Support for Sapphire on Avid AVX Products

Why do I get a watermark over the plug-ins' outputs?

This usually indicates your free trial period has ended, or the expiration date of your serial number has been reached. Go to the "Help" dialog while using any plug-in, and it should tell you when it expired. If you acquire and enter a new valid serial number, the results should return to normal. Otherwise, please review the following list.

• If you installed a Serial Number that requires a specific Avid dongle ID, make sure that dongle is connected to your machine. If it is connected and you are running an Avid version 2.5/5.6 or 2.7/5.7, please see the support item below to update your dongle driver.

   

• If the Ethernet (MAC) address of your computer has changed since you ran the installer or entered your serial number, you may get this watermark because the software thinks it is running on a different machine than the one that was licensed. If you are on Windows, make sure your Local Area Connection is enabled: go to Start -> Control Panel -> Network Connections, and right-click on Local Area Connection. Running the Sapphire plug-ins installer again may also help with this. If you need to change your Ethernet ID, you should uninstall the plug-ins before it changes, and select the option to register that uninstall, so the serial number can then be reinstalled with the new Ethernet ID.

   

• On Windows, if your license is lost when connecting to ISIS, Unity, or Interplay, please see the support item below to resolve this.

   

• If you are on Media Composer Software-Only version 2.5, please upgrade to MC version 2.7 or greater, or contact us for a temporary work-around until you are able to upgrade.

   

• Make sure you have run the Sapphire installer on your machine, rather than cloning, ghosting, or copying files from another workstation. If you installed by copying, just re-run the installer.

   

• If you are getting the watermark only on the DS side of a Symphony/DS dual-boot system, and your Serial Number requires an Avid Dongle ID, try reinstalling your dongle driver. Go to http://www.safenet-inc.com/support/tech/sentinel.asp. Click on Sentinel SuperPro, then download and install the Windows driver, restart DS, and see if that helps.

   

• Make sure the date on your computer is correct.

   

• Make sure you are not just looking at old frames rendered with the watermark before you installed your license. Change any parameter to rerender the image, or delete the precomputed clip.

   

• If you are on Windows, and Sapphire was installed while logged on as a different user, please make sure you are running Sapphire 2.041 or greater. There was an issue with multiple users in 2.04 and earlier, especially on DS.

   

• If you are on Mac and have a Serial Number that requires an Avid dongle ID, please make sure you are running Sapphire 2.01 or greater. There was an issue with version 2.0 properly reading Mac dongles.

   

• If you are on a Mac OS before 10.2.8, you should update to OS 10.2.8 or later, or install Safari via Software Update. Then reboot your machine, rerun the Sapphire plug-ins installer, and reenter your serial number if you have one.

On Windows, Sapphire becomes unlicensed when connecting to ISIS, Unity, or Interplay.

This issue can occur if your Sapphire serial number got licensed to one of the PCI network cards rather than the on-board NIC. Sapphire version 2.051 or greater includes improvements that will help with this. To resolve this issue:

1. Uninstall the current version, and select the option to register the uninstall over the web. (Go to Start->Control Panel->Add or Remove Programs. Find "GenArts Sapphire Plug-ins v2 for AVX" on the list, and press the Change/Remove button.)
2. Disable all Ethernets except the built-in motherboard. (Go to the Network Connections Control Panel, and click right on each to see its properties and selectively disable.)
3. Download and install the most recent version, and re-install your serial number.
4. Re-enable the desired Ethernets. Always leave the built-in ethernet enabled, even if it's not connected to anything.

Where can I find my diagnostics log file?

How do I access the online documentation?

You can access this documentation directly from your Avid workstation even if it is not connected to the Internet. On Windows go to Start -> Programs -> GenArts Sapphire2 AVX -> Online Help (HTML) or (PDF). On Mac, go to Applications/GenArtsSapphire2AVX and select the online documentation.

A "Help" dialog is also provided when using a plugin, which gives information about that plugin currently being used. To view this on Avid AVX1 products, click on the small rectangular icon to the left of the effect name in the Effect Editor. On DS, click on the "Show Effect UI" checkbox that appears after the effect parameters. This dialog shows your license status, and provides links that bring up online documentation in your HTML browser.

How can I process a title or key without affecting the background?
 

Sapphire v2 allows you to easily process a title or key without affecting the background. To do this, drop a Sapphire plugin onto a title or key and then select the Apply To Title/Key checkbox in the Effect Editor. This causes the plugin to process the fill and matte of the title together.

When you replace a title effect in this way, any animation curves in the title are lost, and only the matte and fill clips remain. If you want the title to move, you can instead use the Crop/Transform parameters to perform the moves within the Sapphire effect.

You can also apply more than one Sapphire plugin to a title or key without affecting the background. To do this, drop the first effect onto the title and select Apply To Title/Key as above. But then change its Background input to "None" to prevent it from compositing. Next, apply another Sapphire effect by alt-dropping it on the first effect, but leave Apply To Title/Key unselected this time. You can alt-drop any number of additional effects in this way. In the final effect, set the Background to "1 Track Below" to composite the final result. Note that only the first effect should have Apply To Title/Key selected, and only the last effect should have a Background selected. You should use only Sapphire2 effects between this first effect and the final composite, because other effects will probably not pass the alpha channel through in a compatible way.

