April 2007 Archives
Being able to capture from a non-timecode source is a very real part of an editors day to day routines. Avid allows you to ingest almost any source you need to edit. The source may be VHS, CD, DAT or some other source that has no timecode. To capture this material you need to capture on-the-fly.
To capture from a non-timecode source:
1. Click the deck button in the Capture tool.
2. Click once on the Tape Name box.
3. Either select an existing tape name or create a new one.
4. Choose an option from the Timecode Source Menu.
5. Play the material and click the record button.
6. Click the record button when you are done.
This is a very simple way to ingest any material you need to edit. Just remember you cannot recapture this material with the form of timecode you selected you must manually ingest the material again if you lose it.
It is quite simple to create text in Motion. In the Tool Bar area a the top of the Canvas Window, click on the T icon which is the text tool. Click in the Canvas areas and you will be give a cursor with which to write. The text that you type will form a new layer on which you can drag text behaviors from the library to the text on Canvas. Make sure that the text is highlighted before you drag and drop effects.
You can apply a Live Font to the text you have made by simply going to the Motion Library and dragging a font to the selected text on the Canvas. You will be able to determine if the text in the Canvas because it will have a bounding box around it.
One very powerful, over-looked, text tool in Adobe Photoshop is the warp text function. This is a very fast way to add various warps or bends to your text. (I added bulge to the logo above.) Here is a quick rundown of how to use this tool.
1. In the Layers palette, select the layer containing the type you want to warp.
2. Choose Layer > Type > Warp Text.
3. Position the Warp Text dialog box so that you can see the text you want to warp.
4. Choose a warp style from the Style pop-up menu.
5. Select the orientation of the warp effect--Horizontal or Vertical.
6. To adjust how much warp is applied to the layer, drag the slider for Bend until you achieve the desired effect.
7. To change the perspective of the warp, drag the sliders for Horizontal Distortion and Vertical Distortion until the perspective is as you want it.
8. When you are satisfied with the text, click OK.
Envivio Inc., a leading technology provider of IP video convergence solutions from mobile to HD, introduced its 4Stream IP gateway for IPTV and mobile TV service providers. The 4Stream IP Gateway is an integral part of the Envivio all-IP Convergence Generation video headend. Announced in March of 2007, the headend also features the 4Caster C4 IP video encoders and the award-winning 4Caster M2 Mobile TV encoders both with IP input, as well as the 4Manager network management and redundancy system. Supporting an all IP infrastructure, the headend solution provides a multi-service platform capable of addressing the key devices targeted by service providers who control both fixed and wireless networks. The complete solution offers flexible routing, simplified management and redundancy, requires less space and is easier to manage and deploy than today's traditional IPTV and mobile TV headends.
The 4Stream IP gateway is a dual receiver and demodulator which feeds IP video networks with video services coming from satellite, cable, terrestrial networks. Each one rack unit (1RU) gateway receives encrypted MPEG-2 streams and can process 2 full transponders, replacing up to 24 professional decoders. The IP outputs are received by Envivio C4 and/or M2 encoders. The Envivio 4Manager manages and monitors the gateway as well as other components in the system via a comprehensive web browser.
"The Convergence Generation headend with the new 4Stream IP gateway provides a full end-to-end IP architecture from video reception to subscribers' TVs or mobile devices," said Julien Signes, President and CEO of Envivio Inc. "The IP headend architecture is a fundamental milestone for the video compression industry as it meets the challenges posed by network convergence towards IP and the demand by merged fixed line and mobile carriers for multiservice platforms."
The Convergence Generation headend is ideal for telco environments. Instead of perpetuating the use of costly and complex broadcast systems in an IPTV network, the all-IP solution was designed specifically for IPTV.
When building a graphic in Photoshop for Final Cut Pro, there are some important things to take into consideration while building your graphic.
Square vs. Non-Square Pixels
Using Photoshop with Final Cut Pro can be tricky if you do not follow some important steps. The most common mistake is to save a Photoshop graphic as a .psd file at 720 x 534.  This can be very misleading, especially since Photoshop shows DV-NSTC as being 720 x 534 in non-square pixels.
My favorite feature of the latest version of Avid Xpress Pro HD 5.64 is the full screen playback. It is great to be able to view your video on a full monitor. This really takes advantage of two monitors, if you are using one monitor you may want to consider getting a second monitor just for this feature alone. I thought a rundown of the settings would be important for an introduction to this great feature:
1. Scaling: Select the desired scaling.
-Project uses the actual project type and monitor aspect ratio to determine the scaling
-4x3 (Standard) If you are editing an HD project that contains a lot of SD material that is being stretched to fit the 16x9 aspect ratio, you might want to select this scaling option, letting you restore its original aspect ratio.·
-16x9 (Widescreen) If you are in a 4x3 SD project, working with actual wide-screen material (such as 16x9 material captured by a DV Camcorder); you can select this option to display the material as 16x9 wide-screen.
