Windows 8.1 Protools 11, keystudio issues

I'm almost too embarassed to admit to this one, however here it is.  unlike protools 10, when you load up aax64 bit plugins in protools 11, the record function doesn't automatically come on... and you need to enable record in order for your midi keyboard to work!!  Bah... yes I feel stupid.
But... keystudio does work with windows 7 sp1 driver in windows 8.1.

that is all.

Element 3d won't activate automatically

Try deleteing the directory "C:\ProgramData\VideoCopilot" and then reinstalling and trying again.

Media Encoder CC fails while loading (program has stopped working)

start media encoder and hold "shift", and it will clear out the settings that are causing the problem.  Worked perfectly for me anyway :)

that is all.

How do I get started in 3d / Motion graphics?

The key I found is finding good teachers.  Here are the courses I have found utterly invaluable.

Andrew Kramer and his crew at video copilot really define teaching on the internet for me.  So I went around trying to find a "VideoCopilot of before I invested 6 grand in 3d software.  I am a bit of a noob and not overly good at just working things out, so for me I need good training that doesn't make me bored out of my brain.

For After Effects: 

VideoCopilot.net - it almost goes without saying, if it wasn't for Andrew Kramers tuts, I would still have absolutely no clue about 3d or after effects.  He tackles real world problems and does it in a way that is entertaining.  Even my wife watches along when he puts up a new tut and she has no idea what he is on about, but she finds it entertaining.  For anyone wanting to get into any aspect of 3d or motion graphics, I recommend this as a starting point.
Also  http://www.sternfx.com/ has some good stuff too.

For Eon Vue (http://www.e-onsoftware.com/):

quadspinner.com  -  Dax is one of the few guys doing Vue tuts out there that can actually produce scenes that you would want to copy... or that could be considered realistic.  If you are new to vue, you can't go past his stuff.  Unfortunately not much is free, but it is worth the money.  I particularly liked his tuts on lighting, which is so vital to get a scene to work.

Also 3d World magazine has a few useful tuts every now and then.

For Zbrush:
There are a few around, but the only guy I could really learn from was http://www.zbrushworkshops.com/.

This guy charges, but man, it was worth every cent.

For Cinema 4d:
http://greyscalegorilla.com/blog/ pretty much sold me on cinema 4d.
http://www.digitaltutors.com/ was quite good, but I found their tuts rather laborious and not particularly entertaining, so I quickly gave up.  (yes I have a very poor attention span).

For Maya:

Yet to find.

For 3d Studio Max:

Other than Andrew Kramer who has done a bunch of video copilot, I haven't found any good ones.

For Protools

Duncan Wood from touchwoodproductions.com taught me pretty much everything I know in protools, but sadly he hasn't made any tuts yet.  If I ever convince him to, I will link it, as he is a good teacher. 

There are obviously probably way more that others have used and found success with, but these were the ones I found incredibly useful.  google/bing is also very helpful for finding random tuts for specific problems.

that is all.

Best download manager (free)

I was downloading a file and it was sitting on 32KB/s... 2 days to download a 2GB file.  So yea... not having that.  Went trying to find a good virus and spam free downloader that splits the file and downloads it in segments... now I am download at 727KB/s which is much nicer.

The download manager I use is called... wait for it... Free Download Manager.

Thanks to lifehacker for reminding me:

http://lifehacker.com/5045093/five-best-download-managers

that is all.

Windows 8.1 upgrade from Windows 8 results in "0xc1900101 - 0x400017" error (fix)

When I say fix, this is actually a very simple problem assuming your manufacturer has updated drivers.  Go to your mobo manufacturer website, download and install the latest drivers.
By doing this I got my ASUS Z9PE-D8 WS to work fine.  Windows 8.1 has been very well worth the upgrade too.

Also install the latest Nvidia drivers.

Once you have done that, try again.

Note, some boards like the EVGA SR-X I couldn't get going with this fix, as EVGA is working on a Bios fix.

Compatibility 
My compatibility has improved for a number of programs.  Some have had mixed opinions as far as this goes though, so check if your programs work in windows 8.1.
- Eon Vue xstream 11 and 2014 work fine for me.
- Cinema 4D r14 & 15 seem to work fine also.
- Premiere and AE CC all work.
- Protools 10 & 11 work.

Thoughts

Windows 8.1 improves things nicely.  Not a game changer, but certainly worth the download.

That is all.

