March 2007 Archives
Using Avid Xpress or Media Composer, is there an easy way to flip a picture-in-picture on the x or y axis that has a different front and back? The Avid software makes this relatively easy using a feature called nesting.
The Record Button in the Apple Motion Canvas allows you to record keyframes as you change the parameters of objects. This is a quick way to keyframe a particular movement for an object by either dragging or by way of handles found in bounding boxes of selected objects. You can also record keyframes by using the record button and entering new values into parameter fields.
Recording Animation and Setting Keyframes in the Inspector
1 Select the object that you want to animate in the Canvas and you will see a bounding box appear around the object. The object I have chosen for this example is call "Big Frame Shadow" and is located in the Motion Library under Content. Scale the object down so that if fits entirely on the Canvas. The color of your canvas may be different than mine, but that is irrelavant.
2 Go to the Inspector Tab in the Utility Window, then click the Properties tab.
3 Find the parameter for Rotation. To the far right of the parameter, there is an icon that looks like a dash. This is the Keyframe Menu. Click on the Keyframe Menu and continue to hold your mouse button down and select Add Keyframe.
4 Move the Play head in the Mini Timeline ahead 25frames.
5 Click the Record Button.
6 Rotate the Rotation Parameter Dial 5 times.
7 Turn off the Record Button
8 Move the play head in the Mini Timeline to the beginning of your project and press the play button to review your animation.
The MPEG Industry Forum (MPEGIF) announced the "Advanced Video Services in Next Generation Video Ecosystems" full-day Master Class at NAB2007 in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 15. Held in conjunction with the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), this special event will explore how new technologies are changing the way digital multimedia is created, compressed, delivered and monetized. A number of business and technology leaders at the forefront of next-generation networks will share their experiences and unique industry insights at this year's Master Class.
Featured keynote speakers include senior executives from Alcatel-Lucent, , MobiTv, Telekom Austria, and Professor Tim Wu from Columbia Law School, best known for popularizing the concept of network neutrality. The keynote speakers will be joined by panelists from programmers such as CBS and Turner Broadcasting, service operators such as AT&T and Tiscali and other leading technology pioneers and industry analysts. Together they will examine the state of advanced video services and the role of open standards in the ecosystem. The morning session begins at 10:00 a.m. and will discuss consumer trends, content creation and protection. The afternoon sessions will focus on "content on the move" and new technologies. Each session will also include an interactive roundtable panel with the keynote speaker and other panelists. MPEGIF will also provide an update of the Forum's work in developing and promoting open MPEG standards and the MPEGIF Logo Qualification Program.
Did you know you can easily add a plasma wipe, or any other transition to a title without affecting the background? The trick is to nest the plasma wipe inside the nested fill layer of a title.
With the popularity of uploading videos files to FTP servers for client reviews of videos, it would be good for video editors to have their own FTP server. It would give the video editor the ability to create a specific FTP account for a client and only that client would have access to the FTP site. Anytime you finish editing a video simply upload it to the the FTP server for client review. The set-up for this is pretty simple and we actually cover the process in our 3-Day Video Streaming and Compression training classes.
Above is screen shot of an FTP account set-up for a client. Video Editors can set up their own FTP using a dedicated server hosting service and also use the dedicated server for delivering web video as well as videos to be made available using FTP. In some cases you can find dedicated hosting services for less than $100 per month. This would be a worthwhile tool to have and would be a nice way to be able to exchange video files with your clients. Once you set-up the FTP account to upload your videos you can use various FTP programs to upload your videos. The biggest benefit of having an FTP Server is that you can create as many FTP accounts as you like. If you have 20 clients you could set-up 20 FTP accounts for each.
Editing any sports type programs has many challenges that are not only stressful but take editing to the ultimate level of creativity. Having an editing suite that can only perform reliably but also respond to your every move is essential. When it comes to this type of performance Avid is top notch. Kevin Tolbert is responsible for makeing the Charlotte Bobcats look good on TV.
