Media Composer 2018.12

It is finally here!!!!  The December release of Media Composer 2018.12 is now available on AppMan, MyAvid and the Download Center. 

Media Composer Notes:

-  Application Installers:  With this release of 2018.12 (as with previous releases starting with 2018.9), you have a single installer for Media Composer and Media Composer | First. The option to run as Media Composer | First is now include in the Avid Media Composer Activation window.

-  Dongle Info (Mac Only): The Dongle Sentinel driver installer is no longer automatically installed when you install the editing application. The driver is now located in the Avid_Utilities folder (/Applications/Utilities/Avid_Utilities/Sentinel_Driver). If you have a dongle, manually install the driver from this location.

-  Avid Artist DNxIO and Avid Artist DNxIQ: If you are using Avid Artist DNxIO, Avid Artist DNxIQ, or a BlackMagic Designs video device, please update to Desktop Video software version 10.10.1 or higher. The minimum Desktop Video version that will work with Media Composer v18.5.1 is 10.9.11. Older versions will be rejected, and you will not be able to use your hardware until you update.

Operating System Update: macOS Mojave (10.14.2) is now supported. The following lists the qualified Operating Systems. Depending upon your hardware the qualified Operating Systems are:

Windows v7 64-bit SP1(Professional) and Windows v8.1 (Professional and Enterprise), Windows v10 64-bit (Professional, Creators, and Enterprise).

Macintosh v10.12.6, 10.13.6, 10.14.2  

* * * macOS 10.12.x is now the minimum operating system supported for Mac on this release.

What’s New:   This is a major release for Media Composer users as it includes 4 of the top 10 most requested features! 

• Background Auto Bin Save: Media Composer now performs automatic bin saves in the background – letting editors continue to work and focus on creative tasks and not deal with costly interruptions
• New High Res Title Tool: Create and edit titles in any raster, directly in the record monitor – and switch rasters automatically without having to realign or adjust your text
• Group and Multigroup Updates: Add, edit, remove, trim and update clips in groups without having to make a new group. You can also create groups with mixed frame-rates, create multigroup from a sequence, change the reference audio track, and cycle through all cameras using Swap Camera Banks  
• Shape-based Color Correction: Draw and manipulate shapes in the Color Correction toolset to apply different looks to the shape and base layer. You can also animate the shape using tracking tools and create multiple shapes in the same layer. (Requires Symphony Option)
• Faster DPX Linking and Editing: Link to, edit and play back DPX files up to 10x faster than before
• 64 Tracks of Video: We’ve expanded our track count so you can have up to 64 tracks of audio and video
• Syncing using Waveforms: Sync audio-only clips to video directly in the Timeline using waveform analysis – no need to rely on In points or Timecode
• DNxUncompressed 12 Bit: Now you can create DNxUncompressed media at 12 bits, saving you space and bandwidth
• Enhanced QuickTime Support: This update also includes fixes for a number of issues related to QuickTime files. Customers who have been reporting problems linking to or importing .mov files should upgrade to 2018.12.

What’s Fixed: The following issues have been resolved in this release.

