This is just a guess, but when the projects and events folders are on an external drive, they need to be at the drive's root level for FCPX to see them.  So, when you had them on your external drive, the file path would need to be: External_Drive/Final Cut Events/YourEvent and External_Drive/Final Cut Projects/YourProject.  They will not show up any other way.

When they're on your system drive, they need to be at ~/Movies.  When you move projects and events, it's better to do it from within Final Cut (instead of Finder) because Final Cut keeps track of all of the symbolic links.  To do this, choose File->Move Project (or duplicate project, duplicate event, move event, duplicate event).


Eliminate background noise in home made videos

Forget an app. The truth is that a mic is, not only the best option but also an honest option. It will help the audience to focus on the content instead of making it a pain to hear.

I would go for a cable lavalier mic, there are some in amazon, and they are the cheapest alternative.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=cellphone+microphone

The other option is a shotgun mic, but they are a bit more expensive, and normally are for outdoor usage and for interviews for example. For one person a lavalier is the best alternative.

You could also try a "hands-free" earphone with a mic. Probably your cellphone came with one already.

Why a lavalier?

The way a lavalier mic reduces the ambient noise is... It does not.

But the ratio of the proximity to your mouth, let's say 10cm or 4in to any other source of a sound, a fan, that can be 2mts away is 20 times the distance. And depending on the echo of the room, this difference could make the sound less prominent by one law that is the inverse square law that makes this difference exponential.

But if you have your camera at let's say 2m away from you, using the internal mic, and the fan is above you, the ratio of distances is probably only 1.5 times. So when you record your voice, you need to pump the volume, therefore you also pump the volume for the fan.

Hands-free is not the same as Bluetooth. There are cable options.

Regarding a blue tooth or not, I can not recommend anything. Bluetooth has the risk of having some delay, or not. If that is not important, because you are not showing the face it is ok. But this depends on the model or brand. I suppose if you buy one Bluetooth hands-free for some brand it would recognize that device.

Cable or Bluetooth is just a way to connect a device. That is up to you and you need to make some homework to see if the device fits your phone.

But normally a lavalier mic is expected to have better sound quality than mic on a hands-free device. Of course, depends on the brand.

Some cable lavalier mics need batteries, make sure to buy some extra. Also, check the length of the cable.

You could add some cable extension, but that is not recommended because you could add electronic noise into the signal, but you could try. The not so cheap option is a lavalier with a UHF transmitter.


Pre-render composition in file? (Adobe After Effects)

If you want instant access to a baked version of a comp, it has to be stored somewhere - either in memory or on disk. The former will limit your computing performance (eventually), and the latter needs storage space.

The third way is to duplicate the comp, including all precomps and bring in the duplicated comp as a base layer to the original comp. Since the duplicate won't refer to the original layers, it'll serve as a reference. A script to do this is True Comp Duplicator.


How to control animated gif speed when exporting from Premier Pro

when you are exporting you should be able to change the frame rate in the basic video setting. If you "un-check" the box of the preset option, you can select the rate between different values.


Object removal in After Effects via Content-Aware?

Can I suggest that you try Davinci Resolve for this?  It's free, and has a fantastic "clone stamping"-style tool, called Node Sizing  - see "Example 2: Using Node Sizing to duplicate a windowed area of an image to cover a blemish" p638 in the manual:
http://software.blackmagicdesign.com/DaVinciResolve/docs/DaVinci_Resolve_11_Manual_June_2014.pdf

It allows you to clone one region of a video over another, and to feather the edges. You can track the positions of moving items too - it's remarkably effective.

Update: After Effects now has content aware fill for video:
https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/content-aware-fill.html


You can do this, but why bother.  It is far faster and easier to record your dialog in multiple takes.  As long as you can naturally speak a sentence or two at a time, you can narrate your own video by carefully editing your dialog from multiple takes.  DAW tools will even play the video for you while you are dubbing over it and let you hear what happened before and after your take in order to give you context.  This is faster and will sound better than your text to speech solution.

If you still really want to do text to speech, I would recommend taking the same kind of approach.  Make clips for each of the phrases you need and then move them in to the video and place them as needed.


After Effects - Audio Spectrum with Circles

Import your audio and use the Convert audio to keyframes option on the layer (right-click->Keyframe Assistent).
Then create an expression for the value that you want to modify based on the audio spectrum. In that case you probably want the radius or scale to be affected.
The simplest way to do this is to use the "expression pick whip". Just alt click the stop-watch icon to get the expression control menu.

Then click on the pick whip icon (marked above) and drag onto the left, right or center channel slider of your earlier generated "Audio Amplitude" layer. Now the values of the keyframes are 1:1 mapped to the chosen property of your circle object. Now you can do some math to the keyframes to amplify the animation or to reverse the direction.
F.e. you can do things like shown below, be aware that I chose to use the 2D size value as shown in the picture above, hence I have [temp, temp] at the end. If your property only has one value it will have only [temp] or with 3 values [temp,temp,temp]. You can also of course have separate values for each dimension.

Amplyify times 10:

temp = thisComp.layer("Audio Amplitude").effect("Left Channel")("Slider")*10;
[temp, temp]

Amplyify non uniform:

temp = thisComp.layer("Audio Amplitude").effect("Left Channel")("Slider");
[temp*5, temp*10]

Reverse direction:

temp = thisComp.layer("Audio Amplitude").effect("Left Channel")("Slider")*-1;
[temp, temp]

Easy In:

temp = easeIn(time, thisComp.layer("Audio Amplitude").effect("Left Channel")("Slider"), thisComp.layer("Audio Amplitude").effect("Left Channel")("Slider"));
[temp,temp]

The little "play" icon next to the whip offers you a lot of math expression functions to use here.


You can use the channelmap filter for this,

ffmpeg -i in.wav -af "channelmap=13|14|15|0|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12" out.wav

Channel index starts from 0.


What specs should I be looking for in a camera to record board-game sessions?

There are two approaches you can take based on budget.  The first is to record audio in camera, the other is to record audio to a dedicated audio recorder and mix it with the video after.  The former is cheaper, but the latter will generally produce better quality.

As far as features, beyond HD, you are mostly just looking for good performance in whatever lighting conditions you will have and then looking for good color and video quality.  Best bet is to look at sample videos from them to find one you like.  I'd also recommend taking a look at the GoPro, it's one of the better, cheaper video cameras available and would probably work well for your needs.

If you want something more general purpose, you could also look at a DSLR with video capabilities such as a Canon T4i which would allow for high quality stills as well as high quality video.

Your best bet for narrowing down your choices is really going to be to think about what else you might want to do with it and how much you would like to spend, then look at what is in your price range.

If you do want a dedicated audio recorder, the Zoom H4n is a reasonably cheap and decent option that will allow external microphones to be used for recording audio.


I would look at some of the tutorials on YouTube. There are plenty of them.

If you want to get into grading; you can jump right in as long as you are shooting RAW; or at the very least; 4:2:2.

If you're shooting 4:4:4; you have a lot of flexibility.

Resolve's DaVinci Line has some nice low cost entry options that include control surfaces; I personally use a Tangent Wave with Resolve to grade RED material; it's fast and very robust.

It's important you look into workflow, that is; are you applying filters; or merely manipulating the metadata XML; as with RED footage. Each camera/codec/software will have it's own unique pipeline in terms of how you grade.

I would invest in a Spyder; and calibrate your monitor. You want to grade in a room that is lit to 70% ambiance of your monitor's brightness. So your monitor shouldn't blind you. Your color temperature needs to match as well; so if your monitor is 5600K; make sure all the bulbs in your edit room are 5600K; or your eyes will play tricks on you.

But on YouTube there are plenty of in depth tutorials; just keyword davinci resolve tutorial and you'll see.


How can I rotate a video by a few degrees?

Using FCPX, a Transform effect will do the trick.

Using FCP 7, you can access rotation along with scale and position in the Motion tab of the Viewer.


The ability to set custom white balances largely makes color filters unnecessary.  The only thing they really (potentially) offer is better dynamic range.  With a white balance adjustment, it alters the processing of what the sensors pick up, but if there is a really bright orange area for example, it could overload those sensors and thus detail would be lost if the rest of the image was darker.

Using a filter would reduce the amount of light of that color reaching the sensor and could potentially keep more detail.  This probably isn't going to happen in the vast majority of cases, but it is one physical difference between the two processes.  For the most part, color filters are a hold over from film days when there wasn't electronic white balancing.


Is it possible to download m3u8 as separate files using ffmpeg?

Maybe I misunderstood the question.

  Do you want to download each segment in the playlist as an mp4?

if you know the length of time of the segments, you could do**

ffmpeg -i  'https://example.com/hls/index.m3u8 \
-f segment -segment_time 10  -c copy  -y out%03d.mp4

just match the segment time.


What format should I digitize mini DV tapes with HDV footage in?

You have a few options for capturing Mini-DV tape.  The first and highest quality, but largest size, is to capture it in HDV format (HDV2 is used by most Sony cameras).  It is a form of MPEG-2 Part 2 video.  This is the same as the format actually stored on the tape.  Storing your files as HDV will preserve the quality of the recorded footage, but it will take quite a lot of space.  This is ideal for high quality archives and any footage that will be used as a source for editing.  It only requires a firewire port and DV capture software (which is also built in to most NLEs.)

If you only care about viewing, then your best option is probably to initially capture to HDV and then transcode to h.264.  h.264 is a high quality compression that you can tweak for the quality/size trade off you desire.  I'd personally recommend either a constant quality or a 2 pass VBR encoding for maximum quality to size.  This doesn't require any specialized hardware beyond the initial HDV capture and can be done entirely in software with free tools (which may even be able to leverage GPU acceleration depending on your video card.)


RTP is just a protocol for data transfer, it doesn't contain any specific information about the internals of the data transmitted.

The information should be contained in the .h264 stream. The SPS (Sequence Parameter Set) is what you want to look at, it should contain all the meta information you need. Here is a very nice detailed look at how the SPS is set up: https://www.cardinalpeak.com/the-h-264-sequence-parameter-set/

Though in theory you should be able to just mux this into a mp4 and it should play fine.


