[Gary Hughes]

I’ve never gotten this message before now. I just upgraded to final cut studio 2 and this is my very first project on it. Got this message the very first time I captured (second time I even opened FCP after upgrade).

By upgrade, I started with a freshly formatted drive, installed OS-X, Adobe CS3 apps, then FCS2 apps. Haven’t done one bit of preference setting yet.

To complicate matters further, when capturing the footage, occasionally I get a warning after the capture completes. I can delete the media and capture the same clip again and do not get the warning the next time. It’s a real pain in the neck. The exact warning is “WARNING: A change in the timecode format (Non-Drop Frame to Drop Frame) was detected while capturing “ClipName””

Any ideas besides trashing prefs?

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

Actually I do want caustics as well as displacement. Both are possible in the caustics filter while only displacement is possible in the displacement filter. But I only want displacement and caustics on the text or logo only.

So, based on your recommendation, am I to assume that the caustics filter only allows effects to the entire scene, from the layer you apply it to and down, and not just the layer you’re applying it to? If that’s truly the case, I’ll use a work around. Otherwise, I’d like to know how to make this work for the future. (I’ve already finished that job, but I will be needing this again on another project for the same client.)

Thanks again,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

I assume you are making the mask so that the videos you provide will project correctly on his screens. If so AND if you are using a square pixel format in editing, there’s a very simple way to do it in Photoshop, and you can even somewhat automate it with actions. A non-square pixel format, such as NTSC, would require one more step to compensate for that difference. I’ll assume that you’re using some form of HD since your screens are so large. Since I don’t know exactly what resolution you work in, I’ll use 1920 x 1080 in my example. If you use a different resolution, simply replace my numbers with yours.

• First, your sizes must be in “like” formats. In other words, your example is 8′ x 100 yards. Convert it to 8′ x 300′.
• Create a new Photoshop document that is 8 inches by 300 inches at a resolution of 72. Use black for the background color.

Each step from this point on can be automated by creating an action. Let me know if you aren’t familiar with actions and I’ll tell you how to take advantage of them.

• Under the File menu, choose Automate, then Fit Image.
• In the entries, type 1920 for width and 1080 for height and click the OK button.
• Type D on the keyboard to set your colors to the default black and white.
• Type X to swap the foreground and background colors, so that black is in the background swatch.
• Create a new layer above the background layer and fill it with white. Option + Delete on a mac and Alt + Backspace on a PC.
• Under the Image menu, choose Canvas Size.
• Change the measurement type to Pixels and enter 1920 for the width and 1080 for the height and click the OK button.

If you are using this as an alpha matte, then simply flatten it, then stop the action recording and save your file. If you need the center to be transparent, then continue with the following:

• Select the filled pixels in the top layer. The shortcut is to hold down Command while clicking on the thumbnail of the top layer in the layers pallet.
• Name the background layer by double clicking on the word Background in the layers pallet. This converts it to a layer which allows transparency. It doesn’t matter what you name it.
• Press the Delete key on your keyboard.
• Delete the top layer. You don’t need it anymore.
• Stop recording your action and save it as a tiff with transparency.

To do other screen sizes, simply do the first two steps above using the new dimensions and then run the action.

Hope this helps,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

I’m not suggesting that you use firewire 800, because I’ve yet to jump into an HD project. However, if you go with a firewire 800 raid, I have both the g-raid 500 and a 500Gb raid drive from Other World Computing at https://www.macsales.com , and there’s very little performance difference between the two, and the OWC enclosure was much less expensive. Now, I buy all my firewire drives from them. They’re fast too. I ordered a drive the other day at 3:00PM eastern and they shipped it the same day. I’m about to add a SATA card to my G5 so I can start using an external SATA raid with swappable bays.

Here’s a link to the OWC raid enclosure. https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/hard-drives/EliteAL/StripedRAID
And here’s one to the G-Raid. https://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-RAID.cfm
Here’s a link to an online store with the G-Raid. https://www.macmall.com/macmall/search/search.asp?search=g-tech&NavID_Search=false&CurDSN=simple&calledfrom=1&incimage=on

According to the Videospace widget from Digital Heaven, assuming that you’re shooting 24p, every 100GB of storage will hold approximately:
12 minutes of Uncompressed 10bit 1920×1080
27 minutes of Uncompressed 10bit 1280×720
16 minutes of Uncompressed 8bit 1920×1080
37 minutes of Uncompressed 8bit 1280×720
2 hours 22 minutes of DVCPROHD 1080i60
4 hours 40 minutes of DVCPROHD 720p60
9 hours 2 minutes of DV/DVCPRO 25

Hope this helps,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

Borjis,

You are exactly correct and I have used that exact levels setup for years, sending tapes to broadcast and cable, all over the nation. However, now that I have a DV-Cam deck, -12db instead of -20db seems to be the logical choice. I have been making my DV-Cam masters at -12dB and my digibeta masters at -20dB ever since, and still no complaints from broadcast or cable.

On my digibeta, -20dB is reference. Nothing else makes sense. If you press the “fine adjust” button so that you can see fractions of a dB, it is based on -20dB. My DV-Cam deck doesn’t even have a marking on the meter for -20dB, though it does have one for -12dB. These are the only 2 standards I have ever seen used by anyone who is a serious pro.

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

FYI, I don’t know if this will apply or not, but considering your deadline and work environment, it may save you some troubleshooting.

I recently had to mix footage for the first time. I too was on a deadline and made some mistakes. I also didn’t have time to recapture or do much troubleshooting. Most of my footage was 29.97, but some was 24PA. I used a 29.97 timeline and all the 29.97 footage obviosly was not an issue. The 24PA footage had to be rendered in order to see it. It also was out of synch with it’s own audio by 4 frames. I still haven’t taken time to find out why this is or if I just did something wrong, but consistantly, I slipped the video to the left by 4 frames and all was good.

If someone knows why this happened, chime in. I want to know why for future reference and so I can do it right next time.

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

Thanks for the links. That definitely helps. I will check with a reseller for some footage also, but more links or any other real-world footage would still be nice. I know it’s a lot to ask, but it can’t hurt to ask, none the less.

Thanks again,
Gary

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

There may be a push or pull, but mostly locked down on a tripod.

Yes, I have AE and Combustion, but I don’t want to do the work on this one myself. I’ll hire it out to someone here if possible.

I’m just looking to learn enough to give my customer an estimate on getting it done, for now.

Thanks again,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

BTW, I’m not looking for the blooming effects of a pro mist. Also, I’m not looking for a film look as this needs to be used with the indoor video that I’m also shooting. I just want to reduce contrast.

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

Just went to their site and they say you can use filemaker, but I bet you have to custom make the layout for printing. They also have a template for illustrator if that helps.