Dissolves Inconsistant in Avid

E

Endless Sky Entertainment

New member
Hello Avid Users:

I seached all the forums for this issue and even tried the Avid support site (they told me to go into Legacy Mode where too many features that I like are disabled... still didn't work) and no dice. This is the problem. I'm running Avid 5.6.4 Academic on a Dell Extreme Quad core with 4 gigs of ram and a Nvidia card (compatible card) with the Avid suggested driver. In most regards, my system works fine except for the occasional freeze (could be because timelines sometimes exceed two hours). What is bothering me is that Avid is very unreliable when it comes to applying dissolves. This has happened to me in front of an Avid certified instructor at school (different machine) and he had no explanation. On the same project, there are places where a dissolve will work and places where it won't. The funny thing is when you're applying it, it looks as if it going to work but it doesn't. I've followed all the rules. What could I be doing wrong? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Regards
 
Can you better define "unreliable"?

I've found that if you're trying to apply a dissolve, or any transition effect, to a clip that appears to have enough handle, make sure you only have the track selected that you're trying to apply the transition. If another track is selected that doesn't have enough handle the trans won't apply. Also ensure that both sides of the edit have enough handle to apply the transition.
 
Sorry, I wasn't clear enough. What I mean is that sometimes a dissolve will work (can be applied successfully to a sequence) and sometimes it won't and there's just no rhyme or reason to it. Why is this? I follow all the steps I'm supposed to. When you're working on a project and your NLE can't do something as simple as that and for no good reason, you begin to lose faith in the program. I hope someone can help me because I've just about run out of patience with Avid. FCP never gave me any problems.
 
Sorry, didn't read the rest of your message. Yes, the proper tracks are selected and there is enough space on both sides of the edit to apply the effect successfully (even if there isn't Avid adjusts and makes do). I apply the effect (add and render)... don't even need to render to see it since its a real-time effect but I do it anyway.... everything looks fine while your doing it (in the sense that the effect is being applied in the normal manner) except no dissolve(?????). On some other part of the timeline it might work, but not on certain parts. Its a mystery to me and I came here as a last resort. Hope someone can help me out.
 
No real solution here. But a few more things to try to determine the root of the problem.

Did the system at school and your sytem have the same users settings? Do you have your user settings on disk? Sometimes corrupted user setting can cause some strange errors. Can you repeat the error using a different user setting. Is the error repeatable in other projects using a different set of media?

To clarify the problem you're having - when you say it doesn't work is there an icon at the transition point that represents a dissolve?
…there is enough space on both sides of the edit to apply the effect successfully (even if there isn't Avid adjusts and makes do).
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Avid can only work with the available material meaning if you try to apply a 30 frame dissolve and you only have 2 frames of handles the adjustments Avid makes will create a 2 frame transition (which looks like a cut). Doulble click on the dissolve icon to confirm the duration of the transition.

Launch the media tool to see if Avid ID's any corrupt files.
Open the console to view any other error messages.

On the same project, there are places where a dissolve will work and places where it won't.
Click to expand...
What I mean is that sometimes a dissolve will work (can be applied successfully to a sequence) and sometimes it won't and there's just no rhyme or reason to it.
Click to expand...
This is a little confusing - it's hard to tell if the problem is random or consistant. Is it the same place (cut point) in the timeline that it fails? Let's say that you want to place a dissolve every 2 minutes. So you have a dissolve at 2min, 4min and 6min. What I'm gathering is that the dissolves at 2 and 4 work fine and the one at 6 doesn't take. Is that correct? Also, can you remove the edit at 2min and then add it back again with no problems? If the above scenaario is accurate that's good, it means the problem is consitant in that it occurs at the same transition point. It gives you something to work on in trying to fix the problem. When you take your car to the mechanic because the engine is knocking the mechanic needs to figure out where the knocking is coming from, that's what you're doing here.

I'm guessing it's an issue with the handles like I mentioned earlier. Go to one of the cut points that won't take a dissolve. Match frame the incoming clip into the source monitor. How many frames are available? Do the same thing with the end of the outgoing clip. If there's only one or two frames there that's the root of the problem.
 
Thanks for the replies. I really appreciate it. 1) I have the default user settings. Don't remember what they had at school. 2) This happens consistently in the sense that before I do a dissolve, I have to cross my fingers and hope it works. Doesnt happen in any given point but on the cuts where it won't work... it doesn't work no matter what. 3) Yes there is enough space and the dialog box for the dissolve behaves as its working and appears to apply the effect... just no effect is applied. 4) In one instance, I was able to apply another effect in place of a dissolve on a cut where the dissolve wouldn't work. 5) Haven't launched Media Tool yet. Will do.
 
BTW I forgot, I usually try to do it first from the quick transitions icon, then I'll use the effects palatte when QT doesnt work. I'm just getting tired of this. I like for things to work and when your NLE is unreliable... it gets very frustrating. Because I'm a PC user my only alternative is Vegas and so far, I don't like it and find it highly unintuitive. No doubt that's due to my own lack of Vegas skills but I don't like the interface either. The only NLE that never gave me trouble was FCP but that's an expensive option right now.
 
I have to second milksac. I've been an Avid editor for 10 years and I'll have to say, if a dissolve is not working it's because there isn't enough handle, the user settings are corrupt or there's something out-of-spec with your hardware.

I would create a new user profile and see if that changes anything.
 
Doesnt happen in any given point but on the cuts where it won't work... it doesn't work no matter what.
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Good. We've found one part of the engine that's knocking. Park the playhead on the cut point. Now zoom all the way in. The playhead (bluebar) should now have 2 lines a solid line and a dashed line to the right, this represents a single frame. Check the cut point to ensure they are butted up against each other. If there's a 1 frame gap you can't place a dissolve between the clip. If you're zoomed out of the timeline it can be hard to spot a 1 frame gap. If there's no gap try a new user setting.

User settings are unique to the editor. When you load your own settings the keyboard is mapped with the your preferred hot keys. It also holds workspaces preset bin views and loads of other fun things. Read up in the help files about user settings and keyboard mapping. User settings are saved by the system every time you sit down to edit. With this constant updating and rewriting of the file sooner or later the settings become corrupted. It's good practice to recreate you're user settings at least once a year to reduce the possibility of corruption. Years ago, I had an issue with the sample rate of my quicktime exports being out of whack. Wasted a lot time digging around the audio settings and export settings, etc. Then I changed to another user and the file exported fine. So yes the user settings can become corrupt and cause some strange behavior. Create a new user or switch to someelses setting and see if the problem persists.
 
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