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

When multicam-ing in FCP 7, one user reports <<I have found it much better to convert the 5D footage to the XDCAM EX codec instead of converting the EX footage to a ProRes 422 as the file sizes are absurd and there is still a gamma shift problem)>>.  It’s the gamma-shift that would bother me.

Additionally the user explains how to convert DSLR footage to XDCAM-EX format:

• http://mrmagicproductions.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/multi-cam-editing-with-a-sony-ex1-or-ex3-and-5dmk-ii/
  • To Convert the DSLR Footage:
    • Copy the exact file structure from the 5D card to the desired place on your hard drive.
      • Example tree should read:  5DCAM/”DCIM”  ”MISC” (both of the previous words in quotes are two separate folders as one will see in the native card structure)/100EOS5D/”MVI_0001.MOV”  ”MVI_0001.THM” (Again…multiple files in this folder)
    • Open MPEG Streamclip (Just google it to find and download the free program) and go to “File”, “Open Files” and select as many of the .MOV files from your hard drive that you need to convert for a multi-clip.
    • Go to “File”, “Export to Quicktime”
    • At the top of the dialog box where it says, “Compression” choose one of the XDCAM EX compression methods that fit with how your footage was shot.
    • Example:  I shot at 1920 x 1080 at 24 frames per second so I will choose, “XDCAM EX 1080p24 (35Mb/s VBR)” since this also matches the settings of the EX footage.
    • Make sure your frame rate in Streamclip on the lower right area is set to 23.98 if you shot at 24fps in your session
    • Click “Make Movie” and select your target destination
  •  The following will explain how to get the footage into FCP
    • After using Log and Transfer for your EX footage, simply select “Import” under the “File” menu and browse to your new media.
    • Double click your EX clip so it opens in the Source window.
    • Go to a point you would like to use as a sync point, stop playback and hit the letter “I” for “In-Point”  Repeat this exact process with your 5D clip.
    • Select both your 5D and EX clip in the Project area where your clips are listed, right click and select, “Make Multi-Clip”.
    • Select for the clips to be synced using In-Points and you now have a multi-clip.
  • Editing in Multi-Cam Mode
    • Drag the new multi-clip into the main timeline.
    • In the main timeline, click the “RT” button to the upper left of the video tracks.  Make sure that “Multi-clip Playback” is checked.
    • In the source window, look for the button with two playback heads and an “X” between them.  It is located at the top of the window directly in the center.  Click this button and choose, “Open”.  This will sync the source and canvas windows.
    • Double click your multi-clip in the main timeline; this should open both camera views in the source window.
    • Click anywhere in the main timeline and hit the space bar.  You should now see both videos in the source window playing and available for you to click on the angle you want.
    • When you’re done you should highlight everything in the main timeline, right click and select, “Collapse Multi-Clip”.  Don’t worry, you can easily turn it back on to continue multi-cam editing; this will just save on RAM.

I have a Sony XDCAM-EX clip at 1280×720p25 to be transcoded to ProRes, so it can be used as source for iMovie (for another user on another machine).

In principle it should be very simple: go on Mac, use Compressor to transcode the XDCAM footage to ProRes.  But as usual, things are pernickety…

Sequence:

