Great acne/scar removal trick + workflow tips for short music vids + creating a "template" in FCPX

To all fine people of the FCP X community forum:
     I’ve received a tremendous amount of helpful commentary on these boards. Using FCPX for my projects has really expedited my post production process. I thought I would show my gratitude by giving a tip I have been using the **** out of. For any skin imperfections like scars/acne/blemishes etc., i’ve been using the CENSOR tool. Here’s a before and after, You can see the censor filter applied to her forehead and a separate censor application with slightly different settings to her right cheek.
     I thought this might help others who are photographers who like to include videos of their shoots with models but don’t want to deal with After Effects/Motion. Full short video available here: http://instagram.com/p/nqdtqzTT7m/
     Unfortunately I wouldn’t be making my entrance into this beloved forum if I wasn’t in search of some advice from those much wiser than I. I am constantly making these 15 second BTS clips of my models and one of the most changed/switched out/substituted shots in almost every project I do is my first shot and the song selection.   Since I tend to use a lot of cuts even if I change the song last second it isn’t an issue to make a few adjustments between shots (helps that the duration of the video is so short) as long as the song has a fast tempo. I don’t add my song selection to the primary storyline and connect my video clips due to the fact that usually the song may be swapped out once a model decides she’d prefer something else or if I have a change of heart. Common sense tells me to avoid this annoyance by just working on my cuts first and waiting until the completion of my edit to add music. So what i’ve been doing is just working on the video and while editing listen to potential tracks on iTunes or via finder. But wanted to ask you guys:
1 - Should I stop adding my audio at the very end as a connected clip and just make add audio directly to my primary storyline and all video that I add subsequently are just “connected clips”? What is the benefit to this in regards to speed considering how often I am changing my starting and ending clips? I never did this because I assumed if I don’t want to use the song any more it would be too much of a hassle to add those clips to a new song (seems like i’d have to create a compound clip of everything with the old song disabled). Any thoughts?
2 - Am I able to create a “template” for common projects? For my BTS videos I generally always want my videos to be 23.98 fps, 1080, have 50 pixel margins on the top and bottom, generate a white background and have entire video shrink down to 58% for it to fit within the confines of apps like Instagram or Vine. It would save a **** of a lot of time if I could just save a template for these projects…
3 - I would just about KILL to see a few music video workflow options. I’m a Lynda.com subscriber and don’t see any workflow options, searched Larry David’s tutorials couldn’t find any and there aren’t many options on Youtube. Ever music video editor I know who works professionally uses Adobe Premiere… I would like to be the first in my circle to use and convince everyone to switch.
Thanks again for your all of your help everyone, hope my tip helps someone!
Anthony

Muito abrigado my friend! Seriously thanks a million, but I was curious to know about my situation regarding replacing my first shot multiple times... In another words there's a clip already in the storyline which won't allow me to replace edit since it just moves out of the way. Would you just go back into the browser and add the original selection to the first clip? Because I kept having to move my connected music and solid I just gave up and would wait until the end to add the music and solid (I add the solid to give the background a different color when I want to create the letterbox effect).
I just watched a music video tutorial where someone created a 3 minute solid, made like a hundred cuts with the blade tool and manually dragged each clip from his browser to replace from start for each of those cuts in the solid...
What is your workflow for music-based edits? Do you place the song in the primary story line and use the video as connected clips? Do you use a solid or gap clip and dissect it with cuts and replace the segments with clips? I really hate not being able to add markers to the timeline and must make those marks on a clip/generator/music track of some kind. Also if you have a project that has the same settings with fps, crop size, solid as a background is there a way to make template so I don't have to do that each and every time?
Thanks again my friend!!!
Anthony

Similar Messages

Is there a trick or tip for envelopes?

