- SynthEyes uses your operating system to read movie files (except ARRIRAW, BRAW, ProRes, and RED, which are built into SynthEyes). Make sure you have the required codec installed on your machine for other files. Anything that SynthEyes ultimately cannot read must be converted to something readable.
- All file names require proper file-type extensions, including on macOS. (Extensions have been officially required since the advent of macOS, despite what many users think.) Filenames containing multiple dots (periods) should be avoided as this can be ambiguous; use an underscore or dash instead.
- Linux: Linux does not contain any built-in movie-reading software, so only those built-in formats listed above can be read.
- Windows: To read HEVC/H.265 files on Windows, you may need to install the codecs for them. See "HEVC/H.265 on Windows 10" in the manual.
- Windows: If your machine has just rebooted (at your request, or as a result of an operating system update), SynthEyes may not be able to access files on a network drive until you have visited the drive first via Windows Explorer. This is a Windows issue, not SynthEyes.
- ProRes on M1 Mac Minis: The ProRes hardware and software decodes on Macs have some quirks, particularly affecting M1 Minis. SynthEyes may have to force 8-bit reads even if you request 16- or 32-bit reads.
- SynthEyes is intended for tracking; specialized image types such as monochrome and binary images typically won't be read. (PNG will read monochrome images, eg for alpha mattes.)
- Verify that you can read the image on your machine too. If all the files in the sequence are 1.5-2.0 MB, except for number 37, which is 1.3 MB, and it doesn't read....
- If the image/movie is on a network drive, copy it to the local drive instead (especially for sequences). Some network drives aren't particularly robust. Turning on "Shot/Read 1f at a time" may help.
- For maximum cross-platform compatibility, make sure that the file name and entire path name do not contain any accented or special characters. Valid characters are A-Z, a-z, 0-9, underscore, dash, and space (better without spaces, never a space as a first or last character, never a dash, dot, or number as a first character). SynthEyes can read files with Unicode characters in it; you should be sure your other apps or workflow automation is OK with that also.
- Consult the "Opening the Shot" section of the manual.
- If you need to send us a file, tell us what program created the file, including the options such as codec type and settings.
Help Center