Since 10.1.2 Drop zone cause last frame to be a still

Since 10.1.2 Update, I was trying fill a drop zone in FCPX with video from an Event and the last frame ends up showing as a still. This happens to be with a generator that I made in Motion and I have used this Generator twice a week, the same way since last september and on multiple different macs. It seems like every few updates, drop zones tend to work differently. I'm Level 2 Certified and well versed in in FCPX, but I've been racking my brain!
Here are some other steps I've tried and I still have the same problem.
I've Opened a Copy of the Generator in the newest version of Motion and re-saved it, went back to FCPX and still it didn't work.
I've added the clip to timeline and tried to fill it from there, no luck.
I've made a compound clip of the original clip, both in the Event and in the project, and tried to fill it. Still no luck.
I've gotten a clip that is longer than the drop zone, no luck
I've gotten a clip that is the exact same length as the drop zone, no luck
I've gotten a clip that was shorter, and for sure, that didn't work.
Anyone have any ideas?

I have the 10.1.2 update and everything is working fine for me... so much so that I've considered building effects with drop zones again (in general, I have hated them with a passion, until this release.) However, for the types of bugs I've had to deal with in FCPX, especially on my 09 iMac i7 (ATI Radeon 4850) particularly after the "rewrite" for the New Mac Pro (FCPX 10.1.1) and multiple GPUs, I have the feeling that Apple hasn't quite polished the code to work on all "supported" mac platforms... The wait was so long from the last update that I capitulated and bought the latest iMac i7 (late 2013) model and received it about a week before the 10.1.2 update. This update fixed most of the problems I was having on the older machine. (I've been wondering if it was a ploy to get a bunch of us to upgrade hardware... but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.)
If I may ask: what are the hardware specs of your system? You can reset preferences by holding down command + option when starting up FCPX 10.1.2 -- does that fix the problem? I had occasion once where a complete reinstall of FCPX solved a lot of issues I was having (IF you decide to try this method, you must first trash all preferences, and, you have to find all related .plist files and trash those too along with the application [Final Cut Pro X 10.1: How to remove and reinstall Final Cut Pro X go to the section "Removing Final Cut Pro X in OS X 10.9 Mavericks"] -- you're going for an absolutely clean install of the software. After trashing everything and before downloading, I recommend repairing permissions with Disk Utility.)
One more thing to check on before reinstalling: If you have backed up FCPX (or Motion) on an external drive (or "some other" location) -- this last time, the App Store found and replaced the backup on the external drive and did not update the version in the Applications folder. For a couple of days there, I thought I was running the current software until I started having some of my same old problems. I tried trashing the app again and the App Store would not let me upgrade - it showed the current version was installed. I think it took me over an hour to figure out that my backup had been upgraded and the App Store was seeing the external location for the install. Color me surprised. (Moral of the story, check the startup dialog to make sure you're running the version you think you are!)

Similar Messages

Master Template Drop Zone Causes Frame Offset Problem

I created a template in Motion with two drop zones. When I use it in Final Cut as a master template, and drop in two video clips, the clips are offset about 4 frames from the originals. I can see this when I toggle the template's track on and off to see the underlying clips that got dropped in from my timeline. The cut points don't match up to what winds up in the template's dropzones for some reason.
This is a problem, because I'm using the template as a transition between full screen and a PIP-type effect.
The weird frame offset causes a visual glitch that I have to correct by adjusting the start/end points. This is extremely time consuming, as I have to apply the template to a huge number of clips.
I'm using the latest version of Final Cut Studio.

Just discovered that the frame offset increases the further I am into a clip.
I took a part from the beginning.. frame offset = 2 frames.
Took one closer to the end of a 4 minute clip.. frame offset = 14 frames.
The video is encoded in ProRes422 at 29.97 fps, and the Motion template is 29.97 also. Any ideas?

FCP X / Motion 5 Drop Zone Video Freeze Frames Only!