Is there a trick or tip for envelopes?
In Word it was easy to print an envelope. You were able to set up your preference for return address & font & a different font for the outgoing address & save it. Then when finished typing a letter you could highlight the outgoing address, copy it & go to Tools/Letters & mailings/Envelopes & mailings & you got a separate window with your previously set fonts & return address. All you had to do was paste your outgoing address in the address field & then you were ready to print the envelope. This was very useful & FAST as you need not save a separate file with the address. Especially if you didn’t plan on more letters to that address.
I cannot figure out how to do something similar in Pages. The best I can come up with is slow & many steps. I must open a new FROM TEMPLATE CHOOSER Pages window from the file menu, select a particular envelope, get a new window & type in all the address information including my return address selection; fonts, size, etc. Then that Envelope file can be used to print an envelope & you now have a separate file to save.
There MUST be an easier way. I finally created a template titled “aaaaaaa envelope template” & put in my return address in the font & size I wanted. I also typed a sample outgoing address in the (larger) font I often use for envelopes.
Now when I finish a letter I copy the outgoing address, I locate & open my “aaaaaaa envelope template” file & highlight the sample address & paste my desired outgoing address from the letter I just typed. Next, I must “save as”in order to both keep the new file & save my template. This cannot be the best way to do this. I know many Mac people type many letters (I don’t) & this would drive them crazy or to buy Word (ugh).
Suggestions?

Well, I guess there is NOT some obvious tip or trick I missed. I am already using a template I created. From my original post:
“I finally created a template titled “aaaaaaa envelope template” & put in my return address in the font & size I wanted. I also typed a sample outgoing address in the (larger) font I often use for envelopes.
Now when I finish a letter I copy the outgoing address, I locate & open my “aaaaaaa envelope template” file & highlight the sample address & paste my desired outgoing address from the letter I just typed.”
I don’t do that many envelopes or letters, maybe a few per month. I don’t put street addresses in my address book just email addresses. (I think I’ll add street addresses)
Thanks Walt, I D/L Easy Envelope Widget. I’ll play around with it soon. I actually do not have my actual name listed on my address book the entry is titled “Me” (Not sure why, perhaps just an unneeded security habit) so that is what appears in the return address for Easy Envelope & I doubt that can be manually changed/saved as per the FAQ. I like the idea of printing the postal bar code to speed things up though.

Workflow tips for preserving disk space??

I'm curious as to what, if anything, you can do to preserve online disk space for a video project. Let's say I take 30 minutes of video footage but I only end up using 5 minutes of it. It seems a waste to keep 30 minutes of captured footage on disk when you're only going to use 5 minutes of it. The only way I can think of to reduce the disk space would be to edit the original file in adobe premiere, export the edited version into a smaller .avi or .mpeg file, re-import the smaller file into adobe premiere and use that smaller file on the timeline. The original footage could then be moved to less expensive archival storage. My concern would be a degradation of quality due to the multiple renders.
I'm using ridiculous amounts of disk space for simple projects like a video compilation of my daughter's soccer team. I've got about ten 30 minute video files that I'm using roughly 10 minutes of for the end project.
Any advice? I don't have the cash to buy some huge disk tower (plus I couldn't back it up anyway). Using a NAS device for archival storage is fine but trying to use it for video editing and rendering is waaaaay to slow.

Jeff,
Thanks! I can't believe I didn't know about Project Manager. In reading about the Project Manager there are a lot of functions that I desperately need, one of which is the "collect files and copy to new location". I've got source files scattered all over the place because in an effort to minimize the disk space on my expensive storage, I've moved still images to slower storage. Once I've completed a project I've tried to manually get all the files in once place which is a pain, I didn't realize that there as a utility that would do it for me. Woo hoo!
Thanks for your response, you've just saved me a ton of time.

Workflow for short excess approval.

I need a workflow for the approval of short excess.Is there any stndard task or workflow available for short excess approval?