• Bug Number: MCCET-2734. You could not perform a perf slip on sub clips that were exported and then imported via AAF.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2741. When loading a sequence from the Interplay Window into the Source Monitor, some master clips appeared offline.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2752. (Mac Only) In some instances, after using the Source Browser, the “Recovered Files” folder with AAF files appeared in the Trash.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2413. Linked .mp4 clips had a 1-frame Timecode difference on audio and video when linked with the Avid Generic Plug-in.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2235. In an Interplay environment, you might have received an AAFProcessor error when linking to GoPro and XAVC-S media using the Avid Generic Plug-in.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2652. The color coding equation for a 2020 color space, might have appeared as 709 in the SMPTE Metadata Register.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2658. In some instances, animating a Circle Blur Effect on an imported still image as XDCAM, created an unexpected result.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2663. When working with Open IO_ NDI, output only played the number frames set in the Desktop Play Delay setting.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2644. In some instances, you might have received an Exception error when exporting a sequence that contains an audio track effect with a long delay such as iZotope RX6 De-clip.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2673. Linking XAVC-S with the Avid Generic plug-in provided incorrect Timecode.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2754. When a locked bin was open in a project, the 3rd party product Baselight might have been unresponsive.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2674. The editing application was sluggish when working in Small Trim Mode.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2742. In some instances, Dynamic Relink settings were not retained in new projects if they were saved as a Site Setting.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2635. In some instances, an auto-save did not occur after adding or removing markers, or deleting clips and sequences.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2395. When applying a SPACE effect, and using a SPACE Impulse Response, render results were inconsistent.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2539. (Avid Artist DNxIV, Avid Artist DNxIP, AJA IO devices) In some instances, the position indicator jumped ahead when pressing play.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2740. Media Creation settings reverted back to previous setting if Drive Filtering settings were changed.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2727. When performing an Insert Edit Export, you could not select another target drive in the Look In menu in the Select Insert Edit Target window.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2697. In some instances, FrameFlex reformat parameter did not stick to AutoSynced clips.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2733. In some instances, fast import of AVC-Long G25 files would hang the editing application.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2602. With attached Avid Artist DNxIV, Avid Artist DNxIP, and AJA IO devices, playback started with a stutter on a Broadcast Monitor.

Limitations:

• Bug Number: MCDEV-10219. Titles created with Avid Titler+ do not render in the background.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-8641. (AMD Graphics). Systems with AMD graphics cards might display tearing when performing Full Screen playback.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-9837. (Interplay) If you receive the error “DeleteLocalBinMedia FormatDescriptor is not known” you can only delete the media using Interplay Access.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-9460. Windows 7 systems with Nvidia Maxwell or Nvidia Pascal cards might experience playback issues that could result in “Play Consumer timeout” errors. Workaround: Select “Disable GPU Effects” in the Render Settings dialog box. 
• Bug Number: MCDEV-9142. You might experience hangs or crashes when performing a video mixdown with a 16K project on systems with less than 64GB RAM.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-9269. (Media Composer | Cloud) After performing a remote download operation on a sequence containing AVC-I 100 remote media, the downloaded media appears as XAVC-I 100. Workaround: Download the entire master clips.
• Bug Number: (Mac). You may occasionally see the menu bar flash followed by a brief beach ball. To fix this, deactivate “Displays have separate spaces” under System Preferences > Mission Control settings.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-9011. Intermittently, when working with the XDCAM Nablet Plug-in, you might see “Failed to get the sample position from the AMA Plug-in” errors if you have waveforms enabled in the Timeline.
• Bug Number: COGS-2560. While working in the Script Window, text operations (cut/copy/paste/delete/editing) can only be done in edit mode. See “Editing a Script” in the Help.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-5650. When working with Panasonic LongG media, you might receive an “SFPlayConsumer Timeout” error if audio waveforms are enabled. Workaround: Turn off audio waveforms.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-5385. MultiCam editing with Panasonic LongG media is not supported with this release.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-5384. Currently, when working with LongG media, you might see dropped frames when editing 4 streams. This might occur when playing from a single stream to multiple streams (and from multiple streams back to a single stream). The dropped frames usually display around the edit point (transition to a different stream).

ReadMe and What’s New Files:  ReadMe and What’s New documents: Media Composer 2018 Documentation Page 

How to obtain Media Composer 2018.12 Updates:  

1. Customers who have already installed the latest version of Media Composer will be notified of the availability of the upgrade via the Application Manager. The Apps tab also provides a link to download and install the update when desired. 
2. New customers who purchase Media Composer will receive the update in their AvidMaster Account.
3. Customers on current Update & Support plans can download the Media Composer 2018.12 update either from their Avid Master Account or the Avid Download Center (login and password required.) 
4. Customers not on a current Update & Support contract must either 1. purchase either a new Media Composer Subscription or Perpetual license or 2. crossgrade an older license to a new subscription to receive this update. 

Reminder: This release of Media Composer requires an active Update & Support plan. Please ensure your plans and licenses are both up to date before installing this update.

Thanks all!
 

I'm excited to try this release! Especially the new grouping functionality! Thankyou Avid!