Hmmm, well, I've followed the other discussions here regarding what appears to be an on-going issue with videos not playing (freeze frame only - usually the first frame of the clip) in a Drop Zone. I'm using the latest versions of both FCP X (10.1.1) and Motion 5 (5.1). I created a video generator in Motion with 15 drop zones for use in an open for a project I just started on. These drop zones are sliding left and right in three bands across the canvas. I can't get any of them to display moving video. I've used drop zones before and had some success with getting video clips to play in them, but in this case I'm batting zero.
Has anyone found a way around this problem? I may just import the videos into Motion and render them there since this open more than likely won't ever be used for any other project; nevertheless, I'd like to be able to use the Motion 5 template as it was designed to be used.
Thanks.

The good news, Russ, is that I've made some progress! To say that using Drop Zones can be a bit quirky is an understatement! Nevertheless, your Pro Res hint seems to have fixed my issue. I've been recutting the clips from the master archived files and saving them as Pro Res 422. The file size is considerably larger that the H.264 files, but since it works I guess I won't argue that point! :-)
I need to do a bit more investigation of this next point, but it also seems as if I need to move a frame or three into the clip before inserting it into the drop zone. I had just been taking the clip and dumping it in as is. When doing that I noticed that in some cases the clip either didn't play (freeze frame) or it started at some random (or at least what seemed to be random) location within the clip. However, since I moved the start point in 2 or 3 frames (end point doesn't seem to matter) so far, at least, the clip plays every time and starts from the proper point.
I don't know if this mattered or not, but I completely deleted the library with the project and event that I was originally trying to edit to. Since it wasn't working anyway there is nothing lost and I felt it was worth starting the project "fresh", so to speak.
So far I've only re-clipped and inserted 5 of the 15 drop zone videos but for now, at least, they are all working!
Thanks again for your help and suggestions.
John

Drop zone adjustment

When bringing Imovie6 project into IDVD6, I bring in the project and then select "autofill" for the drop zones. This lets the movie play in the drop zones which is easy and looks kind of cool and I am happy with it. I also notice that when I click on each individual drop zone a slider appears that gives the impression of being able to choose which part and how much of the video plays in each drop zone. However, when I move the slider, it moves, but then returns as soon as I let go of it, making no changes.
1) How do I adjust how much and which part of the video plays in each drop zone?
2) If each drop zone is playing the entire video, is this increasing my rendering time?
Thanks

I have had the same problem. I find it difficult to get the start and stop points set up as I would like them. Here's a solution that I am currently using:
1. Find a segment of your movie that you would like to appear in the drop zone, make it the length you want, and export as a separate clip. I used MPEG Streamclip but any editor should work.
2. Drop that shortened clip into the drop zone. You might need to open the inspector and set a loop duration.
3. Find your full movie and drop it onto the menu placing it anywhere other than the drop zone.
4. A button will appear where you dropped the movie. By adjusting the font size and number of returns you can create a square the same size as the drop zone.
5. Drag the button that you created over the drop zone. The short clip plays under the "invisible" button. Clicking the drop zone causes the entire movie to play.

Can i deleate a drop zone?

how can i delete a drop zone in idvd 09?

Hello Jonah,
Drop zones are built in to the various Themes in iDVD and cannot be deleted.
They allow you to add your own custom look to a pre-made template (Which is what iDVD really is. A collection of templates you can use to add menus to your DVD.)
A few suggestions:
1.) Choose a Theme in iDVD that does not have as many drop zones. "Full Frame" is nice because the menu is one huge drop zone. Add an image or movie that relates to the content of your DVD.
2.) Add in a solid color image to the drop zone so it just becomes a color on the menu. You can find some solid colors in Macintosh HD > Library > Desktop Pictures > Solid Colors. Or you can make your own.
3.) Do you really want a menu? If you just want to burn your Movie straight to a disk without a menu go to File > One Step DVD from Movie.
4.) Apple makes software that allows you to build your own menus for DVD from the ground up. DVD Studio Pro 4. This is Professional Level DVD Authoring Software which may be more than you are looking for but for your consideration: http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/dvdstudiopro/
Hope that helps