Final Cut Studio ships with a program called LiveType. You can do some amazing effects compositing directly within LiveType.
You can use Livetype for some amazing effects that do not use any actual type. In fact, Livetype treats objects no differently than how it treats type. This exercise involves using a simple square shape to build a complex composite. Keep in mind; you can expand upon this tutorial by using other exotic shapes other than a square.
The upcoming Streaming Media East Conference and Exhibition will explain the Business of Video on the Net. The 10th Annual Show Features More Than 100 Speakers From the Best Companies Who Are Producing, Broadcasting, and Utilizing Online Video. With online video quickly becoming one of the hottest technologies on the Internet, more and more content and broadcast executives are scrambling to learn both about the technology and how to profit from it. For many executives, the Streaming Media East (www.streamingmedia.com/east, May 15-16, NYC) conference & exhibition is a "one-stop shop" for their entire staff to learn about streaming, Webcasting, downloading, and all forms of online video. Now in its 10th year, the Streaming Media East show boasts the largest audience and exhibitors of any show focused on online video and the largest roster of speakers who are creating, producing and adopting online video products and services.
The Streaming Media East conference organizers, led by online video guru Dan Rayburn, have reworked the program to give attendees more "how-to" sessions providing step by step instructions on how to implement online video and be able to apply it immediately within their organization.
"The Streaming Media East show is the largest and most interactive conference in the industry for attendees to learn about the distribution and delivery of online video to any IP connected device," said Dan Rayburn, conference chairman.
Designed for critical image evaluation the DT-V24L1D features true native pixel-to-pixel 1080p image display. Built-in digital HD-SDI and DVI-D interfaces provide loss less connection to broadcast and studio sources. Superior scaling and de-interlacing, 10-bit 1080p processing combined with traditional rotary image controls, area markers, blue check and timecode display make the DT-V24L1D the ultimate choice reference monitor for a variety of professional applications.
Telestream, a leading global provider of media encoding workflow solutions, today announced a new hardware product that offers a novel approach to the way video professionals ingest tape-based media into file-based workflows. Pipeline is an industry-first network encoding device that provides SDI ingest into Telestream's FlipFactory and Episode applications as well as 3rd party products, including Apple's Final Cut Pro. The encoder is accessible to multiple users over the network, providing a more reliable and cost-effective alternative to traditional PC capture card solutions. A series of Pipeline products are being introduced today to meet the needs of broadcast, post-production and new media workflows.
"Telestream dramatically changed the way the professional video industry delivered media with the introduction of our first hardware appliance, ClipMail Pro, eight years ago," said Dan Castles, Telestream CEO. "We're changing the game again by bringing hardware encoding to the network. Pipeline offers a more flexible, efficient alternative to conventional PC capture solutions."
Pipeline is comprised of a series of network-accessible video capture products that provide hardware encoding and decoding of serial digital video and audio. Two models, single-channel Pipeline and multi-channel Pipeline Quad, will be introduced at NAB to address a variety of professional encoding needs. Pipeline is also designed for direct integration with 3rd party products and workflow solutions.
GeniusDV has renewed it's Avid training course schedule in Dallas Texas. If you are interested in Avid Xpress / Media Composer training in the Dallas Texas area, check our our training schedule for our hands-on certified Avid training classes.
Courses are held in Addison Texas in a luxurious classroom setting. Class size is limited to the first six students.
There is an update available for Sorenson Squeeze 4.5.5 Compression Suite. Squeeze 4.5.5 is a free maintenance upgrade for owners of Squeeze 4.5 that delivers improved mp3 audio and mpeg 4 streaming. The update includes a new iPod preset and fixes a few bugs. Lastly, 4.5.5 fixes a bug where source with non-integer frame-rates (29.97 fps) video, when encoded to vp6 using a rational (1:1, 2:1, or 3:1) frame-rate resulted in an issue where video played at an incorrect rate, resulting in an A/V sync error.