The Wipe and Dissolve transition effects do not include an Apply To Title/Key option, because they are required by AVX to accept only 2 inputs, and therefore can not replace a title which requires 3 inputs.

To apply a transition between two titles without affecting the background, first apply S2_MakeRGBA to both titles, and add the transition effect between these titles. Then shift-select both sides of the transition (incoming and outgoing) and use the Collapse button on the timeline toolbar to nest them together. Finally, alt-drop S2_Layer on the nest and you should see the completed effect. If your Avid allows you to apply effects on filler, instead of collapsing the transition, you can add S2_Layer on a filler track on top of that (alt drop), and select Background: 2 tracks below to composite over the background. If you want to also apply other effects to each title such as distortions or blurs, use them instead of S2_MakeRGBA above, and select Apply to Title/Key. To wipe on or off a title, just use an all-black title for the other side.

If you are using Xpress DV and processing a title with multiple nested plug-ins, make sure you turn OFF real time mode, because real time mode will corrupt the alpha channel being passed from one plug-in to the next.

Can Sapphire v1 and v2 be installed at the same time?

You can have Sapphire v1, Sapphire v2 for AVX1, and/or Sapphire v2 for AVX2, all installed on your Avid at the same time, as long as your Avid product supports those versions. This allows sequences saved with older versions of plug-ins to still be loaded and rendered. However, we don't recommend mixing these different versions in the same sequence because there can be problems when AVX1 and AVX2 plug-ins are nested together.

On Mac, Avid has discontinued support for previous versions of AVX1 plug-ins with releases 2.5/5.5, so older plugin versions do not appear in the Effect Palette. Avid's version 3.0 now allows conforming unsupported AVX1 plug-ins forward so previously saved settings are not lost. Please see below for info on how to conform from Sapphire v1 to v2.

On Windows, the Sapphire v1 plug-ins should continue working fine.

Sapphire v1 plug-ins are all together in one "Sapphire Plug-ins" category, but the Sapphire v2 plug-ins are split into multiple "Sapphire2" categories. The Sapphire2 AVX1 version is indicated with an "(avx1)" appended to the category name.

Can I conform from Sapphire v1 to v2?

Yes, but only with recent Avid versions...

• For Media Composer 3.0 or Symphony 3.0 or greater:
  • Make sure Sapphire v1 is not installed. (If v1 is installed this procedure will not work, and should not be necessary to conform as v1 will just continue to be used.)
  • Make sure Sapphire 2.06 or greater is installed.
  • In the Project window, go the Settings tab and double-click on Effect Editor. In the dialog that pops up, check the box labelled "Automatically Promote Missing AVX1 Effects."
  • Click OK, and restart your Avid.
  From then on, when you open a sequence with missing effects, a dialog will pop up up with the following message: "This sequence contains missing AVX effects which will be promoted to Advanced Keyframe AVX 2.0 effects." Click OK. A backup copy of your sequence will be made, and the missing effects will be promoted to AVX2.

   

• For Media Composer 2.8 or Symphony 1.8:
  • Make sure Sapphire v1 is not installed. (If v1 is installed this procedure will not work, and should not be necessary to conform as v1 will just continue to be used.)
  • Make sure Sapphire 2.06 or greater is installed.
  • After opening a bin, but before opening a sequence, type the command: PromoteMissingAVXEffects in the Avid console.
  • Then open the sequence. If there are any missing promotable AVX1 effects a confirmation dialog will be displayed. Click OK.
  Note this must be done again each time you open another bin containing old effects.
  If you have trouble conforming with this method, we suggest upgrading to Media Composer 3.0.

   

• For older Avid versions:
  For Avid versions 2.7 or older, sequences saved with Sapphire v1 effects cannot be converted automatically to use the Sapphire 2 version, and Sapphire2 for AVX1 is not automatically converted to Sapphire2 for AVX2, or vice versa.

  However, you can have Sapphire v1 and v2 (for AVX1 and/or AVX2) installed on your Avid at the same time, as long as your Avid supports those versions. This allows sequences saved with older versions of plug-ins to still be loaded and rendered. Sapphire v1 appears in the "Sapphire Plug-ins" effects category. Sapphire v2 for AVX1 appears in the "Sapphire2...(avx1)" effects categories, and Sapphire v2 for AVX2 appears in the "Sapphire2" categories. See the table above.

Note that these methods will not currently allow you to promote templates (presets) saved in the bin. Avid may fix this in a future version. For now a work-around is to make a sequence with the old templates (using older versions of Avid and Sapphire if necessary), promote that sequence as described above, and then create new templates from the promoted sequence.

If you intend to online using an Avid product such as DS that does not yet support AVX2, be sure to use the AVX1 version. On DS, temporal effects will also not conform because DS does not include support for alternate frame access (AVX1.5). See below for more details about DS support.

Does Sapphire 2 work with Avid DS?

Yes, the AVX1 version of Sapphire 2 will work with DS 8 on both Windows 32 and Windows 64. Here is a compatibility matrix for various Sapphire and DS versions:

DS 7 and earlier versions do not allow the optional inputs used by Sapphire 2, so the plug-ins cannot be used in the timeline. In tree-mode the input connections can also be confusing. We recommend using Sapphire version 1.35 with DS 7 or earlier, except for conform of sequences that have already been created on another Avid product.