2nd onwards play plays only last frame of MC within MC

Flash CS5
Hi,
I have an animation where a car travels across the scene then its car door opens at the end of the sequence. Other vehicles also move.
The car is a MovieClip, (car MC) in that MC’s timeline are layers for indicator lights and brake lights as it progresses across the scene, indicating right then brakes and indicates left and stops at kerbside then a keyframe at the last frame on another layer still within Car MC is for OpenLeftDoor MC where the door opens, the car interior is then visible.
THE PROBLEM:-
The second and subsequent times Reset then Play is selected, other vehicles run ok, the car progresses across the scene so it is playing the Car MC, BUT the door is already fully open throughout the journey and the car is indicating left, so its playing the very last frame of the OpenLeftDoor MC within the Car_MC. Even the right turn indicator lights and brake lights don’t show, it plays the left turn indicators all the way through. These are the last layer to play before the OpenLeftDoor MC and occupy the same last frame. Its not displaying the layers with left indic and brakes. The indicator lights are also MC’s.
Why ?
If I delete the layer with the door MC, it still sees car travel along with only the last MC playing, the Indicate left one.
I have two buttons, in properties they are gotoPlayBtn and gotoStopBtn
gotoStopBtn resets the scene and the gotoPlayBtn plays the scene from fr2.
I say frame 2 as frame 1 has a stop command required for the code below so I have moved everything forward to fr2. Necessary for any MovieClips that start at Frame 1. Not Vital for background art etc.
The code is :-
// button navigation on timeline
gotoPlayBtn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onGotoPlayClick, false, 0, true);
gotoStopBtn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onGotoStopClick, false, 0, true);
function onGotoPlayClick(evt:MouseEvent):void {
gotoAndPlay("start");
function onGotoStopClick(evt:MouseEvent):void {
gotoAndStop("start");
If I go test movie it runs ok, 2nd play then the problem. Close the test window and run test movie again and 1st play is ok.
I have been given advice as an alternative to the stop command in frame 1 to try gotoAndStop(1) though in this code above I am not sure where to put this. I presume I delete the stop command from fr1 and return all animations to fr1.
Is it the code at fault ? Whats the fix ?
Envirographics

Thanks for your response.
Forgive me, please, but what is ide?
I guess I should retrace steps a bit.
I created an fla of my primary clip. It's actually 1428 frames.
The last frame has the action: gotoAndPlay("loop start"); (I forgot I'd changed the frame number to a label)
Frame 290 on this fla timeline has the frame label: loop start
It works as expected when exported as .swf.
When I put the primary movie .swf inside of the preloader movie clip's .fla on the third frame of the content layer, and export that .fla as an .swf, that's when I notice the actionscript of the primary movie clip is gone.
Am I right in believing you can nest .swfs and keep actions?
Thank you again for your assistance.

Resizing photos for drop zones

When I drop a photo into a drop zone in iDVD '08 it stays huge and only a small part of the photo can be seen. I have resized to 768x576 as the HELP suggested but it made no difference. No matter how small I made the photo, it got blown up to a large size. I know you can move the photo a little using the command button and the mouse, but unfortunately that doesn't help much when the image is so big.
Any ideas? I'm just about ready to pull the last couple of hairs out of my head! This has never been a problem in iDVD '06
Many thanks

Changing the dpi won't help - iDVD and iMovie don't care about it. The theme displays the entire image from top to bottom (more or less), but since the window is portrait mode on a landscape image, you loose about 1/4 of the image on each side. There doesn't seem to be much you can do with it (other than not use it).
What I would do is create a 640 x480 image with a 120 pixel wide black band on either side and insert a 400 pixel wide by 480 pixel high image in the middle between the black bands. The theme should show you just about all of the image you have inserted when you place the 640x480 image in the drop zone window. I wish there were an easier way, but I've had to use such trial and error methods since I started working with iDVD back in iDVD 2 days.
F Shippey