Then it is time you read the forum guidelines, especially on how to ask questions in the forum.
For one thing try to explain a bit more, I for one have no idea what short excess is or where to find it in SAP.
Regards,
Martin

Quick Tips For Speed Your Digital Publishing WorkFlow

I think that we have a great problem with our Digital Publishing Workflow's speed . I talk about, for example, of set up State Objets Sliedshows for multiple page, and I mean, there are another similar examples about that. Do you know if does exist more tips for speed our workflow in InDesign for Digital Publishing Output?
Thanks a lot!
Sorry for my bad english.
Bye!
Marco Toscano

Muito abrigado my friend! Seriously thanks a million, but I was curious to know about my situation regarding replacing my first shot multiple times... In another words there's a clip already in the storyline which won't allow me to replace edit since it just moves out of the way. Would you just go back into the browser and add the original selection to the first clip? Because I kept having to move my connected music and solid I just gave up and would wait until the end to add the music and solid (I add the solid to give the background a different color when I want to create the letterbox effect).
I just watched a music video tutorial where someone created a 3 minute solid, made like a hundred cuts with the blade tool and manually dragged each clip from his browser to replace from start for each of those cuts in the solid...
What is your workflow for music-based edits? Do you place the song in the primary story line and use the video as connected clips? Do you use a solid or gap clip and dissect it with cuts and replace the segments with clips? I really hate not being able to add markers to the timeline and must make those marks on a clip/generator/music track of some kind. Also if you have a project that has the same settings with fps, crop size, solid as a background is there a way to make template so I don't have to do that each and every time?
Thanks again my friend!!!
Anthony

Tips for a workflow program

Hi all!
As always I post here when I feel I need a good advice. Today at work my boss told some of us that we need some kind of workflow editor, since all of our projects to date are requiring it and he would like to "automatize" some of the process.
As of now, all the workflow is done through databases. For example in any web app first we make a login form and based in the user/pass decide what components appear at the menu or what page gets displayed next.
What we want to do is a system to define the workflow for different users, so roles could be created and every role can have different workflows through the assets (in this case web pages only). Once all the paths have been laid out, based in your current role the system would validate your request of a given page.
I started to google around for clues in order to get an idea of such a system and came up with Enhydra Shark workflow server. Looking the documentation it seems it's similar of what we need. It would be great to deploy such a tool since it's pure Java, open source and it has a graphical workflow editor written in java also.
The problem is that it seems something like overkill for the problem we are trying to solve. Our needs only include permissions of different people accesing a web app which is currently done with databases.
Does our problem justify the deployment of a tool like Shark server? could a simple app be done in like 3 or 4 days to address our needs (with 3 ppl working on it) ?? Do you have any ideas of how such a system would work ??
Thanks a lot for any pointers on these questions.
btw the url for Enhydra Shark server is: http://shark.objectweb.org/

Lynda,
are there any tips for a beginner?
First tip is to forget that you are a beginner. This will allow you to:
Start imagining your first site and looking round at other sites in a relaxed way to decide how you wish it to appear and work (so you and the visitors are happy), how you can make it unique (so it will stand out and be (re)visited (by) more).
When you have a strong image of your first site, you may start working on it and decide the tools to serve that purpose, without having been trapped unnecessarily in what you have seen elsewhere and in the predominant uses and seeming limitations of the tools.
I hope this is not too far out.
Padding/Margin are just minor tools to adapt to the overall size/size of the contents, in other words, whether you work from the element boundary in/out (in the former case it only takes up its own space as specified, in the latter it takes up its own space and the margin.

Workflow tips needed for setting up headless script (-noui)

My client is asking for me to create a script that can execute from Photoshop without showing the AE UI at all. For those that have created headless workflows, what tips and tricks can you recommend?
When running a script with noui, how can you tell when it's done, especially if there is a render involved?

hi all,
I actually have similar questions as well. We have a Java process that will kick off AfterEffect thru the command line "afterfx.com -noui -r myscript.jsx" to perform a render job. This method runs perfectly fine when someone actually login on the window's machine and kick off the java process.
However the whole thing runs to a crawl when we started configure the java process to run as a windows service (under the same user that we would use to normally kick off the process interactively thru live login). I can see from the task manager after effect did tries to spawn multiple processes to do the render job that was feed to it thru the myscript.jsx. But those child process would die almost instantly and then AfterEffect process would sit idle for like a minute or two before slowly perform the rendering single threaded.
Anyone here tried and successfully kick off the aftereffect process from a windows' service?
Thanks,
Joseph

