Line up photogrammetry mesh with tracking markers

In the end I decided to just learn how Blender's scripting works and wrote a script. I know there would be simpler ways to calculate the transformations but I'm no maths expert and I wanted to spend my time debugging my logic errors rather my maths errors.

Basically what this script does is take 3 input points (in the form of empties) relative to the photogrammetry mesh and 3 input points in the same position relative to the tracking data, then attempts to line them up with each other, bringing the photogrammetry mesh along with it. This actually works pretty well in my testing. It's obviously not the fastest workflow but it does work and that's the important part.

import bpy
import bmesh
from mathutils import Matrix

#####################################
# TO USE:
#
# 1) create empties at three easily-identified positions in tracking data, called ea1, ea2 and ea3
# 2) create empties at the same three positions but in photogrammetry data, called eb1, eb2 and eb3
#    NOTE: eb1, eb2 and eb3 must be positioned IN THE SAME ORDER as ea1, ea2 and ea3!
# 3) name the photogrammetry mesh "photogrammetry"
# 4) run the script and be amazed
#
#####################################

# from https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/118783/41192
def createLookRotation(forward, up):
    rot = Matrix.Identity(3)
    rot[0] = up                 # x
    rot[1] = forward.cross(up)  # y
    rot[2] = forward            # z
    rot = rot.transposed()
    return rot.to_quaternion()

def doMeshThing(obj, mesh, empty1, empty2, empty3):
    bm = bmesh.new()
    bm.verts.new(empty1.location)
    bm.verts.new(empty2.location)
    bm.verts.new(empty3.location)
    bm.verts.ensure_lookup_table()
    bm.faces.new([bm.verts[0], bm.verts[1], bm.verts[2]])
    bm.normal_update()
    bm.to_mesh(mesh)
    bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT')
    obj.select = True
    bpy.ops.object.origin_set(type='ORIGIN_GEOMETRY')
    bm.faces.ensure_lookup_table()
    normal = bm.faces[0].normal
    guide = empty2.location - empty1.location
    quatRot = createLookRotation(normal, guide)
    obj.rotation_mode = 'QUATERNION'
    obj.rotation_quaternion = quatRot.inverted()
    bpy.ops.object.transform_apply(location=False, rotation=True, scale=False)
    obj.rotation_quaternion = quatRot
    bm.free()

ea1 = bpy.data.objects['ea1']
ea2 = bpy.data.objects['ea2']
ea3 = bpy.data.objects['ea3']
eb1 = bpy.data.objects['eb1']
eb2 = bpy.data.objects['eb2']
eb3 = bpy.data.objects['eb3']

mesha = bpy.data.meshes.new('mesha')
meshb = bpy.data.meshes.new('meshb')

obja = bpy.data.objects.new('obja', mesha)
objb = bpy.data.objects.new('objb', meshb)

scene = bpy.context.scene
scene.objects.link(obja)
scene.objects.link(objb)

doMeshThing(obja, mesha, ea1, ea2, ea3)
doMeshThing(objb, meshb, eb1, eb2, eb3)

bpy.context.scene.update()

# position and rotate objb (photogrammetry) to match position and rotation of obja (tracking)
photogrammetryMesh = bpy.data.objects['photogrammetry']
photogrammetryMesh.parent = objb
photogrammetryMesh.matrix_parent_inverse = objb.matrix_world.inverted()

objb.location = obja.location
objb.rotation_quaternion = obja.rotation_quaternion

# calculate average dimension difference here and scale
scaleDiffX = obja.dimensions.x / objb.dimensions.x
scaleDiffY = obja.dimensions.y / objb.dimensions.y
scaleDiffZ = obja.dimensions.z / objb.dimensions.z
#averageScaleDiff = (scaleDiffX + scaleDiffY + scaleDiffZ) / 3
averageScaleDiff = (scaleDiffX + scaleDiffY) / 2 # seems to be in local space, so z is useless
objb.scale.x = averageScaleDiff
objb.scale.y = averageScaleDiff
objb.scale.z = averageScaleDiff

bpy.context.scene.update()

parented_wm = photogrammetryMesh.matrix_world.copy()
photogrammetryMesh.parent = None
photogrammetryMesh.matrix_world = parented_wm

bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT')
obja.select = True
bpy.ops.object.delete()
bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT')
objb.select = True
bpy.ops.object.delete()


A 3-axis gimbal can reduce rotation but not translation - ie it will twist in 3 axis to smooth the motion, but it can't physically move to account for your movement up and down.

I think there are three ways to resolve this:

Use a body mounted stabiliser that compensates for movement.  These are expensive and cumbersome, but they work. They also reduce arm strain as the weight of the camera is taken by the body straps.

Practice compensating for the movement yourself. The best way to imagine this is to move as though you were carrying a hot drink instead of a camera. This is free, but requires some time to practice.