No versions of DS include support for AVX1.5 or AVX2. The temporal effects in Sapphire 2 are not available on DS because it does not include support for alternate frame access (AVX1.5). If you intend to conform from another Avid product to DS 8, be sure to use the Sapphire 2 AVX1 version of the plug-ins, and also avoid using the effects in the "Time" category.

Note that while Sapphire 2 works with DS 8 on 64 bits, Sapphire v1 does not. If you need to load sequences on DS 8 saved with Sapphire v1, you should run the 32-bit version of DS 8 instead. Avid has made available a 32-bit version of DS that will run on Windows 64 that may be helpful in cases like this. We are hoping Avid will provide a way to automatically convert saved Sapphire v1 effects to v2, so this is not necessary in the future.

Does Sapphire 2 work with Mac OS 9?

No, version 2 works with Mac OS 10.2 or greater. Sapphire version 1 can be used with Mac OS 9.

Can I transfer my serial number to a new machine?

It is possible to transfer your version 2 serial number to a new machine. To do this, first uninstall Sapphire Plug-ins on your old machine. During the uninstall, select the option to register that uninstall via the web. As long as the uninstall is successfully registered, you should then be able to install your serial number on the new machine. The license is cross-platform so you can transfer a serial number between Windows and Mac systems in this way.

If your serial number is for a specific Dongle ID, make sure that dongle is also moved to your new machine and connected.

How can I make Sapphire plug-ins render even faster?

• Any increase in the number or speed of your computer's CPUs should speed up Sapphire plug-ins. They do not use Avid boards or special hardware, but they will benefit from dual, quad, or even 8-CPU systems.
• Adding more RAM to your computer might also help, but if you have a recent standard Avid hardware configuration then you probably already have enough.
• For a temporary speed increase, you can lower the Resolution parameter found at the end of the parameter page for all plug-ins (except on DS where the resolution can be set in the DS interface itself). In addition, some effects such as Rays, EdgeRays, BlurMotion, and Glare have special resolution parameters (RaysRes, BlurRes, GlareRes) that lower the internal resolution to soften the effect.

On Mac, with Avid 2.7/5.7, Sapphire is not finding my Dongle ID.

Avid has included an older dongle driver in their 2.6/5.6 and 2.7/5.7 releases for Mac that does not work with Sapphire plug-ins. If your Sapphire serial number requires a dongle that is properly attached, but you still get a warning while installing it that says, "Could not find the dongle required by your serial number" or you are getting a watermark when using the effects, you may need to install a more recent dongle driver.

To solve this, download the Sentinel Driver version 7.3.0 and save the file to your desktop. It should unzip automatically and create a folder called Sentinel System Driver 7.3.0. In there, double-click on SentinelSystemDriver.pkg to install the driver. Finally restart your Avid application, and the plug-ins should work.

I have various issues with the AVX2 version of Sapphire 2, on Avid 2.5/5.5 or earlier.

Avid versions prior to Media Composer 2.6 and Xpress Pro 5.6 included various AVX2 bugs that could make it difficult to use AVX2 plug-ins sucessfully. If you experience some of the problems listed below and are not able to upgrade your Avid version, you can instead rerun the Sapphire2 installer and select the AVX1 version of Sapphire2. Then replace the the AVX2 plug-ins in your sequence with the equivalent Sapphire2 AVX1 plug-ins.

Some known AVX2 issues with earlier Avid versions are as follows:

• Renders sometimes hang at the end, with the render dialog window open.
• Auto Start and End keyframes don't get created, even when that option is selected in the preferences.
• Transition keyframes are not elastic by default, and don't move when you change the transition duration. (See below for more info on this.)
• The Auto Keyframes don't appear when you replace one transition with another. They are invisible until you change a parameter value.
• Applying a 3-input effect as a transition can cause a crash.
• There is no way to multi-select keyframes and adjust them together.
• Keyframes sometimes don't appear, or can't be edited properly.
• The advanced Keyframe editor seems confusing.
• The vertical scale in Keyframe graphs is too large with no way to scale or shift, making it difficult to set up keyframe graphs with small ranges of values.

My transition keyframes don't adjust when the length is changed.

In some Avid versions the transition keyframes automatically made by AVX2 plug-ins are "fixed" instead of elastic as they should be. The work-around is to right-click in the keyframe graph of the Wipe Amount or Dissolve Amount parameter and select "Elastic." This should cause all the keyframes to adjust when the transition length changes.

This problem should be fixed as of Avid versions 2.7.4 / 5.7.4.

The Sapphire2 plug-ins don't appear in my Effect Palette.

On Mac, if you have a new Avid HD version 2.5/5.5, please make sure you are using Sapphire 2.03 or greater.

On Windows, if your Avid product does not support AVX2, please rerun the Sapphire plug-ins installer and be sure to check the option for the AVX1 version of the plug-ins. Some older Avid products include an AVX2 folder even thought they don't support it, and this caused the Sapphire 2.0 installer to install AVX2 instead of AVX1 by default. The Sapphire 2.02 and later installers are better at properly detecting AVX2 support, and should not have this problem.