Hopefully useful tips for endless processing

I also posted this in reply to another user, but I think it might be useful enough to others that I will post it here so it's not so buried.
I'm just starting, after many, many hours, to see the light at the end of the tunnel with Aperture 3. I think A3 offers some great options, and is a diamond in the rough -- very, very rough, even in v3.0.1.
But I think I have some VERY USEFUL TIPS for you here (again this is after a lot of learning by pain... 4 different attempts to "upgrade" my A2.1.4 library (42K images about 200GB of images).
1st, and possibly most importantly the "SHIFT" key is your friend. You can use it when you restart A3 to stop the endless processing loop that A3 would fall into every time I upgraded or imported my library to A3 (or 3.01). All you need to do is hold down the "SHIFT" key while restarting A3, this should top all previously stuck processing as you upgrade your library. So use this tip after you first upgrade/import your library, if the processing bug hits. Then you have to be patient and go though your library and figure out where the problem files are (Apple has done a LOUSY job in not identifying what specific images A3 is processing in the "Activity Window" -- Let Apple know if this really bugs you)
2nd, at this point you will need to systematically go through your library and figure out where the "problem" files are and "fix" them (in my case all of these worked just fine in 2.1.4 - go figure). I would start by generating thumbnails for all of the images in a project, one project at a time (I had 150 some in my library). When you get stuck in the "processing" loop again, you can restart A3 using the "SHIFT" trick, and maybe just try a chunk of images within that same project until you find where things fail again, and until you can get to the offending image (if it's a problem you won't be able to generate a thumbnail for the image -- and A3 will go into endless "processing" mode)
3rd, this sound like a horribly tedious process and it is. But I can offer you some useful tips. In my case, and others as well apparently, a lot of the offending files are 16-bit PSD or TIFF images, especially if they had adjustments applied in A2.1.4. In my case I had fewer than 50 of these, so I exported an original and a jpg for each of these files. I re-imported the jpg and deleted the PSD/TIFF from A3 (I kept the exported original for future use). These files would then generate thumbs without endlessly processing. The other type of file that I ran into problems with were stitched panoramic images (often over 30MP) that I had applied adjustments to in A2.1.4. I simply removed the adjustments and the generated thumbs for them (worked like a charm).
4th, download some good podcast, music or audiobook... this will take a long time.
Cheers, and look me up in FaceBook I started a group called "Apple Please Fix Aperture"

Danny,
Funny you should mention this.... (actually it makes you look a bit like a "schill", even though you are not)... nope, as far as I can tell there is no way to tell which specific images are causing A3 to grind to a halt.
Hence my comment:
"(Apple has done a LOUSY job in not identifying what specific images A3 is processing in the "Activity Window" -- Let Apple know if this really bugs you)" and similar previous ones in other posts.
I wonder if Steve, yes that one, knew about this, being the perfectionist he seems to be, if he would have this feature included in Activity Monitor ASAP, or more likely it would have just been fixed by now (more of a "one-button" solution). Anyone have his house #?
In any case, I please let me (us) know if this helps resolve your problems... and consider joining the Facebook group as well and maybe we can hope for a much better 3.x.x version in the very near future.

Exchange 2013 with Outlook 2013 - Not getting pop-up or mail tips for attachments exceeding max size

