Thanks for the suggestions. I went through the ones most suitable, and this is what I’ve decided: The Abrams tutorial was most interesting and showed me how complicated it can be (hours of time) to try and digitally mimic a real-life 2-second signature. I’ll give it a go sometime. The mention of Procreate jogged my memory. A few years ago a friend did a signature for me on his iPad using Procreate, then exported to mp4 for use in Premiere. It worked really well in one of my AVs. I was hoping for a Mac version to try out, but no luck. So the technique I’m going to experiment with is basically an analogue version: recording from a Wacom tablet. These notes are for my future reference and for anyone else who might want to do this sort of thing:   Install Cursorcerer, software I only discovered recently, to hide the cursor – not possible otherwise with my version of PS and the Wacom, although the cursor problem may not matter with a recorded Action (see below). Choose a white PS brush and practice the brush strokes few times over the image that will be used in the final video. Record the brush strokes as an Action (Allow Tool Recording; Playback Options set to Step by Step). Replace the background image with black (or another colour to be keyed out in Premiere). Prepare Quicktime for recording a selection on the screen. Start recording and play the Action. Import the video into Premiere and apply the Luma Key effect with suitable settings for Threshold and Cutoff so that only the white brush strokes are visible. For brush strokes other than white, use the Tint effect and set Map White to whatever colour is desired.   I haven't fully tested yet, but it looks like a goer for achieving brushstrokes that retain the natural rhythm of handwriting. Thanks again for the purely digital suggestions. ... View more

Turns out this is a known problem that Adobe was aware of. No need for any more input here. ... View more

Another question: when you click on Start Capture is the playhead supposed to start moving? Further tests I restored my archived diskimage of OSX 10.9.5 running CS6, an unused OSX, and when I clicked on Start Capture I see the cross hairs, but if the mouse moves even 1 pixel, the cross hairs disappear. My guess is that Motion Sketch in CS6 running under OSX 10.9, does not work. Luckily, I keep diskimage archives of all my old OSXes, so I'll restore 0SX10.6.8 to an external drive, and see how that goes. ... View more

Thanks for that. Looks like I'll have to reload my AE. My cursor doesn't change to a cross when I click on Start Capture. ... View more

Thanks for the suggestions, Bojan, but: I had a look at preferences and Save to Original folder is ticked. Must be the default as I've never changed it. Yes, it would be easier to save the Tiff at the start, except… Tiffs (ZIp/Zip) may take up to a minute to save, and while doing so via an Action, PS locks up. This means I cannot open another image. It also means I have to wait for the jpg (which will be saved after the Tiff), so I cannot work in Premiere either. I have to sit around and wait. Whereas if I do my workaround, the jpg is available in seconds, then I can save the Tiff as (Zip/Zip) outside the Action (takes me about 5 seconds to set up), and PS does NOT lock up. Thus, I can open another PS document and work on that while PS saves the original Tiff, or I can choose to continue work in Premiere. It sounds complicated and it is complicated. So I need a way to save the Tiff at the end, but to the original folder. ... View more

Since I've been asked to post what I'm doing step-by-step, I'll go one better. You can download my Slide Scans actions here which includes a sample, half-resolution tiff (LZW/Zip). The Action I am playing around with at the moment is Crop 1080P jpg copy. There are a whole heap of actions in that action-set that do similar things: saving to various-resolution jpgs and PSDs, amongst others. I need PSDs in Premiere for transparent areas: when I want to layer an image on top of another. One other thing: my AVs are not just slide shows, as in one image after another, so I can't just use Quicklook or a Smart TV. My AVs have narration, music, slides, prints, 8mm and 9.5mm films, and my own videos. If you see me accepting an Oscar sometime, tell your mates you saw it here first! As regards the Action: I start with a Tiff file and apply a selection (the crop). Then I run the Action which does this (after the suggestion by the first responder, Chris). I've yet to try the other suggestions. Makes a snapshot called "Original" Flattens the image Crops to the selection Converts to sRGB/Rec 209 Down scales to 1080P Displays image at 100% (so I can see the effect of sharpening in the next step) Unsharp Mask (the Action stops while the user edits the USM settings) Save as jpg (saved to a folder called Slide Temp) Return to "original" snapshot Save as Tiff (Zip/Zip) There is a problem though. That last Save (to Tiff) asks me where I want to save the file, and I don't want that. I want the file to be saved in the folder where the Tiff came from. I don't mind the Step 8, (Save to jpg), going to a certain folder, because all my Premiere jpgs are destined for the one folder anyway, but I don't want to hunt through nested folders trying to find where the Tiff file came from. In the final step of the Action, how do I "Save As" to the same folder the Tiff file came from? ... View more