Drop Zone Issue

Since updating to FCPX 10.0.6, Both Titles, Transistions and Gernerators that came with final cut and one's I have made myself do not allow me fill a Drop Zone with video. It fill's the drop zone with a Still from the last frame of the video clip I inserted, instead of playing the whole video clip. It worked prior to the upgrade and is something I use on a regular basis. Any Ideas? I've also tried on HD and SD Projects, I'm running the news update of Mountain Lion, and I have 16 iMacs with the same issue.

Drop Zones have been improved in 10.0.6, so I'm sorry you are having difficulties. Motion Titles and Generators (and I'm sure Transitions) with drop zones now behave as expected -- i.e.: dragging out the effect clip will no longer change the playback speed/retiming of the drop zone media, nor will it be limited to the original length of the effect as it was before; which means, you can drop a clip and resize the template to accomodate the playing length of the clip without sacrificing the timing or a predefined "out point".
There is a recommendation for "best practices" for upgrading to 10.0.6 (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5550?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US). I think it was incomplete (at least it was in my case) because of the preferences issues that came about. You can try to delete preferences, but I ended up doing a complete "fresh" install. I followed these instructions: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5149 to remove any and all possible problem files.
*My* issue was mainly that none of the text boxes I published from Motion would appear in FCPX. There was also another "presumed" issue which turned out not to be one: Anamorphic Override (apparently ONLY appears for SD media and not for 1440x1080 media... maybe next release...)
So, try deleting preferences first (http://www.digitalrebellion.com/prefman/) and if worse comes to worse (and I hope for your sake it doesn't come to this!): do a fresh install... that should clean up any issues you might be having.
HTH

Drop Zones in FCPX used to be videos, now show icons

I made a long video using motion transitions and build-ins with drop zones. When originally applied, you dropped them onto the timeline above the vide you wanted them to work with, and the video would play behind it with it showing through the drop zone portions. It was a very nice effect. I have to reexport my movie, and I'm now updated with FCPX 10.0.5 (I believe I lasted exported at 10.0.2 in Lion), and now the dropzones just show the downward arrow, the video won't display through.
Anyone else encouter this? Any solutions? Adding them into the dropzone frame just creates still images, which is stupid.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
FCPX 10.0.5
ML 10.8.1

Have you tried trashing your preferences?
Unexplained faults like this can often be fixed by clearing out FCP X's preferences (for some reason, they get knotted up from time to time).
Download Digital Rebellion's Preference Manager (free, simple to use, and perfectly safe, both to download and use).
http://www.digitalrebellion.com/prefman/
With Preference Manager, you can backup the Prefs when FCP X (or any of the Apple Professional Applications) are working normally. Then when either of the applications are acting strangely, Trash the Preferences, then Restore from your backups (just a mouse-click).
If you trash the prefs and don't restore them, you will need to manually restore all your FCP X settings again, so it's a great idea to backup Preferences from time to time when FCP X is working well, then your backups are up to date.
Doesn't fix every problem, but it fixes a lot.
Andy

Not scaling images in drop zone

Hi,
For some reason when I drop an image into a drop zone in iDVD 6, it will not scale the image so a large chunk of the image is cropped off. Since the image I need to use has some text on it, I'm trying t resize it to fit in an external editor, but no luck as of yet.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Many, many thanks,
David

David,
I know I used to have the problem you described back in the iDVD 4 (or earlier) days, but I just did some more checking.
The article Selecting the portion of a movie or image that appears in the drop zone at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iDVD/5.0/en/258.html says (in part): When you drag a picture or movie into a drop zone, the aspect ratio of the image is preserved and it is scaled larger or smaller until the top, bottom, left, or right edge of the image meets the edge of the drop zone. You can move the image to choose which portion of the image is visible in the drop zone.
The article was written for iDVD 5 but when I 'fired up' iDVD 6 and tried some 5 megapixel images in the drop zones of several themes, everything worked as advertised in the article.
What theme are you having problems with?
F Shippey