Tips for shooting professional POV footage

I wouldn't mount a camera to your head - that might result in a) really nausea-inducingly wobbly footage that's much higher than the average eye-height and b) a sore neck. Instead, I'd go for a shoulder rig (something like this: http://amzn.eu/ixifFeM - DISCLAIMER: I haven't got one of these or used this model so this is not an endorsement, just an example). I've shot a POV film before and this was absolutely the best way we found to do it and gave great results (make sure your operator is of average height, though, otherwise you'll be looking up/down at the scene, unless, of course, that's the look you're going for - don't mean to be mean, just something to consider).

You'll get the camera to eye-height and will have much more stability and the ability to capture some excellent shots without having to stretch up with a gimbal or whatever.

The best thing about this is that you can use whatever body/lens combo you'd like (within reason :P).

Remember, though, that humans do have selective focus so you'll need a focus puller and some way for them to operate.


After Effects: Shortcut for showing all transforming properties of a layer

There's 3 options:

Ctrl+` for Toggle expansion of selected layers to show all properties

UU for Show only modified properties

U for Show only properties with keyframes or expressions


There are several blending modes in Adobe Pr. Is there a way to "ease into" a mode without having it abruptly change?

I don't think you can keyframe this.
I would duplicate my clip, and set one with the first blend mode, the other with the second.  Then crossfade between the two.


Producing small H.264 files with Adobe Media Encoder vs ffmpeg/libx264

Adobe licenses its H.264 encoder from Mainconcept, which doesn't do that well at low bitrates. x264 is pretty much the frontier when it comes at low size output for a given quality target, or quality for a given bitrate target. x264 is what's used by platforms like Youtube / Vimeo ..etc to encode user videos.

One thing you could try is to increase the keyframe interval. Default for x264 is 250 frames. Mainconcept will be something around 30-60 frames. If you can get them similar, I expect this to provide a moderate benefit in AME's encoding.

It is possible to use x264 with Adobe tools via VFW - https://sourceforge.net/projects/x264vfw/files/. But I don't recommend it. It's not maintained and there were stability issues.

My recommendation is to export a lighly compressed 1080p encode from AME - possibly DNxHD/HR codec in MOV or MXF container format, and then run the following ffmpeg command:

ffmpeg -i input.mov -c:v libx264 -crf 20 -movflags +faststart output.mp4

The faststart flag helps with quick playback start for web viewers.


How do I move (rearrange) the orientation of a video?

FFmpeg can do anything :D

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 \
-filter_complex '[0:v]split[top][bottom];[bottom]crop=iw:ih/2:0:ih/2[right];[top]crop=iw:ih/2:0:0,pad=iw*2:ih:0:0[left];[left][right]overlay=W/2:0[outv]' \
-map [outv] -c:v libx264 -crf 22 -preset veryfast output.mp4

The split filter creates two identical versions of the input video ([0:v]), called [top] and [bottom] for the purposes of the filtergraph. The first crop cuts the top half of [bottom] off, creating an output called [right]; the second crop removes the bottom half of [top], then sends it to the pad filter, which doubles the width of the video frame to the right and creates an output [left]. Finally, [left] and [right] are sent to the overlay filter, which places [right] on top of [left], on top of the black area created by the pad filter, creating the final output [outv].

Unfortunately I can't put a line break in the -filter_complex, since that would break the command.

-map [outv] tells ffmpeg to use the video output of the complex filtergraph; if you want to use the input audio too, you can use -map 0:a as well. All the -c:v and so on are video settings.

Here's a slightly shorter, but less clear version of the above command:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 \
-filter_complex 'split[top][bottom];[bottom]crop=iw:ih/2:0:ih/2[right];[top]crop=iw:ih/2:0:0,pad=iw*2:ih:0:0,[right]overlay=W/2:0' \
-c:v libx264 -crf 22 -preset veryfast output.mp4


You're saving to AVI which doesn't truly support variable frame rates so ffmpeg writes empty packets to emulate it. Apparently, the time base chosen is very fine and so ffmpeg has to write many skip packets (can't confirm since there's no log).

For segments, you should save to .ts or .mp4 or .mkv


On the audio side, I've been extremely happy with my Sony M10. It takes two batteries and MicroSDHC cards. With a pair of fully-charged eneloops, it can fill up a 16GB card and the 4GB internal memory at 24/44.1 and still have some power left. Audio quality is good, but the close-set omnis don't give you a lot of stereo separation. You will also need to manually sync your audio with your camera.

Given your budget, does it make more sense to rent gear than purchase?


The fact that you see any picture means that your player is at least capable to detect and play 60 Hz DVDs.

When you say "horizontal lines" do you mean combing like this:

This is combing caused by incorrect deinterlacing. You player seems to do shoddy job of playing 60 Hz content on a 50 Hz display. Search for firmware update. Call/email the manufacturer. Also check deinterlacing options on the player and the TV set. Maybe your TV has a better deinterlacer, but is set to accept progressive signal, try switching it to "deinterlace" or "auto".

Sadly, I see the same combing when playing the Simpsons off a 60 Hz DVD on a 60 Hz player fed to a 60 Hz TV. One would think that after twenty five years of producing and testing DVD/BD players this should be fixed on all modern players (sigh).


.mov file choppy when played back in premiere pro cc

This could be a result of a very high resolution video and a slow computer. Try rendering the footage and see if it is still choppy


Remote pan/tilt/zoom cameras that aren't expensive

You want a Pan/Tilt head.  Zoom will depend on having a camera that can have the zoom remote controlled and a remote control that can hook in to the zoom.  A pan tilt head can generally either be left sitting on a table or threaded on to a tripod.  They are, however, not cheap.  Expect to spend at least $300 for a cheap one and more if the camera ways more than a couple pounds.


Is it possible to record audio-responsive Quartz compositions along with the audio?

Well, you can import the audio into quartz or play it through the mic input using Soundflower.  http://quartzcomposer.com/plugins/1-export-to-movie SHOULD export it. Then you can go back and add and line up the music to the video with iMovie (or something better) and export it.

*Soundflower Instructions: Open soundflowerbed, in the menubar (top) a little flower will appear, click on it and go under "Soundflower (2ch)" and click "Built-in output." This will let you hear the audio when you do this. Then go to your system preferences, go to audio settings, and change the OUTPUT to "Soundflower (2ch)" When you go into Quartz Composer, drag the Audio Input (if you have not already) and wire it up. Then go to settings in the inspector and check "Select a specific audio source" and select "Soundcloud (2ch)." Then go and play whatever you want on your computer.


I have a video I made in Premiere Pro that is like slides with 150MB audio. How can I export it to a reasonable size?

Without knowing either the resolution or the duration of the video is hard to know if that is a good file size or not. But in any case, you need to define a CODEC and a container for your video. And define the resolution of the project.

A typical one is FULL HD (1920x1080px) and the most used container is Mp4 with an h264 and ACC codecs for video and audio.

You could totally lower your framerate to even 1 pers second if you have direct cuts in between slides, but if the video has transitions between the slides you can not. Use 24Fps.

Of course, you already did your work, next time you can actually do it in a presentation program, and export it from there.


I was able to change the priority level by exporting the task and editing the XML file, then deleting the initial task and re-creating task by importing the edited XML file.  Worked like a charm.


Any sound editing program can show you the audio waveform. Audacity is a free cross-platform one, or you could use Adobe's Audition (subscription based though there is a free trial). They don't specifically export waveforms as images, but you could screenshot the waveform and beautify it with the image editor of your choice.

Alternatively you could use one of the many online visualiser pages. This one is a good example, it can export the waveform as an SVG graphic. https://www.misha.studio/waveformer/


Video Exporting takes too long in Adobe Media Encoder

Are you exporting to h.264? Try rendering to a master file in a intermediate codec like ProRes, Cineform or DNxHR. Rendering to h.264 involves referencing multiple frames to create the intermediate frames. When those frames have to be rendered first it adds an extra drain on resources, particularly memory.
Is the computer hitting the limits of available memory? This will exponentially slow things down. Check on the available RAM at render time, and if it's getting full you need to take steps to reduce your memory usage. One way is to pre-render sub-comps, another is to make sure images you use are appropriately sized for the output. Time-based effects like echo are big RAM hogs, you may have to pre-render layers with these applied.
Learn how to use the command line renderer aerender.exe (just plain aerender if you're still on a mac). This is between 10% and 4000% (no lie) faster in my experience than Media Encoder, particularly if you have enough memory to spin up multiple instances
since you're using the command line now, why not get MOAR COMPUTAHS on the job? Aerender can be used over the network, so if you have other machines that you can borrow you can create a render farm. You can also use the GUI network renderer if you're not ready to become a fully fledged command line ninja, but I will be silently judging you.
all of these steps assume that the workstation you have is a constant. The single best thing you can do is to get a better computer. Or several.


FFMPEG - Crop and Chromakey not working together?

The issue is, that you reference the input file two times.

[1]scale=1612:906[inner];[0][inner]overlay=154:170;[1:v]colorkey=0x000000:0.02:0.03[ckout]

what you actually want is to use the scaled version. so:

[1]scale=1612:906[inner];[0][inner]overlay=154:170[ovout]; [ovout]colorkey=0x000000:0.02:0.03[ckout];[0:v][ckout]overlay[out]

But I don't really understand why you overlay the image twice...
wouldn't this work?

[1]colorkey=0x000000:0.02:0.03[ckout];[ckout]scale=1612:906[scaleout];[0][scaleout]overlay=154:170[out];

colorkey, 2. scale, 3. overlay

You should almost always colorkey first and then scale to reduce colorkey artifacts

Greetings


Anyone with Mac Pro, please help for CPU advice

I have mid 2012 Mac Pro with two E5645 Xeon's and result is 01:10

But I don't think that SilverBench is best benchmark. Guys who use Cinema 4D usually use Cinebench by Maxon. My results in Cinebench:


FCPX Caption Editor shows black text on black background

This seems to have been caused by a problem in the incoming iTT file. I was able to solve it by creating a new SRT caption role, selecting all the captions, moving them to the SRT role,  and then moving them back. Alternately, it looks like you can change the caption color  to something other than white, and then change it back to white. More at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250624181?answerId=251201017022&page=1.


Good place to learn about every option/button in Adobe After Effects?

The User Guide has all this information.