One particular bug the update fixes is green video that is produced when turning on the De-interlace and Noise Reduction filters simultaneously using the Flip4Mac plug-in and Sorenson Squeeze.
What was fixed in version 4.5.4
- Fixed a bug in progressive downloading of .mp4 files
- Fixed a bug in streaming of .mp4 files
- Fixed a bug in streaming of .mp4 audio only files
- Made send output to PSP optional task work with PSP firmware v. 3
You can Download Sorenson Squeeze 4.5.5 here.
I made an interesting finding recently in regards to encoding 25 Mbps MPEG-2 files using Episode Pro. Not many tools that I've seen allow you to encode to really high bit rates such as 25 Mbps but Episode Pro which is only available for the Mac does. Episode Pro is unique in that the application allows the end user to have complete control over the encoding process as it relates to compression settings, filters and other settings. Not only will Episode Pro encode 25 Mbps MPEG-2 files it will encode 34 Mbps MPEG-2 files as well. Actually, the tool will let you go as high as you want in reference to your bit rate.
Here's how to do it:
You'll first need to duplicate one of the MPEG-2 NTSC compression settings and then name it based on your bit rate.
Next you can double click your compression setting and select the Video tab and under the Bitrate control select CBR. For Average rate type in 25000 kbps or whatever bit rate you desire. Save your setting and apply to your video source.
Why Encode at a 25 Mbps data rate for MPEG-2 files?
Warning! Do not download the latest versions of Quick Time 7.1.5. I did and I have had nothing but problems so far. Recently, Apple released the 7.1.5 update to their popular media player, QuickTime. Preliminary reports from Avid Tech Support indicate that some users who have already downloaded the update are experiencing problems in their Avid editing systems.
It is advised that for now, all customers do not upgrade to QuickTime 7.1.5. Once they have been able to test the 7.1.5 release, and code any required patches for it As always, turn off "Automatic Updates" for QuickTime to prevent unexpected / undesired updates from happening.
Of all of the software updates always beware of updating to the latest version of Quick Time. It normally will have issues until Avid creates a patch.
The layers palette in Adobe Photoshop has many useful tools. One of the greatest mis-understood portions in the lock controls. You have a three options and I will explain how each one works.
There is a lot of confusion circulating around the discussion forums on the topic of finding an efficient way to extract material from a DVD to import into Final Cut Pro and Avid Xpress Pro for re-editing. After doing some research, I found such a ware that will allow you to read the dvd > set in and out points for the scenes that you want > and extract that video in a format that can be imported into Final Cut Pro and Mac based Avid Xpress Systems. If you already have pre-existing VOB files, you can read them through DVDXDV and extract from them as well. Keep in mind that this ware is for Macs only.
DVDXDV Pro will allow you to extract high quality audio and video from a DVD to be used in Final Cut Pro and Avid. Their are two versions of this software, DVDXDVPro ($80), which is the more robust version of the program that will allow the reversal of the original interlaced field ordering of a DVD, widescreen resizing, 3:2 pulldown removal, and multi-channel audio export.
DVDXDV ($25) is being marketed more to the home video crowd and not the video professional. It will allow you to kick out a quicktime file with all audio in this version being exported as a stereo mix, it also allows for video cropping and resizing and field order reversing. There is also an "Expert Settings" option in the Export dialog that will allow you to manipulate compression settings.
After downloading the trial version of DVDXDV Pro, I was very impressed with the ease of use of this program. After purchasing the software, you are given a download link and a key and I imported some extremely high quality audio and Video into Final Cut Pro and Avid from this ware!
If you find yourself needing to use material from premade non-encrypted dvds, you should really give DVDXDV Pro and DVDXDV serious consideration. If you have Quicktime 6 or later,click here to see a video sample of the process of how you get DVD material into Final Cut Pro. Download the free trial version and see if its right for you!
*It should also be noted that there is an incredible product called streamclip. It is one of the few free programs that is available for both PC and MAC that will convert an mpg2 file or DVD into a single quicktime movie with the audio intact.