Drop Zone Photo Quality

I created a DVD and added images to the Drop Zones. When completed I burned the DVD. The images in the Drop Zones are grainy with horizontal lines.
The preview before the burn looked fine, really crisp and clear.
Note:
I did use the computer for other things while burning. Do you think that caused the image quality to drop? Should I not do anything while buring the DVD?
Thanks,
Craig
iMac 20" 2GHz Intel CoreDuo Mac OS X (10.4.8) 2 GB Ram

I created a DVD and added images to the Drop Zones.
When completed I burned the DVD. The images in the
Drop Zones are grainy with horizontal lines.
The preview before the burn looked fine, really crisp
and clear.
I did use the computer for other things while
burning. Do you think that caused the image quality
to drop?
I doubt that is the source of your image quality problems. What was the size (in pixels) of the images you used?
Should I not do anything while buring the
DVD?
Back in the old days (a couple of years ago) with slower processors, doing two things at one could be a problem. With the faster (and dual) processors we have now, using your computer for something else during the encoding/multiplexing process might lengthen the process but shouldn't cause problems. Make your initial 'burn' to a disk image on your hard drive and then use Apple's Disk Utility or Roxuo's Toast Titanium to burn the image file to writable media. I try to avoid using my computer during the actual burning process to avoid any burner buffer-underruns because of hard drive access issues.

Drop Zone will not play video - only still frame

I have a generator template with drop zone, in and out.
When I select the video clip to use in the drop zone it shows as a still freeze frame - video does not play. Only the first frame displays.
This was a bug that Apple said is fixed in the last version... it is still a problem for me.
Anyone know about this?

Motion Template.
To quote FCPX 10.0.08 "Drop zones are no longer reset to the first frame of video after application restarts".... this is in the 'What's New' in the App store.
But if you use a drop zone in a generator template, FCPX only displays the first frame - no video. Many users reported this bug on the eearlier version. Some tried using a compound clip but this did not work for me. The bug is nto fixed.
I need to select a part of two different clips in the timeline on both sides of the template to ceate a transition - one ingoing and one outgoing.

Motion 5 / FCP X - Frustrating Drop Zones

I've been (trying) to use Drop Zones lately on a number of projects and while I've been able to kludge things here and there to get them to work properly, they sure have frustrated me. The projects I'm working on need snippets of properly timed video floating around the screen, usually within the opening sequence for the video. The trouble is I've never been able to really figure out the timing for these things.
1) Initially, the logical thought was (for me, at least) to set at least an in point for the video before dropping it into the Drop Zone in FCP X. That certainly didn't work because it appeared as though FCP X totally ignored my clip's in point. I wanted that clip video to start exactly at the beginning of that drop zone.
2) Since that didn't work I did some Internet research and someone posted that Drop Zones ignore clip in points. They said that when selecting the clip for the drop zone to place the cursor on the exact frame where you want the video to start before applying it to the Drop Zone. Well, that works to an extent.
Here's what I found after doing some experimentation in both Motion 5 and FCP X (latest versions of each). First, I created a video with timecode in it so that I could accurately track where the video really started on the first frame of the individual Drop Zone. The video starts with 10 seconds of color bars followed by 5 minutes of burned in timecode, then another 10 seconds of color bars. I created a simple Motion Generator with four Drop Zones - upper left, upper right, lower left and lower right. Each Drop Zone was placed exactly 10 seconds apart. So, for example:
For the first test I placed each Drop Zone within one Group in Motion. Drop Zones start at the following timecode for each location as follows:
UL: 00:00:00:00
LL: 00:00:10:00
UR: 00:00:20:00
LR: 00:00:30:00
After publishing the project, I loaded it into FCP X. I used the same timecode video for each Drop Zone starting it at timecode value 00:01:00:00. Now, one would think that each drop zone window, having been placed exactly 10 seconds apart, would show timecode values for the inserted videos also each 10 seconds apart. But they don't! All four Drop Zones show exactly the same timecode value. They are acting as if all four were placed within the Motion 5 timeline starting at 00:00:00:00. But they weren't.
So, I thought, what would happen if I placed each Drop Zone in Motion in a separate Group? I created four Groups, each one holding only one Drop Zone. It didn't make a difference. The timecode videos in each window were still in sync with one another.
The only way I can get this to work properly is to offset the beginning of each clip by -10 seconds. Unfortunately, if there's not enough "preroll" in the clip to do that, I'm out of luck.
But it gets stranger! Further experimentation leads me to believe that all of the Drop Zones within a project reference themselves to the very first Drop Zone within the project. I picked a new point within the timecode video - in this case, the 2 minute point (00:02:00:00) and dropped it into the UL drop zone. I did the same then for the other three and now they all track based on that 00:02:00:00 point within the video!
But it gets even stranger!!! I tried one more experiment, this time loading the Drop Zones in reverse order. That seemed to work. But still, why should I have to mess around like this trying to sync drop zones in some of weird order?
The question is, why do Drop Zones work this way and what can be done to fix this problem? However I select the first frame of video for a particular drop zone should be what that drop zone references when rendering. Ideally it would be great to be able to use an in point on the clip, but I'm also happy with just moving the clip's cursor to the first frame. It's easy enough to do. Hopefully the software team working on these apps can come up with a solution that makes sense. Thanks.
John