I get out-of-memory errors such as "Insufficient memory" or "Sapphire ran out of memory."

When AVX1 plug-ins are used in very complex bins, the Avid can create many more effect instances than you actually created. This happens when there are many shortcuts in the sequences in the bin, combined with deep nesting of effects. The Avid makes a copy of each effect on each layer every time there's a cut anywhere on any layer. This can multiply to many copies of the effects, and so even though Sapphire doesn't allocate much memory for each effect, you can end up running out of memory. The recommended workarounds to this from Avid are:

• Prerender (mix down) some of the layers. Its usually best to do this in a separate sequence so you can easily go back and make changes.
• Cut the sequence up into shorter sub-sequences.
• Make sure you have at least 1GB of memory, or more if possible, and allocate most of it to the Avid.
• If possible, upgrade your Avid product to a version that supports AVX2 plug-ins, which should not have this problem.

Adding more RAM to your computer should also help with this.

Loading or using a complex bin is very slow or runs out of memory.

• Prerender (mix down) some of the layers. Its usually best to do this in a separate sequence so you can easily go back and make changes.
• Cut the sequence up into shorter sub-sequences.
• Make sure you have at least 1GB of memory, or more if possible, and allocate most of it to the Avid.
• If possible, upgrade your Avid product to a version that supports AVX2 plug-ins, which should not have this problem.

The Avid crashes while initializing AVX plug-ins.

• Make sure the only files in your AVX_Plug-ins and AVX2_Plug-ins folders are plugin files. If there are extraneous files there, remove them and restart.

   

• If that doesn't help, remove all the files from the AVX_Plug-ins and AVX2_Plug-ins folders except Sapphire, and restart. If it now restarts ok, put the other files back one by one, restarting each time, to find out which one is failing.

When rendering multiple tracks with Sapphire effects, the results look incorrect.

This issue can sometimes occur when Sapphire plug-ins generate transparency (alpha) channels and combine them between multiple tracks. Processing titles or keys or using the crop/transform parameters can generate an alpha channel.

The solution is to render only the topmost track containing Sapphire effects. If you render any lower track first, or all tracks together, you may get incorrect results depending on the order Avid happens to process them. When you render only the topmost track, it should automatically render the lower tracks correctly as needed.

If you already have bad results, first delete the incorrect prerender clips for all the affected tracks (top and all lower ones) or just change a parameter in an effect in the lowest track that should cause the other tracks to become unrendered.

On Mac OS before 10.2.8, the serial number installer won't start, or I get a watermark.

The serial number installer will not run properly if you are missing the WebKit framework. To resolve this, update to OS 10.2.8 or later, or install Safari from http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120233. Then reboot your machine, rerun the Sapphire plug-ins installer, and reenter your serial number if you have one.

If you still have trouble, please let us know.

How can I delete precomputed clips?
 

To delete your precomputed clips:

How can I uninstall Sapphire plug-ins?

On Windows: go to Start->Control Panel->Add or Remove Programs. Find "GenArts Sapphire Plug-ins v2 for AVX" and/or "GenArts Sapphire Plug-ins 1.35 for AVX" in the list, and press the Change/Remove button.

On Mac: go to the Applications/GenArtsSapphire2AVX folder and double click on Uninstall Sapphire. Or to uninstall Sapphire Plug-ins version 1, go to the Applications folder, double-click on GenArtsSapphireAVX, and select Uninstall Sapphire Plug-ins.

On Mac, my license doesn't work. A watermark appears.

• Make sure your license was entered correctly. On Mac OS X, go to the Applications folder and double-click on GenArtsSapphirAVX to view your license. On Mac OS9 or earlier, look in System Folder:Application Support:GenArts Sapphire AVX:s_license.text. Does the license key there match the license you were given? Is there a space between the colon and the license key? If a date or host code is part of your license, was that entered correctly and is there a space between the code and the license string? If there is a date, make sure that date has not passed. If you commented out an old license, make sure you used "//" instead of "#" before the commented lines. Also make sure there is no "//" before the new license line.
• On the Avid, go to Tools->Console and make sure the Dongle ID listed there matches the one listed along with the license you were sent. If it does not please send us the correct Dongle ID. If you recently upgraded to Adrenaline 1.1 this Dongle ID can change due to the installation of drivers that read the "windows" side of Duo dongles, even on the Mac.
• Make sure you are not just looking at old frames rendered with the watermark before you installed your license. Change any parameter to rerender the image, or delete the precomputed clip.
• If you get an error message saying "bad key format: h!sy" or "bad key format: spro", make sure you are running Sapphire version 1.31 or greater.
• If you are on Mac OS9 or earlier, please make sure you are running version 1.21.
• If you purchased Sapphire Essentials for Xpress DV, make sure you are using one of the effects included in that package. The other effects will still show the watermark.
• Check that the date on your computer is correct.
• Did you move any of the GenArts files around on your computer since installing Sapphire plug-ins? If so, it might help to re-install the software.
• If your Dongle ID begins with 047F, make sure you are running Sapphire version 1.11 or greater.
• When using a Sapphire plugin, click on the small "Effect UI" icon in the upper left of the parameter page. This should bring up a small window that includes the license status. Does it say "Not Licensed"? Is there any letter in parenthesis following that? If you still have trouble, please e-mail this info to us along with the contents of your s_license.text file.