Thanks for the suggestions, most of them using PS functions I haven't used before. A good learning experience coming up. I'll try all the methods, and report back on the one I choose. ... View more

Thanks for the response, Ann, but this is not about the best font. I posted to find out why Premiere text is blurred compared to identical PS text. I doubt if the problem is confined to CS6 because the last poster in this thread, from early last year, reported the same problem, as have several others. New Test I have performed another test, and uploaded it to replace the previous test (see my second post). The new test involved a fuller comparison: • The first half involved Premiere on one side using various fonts and sizes, versus Photoshop on the other. • The second half involves comparing the four styles available in PS: Sharp, Strong, Crisp, Smooth, just in case that was causing the difference. I projected the file through a Blu-ray player onto our 3-metre screen, using a Benq W7000 DLP, known for its sharpness. We sat 4 metres from the screen. I asked my partner if she could see any difference between the left and right sides. She perused them carefully for several seconds and then said: "The right side looks sharper". So we went the lines individually and she concluded that two of the lines were of equivalent sharpness, and the rest were sharper on the right side. I asked her which she preferred. No question – the right side, the PS side. For the next test we moved on to the second half of the video, comparing the four different PS styles. We couldn't see any difference on screen. If I zoom to 200% on my iMac screen, I can see the difference, but not at 100%, and not when projected. Final test: a friend said he could run this test through a Barco DP2K-20C, a projector used at a local cinema. Same result as with the W7000. The PS side was preferred. Titler Generates Blurry Text So, the above tests, and the other reports of this problem up until fairly recently, indicate that the Titler, up until at least CC17, is blurring text. Maybe it does even in the later releases. The blurring is not obvious unless you see a comparison, just like it won't be obvious to an audience engrossed in a film, that you're showing them 576P visuals from a DVD, instead of 1080P from Blu-ray. I know, because I run movie nights at home with a gaggle of friends, and the occasional DVD stands up surprisingly well. I see the slight 576P blurriness, the audience doesn't. Hey – if you happen to be in Tasmania tomorrow night (Friday 19th), drop in. We're showing Letter from an Unknown Woman, the 1948 classic, on Blu-ray. Getting back to the business at hand: this blurriness is a problem if you're after sharp text – which I am because my audio-visuals use text throughout. Conclusion The solution, Ann, isn't to use another font. The solution, for CS6 users, is to generate text in PS. The solution for the users of the latest Premiere offering, is to check if the blurriness problem still exists – and ask Adobe to do something about it. ... View more

