I’ve recently got back into learning Flame, and I am immediately under the impression that compared to like every other application in the pipeline, Flame is REALLY…quirky. And I was kind of wondering: Has anyone else has experienced – even in the latest version of Flame – undocumented, finicky features that require some undocumented ritual to work properly? Any veterans want to share a greatest hits of quirks newcomers in 2025 don’t have to deal with?
Today I encountered another ‘thing not showing as expected’ event that might have some kind of undocumented lore. And I’m sure it won’t be the last. So I think it would be nice to hear others’ experiences.
I know it’s not necessary any more, but I still religiously iterate, save my desktop and Ctrl-S before rendering a batch, and I save my desktop and Ctrl-S before rendering in the timeline. #oldhabitsdiehard
What happened today was I was following a tutorial. The guy made a batch and imported some footage and dropped in a master keyer node, using the footage for just the back and matte inputs. Then he pressed F4 to view the result. He then pressed F1 to view the front. I’m not sure how he got something to show up without a front input. I copied the steps exactly, except when I pressed F4/F1, it just showed nothing and it said no result/out matte/inverse and no front-- which is what I would’ve expected with no front input given. I’m more confused about how he got a result and front to show. Did the master keyer change at all from 2020 to 2025? I just keep re-watching the video thinking maybe he did some kind of sleight-of-hand trick.
Yes, it has changed. There are now multiple matte outputs. There may be a couple of other things different that I don’t recall off the top of my head. @fredwarren can probably give you a better answer. But that aside, I can’t see how the MasterKeyer would work with only 2 inputs. Fact is I never tried it. Perhaps you could link to that tutorial. And for what it’s worth, “things not showing up as expected” is not a rare occurrence. We all experience it. That’s one reason why this group exists, and also the Discord group, where there is always someone working somewhere around the world who might have an answer in minutes.
You’ll def experience unexpected behavior (bugs) in any massive piece of software like Flame. Flame has some of course, but once you know them it’s mostly manageable.
It used to trip me up a lot until I realized that keeping an axis turned off affected all the surfaces downstream. Now I’m careful to only turn off surfaces.
Going back to the original statement, as someone who only learned Flame three years ago (so no old memories and burn marks), and who uses many other apps, I would definitely say (and have before) that Flame is one damn quirky app.
In part that is its appeal to the wizards and the secret of its speed. But it also requires you to attend the rituals and learn from the masters. No deductive reasoning will get you there as it does to some extend in many other apps.
There are lots of idiosyncrasies on how various nodes work, and most nodes have seemingly random but powerful buttons that needed a place on the screen somewhere.
Flame is a demanding lady, but you will be rewarded for dedication and loyalty.
ps: had to use a image from the forum while I write this at 32,000ft over Nebraska on the way to the annual Flame NAB pilgrimage. My coin is on my desk.
YOU DIDN’T BRING YOUR LOGIK COIN??? I guess it’s time to tell you the rule that we established four years ago (before your time): Whoever doesn’t bring their Logik coin buys drinks.