Our environment is Exchange Server 2013 CU3 and Outlook 2013 in cached mode. We have a transport rule that sets the max attachment size to 20 mb.
If someone sends an attachment larger than 20 mb they receive an NDR letting them know the message wasn't delivered because it exceeded the max attachment size. We would like for the user to be prevented from sending the message at all or to at least
get a mail tip before they try to send the message. The Outlook pop-up message that says "The file you're attaching is bigger than the server allows. Try putting the file in a shared location ..." isn't being generated for us. Not sure if that's
because we're running Exchange or not. If that pop-up isn't going to work it would be nice if the user could at least get a mail-tip warning them that the attachment exceeds the limit. But it doesn't look likes there's a mail-tip for attachment size, only
for message size. And, I've found that the message size mail-tip only works if the limit is set on the user. It doesn't seem to work if the limit is set via a transport rule.
Has anyone else gotten Outlook to present the pop-up or a mail-tip when exceeding attachment size? Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks but I performed all of those trouble shooting prior to posting to the forum. But, I have found the answer!
After referring to this article;
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124345(v=exchg.150).aspx
I removed the 10mb default limits from the organization config and chose to set the attachment and message size limits in our environment via transport
rules instead. That is the only way you can actually set an attachment size limit.
I had read this article several times searching for an answer;
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2813269#appliesto
The key is here;
"If you are using an Exchange Server account, the 20-MB attachment
limit for Internet email accounts is not used by Outlook 2013. Instead, Outlook uses the limit that is configured on your Exchange server. To modify the setting that is used to control the size of a message that is sent through an
Exchange Server account, follow these steps."
The steps that follow are for Exchange 2010 but they show setting organization limits not server limits. And note that it
says the size of a message, not the size of an attachment. Since mail-tips for message size are not displayed when the limit is set via the transport rules I thought it
was possible that the same inconsistency might apply to the attachment pop-up warning. I set the organization limits and voila! The pop-up now displays when an attachment that exceeds the message size limit is added to a message.
This is exactly what I wanted. Now users won't fill up their sent items trying to send large attachments that just bounce anyway.
It would be wonderful if Microsoft would provide information about what features of Outlook are affected when you apply message size limits at the
various levels.

Adobe LiveCycle Workflow Tips

We created a bunch of new tips last month for users of LiveCycle Workflow. Here's a partial list of them... If you'd like to contribute content to our developer centers, we'd love to host it! Contact me via email at [email protected] and we'll work out a content publishing schedule. Our new developer centers will allow us to better feature content from 3rd parties, so this is a great opportunity for you to highlight your company and the work that you've done!
Pre-populating forms - Follow this tip to pre-populate a form using Adobe LiveCycle Workflow.
Accessing workflows from email notifications - Follow this tip to allow LiveCycle Workflow users to access workflow items from email notifications.
Preserving digital signatures - Follow this tip for alternate solutions for preserving digital signatures while exchanging forms using Adobe LiveCycle Workflow.
Initiating a workflow process via an email - Follow this tip to initiate a LiveCycle Workflow process via an email.
Integrating HTML forms with workflows - Adobe LiveCycle Workflow allows users to participate in workflows with forms presented in either HTML or PDF format. Follow this tip to ensure that HTML form users can participate in workflows.
Submitting forms with digital signatures - Use this tip to help with submitting forms with digital signatures.
LiveCycle Workflow Technical Overview - Get a technical overview of Adobe LiveCycle Workflow.

<[email protected]> ha scritto nel messaggio news:[email protected].. > We created a bunch of new tips last month for users of LiveCycle Workflow. > Here's a partial list of them... If you'd like to contribute content to > our developer centers, we'd love to host it! Contact me via email at > [email protected] and we'll work out a content publishing schedule. > Our new developer centers will allow us to better feature content from 3rd > parties, so this is a great opportunity for you to highlight your company > and the work that you've done! Thanks Mike, that is very useful :) Ciao, Alessio

Any Tips for editing Live Event 2 camera shoot?

I need to quickly edit a 2 DV camera recording of a live multi-scene performance (duration of 90 minutes), with audio additionally recorded on a good quality remote mic.
I have used FCE for some time, but not for several months. I have managed to forget many of the lessons learnt through trial and error, as well as by reading Tom wolsky's FCE Editing Workshop! So shortcut tips would be very helpful.
I am also using FCE 3.5 for the first time after my upgrade.
1
I want to make a safety copy of the synced rushes, as well as keeping the original camera sound recording as a back-up guide track.
2
I am worried about making sure I am working with Master clips, so that when I edit I don't mess up any of the source material. I am a little confused.
3
I would appreciate anyone with any suggestions or tips for the best edit process, and any warnings or other guidance. Speed is of essence. (ie there is no budget).
4
I am considering making separate sequences for each scene (14 scenes in all of varying length and complexity). Is this advisable rather than creating one programme length sequence?
5
I am considering making the audio into one mono track for simplicity, as the auditorium acoustics have "mixed up" the sound, with little stereo separation. Should I then duplicate the track to build the sound quality at the end?
Any other general Tips always welcome.
Thank you in advance. I appreciate all the unsung contributors to this group.
Freesh

