How do I get Ultra?
by Norman Willis
on
Jul 8, 2009 at 5:02:31 am
Hello. I just got kicked to this forum because I thought Adobe incorporates Ultra into its Creative Suite series. Someone said no, but to go read up here.
I am also trying to read Adobe's site, and Adobe seems to suggest that Ultra was incorporated into Premiere CS3; but then I am told it is not in CS4?????
May I please ask, 'What is the deal with Ultra'? Is it incorporated into Premiere CS4? Is it not the same as the 'Serious Magic' Ultra? Is it better or worse? Or what is the deal?
I am reading and reading, but I am just getting more and more confused. Can someone please clue me in? Thanks.
Norman Willis
www.nazareneisrael.org
servant@nazareneisrael.org
Re: How do I get Ultra? by Tom Pauncz on Jul 8, 2009 at 7:45:25 pm
Norman,
Ultra 2 is no longer available in any shape. Adobe bought Serious Magic some two or three years ago.
The last version they shipped was CS3 Ultra but in CS4 it is not included. Keying is now a function of After Effects.
Otherwise, Ultra 2 is a stand alone product, so whatever it writes as output (AVI, MOV) is compatible with Vegas.
I use Ultra 2 and dread the thought of having to replace the computer it's on because of activation. I understand Adobe turned off the activation server in Nov 2008.
Re: How do I get Ultra? by Jiggy Gaton on Jul 15, 2009 at 2:03:09 am
and tom, wasn't the ultra in CS3 PC only? I looked for it on the Mac and never found. So if its gone, it's gone right? even in CS4 the virtual sets are no longer packaged??? this is a strange one. Evil adobe empire of the new world order it seems...
Phoenix Studios Nepal: A small A/V Production House in Kathmandu.
Re: How do I get Ultra? by Jiggy Gaton on Jul 15, 2009 at 2:24:11 am
ive got the master suite, and in AE i see nothing special there under keying, it looks the same as it always has been, but not so sure as i am new with AE (like motion better). there is nothing there about virtual sets, which i thought was cool about ultra. plus all the fine tuning controls and shadows and all the rest. gone.
on location is there now on the mac side, but it is so buggy it's unusable. the last thing u want is a crashing monitor program in the middle of the shoot, that looses the digital files all the time!
but adobe is just evil, what to do...
Phoenix Studios Nepal: A small A/V Production House in Kathmandu.
Re: How do I get Ultra? by Norman Willis on Jul 15, 2009 at 3:23:47 am
>>on location is there now on the mac side, but it is so buggy it's unusable.
Hi Tom, Jiggy.
I figured the keying thing out (Boris RED), but may I please ask how stable the Mac/FCP combination is in general?
I am having some issues with a fresh build of Vista Ultimate 64, and Sony Vegas, and am just looking for a stable platform I do not have to troubleshoot every other day.
Thank you,
Norman
Norman Willis
www.nazareneisrael.org
servant@nazareneisrael.org
Re: How do I get Ultra? by Jiggy Gaton on Jul 15, 2009 at 3:38:27 am
uh, not sure what you are asking norman, but we use FCP/MAC/Protools/Plugs for just about everything nowadays and once you get things setup, it's as stable as a rock. we switched from PCs to Macs about 2 years ago (see writeup on my cow blog) and never looked back. the ultra thing is the the only disappointment i can think of, as we had painted our walls glow green in the studio and i had everything set up for shoots there. since ultra went away, all that time getting the keys set for the wall color is just wasted, and i have yet to find another keyer that can just key out cheap paint with bad lighting like ultra can. that product actually rocked until the evil empire captured it. Even DV Rack was so much better then On location. there ought to be a law!
Phoenix Studios Nepal: A small A/V Production House in Kathmandu.
Re: How do I get Ultra? by Norman Willis on Jul 15, 2009 at 4:27:18 am
I'm being told that the big problem with PC's is that people deviate from the Intel standard. From what I am hearing, if one builds one's own machine, sticks with an Intel mobo, an Intel processor and uses the Intel-recommended RAM, then the PC can essentially be the equivalent of the Mac closed system.
