Apple releases ProRes codecs for non-FCP machines

A couple of days ago, Apple released Apple ProRes QuickTime Decoder 1.0 for Mac and Apple ProRes QuickTime Decoder 1.0 for Windows. This allows Windows users and Mac users without Final Cut Pro 6 installed on their machines to view ProRes-encoded files. This is great because in my experience, there are very few options when it comes to sending high-quality files to Windows machines and it should aid adoption of the ProRes format.

It should be noted, however, that you still need Final Cut Pro 6 in order to write ProRes files.

P.S. Sorry for the lack of updates but I haven't had internet access in about a month, which sucks big time.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Saturday August 30 2008 9:53 AM to Video Editing, Apple, QuickTime
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Speed editing

There is a great article currently up on the COW about ways to speed up your Final Cut Pro editing. This inspired me to add a few of my own. Of course, they're specific to the kind of work I'm doing (currently TV) and the way I work but other people might find them useful.

Playing things back at a faster rate
I think the purists will hate this one. For TV shows, I often get pre-cut footage from the studio (from the on-set mixer) and it's my job to cut out the parts where they screwed up. I normally get a wide cam as well, as something to cut between for safety. I've found that I can cut it very quickly if I play it at a faster-than-normal rate and use keyboard shortcuts.

If you press L once, it will play at a faster rate (1.5x?) BUT, crucially, you can still understand every word that is said. Go to Tools > Keyboard Layouts > Multiclip and you can use the Cmd-Numpad 1 and Cmd-Numpad 2 (and so forth) buttons for cutting between cameras. Then I press Ctrl + V when someone screws up so that a cut point is generated, which I later come back and delete. So I can get a rough cut done in less than the time it would take to watch it normally. This works very well for the kind of shows I'm currently working on, but this method obviously won't work for every situation such as drama and music videos.

Use Multiclips whenever you can
If you have two cameras shooting in sync, there is no reason to not use Multiclips. I'm a big fan of them because you sync them once and once only. Then the hard work is over and when the Producer demands that you change a shot to the other angle, you can do it in a matter of seconds.

Use keyboard shortcuts instead of tools where possible
Keyboard shortcuts for certain functions can save time. But what really saves a lot of time is using a keyboard shortcut to replace a tool. Here are a few of them -

• Ctrl-V - Razor blade (cuts at the playhead)
• R, then V, then < or > - R selects the Roll tool, V selects the nearest cut point and < or > rolls the clip backwards or forwards.
• RR, then V, then < or > - RR selects the Ripple tool, V selects the nearest cut point and < or > ripples the clip backwards or forwards.
• S, then < or > - S selects the Slip tool and < or > slips the selected clip backwards or forwards.
• SS, then < or > - SS selects the Slide tool and < or > slips the selected clip backwards or forwards.
• [ and ] - Press V to select the nearest edit point and press [ or ] to trim it left or right.
• Type a number anywhere on the timeline (e.g. 5 or -10) - Moves the selected clips the specified number of frames

Keep your timeline rendered as much as possible
If you go on a break or something, press Alt + R to render your timeline. That way, the majority of the timeline should stay rendered, with only the parts you change requiring a re-render. When your client asks you for a preview copy, you can very quickly render out a reference movie, plug it into Compressor and then continue with your work. The next time you do it, it will be even quicker. And when (if) you come to put it on tape, it will speed up the rendering process there too.

Use Motion projects instead of rendered movies
If you use Motion for effects, it is far quicker to insert the actual project into your timeline than it is to render out a movie clip. And if you want to make a change just Alt + Tab to Motion, make your change, save, Alt + Tab back to FCP and there it is. No exporting necessary. This method depends on you having a decent graphics card.

Use Master Templates where possible
Taking it one step further, if, say you have a standard animated namestrap format for a show. You could take it into Motion, change the name then save it as a new copy but this takes time and you end up with hundreds of files. Instead, create the template version and then in Motion go to File > Save as Template. Create a new folder and name your new template. Now go back to Final Cut Pro and in the Generators pop-up or the Effects window, click on Master Templates and select your new template. Go to the Controls tab and you can enter any text you like. Much quicker.