I use m4a to save space. I have 5 drives on my desktop, and 4 elsewhere. I'm into the 7th year of a 10-year project and want to stay within 2TB to avoid the upgrade expense. To paraphrase an old bushwalking expression concerning pack weights: "look out for the ounces (Megabytes) and the pounds (Terabytes) will take care of themselves." Anyway, I've found the problem. Opening a brand new OSX and a brand new Encore didn't fix the problem. So it was caused by the file. I use two bits of software to generate m4a: Max and iTunes. Max is a lot easier to use, and that's my default. So I experimented: • Changed the wav file from 16 to 24-bit, used Max to convert to m4a, and the problem was fixed. • Used iTunes to convert the 16-bit and 24-bit wave files to m4a: both m4a files imported okay into Encore. So the problem seemed to be coming from Max. • Checked my theory by using Max to convert the iTunes 16-bit m4a file to m4a – the problem returned. • Checked again by using iTunes to convert the Max m4a file to m4a – the file imported okay. Conclusion I have used Max for thousands of conversions, and on maybe three occasions this problem has occurred. My guess is that under certain combinations of bit depth, file size, file name, file length – whatever – it outputs an m4a file that Encore thinks is AC3 with a reported length that is incorrect. On at least one occasion, the newly imported file (wrongly reported as AC3) became associated, by Encore, with a completely different sound file. That problem was fixed by deleting the mlf.cache.v10 file. Now, I'm not blaming Max for this present difficulty. I blame Encore. I tried the m4a file in Audition, Media Info, Premiere, QT, and VLC, and all those programs accept and play this file properly. They all report it's correct length as 5:08.766. None of them think the file is AC3, but Encore does. Being seen as AC3 is not the problem though. Encore reports a variable length, and plays the file incorrectly (a random snippet from within the real file). Right now I'm looking at three versions of that m4a file inside Encore. An m4a file that is of length 5:08.766, imported into Encore three times (with different names), is showing as: 1;49;07 1;13;16 1;48;14 All AC3 and all the wrong length. Thanks for the suggestions. It's been worthwhile to start this thread because it forced me to delve deeply. I know how to fix this rare Encore problem. If Encore thinks it is seeing an AC3 file, use iTunes to convert the Max m4a file into an m4a file that Encore sees correctly. ... View more

I've just tried importing the file into a new Encore project – same problem. So I thought I'd go back to the start and generate the m4a file in a roundabout way that Encore couldn't possibly associate with the old file. I exported the original audio from Premiere to wav format with the same name as the problematic file. Opened in Audition and saved in Monkeys Audio format with a new name – the old name starting with XX and ending with ZZ. Then converted to m4a. Result? The file still imports as AC3. I tried several other m4a files in the same folder, in a different folder, and on different drives – all imported okay. This problem is a bit worrying. It's almost as if Encore has an AI arm keeping track of what I'm doing with this file, and saying to itself: "You can't fool me. I've been watching you". This is only a minor hiccup and I know the workaround, but I am really intrigued about how this is happening. Encore itself must somehow have a problem. I have another OSX with Encore on an external drive. I'll try that next. ... View more

Yes, sharper after export. I have just generated a comparison test using Adobe Garamond Pro in various point sizes, all frames are 1920 x 1080. 1. Generated text in Titler. 2. Copied text. 3. Created  a blank PS document, cleared the background, pasted the text and saved as PSD. 4. Imported into Premiere and placed on a timeline opposite the Titler version. 5. Exported to h.264, target of 20mbps, max 40mbps 6. Uploaded video to here. The difference isn't obvious at first glance, but when you start looking carefully, the PS version has a 'presence' lacking in the Titler version. The PS text is sharper, particularly in the serifs. Overall, the Titler version has a subtle hazy look. I'm giving the Titler away unless someone can explain why a slight haziness might be desirable in video text. ... View more

Thanks for the two correct answers. Both are equally good for my purposes. I haven't used the Layer Styles option before, so it's good to know about that. Levels (I mostly use Curves) I am familiar with, but it didn't click that I could use Levels or Curves. I was trying to be too complicated, using layer masks and saved selections and whatnot. But I thought there'd be a simple method. And there is! Thanks again. ... View more

Thanks. I forgot to say that I'm running CS6, so it looks like the answer is no. ... View more