Online, visit the Adobe After Effects Help pages here and read the Animation and Keyframes section. As an example, the Track Camera page says:

  3D camera tracker effect

  The 3D camera tracker effect analyzes video sequences to extract
  camera motion and 3D scene data. The 3D camera motion allows you to
  correctly composite 3D elements over your 2D footage.


It's never a bad idea to have resolution and bit depth to spare during post but if you don't need the extras -- higher bit depth for cleaner effects / color grading, higher res for crop and blowup and so on -- then you can reduce the originals to the final output values with no loss of fidelity.


Can I use Apple Compressor software to convert mkv files to mp4

No Compressor does not take .mkv files. At least not my 4.5.1 version.


I recently bought a Rode NTG2 without much research, what else do I need to make it work well?

Never forget that no matter how much you spend, distance is everything.  If you want the best results you'll want to boom your shotgun right above or below the person.  Camera mounting will gives you the worst results because you will always be further away than you can get it with a boom.  I would rather use a $50 mic boomed (or lapel) than a $2,000 mic camera mounted any day.


HTML tags in SRT files produced by ffmpeg

Instead of srt try to use text:
$ ffmpeg -i a.mkv -c:s text b.srt

(source)
For a list of all codecs use:
ffmpeg -encoders

You can check the documentation for more options.


Are these beginner's paid-for programs comparable?

With consumer targeted software, there is less of a standard of how to do things.  For professional software, there are pretty standardized workflows that editors follow and so tools are pretty similar.  For beginner software, while the basic concepts are still similar, the way in which they simplify them is not.  The end results that are possible are still pretty similar, but the way you get there is not necessarily.

The best bet when comparing entry level beginner video editing is to try trials of them and fine the one that relates best to the way you think about video editing.  Don't forget to look at some of the free options out there like Lightworks or Resolve too if you want something that is more professional oriented, but without the price tag.


How do I use green screen effects in cyberlink powerdirector and put the video in the green part?

Summarizing from How do I use the chroma key feature to replace a green screen background in CyberLink PowerDirector?:

Put the video or image you want to use as the background (what will replace the green) on Track 1.
Put the video that has the green screen on Track 2.
Double click on the clip with the green screen background to open in the PiP Designer.
Select the Chroma Key tab and then Enable chroma key
Click on the eye dropper button on the Chroma Key tab and then select the (green) color in the image or video clip that you want to replace/make transparent.
Adjust the sliders until the green completely disappears.

This video might help explain it better.


Play 24fps video smoothly on 50Hz monitor

I believe you are technically correct but that in practice it would not be done in that manner.

In other words, if you simply increase the playback speed there will be visual and/or audio artifacts from the speed change.

What you would want to do is use software that would adjust the frames directly, like by dropping every 20th frame.

While I said you are technically correct, I believe your premise is slightly misguided.  Have you noticed any artifacts from playing video on monitors with different frame refresh rates?

Your brain is an amazing tool and can fill in gaps so dropping a few frames wouldn't usually be noticed.  But your brain has a top speed that it can process things like you describe.

24 fps is selected for cinema, as I am sure you know.  Video these days is usually recorded at much higher rates.

But think for a minute about why they chose 24 in the first place.  it is because if the frame rate drops below about 18 or so you can actually see the jumps between frames.  This is partly why interlacing was introduced, so a 30 fps transmission is half-drawn in between frames and the interlacing lets your brain melt one frame into another.

That's why stills from those kinds of programming - like old Betty Boop cartoons - look funny.  It is hard to capture a single frame unless your software is aware of the format.  Simple screen captures are not.

The point of mentioning the 18 fps thing is that above that most people can't see any syncing problems like you describe.

I would suggest you put this kind of question into Google in various ways and find others who have asked similar questions.

Have a great day.


Stop motion animation and audio keyframes in AE

You can choose which frame of footage is shown by enabling Time Remapping for the layer. Find it in the layer menu, or by right-clicking a layer in the timeline, or by using ctrl / ⌘alt / ⌥t

Turn it on for a layer and the displayed time is set by the value of the Time Remap property, which can be keyframed or controlled with expressions. Once you've applied it hit u to show it.

The value of the property is in in seconds, so you'll have to convert it to frames. You'll have to check what fps value the footage is interpreted as having.


Embedded HD video looks fuzzy on full screen but fine at Vimeo

To embed a HD video hosted on Vimeo, you need Vimeo PLUS or PRO.

From this page:

  Can I make my embedded videos default to HD?

  Plus and PRO members have the ability to not only embed their videos
  in glorious HD, but also to default those videos to be viewed in HD.
  This is a sweet way to make sure that your crisp, high definition
  videos are seen in their full glory when they're embedded around the
  interwebs.

They even made a simple diagram to explain it.


Why does FFMPeg sit at 00:00:00.00 if I start cutting a video a long ways into the file?

-ss after the input name performs a slow seek where ffmpeg decodes all frames but discards till it reaches the seek point.

With -ss before -i, ffmpeg performs a fast seek.

FFMPEG.exe -ss hh:mm:ss -i in.webm -q:a 0 -map a -t hh:mm:ss -y out.mp3

But you'll have to specify a duration instead of to with most formats.


The clips you cut in your timeline can’t be copied into the media pool because technically these aren’t individual clips yet. Just references to the original media. You can rearrange these easily in your timeline. Just drag and drop clips in your timeline. Everything will move around the clip you change position.


wrapping circular black frame for video - What is this effect called?

it's a vignette.
Here's a tutorial on how to do it.

If you add a black solid layer to a comp, then feather the edges, and invert the mask, you'll get the basic effect.  Beyond that, some people used coloured solids (e.g. just off-black in one colour or another).  You can also apply a blur or defocus effect towards the edges of the image, if that's the look you're going for.


Choosing a frame-rate for an animation project

You have specified the output device, a 51" HDTV but I don't know what camera, animation software, or video editing gear you plan to use.

Here are the standard video frame rates for HDTV as quoted from this WIKI page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_television

Standard frame or field rates

ATSC table 3 defines the following frame rates for digital high-definition television.[24]

23.976 Hz (film-looking frame rate compatible with NTSC clock speed standards)
24 Hz (international film and ATSC high-definition material)
25 Hz (PAL, SECAM film, standard-definition, and high-definition material)
29.97 Hz (NTSC standard-definition material)
59.94 Hz (ATSC high-definition material)
60 Hz (ATSC high-definition material)

The optimum format for a broadcast depends upon the type of videographic recording medium used and the image's characteristics. For best fidelity to the source the transmitted field ratio, lines, and frame rate should match those of the source.

Although PAL, SECAM and NTSC frame rates technically apply only to standard definition television, not HD, with the roll out of HD, countries maintained the heritage of their former systems. HDTV in former PAL countries operates at a frame rate of 50 Hz and HDTV in former NTSC countries operates at 60 Hz.[25]

How to choose?

First identify the process by which you are going to animate your subject. Is it software or a stop action camera or both or something else.

Next, you want to learn what are the compatible frame rates and formats across all the animation tools you are using in your workflow.

Next, select the highest resolution and frame rate that is compatible with all your gear.

Next, make a short sample and then test it on a close if not same model HDTV that is in the "company's head office."


Track Multiple Moving Objects Simultaneously

After effects can definitely track 2D motion and allow you to export x,y coordinate pairs, but it does not work in realtime.  You would have to import the videos, then track each object (and correct for any mis-tracking) then export the tracked data as text.

This probably isn't the best tool for the job - I'm guessing there are better realtime motion tracking systems for what you need.

You can read about how 2D tracking works here:
https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/tracking-stabilizing-motion-cs5.html


Is there any way to add a time remaining (.e.g. from 30 seconds to 1 second) clock to Premiere Pro 2018?

If you're looking to have the GUI Timecode display a reverse timecode (time remaining), that feature isn't possible. You can create a positive offset by clicking the timeline panel icon (upper right), and add positive time to the timeline/sequence. But it doesn't allow for negative values.

Burned in/visible on screen reverse timecode is possible.

Simply setup a new sequence. Create a new transparent video clip. Add the timecode filter.

Set the transparent video clip length to the exact countdown length you need for your program time. Adjust the timecode filter for position/opacity/size.

Return to your program sequence. Nest the "timecode" sequence you've just created within your program sequence on the very top track, or better add a few video tracks and hide it a few tracks above (to give you working room).

Right click the nested sequence clip -> click speed -> check reverse speed.

This will give you an on screen burned in timecode that counts down.

You can adjust the position of the TC display using the effects window.

If used only for editing purposes / pacing, you can use this sequence to reference time left within a given program, then simply disable visibility of the track to render out.

But as for a GUI / Worldclock display of TRT, that's not possible.


Where do I find the standard licensing agreement on a video that's on YouTube?

From YouTube's help pages:

The standard YouTube licence remains the default setting for all uploads.

And Fair Use typically does not apply on the standard licence. See here for specifics, and when it does apply. The other option is Creative Commons:

Creative Commons licences provide a standard way for content creators to grant someone else permission to use their work. YouTube allows users to mark their videos with a Creative Commons CC BY licence.

Videos licenced under CC by Attribution 3.0 have this in the info under the video (you may need to click on Show More)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.


Retaining quality while re-encoding with same codec

It can depend on the compression used, but generally yes, there will be a loss of quality, particularly if there is any alteration to the video.  For a fairly low compression format like DV it probably isn't going to be much, but the best bet, if the format supports it, is to append the stream data and alter the file such that it has the necessary format or simply make a virtual clip if your editing environment supports it.

Personally, I've always taken the latter option when working with DV, so I don't recall if it is a format that easily supports combining files or not, though I would expect it is since it compresses every frame independently as I recall. (May be wrong on that though, haven't worked with DV in a while.)