One final note - there is a fine line between a fast editor and a sloppy one. There is very much an art and a science to editing and I believe that you can speed up the science but rushing the art will make it suffer. Producers like to give me a lot of footage. I like this a lot because it gives me more to work with but for some reason, the more footage they give me, the faster they expect the end product. The more footage I have, the more decisions I can potentially make and so it takes longer to decide on the "right way" to cut it (there is no right way but you know what I mean). This can't really be sped up.

I'll probably think of some more later so keep your eyes peeled. And if you've got any speed tips of your own, I'd love to hear them.

Update: Thought of another one. When I'm cutting montages, I like to go through the footage finding short clips I like and putting them up the other end of the timeline so that they are easily within reach. I used to mark the ins and outs, manually drag the clip to the timeline, then click on the Viewer to select it again. You can do this much quicker with keyboard shortcuts. Mark the ins and outs (I and O) then press F9 to insert edit the clip or F10 to overwrite edit it (note: Tiger and Leopard have F9 and F10 bound to Expose by default). Then press Cmd-1 to re-select the Viewer. I can go through footage very quickly with this method.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Tuesday July 22 2008 1:24 AM to Video Editing, Final Cut Studio
4 comments Posted Permalink

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Comparing footage with difference mattes

It's a common question - how much quality do you lose when converting from Format X to Format Y or when you are forced to recompress footage? You can compare data rates and squint at it all day but that's not really telling you much.

Here's an easy way to tell exactly what has been lost.

Final Cut Pro
1. Take your Final Cut Pro sequence and export to the second format (the one that you plan to convert to). Or, if your footage didn't originate in FCP, import both versions (before and after) and place them into a new sequence.

2. Place the "before" version onto the bottom track and the "after" above it.



3. Ctrl-click on the "after" version and select Composite Mode > Difference.



Shake
1. Import the "before" and "after" versions into Shake using FileIn nodes.



2. Click on the Layer tab and click on MultiLayer.

3. Connect the noodles from the FileIns to the MultiLayer.



4. In the Parameters tab, change the composite mode of the second clip (the one listed at the top) to Difference.



Both applications will produce an image similar to the one below. This image tells you what has been lost from one version to the other. The clearer this image is, the more data has been lost. If you can clearly make out the edges of objects from the original image, this data loss is probably unacceptable. I personally would consider the image below unacceptable but how much data loss you can accept depends, of course, on the final destination of the clip. For example, web users will be much more forgiving than cinema-goers.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Saturday July 19 2008 4:18 PM to Video Editing, Compositing, Final Cut Studio
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Removing Easy Setups

A question caught my eye on Apple's support boards today. Someone had created an Easy Setup in Final Cut Pro, deleted it and yet it was still present in the Easy Setups menu.

Here's how to remove them properly:

1. Close Final Cut Pro.

2. Go to /Library/Application Support/Final Cut Pro System Support/Custom Settings and delete the preset in question.

3. Go to ~/Library/Preferences/Final Cut Pro User Data and delete the file called Final Cut Pro 6.0 Prefs (or whatever version you have).

Alternatively, a much easier method is to use our free Preference Manager application to do it for you, along with a whole host of other options.

4. Empty Trash and start up FCP again.

The downside to this is that you lose your user preferences and must set them again.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Friday July 11 2008 1:01 AM to Video Editing, Apple, Final Cut Studio
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Using Frame Controls in Compressor

Compressor has some very sophisticated technologies in the Frame Controls tab of the Inspector to enable it to perform high-quality resizing, retiming and deinterlacing of footage.

These are incredibly useful but it is very tempting to set everything to "best" when it is not at all necessary and causes a significant impact upon the processing time. So what this post aims to do is outline what each function does and when it should be used.

Firstly, if you are not resizing, retiming or deinterlacing footage, do not switch Frame Controls on at all.

