Avid Behaving Badly #2: Re-Creating Title Media
This bug annoys the crap out of me.
So, because I work in Reality TV, I have to edit in low res. It's just not financially possible to keep all 2000+ tapes of any given series online in full 1080i HD (even at DNx145). So when we edit in low-res, we also make titles in low-res. We use 10:1m for our low-res editing, in case anyone is interested. When you re-create those low-res titles in HD, an interesting thing happens: Any titles that used kerning are re-created incorrectly. This is Super Awesome.
Now, when I say re-create the titles, I mean the easy method of marking in to out over the whole sequence, going up to the Clip menu, and choosing the "Re-Create Title Media" option. That's the one the creates bad titles where kerning is involved (as far as I can tell, only when moving from SD to HD projects).
The solution is also Super Awesome. You have to manually select each affected title in the Effect Editor, click the "edit title" button in the effect editor window, and then re-save the title (no need to actually change anything). Doing this for 100+ titles per show will make you want to stab your eyes out with a pair of bananas. Trust me, you can find a way to make that fruit work.
Thanks Avid, now I'm fucking blind.
Now, when I say re-create the titles, I mean the easy method of marking in to out over the whole sequence, going up to the Clip menu, and choosing the "Re-Create Title Media" option. That's the one the creates bad titles where kerning is involved (as far as I can tell, only when moving from SD to HD projects).
The solution is also Super Awesome. You have to manually select each affected title in the Effect Editor, click the "edit title" button in the effect editor window, and then re-save the title (no need to actually change anything). Doing this for 100+ titles per show will make you want to stab your eyes out with a pair of bananas. Trust me, you can find a way to make that fruit work.
Thanks Avid, now I'm fucking blind.
Possible work around: I always work in HD, since I don't have anything that will end up SD for final product.
ReplyDeleteI switch the format tab to SD for importing / digitizing media, then right back to HD for editing. The titles are rendered in HD, and will look the same when you online.
NERDS!
Hi John! Thanks for the comment!
ReplyDeleteHere are my Angry Avid Thoughts (I need an "A" word for "thoughts"):
While that would solve the title recreation problem, it then causes another issue: All of your titles are beautiful HD, but the rest of your media is crappy 10:1m, which is jarring to the eye.
Also, god forbid you have timecode burn-in or a graphic overlay for bug placement or something, but those effects can't be lower res than the media below them... now you're rendering 44 minutes of HD timecode burn because of one three second long HD title.
I guess if your timetable allows for HD renders instead of SD 10:1m ones, and whomever you're delivering to doesn't mind the look, and you have a spacious render drive for all of that HD media, then I'm totally jealous of you.
Unfortunately, my workflow, timetable, and storage limitations all combine to force me to do all of my offline work in 10:1m, so I'm stuck waiting for Avid to fix their god-forsaken bugs.