To do that I'd use animated masks on each letter to reveal them. First I'd make the text layer, then one by one add masks.  So for the M I'd:

make a small rectangular mask just below the bottom of the lower left leg, the same width as the leg.
Because we want to see the letter while we're animating the mask I'd set the mask mode to none temporarily.
Turn on animation for the mask shape (hit m to reveal the mask shape property and click the stopwatch to turn on animation, or just hit alt / optshiftm)
Next I'd move the playhead a couple of frames to the right and drag the top two vertices of the mask up so that they follow the shape of the leg. If the mask was set to add at this point you'd see a bit of the M's leg appearing. Align the top right vertex of the mask with the inside vertex of the leg, where it meets the downward stroke.
move say, another frame right and drag the top left vertex of the mask so that it is aligned with the top left vertex of the M. A bit outside it is probably best.
move another frame along and now add another vertex near the top left one. Move it to the top-right side of the first leg of the M
move this new keyframe and the old top-right keyframe to reveal the first downward stroke

…and so on. Basically you just reveal the character with a mask. Remember that between keyframes mask vertices always move in straight lines. So to get them to move in a curve you need to add lots of intermediate keyframes. You can also use smart mask interpolation to help.

In the video above it happens twice, so you can just copy the layer, set the opacity to 50% and start it a few frames earlier.


How to make eye pupils look directly at the camera

That would be a task of compositing using something like Nuke or After-Effects. Here's how I'd tackle something like this:

Grab a frame of the person looking directly in the camera
Track the positions of the eyes ("track_left" and "track_right" as seperates)
Mask out the eyes from the still-frame and separate them into eye_left and eye_right
Link each eye to the corresponding tracking, so that it follows the original eyes.
Perhaps apply a subtle slow flickering (add curves and in the effect-opacity type in the expression "wiggle(0.5, 15)" or something in that area, using After-Effects)
When the person is looking down, try to keyframe the opacity of the eyes so the real eyes are revealed from time to time, depending on how convincing this turns out.

If the tracker doesn't stick very well you can try the mocha-tracker which comes natively with After-Effects for the latest versions. Make sure to only mask out the inner area of the eyes - don't patch out too much of the eyes and only the bare minimum to remain realistic shadows, wrinkles, etc.
I hope this works out for you - if not, please post your results and we'll see how to improve it.


How to add gradient transparency mask in final cut pro x?

I don't know if you ever found a solution, but FCPX does have a Graduated Mask that works.


Create 5 second intro from image and concatenate to a video

ffmpeg -y -i 55.mp4 -loop 1 -framerate 30000/1001 -t 5 -i 55.png -t 0.5 -f lavfi -i anullsrc=channel_layout=stereo:sample_rate=44100 -filter_complex "[0:a]atempo=1.15,volume=1.6,pan=stereo|c0<c0+0*c1|c1<c0+0*c1,aeval=val(0)|-val(1) [amain]; [0:v]setpts=PTS/1.15,crop=iw/1.2:ih/1.2,scale=1280:720,setdar=16/9 [vmain]; [1:v]premultiply=inplace=1,scale=1280:720:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease,pad=1280:720:(ow-iw)/2:(oh-ih)/2,setsar=1[vintro]; [vintro][2][vmain][amain]concat=n=2:v=1:a=1" -vcodec libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -g 60 -b:v 1400k -profile:v main -level 3.1 -acodec libmp3lame -b:a 128k -ar 44100 -metadata title="" -metadata artist="" -metadata album_artist="" -metadata album="" -metadata date="" -metadata track="" -metadata genre="" -metadata publisher="" -metadata encoded_by="" -metadata copyright="" -metadata composer="" -metadata performer="" -metadata TIT1="" -metadata TIT3="" -metadata disc="" -metadata TKEY="" -metadata TBPM="" -metadata language="eng" -metadata encoder="" -bufsize 500000k -threads 0 -preset superfast out2222.mp4

The intro needs audio to concat to the audio of 55.mp4 or else concat will fail. This example uses the anullsrc filter to generate silent audio. A short duration is declared because anullsrc duration by default is infinite. The concat filter will automatically extend this shortened duration to match its associated video segment.
The width, height, and aspect ratio of the 55.png is modified with the scale, pad, and setsar filters to match those of 55.mp4.


I think the quick answer is no, not that there is not software to do it, but every clip is different and will need to be stabilized using different paramaters.

If you take the easy way you may realize that after the fact it took way longer in that it could be a step backwards rather than actually helping.

I would recommend editing the clips as is, then stabilize when you are finished, that way it is only stabilizing what is used which is a) faster, and b) more efficient as you may cut around large camera moves that could cause un needed blown up footage.  At this point you could do each clip using software like premiere, which has a 30 day free trial.  And at worst you would just need to apply it individually to each clip, and unless this is a feature, it cant take that much time.


How do I find out if a video is actual or if it was modified with a Software?

Chameleons do have some pretty wild colors they can change into, and the process is extremely advanced, requiring physicists and biologists to fully understand how it works; check out this video for how it works. Personal note: Something this advanced doesn't happen by random chance.
Anyway, my personal opinions aside, it appears to me, this video was heavily edited by software to get a bigger wow factor. I've edited photos and videos for the better part of 20 years and there are subtle markers that stand out to me.
The biggest tip-off, is at 2:06 into the video when the Chameleon changes blue. If you look carefully at the body, you will see a slight gray outline around the edge of the entire Chameleon, it is especially noticeable at the top of his back and the around his forward paw gripping the branch -- that is a not so subtle sign that a poorly made mask has been used to select an area for manipulation. Other tipoffs include the vibrancy of the colors and the purple/blue, and the whole body changing the same color, instead of patches changing color.
As for what software can do this, there are many. If it's a still image you can use Affinity photo, Gimp, or Photoshop. For video, the best (and free) is DaVinci Resolve is what I would recommend. It was specifically designed to do this kind of work!
For an example of how the change could have been done in software, check out this video or this one.
How it happens in Chamelons

How it's done is software


Video converted by FFMPEG has a different duration, why?

Hope this explanation is what you're looking for:

When you transcode to an encoding such as H.264 (MPEG-4 part 10) you necessarily also resample the video, that's part of H.264 compression technique. Nontheless, I doubt if this is the reason you experience a timing gap since the resampling doesn't necessarily influence the clock rate of the media. So, I wouldn't worry too much about resampling, it can cause some variance, but probably very marginal.
The container formats you listed are kinda irrelevant, because they define how the compressed stream is packaged, whereas the the source of the timing difference is the compression itself. The .flv file, for example, may contain a stream encoded by the legacy Flash Sorenson codec or the newer H.264. In the first case you would be transcoding the video stream, but in the latter it is possible the you're not - depending on the audio codec used. The .avi and .wmv containers are codec agnostic, so there's no way of even guessing their content's encoding.
You didn't mention how the duration was tested. Note that ffmpeg by default shows you the duration that appears in the file's metadata and not a computed value. If your list is based on the data that ffmpeg dumps as part of its splash notices then you should note that this is explicitly metadata and not an actual measured value.
The delta in the durations you presented are within the range of one or two frames in a 25 or 30 fps range. It is reasonable for codecs to pad-with or strip-from streams blank frames according to their algorithm (or developer's tidiness...). It shouldn't influence timestamping when you properly concatenate streams.
There are only two reasons I can think of that can substantially change your media's duration, neither applicable in your specific case:

Re-encoding at a different target speed. Sometimes this happens unintentionally due to bad metadata in the input file. But not in your case, which, as noted above, correspond with a single frame dropped or gained.
When you apply a codec that recreates either stream. Examples include ad-stripping, silence detection, noise cleansing, etc.

Bottom line, if you are concerned what's gonna happen with a 10-hour video - just run an actual test. If you run into trouble and seek assistance then keep in mind to post the input file's codec details and the method that you measured the stream duration.

Hope this helps.


Is there a Video converter, that can convert like the reference file?

As far as I know, there's no "make like this one" option, but seeing the options of the reference file, many apps allow you to make a template for batch exporting, e.g. https://documentation.apple.com/en/compressor/usermanual/index.html#chapter=1%26section=2%26tasks=true


That violates the rules of information theory. Look into the work of Claude Shannon if you wish to understand why what you are asking is mathematically impossible.


How to make an animation of light in After effects?

Well, there's a lot that would go into that effect, especially if the girl's hand is moving. Here's the basics so that you can better know what kinds of tutorials to search for.

To create the light you'd probably use what's called a "particle generator" combined with a star glow or shine effect (e.g., Trapcode Starglow.) If you don't want to shell out for that plugin, search for how to do "light streaks effect" or "shine effects" in AE "without plugins."

To make it look like it's within her hand (i.e., sandwiched between her fingers and her palm) you'd need to understand how to "animate mask paths" (in order to mask her fingers into their own separate layer.)

To make the light follow her hand around you'd need to learn about "motion tracking."


I think MeGUI is supposed to be a good front-end for x264 encoding.  (x264 is the same h.264 encoder that VLC uses.)

I don't know anything about powerdirector, so all I can say is that x264 is the best h.264 encoder (best quality vs. bitrate vs. cpu time tradeoff), and it's free.  It's what you should use to make files for upload to youtube.  (Use lots of bitrate, because youtube will decode and re-encode your video regardless of what you do.)


Making a simple animated template for frequent slight changes

I would take a learning from templates on videohive. Pre-comp all the text layers and put them in a separate organized folder in the project. This way if they have to edit the after effects file its just a matter of changing the text in the precomped layers. With that being said, I guarantee that you will never have on a week to week basis the same size text layer as there are always more or less characters per word .etc. So you might have to implement some expressions to make boxes increase in height with regards to the text layer.

If you put your text layers in a bounding box this fixes the horizontal width issue, but the height length will have to be figured out.

That being said, once its setup, I know that AE CC 2015 when imported into PP CC 2015 allows for users to edit the text from AE inside of PP which is quite useful in your situation where the users may not have that much AE knowledge.


Video with lower bitrate resulting from joining two video files

Your program probably re-encoded the resulting video file from scratch and used whatever setting it considered okay.

If you want to have more control about the process and/or do not want it to re-encode the video at all (if both are of the same format), then I strongly suggest looking into ffmpeg for this.

For reference, https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Concatenate - the concat demuxer is what you want.

As the most simple example, copy both your video files (let's call them videoA.mp4 and videoB.mp4) into the same folder. Create a videos.txt file with just this content:

file videoA.mp4
file videoB.mp4

Now run ffmpeg with this command:

ffmpeg -f concat -i videos.txt -c copy videoOut.mp4

If all goes well this gives you a new file with both videos in one file, with the original encoding intact.


