Live chromakey preview
 

Does anyone know of a cheap little app that'll apply a rough key to a live DV feed? Preferably one that'll let you play a movie behind it but I'd be very happy just with a still. It's to make it easier to line up blue/greenscreen shots.

There used to be a handy thing with the old A/V Macs where you could key out a particular color where ever it appeared on your screen. I had hoped with the big DV evolution that something similar would exist on OS X but the only solutions I can find are expensive and geared toward the meteorlogical set.


-j

Video Toaster rules at this.
If that's out of the question you can find many used switchers on ebay for little to nuthin.

mpg.. where's the sound?
 

Hi, I'm making a promo for an artist and she asked me to include some old material from her old proomo CD. It's a mpg file. When playback the sound is there and all is well. When I import it to FCP I have to render it to playback and there's no audio track..? I tried using QT to export it to another format but QT reports that there's no audio track..

What's happening? What can I do?

Thanks.

FCP can't demux a MPEG1 file... meaning, an MPEG1 file puts the video and audio together... so when you import it into FCP you only get the video. There is a free tool to break the MPEG1 into 2 files... or, if you already have the video, open the MPEG1 file in QT and export the movie as an audio file as a workaround... I think that should work.
http://www.alfanet.it/squared5/mpegstreamclip.html

Ha, what a life saaver program, thanks that worked beautifully!

thanks Graeme - maybe I'll just get both just in case !

Aspect the Horizontal and vertical at the same time and when you get close to the center apply a white border to the wipe. This simulates the white blip as it turns off.

And where would I find that checkbox?
I dont find it anywhere in FCP HD.

greets

I don't know if this is the same as what Michael is saying but using a squeeze or pinch filter and keyframing the vertical and horizontal in one move would probably be easier than what I said earlier with compositing a couple of different moves.

Since I haven't upgraded to your version all I can do is tell you how it works under FCP 3. Under the FCP menu choose Audio/Video Settings and click on the capture presets tab. The currently selected one appears highlighted with a check next to it. I'm assuming this will be the 24p option in your case. Click the Edit button (if a padlock icon appears next to the preset then FCP will automatically create a copy which you can edit and re-name as desired). In the edit screen there should be an anamorphic 16:9 checkbox which you would enable.

Like I said, this is all based on the earlier version so perhaps they've changed something in FCP HD. If so then hopefully someone else will chime in on this.

Thanx Boyd.

I tried this in fcp HD and I'ts the same.
Thank you verry much!

Greets Tim

FCP HD rendering 24p? Please Help!
 

I’m switching from Vegas to FCP 4.5 HD and I’m using footage shot in 24p on a DVX100. I captured my footage using the advanced option (pulldown removed) Now when I put the footage into a 24fps sequence it wants me to render, but not if it’s in a 29.9fps sequence.

Can someone please help me understand this. If the footage is 24p and I’m using a 24fps sequence, why should I have to render before viewing?

Thanks,
Fred

FX1 monitoring with apple cinema display??
 

is it possible to watch my fx1 in HD quality directly on my apple cinema display 20"?
and in case that its possible
what kind of cable adapters or interfaces do i need
to connect the FX1 with the apple display

thanks for help

christian

Welcome aboard DVInfo.net Fred!

I did a search (see the button in the upper right and the link in
my signature) in this Mac forum on 24p and the first page yielded
these threads that might help you futher on what the correct
workflow should be for 24p in FCP:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=35601
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=35492
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=31712

I also did a search in this forum on "24p AND render" and got
the following threads which are more specific to your problem:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=14433
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=14323

Christian: welcome aboard DVInfo.net! I have moved your thread
to our Mac editing forum because it is much more likely that people
in here will know what kind of inputs are on the screen and how
you could convert other signals into signals it accepts.

Good luck with your quest!

The HDLink from Blackmagic Design will do this, although I have never seen one myself http://www.blackmagic-design.com/site/hdlink.htm

The HDLink only has SDI in, so it will not work with the FX1.

Thanks! I'll check those out and see if they help.

OK, I've checked out all of those threads, and it seems I'm not the only one that has this problem. But it doesn't seem like anyone has an answer yet.

One thing that is weird is the footage is 24pa captured with the pulldown removal, but when I click on the clip in my bin and go to item properties it says 29.97. And it still wants me to render before I can view it in a 24fps or 23.98fps timeline.

Anyone?

digitizing from a DAT recorder to FCP
 

I'm trying to figure out the best way to digitize audio from a Sony TCD-D8 to my desktop G4. I'm interested in any suggestions on how best to connect these two pieces of equipment and get the audio in the timeline.

Thanks very much in advance.

What type of outputs does the Sony have?

Hey Jeff,

It has a remote digital I/0 for use w/ a special sony optical cable, and a phones/line out jack for analog connections (I know the latter can be used with a mac via the mic jack on the computer, but apparently this results in less than desirable audio.

