Monday, November 18, 2013

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.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

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.

Thursday, November 07, 2013

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:

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.

Tuesday, November 05, 2013

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.