Shoot at a higher resolution than you need to deliver, then use digital stabilisation to try and improve your video.  This works to some extent, but any motion blur due to camera movement will still be visible, depending on the shutter & frame rate you shoot at.


Kdenlive rendering problem - white video

I had this issue with moving files outside of Kdenlive. It did find them using a recursive search, but the video was white. I have deleted them from the project and added them again. This fixed it in my case.


Best tool for adding simple graphics such as fading-in text on a video

Adobe After Effects is what I use. It's pretty simple and there are a ton of tutorials out there.

If you need something free there is Hit Film Express, which I hear is decent though I've never used it.

Lastly what editing software are you using? You should be able to do simple things like that in any old editing program out there.

Spencer


Containers don't support encryption of metadata, and without encryption everyone may change what he wants (even damaging by his action the whole multimedia file).

There is a possibility to make a checksum of your file (as SHA-256), but it will not protect to change it, it only helps detect if the file is in its original state (not changed).


Wanna learn to make videos that use documents

When you want something to happen on screen, at the very minimum, you need to tell it:

When to start
When to stop
Where to be

Motion lets you create templates for generators, transitions, and titles.  So you'll build the details of an effect in Motion, and then apply, and re-apply that template in FCPX as often as you need.  You can also decide which parameters you'd like to retain control over while designing your templates in Motion, and make them available to Final Cut, so that you can tweak elements as necessary.

Designing the movement of these graphic elements is the domain of a profession known as "Motion Graphics."  Like any other artistic practice, being a good motion graphics designer requires much talent, dedication, and practice.

Often, motion graphics designers will sell their designs, so that people who are less practiced can apply a polished look to their own projects, the same way a typographer might design a font for licensing to a broader audience.  If you search the web for "Apple Motion templates," you will find many of these pre-designed packages, complete with built-in controls for tweaking various elements to taste.


ffmpeg input from images stream out video

Couldn't wait! Figured it out:

I saved an image to the file out.png at a fixed frame rate from processing.

Created a fifo:

mkfifo fifo

Then in one terminal:

tail -f out.png  > fifo

Then in another terminal:

cat fifo | ffmpeg  -f image2pipe -r 1 -i pipe:0 spo.mp4

Making sure to close tail first allowing ffmpeg to write the last bit of the file.


Davinci Resolve 15 - color correction of whole tracks

Just color correct one clip according to your specifications and then select that clip first and then all other which you want to have the same color correction. To select the other clips you can do ctrl + click. This way all the clips which you selected, will have the same color correction as of the first clip. I saw this in some YouTube video.


Final Cut: Youtube 4K Upload directly or by file

We cannot tell by the information you're giving. The "upload to youtube" function uses some sort of container and some sort of codec with some sort of bitrate that we don't know, however, 8Gb for an hour in 4K is a very small file. I remember exporting a shortfilm at about 24 Minutes in 1080p and having a 15Gb file.

Youtube converts your file after you upload it, so rendering in a semi-okay codec will force youtube to make an even worse file out of your rendering. If you want to be absolutely sure, just render your file as a ProRes 4444 XQ and derive all conversions from there.


why is the camera auto-focusing inspite of being in manual mode?

It looks like by default, that camera fine-tunes the focus (even in manual focus).

From the Canon support page: To deactivate automatic focus fine-tuning when the shutter button is pressed halfway, choose  -> [  ] tab -> [Safety MF] ->[Off].


Final Cut Pro Picture in Picture template

if you have Apple Motion you could make a template which would be easy enough and just drop it on when you need it in the video and then drop the additional image onto the motion template.

OR

(I am going to assume you know how to place 2 layers of video (top one being the PiP one))
the first time you want your PiP get it placed where you want it with all the sizing, placement etc. Then when you want to do it again in the next section just copy and paste the attributes from the first one onto the second one and it should place it in exactly the same place.


h264 Settings for Motion Tracking & Analysis (technical photography)?

My suggestion is MPEG-2. For tracking and analysis, latency is the concern. H.264 is more complex than MPEG2, it introduces high latency as well. Since your content is not going to stream over network, i suggest MPEG-2
OpenCV always is the starting point, you may check https://www.pyimagesearch.com/2015/03/30/accessing-the-raspberry-pi-camera-with-opencv-and-python/ and https://www.pyimagesearch.com/2018/07/30/opencv-object-tracking/
Good luck!


I regularly use Sony DVD Architect for building complex DVD (as well as simple, it's quite intuitive) like commercials ones. DVD Architect is compatible with Blu-Ray, but doesn't include advanced features like BD live and other. From the same editor with a similar ergonomy, you can use DoStudio.

There are two editions:

DoStudio Ex: expensive but complete,
DoStudio Indie: more cheap but I don't know if it includes the functions you want.

You cannot build a complex BD/DVD without expensive software. A DVD cannot point to an URL of any type (unless it's inside the disc like a video/photo/music/...) and a BD can use the BD Live and BD touch functionalities to open web pages on any Blu-Ray player connected to internet. I think there is some limitations: you can maybe open videos with BD Live, but web pages have limited HTML/CSS and other support.