I am very intrigued by the Mac and FCP, but I also love Sony Vegas, so I am researching carefully.
Thanks.
Norman Willis
www.nazareneisrael.org
servant@nazareneisrael.org
Re: How do I get Ultra? by Tom Pauncz on Jul 15, 2009 at 3:58:27 am
Norman,
I am a PC/Vegas Pro user and have been for many years, so I cannot comment on Mac/FCP stability.
I can, however, comment on PC and Vegas. I am on WinXP/SP2 and Vegas 6,7,8 and 9 and have never experienced any system stability issues. NEVER!
On both my laptop and desktop, DV Rack and Ultra both, have been rock solid.
Any problems I have seen, have been obvious and none related to the platform but to failing hardware.
I built my own system many years ago and though it is time for a serious hardware upgrade, I am not planning to go the 64bit route just yet. Only because that is where I have seen most of the problems being reported in the various fora I frequent.
Re: How do I get Ultra? by Norman Willis on Jul 15, 2009 at 4:28:56 am
Actually, Tom, that is a lot of help.
John Rofrano is telling me that so long as one sticks to Intel parts, the PC can also be rock solid and stable. It may be that my Dell and the Crucial Ballistix RAM may be the culprits....
Norman Willis
www.nazareneisrael.org
servant@nazareneisrael.org
Re: How do I get Ultra? by Danny Hays on Jul 16, 2009 at 12:12:07 am
If you have AF 7 or later, you should have Keylight. It's a very good keyer, not as easy as Ultra but can do a great job if your lighting is good. Ultra had a shadow feature but it wasn't as good as what you can do with Keylight. It is a real shame we can't get Ultra anymore as it could key footage that normally would be considered unkeyable. Maybe if enough of us write Adobe and complain, they will re-release it. danny
Re: How do I get Ultra? by Jiggy Gaton on Jul 16, 2009 at 1:26:48 am
Hey thx for the pointer to keylight it actually works on the footage shot and ultrad-ed previously, sort of... not too bad.
But the keylight plugin is a totally different product then Ultra. as someone suggested maybe writing adobe en masse may get a reaction, as this is clearly a rip. if anyone upgraded from Cs3 to Cs4 on a PC, they would seem to have a claim that they were downgraded. And mac users of a CS3 could claim prejudice (never got ultra at all). I seriously doubt anything will ever come of this product-wise. But maybe if enough people yakked they would post the old code on the developer site?!?
Phoenix Studios Nepal: A small A/V Production House in Kathmandu.
Re: How do I get Ultra? by Tim Kolb on Jul 16, 2009 at 2:52:30 pm
The technology behind Ultra is integrated into Premiere Elements...I don't know if it was put into PPro...
I suspect that because of the inclusion of Keylight in the pro suites, there wasn't much motivation to go through the development work of integrating Ultra into the professional applications.
Ultra was great, but most of my keying ends up benefiting from being able to layer multiple passes...which Keylight can do in AE.
Re: How do I get Ultra? by Mike Cash on Jul 26, 2009 at 9:09:48 pm
I waited for a long time for some solution to activating Ultra 2 on my Vista machine. The activation tool came out...I found it...applied it, and it worked on my Vista machine. Had to reload windows due to an unrelated video card issue. Re-installed everything same as before...no go. Tried to delete registry keys, etc and reload...no go. Heck, I'm even thinking about reverting to XP (unless it's a dumb thing to do) to get my multiple hundreds of dollars investment back.
Re: How do I get Ultra? by Jiggy Gaton on Jul 27, 2009 at 2:20:37 am
Mike, I had the same experience - we even kept a pc around up till a few weeks ago with XP and ultra. it was collecting dust so we donated it to charity. But it worked. Ultra that came out with CS3 and then was cut from CS4 never worked in Vista here, or XP when it was on one of our macs in virtual mode. we spent more then a few hundred, as we had custom paint from floor to ceiling and nice lights put in, plus spend a lot of time setting up ultra, so it's disappearance act was disappointing to say the least. But life goes on, and Ultra has gone the way of say CorelDraw or WordPerfect...
Phoenix Studios Nepal: A small A/V Production House in Kathmandu.
