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  #1  
Old 10-15-2013, 06:41 AM
markuse markuse is offline
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Default The dark side of WRITE TO SELECTION

Hi,

I know this has been discussed before here an there.

Still, I wonder how you deal with this particular behavior of PT that is:
PT will write automation of the parameters changed in PREVIEW to the whole length of the session when:

1. you press play before selecting a time range
or
2. you don't select a time range at all

..and then press WRITE TO SELECTION.

This "automation pass" will then be undoable.


I use PREVIEW and WRITE TO SELECTION the whole day as it is really handy and probably the quickest way to automate only certain parameters to a selection.

The same time, the mentioned behavior is THE MOST DANGEROUS thing I can think of in PT and can absolutely be a show stopper.
At least in a Post Production Editing / Mixing scenario I would say 99% of the automation written is clip or scene based. I'd really be happy to select the whole timeline if I wanted to write automation all the way through.

Instead it happens accidentally if you don't pay attention like a freak.
Some time later you notice, that your low cut or aux send has been written all the way through and you ruined the automation of 499 of the 500 clips of that track. So you dig around in the last 50 session file backups to find the version just before it happened, import that into the up to date session and replace the blowed up clips.

But that only works for the tracks where you actually notice that the automation has been overwritten... I just can't check the automation of 200 tracks every evening.

I haven't suppressed the warnings but if you hit WRITE TO SELECTION 300 times a day, sooner or later you just read over '..has been written to the whole length of the session'.

So I wonder if there is any use of that feature that makes up for the incredible danger it comes with.

Couldn't there at least be an option in the prefs that would make warnings show up ONLY when writing automation to the whole length of the session? This way you would at least notice immediately that you just overwrote everything..



Best,
Markus
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  #2  
Old 10-15-2013, 06:59 AM
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reichman reichman is offline
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Default Re: The dark side of WRITE TO SELECTION

There's an Ideascale vote to change this, can't find it at the moment. Brent, Frank Kruse? Where is it?
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  #3  
Old 10-15-2013, 07:12 AM
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mgoorevich mgoorevich is offline
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Default Re: The dark side of WRITE TO SELECTION

Yeah, you must be really careful with that one. Drives me crazy for years....
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  #4  
Old 10-15-2013, 07:55 AM
markuse markuse is offline
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Default Re: The dark side of WRITE TO SELECTION

found it

http://protools.ideascale.com/a/dtd/...ack/95623-3779
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  #5  
Old 10-15-2013, 11:37 AM
Henchman Henchman is offline
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Default Re: The dark side of WRITE TO SELECTION

This is why I keep the "write to" warnings turned on. I always know if something has accidentally been written or not. If that happens, I simply undo.
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  #6  
Old 10-15-2013, 01:55 PM
markuse markuse is offline
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Default Re: The dark side of WRITE TO SELECTION

Yes, I also leave the warnings turned on. But both warnings look pretty similar on first sight and you have to really pay attention wether it reads '..entire length of the selection' or '..entire length of the session' . Doing that 300 times a day.. that's just such a pain and after all, it still happens at the 301st time you hit the button. At least that's my experience.


Wondering if you're always able to undo the WRITE TO command ?

I'm on PT HD 10.3.7 and most of the time it's 'undoable'. Not always though but I haven't ever figured out the logic behind..
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  #7  
Old 10-15-2013, 04:58 PM
emilano emilano is offline
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Default Re: The dark side of WRITE TO SELECTION

Yes, this is an awful feature and it always amazes me how long its lasted without being addressed...
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  #8  
Old 10-15-2013, 05:57 PM
Henchman Henchman is offline
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Default Re: The dark side of WRITE TO SELECTION

Quote:
Originally Posted by markuse View Post
Yes, I also leave the warnings turned on. But both warnings look pretty similar on first sight and you have to really pay attention wether it reads '..entire length of the selection' or '..entire length of the session' . Doing that 300 times a day.. that's just such a pain and after all, it still happens at the 301st time you hit the button. At least that's my experience.


Wondering if you're always able to undo the WRITE TO command ?

I'm on PT HD 10.3.7 and most of the time it's 'undoable'. Not always though but I haven't ever figured out the logic behind..
Yes, AFAIK, it's undoable.
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  #9  
Old 10-16-2013, 03:11 AM
Frank Kruse Frank Kruse is offline
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Default Re: The dark side of WRITE TO SELECTION

Indeed one of the most terrible things in PT.

I wish some smart person (Justin from Maggot?) could program a "don't allow write to selection without a selection"-helper app.

I'm willing to pay for such an app instead of waiting for a fix and wiping my automation every now and then.

The warning screens become completely pointless when they warn you even when you write to a selection. It's like having someone in the house who comes screaming "FIRE!!!" every 10 minutes. In case of a real fire no one will escape.

Frank.
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  #10  
Old 10-16-2013, 04:21 AM
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paulo m paulo m is offline
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Default Re: The dark side of WRITE TO SELECTION

I never came across this as I never use that function. However I find it more easy to write automation to a specific selection in time by clicking on Write to All Enabled. It just takes a snapshot of all parameters of that section.

I use Write to End a lot too.

Hope AVID fixes your request soon.
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