-Raw Pixel allows you to see the frame in the full screen window, pixel for pixel, with no scaling. If the image is larger, it is scaled to fit the screen. This is only useful when viewing SD in which pixels are non-square. Raw Pixel Aspect ratio is slightly wider than 4x3.
2. Full Screen :By default, Full Screen is enabled. Disable this option to view the video on the full screen window with as little scaling as possible. The application will try to display the image at its native height, and then match the width of the height using the Aspect Ratio selection from above. Turning off Full Screen and working in Draft quality (green/yellow) mode or Best Performance (yellow/yellow) mode can also improve performance with some older video cards, which do not have the highest pixel shader processing power.
3.Display Both Fields: Select this option when the system is connected to an interlaced display. If a progressive display (for example, an LCD monitor) is connected to the graphic card's video output and you select this option, tooth combing will appear in an interlaced image.
4.Current Monitor Position: You can choose the monitor where you want to see the full-screen playback. Drag the entire Full Screen Playback Settings dialog box to the desired monitor, and then click Select Monitor. (Macintosh only) If two or more graphics cards are installed, select a monitor that is connected to the primary graphics adapter.
Stay tuned for more about this great new Avid Xpress Pro HD feature.
Apple announces major upgrades to Final Cut Studio.
What's new in Final Cut Studio 2? At first glance, you may not notice a difference in the core Final Cut Pro 6.0 software. The upgrades are all under the hood in terms of how Final Cut Pro integrates with the associated Final Cut Studio applications.
It obvious, with Final Cut Studio 2.0 that Apple is focusing it's effort on high-end production facilities to gain market share away from Avid Technology. So if you are in the high-end production business, there are some huge announcements in this next release of Final Cut Studio. However, if you fall into the pro-sumer category of the business the upgrades to the software are more subtle.
So first off, whatever happened to those rumors about Final Cut Pro extreme? To answer your question, Apple has partnered with AJA to provide a product called IoHD. This product should satisfy those who are looking to compare something to Avid's Media Composer Adrenaline box.
Open Format Timeline: Final Cut 6 now has the ability to mix and match source material from a wide range of formats. What's most impressive is you can even match different frame frames. As an example, you could mix PAL, NSTC, and HD media all in the same sequence without having to render.
Apple PosRes 422 Codec: Apple has released a new codec that is virtually indistinguishable vs 10 bit uncompressed HD. They were showing 20th generation footage with a split screen vs 10 bit uncompressed media. It was impossible to notice any degradation.
Surround Sound Mix: With Soundtrack Pro you can now mix in full 5.1 surround sound in real-time.
New Application (Color): This looks like a programmed module straight from Apple's Shake program. Color is an extremely high-end color corrector.
For the rest of us, the most impressive upgrade to Final Cut Studio 2.0 is Motion 3.0. The newest release of Motion 3.0 comes with several key upgrades. My favorite upgrades these include:
Real-time 3D perspective: Not only can you animate objects in true 3D space, the particle generators can now be promoted to 3D! This provides for amazing 3D particles in full 3D space.
Motion Tracking: Motion now includes a 4 point motion tracker.
Vector Based Paint: There is now support for full vector based paint. Any object can become a paint source.
Audio Behaviors: You can now assign audio behaviors to individual filters or particles.
Improved Slow Motion which also includes modules for image-stabilization and something called 'smooth cam'. I watched in awe, as they provided examples of slowing down media to 2.5% speed without any jerkiness in the video. Yes, that's two and a half percent of original speed!
Improved Integration of Motion: Motion templates will now dynamically update within a Final Cut Pro timeline. They also will play in real-time without having to render within an FCP sequence.
It is hard to believe you can have so much power with one software package. I will warn you, the learning curve to using all these programs efficiently is becoming quite high. GeniusDV be offers training courses to help get you up to speed in learning these new products.
This is much more included with Final Cut Studio 2.0. You can read about all the additional details on Apple's website.
At NAB 2007, Apple extended the Final Cut Pro family by adding a new scaleable media assett manager and workflow automator, Final Cut Server. This server app allows for content brosing, review and approval from within a studio or over the Internet. You will also be able to take advantage of a shot selection and editing tool that will allow for drag and drop intergration with Final Cut Pro 6.
Final Cut Server aslo integrates with the new Compressor 3 for high-quality format conversions for broadcasting, the web, iPod, Apple TV, DVD and mobile phones.