On Windows, my license doesn't work. A watermark appears.

• Go to Start->Programs->GenArts Sapphire AVX->Install License, and check that your license was entered and saved properly in that file. Make sure there is a new line directly after any backslashes. Cutting a pasting from an e-mail copy of your license is the safest way to enter it.
• If you get a FlexLM error, "The hostid specified in the license file does not match the hostid of this system," go to Tools->Console on the Avid and see if the Dongle ID listed there matches the one in your license. If it does not, please send us the correct Dongle ID.
• If you are getting the watermark only on the DS side of a Symphony/DS dual-boot system, and your license requires an Avid Dongle ID, try re-installing your dongle driver. Go to http://www.safenet-inc.com/support/tech/sentinel.asp. Click on Sentinel SuperPro, then download and install the Windows driver, restart DS, and see if that helps.
• If you get a FlexLM error "Future license file format or misspelling in license file," you probably have a typo in the license text. Make sure there are no spaces missing. Make sure the FEATURE is at the start of a line. Make sure there is a new line directly after any backslashes.
• If you get a FlexLM error "Terminal Server Remote client not allowed," try rebooting your machine and see if that helps. Also avoid switching users while you are running your Avid product because this seems to confuse FlexLM.
• Make sure you are not just looking at old frames rendered with the watermark before you installed your license. Change any parameter to rerender the image, or delete the precomputed clip.
• If you purchased Sapphire Essentials for Xpress DV, make sure you are using one of the effects included in that package. The other effects will still show the watermark.
• Check that the date on your computer is correct.
• Make sure you are running Sapphire version 1.35 or greater. Some older versions had various license issues that have been resolved, including support for Dongles starting with 7AAA. Click on the small "Effect UI" icon in the upper left of any plug-in's parameter page (on DS this button is at the bottom of the parameter page). This should bring up a small window that shows your license status and current version.
• Check the license status in the "Effect UI" window, as described above. Does it say "Not Licensed"? Is there any letter in parenthesis following that? If you still have trouble, please email this info to us along with the contents of your genarts.lic file.

My DS RPS license doesn't work. A watermark appears.

• On your main DS machine, look in Start->Programs->GenArts Sapphire AVX and make sure there is a menu item in there called License Server Tools. If it is not there, you should re-install Sapphire plug-ins on your main DS machine and be sure to check the box to include "FlexLM Server (for DS Remote Processing)."
• Make sure the host name in the SERVER line of your license is the name or IP address of your main DS machine (not the RPS machine). Check this in the genarts.lic files on both the main DS and the remote machine.
• If you are getting all BLACK frames with the "Sapphire plug-ins" watermark and your license has an expiration date, please re-install the most recent version, and try again.
• Check the license daemon status on your main DS machine. Go to Start->Programs->GenArts Sapphire AVX->License Server Tools, click Configuration Using Services, and select GenArts License Server. Go to Server Status tab and click on Perform Status Inquiry. It should say, among other things:
     license server UP
     genarts: UP v7.1
  and it should say that 1 SapphireAVXRemote license is available. If it does not, your license server is probably not starting automatically, see below for how to start the server on power up.
• If your Sapphire license server doesn't start automatically on boot, go to Start->Programs->GenArts Sapphire AVX->License Server Tools, select Configuration Using Services, select GenArts License Server, then go to the last tab, Configure Services, and make sure Start Server at Power Up is selected. Click on Save Service to save it. Now when you reboot, the Sapphire license server should start automatically.
• If your remote license normally works, but sometimes becomes unlicensed while rendering, and you get a "System Error 5," check to see if you have a Dallas "8-" type of FlexLM dongle. Some of these dongles have intermittent problems if accessed by more than one application. The work-around for now is to replace your dongle with a Rainbow "7-" type, or you can contact us for a temporary Ethernet-based license. To find your Ethernet ID go to Start -> Run, type cmd, then type ipconfig /all and it should show your "Physical Address."
• If your flexlm server seems fine, but you get a FLEXlm error -15 "can't connect to license server" message on the RP machine, and you are running Windows XP SP2, the new Windows Firewall may be blocking the flexlm server from giving licenses to the RPS. To solve this, on your main DS machine (the flexlm server) go to Control Panel -> Security Center and click on Manage Settings for Windows Firewall. Select the Exceptions tab, click on Add Program, and browse to c:\Program Files\GenArts\FLEXlm\lmgrd.exe. Click on Open and OK. Then do the same thing for c:\Program Files\GenArts\FLEXlm\genarts.exe.
• If your license still doesn't work, please send us all 4 of your license files: DS, RPS, Sapphire on DS, Sapphire on RPS. Also send us the Sapphire license log file on the DS, which is in C:\Program Files\GenArts\FlexLM\genarts-flexlm.log.

How can I process a title or key without affecting the background?

