Cs3 workflow - thinking ahead - frameserver?

Hi,
I just finished a rough cut of 1 out of 5 converted miniDV tapes...the video in CS3 is dv ntsc 720x480i 29.97, 16:9 ( avi type 2 dvsd )
On my tape1 timeline I have about 17 minutes ( out of 1 hour source ), with about a million scenes, many with cross dissolves, some clips playing 2x speed, a few playing in reverse. A couple "exported frames ( stills ) 'added to project". No titles or other graphics yet.
I have to do this with the remaining 4 tapes, and then start doing a better cut ( toward final ).
( side note: ) My "mouse" hand was cramping up pretty good last night after doing this from 5am to about 2am.
I'm thinking I should maybe lose the cross dissolves - after I show this to my friend who had this stuff shot - ( to make cuts easier later ), and make one avi type 2 file out of the 17min rough cut.....and then do the same with the next rough cuts...so in the end I'll have about 5 17 min clips to do the final cut with.
Does that make sense ? Then, I could (if necessary ) come back to these "scenes" if I need to add something ..but basically I'll have a lot less chance of "accidentally" moving or changing millions of scenes on a single timeline if I were to just gang all these things together for the final cut.
The cross dissolves I can just re-add by cutting and adding to the new single 17min clips...
What do you think?
If I do what I imagine I need to basically frameserve from CS3 back to CS3 ? How the heck do you do THAT ! ???
Thanks for any suggestions...
Rod

Rod,
One big consideration in that proposed workflow is Handles. Kinda' like when the party guest, Mr. McGuire, whispered to Ben Braddock, "Plastics." [The Graduate, 1967]
If you do the intermediate Export (also consider the Lagarith Lossless CODEC), make sure that you either have the EXACT Transitions, that you want, or that you have none and that you have cut loosely enough, that you WILL have adequate Handles. If you add ANY Transitions, and change your mind, you will have to cut out your Handles and really tighten both Clips up to get Handles back.
When doing rough cuts, I always leave many more Frames, than I know I will need. There is little worse, than having to cut a Clip too tightly, because there are no Handles. Just a warning.
If you wish a bit of background, take a look at these images:
One issue with an intermediate Export is finding the junctions between your Clips. Your eyes will feel like your mouse hand, from all the squinting. Though a hell of a lot more work, you might want to create a 01 sec. Black Video, and drop that between each of the rough cuts. Another method would be to create a 01 sec. Color Matte of a really bright color, so you can spot those junctions and hit 'em quickly. Just something to think about. Now, your director might not be able to handle seeing these, even though they will be cut out, but with a bit of education, may be able to get past a bright green flash, or black flash, while watching.
Another thought would be to do two Exports. One would be for the director and have a TimeCode Effect added to it. You would have the same footage, but without that TimeCode Effect. The director could make note of the TimeCode, and then you would just plug that into your TimeCode window to get to the referenced point. Remember - your copy of the file would NOT have the TimeCode Effect - it would be clean.
Also, if you go with two Exports, do the one for the director in DV-AVI to play back in WMP, VLC, MediaPlayer Classic, etc. You could do yours in Lagarith. If you do the DV-AVI uncheck Recompress.
Hope that helps and good luck,
Hunt

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PS: I’m not sure if this is the right forum for this
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I can't even be sure what CS4 PC version offers wrt to codecs, as it *sounds* like the built-in system codec is gone now too, so even a PC running CS4 AE/Prem can't see the DVCProHD AVI's!
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Using Photoshop (or Photoshop Elements) as Your Editor of Choice in iPhoto.
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3 - however, if you get the navigation window that indicates that PS wants to save it as a PS formatted file. You'll need to either select JPEG from the menu and save (top image) or click on the desktop in the Navigation window (bottom image) and save it to the desktop for importing as a new photo.
This method will let iPhoto know that the photo has been editied and will update the thumbnail file to reflect the edit..
If you want to use both iPhoto's editing mode and PS without having to go back and forth to the Preference pane, once you've selected PS as your editor of choice, reset the Preferences back to "Open in main window". That will let you either edit in iPhoto (double click on the thumbnail) or in PS (Control-click on the thumbnail and seledt "Edit in external editor" in the Contextual menu). This way you get the best of both worlds
Do you Twango?
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Bug or feature!
Colin

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Martin

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Starting on elements 6 but thinking ahead

question on elements 6
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thanks

The PSE File > Backup/Restore commands do preserve filenames and folder strucure when you do the restore. (What you see in the backup folder is how the backup is represented internally, not how it will be restored.)
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Do paragraph style overrides work differently in CS3 vs CS4?

