Jason Weitz
Forum Replies Created
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Wow, wish you’d responded sooner, I already did it manually 🙂 I’ll definitely keep this around and try it on the next occasion, as I’m sure there will be one. Thanks!
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Thanks for the response! As I understand it, those instructions are alluding to clips from the project tab into the render queue. What I have is a sequence of clips one after another in a composition, with effects applied to each one. Those are what I need to be exported individually. It is highly probable that I am overlooking something in the link you posted, but I would only rate my self as being slightly less than capable. I can survive but honestly don’t know a ton, so a big point in the right direction and a kick in the pants would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
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I know this post comes far after the last, but to anybody reading this, the last poster is totally correct. While, in my opinion, SD footage is still a viable medium, especially with more and more projects becoming solely for web-delivery, (not to mention that blu-ray is still pretty expensive) the basic concept as I understand it is that more information (ie resolution and light into the camera) yields a shallower depth of field, and an overall sharper, more pleasing picture, no matter how you down-rez it.
More importantly for your project, however, I can tell you that personally having tried many configurations both in camera and post to deal with slo-mo, here’s the basic facts:
1. I don’t claim to be an expert on the HVX, so I may be mistaken, but I’m 90% sure that setting the camera to 720p24 and 60 frames will NOT give you true slo-mo in post. The second 60 fps setting has more of a shutter speed effect. What you actually need is 720p60 (and 60 fps). Otherwise, you will only capture 24 really sharp frames.
2. Putting this footage into a FCP timeline will NOT automatically convert them. You need to use Cinema Tools (yes, I know that there is a built-in DVCPro framerate converter in FCP, but it involves creating a new project and frankly, Cinema Tools is less hassle). Use the Batch Conform option on your clips. You can do two things from here: you can confrom them all to 24 fps, which is 2.5x slo-mo – do the math in FCP with the speed option to convert to 2x slo-mo – or conform them to 30p, then use the Cinema Tools Batch Telecine to convert them to 24p, or just throw them into a FCP timeline that is set to be 24p. From here, you can use the time tool to convert back to realtime. Unless you need exactly 2x slomo, I recommend getting the extra .5 slomo. Then you can just do speed=250% to get real-time playback.
3. Unless you are doing a lot of handheld shots, consider using a laptop to capture straight to FCP instead of P2 cards. This gives you the option of immediately naming your clips, instead of getting a bunch of “PAO2O983902-FDOPA9UEWO” (yes, I exaggerate). If you have a really stable external HDD, this is a great way to capture and I’ve never had problems doing it.
That’s the basics of slo-mo on the HVX. I think that was most of what I’ve learned about how to do it. However, a couple other things I saw in this thread:
-Most people don’t mention that the 24pA mode on both the DVX and HVX when shooting to minidv will NOT automatically have the correct selection in FCP. Make sure your capture settings are set to the 24pA mode when importing tape. There’s also something about this mode that has never quite worked out for me, something to do with dropping the extra frames – FCP is never really happy about that. Typically, I find it easiest to shoot in this mode but capture in 29.97. It still looks good, and seems to keep FCP from crashing when importing tape. Maybe that’s just me.
-I have in the past found some programs that use interlaced footage (dv) and make some pretty impressive slow-motion effects by frame interpolation, rather than frame blending. I can’t remember what it is, but if you google it I’m sure you’ll find something similar. Of course, this isn’t free, so you may as well rent P2 cards and get HD.
All this is based on my own tests and experience, so if anybody has physically tested anything themselves and has contrary information, please post it here so that I and others reading this thread can be better equipped for the future.
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No, everything in this comp is 3D, I double checked because that messed it up before. The crazy thing is, it worked at first! So I continued to work (basically it is a bunch of animated text in sequence with a person with alpha channel talking) and when I came back to the part with this effect, it was no longer working. The video layer is in 3D and when I move the camera around, it appears the placement if fine, however, the text that SHOULD be behind my video layer shows up in front of her. Although as I write this, I realize that I have a white solid background that is not 3D. Could this be the problem? Though I’m almost positive I tried turning it 3D and there was no effect.
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Now I’ve been playing with the Media Manager and I intend to use it, but it still doesn’t give me individual clips, does it? Unless you’re suggesting using the sources clips after a manage, but the problem is that all the clips have color correction on them.
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We captured straight to a computer (or via P2 card) so that’s not really an option.
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If I do the make independent clips, am I creating new files in my capture folder, or is it just a reference, like a subclip?
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I don’t mean going to SD (though we did in this case) what I mean is starting from 1280×1080, then in AE changing it to 1920×1080, and then render back to 1280×1080.