Have you ever been working on retouching a portion of an image and would like to see the whole image without having to zoom in and out to see your results. Well here is a great little trick that many people are unaware of.
Open the photo you want to work on and set the zoom percentage to 100%. Now choose Windows>Arrange>New Window. The name of your image will appear and a brand new window with the exact same image will appear. Just set your windows side by side and set the zoom level to a desired setting.
You can now work on one image and watch the other window update in real time. The window represents the exact same image so you’re not creating a duplicate just another view of the same image. This is great trick to save not only time but make your workflow much more efficient.
A very useful tool in Photoshop has always been the Clone Stamp tool. The healing brush is one of the must underrated new tools in Adobe Photoshop. Here are the key differences between these two very powerful tools.
Rhozet plans to shine again in video encoding at NAB 2007. They'll once again be at the show which is in Las Vegas from April 16-19.
Rhozet provides transcoding technology for a wide range of companies including ESPN, Microsoft, Amazon.com, BBC News, Ascent Media through Carbon Coder and Carbon Server technologies.
At this years show Rhozet is introducing a host of new features, including accelerated multi-machine rendering and new support for devices like Panasonic P2, Sony XDCAM and Avid MediaStream. They will also be introducing Dolby Digital Professional (AC-3) support for cable, DVB, and ATSC applications. Lastly Rhozet will be introducing technology to allow splicing streams of video in the compressed domain, greatly accelerating tasks such as ad insertion and program creation.
Get more information about Rhozet
Note: Rhozet's booth number at the show is SL3716 in the South Hall, Lower Level (next to Adobe and Microsoft).
Just a reminder to all of you out there who have to change your daylight savings times 3 weeks earlier. If you are running windows your computer will not update automatically like it has in years past. Thanks to Microsoft they have released a fix. The great thing about this fix is that it will also cure your problems in the fall when daylight savings is extended for one extra week. You must also make sure that both your Windows operating system and your calendar programs are updated, this update will walk you through not only your operating system but also Outlook.
There are many ways to trim clips. In the basic editing lesson, we explained how you could use the arrow tool (A) to trim clips.
Roll trim icon (R)
Ripple trim icon (RR)
Slip icon (S)
Slide icon (SS)
Telestream, a leading provider of world-class encoding-based media workflow solutions, has major announcements to share at NAB2007. If you your're attending NAB you can attend their press conference on Monday, April 16, 2:00-2:45 pm, at the LVCC press brief room N242
Building on their acquisition of Popwire and their expanding product lines, the company has major product and partner announcements to share.
Here's what's coming:
*They will be introducing a completely new approach to baseband video capture. Learn first hand about Pipeline, their innovative, network-accessible SDI encoding appliance that is more versatile, reliable and cost-effective than traditional PC capture solutions. They'll also introduce a series of desktop and workgroup solutions.
*Episode Series media encoding applications for the Mac will make their NAB debut. Hear the big story, including important new announcements, to be made at the show.
*Learn how Telestream's Mac-based products are integrating into more production workflows to extend speed, quality, and ease of use.
*Introducing HD support for commercial and syndication workflows
*Telestream will discuss a new industry need: auto-publishing metadata with media to the growing number of enterprise video websites like iTunes, Google, AOL ...
An alpha matte defines areas of the screen to be dropped out from the visible picture. In fact, when you design any title within Final Cut Pro it is treated as an alpha matte. The title is automatically keyed over a video image below it.
This characteristic of titles that allow you to automatically see a video image underneath them is referred to an alpha channel. The alpha channel represents the transparent area of the image. The matte represents the solid part of the image.
Do you shoot in 24P, 23.976P, 30i, 60i, 30p? It can be confusing what format to choose. Then if you choose 24P, you are faced with the question. Do you shoot with the standard pull-down method, or the advanced pull-down method?
Advanced pull-down is 2:3:3:2
Standard pull-down is 2:3:2:3
If you are going back to film, shoot with the Advanced Pull-down Method, and then edit directly in 24P when using Avid or Final Cut Pro.