With Sapphire plug-ins v1, it is still possible to process only a title, logo, or foreground of a clip without affecting the background. DS always supports RGBA image processing, but on other AVX products you can also do this as follows. You first join the fill (RGB) and matte (A) channels of the title or key into a single "RGBA" clip using our S_MakeRGBA effect. Then you can alt-drop the desired plug-ins on that, and finally use S_Layer to composite the effect over the background.

The plugin S_MakeRGBA takes 3 inputs, but the Background input (the bottom track) is ignored by default. This allows you to simply replace a Title effect by just dropping it on the Title. For example, suppose you have a Title effect and you want to blur it and then composite it over a background. First replace the Title with S_MakeRGBA to join its fill and alpha tracks. Then alt-drop S_Blur on top of that to blur both the foreground and its alpha together. Finally alt-drop S_Layer onto that, and it will composite the blurred result onto your background.

Note that when you replace a title effect this way, any animation curves in the title will be lost, and only the matte and fill clips will remain. If you want the title to move, you can set up the title without any moves on it, then after dropping on S_MakeRGBA, use S_WarpToRect or S_WarpTransform to perform the moves. Then alt-drop on the other desired effects, and finally alt-drop S_Layer as usual.

The Wipe and Dissolve effects also require a second source input to transition to. To make a title fade in or out, you can dissolve between it and transparent black. A simple way to make transparent black is to use S_MakeRGBA2 on a black clip, and turn the Opacity parameter to 0. Put this inside the wipe or dissolve, on V1 (or Vx.1 if you're double-clicking rather than stepping into the wipe), and the transition will use it as its second source.

We have made a tutorial that shows how to do these kind of effects. You can download a zip file from our website at http://www.genarts.com/Sapphire-MakeRGBA-Tutorial.zip  This includes a text file describing the workflow in detail, and an OMF file containing the examples described in the text.

More information about how to use this is also available from the online doc. On Windows, go to Start->Programs->GenArts Sapphire AVX->Online Help(HTML), or on Mac go to System Folder:Help:GenArts Sapphire AVX Help:intro.html. Under "General User Info" select "How to process a Title or Key without affecting the background."

Important note: In realtime mode, the alpha channel is not passed between effects so MakeRGBA will not work properly. If you need to process RGBA clips, turn real time mode OFF (blue dot). On Avid Xpress Pro and Media Composer Adrenaline you can only render in real time mode (green dot) but Avid's 1.0.1 software release includes a fix for copying alpha between effects.

How do I access the online documentation?

You can access this documentation directly from your Avid workstation even if it is not connected to the Internet. On Windows go to Start -> Programs -> GenArts Sapphire AVX -> Online Help (HTML) or (PDF). On Mac OS9 look in System Folder:Help:GenArts Sapphire AVX Help. On Mac OSX, go to the Applications folder, double-click on GenArtsSapphireAVX and select the online documentation.

An "Effect UI" dialog is also provided when using a plugin, which gives information about that plugin currently being used. To view this on Avid products except DS, click on the small rectangular icon to the left of the effect name in the Effect Editor. On DS, click on the "Show Effect UI" checkbox that appears after the effect parameters. This dialog provides information about the inputs the plugin expects, your license status, contact information, and links that bring up online documentation in your HTML browser.

On Mac OS X Tiger, Sapphire Plug-ins don't work.

Please upgrade to version 1.34 and let us know still have any trouble. Previous versions did not work with Tiger.

How do I re-install my license after upgrading to Mac OS X?

Your Sapphire plug-ins license for Mac should still work fine on OS X, but our license installation procedure is different from OS 9. To re-install your license on OS X, go to your Applications folder and double-click on GenArtsSapphireAVX. Then in the license window, enter your license where it says 'key: ...' and press Save License. The next time you restart your Avid the new license should take effect.

How can I make Sapphire plug-ins render even faster?

• Any speed increase in your computer's CPU should speed up Sapphire plug-ins. They do not use Avid boards or special hardware.
• On Windows or Mac OS X, Sapphire plug-ins will run faster on dual-cpu hardware. Dual-cpus are standard with DS, but other Avid products can also run on dual-cpu machines. We do not support use of dual-cpus on Mac OS 9 or earlier.
• Adding more RAM to your computer might also help, but if you have a recent standard Avid hardware configuration then you probably already have enough.
• For a temporary speed increase, you can lower the Resolution parameter found at the end of the parameter page for all plug-ins (except on DS where the resolution can be set in the DS interface itself). In addition, some effects such as EdgeRays, BlurMotion, and Glare have special resolution parameters (RaysRes, BlurRes, GlareRes) that lower the internal resolution to soften the effect.

The installer doesn't run or won't unstuff.

• If you are on Mac OS X and have Stuffit Expander 8.0.0, you should upgrade Stuffit Expander. Version 8.0.0 does not set permissions correctly on unstuffed files. First delete the unstuffed file (SapphireAVXosxInstall-131.app), then upgrade to Stuffit Expander 8.0.2 or greater from http://www.stuffit.com/mac/expander/index.html, and unstuff the installer again. It should then install normally.

   

• Installer problems are sometimes caused by a corrupt download. Clear your browser's cache and try downloading the installer again. If it still doesn't work, you can try downloading onto a different machine and copying over to the Avid. Make sure to use binary or raw data mode when copying.

