Issue transcoding from ARRIRAW when files are in folder with # character

@Anders_Y just discovered an odd issue that I’d never seen before:

If you store ARRIRAW files in a path that includes a # character, Cortex doesn’t like it. The clip appears to import OK into the bin, but the player doesn’t actually load the image. If you have other material in your bin, you may not notice, because the last clip loaded stays visible in the displayer.

If you add the clip to a reel, you don’t get an error, but the render just hangs at 0% forever.

In general, we recommend using only the following characters in filenames and paths:

  • lowercase letters a-z
  • uppercase letters A-Z
  • numbers 0-9
  • underscore _
  • hyphen -

Cortex doesn’t usually choke when other characters are in there – we do handle a lot of media that has spaces in the filename or folder, but various applications deal with things differently.

While prevalent now, spaces in folder and filenames are generally frowned upon because they have to be escaped in a terminal.

We have seen issues when folders are named with a space at the end of the name, like "media " instead of "media". Usually this can only happen when the folder was created on another OS and is being stored on a SAN.

In any case, its good to keep in mind when troubleshooting. Try copying media to a folder that has very safe characters if anything looks suspicious.

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You are indeed correct. Problem solved. Thanks again Dave!

Anders Yarbrough

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