Resizing controls
When an image is resized, new pixels need to be calculated. If you downsize an image, an area that was once 10 pixels could now be 2 pixels and vice versa if you are upsizing. Compressor goes through the resulting image and calculates what each pixel value should be based on the value at that point in the original image. These are not always integers. For example, a pixel at point (3,3) in the resulting image might correspond to point (2.8, 2.8) on the original. As there is no pixel at (2.8, 2.8), Compressor has to calculate a suitable value. The following options are different ways of calculating these pixel colors.

Fast (nearest pixel) - Compressor takes the value from the closest whole pixel in the original image. This is very fast but can result in significant visual artifacts and inaccuracies, particularly when resizing by a significant amount.

Suitable for: Minor size changes, situations where a fast encode is more important than a high quality one.

Better (linear filter) - This improves on the nearest pixel method by taking the values of four surrounding pixels and weighting them, increasing accuracy.

Suitable for: Most downconversions (e.g. 720p to NTSC).

Best (statistical prediction) - This uses more complex algorithms to maintain edge sharpness, at the expense of processing time.

Suitable for: Upconversions (e.g. NTSC to 1080p HD)

Anti-aliasing slider - This smooths rough edges but don't set it too high or you will visibly soften the image.

Suitable for: Smoothing jagged edges when upconverting footage (e.g. PAL to 720p HD)

Detail Level slider - This sharpens edges, increasing our perception of detail in the image. Use sparingly to avoid adding noticeable noise or jagged edges to the image.

Suitable for: Sharpening soft edges when upconverting footage.

Deinterlacing controls
To deinterlace, first select Progressive from the Output Fields drop-down menu. Use this instead of the Deinterlace filter in the Filters tab as it will provide greater output quality. Choose one of the following from the Deinterlace menu:

Fast (line averaging) - The two fields are blended into one frame. This, however, can result in strange motion artifacts because you are playing two fields at the same time that were originally offset in time.

Suitable for: Situations with very little motion.

Better (motion adaptive) - This method analyzes the fields and uses simple linear blends (equivalent to the Fast setting) on areas with no motion. For areas with motion it discards one of the fields and uses interpolation to build up a whole frame from the other field's data.

Suitable for: Most situations except those with extremes of motion. In most cases you will not get any benefits from choosing higher settings than this if you are working in Standard Definition (e.g. NTSC, PAL). The downside to this method is that you lose vertical resolution if there is a lot of motion in the image.

Best (motion-compensated) - This uses optical flow technologies to track the motion of objects and analyzes multiple frames at once. This data is then used to split the image into blocks (typical sizes are 4x4, 8x8 or 16x16) and then shift these blocks so as to align motion between the two fields. This is incredibly processor intensive and will take some time.

Suitable for: Situations with extremes of motion (e.g. sports).

Retiming controls

Fast (nearest frame) - If you slow down footage, Compressor will need to add extra frames. This option just duplicates the nearest existing frame. It is very speedy but it can result in very choppy / juddery motion. If you are speeding up footage however, the choppiness will probably not be noticeable.

Suitable for: Minor speed adjustments, fast motion

Good (frame blending) - This blends frames together to create "in-between" frames and is a lot smoother than the nearest frame method, at the cost of processing time. This is suitable for most applications unless you are performing extreme slow motion.

Suitable for: Most speed changes with the exception of extreme slow motion

Better (motion-compensated) - This uses complex algorithms to analyze a range of frames and interpolate (predict) what the in-between frames should look like based on their surrounding frames. It then creates these new frames from scratch. Obviously this is very processor-intensive.

Suitable for: Extreme speed changes or footage with large amounts of motion (sports for example)

Best (high quality motion-compensated) - Apple's documentation is a little unclear on what makes this particular option higher quality than the one below it. It could be that it analyzes more frames to produce the final result, it blends using a higher bit depth for greater accuracy, or it recreates every single frame instead of just the in-between ones for greater smoothness. Or maybe all of them.

Either way, this is incredibly processor intensive and should only be used if you cannot get good results with lower settings.