Lightworks detects aspect ratio incorrectly and clips video from ShadowPlay

No clue about Lightworks, but two possible (and possibly related) issues are that 1366x768 is not exactly 16:9, and 1366 is not evenly divisible by 8. Either or both could cause any editing software to use a different internal representation, and require an adjustment to its display.

1368x768 would be byte-aligned, but still not 16:9.


Can I use Garageband on Mac to add harmony audio to a video?

If you're singing on the new track(s) you've added, definitely!  I've done it myself. You can even pan the new track(s) left or right to give your song more "space".

If you were thinking you'd duplicate your audio track in Garageband, and change the pitch of the new track, it's harder. Your harmonies probably won't stay the same number of half steps away from the main melody, so you'll have to adjust the pitch change on most notes. (As far as I know.)


Matching audio levels across multiple clips

Export just the audio as WAV and use an app called Auphonic - it will level out, not just normalise, the audio. I use it often and it makes everything sound much nicer.


share desktop to laptop to stream from laptop

Well, you could use the normal tools to get video off your desktop.  Instead of having it go to twitch (or whatever), it would go to your laptop.  You'd use a high quality / bitrate, with minimal CPU usage settings.  x264 is probably still the best codec, since ethernet driver CPU time will start to matter if data rates are TOO high.  So you need a lossy codec, and x264 --preset superfast --no-cabac --crf 15 is probably the way to go.

On your laptop, you'd have something set up to receive the stream and feed it through ffmpeg, with the output of THAT going to twitch (I assume).  So you'd have your laptop set up to decode the stream from your desktop, run it through x264 with the best quality setting it can manage in realtime.

You could maybe use something like inetdto listen on a socket and run ffmpeg when a connection is received, with ffmpeg's stdin and stdout connected to that socket.  (You'd actually need a wrapper script I guess, to get ffmpeg's output directed to twitch, or whatever you're streaming to.)  Also, instead of full-blown inetd, you could use a single-socket simpler program like maybe just netcat.

If your laptop isn't running Linux or OS X, this probably still works with a Windows build of netcat, but you'd have to be careful that piping that much data around doesn't cause performance problems on Windows ports of Unix tools.  (don't use cygwin).

To get your face in a corner of the video, attach a camera to your laptop, and have ffmpeg read from it, as a 2nd input stream.  Use some combination of -filter_complex scale,overlay to combine your streams.  (get the filters worked out by testing with file inputs, like 10 sec clips of 2 different videos.)

As far as other ways to get video off your desktop for encoding somewhere else, VNC exists, but it's probably not viable for actual video.


GoPro 3 Black gets stuck in ">" Play mode when diving

It sounds like your probably correct about the pressure of the back panel activating it or possibly the conductance of the water that is around it.  It could be either depending on the type of touch screen they used.


Can an expression parse a text file or the expression of another property in After Effects?

Yes, since expressions are basically JavaScript, you can load and evaluate external source files. Unfortunately the location needs to be hard-coded, since (AFAIK) expressions do not have access to the path of your AE project, so it's rather brittle. For instance:

try {
    myPath = "~/Desktop/source.js";
    $.evalFile(myPath);
} catch(err) {
    "MISSING";
}

Further explanation of how similar code works can be seen on the ProVideoCoalition site.

One further caveat is that the script is loaded and evaluated again for every frame that gets rendered. You might want to test how loading the script affects your render times.


How to move a clip aside for possible future use in FCPX?

I'd lift the clip from the story line and then disable it with V. There's no other way to keep a clip in the timeline near the edit point without leaving empty space or affecting the timing of the cut.


In fcpx, Can I edit source media in time line and have the changes be reflected in the project?

Once you have placed a clip in a project, it "breaks" the relationship with the original clip. I suppose this is so you don't make a change to a source clip and inadvertently change it in a project where you didn't intend to change it. I'm not sure that it's useful like that, but its the way it is.

There is an exception, multicam clips. If you make a change inside a multicam clip, the change will carry through all of the edits. But that won't help you now.

If your blur is in the same spot for the entire clip, there are a few easy ways to fix it.

Blur your text in one of the clips. Copy the clip. Select all of the rest of the clips. Command+Alt+V to paste attributes, and the blur will be applied to all of the clips at once.
Download Alex4d's Adjustment Layer title effect. Connect the title clip to your project so that it covers every clip that you want to apply the blur to. Now make your blur. This is nice because you can tweak the effect without having to remove the effect from all the clips and reapplying the clip.
The long way. If you were going to use the exact same setup and want to blur out the same text in the same spot across projects, create an effect with just the blur in Motion and publish it to FCPX. Probably not helpful in this particular situation unless you will use this a lot.


How to output high quality Zoom webinar video after editing with Premiere Pro?

The reason why your video is blurry is because of your target bitrate, which is 0.24 mbps. (I assume you meant mbps instead of mbpd). Raising this value to a target of 4 and a maximum of 6 should give you a significantly better result. It will also increase your filesize, however. I am assuming that the video might be between 200 and 300 MB.


24hour non stop recording in a single file on a 128Gb SDXC?

I don't have experience with that particular Samsung camcorder, but I did do some long term recording on an older Samsung camcorder. My camcorder had a time lapse mode that allowed it to capture a frame every minute or so. It would record while plugged in to A/C power. Although the camera used the FAT32 filesystem with 2GB file limits, it was able to span the recording across multiple files. As far as I could tell, the process was seamless.


Wrong centered merge in Davinci Resolve's Fusion

If you want to move the two things together, use a transform node after they’ve been merged.


I don't know how you are lighting this, but generally speaking photographing flat work requires an even light source. Usually two diffused lights above the surface at 45 degree angles should accomplish this task. Your lighting suggests that you are not using a diffused source(s) as witnessed by the hot spot in the middle of your screen hence the halo effect.

Another thing I noticed is that you are using a camera with auto-exposure mode engaged, subsequently every time you move your hand into the frame the light value shifts. If this is a Point & Shoot camera then there is not much you can do about this, but if it's a DSLR you need to lock down the exposure so it is not changing.

There are three manual controls that generally should be locked down before recording:
1) white balance,
2) focus,
3) exposure,

Many Point & Shoot cameras will allow you to set the white balance and focus, but not exposure.

If you are in this situation, then the only way to defeat the exposure changes would be to keep the light even through out the frame and sequence. For instance if you were wearing white gloves this would help keep the auto exposure from going lighter to capture your skin tone, or if you changed the back ground, and made it the same value as your hands--awkward yes, but even light would likely improve the entire scene.

Hope this helps


Revert "Add edit" of the track, after CMD+K in Adobe Premiere CC 2017

On Windows:
Hold CTRL and right click the split itself. Then click "Join Through Edits".

Mac should be similar I guess.


Can duplicate frames from an h264 stream be dropped without encoding?

Almost all encoded frames depend on the surrounding frames, so it's virtually impossible to delete anything from the encoded output without negatively affecting the video. Short answer: no, you can't do that.

One consolation is that true duplicate frames cost almost nothing in terms of file size. They can effectively be represented by a short sequence that means "repeat previous".


Benefit of having a GPU for adding watermark using FFMPEG using x.264

GPU acceleration is beneficial to encoding; that is its main use. But it has no benefit with x264 which is entirely CPU-based.

There is a H/W overlay filter but the speed improvements are negligible, AFAIK, because of the memory ops transferring data to and from GPU memory. It's primary benefit is for when the entire pipeline is GPU-bound.


Have a look at the Adobe Character Animator.  Also a second vote here for Duik.  It's brilliant but mind bendingly complicated. Character Animator is simpler.


All that you need is to put an & at the end of the ffmpeg command line. This will make the ffmpeg process to run in background, allowing it to be executed simultaneously with other processes.

#!/bin bash
# add this code to a file called encode or whatever you want
# make it executable: chmod ugo+x encode
# and you are ready to run: ./encode

for i in *.mov; do
    name=``echo $i | cut -d'.' -f1``;
    echo $name;
    TIMECODE=$(ffprobe "$i" -v error -show_entries stream_tags=timecode -of default=noprint_wrappers=1:nokey=1 | awk -F: '{ print $1 "\\:" $2 "\\:" $3 "\\:" $4 }') ;
    ffmpeg -i "$i" -vf "trim=start_frame=192,setpts=PTS-STARTPTS,scale=1280:-1:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease,drawtext=fontfile=/usr/share/fonts/truetype/droid/DroidSansMono.ttf: fontsize=28: timecode='00\:00\:00\:00': r=24: x=(w-tw)/2: y=25: fontcolor=white: box=1: boxcolor=0x00000099" -threads 4 -c:v mpeg1video -b:v 5000k -af "atrim=start=8,asetpts=PTS-STARTPTS" -c:a libmp3lame -b:a 192k "${name}_mpeg1.mpeg" &;

    # limit ffmpeg processes to 5
    while [$(ps | grep ffmpeg | wc -l) -eq 5]; do
        echo "ffmpeg queue is full, waiting...";
        # amount of seconds to wait till we check again
        sleep 10;
    done
done;


OBS Studio multitrack audio exports only one track

In OBS Studio go to Settigns->Output->Recording and under Recording Format you have Audio Track. You have to enable audio tracks that you set up in audio mixer. You can also name them in Audio tab.


FFMPEG - Scroll filter on filter_complex applies on under layer

The image to be scrolled has to be looped first and then scrolled.

ffmpeg -vsync 0 -i /tmp/2SN92agDIG.png -i /tmp/TogmpB9etD.png -i /tmp/lxiQXCxhaZ-1.png -filter_complex "color=size=312x312:c=0xffffff[color];\
[0:v]setpts=PTS-STARTPTS,setsar=1,scale=480x320,rotate=0:c=none:ow=rotw(0):oh=roth(0),format=argb,colorchannelmixer=aa=1[0v];\
[1:v]setpts=PTS-STARTPTS,setsar=1,scale=298x301,rotate=0:c=none:ow=rotw(0):oh=roth(0),format=argb,colorchannelmixer=aa=0.8[1v];\
[2:v]setpts=PTS-STARTPTS,setsar=1,scale=288x614,rotate=0:c=none:ow=rotw(0):oh=roth(0),format=argb,colorchannelmixer=aa=1,loop=1:1,scroll=vertical=0.02857142857142857[2v];\
[color][0v]overlay=x=-76.18:y=-4[-1+0];\
[-1+0][1v]overlay=x=8.043499999999995:y=5.044000000000011[0+1];\
[0+1][2v]overlay=x=8.021000000000015:y=0" -c:v h264_nvenc -t 35 -y out.mp4

(there are quite a few unnecessary or inert elements in this command, but I haven't removed them, such as the rotate filters which don't perform any rotation)


Is H.264 subject to exploits / are some H.264 codecs subject to exploits?