• First tried dragging the XDCAM [.mp4] file into compressor.
  • Not recognised.
  • Likewise the BPAV folder.
• Next, I transcoded the XDCAM footage to “MXF for NLEs” format, using the Mac version of Sony Clip Browser
  • Not recognised.
•  Next, opened the XDCAM Transfer app.
  • In this app, open the XDCAM’s BPAV folder.
  • The footage displays OK but how do I export it to a QuickTime [MOV] file?
  • Looks like I can’t.  It only offers to export to an [MP4] file.
  • Instead, I guess I’ll have to open it from FCP.
• FCP
  • I opened a random existing FCP project.
  • The footage is 720p but the project/sequence settings are arbitrary (unknown to me)
  • FCP: File > Import > Sony XDCAM…
  • It imported to somewhere … but where?
  • FCP Browser: file > RightClick > Reveal in Finder
  • It was at [/Volumes/GRm HFS+/_Media/_Projects/2010-05-30 (Esp) Alison Doggies/020 Source/Sony XDCAM Transfer/SxS_01]
• File System:
  • In other words, at whatever destination was last used by some app - presumably XDCAM Transfer or possibly FCP
  • The destination path was in fact specified in XDCAM Transfer, under its Menu: [XDCAM Transfer > Preferences > Import]
  • Moved the file instead to [/Volumes/GRm HFS+/_Media/_Projects/2009-11-22 (JRM) Lady of the Silver Wheel]
• Compressor:
  • Open it in Compressor
    • Drag it to the “job-strip” (my term) in Compresor.
  • Compressor displays data about that clip (e.g. 1280×720, 25 fps)
  • Select jobstrip settings:
    • Select Setting
      • Settings: Apple > Formats > QuickTime > Apple Pro
        • Name: Apple ProRes 422
        • Description: Apple ProRes 422 with audio pass-through. Settings based off the source resolution and frame rate
    • Apply (Drag) Setting to Jobstrip
  • Destination
    • Leave destination unspecified.  Then it will be the same folder as Source.
  • Processing (transcoding) of this footage (1280×720p25) took about 3 minutes (on MacBook Pro 2009).
  • Result was not that much bigger than the original:
    • Originally recorded [.MP4] file: 1.19 GB
    • Rewrapped [.MOV] from XDCAM Transfer: 1.14 GB
    • ProRes [.MOV] from Compressor: 1.97 GB

I attended, working on one of the camera units.  Had a great time, learnt lots, at all sorts of levels.  Even how to make good use of the Movie Slate application on my iPhone!  Link: http://www.fstopacademy.com/

• Master Indexes:
  • http://community.avid.com/forums/142.aspx
  • http://community.avid.com/tags/Avid+for+Final+Cut+Pro+Users/default.aspx

• Avid Basics re Projects, Bins, Users, User-Settings
  • Notionally “Avid for Final Cut Pro Users” but generally useful introduction, complete with pragmatics.
  • Overview:
    • In this set of tutorials, it is assumed that a Shared project called “Tempest” will be edited by two people, Laura and David, one on day-shift (say) and the other on nights.  They can each select eithers’ settings (editor configs) via the Project Window’s Settings tab, under the User dropdown.  No need to log-out of Avid or indeed to switch User login sessions.  I guess a given user could create several configs e.g. default, david, david_temp
  • http://community.avid.com/forums/p/70313/393166.aspx
    • Module 1, Lesson 1 - Creating a Project
    • Private/Shared etc., User Settings (independent of User logged-in), Film features
  • http://community.avid.com/forums/p/70314/393171.aspx#393171
    • Module 1, Lesson 2 - Intro to Project Window - Avid for Final Cut Pro Users
    • MenuBar: [Tools > Console] brings up a text logger where progress can be recorded by users (as far as I can tell from the tutorial)
  • http://community.avid.com/forums/p/70315/393176.aspx
    • Module 1, Lesson 3 - Where to find Avid files
    • Explains where the Avid files are stored on the computer’s hard drive, and how to take your settings from system to system.
  • http://community.avid.com/forums/p/70317/393180.aspx
    • Module 1, Lesson 4 - Project Differences
    • Explains Avid Projects, Bins and how one can move & create stuff equivalently in Avid or in Windows Explorer (etc.)
    • Also explains some ways it differs from FCP.

• Importing Media Logs (from external apps)
  • http://community.avid.com/forums/p/70318/393190.aspx#393190
    • Module 2, Lesson 1 - Logging and Digitizing
    • Can initially log media in Spreadsheet (e.g. Excel), Database (e.g. Access), FCP Batch Lists or Telecine Logs, then export as a tab-delimited file, then use Avid Log Exchange (application) to convert to the ALE format, which can then be imported by Avid to auto-creat and populate corresponding Bins.
  • http://community.avid.com/forums/p/70319/393191.aspx#393191
    • Module 2, Lesson 2 - Using Excel to Log Footage
    • It works, and populates a Bin,  but the spreadsheet requires very specific formatting etc.
  • http://community.avid.com/forums/p/70320/393193.aspx
    • Module 2, Lesson 3 - Using FileMaker Pro to Log Footage - Avid for Final Cut Pro Users
    • (I haven’t looked at that yet - domestically distracted…)
  • http://community.avid.com/forums/p/70325/393201.aspx#393201
    • Importing Final Cut Pro Logs (into Avid, via ALE)
    • FCP: [File > Export > Batch List], then run ALE, then small manual tweaking of this (”Reel” -> “Tape”)
  • http://community.avid.com/forums/p/70326/393202.aspx#393202
    • Using Telecine Logs

Migrating Media (and Projects) from FCP to Avid:

• http://michaelkammes.com/editorial/getting-final-cut-pro-projects-andor-media-into-avid-media-composer/
  • Very nice article with schematic diagrams explaining cost-free methods and why, despite those, Automatic Duck is worthwhile.