You'll find Final Cut Server on shelves by the end of summer with a retail price of one server for $999 (US) including 10 concurrent licenses and $1,999 (US) for one server and unlimited licenses.
Sorenson Media plans to continue their revolutionary work in the compression and encoding space with the support of real-time encoding on the Mac with their HD XCEL Card. Formerly the HD XCEL cards were only supported on the PC. What the HD XCEL cards provide is the ability to encode to MPEG-2 and H.264 content in real-time. So for individuals or organizations that need super fast encoding, the HD XCEL real-time encoding card makes encoding projects fly and there also has been a price reduction for the card. Now users will be able to purchase the HD XCEL card for a list price of $6450.
One of the most exciting announcements at NAB for Mac users is Apple's announcement of support of Telestream's Episode Pro plug-in within Compressor. This feature will be supported in Compressor 3. Editors, Compressionist and multimedia professionals will need to purchase an Epsiode Pro license to take advantage of the feature. Once Final Cut Pro users have the Episode Pro license installed on their system the option for output to Episode Pro encoding templates will be available within the output options within Compressor.
What this development means is that from the Final Cut Pro timeline users will have the ability to take advantage of all of Episodes encoding templates and even custom templates created in Episode Pro. So now Flash, Mobile, Real Media, PSP and many other outputs will be available to Final Cut Pro users via Compressor 3.
Customizing your bin headings is a great way to get the information you want to see about your master clips, clips, sub-clips and sequences. I stumbled across a feature today, which may or may not be new to you, but it sure helps customizing your bin view and headings. At the top of your bin you will notice a little black hash mark (in text view). This hash mark can be moved to the left or right to keep certain headings in place while you scroll from right to left.
As you can see in my example I have placed it so that my color and name will not move while I scroll. You can customize this anyway you prefer keeping the headings that you want to always view available while you scroll from left to right.
Episode Pro is fast becoming the Swiss Army knife of video encoding with the ability to create 25 Mbps and higher MPEG-2 files, H.264 real-time streaming and VC-1 files including many other features. Amazingly, the tool gives users the ability to create JPEG thumbnails from source files imported into the application. This is a huge plus as many video portals use thumbnails on the web to show viewers what's on videos to be watched. Being able to create JPEG thumbnails in Episode Pro will save many video editors and multimedia specialists time because they can create JPEG thumbnails with a simple key board shortcut in the Episode Pro compression application instead of having to use a tool such as QuickTime Pro or a non-linear editor to export stills for thumbnails. For those attending NAB 2007 I suggest you visit the Telestream booth to learn more on how to create JPEG thumbnails with Episode Pro. For those that can't make it NAB look for GeniusDV's upcoming tutorial which will walk you through the process of creating JPEG thumbnails with Episode Pro.
After making the necessary hardware connections, which instructions can be found in the article "Previewing Full Screen in a Dual Monitor Configuration in FCP," you can set up the Motion preferences to preview out to an external monitor.
1 Go to Motion > Preferences.
2 Click on the output tab.
3 In the Video output pop up menu, choose FireWire-Apple Firewire
4 Choose update during playback to have your external monitor and Canvas views updated live. Activating the "update dynamically on parameter change" option will mirror what's in the Canvas dynamically. Think of it this way, when you only have the update during playback selection checked, if you move the playhead in the Motion timeline to a new position by dragging it, the external monitor will not reflect that move until you start to play the timeline. Keep in mind that the playback frame rate will have to compensate for these options being checked.
Adjusting audio can be done using clip overlays within the audio tracks of a sequence.
Clicking the clip overlay button will display a pink line across each audio track. This line can be adjusted up or down to increase or decrease the audio level of a clip. The clip overlay button is located in the lower left corner of the timeline window.
If you do not have a preview monitor on which to preview your work in Final Cut Pro, you can use one of your computer monitors to see a full screen preview.
1 Simply go to View > Video Playback > Digital Cinema Desktop Preview-Full Screen.
2 Go to View > External Video > All Frames so that FCP knows to send the information found in your project frame by frame to the external monitor.
May I point out that you may already posses the hardware to preview to an external NTSC monitor. Do you have an inexpensive Mini-DV camera with firewire and and S-Video ports? I'm talking about the type of Mini-DV camera that you would commonly take on a vacation. Do you have a television set with an S-Video in? If you do, then you're in luck!
1 Run the firewire cable from your computer to the Mini-DV Camera.
2 Run an S-Video Cable from the Mini-DV camera to the television set. Make sure your camera is in VTR mode and not in Camera mode.
