts show up randomly throughout the videos so its not one particular asset that is a problem. And sometimes it even exports perfectly except that a video at the end (which is admittedly not from a high quality source) shows up SUPER pixelated. This is just as bad.
I've spent the last 48 hours rendering and rerendering the videos. Saving as a new motion file. Clearing cache and library files and pram and restarting. Nothing helps.
This is on top of the fact that I have, in the past, exported properly from compressor (but never from motion for anything more than a few seconds). And I tired this on two computers, one more powerful than the other. One computer is a Macbook Pro w/ core i7, SSD, and 8gb ram. The other was a Macbook air with Core2Duo and 4gb ram. Both of them sucked at exporting the movie. (The air was slower but actually better than the macbook pro.) I'm on the latest mavericks and the latest motion and compressor.
HELP! PLEASE! I dont know what to do!

You haven't said if the original video you imported into Motion is MP4 or H.264 or some other highly compressed media. It won't matter what you export if those "damaged" frames are in the original (and mp4/h.264/etc are prone to bad frames at the very beginning and very end depending on how they were prep'd for delivery).
You should (I'd say always, except I'd be a hypocrite) transcode original media into ProRes (any flavor) before importing into Motion. Check frame by frame if you have to to see if there's any damaged frames (usually there won't be.) I'd highly recommend using Quicktime 7 Pro (it's still available from apple's online store at apple.com) to transcode your video. Others might recommend MPEGStreamclip (but I just can't); or if you have it: Compressor.
If you have Final Cut Pro X, you'd be better off editing video in that app. You should be designing your Motion "add-ons" as effects, titles, transitions or generators for use in FCPX and leaving the video completely out of Motion. FCPX also takes care of transcoding to prores for you (opt to Transcode Optimized Media when importing.)
PS - you'll get better performance out of Motion if you use ProRes video. (Same goes for AIFF/WAV audio and NOT mp3.)
Hope this helps... otherwise I don't know what the problem would be.

Export/Import From Motion to FCP

Hello
I'm new to this forum and have just recently begun working in the film and video industry. I am also new to the Apple community. So please excuse any misuse of terms as am not fully integrated into the business yet. I have created a background that has a lot of motion as well as an emitter in it and duplicating the sequence didn't seem to be the way to go. So I looped the sequence to run for 90 minutes. I am trying to decide if there is a need to export the file from motion as a quicktime file or should I just import the motion document into FCP and overlay my text elements (also created in motion) on V2. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
By the way thanks to Patrick for all you great "fun with" projects they have been a great help in learning Motion.

Thanks for your input. What I'm building is a sponsor loop for a banquet. I needed a 90 minute graphics bed over which to apply my text and logo elements. I ended up modify and existing 15 sec clip from the motion library tossing in an emitter and looping it for 90 minutes.
The problem was the sheer size of the file and the time it took to render if FCP. I ended up exporting the file as an 8 bit uncompressed QT movie so I wouldn't have to rerender it in FCP. It took about 2 1/2 hours but in the end it worked out.
Here is a follow up question. I have finished the text and logo element that goes over the bed but when the time comes to import the Motion file into FCP I have to render every time I put it into the timeline. I realize that the first time it appears it's necessary but is there a way to get around that having to let the thing render over night as this clip will be copied 44 times and each copy takes about 6 minutes to render.
I was thinking about exporting it as a QT file from motion just like the background but then I can't get the title sequence to appear over the backgound the way I would like as a QT element compared to Motion element. Tranparency issues.
Any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Problem exporting file from motion 5

Hello,
I am trying to export a file from Motion 5 and whe I play the quicktime back, everything is jumbled and I can't read it. When I am working in Motion and scrubbing along through the file everything looks fine. Can someone please help me out?
Thanks,
David

For starters, what's the version number for Motion and What OS are you on? Are you up to date or using an older version? Next, what format are you exporting to (ProRes, H.265, etc.)? Finally does this happen with every project or just this particular one. Can you post a screen shot of what the problem looks like? There are a lot of possibilites to consider, the more info you can provide the better luck there will be in someone maybe helping you with a solution.

Export Problem from Motion to FCP

When I export an animation from Motion and import it into Final Cut, the clip plays faster than it did in Motion. It's as if it's playing at a higher frame rate. I know the project in Motion hasn't been rendered, but it plays too fast in the export. I've checked the export settings and I've got it on 29.97. anyone had this problem? I'm kind of new to FC Studio and Apple, so maybe I'm doing something wrong.

ram preview your work when in motion, and in your preferences, limit the playback speed to project frame rate. this way, you can see how fast your actual project is playing.

