[Susan Dempster]

Hello again, Dave!

(We gave up on trying to render the 3D route for the last project and went with a Google Earth nadir view instead. The clients seemed satisfied overall… much to my relief!)

Fortunately, all the current footage is 29.97 – but unfortunately a visual representation of the TC isn’t going to be enough… we need each frame and its TC in text form. Once we have this information, our map-guy pairs the TC from GPS generated info to TC in our clip… His script will associate the TC in the clip with the frame # which will somehow tell the video when to begin playing based on where a client clicks on the corresponding map. While I don’t understand all technical aspects of that end of the project, I do understand that in order for his part to work, I have to be able to get him that text.

I thought about trying to mathematically output the TC based on a Start TC and Start Frame, and knowing that there are 29.97 frames in a second – but honestly, the math eludes me!

[Susan Dempster]

Thanks, Michael – I’ll do just that!

[Susan Dempster]

Thanks, Dave! I appreciate your honesty!

[Susan Dempster]

Hi Jim,

Yes, there is constant motion in the video. It was shot from a helicopter moving forward over the proposed path at roughly 50 mph. The landscape is constantly changing due to the perspective (for example, the hills get bigger as you get closer, and so on.)

Please forgive my ignorance – I’ve only dabbled in AE… If I can determine that my desired outcome is actually possible, I realize I’ll need to spend a lot of time learning how to use the software better…

[Susan Dempster]

Hi Dave,

Thanks so much for the response!

This isn’t really a situation of “Fix it in Post”… it’s more like one idea that morphed into another…

The initial project was to have an aerial fly-over of the proposed pathway. (The camera view isn’t entirely fixed, but for the most part, it does follows the curvature of the path. The angle is looking forward and slightly down.)

Initially, the client could view the footage next to GPS data in Google Earth and make observations about the impact the path would have on the geography. That worked as intended. Now, however, the desire is to have the pathway overlaid onto the video… so the client doesn’t have to keep going back and forth between the footage and the Mapping software.

If this is even possible (esp for a rookie!) what kind of time-frame would I be considering… in relative terms?

[Susan Dempster]

When you say you played them back on your machine, do you mean in quicktime player? In that case a slightly compressed file will usually play that way, it has to be brought into a NLE to play right.

I tried in both quicktime and FCP – the playback was equally stuttery in both.

Was the 1:1 the only file the Avid would play?

1:1 was the only one it played correctly, yes.
I tried uncompressed 10 bit, apple intermediate codec, pro res 422 hq, and Avid Packed, all of which produced a white screen on the Avid machine.
The animation codec produced video, but I am told that it did not play smoothly on the Avid…. I didn’t see it myself so I can’t describe the playback unfortunately.

Thanks, Glen – I REALLY appreciate the help!!!

[Susan Dempster]

Thanks for the response, Glen.

The Animation codec I exported did not play smoothly on the Avid machine.

I did download the codecs from the Avid site…
The DnxHD codec will not export – I get an error message every time. In fact, the 1:1x and the Packed codecs are the ONLY two that could export from my mac. When I try to playback those two files, the video is really jerky/stuttery.
The Avid user could not open the Packed codec. It showed only a white screen.
The 1:1x played fine, however.

What a nightmare! It looks like the only translation I can give them is 1:1x… but at least it’s something!

[Susan Dempster]

“oh, and of course, after all this, the solution to your problem would be:
export the video from photoshop as an image sequence instead of as a video…”

Thanks, Tiago!
I took my 104 frame file and exported it from pshop as an image sequence like you suggested. I exported 30fps (other settings just didn’t work quite right). I then just imported the whole folder into FCP – brought all 104 still images into a timeline, changed the duration to 1 frame each, and now I have all 104 retouched frames, duration 4:08. whew.
Seems to playback pretty well, too!

Thanks again to both of you for taking the time to help me out and for all the advice! I don’t know what I’d do without people like you!

[Susan Dempster]

“can you import or look at your exported fcp clips in after effects or qtime pro to confirm that they are in fact 4:08 at 23.976 frames, (or as final cut calls it 23.98)?

Yes – it’s correct.

“… when you import into pshop if the file is actually 23.98 (23.976) and 4:08 long (104 frames) you shouldn’t have to change the duration, it should import and show the correct duration automatically if the timeline is also set to 23.976…”

If I simply “open” a mov file instead of “import > Frames to layers” then the frame rate and length are both imported correctly. (I realize now, this is what I should have done in the first place.) Still, with this method, when I export from Photoshop and return to FCP, although my frame rate and duration are correct and have not been changed, the last two frames are identical – the REAL last frame was replaced with the second to last frame!? how frustrating!
Unfortunately, with my current project, I already brought the file into photoshop through “import>frames to layers.” So my fr was set to 30 by default as you mentioned earlier, and the length 3:14… At least I know now the better procedure for bringing video in to photoshop for my next project….

“also, did you try to change the frame interpretation in final cut of your original roto’d pshop export to see if that worked and that clip is maybe OK? “

1-tried leaving ps file as incorrect 30fps, 3:14 duration. export 30fps. fcp sees as such. i’m not really sure how to change the frame interpretation… but I did try changing the duration so that the clip played at 79.81% speed to become 4:08… but that didn’t look so good.
2- tried just changing the fr in the timeline in ps to the correct 23.976, left at 3:14 duration, exported 23.976 fps. fcp sees 85 frames, 23.98, 3:14 duration.
3-tried changing to 23.976 and 4:08 in ps, exported 23.976, FCP sees 23.98, 4:07, last 19 frames repeated.

Maybe I’ll just have to bring the un-retouched version back in to photoshop though “open” then copy and paste the retouched frames from the old file into this new one and see what happens…
Thanks again for your advice and your time! I’ll let you know what happens….

[Susan Dempster]

Ronaldo – Thank you so much for taking the time to respond! I’m at such a loss on my own!

ok, so just to make sure I’m doing this right i did a test…
I exported a fresh clip from my FCP timeline – 4:08 length 23.98 fps
Import into photoshop via File> Import> Frames to layers – 104 frames.
next I went to the timeline, changed the document settings like you suggested from 30 to 23.976, and the duration from 03:14 to the correct 4:08.
Export > render video – double check quicktime settings and render options….
and I now get a 23.98 fps clip that is 4:07 in length and the last 19 frames are duplicates of the 84th frame.

(Note, when I went to export from Photoshop, i noticed that the available “Range” in the export dialogue box was Frames 0-103? what happened to frame 104?)

Did I miss something really obvious??