Blog

Want a mobile “suitcase” editing system, something more (and more expandable) than a laptop but not too expensive.  Primarily to be used for Adobe CS5.5 for media enhancement / editing / compositing etc.

Nearest I found was NextDimension’s range around $7000 I think (but just guesswork - could be way off - would need to get a quote).   That would (if true) be around £4500 at current rates.  Plus import…  NextDimension call such machines “flextops” (Maybe they coined the term? Google searches on it mostly come up with them.)

Apart from the (mil/broadcast-lite but me-heavy) price, it might possibly be undesirably heavy to lug around much.   If so (just guessing, not assuming), it would make more sense to go for a modular quick-setup system.  So, starting to “think different” in this direction:

• Standard tower, capable of taking new CUDA etc. graphics cards etc. as they emerge, but no need for more than say a couple of disks, maybe if SSD could even get away with just a single disk? (For system and media - inadvisable for traditional disks of course, what about for SSD’s?  I have much to learn about SSD’s though).
• “Laptop-Lite” to talk to it.  With robust shuttered-stereoscopic HD monitor.
• Gigabit network to NAS fast storage (SSD and/or RAID ?).

Maybe in that case it would be far more logical/affordable to use an existing laptop as a client working together with a luggable tower server, sufficiently light and robust for frequent dis/re -connection and travel.  And remote access of course (no heavy data to be exchanged, assume that’s already sync’d).  And some means to easily swap/sync applications and projects (data) between laptop and tower, giving the option to use just the (old) laptop on its own if needed.  All such options are handy for the travelling dude (working on train, social visits etc.) who also occasionally has to do heavy processing.  Then would just need a protective suitcase for the tower, plus another one for a decent monitor for grading etc.

I certainly won’t be spending anything just yet, but it’s good to have at least some kind of “radar”.

(more…)

• http://magazine.creativecow.net/article/opening-my-mind-has-opened-doors
• http://magazine.creativecow.net/article/eitheror-both
• http://www.tolisgroup.com/products/

• http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/202/883396
  • i was self taught for after effects, as many were before non-linear editing became so affordable that any school could afford to start up a digital media program (even jr. high/middle schools).
  • you might look into an after effects book by chris & trish meyers called ‘creating motion graphics’ (i actually didn’t have that book when i was learning, but i’ve since heard that it’s one of the best for learning ae).
  • total training has a good series after effects of tutorials
  • lynda.com is good resource too.
  • and, of course, there are lots of ae tutorials here at the (creative) cow.
  • aharon rabinowitz has many geared towards the fundamentals of ae. look into some of his workflow tuts and other earlier ones where he covers some basic essentials.
• Book: Motion Graphics with Adobe Creative Suite 5 Studio Techniques, Richard Harrington and Ian Robinson
  • http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1660189
    • Excerpt: Repairing and Retiming Footage

What tools are available for this?  What are their relative merits / costs (in all senses)?

• First I tried Boris RED but encountered issues.
• Next I investigated AviSynth, discovering two approaches:
  • MSU’s Frame-Rate Convertor (FRC)
  • MVTools2-based scripts; the latter was the more complex but for me it worked best.
• Next I looked at MotionPerfect, which I purchased years ago from Dynapel back in Standard Definition days.
  • Nowadays sold by Gooder Video
    • They sell version 4.3.1
    • I have version 4.3.0
    • I updated it to 4.3.1
      • That shows a different icon/logo to the Dynapel version of that same product.
      • It works the same as far as I can see.
• Another day(s):
  • Boris RED (4 & 5) via NLEs
    • Adobe
    • Avid
    • VegasAfter Effect
  • Kronos ??
  • Twixtor ??.
    • Some people claim this is the fastest motion-estimation-based method.
  • Avid ???
    • e.g. locate the (years-old) Avid velocity / warp envelope demo featuring a surfer ???

(more…)

Web-research about graphic tablets - having seen and heard of their use by many editors, e.g on Avid and Adobe.  Bear in mind however that tablet computers like iPad might become (or already have become?) game-changers…