   

• If you are running Norton Utilities, please make sure you have the most recent version, or temporarily disable it. We have seen some problems with Norton preventing the installer from running.

   

• On Mac OS X, you can also try repairing your disk permissions: go to Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility, select your system drive, select the First Aid tab, and click on Repair Disk Permissions.

   

• If you are on Windows, do not try to unzip the installer file, just execute it directly.

   

• If the installation still is not working, please contact us with your mailing address and request a CD.

The Avid crashes while initializing AVX plug-ins.

• Make sure you are running Sapphire version 1.34 or greater. There were some issues with older versions when used with certain Avid or OS versions.

   

• Make sure the only files in your AVX_Plug-ins folder are plugin files. If there are extraneous files there, remove them and restart.

   

• If that doesn't help, remove all the files from the AVX_Plug-ins folder except Sapphire, and restart. If it now restarts ok, put the other files back one by one, restarting each time, to find out which one is failing.

MakeRGBA doesn't seem to work properly.

In older Avid versions, in realtime mode, the alpha channel is not passed between effects so MakeRGBA will not work properly. If you need to process RGBA clips, turn realtime mode OFF (blue dot).

On Avid Xpress Pro and Media Composer Adrenaline, make sure you have Avid version 1.0.1 or greater. This release includes a fix for copying alpha between effects.

I'm getting black edges on the top and bottom of images.

A possible work-around is to zoom into the image slightly if the effect includes an option for that, such as a Z Dist parameter. However you will still get black edges on your output.

My Avid crashes when rendering a long sequence with AVX plug-ins.

A possible workaround is to break up the effect into shorter parts and render them separately.

Sapphire plug-ins do not appear in the Effect Palette.

• If you are on Mac OSX and have Media Composer Adrenaline 2.5 or Xpress Pro 5.5 or greater, you should upgrade to Sapphire version 2. Avid has discontinued support for previous versions of AVX1 plug-ins with Mac releases 2.5/5.5, so these old plug-in versions do not appear in the Effect Palette.
• If you are on Mac OSX and have Media Composer 11.8 or Symphony 4.8 or greater, please make you have installed Sapphire version 1.3 or greater.
• Make sure your Avid product is a version that supports AVX plug-ins: DS v4 or greater, Symphony any version, Media Composer v7 or greater, Xpress v2 or greater, Xpress DV any version, or Newscutter v2 or greater (v3 recommended).
• If you are on a Mac, make sure you have MacOS 7.2 or greater.
• If you have an appropriate version, please try re-installing. This problem can occur if some files are moved around on your computer after installation, and re-installing should correct that.
• If they still do not appear, please contact us and let us know what Avid version you have and if you see any error messages.

I can't find the S_FilmLook plugin.

If you need to load old sequences made with version 1.1 and S_FilmLook, you can edit the s_enable.text file, and uncomment the line that reads "enable FilmLook." Uncomment by deleting the "//" at the beginning of the line.
On Windows this file is in C:\Program Files\GenArts\SapphireAVX\s_enable.text.
On Mac OS X, using the Finder, go to the Applications folder and control-click on the GenArtsSapphireAVX application. Select Show Package Contents, and in that new window, double-click on the Contents folder. Finally double-click on the s_enable.text file to open it in TextEdit.
On Mac OS 9 it is in System Folder:Application Support:GenArts Sapphire AVX:s_enable.text.

On DS, it is not necessary to modify this file. Old sequences made with versions 1.1 and S_FilmLook should continue to work fine.

I purchased Sapphire Essentials on Xpress DV but I still see all the other effects.

If you prefer to remove these other unlicensed plug-ins from the Effect Palette, you can edit the s_enable.text file, and uncomment the line that reads "enable_only Essentials." Uncomment by deleting the "//" at the beginning of the line.

On Windows this file is in C:\Program Files\GenArts\SapphireAVX\s_enable.text.
On Mac OS 9 it is in System Folder:Application Support:GenArts Sapphire AVX:s_enable.text.
On Mac OS X, using the Finder, go to the Applications folder and control-click on the GenArtsSapphireAVX application. Select Show Package Contents, and in that new window, double-click on the Contents folder. Finally double-click on the s_enable.text file to open it in TextEdit.

If you don't see the s_enable.text file, make sure you have Sapphire plug-ins 1.2 or greater. Previous versions did not include this file.

Some Sapphire plug-ins just output black.

On DS, Sapphire plug-ins won't install.

When installing Sapphire plug-ins on DS, if you get this error dialog: "Error - no AVX Products Found. Cannot install: you first need to install an Avid AVX host product..." it indicates that the AVX registry information is missing, which should normally be created when you install DS.

If you recently upgraded to DS 7 Nitris, make sure you did the hardware upgrade BEFORE installing the Avid DS software. During the hardware upgrade, the AVX registry information can be removed but it is normally checked and reset correctly during DS Setup. In most cases, Softimage recommends that users upgrade from the recovery CDs which should avoid this problem.

On DS 6, the registry entry is missing in some installations. This problem has been fixed by Softimage as of DS 6.02 QFE 2, so the best solution is probably to re-install the most recent version of DS before installing plug-ins.

An alternate workaround is to manually edit your system's registry as follows:

On DS 7, my results are cyan colored or the alpha channel is upside down.