All anyone might be able to say is that there are no known holes in the various players.  (I don't know if that's true, just that it's impossible to know that there are no undiscovered bugs in a complex piece of code.)  H.264 streams are complex enough to have lots of corner cases.  They're parsed with speed-optimized code written in C and assembly.

You're quite correct that this is a HUGE attack surface, esp. when you allow arbitrary input formats, including ones with crufty old demuxers / decoders written by some random guy a long time ago, who might or might not have had security in mind.  This article about ffmpeg security fixes is quite interesting.

re: ascii strings inside video files.  That's not uncommon at all.  x264 output embeds a string like

x264 - core 142 r2455 021c0dc - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2014 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=6 deblock=1:2:2 analyse=0x3:0x133 me=umh subme=10 psy=1 psy_rd=1.00:0.50 mixed_ref=1 me_range=24 chroma_me=1 trellis=2 8x8dct=1 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 fast_pskip=1 chroma_qp_offset=-4 threads=6 lookahead_threads=1 sliced_threads=0 nr=200 decimate=1 interlaced=0 bluray_compat=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=6 b_pyramid=2 b_adapt=2 b_bias=0 direct=3 weightb=1 open_gop=0 weightp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=40 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=60 rc=crf mbtree=1 crf=25.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=0 qpmax=69 qpstep=4 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:0.50

And of course strings will find lots of sequences of characters in the ascii range, just by random chance.  Some containers use sequences of ascii characters as the magic values to indicate what type of object something is.  e.g. mp4 has "moov", "mdat", and other atoms.  If you can pick any sequence of 4 bytes for your format, you might as well pick ASCII characters to make things easier to debug.

I think transcoding all incoming video would incur a HUGE quality / CPU / storage overhead.  Transcoding with nightly builds of ffmpeg would potentially shield you from known bugs in the typically old version of ffmpeg in VLC stable releases, and whatever bugs are in closed source stuff from Microsoft and Apple.

Remuxing is not a bad compromise.

There's also a balance between destroying metadata vs. passing through more potentially harmful stuff.  (e.g. chapters, subtitles, ...)

If I were actually doing this, I'd probably store my output in mkv files.  Using a different container is maybe better insurance against any weirdness from an input mp4 getting passed on to an output mp4.

Also, if you're actually doing this, I guess you'd run ffmpeg (or MP4Box for just mp4->mp4 remuxing) in a sandbox chroot or vm, or even just as an un-privileged user, so successful exploits are contained.


Use Streaming Online Video/Live As Source In OBS Studio

This would be possible using OBS's BrowserSource.

First, find the embed code for the stream (in YouTube you can click "Share" and then "Embed"). Find the src="" and copy the URL that's inside the quotes. In OBS, create a new Browser. Paste the previously copied URL into the URL field, and set the Width and Height to your canvas size (or your preferred size).

If you need to press a play button, you can right-click the Browser and click Interact.

I hope this helps!


How to render Adobe Premiere or After Effects projects on Linux?

BlackMagic Davinci Resolve and Fusion run on both RHEL and Centos, and have Python2, 3 and LUA integrated for automation.  The title of your question leads me to believe you're already using Adobe suite, but the body suggests otherwise.  There's a free version of Resolve with most of the features of the full version, so it can't hurt to try.  I honestly don't know if Linux is one of those limitations, but the full version of Resolve is only $300 for a lifetime license, so there's still not much risk.


H.264 adding dark anti-aliasing even on high444 yuv444p

It's a rendering artifact, not an actual error.

See

ffplay test444.mp4 -vf scale=iw*16:-1:flags=neighbor

and

ffmpeg -i test444.mp4 roundtrip.png

You should see no black pixels.

Update: ffplay downsamples YUV inputs to 420 before final conversion to RGB.

[swscaler @ 0000000005a82800] bicubic scaler, from yuv444p to yuv420p using MMXEXT

You can avoid artifacts by directly calling pixel format filter.

ffplay test444.mp4 -vf format=bgra


Webm and mp4 are container formats. Those itself don't have any relevant influence on the file size.
The codec with a set bitrate determines the filesize. For YouTube uploads, follow the current recommendations and you'll see, you should use h264 as video codec.
First, make sure the export has the same resolution and frame rate as the input, unless you intend to change it anyway. If that's fine, my guess is that the bitrate was set too high. The above mentioned recommendations for YouTube show you how high the bitrate needs to be to get excellent quality. However, if your source material is far below that, you should use a bitrate that's closer to its quality.
To calculate a suitable bitrate in advance is difficult, when the codec of the source is different from the codec of the export. It's good to have a higher bitrate than strictly necessary because YouTube will re-encode the video anyway. Chained re-encodings with lossy codecs will reduce quality further and should be generally avoided, but in this case you cannot do anything against that.
WebM uses VP8 or VP9, both need slightly higher bitrates to achieve the same quality as h264. This means as a rough estimate, set your maximum target bitrate to something like 90% of the bitrate of the source material. Make sure it's a variable bitrate, not a constant bitrate, because the variable bitrate is almost always the better choice for quality. Then you should get a file size roughly the same as the source video.
And then there's audio. It makes up a smaller percentage of the filesize. However you should check that your editor is not accidentally using much higher bitrates for audio as the source.


Wirecast recording lagging from a video file source

It sounds like your input is too compressed.  Your current quality level is already below what Netflix uses for their full quality HD streaming and is right around Youtube's recommended settings for final output of video.

The problem is, this is already a very highly compressed level.  Both compressing and decompressing an h.264 file take a lot of processing power.  The more compressed the video, the more processing power it takes.

Since the file starts highly compressed, your CPU has to work hard to decode the video and then has to try to re-compress it for the stream.  If it can't keep up with the frame rate, then you start getting quality drop and lag as it does it's best to keep up with the stream.

Further compressing the source video just amplified this problem, though if you have already pre-recorded the video, why not edit it offline and then export the video so that you can stream it without having to re-encode on the fly?

Wirecast isn't designed for editing, it is designed for streaming.


How to double every frame (and the length of the video itself) in an mp4 video (timelapse)?

setpts filter can be used to retime frames. Basic usage is

ffmpeg -i in -vf setpts=PTS*2 out.mp4

PTS*2 sets output timestamp of each frame to 2x its input value.


What tool should I use to animate text on an EXTREMELY high resolution "screen"?

After effects, and while your at it, just do the whole thing in After effects, by the time this renders out, and then bring it into maya, apply camera animation, and render it out, you could have made 20 with AE


How can I know if a video has been manipulated/staged/faked?

Authenticity in video is dead.  It's been dead in photography for a long time.  It's just something we're all going to have to get used to.  Professional forensic analysis might sometimes disprove a video's authenticity, but it will never be able to conclusively prove it.


How to export footage and burn a 16:9 PAL DVD for playback on television

Render your footage again downscaled to 720x576 then burn it to your DVD.  Even though the downscaled files look squashed on your computer, when burnt to a DVD with a 16x9 anamorphic setting it should appear correctly.


Does the GoPro Hero 5 Black have improved video quality over the GoPro Hero 4 Black?

They added a few bells and whistles, but the video quality remains the same
http://vegasaur.com/gopro-hero5-hero4-comparison


Why does my still camera stop recording video on its own?

There are three main reasons that still cameras with video functionality have restrictions on the length of video they will shoot.

The first and most common, as tomh pointed out is tax purposes.  The European Union charges a 5% tax on any video recording device and sets the limit at any device capable of recording 30 minutes or more of video.  To avoid this 5% additional fee in the EU, the camera manufacturers limit recording length to 29 minutes and 59 seconds.  Most manufacturers don't bother making a non-EU model, so the rest of the world gets hit with the same limitation.  This reason, however, only applies to cameras with a 29 minute 59 second limit.

The second most common reason is that of file size.  The Fat32 system used by many cameras for the memory card (due to its simplicity and lack of patent encumbrance at this point) is limited to 4GB per single file.  While many cameras are capable of splitting across multiple files, it does involve a few challenges that not all camera manufacturers bother to deal with.  When they don't, it means that the video recording must end when the 4GB file size limit is reached.  This results in a fixed length limit for each quality level, but it will differ based on quality level, with lower video qualities being able to record longer.  You can easily verify if this is the reason by checking the file size of the videos.  Some cameras have third party firmwares and hacks to bypass this limitation, however I'm not aware of any for the Nikon S3300 specifically.

The final reason, which used to be the most common, but is substantially less common with modern cameras, is that of heat.  When CMOS imaging sensors (found in most all modern still cameras) are used, they produce heat.  If the heat can not dissipate fast enough, it eventually results in the sensor overheating, which causes additional noise and eventually sensor damage.  To protect against this, one of two methods can be used.  The oldest is to simply put an arbitrary length limit on recordings that is considered a safe amount of time for the sensor to operate.  Many later systems monitor the temperature of the sensor and only shut down recording when they detect that the sensor is becoming too warm.  It is hard to tell for certain if this is the reason for the recording to be stopping, but in the later case, the time when the recording stops will not be exactly the same between instances, particular when light levels and ambient temperature differ significantly.


What are some software to create animated videos?

The animation that you refer to was probably made with Adobe After Effects. You can animate this kind of thing for 'free', if you don't value your time, using PhotoShop CS2 (free from Adobe) and the Quicktime player which will import image sequences and save them as movies.

But your hope for free software misses the point that the costly parts of animation are time and skill. More expensive tools frequently have built-in time savers. After Effects is certainly one of those. It won't save you, however, from having to get skill.


Video Analysis Tool - Open Source Software Recommendation

I believe that can be achieved with ffprobe.

You can see example of getting json format from it here


3D composition shows up as 2D in main project view?