Hi All-
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-Nate

Hi Chris.
Good news. I cant tell you how happy i am for all your help ;-) and you other guys.
The latest Eizo 5.2.1 software fixed the problem on all 3 Eizo monitors.. Weeee
I'm back to normal.
Now i just have another damn problem started not long ago ;(
My Photoshop CS3 and CS4 keeps crashing on me after a wile of work ???
I tried everything. Deleted preffs etc. etc.
It have been working for long long time but suddenly it keeps crashing all the time.
I tried to remove some new plug-ins, but it was not that.
Only thing i did also was to install new ram.
Upgraded from 10GB to 14GB in all our Mac Pro.
So after i tried to switch the ram around to check if some was bad.
Also run some memory software but everything came out right.
So now the only thing left is that Photoshop dosent like ram between 14GB & 16GB.
Under was fine and i never tried over 16 gigs.. weird
Any ide what could corse this ?

Lightroom/CS3 color issues on Mac

Hello,
I've seen a few posts about color issues, and I've tried following the advice posted, and I'm still having a problem. My photos appear fine in PS and in Lightroom (as well in in Mac's previewer) but when I upload them to the web or view the saved file on another computer, they appear severely desaturated with a blue tone.
I'm using running Mac OX X on a new MacBook Pro. I have Lightroom and CS3 installed and fully patched.
I am shooting in RAW with my Nikon, and importing the photos to Lightroom. In Lightroom, I choose "edit in CS3" and then the file opens in CS3. My settings for that are to open it as a 16 bit PDF ProPhoto RGB. My color settings in CS3 are set to ProPhoto RGB working space, preserve embedded profiles, ask when opening and pasting.
The files still look great when I open them in PS, and then I save them and when I look at them again in Lightroom they also look good (the same). However, if I export them as .jpgs from Lightroom, or save them directly from CS3, they lose their color quality.
I've found that if I change my proof setup to "monitor RGB" then I can see the photos the same way they appear when saved (the bad, desaturated version).
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Emily

Well, I think what you need to do is get a better grasp on the fundimentals of color management-which is a bit beyond the scope of what the forums can offer you.
The bottom line is that Lightroom & Photoshop CSx (meaning past CS or actually even back to 7) can and does make use of display profiles (you can't turn it off even if Photoshop has a setting that makes you think you can). An image in Lightroom and Photoshop is always color managed...outside of an app that is color management, all bets are off.
Save, assigning and converting to profiles are all very different. Photoshop CS3's color settings are absolutely critical because that's how you deal with managed and unmanaged color.
Until you learn different, I would suggest that you set your CS3 color settings to North American PrePress 2....if you want images for the web, Convert To sRGB or use the new Save For Web (which can now do the sRGB conversion-finally).
For other uses and purposes, I would suggest that you seriously consider using Adobe RGB-until such time that you understand the implications of using Pro Photo RGB.

Opening InDesign CS3 documents in CS4

I am hoping someone from Adobe can help me with this question. Here is the scenario:
I work on the support team in a prepress environment where we get hundreds of client supplied InDesign files weekly. Some clients supply their files in InDesign CS3 and some supply the files in InDesign CS4. We have both applications.
From our experience, we have found that if we open a InDesign CS3 document using InDesign CS4, there is a potential for items to disappear in the document. I don't know what changed from 3 to 4 to cause this problem. This has happened to us more than one time and we have experienced money losses due to on press errors.
One would say, as we have, if the document is supplied in InDesign CS3, work on it in InDesign CS3. Easy enough, right?
Well, not really. If you have CS3 and CS4 both installed on your mac at the same time, simply double-clicking on the file will default to CS4 (since it is newer).
We have told our operators that they need to identify what version the file was created in; which is not the easiest thing either.
If you "get info" on the file, you do not get accurate information. It may say "CS4", even if it is "CS3", I think this is because your system is reading what the newest application that you have install is.
I have found that by dragging the file over the CS3 icon in the doc, it will attempt to open the file in CS3 and if it truly is a CS4 document, you will get plugin errors and the file won't open. This works, but my 38 mac operators are so used to just double-clicking a file to open it, they sometimes forget to do it my way, and thats when we get errors.
Is there a plugin available that would prompt you, when double -clicking on a file as to what version it is, or what version InDesign that you would like to open the file in?
What did Adobe change in InDesign CS4 that would cause items to disappear or change when working on CS3 documents in CS4?
Thank you in advance.