I've had this too and the fix then was to delete my project render files (FCP that is).
Russ

Quality Issues with Drop Zones - Newbie ALERT!

Hello!
First post for me here...
Just started working with Final Cut Studio 5.1 and I have some issues that I have been running into. In DVD Studio, I am grabbing a menu template (Panes Blue) and I am creating a simple text animation in Motion (720x480) NTSC and saving the Motion file then importing the Motion file into DVD studio and setting up the drop zone asset to my motion file. When I preview, the text quality is very poor! At first I thought it was just the preview, but it still looks horrible on the TV when I burn.
How do I get the best quality when creating an animation in Motion that I would like to use in a DVD studio Drop Zone?
Please let me know if you need further info!
Jason

here's the issue:
DVDSP doesn't encode progressive scan. it doesn't matter what your encode settings are. I've done extensive testing on this issue. here's what happens:
I made an element that fits perfectly into a specified drop zone. the menu Background image or movie is rendered progressive scan (not interlaced). I drop the element into the drop zone and hit Simulate. Since the Drop zone and it's element need to be encoded to Mpeg2 in order to play properly, DVDSP interlaces it to make it work. Result: bad image compression and the drop zone area is badly interlaced while the rest of the image isn't.
This was something that frustrated me for weeks while i was trying to find a solution. As far as I know there is only one solution; Since DVDSP uses Compressor to encode files on build, there must be a way of intercepting the process and changing the settings that DVDSP uses to encode it's files. There is no preference for this and since the encoding takes place in the background, there is no way of changing this without getting a programmer to figure out how to do it, and even then, i don't know if it's possible. If someone can figure out how do do this, there'll be a lot of Happy people wanting it.

Resizing clips in drop zones with motion 5.04

Can someone please help me resize clips in the dropzones. When I drag the clip into the dropzone it show as too high up causing the head of my subject to be cut off as an example. I do not see anywhere that shows a "fit" option in the inspector or anywhere else. I purchase templates with dropzones in place. Also when I try to resiize the handles that are showing, the complete drop zones resizes.
Is there some parameters I am supposed to using with the clip itself?

The "Adjust Item" tool is contextual, and will only help you move the image around inside of a Drop Zone.
If you need to "resize" the content of a Drop Zone, use the Scale parameter in the Inspector's "Image" section.
I happen to be doing this at the moment myself.

Since 10.1.2 Drop zone cause last frame to be a still

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