Suitable for: Extreme speed changes or significant frame rate increases (e.g. 23.98 to 59.94 fps)

Conclusion

So what does this tell us? It tells us that "Good" or "Better" should be adequate for most situations and it is not worth choosing "Best" unless your footage actually needs it. The best way of finding a happy medium is to start with everything on "Fast" and perform small test renders (10 seconds or so) for multiple areas of your movie. If you are not happy with the quality, go up to the next level and keep going until you reach a level of quality you are happy with.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Wednesday June 4 2008 3:44 PM to Video Editing, Software, Final Cut Studio
6 comments Posted Permalink

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Rough cuts

Shane Ross has a great post about "rough" rough cuts and how frustrating it is when producers cannot see past a lack of audio or sound effects, or a dodgy transition. What is worse is when the producer gets it into his or her head that you are trying to pass that off as the end product, despite your protestations to the contrary. That has happened to me and is a nasty situation for all involved.

I think the key is to make the producer comfortable with you. Normally these kind of problems go away on the second or third project as the producer realizes that you can do the job and are not a cowboy, and they get familiar with the way that you work. I also find that a comfortable producer will give you a lot more creative freedom (I prefer to see scripts as a guide rather than a rulebook for example) and in return you will take advantage of that freedom to return a better product, so it is mutually beneficial.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Monday June 2 2008 11:41 PM to Video Editing, Industry, Analysis
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PhotoJojo Final Cut Pro keyboard sleeves

PhotoJojo is offering desktop and laptop keyboard sleeves for professional apps including Final Cut Pro and After Effects.



Applications
* Photoshop
* Aperture (1.5)
* Final Cut Pro/Express
* Pro Tools
* After Effects
* Logic Pro

Keyboards
* MacBook Pro
* Macbook (Black and White)
* Macbook Air
* Apple Thin Keyboard
* Apple Thin Wireless Keyboard
* Apple Classic Keyboard

They're rubber and are great at protecting your keyboard as well as being useful. Laptop sleeves are $30 and desktop sleeves are $40 and then $6 for shipping on top of that.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Saturday May 24 2008 12:50 AM to Video Editing, Hardware, Final Cut Studio
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"The filter failed to render" error fix

Just saw an interesting fix for the big red "The filter ____________ failed to render" message some people have been getting in Final Cut Pro.



I seem to get it randomly every now and again but this is a useful fix for those who were experiencing it on a permanent basis. Pity you need to lose a monitor though.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Thursday May 22 2008 11:26 PM to Video Editing, Final Cut Studio
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CalDigit SAN announced at NAB

I just got this in my inbox courtesy of the LAFCPUG mailing list.

Right now at Digital Rebellion we're running Xserve RAIDs on Xsan 1.4. I love these things but they're loud, they kick out a lot of heat and they're no longer being made. They're still pretty good and they're not out of date yet but I have been looking at alternatives with the future in mind.

CalDigit, famous for their hardware RAID cards, demonstrated such an alternative at NAB. One major departure from the Xserve RAIDs and their replacement, the Promise VTrak E-Class, is the fact that it does not use 2 or 4 Gb Fibre Channel cables (which cost around $80 per cable) to transmit data. It uses ePCIe which allows it to transmit data at speeds of up to 20 Gbps and allows for very long cable lengths of up to 300m.

With the recent announcement of the entry-level Scarlet camera, the demand for real-time access to extremely high resolution streams looks set to increase dramatically and, luckily, the CalDigit SAN has the bandwidth to transfer multiple 2K streams in real-time.

Uniquely, there is also an ePCIe ExpressCard device to allow laptop users (MacBook Pro only) to access the SAN. This is not currently available for fibre-based networks.

There's nothing on their site as of yet but they have a press release out and it looks like more details will be announced nearer the shipping date, which is currently unknown. This is definitely something I'm keeping my eye on.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Wednesday April 23 2008 4:13 PM to Video Editing, Hardware
1 comment Posted Permalink

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