First, this is a user forum, not an official Adobe support site, so you aren't talking to Adobe employees for the most part.
Second, though it is subtle, there is a visible difference between the icons for file created in CS3 and CS4, but you do need to look.
There is (or perhaps it's now "was") a known issue with master items disappearing when placing one ID file into another in CS4. Be sure your copies are updated to the latest patch. Another reason to avoid opening CS3 files in CS4 is potential differences in text flow due to text engine differences which will affect how lines break.
If you want to train your people in a hurry, tell them the next time you have to re-run a job because they opened it in the wrong version you'll deduct the cost from their pay.
Peter

Parallel processing in workflow with fork

Hello,
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It has 2 necessary branches with no other condition.
Does anyone know of any scenario where the workflow proceeds ahead with one branch executed even though 2 branches are mandatory.
Thanks.

Hi,
Take at look at the following 2 articles. Using the concepts outlined in them you should be able to achieve what you are trying to do.
http://odiexperts.com/interface-parallel-execution-a-new-solution
http://odiexperts.com/processing-multiple-interface-through-single-package

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Hello,
We have a custom workflow, z_workflow.
In this z_workflow, its calling a custom FM, z_fm.
In this z_fm, I'm updating a custom tbale, z_table.
Before writing UPDATE z_table, I am locking this z_table by using 'ENQUEUE_E_TABLE', as below,
Pls. note this workflow is triggering in BACK GROUND by WF-BATCH user
CALL FUNCTION 'ENQUEUE_E_TABLE'
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                      tabname      = 'Z_TABLE'.
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                         WITH sy-msgv1 sy-msgv2 sy-msgv3 sy-msgv4. =====>
==> If the lock is failing an an ERROR / 'E' type message is occuring, but still the 'Rest of the code blocks' are executing normally (where in 2nd_z_table is updating), but the workflow is ending up in 'Error state' in SWI1 (workflow log) transaction, our users who are monitoring this workflow thinking that the transaction went bad, but again they noticed that the 2nd_z_table is updating as usual!!
                ENDIF.
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Our workflow expert said that, the error is occuring, well, but as its (z_fm) calling from / by back ground workflow user, hence the 'Rest of the code blocks' are triggering normally and the 2nd_z_table is updating as usual, but overall the workflow ends up in error state!
To avoide this confusing situation (workflow in error, but rest of the code blocks are executing normally), workflow expert suggested the below approach (raising of EXCEPTION in z_fm instead of ERROR message), pls. suggest me is it OK / safe / works good for me?
DO 10 TIMES. => Workflow expert asking me to add all these blue lines to my code
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                    tabname        = 'Z_TABLE'
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                    foreign_lock   = 1
                    system_failure = 2
                    OTHERS         = 3.
                IF sy-subrc = 0.
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                          descr = lv_text
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                    EXPORTING
                      mode_rstable = 'E'
                      tabname      = 'Z_TABLE'.
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workflow expert said with this raising of exception will not trigger 'Rest of the code blocks' so that user will be not confused
Thank you

Hi "3SAP"
Yes, your WF guy is correct - raising exception will stall the workflow and not execute to the second table update.
Moreover, second table update logic should be kept inside of the SY-SUBRC = 0 of locking on FIRST TABLE update.
In current case, I cannot say for sure that second table is getting updated in the same call because as soon as TYPE 'E' message is triggered in a background step, standard exception is triggered in the workflow runtime to stop execution - which will NOT execute the code after MESSAGE statement.
As mentioned by Mike, the second table may have been updated from another instance/session/etc but from not this one.
Regards,
Modak

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The 'Relink Preserves Dimensions' preference is confusing and doesn't seem to work as stated in the Help topic.
I want to replace an image in a frame that has been scaled.
But I need for the new image to come in at 100%- not at the enlargement/reduction of the previous image.
I've tried Unchecking the 'Relink Preserves Dimensions' but that doesn't work.
( I don't want to create a new frame because the the existing frame has been precisely placed...it would be extra steps to note the X, Y coordinates.)
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Hiya MarthaD,
Sorry i can't help you with the "Relink Preserves Dimensions" thing. Thanks for pointing it out. I'll ask my teacher tonight.
She does say that the best way to create a new frame in a case like this is to use "Step and Repeat" with co-ordinates of zero. This copies the frame right in the same place.
In CS2 it copies to the top of the current layer, so you may have to send backwards to get it in the right place place in terms of order. In CS3, i think it copies right BEHIND the original frame.
In Quark, it copies right in front.
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HTH,
RdD