I am a pretty good source for basic sound info - you can email me if you like
[email protected]
you are right about the link - I am sorry - i checked the website before I typed the link in too! A blond moment
A low shelf filter - as included in FCE and soundtrack cuts the bottom off a soundmix. 20hz is a low frequency - not many speaker systems can reproduce this frequency, and most speaker systems can't even get to 40hz - even you high fi system or speakers which say they may be able too present sound for 20hz to 20khz - well unless you have spent an aweful lot of money and have a sub bass speaker the size of a car probably may only go down to 40hz, and the production of any 20hz sounds is more likely a feeling - a psychoacousticc effect. The thing about cutting off the bass is that practically it can make the recording sound less muddy, and you can make the recording sound louder. Most recordings for CD play have the bass started to roll of pretty heavily at 40hz and nothing present at 20hz... theirs this thing called narquist theory which talks about frequency responce - but it is this math heavy thing - so basically cut out a good amount of the sub bass. A low shelf filter does this and If you want to be conservative cut below 20hz, and if you want to be real give it a good cut below 35hz.
Now I was sure that their was a mac version of that monofilter that I saw on the web page - I have a PC and do most of my audio work on a PC as that is what I have used the most. If you can get the mono filter work it will make the bottom end sound much better - more natural - less clicky and perhaps abnoxious.... those of us who like trip hop are always striving to get a nice warm bass that represents itself well on a range of speakers. something smooth - it is a bit of a trick - monofilter is one of those tricks.
If you put the bass in mono (below 250hz ish) and keep the phase right speakers find it easier to work with the signal. Also stereo bass is not something that translates well on speakers... Bass tends to just flood the room where as the more mid and trebbly sounds give the audio a feeling of distance and space and left and right. The monofilter has a bass compression/limiting and phase correction built itno it, and implimented on a slider called 'trim'. Listen to your recording on good speakers and probably just bring the trim down a touch (my guess)... as complex as it sounds the monofilter is very easy to use, and is super clever. Now I thought that nugen had a mac audio unit plugin - that is a pity if they don't and kind of makes my advice seem irelevant unless you are prepared to download an application that can use VST's.
Amy
be careful using an eq as most eq's disrupt the phase of the signal and can reek havok on live recordings. but do give it a low shelf filter at least below -20 but probably below -40 to -80 for practicalitys sake
This is a bit over my head, I am afraid. Do you know a source of basic info for sound recording to help explain such things? It could be a book or an online resource?
lol, what i meant was 20hz or 40 too 80hz - their is a low shelf filter in soundtrack that works well - I am talking about cutting off the low frequency bits of the recording here. Nugen audio has a little pdf that comes out with the monofilter talking about bass signals... I know it is geared towards music and perhaps music that you want to have a nice bass feel - however it translates to the real world too - You will be suprised at how great your audio will sound if you cut off a chunk of the sub bass, and put the low bass in mono.
then you could look at exciting the signal - but that is another story....

Appt entry/edit question: want tips for ease of use

Hi all, I use iCal on my iMac and iPhone, and have run across these issues, and wondered if there is a trick or tip I am missing.
Adding an appointment on the desktop:
When the event edit screen pops up, I try tabbing through each field to enter the relevant data. This entire window seems to be difficult to navigate, in that I would expect to tab through every field. After "location", the tab jumps to either the minutes or the AM/PM field. I then have to back tab to where I need to be. Entering the times can be a trick. I try to enter a 12:30 pm appointment, and in the hour field I type a 1 and a 2, which works sometimes, but sometimes moves me from a 1:00 display to a 2:00. then my noon appt is misscheduled for 2:00, if I don't catch it. Am I missing something?
When I am done editing a calendar entry, I can't hit return to save, I have to click done. Again, am I missing something, or is this just how it works?
thanks for any tips you have!

i believe , the configuration should work fine...one thing you need to ensure is , both the devices need to have latest firmware ..