• Graphic / Pen Tablet:
  • Google: [graphic tablet avid media composer]
    • http://community.avid.com/forums/t/84575.aspx
      • Mouse vs. Graphics Tablet
      • CyberCat, Sun, Jun 6 2010 5:10 PM
        • Has: Avid Media Composer 5.5.2 | Windows 7 x64 | i7-990x | GTX 580 | 24GB DDR3 | GA-X58A-UD3R
        • Q: I’ve noticed that most editor’s I’ve worked with tend to use graphics tablets instead of mice for their input device. I would imagine there are many on this forum who do as well. I’m just curious why this is, are they just more comfortable to use, or more accurate or what? I’m considering getting one if they’re worth it.
      • Responses:
        • It’s just a matter of which tool you’re more comfortable with. If you’re considering installing a tablet, do some searches on this Forum for Waacom, as there have been conflicts using them, and specific driver versions needed to solve the problem
        • I’ve used graphics tablets for many years and we have several here — 2 Wacoms, Calcomp large format and Acecat wired.. The Wacom Intuos 4 is excellent. It is indispensible for Photoshop, Painter, etc., and I feel lost without it regardless of the software http://intuos.wacom.com/Americas/?gclid=CMP6hMaQjKICFQNinAodNG0EUQ
          • This link is to a great overview/chooser for a set of variants of the Intuos 4 tablet.
            • I like the Wireless one. Seems the most useful when not at a desk
              (e.g. in bed or on a train).
              • Available from Amazon UK for under £300
              • One user recommends putting acetate on its surface before use. This reduces scratches and also reduces nib wearout. Several users report (unexpectedly quick) nib wearout as an issue.
              • Some users report issues with the wireless (BlueTooth). One responded with advice: Make sure on at least the first 4 charges, that you fully charge the battery, and use it till it runs out of battery (not just red light) rinse and repeat this process, and you’ll be fine with the wireless.
              • Some users were concerned that the tablet doesn’t come with a bluetooth receiver (e.g. USB stick?). Not a concern for my MacBook which has it built-in.
            • The Wacom Tablet changed the way I interact with the Avid application. For me, it’s much faster and intuitive for my hand to simply move right to the spot on the screen I need and click. No more dragging a mouse along. I feel like I’m moving faster and the carple tunnel I was developing has gone away.
  • http://www.wacom.eu/index2.asp?pid=245&lang=en
    • The Wacom Intuos4 pen tablet

• DvInfo
  • http://www.dvinfo.net/article/post/video-workshop-an-introduction-to-adobe-cs5-5-part-one.html
  • http://www.dvinfo.net/article/post/video-workshop-an-introduction-to-adobe-cs5-5-part-two.html
• Adobe
  • http://www.adobe.com/support/premiere/

• http://premierepro.wikia.com/wiki/Virtual_Studio_Technology
  • <<<
  • If you want to actively prevent Premiere Pro from using one or more VST plug-ins, create a text file called Blacklist.txt listing the filename of each plug-in one per line. Put the text file in the same folder as the plug-in files, one blacklist file per folder. The blacklist file is read only when Premiere Pro starts up.
    • You must restart your computer for the Blacklist.txt to work.
  • ….there is a limit to the number of VST effects that can appear in the list in the mixer panel, however all supported VST effects should appear in the list in the effects panel.
  • If some VST effects are not available in Premiere Pro when you expect them to be, search your hard drive for a file called Plugin Loading.log after configuring your search to find hidden files. The log may tell you why a plug-in is not being loaded.
  • >>>

I am a novice user of Adobe Premiere.  Having installed iZotope Ozone 5 I expected it to just appear as one of the audio filters.  However I saw no sign of it.

Web-research:

• http://help.adobe.com/en_US/PremierePro/4.0/WS1c9bc5c2e465a58a91cf0b1038518aef7-7f0fa.html
  • <<<
  • Premiere Pro supports the Steinberg VST (Virtual Studio Technology) audio plug-in format so that you can add VST audio effects from third-party vendors. Premiere Pro includes VST plug-in effects that are available in both the Audio Mixer and the Effect Controls panel. Track-based VST plug-ins may provide additional controls. Apply VST effects the same way you apply other audio effects to tracks or clips.
  • In the Effects And Sends panels of the Audio Mixer, VST effects appear in the Effect Selection menus. In the Effects panel, they appear in the Audio Effects bin so you can apply them to individual clips. In most cases, VST effects appear in the Audio Effects bin and track type that corresponds to the number of channels the effect supports. For example, stereo VST effects appear in the Audio Mixer track effect menus for stereo tracks only, and in the Stereo bin in the Audio Effects bin in the Effects panel. After you apply any VST effect, you can open a window with all of its controls. You can leave multiple VST editor windows open as long as you want, such as when automating effects, but Premiere Pro closes all VST editor windows when you close the project.
  • If you previously installed a VST-compatible application other tha Premiere Pro, Premiere Pro finds VST effects in the VST folder that already exists. Inside the Plug-ins folder of the Premiere Pro application folder, there is also a VSTPlugins folder with plug-ins that are used only by Premiere Pro.
  • Note: When you use a VST effect not provided by Adobe, the specific control layout and results of the plug-in are the responsibility of the plug-in manufacturer. Adobe Premiere Pro only displays the controls and processes the results.
  • >>>
• http://forums.adobe.com/thread/682375?start=0&tstart=0
  • <<<
  • I use a set of VST plugins by Voxengo with 32-bit CS4. I recently upgraded to 64-bit CS5. So, I went and snagged the 64-bit versions of these Voxengo plugins. I put them in the C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Pro CS5\Plug-ins\en_US\VSTPlugins\.
  •  Here’s the info in the Plugin Loading.log file:
    •  Loading C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Pro CS5\Plug-ins\en_US\VSTPlugins\Elephant.dll
      Loading from the registry…
      The plugin was successfully loaded from the registry.
  •  Yet, the plugins do not show up in the mixer or in the effects list.
  •  I do not get any error messages. Also, I’m using Vista.  Any ideas?
  •  If you’d like to try the plugins yourself, there are free trials here:
    •  http://www.voxengo.com/product/elephant/
    •  http://www.voxengo.com/product/glisseq/
  •  Thanks! - Jamez
  • >>>
  • <<<
  • I tried the 8 free Voxengo plugins in Premiere CS5, all of them 64bit and they did not show up.  Curiously enough, these 8 plugins are listed at ehe Adobe websiste  here: http://www.adobe.com/products/plugins/premiere/.
  • I tried the 32bit versions with Soundbooth CS5 (which is a a 32bit app) and they did not show up there either.
  • >>>
• http://premierepro.wikia.com/wiki/Virtual_Studio_Technology
  • <<<
  • If you want to actively prevent Premiere Pro from using one or more VST plug-ins, create a text file called Blacklist.txt listing the filename of each plug-in one per line. Put the text file in the same folder as the plug-in files, one blacklist file per folder. The blacklist file is read only when Premiere Pro starts up.
    • You must restart your computer for the Blacklist.txt to work
  • If some VST effects are not available in Premiere Pro when you expect them to be, search your hard drive for a file called Plugin Loading.log after configuring your search to find hidden files. The log may tell you why a plug-in is not being loaded.
  • >>>
• http://forums.adobe.com/thread/679366?start=0&tstart=0
• http://forum.recordingreview.com/f44/plz-help-me-abt-izotope-ozone-plugin-18721/
• http://forums.adobe.com/message/2970290#2970290