It reads like you need something with S/PDIF coaxial connections. This might do the trick, USBPre from Sound Devices.

firewire enablers missing
 

Hi,

I am trying to hook up an external monitor in this configuration:
PowerMac 8600/300 (using fcp 1.0.1)--->firewired to Canon GL2--->RCA to TV.

Im under the impression device control needs to be enabled for this to work, but when i turn it on the i get this message:

"device control will not be available using the currently selected firewire protocol. the firewire or dv enablers are missing."

the protocol is set on apple firewire basic, but i have tried them all.

I searched for the enablers on my mac and found (in the extensions folder)
firewire enabler---version 2.7
firewire support---version 2.7
quicktime firewire dv enabler---version 2.2
quicktime firewire dv support---version 2.2

My ultimate goal is to monitor fcp on a tv monitor. if im correct that device control needs to enabled does anybody know why i get the above message.
or is there a way to hook up a monitor without having to enable device control.

im very new at all this so any help would be great.

Colin.

Firewire 800 Harddrives and FCP 4
 

Hi everyone,
I'm looking at adding a larger external hard drive soon.
quick question for FCP users. Is anyone editing DVCpro or above and using any Firewire 800 cards and hard drives? How about HD editing? It Seems that the throughput might be fast enough to edit 720p HD @ 100 Mbps- any confirmation from the field?
I have a G4, 1 gig ram, FCP 4.

Thanks,

Jeff

Thanks - I took a look at the Sound Devices. It seems perfect, but alas a little more than I can spend right now. I also found the following sound card, with fire wire connectivity, for just around $75. What do you think?


http://www.core-sound.com/Firewire-Audiophile.html

It's been a while since I've edited on my beige G3 with OS9, but I do remember having to deal with the extensions you've mentioned.

My first thought is that since you've chosen Basic Firewire, you may only be able to see the image going through the camera, and not control it.

Have you gotten the same error on all settings?

Make sure that you've updated to the latest version of Quicktime that you can install on your machine. I've known this to be a problem.

Is this the first time you've tried doing this or is the a new problem that has recently surfaced?

There are a coule of forums you might want to try that target FCP users. One that I like is PostForum.com. And they have a lot more forums than Final Cut.

These are my initial thoughts, but if something jogs my memory, I'll post.

Good luck.
Peace!
Chris

DV->AE->FCP?
 

What is the best workflow with regards to codecs and maintaining image integrity when doing post work on DV footage in AfterEffects and rendering it out to be used in FCP 4.1?

I would have assumed that simply rendering my AE material out using the DV codec would be fine, but I am wondering if I am going to take an unwanted hit in quality as I recompress my DV material.

Does it make more sense to render out as lossless any interative DV post material and only render out as DV when it is ready to finally go back to FCP?

An thoughts on this?

Poor movement in export
 

Hi everyone,

I have a major problem with my export at the moment, and this forum is a brilliant place to find solutions.

I've recently got into the videography industry, and are still somewhat new (though proficient) at Final Cut Pro. I have some footage at the moment of a School Speech Night, which includes students walking across a stage to shake hands with the principal and recieve an award.

I have two queries with this work. Firstly, one of the cameras was being used by a friend of mine who was stuck with a dodgy tripod, that could not fluidly pan or stay still without a vibrating effect. What is the best way to minimise the camera shakes in this footage (baring in mind that it cannot be reshot)?

Secondly, when exporting footage in MPEG2 format for DVD use, the footage struggles with movement. I don't know the name for the problem, but the footage has obvious lines through movement. The effect I am talking about can be found if you tried to use a still frame from a frame rich with movement; there are lines breaking up the shot. Now I understand why this happens in a still shot, but is there a way to stop it in the actual video?

Thanks in advance folks,
Tim

Text in FCP
 

I am directing a read along series for kids and am
trying to figure out the best way to produce the
effect I want. I am editing this in FCPHD. I am
looking for a text creation and tracking method so
that the text fades in grey and as it is read turns to
black. I have tried creating this using
illustrator/photoshop combo and have also experimented
with Livetype. The ill/photoshop method basically
entails creating a still for each word. With this
method I get a nice pop as each word appears, but the
text does not seem to be as crisp or clear as I would
like.
Using Livetype the clarity seems to be a bit better
but I do not get that same pop and trying to keyframe
each word was extremely difficult. Is there a filter
or some technique to add clarity to the Photoshop
technique, or is there some easy way that I am missing
to do this using Livetype or the text generator within
FCP. OR is there a program out there that this could
be done in that could solve all of these issues?
Surely someone out there has encountered something
like this, worked on a similar project, or just has some words of wisdom. Below is a link if you would like to see a screenshot. Thanks in advance!
http://us.f1f.yahoofs.com/bc/227d6c75/bc/KICSFLIX/3Bears.png?bf.MJtBBx49l_kh0
copyright Franklin Media Networks LLC

It doesn't hurt to do it lossless to make sure you don't degrade your work unnecessarily... I mean, disc space is pretty cheap.

A lot of people will use Animation... be ready for high file sizes!