UEFI boot fail when changing mobo (Windows 8)

I changed my mobo and I get no boot device.  Here was the fix:

- turn secure boot on
- turn CSMboot to Auto for HDDs
- reboot
- change boot device to UEFI boot (Microsoft boot manager).

If that doesn't fix it
- boot from windows 8
- repair install
- command prompt
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /rebuildbcd

If you try those commands and they don't work, or you get the error message "The drive where windows is installed is locked.  Unlock the Drive and try again", go to command prompt again, and do this:
bcdboot c:\Windows /s c:\
(assuming your boot drive is c:

Once you have done all those things, try changing the boot order again in the bios to Microsoft boot manager.

If that doesn't work... google is your friend, I have no idea.

How to make a line draw on in after effects

It has been a while since I did this in the first section of D&R so I forgot how to do it!  Apparently Trim Paths is the way to go.

Basically create a path using a pen (I was tracing a river to make it stand out), disable the "fill" (in the same tool bar as the pen tool), and change the stroke to the colour you want for the line (and thickness). 

If you are doing camera moves on the map, make sure you set the shape layer to a 3d layer before you get carried away making a good line.

Then Select the layer and add a trim path parameter (use the start and end to animate the sequence):

If none of that made any sense (it is actually just to jog my memory cause I forget this stuff all the time!), watch the video here:

Pretty good tutorial here: (go to 9:36 for the useful bit):

That is all.

Mysterious Color changes when saving for web in photoshop

I was going crazy again today trying to sort out color spaces in photoshop CC.  I kept saving the file with various color differences, and when I looked at the final jpg the color was different to what was on screen.

So much for WYSIWYG.  Anyway... This solution worked for me:

I Skipped step 3 and 4 (I couldn't figure out how to find them! Yes I am a noob).

If you're saving PNG or GIF images from Photoshop, they can't contain colour profiles. If you're saving JPEG images from Photoshop, they can contain colour profiles.
If you'd like Photoshop to match what you're seeing in your browser, and you're designing user interfaces, and you'd like colours in images to match colours in PNGs and GIFs, then here's how to set up Photoshop:
Step 1 — Choose Edit > Color Settings and set the working space for RGB to Monitor RGB.
Step 2 — If you’re using Photoshop CS6, click More Options and turn off Blend Text Colors Using Gamma, because it changes how non-opaque text is rendered. It should already be off, but if it’s not, turn off Blend RGB Colors Using Gamma as well.
Step 3 — Open a document and choose Edit > Assign Profile, then set it to Don’t Color Manage This Document. This must be done for every single document you work on.
Step 4 — Ensure View > Proof Colors is turned off.
Step 5 — When saving files with Save For Web, ensure Convert to sRGB is turned off. If you’re saving a JPEG file, then also turn off Embed Color Profile (there are some cases where you might want this on for photos, but chances are you’ll want it off for interface elements and icons).
This answer provides way more detail: http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/a/9241/3901

Sanity restored :)  Thanks Marc Edwards for your answer. 

View active keyframes only in After Effects

Click on the layer you want and hit: U

That is all.

Mapping Tools for Cinema 4d (if you want to get DEM info into Cinema)

Have you ever tried to create realistic terrains by sculpting them?  If you are like me, you are wasting your time.  Here are some epic pluggins that take all the effort out of making terrains, by simply taking the data from google earth automatically.  (no I'm not joking.. if you are like me you have spent a lot of time trying to find GeoTIFFs or DEM files, or whatever of the earth to bring them into Vue or Cinema.. or whatever... and to no avail.  This will require cinema 4d.  I have studio, but I'm guessing it will work with the version that comes with after effects CC.

These plugins cost money.. but so does all the time I wasted doing this manually!!

If only I had this site a year ago... but anyway.  Here is one for getting textures:
http://www.lizard-labs.net/ultimate_maps_downloader.aspx

Here is an awesome plugin for getting the elevation data (imports it directly into cinema with simple copy and paste of coordinates from google maps. (not joking)
http://www.cinemaplugins.com/c4d-plugins/demearth/

And here is a tutorial (not by me)
https://vimeo.com/68479957

Reboot.

Ok.. time for a new type of blog.  From now, I am going to be posting useful things I find while building Daniel & The Revelation.  This is mainly because I have a horrible memory and forget all the useful stuff I learn along the way.

Software I use:
Cinema 4d r15,  Adobe CC, Eon Vue 11.5, Protools 10 & 11 (native instruments)