You need to click the Collapse Transformations (sun icon) on your [Comp 3D] layer.
Otherwise your main comp will treat your other comp as a flat layer in a 3D space, if that makes sense?


Batch processing in Camtasia Studio or others

so Batch processing is very possible in Camtasia Studio.
Here are my personal step-by-setp instrcutions:

Import the videos you wish to Bacth Render into a new Camtasia Studio project file.
Add the first video to the Timeline and then save it as a Camtasia Studio Project file.
Remove that video from the timeline and import the other video you imported onto the timeline and save it as a different Camtasia Studio Project file.
(You can repeat these steps as many times as you need to to have all videos you wish to Batch render)
Find the 'Tools' tab and hover the cursor down to 'sharing' and a 'Batch production' should be avaliable to click. Click it.
Click on the 'Add files/projects' button and select the files you made earlier.
Click "Next" after you have selected all the videos you wish to Batch Render.
Choose a preset from the top drop down menu.
Clcik "Next".
You can choose the location the rendered videos will be saved to and if you want to have each video into sub-folders.
Click on the "Finish" button.
Your videos should be rendering.

I hope I helped and hope you have a nice day :)


Mask clip with transparency in DaVinci Resolve

Yes.

Navigate to your .png in the media browser and import it into your project
Create a bin, make sure the new bin is selected.  Unfortunately, Resolve won't let you import the same image twice, regardless of which channels you're interpreting.  Using a second bin is a workaround.
Right-click on the .png again in the media browser, and select "add into media pool as a matte"

Drop the original .png onto your timeline above whatever footage you want to be the background
open the color page and select the fox.png clip in the timeline
right click on the background of the node editor and add an alpha output, wire the output of node 1 to the master alpha out.
right click on node 1, and from the context menu, choose your matte from the Add Matte submenu at the bottom

use any other roto tools you need to knock out whatever you need to knock out.


I do not understand your question. As it is I would say nothing.

Get a 16x9 inches monitor. It measures 16 x 9 inches. Now rotate it 90°. It has the exact same total displaying area but now measures 9 x 16 inches. The "optimal" viewing distance is the same.

If you are referring to different aspect ratios, the unit that is important and easier to get is the native linear PPI.

Find out the horizontal resolution used and divide it by the horizontal physical measure of the display area.

If your monitor has 1920 x 1080 px, use 1920.
If the monitor measures 21 inches on the horizontal size:
1920/21 = 91.4 PPI. Use that value to compare other monitors.


Software to create nice presentations/infographics

A graphic like this would have most likely been made using Adobe After Effects. The style of this graphic is a mix of Kinetic Typography and Infographics.

Googling around you can find tutorials on creating infographics and kinetic typographic videos. Though as a warning, generally creating a video like this takes a number of days for an experienced user.


Even out fluctuating exposure on old video

You could try GBDeflicker to see if it improves the footage.
They have a free demo. It is designed for smoothing out time-lapses (and is good at this), but it might work on archive video?


How to add quiz to video in kaltura kmc editor on vpaas?

You don't add quiz to video.

Instead, you create a video quiz by selecting Add New, then Video Quiz

The Kaltura knowledge pages on this give you a full tutorial, and should be your first stop for this sort of thing.


Low action Kickstarter video with Nikon DSLR: do I need an external lens?

I just finished working with a company that has had several very successful Kickstarters.

IMHO, lighting and audio are more important than camera type for this type of video, as long as you have a pro-sumer camera that shoots decent 1080p HD.  Many successful campaigns have been shot on a DSLR with a stock lens.  If you want to buy an additional lens then your first lens should be a "nifty-fifty".

An external microphone is way more important than camera.

Here is the one piece of advice that was given to me by someone that has run mutltiple multi-million dollar Kickstarters.  Don't let someone that is dry and boring be the spokesperson for the video.

Of course the owner/CEO of the video wants to be in the video, but that's not always the best choice to be the talking head.  Instead use them in action scenes, Like at a workbench or a design table.

EDIT:
I re-read your post.  I assumed it came with a kit lens and you were wanting to know if you should upgrade the lens.  The poster above is correct, you have to have a lens. But what I don't understand is why are you going with such a high-end DSLR?

The camera you are looking at, the Nikon D7200D, is a great camera.  But it's also an overkill for what you need.  It's a 24MP camera that can shoot video at 60FPS.  HD video is only 1.8 MegaPixels and you only need 30FPS. For almost the same price as the rental of the body and lens you could buy an older model (refurbished or used) DSLR with a 50mm lens and own it.  This would give you time to learn how the lens AND the camera work since they are two different beasts.

Also because a DSLR is not primarily a video camera, it's actually a little bit more complex to setup for video.  Not ideal for a beginner.  A Pro-sumer HD video camera would be a better choice but it costs more.

So I would actually recommended, for a beginner, a camera with a built in lens.  Something like a Nikon Coolpix that shoots full 1080p.  You can definitely get one of those (factory refurbished) for less than what you would pay to rent the Nikon D7200D with a lens.

I know I'll probably get criticized for that recommendation.  But if you don't know how to use the D7200D, then you probably won't shoot anything better than would with a Coolpix.

Now all you need to do is learn 3 point lighting.  If you put a key-light on the back of your subjects head, then you will shoot something better than most other kickstarters.


FFMPEG: hardware acceleration for libvpx

Libvpx has no hardware encoding or acceleration support of any kind, it's purely a software implementation. There are some VP9 hardware encoders out there but they're few in number and neither Nvidia or AMD have one. However, if you have an Intel CPU from the Skylake architecture or newer you should be able to use Intel's QuickSync hardware encoder built into their CPUs. I don't have the hardware to test it and don't know which OS you're on, but to use it on Linux I think you'd do something like this: ffmpeg -vaapi_device /dev/dri/renderD128 -i 16.mov -vf 'format=nv12,hwupload' -c:v vp9_vaapi -g 150 -bf 4 -compression_level 1 -bsf:v vp9_raw_reorder,vp9_superframe -b:v 15M -an 16_vp9.webm

You may find that the quality leaves much to be desired which is often the case with hardware encoders, most of them are built for speed over quality. So a better approach might be tuning libvpx for faster encoding. For starters you should use -row-mt 1 to enable row-based multithreading which can speed up encoding quite a bit, especially at higher resolutions and when you have lots of cores/threads available. Next you might want to adjust the encoding speed for HD resolution videos by setting -cpu-used 2. This is similar to x264's -preset option and it adjusts the speed/efficiency tradeoff. The default in FFmpeg is 1 which is the slowest most people would want to go; 0 basically triples the encoding time.

Depending on how old your version of FFmpeg and libvpx are, you might also want to set the number of encoding threads manually. I'm not sure which version of FFMpeg or libvpx changed this, but in the past you had to set your -threads by hand or else FFmpeg would only use a single thread for encoding. Also, the -frame-parallel option was removed from libvpx quite some time ago. It's ignored in the libvpx code so there's no detriment to using it, but it offers no benefit either.

I also recommend checking out Google's VP9 Encoding Guide. It's a pretty good reference on which parameters and bitrates you might want to use for different resolutions.


How to fix fragmentation when rotating a shape in AE?

I found it through the Layers Panel. There was a Puppet Pin modifier. I have no idea WHY the Puppet Pin caused this to occur but removing it solved my issue.


After Effects is not seeing CUDA in my GTX 1060 GPU

I think that's the wrong place. Please go to File -> Project Settings -> and into the first tab: Video and Rendering Effects. There you should find "Mercury GPU Acceleration (CUDA)" as can be seen in the screenshot below.


Getting extra blank minutes at the end of the video

There are three things you have to get right:

You have to have the right length of video in your sequence (which can be helped by having explicitly set in and out markers at the right place).
You have to export the correct sequence.  If you don't have the correct sequence selected when you render, your export might, by coincidence, render the same content you are looking at, but from from a differently defined perspective--one that has a different concept of the in and out points you have defined for the sequence you should be rendering.
In the rendering window, there are several options, including whether to render the whole clip (irrespective of in and out points), render just between in and out, or some other options.

Try setting the correct in and out points, rendering the correct sequence, and then ensuring that your rendering actually honors the sequence's in and out points.


How to make a SMALL video from single still image + audio, one key frame and all the rest p frames or whatever

There are a couple of things which you may still tune in the x264 encoder like listed here but also in the mp3 decoder like shown here if you are OK with a lower audio bitrate.My assumption is that not everything is eaten up by the video.
I have tried
ffmpeg -loop 1 -y -i image.jpg -i audio.ogg -shortest -acodec mp3 -qscale:a 7 -vcodec libx264 -preset ultrafast -tune stillimage -maxrate 5K -bufsize 100K -crf 25  -pix_fmt yuv420p -g 100000 result5.mp4

and got a video file that was half the size of the ogg file.
Here is what the parameters do and how to use them:
-maxrate 5K -bufsize 100K
this has a direct impact on the video bitrate. I lowered the values until I got VBV underflow messages then raised it back again. The quality of the jpeg was very low but got better when I increased bufsize.
-qscale:a 7
This produces a 100 kbit Audio stream which was more than OK for my sample.
In a nutshell, you may need to tweak these parameters a little bit in order to improve things. I suspect that it is actually the audio in your case consuming a large part.
Let me know if it works.


How to range-check luma in After Effects?

You can add a new adjustment layer at the top of your composition, with the Levels effect set to the following:

Input Black: 254
Input White: 255

This will have the result of causing any luma values that were below 254 to become black, while anything above it becomes white. Here is an example of it over a fractal noise pattern:

Before

After


How is 29.97 timecode generated over a full day without frame errors?

As per the Broadcast Engineer's Reference Book, p. 203

  This correction will match DF time to real time to within
  approximately 2.6 frames per day; to eliminate the residual error the
  timecode generator can be reset each midnight.

So, apparently nothing.

As far as the "extra" frames, Charles Poynton says,

  If a timecode sequence is to be maintained longer than 24 hours,
  timecode should be jammed daily to reference clock time at an
  innocuous moment. No standard recommends when this should take place;
  however, the usual technique is to insert duplicate timecode numbers
  00:00:00;00 and 00:00:00;01. Editing equipment treats the duplicate
  codes as a timecode interruption.


