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Varicam Variable Frame Rates
Excuse my confusion — I’m new to FCP. We shoot variable frame rate footage with a Varicam. When capturing video shot at 60fps on a 23.98 timeline, for example, I seem to be able to capture slow mo with the capture stopping short of the out point I set in the capture window, or capture all the way to the outpoint, but the footage is normal speed.
The recent conversation between Gary and Walter about this left me a bit confused. Gary seemed to be implying that you should just capture on the fly, manually ending the capture at the correct out point. Walter seemed to indicate that you should set your outpoint at a point 3 times later in the tape than would normally be necessary and then batch capture. Are either of these possible solutions. I would like to capture the entire clip in slow motion using the in and out points I set in the capture window — that seems reasonable.
Does it make any difference whether I capture Firewire or through an AJA LHe?
Also, I’ve downloaded the Panasonic Software FRC, but it does not appear in the Tools menu. I’m using a Dual Quad Core MacPro, 4GB RAM, Final Cut 5.1.4, AJA 3.4 Drivers.
Thanks, Tim Eaton
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9 Replies
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[Timothy] “I would like to capture the entire clip in slow motion using the in and out points I set in the capture window — that seems reasonable.”
No actually it isn’t. There is no way to make FCP properly capture slo motion footage based on your in and out point. Very simply, 50% slo motion footage is twice as long as normal speed footage. So you set your In Point and Out Point in the Capture Window for a clip that is 5 seconds. But in Slo Mo that clip is going to play back in 10 seconds. FCP uses the Length of Clip when capturing. So if you truly do set up to capture the clip in slow mo during capture, you will end up with only half of your slo mo clip.
So in this instance, you would actually add another 5 seconds to your OutPoint to properly capture you 10 second slo mo clip. Using this method you will actually not be able to capture entire slo mo clips as you approach the end of the tape. Doing a Capture Now is misleading too because FCP will show you normal speed footage during the capture so you’re not really seeing what is being captured.
Generally depending on how many clips you have, it’s easier to capture at normal speed, then use the frame rate converter to convert to slo mo.
[Timothy] “Does it make any difference whether I capture Firewire or through an AJA LHe?”
Nope.
[Timothy] “Also, I’ve downloaded the Panasonic Software FRC, but it does not appear in the Tools menu.”
Ensure you’ve installed it correctly.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”Read my blog! https://blogs.creativecow.net/WalterBiscardi
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I belive in the original discussion that both gentlemen were talking about adding “handles” to the clip you want to slo-mo, which you really need to do for effective editing.
The FRC is on the FCP installation DVD, not just on Panny’s site. I’ll say this, the one downloaded from Panny has problems. I’ve had many folks email me about it not showing up when they place it in the FCP plugins folder. I told every one of them installed it from the FCP installation DVD and it worked. I don’t know why.
Varicam (and the DVCPRO-HD/P2 model) don’t do slow-mo in the traditional way, you don’t slow down the speed by a certain percentage in FCP, you use the DVCPRO-HD Frame Rate Converter to conform your overcranked footage to your Sequence editing time base.
BTW, Panny didn’t write that FRC, Apple did. I’ve been told by two individuals at Panny that Panny will NEVER write a single line of code for the Mac, they leave that up to Apple. Thus, why the HVX200 comes with a P2 Viewer for Windows, but not for the Mac. Mac users have to pay an extra $100 to a third party for that luxury.
– Apple Certified Trainer
– Tutorials at http://www.bbalser.com
– South Louisiana FCP Users Group
– NOVAC Digital Filmmakers Institute
– Event DV magazine -
Walter, I’ve got it now. It’s actually a pretty elegant solution, all in all. All is good. Many thanks!
By the way, will this be supported in ProRes422?
Tim
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OK
Time for me to chime in here.
Ben is correct about the Software FRC w/ 5.1 and later you can only use the one that comes on the install disk. The one of Pannys web site is only for non UB builds, why it is not current is a question for Panasonic.
ALL of the Kona HD cards have the ability to remove the flagged frame content as shot in a Varicam via HDSDI. This includes frame rate changes and speed ramps, and it is the only working way to capture off speed materials in a 720p25/50 workflow without the AJ-FRC27 hardware frame rate converter.
Using the Kona card – make sure to have the latest driver for your edit system and use the setting called 720p 23.98 VARICAM – I do not recommend using “capture now” as the TC info recorded is not accurate. Use log and capture and set in and out points to get the most accurate TC.
You do this because the FCP/Kona software needs to understand where all of the frames are that to be removed,and by setting in and out points the process can complete correctly, removing all of the redundant frames, and there for not giving the user a clip with video with an incorrect frame rate conversion.
ALL Kona Cards also have the ability to capture via HDSDI and convert to any format that FCP supports except for mpeg based workflows like HDV.
That will include ProRes when FCP 6 Ships.gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows -
[Timothy] ”
By the way, will this be supported in ProRes422?”You mean capturing variable frame rates directly to 422? No clue yet.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”Read my blog! https://blogs.creativecow.net/WalterBiscardi
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[bbalser] “Varicam (and the DVCPRO-HD/P2 model) don’t do slow-mo in the traditional way,”
Not True.
Actually the Varicam it does it in the most traditional since mimicking film- thats why the Software FRC conversions are only done at 23.98 or 24.0- hence the terms over-cranking (cranking the film camera too fast slows the film down) or under cranking (the opposite) that derive from the silent film era when film cameras were cranked by hand.I forgot to mention it last time.
I am the Post Instructor at
HD Expo’s Varicamp training on Panasonic’s AJ-HD27 Varicam.gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows -
Gary,
The issue I’ve found with capturing using the AJA 23.98 setting is that while it removes flagged frames on capture, it stops short of the outpoint in the original footage. If I capture using AJA 59.94, then it correctly captures the entire clip, albeit at normal speed. I can then use the software FRC to pull the redundant frames and voila, it works great.
So far, nothing has removed the redundant frames from Varicam intervalometer footage. You probably know that in intervalometer mode, the Varicam lays down approx. 10 frames each time it records. It appears those frames stay in FCP no matter what flow I use. Perhaps I’m doing something incorrectly
Thanks Gary, and also Ben. Great help!
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What I ment was, the “traditional DV way” as in having to slow down the speed of the clip inside your NLE. I didn’t mean it in the “traditional film way”. Sorry about that.
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[Timothy] “The issue I’ve found with capturing using the AJA 23.98 setting is that while it removes flagged frames on capture, it stops short of the outpoint in the original footage.”
Actually where the record stops would depend on where it was over or under- cranked footage, are you using the V3.3 or later driver? Walter explained why that was happening.
OFFSPEED footage will not have correct TC. It cannot, by virtue of removing or adding frames you are altering the TC reading. OFFSPEED footage needs to be treated as a separate entity on all editing platforms.
“So far, nothing has removed the redundant frames from Varicam intervalometer footage”
true- nothing does – not even the hardware frc- that because the camera bursts at 10frames and that has a single flag for all of them.” It appears those frames stay in FCP no matter what flow I use. Perhaps I’m doing something incorrectly”
Correct-you would have had to have the AJ FRC27 attached to the camera to achieve what you are asking, or used a P2 camera which can handle true intervalometer
gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows
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