Results tagged “photoshop for video” from Final Cut Studio, Avid, Adobe, and Video Streaming

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.

Photoshop is an invaluable tool for video editor, and I've always been a big fan of teaching the Photoshop basics as it applies to video editing.  One basic Photoshop skill is the ability to cut out a company logo so it can be placed as a 'bug' or integrated within a video project to help brand a business.  You can read up on a Photoshop tutorial for creating a glass bug on how to actually do this.

For myself, I like to keep things simple.  I've always touted using the file format .png to when saving graphics for import to/from Avid Media Composer or Final Cut Pro.  This keeps things relatively simple, and you do not have to worry about merging layers or flattening the image for things to look right.  Of course, you still should save a .psd copy in case you decide to make changes to your original Photoshop file.

For simple things, you can cut your logo using Photoshop.  It's best to save the image with a .png (portable network graphics) extension.  That's it! 

However, there is one annoying element that may come into play when saving graphics that contain a transparent background.  When saving a selected image with Photoshop, the selected area overlaps with the transparent background.  This is translated as 'white' when it is brought into Avid Media Composer or Final Cut Pro.  This means you'll end up with a 1 pixel white edge around your image.  For simple things, you may never notice.  However, if you are a perfectionist, or if you graphic is keyed over a dark scene, it's quite noticeable and it looks poor.

Click the image for a closer look.

Here's an actual 'blown up' example of the GeniusDV logo imported into Avid Media Composer.  You can see hints of an edge that has come over from where the selection and the transparent background meet.  Again, this may not be noticeable in certain occasions, but this has grown into one of my pet peeves.