[VIDEO] Tutorial for Gestural Copying Issue for Smoke on Mac

[BKM]

This is a video tutorial in response to questions in this post.
http://the-area.com/forum/autodesk-smoke-for-mac-os-x/general-discussion/copying-gap-effects-on-the-...

I hope it helps.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for taking the time to do that! It definitely works. But it seems like it's kinda squirrelly, like, if you don't do everything (select, F, click) within the right time frame, it's not going to do what you want. But once you get a handle on the timing that it expects, all works as expected.

Thanks again!

[arichards]

Thanks so much for this Brian,

It was really well explained, particularly in the detail of the necessity of lifting up. This was definitely my issue, as I was moving it more to the side before (when not duplicating to the desktop). I was also using the wacom tablet incorrectly (I've got the bluetooth version) as I was clicking the button as well as placing the pen down! Needless 'duplication' of selecting or what! Anyway it works like a charm.

The one issue with the instructions is that many people on the mac might be using the Final Cut hotkeys, even if they are coming from Media Composer, etc. With that keyboard mapping the copy command is 'c' instead of 'f'. I would not see any necessity at all for amending the video (even with the corrective overlay text), as everyone should make the mental substitution, I would have thought.

One strange detail. It is definitely seems easier not to duplicate a clip instead of a gap effect when not using your instruction. I had found that many more times (using the side-to-side instead of lift) the clip would copy while the gap effect would move or simply not move. I cannot think my way around it, but it definitely seems a dominant pattern and not a simple heads or tails randomness. But anyway, with these very clear and 'empathetic' instructions that really isn't an issue.

Not that I want to put any pressure on you, but Autodesk really should pay you (freelance video instructionist?) to provide some video instructions to place on the wiki help guide. It's stuff like this that really separates the wiki from the pdf. I think your instructions really complement Grant Kay's more process-based/macro approach.

Thanks again for this really nice guide...

Cheers
Tony

[BKM]

Glad this was helpful for all. Maybe I'll have a second career at Autodesk in my next life. 🙂
@Hillery
The order in which you do the selection and the click and the hotkey is very important... because if you click before 'F' then it's blown. A wacom is the best interface.
@Tony
As far as the hotkeys go... I know you can do FCP, but I feel that if you learn with the standard Smoke hotkeys you will be better off. The program is very hotkey driven, especially in Action.
But as long as the concept is clear, it doesn't matter what letter of the alphabet you choose.

I noticed on my Macbook Pro, that there isn't a Right CTL button, so I need to see how to deal with setting an out point. Working on an undersized keyboard seems painful.

Thanks for the kind words. 🙂

[s5hwan]

Please, explain how to set a position marker to me. I first heard this from you here and I look it up in the help guide, but it dose not seem to have any information of it.

[BKM]

The position marker or simply the Positioner, is just the yellow bar. There really is nothing to set or do. You can see it by hitting F6. It will show you the source timeline for better visualization of the source clip.

[Anonymous]

nice, i didn't know the but with the 3 green symbols and the marker.
I sure hit that a few times and got confused cause it didn't copy'd the whole thing.

[arichards]

On the subject of the Macbook Pro's keyboard size. I think the idea of the viability of running Smoke on a Macbook isn't so much the Macbook itself, but also the recent and emerging tendency to modularity that is allowed for by the current and next generation of thunderbolt. The current 2011 generation allows for hooking up the Promise thunderbolt raid and attaining speeds of 750mbs and then, if Smoke later supports it or something similar, input and output/monitoring via the Blackmagic Ultrastudio3D. The next generation of thunderbolt will apparently allow for outboard graphics cards, thus making the macbook something that you can slot into a sort of legoset professional workstation while also having the optional mobility of using it apart from this setup. I've not invested in the thunderbolt yet, but I don't really think of using a laptop given the monitor, transport and tablet, etc. It would also be very easy to hook up a usb or bluetooth keyboard and just close the lid. I do however use the macbook screen for outputting a larger version of the image.

Cheers
Tony

P.S. I tried to attach a picture of my setup to illustrate the point, but for some reason attachments are not 'taking'...

[s5hwan]

In your video, there is no in/out marker, but it was set from the positioner to the last frame. I would like to know the way of using Position marker for the Record timeline, as you demoed in the video.

[s5hwan]

I found how to set it. It was "Display Phantom Markers" in the preference. I have not used it.

Cheers