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I exported project via compressor:
File Extension: m2v
Estimated file size: 4.34 GB
Video Encoder
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    Height: 480
    Pixel aspect ratio: NTSC CCIR 601/DV
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Dix Moser
[email protected]
FCP Studio
PowerMac 1.8G 3G mem 250G HD
750 G ext. Firewire drive (where media is stored)

If I may chime in...
I'm a little confused on the "what plays what" part, but all that really matters is what DVDSP sees/plays.
I've worked on a system like yours and what I'd recommend is:
1. NEVER export via Compressor. It's just ungodly slow on anything less than a Quad. Export a self contained QuickTime Movie using the first export option and use that to feed Compressor.
2. Segment your output into manageable clips (I like 15-20 minutes) both to perfect the encoding and so you aren't re-encoding the whole show if something goes sour. It will all play fine as long as it's all in the same DVDSP timeline.
From what you describe, I'm thinking you're on an early version of Compressor that had A-Pack as the AC-3 encoder. This is no biggie, I mention it mostly to verify. Early Compressor was good too.
Make maybe a 5 minute piece to tune up. Just export as normal, then into Compressor. Your encoding values seem about right. Get the AV pair into DVDSP and it should play. I'm guessing that part of your problem is that the processor is fighting to handle the project size. Build the test clip project and look at it in DVD Player to view what would have been burned. If all looks OK, go for it. If not, bring back the results for discussion. This should be a snap, it's just a really big project. Keep your head up, I had a friend do a 225-minute disk on his G5...

Export as QT or via compressor

Hi everyone,
Sorry for cross posting, but I've had no replies on the DVD SP forum.
I'm editing in FCP and making a menued SD DVD. I've had success in laying out the DVD project.
The source material is low quality and duration overall a few minutes. I'm adding a few supers to the clips.
My question is, will I get better result exporting via compressor or via a QT export (using current settings PAL 25FPS 16:9)?
Thanks in advance.
Steve

You know, I've found all the functionality of compressor in dvdsp-- it's just that you have to drill really deeply into the settings to get there.
Not saying use DVDSP necessarily, but the functionality is there.
EDIT forgot to add that exporting FCP directly to compreessor is a really time consuming process and locks up both applications. Best to export a self-contained movie, do NOT recompress all frames. That way you're just copying your sequence.
Message was edited by: Jim Cookman

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My two main criteria for "good workflow" being 1) speed and 2) quality of final image.
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treyvon wrote:
My two main criteria for "good workflow" being 1) speed and 2) quality of final image.
If you're doing compositing or color correction work in FCP that degrades when rendering because you're using a highly compressed codec (like DV or HDV), then sending an unrendered timeline directly to Compressor produces the best quality.
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My work flow is 1) Export from Motion (uncompressed+animation codec) 2) Open in Quicktime 3) Export to .FLV using the Flash encoder (highest Quality)
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hi,
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Also red text on a white background is notorious in video for looking crap. Personally I would try any one or all of the following:
change the colour of the font/ and or the background.
change the font, and its size.
change everything.
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( on a related note - recently I have had a problem where files created from motion via compressor change fonts - however if i drag the motion file into fcp and export via compressor there its all fine - weird)
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Crap results from Compressor?

Crap results from Compressor?
Okay, I've been pulling my hair out for a week now. All I can manage is really crap MPEG2 encodes from Compressor.
They look blocky, their is 'line twitter' 'artifacting' and other crap in the picture.
I'm a fussy bugger, but this is ridiculous; Compressor is just doing a really crap job no matter how I set it up.
If anyone can recommend an ultimate Compressor setting or even a Superior encoding programme (I've tried Episode Pro and that ***** too) I'd really appreciate it as I must get this job signed off and back the client now.
I'm using native 1080p/25p footage from Sony XDCAM HD camcorders set at highest quality 35Mbps HQ HD setting.
In FCP it is being edited natively at the same 1080p/25p settings, then saved as a 'reference movie' then I open Compressor and bring that 'reference' movie in.
Oh, I've tried exporting directly from FCP to Compressor, but I have no idea where Compressor is putting the final files when it has finished encoding them, I've looked everywhere and can't find where Compressor is sticking them, hence I have to make a reference movie in FCP and work with that.
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Gamma filter: 1.1.
I've watched the DVD called "The Art of Encoding Using Compressor" from Ripple Training and have tried all their settings too; but no matter what I do, the results suck; big time.
There are artifacts, blocking, line-twitter and on one panning shot of a glider landing the grass is simply a total mess of motion artifacts and is hardly even recognizable as actual grass.
I've tried loads of combination of GOP being Open, Closed, different bitrates with averages from 3 to 6, different GOP structures of IP. IPB... etc and nothing will render me a nice clean MPEG2 file that is razor sharp with zero artifacting.
I'm about to give up on Compressor totally; unless somebody can point out if I'm just missing something here.
Perhaps Compressor just hates XDCAM HD footage?
Maybe Compressor just can't downconvert from HD to SD without totally screwing it up?
Any suggestions greatly appreciated guys as this (as you can get from my tone) is really getting me down now.
All this was shot on a camera/lens combo that cost over £20,000, but by the time Compressor screws it up it looks like a cheap £1000 camera from the local electrical store.
Please, Please help!
Thanks all

This thread relates to HDV, but maybe some of the issues are the same. Some people have claimed there's a field order problem which, if true and if applicable to your case, might be causing some of your problems.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3616782&#3616782

Exporting Multitrack Via Compressor to AC3 5.1

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I only want simple spot FX, using the video preview to time them.
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Hi,
I did a quick check on my PB (Standard stereo output) and it seems that you cannot export it this way, since you can only assign 1 or 2 to the various outputs and the channel layout only takes a look at this. If you have an output unit that supports more than two channels it would work.
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Message was edited by: Michael Guntsche

Blank / partially blank export result from Motion via Compressor

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