[JS][CS3] Validating edittexts in ScriptUI

Hi,
I have to attach validation methods to a bunch of edit fields' onChange. Some fields would have to contain floats (toFixed(2)), some - integers, some - capitalized strings after the field has lost focus. I'm ready with 3 functions to be attached to controls, but I would like to hear the most robust solution to this problem. Would you use ctrl.onChange = fn, or rather ctrl.addEventListener()...?
Any comments welcome.
M.

Wait a second... Something I hadn't considered before.
The problem of relying on the onChange event of a single field is that a click in an OK button will still close the window.
But, if you set an event listener to the OK button's click event, you can validate all fields and then cancel the event.
Here's an example that does work in ESTK2 (CS3) (I think this code will paste and show correctly, if it doesn't, sorry)
// Basic ScriptUI validation
/* This script shows the basics of validation using ScriptUI events
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requires a field to lose focus for the event to fire. For example, a user can type an invalid number in a field, then, without leaving
the field, click the OK button (which is still enabled because validation has not happened on the invalid field yet). In this case, clicking
the OK button causes the field to lose focus, the validation occurs, but the OK button has already been pressed, and the dialog will
close with an invalid entry.
We could use the "changing" event that fires for every character typed; but, that approach brings its own set of complications. For example, the
user is typing "12 inches" in the field. If the validation routine accepts units and abbreviations, as the user types we get the following states:
"1" - valid
"2" - valid
" " - valid
"i" - INVALID
"n" - valid
"c" - INVALID
"h" - valid
"e" - INVALID
"s" - valid
That doesn't work.
If we intercept the OK button's mouseDown event, we can validate all fields, and either allow the OK button click event or cancel it.
If cancelled, the OK button can disabled, and a visual cue could be provided as to the offending field(s).
With this approach, the valdiation routines need to have a reference to the OK button, and all registered validations
must happen each time a field is edited to set the state of the OK button.
// setControlState sets the background color of a control to "good" or "bad". The white for good, red for bad
setControlState= function( myControl ) {
if ( myControl.isValid ) { // we're good, make it white
myControl.graphics.backgroundColor = myControl.graphics.newBrush( myControl.graphics.BrushType.SOLID_COLOR, [1,1,1,1] );
} else { // we're bad, make the field background red (straight red, [ 1, 0, 0, 1] is a bit harsh, so we're using a red-ish color
var myRedColorArray = [ 210/255, 12/255, 82/255, 1];
myControl.graphics.backgroundColor = myControl.graphics.newBrush( myControl.graphics.BrushType.SOLID_COLOR, myRedColorArray );
// validateInteger will ensure that a field contains a valid integer
validateInteger = function( myEvent ) {
myEvent is passed to the handler when the event fires, myEvent.target is the target control of the event.
We're adding a property "isValid" to the control so we can quickly check the state of any control
Note that parseInt parses "12x" as 12, so you can't just check for isNaN on a parseInt...
// make this a required field by checking to see if there's anything there
if ( myEvent.target.text.length == 0 ) {
myEvent.target.isValid = false;
} else if ( isNaN( Number( myEvent.target.text ) ) ) { // if it can't be cast to a number, it's obviously bad
myEvent.target.isValid = false;
} else {
// if we can parseIn the content of the field, change it back to a string, and get the original value, the original value must have been a string
myEvent.target.isValid = ( parseInt( myEvent.target.text ).toString() == myEvent.target.text );
// set the control's background to red if it's invalid
setControlState( myEvent.target );
// check all the fields, and set the OK button state
validateAll( myEvent.target.window.okButton );
// validateReal will ensure a field has a valid Real number
validateReal = function( myEvent ) {
// make this a required field by checking to see if there's anything there
if ( myEvent.target.text.length == 0 ) {
myEvent.target.isValid = false;
} else if ( isNaN( Number( myEvent.target.text ) ) ) { // if casting to a number is NaN, it's bad...
myEvent.target.isValid = false;
} else {
// if user enters ".2", parseFloat turns it into "0.2" so the same parseFloat().toString() won't work like it does for integers
// using a regex instead
var regex = /\d*\.{0,1}\d*/g; // zero or more digits, possibly a decimal point, followed by zero or more digits