I have a Macbook Pro 15" that is three and a half years old. Although it has slowed a bit, it still runs well and runs every program I need. Any tips for how to keep this old computer running well and in good health?

I have a Macbook Pro 15" that is three and a half years old. Although it has slowed a bit, it still runs well and runs every program I need. Any tips for how to keep this old computer running well and in good health?
I have a 250 gig drive and try to keep at least 100 gigs unused at all times, 4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory, back up with Time Machine and CrashPlan, and have OS X 10.7.3.
This was my first Mac since an old Apple II GS. After that I used PC's and got really good at reformatting, replacing drives, reinstalling, defragging, resolving software conflicts, etc. Since switching back to Macs (five in my extended family now), I haven't had to do any of those things. So, although, the cost is three times as much, the aggrevation has been ten times less.
I'm retired and living on a fixed income and would therefore like to keep this computer running as opposed to constatntly upgrading.
That said, any tips?
Thanks
It does have a crack on the left of the screen case about 3/4'' up from the bottom. I've posted that as another question.

Kappy's Personal Suggestions for OS X Maintenance
For disk repairs use Disk Utility. For situations DU cannot handle the best third-party utilities are: Disk Warrior; DW only fixes problems with the disk directory, but most disk problems are caused by directory corruption; Disk Warrior 4.x is now Intel Mac compatible. Drive Genius provides additional tools not found in Disk Warrior. Versions 1.5.1 and later are Intel Mac compatible.
OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.) If this isn't the case, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility such as Macaroni, JAW PseudoAnacron, or Anacron that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep. Dependence upon third-party utilities to run the periodic maintenance scripts was significantly reduced since Tiger. These utilities have limited or no functionality with Snow Leopard or Lion and should not be installed.
OS X automatically defragments files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive. As for virus protection there are few if any such animals affecting OS X. You can protect the computer easily using the freeware Open Source virus protection software ClamXAV. Personally I would avoid most commercial anti-virus software because of their potential for causing problems. For more about malware see Macintosh Virus Guide.
I would also recommend downloading a utility such as TinkerTool System, OnyX 2.4.3, or Cocktail 5.1.1 that you can use for periodic maintenance such as removing old log files and archives, clearing caches, etc.
For emergency repairs install the freeware utility Applejack. If you cannot start up in OS X, you may be able to start in single-user mode from which you can run Applejack to do a whole set of repair and maintenance routines from the command line. Note that AppleJack 1.5 is required for Leopard. AppleJack 1.6 is compatible with Snow Leopard. There is no confirmation that this version also works with Lion.
When you install any new system software or updates be sure to repair the hard drive and permissions beforehand. I also recommend booting into safe mode before doing system software updates.
Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
Carbon Copy Cloner
Data Backup
Deja Vu
SuperDuper!
SyncTwoFolders
Synk Pro
Synk Standard
Tri-Backup
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore.
Additional suggestions will be found in Mac Maintenance Quick Assist.
Referenced software can be found at CNet Downloads or MacUpdate.
Be sure you have an adequate amount of RAM installed for the number of applications you run concurrently. Be sure you leave a minimum of 10% of the hard drive's capacity as free space.
Adding more RAM, if feasible, and a new, faster hard drive may also help pep it up a little.

Tips For Solving the Mac OS X Lion Slowness (Lots of Beach Balls)