Just installed the 2018.12 release but can't yet see how to activate the new avid titler.

The T button appears in the timeline but selecting a clip and then clicking it does nothing so far ?

Hi Kevs. The new titler works VERY different from what you're used to. It now works like a traditional effect, rather than the Title Tool.  

At first you'll think this to be odd, but hear me out.

Traditionally when you added a Title Tool-based title to your timeline, it also created a clip in a bin. Every change you made added a new clip. Every resolution you changed it to added a new clip. 

Yet when you added a Paint Effect onto a clip in your timeline, it didn't do that. It simply added an effect on top of your clip, which accessed the Paint Effect through the Effect Editor. If you wanted to save a specific Paint Effect, you would drag the Paint Effect icon to your bin.

The new Titler+ tool works the same way as THAT. It'll take all of us some getting used to, but at the end of a project when you're dealing with an archiving media management nightmre, I think we'll all be thankful for the new workflow.

Here is the process:
1) In the timeline, add an edit. Move your cursor 1-second later. Add another edit.

2) In your Smart Tools, select the red arrow. Click that red arrow in between your edits. 

3) NOW click that "T" button.

As you know there are many ways to add an effect - by this "add edit" method... by dragging from the Effect Palette, and so on. You can use all of those methods for the new Titler+ tool as well.

Try it and report back with any questions. 

Thanks for that and I can now activate the Title tool within the sequence.

I agree that not creating media for every variant of title will be of great use going forward.

Regards

Kevin

My Titler+ seems very slow. I'm on a Mac, and getting a beachball with virtually every command or keystroke. Any tips to speed things up?

Hmmm... That’s odd, I’m not seeing that behavior. Could you describe your system?

- CPU type

- RAM

- OS

- Hard drives, and how they’re formatted

Hi Chris: My specs are on my post, but I'll copy and paste here:

"MC v2018.12 with Phrase Find on a 15" MacBook Pro (2017). OS Mojave v10.14.2 3.1 GHz Intel Core i7. 16GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3. Radeon Pro 560 4096 MB. Intel HD Graphics 630 1536 MB. Using a 27" Thunderbolt I monitor."

Using a G-Drive Tnunderbolt 3 external drive. MacOS Extended (journaled). Have used 3.48 TB. 517.02 GB available.

Hi All, please confirm the following Bug. Systems are all 2018.12 on Win10 and Nexis storrage. When I create a title in titler+ and move to a different machine, which has different number of fonts installed, titler+ changes to a different font when editing the title.

All the best from Germany!

Jil

Hi Jim Allen - Sorry I got sidetracked. Are you stull stuck? Is your machine still at a crawl, speed-wise?

Hi Jil - Yes there are still some issues being woirked out related to font-handling in general. I'm seeing lots of chatter about it in various forums.

The first thing to know is that the Arial font is the primary one the Titler+ tool latches onto when it is loading, so if that font is not installed on a machine, the system actually won't launch. (The engineers are aware of this issue.) 

Second, the Titler+ tool accesses fonts very differently than the classic Title Tool. Where the classic one lists all of the fonts it sees - as well as all of the sub-fonts in each one's library (like Medium, Heavy, Italics, etc), the Titler ony lists the primary font name. I don't know if this is a bug or simply a limitation. However, I thing THIS might be the cause of your issue, because I'm seeing it too. For example, I often use the Avenir Next font family. Classic Title Tool lists them all. Titler+ does not, and so it even loses the screen layout when I switch machines.

Here are two screen grabs of what I mean...

And here...

Well, this is inconvenient but my issue is slightly different. 

I had my assistand prepare 40 Titles on system #1. I opened the rendered timeline on system #2. everything looked perfect (still rendered) I did some changes to the edit. The titles became unrendered and instantly changed to a different font. the correct font is installed on both systems. to confirm i opened on system #3 and I had jet another font. Went back to system #1 everything fine again. It seams the titleer+ is just usng font # 249 in the fontfolder on each system.

any suggestions? this makes the titler+ totaly useless if I can't move projects to different machines.

Jil

I have support looking at this now.....   here is the case #  03626149

Marianna

Danke Marianna! Thanx! I'll hold