First, what program are you going to use to author the DVD?
I ask because I've never had much luck "exporting" from FCP to another format. I always just make a self contained movie and do my compression with Cleaner. I haven't even spent that much time with "Compressor" because I already know what works and what doesn't in Cleaner. For DVD's I use iDVD or DVD Studio Pro, both of which do a fine job for my needs.

Second, what kind of lines are you talking about? Vertical or Horizontal? Are you seeing the interlacing of the video (fine horizontal lines, called fields)? Are you previewing this on an NTSC monitor or just on your computer screen?

Third, depending on how bad the camera shake is, you can try to use FCP's "image stabilizer" filter (found in filters-video) or look for a third party plugin (they usually have a free demo to try before you buy). Other than that you might need to do a bunch of key framing to help correct it. Now you see the value in a very nice tripod huh?

Rhett,
Believe me, a quality new tripod is the first thing on my long shopping list. I'm punching myself now for not organizing a quality hire earlier on.

To answer your initial question, I'm using DVD Studio Pro to author the DVDs. I might start looking seriously at Cleaner, is there anything to your knowledge that Cleaner does, that Compressor does not?

In relation to these lines, I'm talking about horizantal lines, which as you described probably is the interlacing of the video, I just never knew the term. I'm previewing through a PAL monitor (in a complex series of wires, before I can afford a deck), that has the problem of constantly seeming to skip frames; these frames aren't skipped on the computer monitor, but the video monitor can be very distracting for this reason. My theory is that it is the connection, but when I export to MiniDV, the same frame skipping problem occurs.

I'll give the image stabilizer a try... are the third party plugins generally of a high enough quality to pay for?

If you are using DVD Studio Pro you can encode it there instead of out of FCP and will get much better results. Just export as QuickTime movie with the settings at "current settings" (probably "DV Pal 48K" in your case) and choose make "movie self contained" (NOT recompress all frames), then add that file to your DVD project. That gives you a pure DV file to work with and compress it in DVD Studio Pro.
Cleaner has a bunch of variables you can adjust to tweak the output of your file. Like I said, I haven't used Compressor much but from just looking at it, it seems to have similar settings available, I just haven't tried it much because I have thousands of hours invested in Cleaner (for web use) and it will do WMP and Real player as well. I also have Cleaner on my PC so I can set it to encode (although it's much slower on the PC's) and then use my Macs to work on something else. I have a new video for web project coming up (no huge deadline) and I am planning on using Compressor on it as a learning project.

As far as third party plugins, yes, many of them are well worth the money, some are not though. There are infinite ways to create custom settings in FCP and some plugins are just presets of those settings so you don't have to fuss with trial and error. Just Google "FCP Plugins" as a start.

As far as the field problem, make sure you are encoding it in the same field order as you captured it (lower first is FCP default). If it's for computer use de-interlace the footage when you encode it.
DUh! Sorry about that, obviously you would need to view it on a PAL monitor if it's PAL footage. Though it shouldn't show the artifacting as much unless it's just a bad encode, which it may have been. Try using the DVDSP approach and see if that helps. Also use the 2-pass VBR method. It takes longer but is worth it in the long run. Find a 30 second segment with stills and motion and use it as a test piece so you aren't stuck waiting for a long process only to see in needs more tweaking.

Thanks a lot for the advice Rhett...

I'll give some of these things a shot, and post my results, be they good or bad.

Shed some light please!
 

- I loaded a bunch of footage through my XL2 via Firewire.

- I edited.

- I went through the process of re-loading everything for ONLINE.

- All edit points are off (have drifted) by a significant number of frames. That is to say, the footage that is loaded is a few seconds off (from inpoint to outpoint). It's as if timecode was not LOCKED but approximate instead. It is SO NOT MONEY.

- An AVID editor looking for some FCP redemption. Any help?

Did you shoot at 24fps progressive? You may have to change either your capture settings or/and your timeline settings to 23.98 with the advanced pulldown. I'm just an amateur, so I'm guessing.

If you don't get any good responses here, try the Apple FCP forum:

http://discussions.info.apple.com/WebX?13@80.Njd4apZEnaC.2@.ee6bcd7

There are many very helpful folks that can probably fix you right up.

Good luck.

I could be smoking something here... but I think that even when you shoot 24p, it goes to tape at 29.97. It gets downcoverted to 29.97 before it hits tape?

I dunno.
Anyway, I did change my capture preset.
It was using the DV Time and I changed it to LTC.
We'll see what that does.

Cheers!
Luke

photocopy AE effect? please help!
 

hey guys.
i was wondering how to achieve the lighting effect that is used in many music videos...it sort of looks like a photocopy beam is crossing over the video rapidly and randomly...it should be some sort of filter in after effects but i can't seem to find it.

thanks a lot!
matt stawski.

hi def resolution?
 

If print quality is 300DPI and TV is 72 DPI- what DPI is Hi-Def TV?
What resolution does graphics have to be for hi definition tv/video