Thanks, Neil, for your detailed response. And thanks again for all the info you gave me in response to my Star Trek question and on the phone last year. m4a vs FLAC I didn’t realise that m4a was a container, not a codec. Thanks for that enlightening. But I’m pretty sure my m4a files are lossless. The file size, typically 30-50% of the wav file, tells me that there’s a lot of data inside. And MediaInfo tells me that the audio stream inside the m4a container is ALAC. The reason I settled on m4a instead of WAV was to save space. I run five 2TB drives as backups, and want to keep all my projects within the 2TB. So I’m careful about file size. The reason I chose m4a over FLAC was because my version of InDesign (CS6) can’t read FLAC, and also because my version of OSX (10.9) won’t indicate the length of FLAC files. M4a has one drawback though – Audition can’t save in m4a format, so when editing audio I have to save as WAV and then convert. If I have metadata that I don’t want to lose, I fall back on FLAC. Using Encore as an assembly tool “…a consequence of an earlier decision to use Encore as an editor instead of as an assembly tool alone.” I actually don’t use Encore as an editor, but as an assembly tool. For my purposes, Blu-ray is the best delivery method for my public AVs (slide shows mostly) because I don’t trust computers in public. My research showed that Blu-ray from a Blu-ray player was the most reliable method of showing AVs. I did look into Q-Lab, but my goodness, the lengthy list on how to prepare your computer for a public performance, put me off. With Blu-ray, I insert the disk (or USB stick) and it works every time. My Approach I'm a hobbyist. I'm not looking towards a feature film on Blu-ray, I'm just digitising old slide shows. Blu-ray might be a possibility sometime in the future though. Typically my public shows run for about 2.5 hours and have about 30-50 sections, coming from separate Premiere projects. There’ll be an introduction, several shorts, previews from upcoming shows, and then the main AV. The shorts and the main AV will themselves consist of several chapters. I assemble the lot in Encore, including a count-down timer for the 20-minute interval, build to Blu-ray, and away it goes on the night with one press of the button at 7:30 PM. My approach is to export from Premiere, all the sections and chapters as m4v and wav. I check them separately as they are finished, by using Encore to build to a Blu-ray folder, and saving on a USB stick. My Blu-ray player, an Oppo, has the rare ability to play Blu-ray folders from USB sticks. Thus my original post about USB times. Inside Encore, I make sure each m4v has Don’t Transcode status, so that the build runs quickly. When I am happy with each section after viewing in our home theatre, I archive as m4v, convert the wav to m4a, and I'm ready to assemble at a later date which could be years away. Encore allows me to easily assemble numerous elements into the one timeline, and to build to Blu-ray much faster than real time. Each element has already been checked, so I know it's going to work. Last night, a 45 minute project built in less than 3 minutes (the PGC file was already in place). I experimented with Playlists, I experimented with Q-Lab, but I found that timelines in Encore are the best solution for me. That explains why I wanted to test build times for joining two WAV files. Not because I wanted to join them, but because my Encore projects typically have 30-50 ‘joins’, and I wanted to know what was causing the delays. I couldn't understand why a 1GB m4v file was building faster than a 100MB wav file. Another Question That brings me to another question which maybe someone can answer to save me more testing. Encore goes to the bother of “rebuilding audio tracks”, joining all the audio into one lengthy wave file with a name such as _PGC_Epgc_track_Ltrk_1_audio. That file is saved inside the Sources > Transcodes folder. But when the Blu-ray is built, it consists of numerous m2ts files, corresponding to each of the sections. That PGC file is there on my hard drive, but is not on the Blu-ray. Why is that? Why does Encore join all the audio, then break it apart again? ... View more

While I'm in the mood for testing, here are two more time anomalies… Anomaly 1 I archive all my audio in lossless m4a format, import into Encore, and Build to wave format (inside the resulting Blu-ray m2ts files), with Encore transcoding during the Build. Here are some comparison times to transcode an m4a file (8.12) to wave format: • Using Max (a nifty audio app for Mac)… 2 secs • Encore's Transcode Now… 15 secs • Encore's Build… 90 secs. Anomaly 2 Two wave files were imported into Encore totalling 16.06. I wanted to see how long Encore took to join two wave files. Not transcode, just join. • Build time in Encore ("Rebuilding audio tracks") … 65 seconds • Joining the same audio tracks in tsMuxer (no video), by exporting to m2ts format ("Start muxing") … 4 seconds. Encore sure is slow at audio processing. ... View more

Thanks, Stan, for confirming the problem. For several years I've been meaning to sort this out. Finally got around to doing the tests, and now we both know not to build straight to USB when build time is important. Thanks again. ... View more

Thanks Ann. I think you've answered my question – it's not possible to link two images. I've never understood the logic behind not allowing the full-size image to be controlled by nesting. Is there a good reason for that? Do later versions of Premiere allowing linking two images? I should clarify the sentence you referenced. I was referring to the entire frame. It should read: "If I try to move the combined images (via nesting, grouping, or an Adjustment layer) , straight away I see black at the edge of the frame, whereas the larger image actually extends for some distance beyond the frame." ... View more