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Canon 5D and the like features…
Like most we are using Canon 5D, 7D GoPro… etc. The problem with these are the lack of Timecode and Reel metadata. I’d like to use CatDV to add TC and Reel. The Reel is no problem, but the Apply Timecode Offset tool will only assign a fixed offset across all clips. Since all of these clips have a 00:00:00 start, if I apply a 1hr offset, each clip now starts a 1hr. I’d like the first clip to start at 1hr and then ascend “record run” style across the rest. This will allow the resulting QT media to match the tape TC we will eventually make.
Another neat feature, I’d like to have, that is part of Canon’s FCP log & transfer plug in is the ability to take the source file creation time stamp (Media Date in CatDV) and convert it to a DF timecode. This would allow a course TC Genlock across multiple cameras and be useful for locating shots by TOD.
Last but not least I’d like to define what number in a file name CatDV decides to auto increment when using Bulk Edit. Many times we have numbers early in the file name and CatDV defaults to the first number it sees. Seems to me changing that to the last number would be far more useful.
7162010_shoot_001 will produce a seq like this:
7162011_shoot_001
7162012_shoot_001
7162013_shoot_001When it should be this:
7162010_shoot_001
7162010_shoot_002
7162010_shoot_003Thanks
John Heagy
NFL Films -
14 Replies
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Hi John
All the suggestions seem spot on ….. The DSLR movie workflow has taken CANON by unawares. Your suggestions go along way to making it a professional workflow.Kevin Duggan
Catdv -
Are you still on CatDV 7? We did change Bulk Edit a little while ago (after a query on this forum I think!) so it does exactly as you suggest now and increments the last number, not the first one.
I’m not sure offhand if there’s an easy way to apply a new continuous timecode to a list of clips. There might be some way, perhaps using sequences, but I must admit I can’t immediately work out how to do it. Perhaps we need to add an option to the Apply Timecode Offset to apply incrementing timecode (in much the same was as Bulk Edit works).
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By the way, when working with 5D footage, make sure you copy the .THM file as well as the movie. When you import a movie, if CatDV finds a .THM file it will read all the Exif metadata from that and apply it to the main movie clip.
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Hi Rolf and Kevin,
Thanks for considering the ascending TC and creation date>TC.
Just tried the increment and you are right. I’ve been using 8 for a while… must have been seeing things.
I noticed the Exif data and was wondering where it came from… nice.
Another feature I’d like to see in Bulk Edit is the ability to truncate an existing field by number of positions (beginning and end)
Thanks
John Heagy -
Hi John
The Worker….our automation software already does this for you 🙂
It does many other things beside.Check it out on our site. Basically a faceless CATDV that can automate most of your tasks . Think watch folder … pick up analyse and publish your clips to the server automatically . Build automated workflows make proxies automatically, submit and pick up from Episode, make H.264 clips and ftp them to clients. etc etc
Kevin
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Good to know… but truncating fields/filenames would seem to be a basic enough task to warrant inclusion in CatDV as well. Perfect example: I build a filename with the start TC at the end then decide I need to remove it… besides using regex.
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Adding a contiguous timecode to multiple clips will be included in 4.1.5. Extending Bulk Edit so you can modify fields in certain ways (truncating them to a particular length, trimming everything after a particular character etc.) will possibly come too but not until a future version. You should already be able to do a lot of operations like that using Search and Replace with a regex, though I realise complex regular expressions aren’t necessarily everyone’s cup of tea!
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Only in Worker then? I haven’t used Worker except during our trial. Is it by design that worker includes abilities not found in CatDV at this level? I had assumed they would match and Worker is where multiple operations can be automated and directed via watch folders. Seeing results and prototyping in CatDV before “baking” everything in Worker would be useful.
If contiguous TC is planned please consider “file creation date” to TC as well. This would bring CatDV on par with Canon’s Log and Transfer.
FYI… once we get our heads above water here on all the “must be done before week 1 of the season” projects we are planning on a CatDV Server/Worker deployment.
Thanks
John Heagy -
No, I’m talking about CatDV 8.1.5, not the worker.
In general you’re right and both CatDV and the Worker use exactly the same “engine”, though they’re driven in quite different ways and so there will be features in one that aren’t in the other. The worker is automated and so commands are parametrised, whereas CatDV is user-driven. Many features in CatDV depend on the user manually selecting a range of clips and applying a command to them based on user input and so aren’t relevant to the worker, for example.
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Excellent news!
I was confused by the 4.1.5 number in your previous response.
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