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The term 'interlaced video' may cause chills to the seasoned video editor.  There are a variety of ways to 'deinterlace' video, but depending how you go about the process may lead to inferior results. 

Today, you'll mostly likely encounter an 'interlacing' problem when viewing 'standard defination' mini-dv video on the web, or viewing a QuickTime file playing SD media on a computer screen.

I stumbled upon a free program called 'Deinterlacer' by JES Schotsman.  So, I ran through a quick test using it's default parameters.  Here are the results.  Wow!, I'm sold.

This is a typical example of what an interlaced frame looks like from an interlaced SD or HD video source.  Notice how the image looks blurry from displaying both fields of video on a single frame.



Notice the difference, after the video has been deinterlaced.  You'll also notice that 'JES Deinterlacer' also runs a color correction algorithm to automatically for color contrast.

 

It's time to revisit the popular Carbon Copy Cloner program that allows you to create an exact copy of your source machine onto an external hard drive. 

I recently tested this by backing up my Mac Book Pro running Snow Leopard. It took about 1 1/2 hours to back up 80 Gigs to my portable pocket drive running at 5400 RPM. 

The latest version also allows you to create incremental backups that can be scheduled.  You can even back everything up to a remote Mac on a Network. To create a backup of your entire sytstem, just hook up an external drive and set it as the target.  That's it!

To test the copy, you can boot your Mac directly off the external drive by holding down the option key while you restart your Mac.  This will allow you to choose your external drive as the new Boot Drive. 

Okay, so how must does this software cost?  Guess what, it's free!  Yes, you read that correctly.  Bombich Software makes this very clear by running an occasional banner within the software program.  I recommend that you donate to Bomich Software for this amazing program. 

If you plan on cloning several machines using Carbon Copy Cloner there's one catch. Keep in mind those machines will be EXACT copies of each other.  This means, they will inherent all the same user names and passwords.  They'll also have all the same programs with the same serial numbers.  This means, you may have reset the serial numbers on certain software products that have license restrictions.

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• Carbon Copy Cloner - A Free & Powerful Backup Utility (Mac Only) (makeuseof.com)

Adding a Timer overtop of your video is actually very easy. Using the Too Much Too Soon free plugins, you can create a timer that counts either up or down, and can move in real time, slow motion or fast motion. After installing these plugins, you will be able to access it from the Video Generators. Which will load it into the Viewer, where you can set the parameters.

The newest versions of Photoshop now support image editing on video files.  The only catch is you must have the ‘Extended Version’, meaning Photoshop CS3 Extended, or CS4 Extended.  All of the creative suite bundles ship with the extended version.  Photoshop is a must have application for any video editor. Don't get me wrong, you'll still need your favorite non linear editing system such as Final Cut Pro or Avid to the majority of your video editing.

You can use Photoshop's extensive array of tools to perform color correction, and rotoscoping.  You can also use Photoshop's filter gallery to apply filters directly to a video file. It’s easy to get carried away with Photoshop’s ability to edit video files when you have the ability to create additional video layers, keyframe your effects, etc.,  That being said, you’re probably better off doing most things directly within your favorite video editing software.   

I’ve found Photoshop incredibly useful when I need to process a video clip with one of Photoshop’s built in filters.  You can easily create painted effects by using Photoshop's filter gallery. 

Processing video files with Photoshop is now incredibly easy.  In the past, it was quite tedious if you wanted to apply a filter to a video clip with Photoshop.  It involved a complex process of creating a droplet would run would a script to process an image sequence.  Now, it couldn’t be any easier.  There is basically only one important step so you don’t have to process each frame independently.

Here are the basic steps for applying a filter to a video file in Photoshop.

One of our newest 2 day training classes, Google Sketchup, will be offered  at our Orlando training facility November 5th & 6th, 2009.  We are offering a special price for the November class!

Google's Sketchup is an amazing 3D modeling program that has users from all walks of life from professionals to first timers.  Whether you're an architect, civil engineer, or filmmaker, you will be astounded at what Sketchup can do for you.  And the best part?  It's one of the easiest programs out there to learn and use.  With Sketchup, you can build everything from basic 3D models to entire scenes with a virtual walk-through, and it allows you to add your 3D elements into your video projects.

Other features of Sketchup is the ability to facilitate the placement of models in Google Earth, which is a great tool for video producers when trying to figure out where your shadows lie at a specific time of day during a video shoot.  Another great feature is the ability to use the 3D Warehouse, which lets users search for models that are created by other users and lets users contribute their own models to the warehouse.

There's no limit to what you can create with Google's Sketchup.  There is a limit however to our class size, so call today to reserve your spot!