Editing software with a good textbook (Windows)

Video editing software is a tool to do video editing.  Any decent textbook should teach video editing, not video editing software.

Conversely if you know how to edit, most NLEs (the technical term for video editing software) should be pretty intuitive.  I can sit down at any decent NLE you put in front of me and start editing without a manual, but I've been editing for 15+ years.

In terms of NLE software with good documentation, Premiere has very nice documentation and is a very solid platform, but it also isn't the cheapest option out there.

Overall, I would recommend not focusing on the NLE software and more on how to edit though.


Material to record though so camera isn't visible?

If quality of video is not so important to you, then you can use effect, which is used on public transport windows:

It is when you use lot of dots on the glass. From the outside it looks like semitransparent image. But from inside it will look like that:

With correct focus dots will be less visible on video.

And second option is to use half-silvered mirror.


How do I remove automatic feathering of shape in Adobe After Effects?

It's all about the little sun icon on each layer, called "Collapse Transformations":
It chooses whether to display the image as a vector (sharp) or as a bitmap (possibly blurry depending on the resolution of the layer).  There's lots online about it - here's one example:
https://www.schoolofmotion.com/blog/collapse-transformations-continuously-rasterize-after-effects/


Cameras which support external control of zoom, focus, and iris normally have a port for this purpose.  LANC is the most common, but it appears that your camera doesn't have a LANC port.  According to the documentation to which you linked, the camera supports "remote control & streaming" via WiFi.  If it is at all possible to control your camera's zoom remotely, then it seems that WiFi would be the most likely method.


Masks, layers, solids or multi composition to solve my problem?

The answer to your question is yes. Masks, solids or multi-compositions will help.

What, you want more? Oh ok.

Thing about After Effects is that there is almost always at least two valid ways of doing anything:

To fix your problem you could use masks on each eye. Now because you're scaling the layers, and masks are attached to a layer and scale with it, that won't really work (You could scale down the mask to match the scale of the layer, but getting that right might be really tricky, so I wouldn't recommend it). So if you want to use a mask on the layer you have to pre-compose the layers, with the attributes included, so the scale keyframes are inside the new pre-comp, and then apply the mask in the original comp.

Pros: simpler timeline,
cons: the keyframes are now in two other comps, so you have to be switching between them, and copying-pasting to make any edits (you could synchronise them with expressions though).

Another method would be to make track mattes for each eye. You do this by using any layer–usually a solid–and putting it above the layer you want to mask, and then turning on alpha matte on the layer you want to mask - each eye in this case.

This works a bit like stencil/silhouette alpha mode, except that it only affects one layer. You can either resize the matte layer or use a mask to make the matte the right size.

Pros: everything is on the one timeline, easy to edit.
cons: more layers on your timeline, you have to remember to keep the track matte and footage layer together if you're changing the position of your layers.


Video (or audio, too) format that stores multiple languages in the same file, but only the parts that are different?

You don't need separate video tracks. All the differences are in the audio, which is a minuscule part of the overall data on a BVD. It's a simple matter for a player to select one of multiple audio tracks.


Photoshop: Video timeline - hide part of a layer

In general, when you use a program as complex as Photoshop, you don't want to fight its idiomatic way of doing things, you want to use it instead.  The idiomatic way of hiding/revealing parts of an image (which, in turn, means parts of a layer or set of layers) is with a mask, which is typically its own layer.  The layering system of Photoshop is a major aspect of its functionality.  Don't fight it or try to not use it.  Learn it, master it, and then use it.


ffmpeg : how to reduce bit rate of transport stream

Place the -c copy before -c:v libx264. See https://superuser.com/a/1219824


Automated source text animation based on split

Found it
t=thisComp.layer("test1-test2-test3").text.sourceText;
word=t.split("-");
n = time/thisComp.frameDuration
word[n]


Simple answer, prices aren't a calculation, they are marketing and deal making.  You should do calculations on what a job will cost you before you bid it to make sure you can do it profitably enough to be worth your time, but ultimately, what you charge for a project is much more about the price you can demand for the work being done for the customer it's being done for.  If I'm doing a small video shoot for a small non-profit or a mom and pop business, my cost is going to be much lower per hour and per resource than if I'm doing a complicated shoot for a large commercial for a major business with deep pockets.

It's a complex interplay of what can be afforded, what is expected, what you are capable of delivering and what the customer needs.  The mom and pop shop can't afford that much and doesn't expect the world if they are a decent customer.  They don't need anywhere near my full capability, so it's a nice easy, low stress job that I can cut them a good deal on and get some filler.  A major corporation on the other hand is going to have much more rigorous demands, require a high degree of quality and I'll need to triple check my prep and work on the job.  They have deep pockets and are willing to pay for the attention and focus, so the job is going to cost them a lot more, even for the same time.

There is no magical equation to solve it for you.  It's business and you need to figure it out as you go by figuring out your market and adjusting your prices up or down for a given context based on if you are getting enough work in that segment of the market or not.  If you have too much work or want less of that segment, raise your prices.  If you have too little work or want to move more in to a segment, lower your prices.


How to divide the video into four parts at once?

ffmpeg -i coolpron.mp4 -filter_complex "[0:v]crop=iw/2:ih/2:0:0[tl];[0:v]crop=iw/2:ih/2:iw/2:0[tr]" -c:a copy -map [tl] -map 0:a -y 111.avi -map [tr] -map 0:a -c:a copy -y 222.avi

This produces 2 video files at same time, but you can add other parts.

But use it only if you have no other choice for your video wall. Better solution: write your own custom player.


Can't Get Playable Video From Images in FFMPEG for Oculus Go

Thanks to u/jesus_is_imba on Reddit for the following answer:

ffmpeg -r 24 -i my_images_%04d.png -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -preset slow -g 48 -pix_fmt yuv420p -movflags +faststart output.mp4

  The -g argument defines keyframe interval in frames and according to Oculus should be 2 seconds, ie. 2x your frame rate.

This command produces video that plays back perfectly both in VLC and in Oculus Gallery.


How to make image move with video in FCPX

In FCPX, moving an image up-down or left-right is called "Transform".  Here's the page of documentation you need, along with instructions on how to access the Transform parameters.  Chances are you will need to keyframe every frame to keep the two consistent.  Chances are also that explosions don't last that long, so dropping 24-48 keyframes won't kill you.

Programs such as DaVinci Resolve have a motion tracker that can generate the stabilization keyframes.  These keyframes can then be used either to suppress camera shake (probably not your intention--you want the intensity conveyed by a shaky camera) or impart the same shake to other frames, as "Trackers".


Is there any way to record external audio from a Canon Rebel R6?

Welcome to Video Production Stack Exchange!

Bad news first-

Unfortunately, you are stuck with the in-camera mic with the T6. The T6i has a microphone jack for mounting an external microphone. If you want to mount an external mic to a Canon Rebel T6 body and record that audio stream to the same SD card, that's really your only option.

However

Can you elaborate a little on what your uses for the video are and what your workflow is?

I have shot on a T6 and T6i extensively and I eventually determined the workflow that was best for me was to use a Zoom H4N as my primary sound recorder (placed somewhere out of sight in the shot) and synced the audio streams together in Adobe Premiere during post production.


How does the source encoding reflect the settings used to export?

The quality you use to export the video for long term storage largely depends on what you will be doing with the footage at a later date.

If you will be mostly using it for personal viewing, a lower quality may be sufficient.  If you will be editing the footage and using it in another video, you will want to encode it a higher quality.

The only scenario I can think of for encoding to a higher quality than the original video is if you were including the clip for use with other videos of higher quality in a project that will ultimately be encoded with the higher quality.

To sum up:

You should encode the video in the highest quality you can without exceeding the original and without going over your space requirements.  Since large hard drives are relatively inexpensive these days, this will likely mean that you encode to the original quality of the video.


H.264 produced by ffmpeg from images has no duration

You're outputting to a raw bitstream. Usually, you want to output to a container like .mp4, .mov or .mkv.

H.264 raw bitstreams have no index and individual frames have no timestamps (PTS/DTS). The definitive way to estimate the duration is by counting the frames and dividing by the frame rate. Of course, this only holds for streams to be shown at a constant framerate.


Adobe Premiere Pro - Select timeline region and remove it

This can be done very easily be setting In and Out points in the sequence timeline.

In and Out points can be set using the I and O keys respectively.

Once you have made your select, press the Delete key to remove the selection.

Make sure that the video and audio tracks you want deleted have 'track targeting' activated.

If you want to quickly remove the gap between all the clips, you can also right-click in the empty area and select 'Ripple Delete'.


How to add motion blur in timelapse videos?

One solution to the jerkiness of stop-motion animation was developed for some Star Wars sequences, termed "Go Motion".

Basically the idea is that you leave the shutter open a little longer than necessary, and move the objects a bit, to create some motion blur.


Is it possible to mask out unsharp areas of footage with After Effects?

As you may know from 3d packages depth information can be represented by a 2d Depth Map:

In therory it's possible to detect the defocused area of an image via depth estimation methods and generating a depth map using this information. The algorithm splits up the image by finding all relevant edges, analizes the gradient values and compare these areas with each other. I doubt that this is accurate enough for every shot, but could work in some cases. One of the latest papers, you can find here:  http://www.sjzhuo.net/defocusEstimation/

AFAIK there is only one available plugin for After Effects at the moment: http://www.yuvsoft.com/stereo-3d-technologies/automatic-depth-estimation/, but since this process is becoming increasingly important for stereoscopic workflows, it's a matter of time when more tools will become available.


FFMPEG - Using variables in curves video filer expression

Assuming you're using bash or a similar shell, you need double quotes. Single quotes conveys its contents literally.

curves=r="0/0 .83/$var3 1/1":g="0/0 0.84/$var3 1/1":b="0/0 0.88/$var3 1/1"


I can’t resize anything in After Effects

maybe you pressed cmd+shift+H ? This toggles the wireframe views around each object on or off?
Also, you might find this beginner's guide to AE helpful. It's old but it definitely helped me:
https://www.videocopilot.net/basic/


Container Type that doesn't corrupt on Encoding Crash

Yes, TS is capable of doing what you are asking. Weather OBS is, is another question (that I do not know the answer to). mkv MAY be also to as well. But mp4 and mov can not do this.