// if the first element of the array returned from String.match equals the original, we're good
try {
myEvent.target.isValid = ( myEvent.target.text == myEvent.target.text.match( regex )[ 0 ] );
} catch( e ) {
myEvent.targetisValid = false;
//set the control's background to red if it's invalid
setControlState( myEvent.target );
// now check all the fields
validateAll( myEvent.target.window.okButton );
// uses the UnitValue object to ensure whatever is typed in will be a valid measurement unit
// for this handler, we wil set a "fieldUnit" property on the edit box, all units will be converted to those units
// we're supporting all units that UnitValue supports except pixels and percents as they are based on a base unit and traditional points/picas as no one will likely enter "tpc" or "tpt" vs "pt" or "pc"
validateUnits = function( myEvent ) {
// no empty fields
if ( myEvent.target.text.length == 0 ) {
myEvent.target.isValid = false;
} else {
// this regex will validate the basic form of a unit value - a real number followed by zero or more spaces and possibly a valid unit string
var regex = /\d*\.{0,1}\d* *(?:in|inch|inches|ft|foot|feet|yd|yard|yards|mi|mile|miles|mm|millimeter|millimeters|cm| centimeter|centimeters|m|meter|meters|km|kilometer|kilometers|pt|point|points|pc|pica|pica s|ci|cicero|ciceros)?/gi;
var myMatch = myEvent.target.text.match( regex );
try {
myEvent.target.isValid = ( myEvent.target.text == myEvent.target.text.match( regex )[ 0 ] );
} catch( e ) {
myEvent.target.isValid = false;
if ( myEvent.target.isValid ) {
// create a new UnitValue from the target text
// it's posible that the units were left off, in which case the fieldUnits are assumed.
// so use the regex from validateReal to see if there's a unit attached to the value
var regex = /\d*\.{0,1}\d*/g; // zero or more digits, possibly a decimal point, followed by zero or more digits
// if the first element of the array returned from String.match equals the original, there's no units
try {
var hasUnits = ( myEvent.target.text != myEvent.target.text.match( regex )[ 0 ] );
} catch( e ) { // if this errors, something is very, very wrong...
myEvent.target.isValid = false;
setControlState( myEvent.target );
validateAll( myEvent.target.window.okButton );
return;
if ( !hasUnits ) {
var myUnitValue = new UnitValue( myEvent.target.text + " " + myEvent.target.fieldUnit );
} else {
var myUnitValue = new UnitValue( myEvent.target.text );
if ( isNaN( myUnitValue ) ) {
myUnitValue = new UnitValue( "0 " + myEvent.target.fieldUnit );
try {
// attempt to convert it to the fieldUnit - if it can't be done, this will error
myUnitValue.convert( myEvent.target.fieldUnit );
// the reason for the convert is that the UnitValue.toString() will inclue the abbreviated units for us, using UnitValue.as() will not
myEvent.target.text = myUnitValue.toString();
} catch ( e ) {
// if we errored, it wasn't a valid measurement
myEvent.target.isValid = false;
setControlState( myEvent.target );
validateAll( myEvent.target.window.okButton );
// validateAll - this function is hard wired to check the isValid state (set in the validation routines) of the edit boxes used in the test example
validateAll = function

InDesign CS3 importing PDFs

I have a 30 page pdf file which i need to place into InDesign.
Is there a quick way of adding this or do I have to make a single pdf file for each page and place each page into InDesign

There are scripts that can do exactly that -- for previous versions of ID, there were a lot of scripts, all with their own options & quirks.
Per CS3, I think the easiest way is:
* Select your PDF file with the Place dialog. Check "Show options" to ON (or keep the Shift key down while pressing "Open").
* The first page of the PDF will appear in the Import options dialog. To the right of this, you can select which page you want to import. Default is "Current page"; you can also enter a range (in the form "3-5"), or choose "All pages". This last one is the one for you.
* Be sure to set the Crop To option to what you want it to be. If you need to place full pages, simple choose "Media", so they are placed in their original size and position.
* Press Okay. The cursor will change to a "Loaded" gun. Now all you have to do is click once per document page to place the next page from the PDF. Click rather near the top left of each page, if close enough ID will snap the image to the correct position. If the images should appear somewhere else on the page, draw guidelines on your Master Page and enable "Snap to Guides".
* Repeat until you run out of pages.

Cs3 workflow - thinking ahead - frameserver?

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