Started a new project

• Decided to make it a real project - [2011-12-12 (NG) Carol Singing]
• Prompted for a project path and file name:
  • Path:
    • (scratch area etc. are then, by default, set relative to (within?) this - much nicer than FCP7 )
    • Chose: [I:\_Media\_Projects\2011-12-12 (NG) Carol Singing\030 Projects\Adobe\Premiere]
  • FileName: [Carols 001]
    • This created project-file [Carols 001.prproj]
• Dialog [New Sequence] then prompted for sequence settings:
  • Choose Sequence preset - to match the recorded footage, namely 720p25
    • Chose XDCAM-EX > 720p > XDCAM EX 720p25
    • Change the [Sequence Name] from default ([Sequence 01]) to [010 Assemblage 001]
• The main Premiere timeline etc. GUI appeared.
• At its lower-left was [Media Browser]
  • In this I browsed to the source files, being MXF versions of my EX3 footage, selected those files and [Import]
    • The files then immediately appeared at the upper-left pane.
    • However for 5-10 minutes afterwards, the hard drive light flashed, indicating data-transfer.
      • How come?  What was it doing?  Surely it’s already in the right format?
  • In the upper-left pane, I double-clicked one of the source files.
    • It appeared in the Source preview-window (akin to FCP and Avid)
• In Source pane:
  • Played intuitively.
    • SpaceBar for Play/Pause
    • Arrow keys for frame-at-a-time
    • Shift-Arrow for a few frames at a time
    • Control-Arrow for Beginning and End.
    • Easy-to-see*grab&slide timeline cursor (blue blob)
• Tried dragging source (pane) media to Timeline
  • Not as I expected
    • I expected the video and audio to “want” to go in the existing video and audio tracks.  Instead, while I could drag the video component anywhere (including the existing video tracks), the audio component only went to new tracks (that it automatically created).
    • Four audio tracks were created, not the two that I was expecting (given it was only a stereo recording).
    • No audio waveforms displayed (I expect there is a setting somewhere)
• Found an [Info] tab in the pane at the lower-left of the app.
  • It showed that file [929_3798_01.mxf] contained 3 video channels, of which only vchannel 1 was populated, and 7 audio channels, of which the last four (4-7) achannels were populated.
• Found [Preferences] under [Edit > Preferences]
  • Discovered cache location was at [C:\Users\David\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Common]
  • There was also an option <<Save Media Cache files next to originals when possible
    • Possibly inappropriate when using straight XDCAM-EX source-files?
      • Don’t want to corrupt the BPAV file structure with “foreign” additions.
    • Should be OK though when using MXF format though I guess.
    • Can [Clean] the cache, under same [Preferences] window.
• Audio Waveform display
  • In each audio track-header, Twirl the Disclosure-Triangle.  Independently for each audio track.
  • Having done so, it was apparent that two of the audio elements (hence two of the four audio tracks) contained no audio - their waveform displays were simply flat-lines.
• Effects
  • Extremely intuitive.
    • [Effects] tab in lower-left pane of app GUI
  • Tried e.g. [Effects > Video Effects > Auto Color]
    • Dragged it to item on timeline
    • Saw its effect in the main Timeline preview pane
      • Provided the cursor was somewhere on that item in the timeline.
    • In [Source] preview-pane, selected [Effect Controls] tab
      • [Video Effects] included [Auto Color]
      • Clicking the [fx] button toggles the effect on/off
• Cuts & Transitions
  • Snapping on/off Toggle-button (looks a bit like [C], meant to be a horseshoe-magnet), left of timeline top-ruler
  • Transitions
    • Basics
      • Ensure handles are present and that the clips are abutted (e.g. have snap enabled)
      • In Effects palette (tab in lower-left pane, [Video Transitions > Dissolve > Cross Dissolve]
    • Iris Transition
      • I fairly frequently use this in another NLE, but with feathered edges.  The settings for this transition in Premiere do not appear to include feathering.  Nothing obvious came up in Google or Help searches.
      • One suggestion, from July 2009, was to instead use Gradient Wipe, which has a Softness control, together with a suitable image for the required shape (e.g. circle).
        • DOH !
• Text
  • Row of buttons on left of GUI at mid-height
  • Button [New Item]
  • Select [Title]
  • A special GUI-ette (window) appears.
    • It has background image (for assistance only, and toggleable on/off)
  • There is a good video tutorial on this at [http://tv.adobe.com/watch/digital-video-cs5/gs07-creating-titles-in-adobe-premiere-pro-titler/]

 Having got the suite installed and ready to use, I ran Adobe Premiere:

• From Launcher, ran Adobe Premiere
  • A “First Use” dialog came up
    • Requested my Adobe ID
      • I entered it, consisting of an email address and password.
      • Response screen said: <<By providing an Adobe ID, you have set up access to Adobe CS Live Services during your trial period.
      • It also indicated it had sent email verification.
  • I received two emails.
    • First email
      • <<<
      • Thank you for providing your Adobe ID and downloading your Adobe Creative Suite® software trial. During your software trial, you will have access to CS Live services that further extend the capabilities of your Adobe Creative Suite software. Accessed from within your software, CS Live services enable you to accelerate creative reviews, streamline cross-browser testing, and easily host online meetings.
      • For quick and easy access to CS Live services, here is some important information you will want to save:
        • Access CS Live services: http://www.adobe.com/go/cslive_getstarted
        • Adobe ID (your login): …
        • Your Personal Meeting Room: …
      • Your complimentary CS Live services subscription will expire with your product trial.
      • >>>
    • Second email:
      • Verify email address
        • Strange that this was sent after the email containing Personal Meeting Room address etc.
  • Thank You dialog gave link to tutorials:
    • http://tv.adobe.com/?productID=328&release=5.5&platform=0&locale=en_GB&source=PCSTHX
      • Lookslike the same stuff as seen earlier.  Lots of promotions, whizz-bang and specialist stuff, when I kind of expected novice introduction stuff, especially since I indicated I was that level when applying for the download…
  • I clicked the [Done] button
• Adobe Premiere started up
  • Popup stated: <<Adobe Premiere Pro requires updated video card drivers for CUDA accelerated rendering.  Please download and install current drivers for your video card.>>
    • That’s what I was afraid of.  It’s making the same demands as DaVinci Resolve.  I cannot satisfy those demands, all updates are under Apple’s control - it is normal that laptops (as my MacBook Pro is) have customized versions of graphics card drivers…
    • I closed the popup.
  • Premiere prompted for [New Project] etc.
    • I clicked on [Help]
      • The Help panel, once populated (after a minute or so), included a [Getting Started and Tutorials] link.