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ElJayBronx
ElJayBronx
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Zooming, new zoom scroll bar, Effects Control. HELP!

Sep 5, 2012 9:57 PM

Tags: #premiere_pro #editing #cs6 #effects_control #possible_bug

Works fine in the Timeline...but to me, it's SERIOUS trouble in the Effects Control panel! The problem (as I see it...and I'm dying to be corrected by someone who's solved it) is that the playhead refuses to maintain center after the bar gets to a certain (small) size...which usually is the size just ABOVE that where it becomes useful i.e. there are two keyframes that are a few frames apart and they still look like one instead of two; I need to move one or delete one but not the other. I'm working (by the way) in very long clips, 1 hour or more (I do videos of local opera and theater companies in NYC, and a clip will usually be an entire act of a show or opera).

 

I haven't found any other writing on this issue. Is it possible MY system doesn't have something activated that forces the playhead/CTI to stay center in this context?

 

As soon as the two become distinct...the playhead disappears and there's a fun (not really) game of hide-and-seek instead of a nice orderly approach to whatever editing issue I'm trying to deal with.

 

In other words...help! The nice Adobe video proclaiming CS6 as the Promised Land indicates that the playhead is supposed to stay center with this "great innovation" that's supposed to save real estate over the older controls. This thing seems to work ok in every other context BUT the effects control panel, which has its own independent zoom feature not related to the Timeline...

1116 Views   8 Replies   Latest reply: Steven L. Gotz, Sep 6, 2012 10:19 PM
 
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  • Steven L. Gotz
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    1. Steven L. Gotz,
    Sep 5, 2012 10:26 PM   in reply to ElJayBronx
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    The longest capture I have on my drives at the moment is a 30 minute DV clip.

     

    I put a couple of keyframes three frames apart at about 5 minutes into the clip  and I am able to zoom all of the way in to the Effects Control panel and have the CTI stay dead center without a problem. It never disappears.

     

    Perhaps you are the vitim of a long GOP? Although I don't have the problem with a 17 minute HDV clip.

     

    So, what is your source material? Be as exact as you can. Codec, frames per second, frame size, etc.

     
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  • ElJayBronx
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    2. ElJayBronx,
    Sep 5, 2012 11:13 PM   in reply to Steven L. Gotz
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    Sample of source material:

     

    Video type.JPG

    There are three such clips.

     

    I looked at using multicam, and we decided to do something much more interesting, fun and time-consuming...place them on a regular timeline, sync them using the audio tracks and use the opacity of the top clip(s) along with such things as lighting effects (ever use negative intensity in a spotlight to black out part of an image? Somehow the lighting designer of the show didn't know how to do that in real life...) to create different effects that enhance this particular show.

     

    A lot of complications ensue. There are multiple underlying audio files (and sections between that are not messed with, just one default camera view and its attached audio used) so there are trims where a new sync is needed. The partially finished timeline currently looks like this:

     

     

    Partially finished timeline.JPG

    If anyone's interested, several selections, done this way, are posted on YouTube (including the Easy As... number you see inserted as a completed sequence, in green). The link:

     

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgpI3aVfIgk&feature=plcp

     

    Here's a pic of the problem:

     

    Zoomed out - 20-31-29 on timeline.JPG

    Zoomed all the way out...keyframes look like workings of deranged mind...

    Maximum size before....JPG

    One more touch on that zoom controller...

    playhead has left the building....JPG

    Here's where we end up! Playhead's left the building!

     
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  • Jon-M-Spear
    738 posts
    Jan 27, 2006
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    3. Jon-M-Spear,
    Sep 6, 2012 3:47 AM   in reply to ElJayBronx
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    I had the same issue (I think!).

     

    Try placing the mouse pointer over the effects control panel window and hitting the tilde (full screen) key.

     
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  • ElJayBronx
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    4. ElJayBronx,
    Sep 6, 2012 6:19 AM   in reply to Jon-M-Spear
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    Jon, thanks. It still has the same problem, just having more screen real estate available makes it a bit more manageable; the wildly moving CTI/playhead still is hard to find.

     

    I reported it to Adobe as a bug since the reference manual says "Expanding and contracting the bar is centered on the playhead." This may work in other contexts but NOT in the Effect Controls panel.

     
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  • Steven L. Gotz
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    5. Steven L. Gotz,
    Sep 6, 2012 6:43 AM   in reply to ElJayBronx
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    Interesting.

     

    I would be interested in downloading some M2TS files if someone could point some out for me. Just to give this a try. An hour of video would take a while though.

     

    Or, if someone in the San Francisco Bay area has any, I could come by with an external drive and get them from you.

     

    I see that the scroll bar in the example above is not zoomed in very far. What happens if you zoom in all the way. So that the scroll bar is tiny? Seems like a silly question, perhaps, but I am looking at the images and thinking that the CTI is off to the left for some reason. So if you zoom all the way in, perhaps it would force it to the middle?

     

    What happens if you take a short clip and repeat it over and over to get to an hour and then nested the sequence in a new sequence? If you applied the effects to the nested sequence, does it have the same problem? I could try to replicate it that way. Or, what happens if you do that with the long clip. Does it change anything?

     

    Sorry, just looking for a way to replicate the problem as well as maybe come up with a workaround.

     

    Note: While playing with the nested clip suggestion to make sure it works for me before posting this message, I had the CTI in the middle and moved the scroll bar to the left to move the CTI off screen to the right. That was fine, but when I zoomed out again, the CTI was gone. I have not been able to duplicate that again. I can't make it fail. But it did happen once.

     

    That leaves the question, when you zoom in are you accidentally moving the scroll bar right or left?

     
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  • ElJayBronx
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    6. ElJayBronx,
    Sep 6, 2012 7:51 AM   in reply to Steven L. Gotz
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    Okay, Steven...your solution WILL work (I took a short clip and made a long sequence then nested it into yet another sequence).

     

    HERE'S the issue: YOU CAN REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM BY OFFSETTING THE BEGINNING OF THE CLIP. In other words, move it to the right in the timeline by say 15 minutes or so, then select it then open Effects Control. The cursor will NOT center. Apparently the developers think clips are nice little things that are supposed to always be at the beginning of sequences! NOT NOT NOT!!!

     

    Anyway, hope this helps and I can't tell you how much I appreciate your efforts to help. I think it qualifies as a "bug" and have reported it as such.

     

    If you have any thoughts for working with it in the interim, I'm all ears, but I suspect we need to wait for Adobe's next move on this one.

     
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  • Jim Simon
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    7. Jim Simon,
    Sep 6, 2012 11:26 AM   in reply to ElJayBronx
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    This may work in other contexts but NOT in the Effect Controls panel.

     

    Like Steven, it does for me as well.  I can't get it NOT to zoom centered on the CTI.

     

    The only thing I can see happening is if the CTI is out of view when you zoom, it doesn't magically come back into view.  You have to scroll to the CTI to see it again.  But zooming still centers on the CTI, even when you can't see it.

     
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  • Steven L. Gotz
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    8. Steven L. Gotz,
    Sep 6, 2012 10:19 PM   in reply to ElJayBronx
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    Now I see the problem. Yep! A clip not at the beginning of the sequence has the problem. Wow. OK.

     

    Certainly a bug.

     
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