Hi Folks,
Just a quick list of tips for this issue that some of Mac OS X Lion users face.
The main symptom is that we get the Beach Ball on almost any task, it takes 4, maybe five times more time to do what we need to do. So depending on the schedule, it can drive us crazy. I was facing that, and started to think that Lion was a Windows Vista relative.
Please remind that the tips below involve backing up and restoring your system. If you are not careful, you may lose everything. You are responsible for your acts. Be cautious!
How I solved my issue:
1) Checked for Disk Permissions and the Disk itself:
- Applications / Utilities / Disk Utility:
- Click on your disk, and then VERIFY DISK. If everything is OK, move on. If it is not, REPAIR DISK.
- Now click on VERIFY DISK PERMISSIONS. If everthing is OK, move. If not, Repair.
This step 1 is to make sure that your slowness is due to something related to the OS itself and not to permissions/disk.
If this solves the slowness, then you are OK. Now further steps are necessary. In my case, this just helped a little bit. The beach-balling reduced by 20% only. Still too slow.
2) Do a full backup of your system.
I used Time Machine. Make sure you have all of your applications closed. So the backup will be full. If you fail to do a good backup, you will lose everything! Make sure you do a good one. Maybe do it twice on 2 different disks! Now you have been warned.
3) Do a Full Restore of your entire system.
Now, get that Install CD that came with your Mac,
- Put it on your drive, shut down your computer.
- While holding the C key, press the start button of your Mac. It will boot using the Install CD that came with your Mac.
To recover your entire system:
Connect your Time Machine backup disk to your computer. If you’re restoring your system because of a problem with your startup disk, make sure the disk has been repaired or replaced.
Insert your Mac OS X Install disk, and double-click the Install Mac OS X icon.
In the Installer, choose Utilities > Restore System from Backup.
In the Restore Your System dialog, click Continue.
Select your Time Machine backup volume.
Select the Time Machine backup you want to restore.
Follow the onscreen instructions.
4) Remove the CD, and boot.
When I did that, the system came back very fast and responsive. No more beach balls (only on the really-intensive tasks), and everything was back to normal.
5) So, what was it anyways?
Before doing this Backup/Restore, I was getting lots of DISK I/O ERRORS, specially during boot time (you can check that by shutting down your mac, powering it back on and imediatelly pressing Command-V - Verbose Mode).
Sure, the first thing in mind was that I had a faulty hard drive, but I checked it several times for errors (via Disk Utility), and nothing showed up.
So I decided to do a full backup/restore of the system. And it solved it, at least for me.
My config:
MacBook Pro (2009 edition) - 5 GB RAM - 640 GB HD - Mac OS X 10.7
Regards.

Also my mac will not complete my 5 software updates, no idea which software, but it said it could not do it. Also backing up with time machine had failed twice today. Thanks

Tip for Bose SoundDock 10 Remote to play Aux input from Logic (or other)

Here is tip for live performance.
If you are using a Bose SoundDock 10 for playback in a live setting (where you want to minimize awkward public HiFi system tweaking) here is a tip.
The Bose SoundDock 10 plays plugged-in iPods (I use a Nano; 4th Generation) AND has a simple auxiliary in 1/8" port. But there is neither a volume nob NOR a volume meter for the Auxiliary signal.
So.. in the process of trying to create a predictable consistent output level
I experiment to see wether I should
a) Count increment clicks from zero,
b) Count increment-hold-seconds from zero,
c) Use the iPod's volume level meter.
Wow! the iPod's level WILL set the auxiliary signal!! Yea!!
Problem: while toggling back and forth between
1) iPod-input to SEE and SET level by sight, and
2) Auxiliary-input to test the level by hearing,
you will inadvertently expose your set-up audience to load, undesired music.
This is because of a limitation of the Bose SoundDock remote control’s toggling behavior. You see, even if you PAUSE the undesired music before toggling from the iPod-input to the Auxiliary-Input, UPON TOGGLING BACK, to the iPod-input the Bose SoundDock remote AUTOMATICALLY DE-pauses. This, then subjects you and your unsuspecting audience to an annoying and distracting snippet of the least objectionable song you can remember to que up!
For that reason I suggest creating in Logic a "Sound of Silence" Song and exporting to iTunes.Thus, no iTunes library (or professional musician's iPod) is complete with out a 3 minutes of silence file for balance, check, and normalizing etc. Don't forget to attach a remember artwork.
You could also you this track on memorial day or at funerals.
Good luck.
See upcoming video of the whole thing at TheEnchantedPiano.net

I greatly enjoyed Philip Norman's Lennon biography. He said Ono changed her mind about endorsing the book because (according to her) Norman "had been 'mean to John.' " Norman does say some candid things about Lennon's behavior as a parent.

Great acne/scar removal trick + workflow tips for short music vids + creating a "template" in FCPX

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