If you are going back to video, then you should really edit at 29.97 and go back to video at 29.97. This method will give you the 'film look' with 29.97 television. If this is the result you want then shoot with the Standard Pull-down method.
For more information about video or film-making using 24P formats, you can visit the Adamwilt.com webpage. He has some fanastic tutorials that go into great details about the various video formats.
If you are upgrading to Episode Pro 4.2.2 from version 4.2.1 here's how to do it. After you have downloaded the lastest 4.2.2 update from the Flip4Mac.com website make sure the Episode Pro application is closed. Navigate to your applications folder and drag the Episode icon to the trash. Empty the Trash and open the Episode Pro 4.2.2.dmg installer and drag the Episode icon to the applications folder. This will update you to 4.2.2. All of your customized compression settings will still be available after the upgrade.
Here is a training module on three point editing for Final Cut Pro.
Although this is a basic training module, there are some key concepts that other experienced editors may benefit from. This includes:
In Final Cut Pro, the timeline window is the where editing occurs. There are many ways to edit. This is a basic editing tutorial for beginner, although for the seasoned editor you may pick up a few tricks you didn't know about.
If you have spent much time using locaters in Avid before the HD version you may find the way that locaters in Avid Xpress HD work very annoying. The default set-up in HD is every time you insert a locater the locater dialog box opens and asks you to type in your comment. This is great for organizational purposes but if you want to add them On-the-Fly this new feature is in your way. The only advantage to this is once you are done you can go back to this dialog box and insert you comments. If you want to disable this feature and add locaters on-the-fly then here are the steps you need to take:
1. Map a locater to your keyboard
2. Right-click the Source or record monitors and select locators.
3. Choose Disable Locaters Popup from the Fast Menu.
Now you can play your sequence and add locater's on-the-fly.
Logging your clips before you capture them onto your hard drive is a great way to not only save space but is a great time to name all of your clips. If you stick an hour long tape in and log straight through the hour you will most likely have a lot of wasted space and you will have a bunch of unnamed clips, or one big clip if you do not turn on sub-clipping. To log clips from an Avid controlled deck simply follow these steps:
Organzing your cilps and media within Final Cut Pro is a critical step before you begin editing. Here is a detailed courseware module or some things to consider.
- Managing Media
- DV Scene Detection
- Labeling Clips
- Creating Storyboards
For all of you Avid and Final Cut Pro Director/Producers, one thing you can keep in mind while shooting is that if you shoot a 4:3 picture and later mask it into a 16:9 image in post, it will give you the option of also being able to release a full-frame 4:3 version of your show.
Masking in post will adjust the image downward 60 lines before adding the letterbox mask, therefore giving you a 4:3 and 16:9 version that share common sides and a common top. The term common side means that characters will appear to enter and exit the scene at the same time in both the 4:3 and 16:9 versions and common top means that both versions will also maintain the same amount of character headroom.
Play around with this concept and see if the aesthetic value of masking a 16:9 image meets your personal standard.
Content providers or individuals can provide downloadable .3gp videos from a web server for Cingular cell phones. You can capture your video with the mobile device and then post it to your website via ftp from your desktop. If you record a video with your Cingular cell phone it will be recorded as a .3gp file. There are some different options for customizing your file. You can upload the video as is after renaming the .3gp file or you can create other files for your web server using QuickTime Pro. You can do an audio or video Pass Through or create a reference movie with QuickTime Pro.
Once your file is a on your web server you can author the videos for the web or to a blog. If you create a podcast with your .3gp video file your video will play fine in iTunes but not on an iPod. It is possible to convert your .3gp video using the Movie to iPod but the quality won't be as good. So for Cell Phone blogging it's best to target iTunes users on the desktop.
If your looking to improve on the rendered quality of text or graphics within Final Cut Pro, you may want to consider exporting your finished sequence as a 10bit Uncompressed movie, instead of using the standard DV codec.
