Slanecon Digital, Inc.

ADR Manager

General

Does ADR Manager run on the latest Mac OS X versions?

Yes. Please check out the system requirements for ADR Manager for more information.

Cues

The program was working fine and now suddenly my cues are missing!

Try these steps to resolve the issue, in order:

Uncheck all of the additional search criteria in the bottom half of the Cue Search window and do the search again.
Check to make sure you have made the correct reel set active and the number of cues in the reel set is correct by looking at the header information in the Cue List window.
Switch the reel set to the "All Reel Dupes" set and do the search again.
Verify you are using the database you think you are using by opening the "About ADR Manager" dialog.
Run 4D Tools as described in the User Manual.

I'm confused about the time format I should be using.

I'm using "Non drop timecode" running at "29.97 fps" when spotting to a video. When I convert to 35mm film footage, I try to set it to "35mm feet and frames" running at "24 fps", but a message comes up telling me I'm changing from "pulldown" to "non-pulldown." What does this message mean, and what should I do?

When you are watching an NTSC video of a 35mm film, the film is actually playing back slower than if you were watching it being projected on a projector. This is because when the film is transferred to video, it is slowed down slightly (a tenth of a percent). Some people call this process pulling down the frame rate (not to be confused with 3/2 pulldown, which is also used when transferring film to video). If you have entered times into the ADR Manager based on the timecode numbers on your video and you want to switch over to feet and frames, then you'll have to "pulldown" the frame rate of 35mm film from "24 fps" to "23.976 fps" so that it matches the "pulldown" timecode numbers on the video. That way, the footages displayed in the ADR Manager will match the burn-in footages on your video.

I'm having problems naming cues.

When I try to rename a cue, I get a message saying it could not rename the cues because the cue names are too high. What should I do?

The cue names for ADR Manager are automatically constructed using the character abbreviation, followed by the reel number or scene name, followed by a number between 1 and 99 (if the counter field length is 2 in the Preferences dialog). The error message is caused by one of the following situations:

If there are more than 99 cues for a particular character in a particular reel, and you have a 2 digit counter, the program will give you this error message. If you can rename all cues that already have names (i.e. you haven't locked or recorded any cues), you can change the digit counter to have more digits (up to 6). If you don't want to change the digit counter, one way to name cues above the 99th cue is to manually rename the 100th cue (and so on). Another trick is to give the last cue for that character/reel a valid name, then select all cues between it and the 99th cue and choose rename. The ADR Manager will start renaming the selected cues with the name from the last cue in the character/reel.
It may also give you this message if you have less than 99 cues in the reel, and you have a 2 digit counter, but the last named cue for the character/reel is <abbreviation><reel number>99. If this is the case, you'll have to rename any later cues by hand. However, if there are less than 100 cues total in the character/reel and they can all be renameed, select them all and choose rename (this will rename the cue with the counter of 99).

If I re-record a character's lines several times, how can I keep track of which lines were recorded at which session?

Using cue statuses, namely the "Recorded" status, let's you differentiate between cues that have been recorded and those that have not. However, once a cue has been recorded, there is no way to mark it as "To be recorded a second time" or "Re-recorded a second time." One way to do this is to make a new character name and abbreviation for each recording session. For instance, if you had a character named "Joe" with abbreviation "J" and you recorded him at 3 separate occasions, you might create a new character for each occassion, such as "Joe#" (abbreviation "J#") for the second session, and "Joe%" (abbreviation "J%") for the third session. True, the line count table will have separate character totals for each Joe session (instead of one total for all of Joe), but this way you can:

create new cues with unique cue names without reusing already recorded cue names
set the status of cues that are to be re-recorded back to "Spotted", so that you can search and create reports based on the "Spotted" status

Reels

I'm confused about reel sets and dupes and how to use them.

A reel dupe is a particular version of a reel, usually identified by a unique dupe date, version, or both. A reel set is any arbitrary group of reel dupes, with the limitation that only one dupe of a particular reel can live in the reel set. When you get a new version of a reel, you'll probably get a new video of it, along with change notes. If you've already spotted cues to an older reel dupe, you'll want to update the times you've spotted so that they match the new reel dupe. To do this, follow these steps:

Choose a reel set that has the old reel dupe you are about to change.
Make the Reel List window active.
Select the old reel dupe in the Reel List window.
Choose "Create new version of reel " under the Manage menu. Give the new reel dupe the appropriate version and/or dupe date.
The ADR Manager will copy all the cues from the old reel dupe into the new reel dupe. It will also copy the scenes. When ADR Manager asks you to replace the old dupe with the new dupe in the current reel set, click "Yes".
Conform the new reel dupe with the change notes you received.

You're done. Now you have the old cue times as they were originally spotted, as well as the new cue times that match your new video. To switch back and forth between the two, modify and/or create new reel sets that include the appropriate reel dupes. Then you can select the correct reel set in the Cue Search window and do a search on that reel.

How can I copy cues to a different dupe of the same reel?

Creating a new reel dupe will automatically create copies of each cue in the old reel and put them in the new reel, creating lineage ties between them. You can also use the "Modify selected cues lineage" item under the "Manage" menu when the Cue List window is active. This lets you create cues that are ancestors and descendants of the selected cue in other reel dupes. The footages are copied from the original cue, so you may need to update the ancestor and descendant cue footages.

Printing

How do I print a line count table?

Line count tables can be printed by making the Character List window active and selecting Print (or Print Preview) under the File menu. The reason you make the Character List window active as opposed to the Cue List window is because the rows in a line count table display information about each character, just as the "rows" in a Master Cue Sheet show information about each cue.

How can I print blank reports to use as scratch paper on the stage?

Sometimes it is handy to have blank reports available in case you have to add cues on the ADR recording stage. To create a blank report page, do the following:

Duplicate the desired report (i.e. "Mixer 06") in the Reports List window by selecting it and choosing "Duplicate selected report(s)" under the Spotting menu.
Open the duplicated report by double clicking on it. This brings up the Modify Report window.
Delete all of the objects in the "Body" section of the report, delete the reel and character information (if any) in the "Header" section, and delete the page number object in the "Footer" section. That way, your blank pages won't have any specific information printed on them. Rename the report with the word "blank" at the end.
Click OK and save the database.
When printing or previewing the report, choose the appropriate number of cues to fill the desired number of pages. For instance, to print one blank page of the "Mixer 06 blank" report, select 6 or less cues in the Cue List window, then choose "Print currently selected cues" in the Print Report window. Don't worry - the cues won't be printed on the blank report. They're just used as placeholders.

When I print a cuesheet report, sometimes my notes get cut off. How can I fix that?

Some reports, such as the Master Cuesheet reports, only display the first line of the Notes field, and an unlimited number of lines of the Editor Notes field below it. If the text you entered into the Notes field (the one the actor sees) is getting cut off, try one of these solutions:

Open each problem cue in the Modify Cue window and move the lengthy text in the Notes field to the Editor Notes field.
Modify the report by increasing the height of the Notes field and moving the Editor Notes field further down the page. See the User Manual for more details.

Sometimes when I print, the program crashes

If you are experiencing crashing with a particular report, try opening the report in the Modify Report window, click on Page Setup, choose your printer, and adjust the report's settings to the printer you are using.