Michael Hancock
Forum Replies Created
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Maybe if you install Windows on your Mac, but even then I’m not sure. XpressDV was discontinued a while ago, and I don’t think it was every approved to run on Intel Macs, so that will be a big problem.
I think you can upgrade to Media Composer for pretty cheap. $495 US.
Michael
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I hope I didn’t come across as mean or condescending! I honestly didn’t mean to.
Quicktime is just a wrapper for a file, and the codec you use to encode it must be available for both Mac and PC for a file to be cross-compatible. For example, if you capture DVCProHD footage into FCP and take it to a PC it won’t play because the FCP DVCProHD codec is only available with FCP and is Mac only. You can buy a decoder like Raylight for the PC, which allows the PC to understand the codec and playback the file.
Avid’s codecs are the same for both PC and Mac. DNxHD isn’t locked to any one platform/OS. You just need to have the codecs installed on your system so Quicktime can read the file. To play a DNxHD file, install the Avid codecs and open the file in Quicktime. It will look to see if it has the codec it needs to understand the file, and if it does it will play just like it does on a PC.
There are plenty of codecs that aren’t compatible on both PCs and Macs, but Avid’s aren’t one of them. Since they make software for both they’ve made sure their codecs are platform agnostic too for both encoding and decoding. Apple made ProRes available to be read on both PCs and Macs, but you can only encode to ProRes on a Mac with FCP installed.
Does that make sense? I may not be explaining it well.
Michael
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If you have to give a quicktime file using the DNxHD codec to another person–Mac or PC–send them here or download these installers and burn them to a disk for them:
Have them download/install the codecs and they should be able to play or files, or convert it file to another codec of their choice.
Michael
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Shooting jewelry can be very difficult, but very rewarding when you get a shot that looks nice.
Look into getting a light tent or make one. It’s basically a cube with white translucent material for the sides. Set your lights up shining through the material and it acts like a giant softbox, with the light bouncing around inside to give your jewelry pretty even lighting. If you want more shadows just light it from one side and the light will bounce off the other side for a fill. Also, because it’s all white inside, you don’t get unwanted reflections on your bands and in the diamonds.
However, you’ll want some reflection like Mark said. So take some black gaffers or electrical tape and hang some strips inside the box until you like where they’re being picked up by the gold/silver. This gives your jewelry some shape and depth.
Look into hitting your diamond with a very small spot. If you can put it on a turntable you should get some nice sparkle as it rotates through the light. Again, take your time and adjust until it glints like you want.
If you’re shooting on black, try putting your jewelry on a black tile. You’ll get a small reflection in the tile which can be a nice look. Try shooting on a white tile with a white backdrop. Try some different colors–one piece of jewelry may look better on black, another on blue, another on white. Experiment with it.
If you’re shooting rings, use a hot glue gun to get them to stand up. Just a very small dab on a piece of tile and set the base of the ring on it. It will hold the ring at whatever angle you glue it, and when you’re done it pops off without leaving a mark. This way you don’t have to deal with ring holders, poster tack, or anything else. Plus, the glue is transparent so you don’t usually see it (it can reflect light though if you have too much).
Play with your DOF. Get the diamond into a sharp focus and watch the band get softer and softer the more you open your iris. Throw on an ND filter to cut the light if you have to. Try blasting it with light and close your iris–does the jewelry look better when it’s all in focus? If the band is ornate you might want to see more detail. If the focus needs to be on the big rock mounted to it, open the iris back up. Try getting a super shallow DOF and rack focus from the detail on the band to the diamond. Try different angles.
If you can, grab your wife/girlfriend’s/friend’s jewelry and practice all weekend. It really just takes time and practice to get the look you want, and a lot of patience.
Good luck, and have fun.
Michael
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Consolidate will make new media based on what you used in your sequence. You can choose whether you keep the original media online and link the new master clips to it, link them to the newly (shorter) created media, or delete the original media.
Decomposing creates master clips based only on what you used in your sequence but doesn’t make new media. You decompose so you have shorter media files related only to your sequence (with handles) that you then recapture at a higher resolution (offline –> online).
Michael
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Yep.
Michael
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[Cody Kern] “I don’t understand how AVID turns footage brought in at 115 and turns it into 175 without ever ‘seeing’ anything higher than 115.”
It doesn’t. You’re basically just taking up more space on your drives. You may be seeing a slight improvement if 115 is 8-bit and 175 is 10-bit (you won’t see so much banding in gradients, for example), but otherwise Avid can’t put back quality that isn’t there.
The right way to do it would be to cut at 115, lock your edit, decompose, then recapture at 175. What’s your source material?
Michael
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I think your import settings have to be set a certain way. I assume to 601/709 size and color, make sure your field order is correct for the project you’re in, and choose to ignore alpha. This may speed up the import.
Michael
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I assume you’re in an SD, interlaced project? If so, you’re probably seeing an interlace flicker. I have no idea how to get rid of it. Because interlaced shows first the odd fields, then even fields, the borders of your PIP effect flicker. I’ve only really ever gotten around it by doing my resizing in After Effects, which seems to handle scaling a lot better.
Michael
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Tell him to go here and download the Avid codecs:
Avid Codecs at Bottom of Page.
Tell him to export quicktimes to the DV100 codec. It’s Avid’s DVCProHD codec, basically. There’s no reason he can’t export a Quicktime to an Avid codec since the codecs are readily available.
Michael
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I’ll be working late.