There exist various HD-SDI device to record 10-Bit 422 video data.  10 bits is useful for shallow gradients especially when expanded (steeper contrast curve) by grading, while 422 gives better detail, that can matter when pixels are big (e.g. when close to a big screen or when digital zoom employed in post).  In any case, such recorders tend to compress less than on-board camera systems, or in some cases not at all, improving the quality.  But to what extent can the various NLEs cope with this?  From my web searches it seems that the answer is “sometimes”.  For example some NLEs will accept 10-bit only in their own favourite formats, otherwise they discard two bits, interpreting the footage as 8-bit.  One might (naively) have thought the way to be sure was to experiment - but there is plenty of room for confusion when doing experiments, for example Avid’s color correction tool allegedly only displays to 8-bit resolution even when it is importing/processing/exporting at 10-bit.  Other “loopholes” may exist, like it seems (if I understand it correctly) that if you AMA or import 10-bit ProRes then Avid only sees 8-bit, implying one needs instead to transcode ProRes->DNxHD externally (e.g. via MPEG StreamClip?) and import that.  But even that might not be possible, as one post suggested DNxHD 10-bit encoding could only work from Avid, not external apps.   Furthermore, whereas all ProRes formats handle 10-bit, for DNxHD, only formats with an “x” suffix do; the only one I know of is DNxHD 220x.  There exist further subtleties/loopholes/pitfalls, hence more research to be done on this… and I’ll tread very carefully…

(more…)

Free open-source pro-class NLE: http://www.lightworksbeta.com/ .  Well-received by many.  Glimmers a little bit like FCPX, but more flexible user interface, including keyboard-compatibility options with AVID and FCP7.  Register to download it (just over 40 MB).  Further links:

• http://www.lightworksbeta.com/
• http://www.advancehdtv.com/index.php/item/lightworks-a-new-nle.html
• http://forums.creativecow.net/archivethread/134/313499
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightworks
• http://lightworks.wikidot.com/
  • Unofficial Site to help the Lightworks (Beta) NLE community share tips/tricks and documentation.
  • Before using this Wiki, read the following:
    • Lightworks Quickstart Guide
  • Maybe also read the following (longer documents):
    • Lightworks Guide 2010
    • Install Guide
• http://community.avid.com/forums/p/96606/553421.aspx
  • Avid users discussing Lightworks etc.  Seems a reasonably good reception.
  • http://community.avid.com/forums/t/82697.aspx
    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gCDFfXUcGk
• YouTube
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gCDFfXUcGk
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu9kgRLQ7n8
• http://www.interlab-net.com/docs/lightworks/Press_Releases/LWKS_PR_NTFS.pdf
  • LightWorks courses at London’s NTFS

Compression formats for Digital Intermediates when using Sony Vegas:

• http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=770173
  • Cineform for highest quality (smart-renderable)
    • Cineform (is great for transfer) between After Effects and Vegas.
  • MXF for almost the same quality at a fraction of the size.
    • MXF previews beautifully off small bus-powered USB 2 drives.
  • Quicktime .mov with png compression for anything with a transparent alpha layer.
  • Quicktime .mov with Avid DNxHD codec for Handbrake encoding intermediary and for working with the FCP world.

Details (again from the above link) about use of MXF:

• The big thing with MXF is to make sure that you use it interlaced even (if) you are using progressive footage.  …set it using one of the interlaced templates but set the deinterlace method to none.
  • The reason this is important is that Vegas will only smart-render .mxf footage flagged as interlaced. If you set the MXF render properties to progressive, it won’t smart-render. If you set the properties to interlaced and select either blend fields or interpolate, it will screw up resizes and renders to other formats.
• MXF with a smart-render is very cool. The format looks wonderful and no damage is done as you smart-render sections into a final piece.
  • MXF without a smart-render isn’t really good enough. MXF will not hold up to successive rerenders like Cineform or a lossless codec.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8BPMQrNlpA&feature=channel