3 Go to View > External Video > All Frames
4 Go to View > Video Playback > Apple Firewire NTSC (720x480).
Your audio source will have to be connected to the Mini-DV Camera for you to be able to monitor the audio. Now, you have a relatively inexpensive VTR!
Including watermarks on QuickTime Movies with QuickTime Pro 7 can seem confusing but this tutorial will show you how.
First you'll create a Quicktime Poster Movie. If you have an image file supported by QuickTime Pro you can navigate to the File Pull-down Menu in QuickTime Pro and select Open File. Photoshop .PSD and JPEG .jpg are good image formats to use for this purpose.
Once you open your file you can then select Save and this will save your image as a Poster Movie, which is a one frame video. When you have your poster movie created you are ready to watermark your QuickTime Movie in QuickTime Pro.
Open the QuickTime movie you want to apply the watermark to and also open the poster movie you just created. Now, select the Poster Movie.
Within Avid Xpress Pro, learn how to create a page curl with different media on the front and back of a 3D page curl.
Telestream, a leading provider of broadcast workflow automation solutions, today announced that Eurosport International has installed two of its GraphicsFactory enterprise applications at Eurosport's On Air Design production department in Paris, France.
Built on Telestream's core transcoding and workflow automation expertise, the server-based GraphicsFactory application enables Eurosport International to cost-effectively brand and repurpose its promotional programs and trailers for multiple channel distribution. With its broad reach across Europe - and with dedicated channels addressing different regions - Eurosport International is now able to automate the customization of its content using GraphicsFactory to provide multiple language tracks and graphic overlays.
"As we shifted our business to a file-based workflow, GraphicsFactory provided huge efficiencies. The process of assembling the graphics content and different language audio tracks into our promo packages became fully automated," said Marc Amiot, head of IT at Eurosport International. "GraphicsFactory has enabled the production team at Eurosport to move away from what was once a very labor intensive and time-consuming tape-based process, to something that is more fluid and streamlined. This enables our editors to work on sound, vision and effects while the graphics assembly is fully automated and takes place outside the realms of the edit suites. This provides substantial workflow efficiencies as well as a reduction in our operating costs."
Many of you are getting set to attend NAB 2007. With that in mind GeniusDV has put together this Exhibit Booth guide of Video Streaming and Compression companies to see at the show. Enjoy!
Las Vegas Convention Center
Telestream (Flip4Mac) - Booth SL9214 - South Hall Lower Level
Viewcast (Osprey Video Cards) - Booth N2131
Vitalstream - Booth SL10110
VBrick - Booth SL11614
Nero - Booth SL9624
VectorMAX - Booth SL10713
Streambox - Booth SU15515
Anystream - Booth SL2012
Rhozet Corporation - SL3716
Main Concept - Booth SL14209
You can import backgrounds into LiveType of various file formats such as: AVI, Photoshop, PICS, PICT, PLS, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, GIF, DV, BMP, JPEG, SGI, Targa, TIFF, QuickTime, QuickTime image file and PNG. The past few LiveType tutorials that you have seen all contain backgrounds from under the Textures tab located within LiveType itself.
Placing a LiveType Background
1 Go to the Textures tab and pick a catergory from the Category menu. You will then see the options for that category listed below.
2 Select the particular background that you want and you will then see a preview for that background in the Media Browser Window. Click the Apply To New Track tab at the bottom. Notice that your selection is now placed below the background bar in the timeline.
Importing External Images to Use as a Background
1 Go to File > Place.
2 Navigate to the image you want to use.
3 Drag the image track in the timeline below the Background Bar.
Heres a tip for changing letter colors in Photoshop!
Anystream announced that the latest release of their Apreso products for higher education has made it's mark as the world's first lecture capture technology to integrate with iTunes U. The integration is a result of a partnership with Apreso customer and iTunes U aficionado: The George Washington University (GW).
"Automation is highly valuable in higher education because it facilitates the adoption of teaching and learning technologies," said John Arpino, GW academic technologies' senior programmer analyst and project manager for the iTunes U/Apreso initiative. "By integrating with iTunes U, Anystream best serves the needs of both faculty and their students."
This fall GW equipped six classrooms with Apreso Podcast to automatically capture lecture content and instantly convert it into podcasts playable on iPods and from within iTunes U. As an iTunes U innovator, GW was the first institution to develop an automated content upload mechanism for the portal. Using this integration, Apreso lecture podcasts are automatically published to GW's iTunes U site for immediate student review.
"We wanted a solution that required no special tasks from our instructors. We chose Apreso because it automatically creates content to feed our system," said Arpino. "The initiative has been quickly adopted because students are familiar with the iTunes U interface and Apreso allows professors to focus on teaching rather than podcasting."