A new image format was introduced in DS 7 that is not compatible with old versions of AVX plug-ins, and typically causes results to be incorrectly blue/green colored. DS 7 is only supported properly by Sapphire plug-ins version 1.32 or greater. Please download the latest version and let us know if you still see any problems.

On DS, applying a plugin as a clip effect is not working.
 

DS 5.0 or earlier allowed you to apply ANY preset to a clip, even if that preset was a multi-input effect, but those effects didn't work properly and the "processing wheel" would appear and never go away until you delete the effect. In DS 6.0 or greater and Sapphire 1.2 or greater you are not shown any multi-input presets when in clip mode.

I get out-of-memory errors such as "Insufficient memory" or "malloc returned null pointer"

With some very complex bins, the Avid can create many more effect instances than you actually created. This happens when there are many shortcuts in the sequences in the bin, combined with deep nesting of effects. The Avid makes a copy of each effect on each layer every time there's a cut anywhere on any layer. This can multiply to many copies of the effects, and so even though Sapphire doesn't allocate much memory for each effect, you can end up running out of memory. The recommended workarounds to this from Avid are:

• Prerender (mix down) some of the layers. Its usually best to do this in a separate sequence so you can easily go back and make changes.
• Cut the sequence up into shorter sub-sequences.
• Make sure you have at least 1GB of memory, or more if possible, and allocate most of it to the Avid.

If you are on Mac OS 9 or earlier, try increasing the amount of memory allocated to your Avid application as follows:

• Reboot your system to clean up the system memory heaps.
• Go up to the Apple Menu in the top left corner of your screen and select "About This Computer" One of the lines of information in this window will be "Largest unused Block.. This number is the largest amount of memory you have available to launch any application. Subtract 20MB (20000KB) from this number to get the amount of memory you want to allocate to the Avid application.
• Select the Avid application (just click on it once) and hit Apple-I on the keyboard, or go to the file menu at the top of the screen and choose Get Info.
• You will see the Preferred memory size listed. Highlight the number already there and type in the number you got above. (If you do not see the Preferred Memory line, you may have a later OS that gives you a menu within the Get Info window that will allow you to choose memory as an option.)
• Close the Info window and start your Avid application.

Adding more RAM to your computer may also help with this.

Loading or using a complex bin is very slow or runs out of memory.
 

• Prerender (mix down) some of the layers. Its usually best to do this in a separate sequence so you can easily go back and make changes.
• Cut the sequence up into shorter sub-sequences.
• Make sure you have at least 1GB of memory, or more if possible.

The Avid appears to hang on startup while initializing AVX plug-ins.

If after 2 minutes or so it is still hung, you may have a memory management problem. We have seen this occur in Xpress v2. Possible solutions are to upgrade your Avid to a recent version, increase the memory used by the Avid application, and/or add more RAM to your computer.

When I open an old project, my Sapphire effects are missing or blank.
 

Hitting the HELP button doesn't work.

• Make sure you have an HTML browser installed on your machine.
• Quit your Avid application, and try accessing the online doc manually: On Mac, go to System Folder:Help:GenArts Sapphire AVX Help and open the intro.html file. On Windows, go to Start->Programs->GenArts Sapphire AVX->Online Help(HTML). If that doesn't work, you probably need to reinstall or reconfigure your browser.
• If your browser is working, but it still doesn't start when you hit the HELP button, your Avid may be configured to use all available memory, so not enough memory is left for your browser when it starts. On Mac, you can try reducing the memory used by the Avid application by using Properties on the Avid application's icon.

I get an error: "Menu resource 1234 missing."
 

• This error can be caused by an Avid bug in older versions of their software. It has been fixed as of Media Composer v11, Symphony v4, and Xpress DV 3.0.

   

• This error can also occur if you are using Sapphire 1.1 or greater, but try to edit a project containing old Sapphire 1.0 plug-ins. These versions are not compatible except on DS, due to new features added in 1.1. If you need to edit an old project containing 1.0 plug-ins, you'll probably first need to replace all Sapphire plug-ins in all sequences of that project with the new versions.

   

How can I delete precomputed clips?
 

To delete your precomputed clips:

On Mac, how can I uninstall Sapphire plug-ins?
 

To permanently uninstall Sapphire plug-ins on Mac OS X, go to the Applications folder, double-click on GenArtsSapphireAVX, and select Uninstall Sapphire Plug-ins.

To permanently uninstall Sapphire plug-ins on Mac OS 9 or earlier, delete the following files and folders:
    Media Composer:SupportingFiles:AVX_Plug-ins:Sapphire
    System Folder:Application Support:GenArts Sapphire AVX
    System Folder:Help:GenArts Sapphire AVX Help

On Windows, how can I uninstall Sapphire plug-ins?
 

To permanently uninstall Sapphire plug-ins, go to Start->Settings->Control Panel, choose Add/Remove Programs, select GenArts Sapphire for AVX, and click on Add/Remove (on Win2k, that button is called Change/Remove).

If the uninstaller doesn't work for some reason, you can remove the files and folders manually:

• Remove folder c:\Program Files\GenArts\SapphireAVX
• In your Avid product install directory, find the AVX_Plug-ins folder and remove sapphire.avx.