How to losslessly encode a jpg image sequence to a video in ffmpeg?

Just mux the images

You can simply mux the JPG images to make a video:

ffmpeg -framerate 30 -i input%03d.jpg -codec copy output.mkv

Note that if you omit -framerate then a default of -framerate 25 will be applied to the input.

Lossless optimization

You can use jpegtran to perform lossless optimization on each frame which may provide significant file size savings:

mkdir outputdir
for f in *.jpg; do jpegtran -optimize -copy none -perfect -v "$f" > "outputdir/$f"; done

Now mux with ffmpeg as shown above.

Checking that it is actually lossless

The framehash muxer can be used to compare the unique hash of each frame to ensure that the result is truly lossless:

$ ffmpeg -i input%03d.jpg -f framehash -
stream_index, packet_dts, packet_pts, packet_duration, packet_size, hash
0,          0,          0,        1,   460800, 29bcc2db3726c7dfec1826c5740f603f
0,          1,          1,        1,   460800, b5fdc23d93cbd043dc2b9290dc8378f0
0,          2,          2,        1,   460800, ee0709942f24b458fd2380d134dcb59d
...

$ ffmpeg -i output.mkv -map 0:v -f framehash -
stream_index, packet_dts, packet_pts, packet_duration, packet_size, hash
0,          0,          0,        1,   460800, 29bcc2db3726c7dfec1826c5740f603f
0,          1,          1,        1,   460800, b5fdc23d93cbd043dc2b9290dc8378f0
0,          2,          2,        1,   460800, ee0709942f24b458fd2380d134dcb59d
...

In the above examples each associated frame for the input and output share the same hash ensuring that the frames are identical and that the output is lossless.

Also see

FFmpeg image file demuxer documentation
FFmpeg Wiki: How do I encode single pictures into movies?


Managing compound clips in Davinci Resolve 16

In Resolve, "Power Bins" are what you use to make elements available across projects.  Unfortunately, as of version 16.3, Resolve won't store Compound Clips, Multicam Clips or Fusion Clips inside a Power Bin.  However, in your case, a workaround is fairly straightforward.
Whether your image is static or animated; an exported still image, file sequence, or video is compatible with power bins.  Export what you need on the Deliver page, Re-import it, add it to the Power Bin, and you should be good to go.
One quick tip for the Export->Re-import step:  After you export anything in Resolve, after Resolve marks the Queue item "Complete," You can right-click on the complete item, and select "Reveal in Media Storage."  Resolve will then open the Media Page, and highlight the file in the browser.  From there, all you need to do is drag it to your Power Bin.
To enable Power Bins, on the Media page, go to the "View" menu, and near the bottom of the list, check "Show Power Bins."  If your media pool and/or media folders sidebar list is not visible, hit command-1 (mac) or control-1 (pc).
You do need to be careful with the way you handle transparency if you expect to use it.  Resolve doesn't "think" for its users the way some apps do.  It doesn't pre-suppose that you "meant" to include an alpha channel because your source sequence contains one, but your chosen export codec doesn't support it.  It won't give you an error, or a warning, or recommend a different codec.  It'll just do what it's told, and then you'll wonder why your backgrounds are black instead of transparent.  So, make sure you're exporting to a format that supports transparency if you need it, like prores4444.  If you're doing that already, and getting black backgrounds anyway, it's because your alpha pipe is broken on the color page; make sure that the last node's alpha output (blue square) is wired to the master alpha output.  If it's not wired to anything, right-click in the background of the node tree, and select "Add alpha output," then wire the blue square to the blue circle that appears.
The same caution applies to premultiplication.  If your antialiased edges appear too bright, or too dark, that's a premultiplication error, and the onus is on the user.  To change how Resolve interprets a clip's alpha math on the import side, right-click on the clip in the media pool, choose "Clip Attributes" and change "Alpha Mode" if necessary.  Note, however, it's possible to accidentally double-multiply, or double-divide on the export side, in which case no menu selection here will produce desired results.  See here and here.
And one final note.  While Resolve doesn't support Fusion CLIPS in Power Bins, it does support Fusion COMPOSITIONS in Power Bins.  So, if you need something more interactive than a flat export down the road, that's the direction you should explore; It's a great way to make titles, and lower-thirds that are re-usable across projects, which maintain a consistent look, yet remain flexible to edit.  Fusion is a complex topic on its own, and I encourage you to experiment with it, and ask specific questions as they arise.
Hope that helps, Good Luck!


Darwin Streaming Server 6.0.3 won't send Closed Caption track

I have no direct experience with DSS, but it appears, from what I could find online, that DSS does not support streaming a text track.  Rather, you seem to need to reference a non-streamed version that has text data.  I unfortunately couldn't find much more on what the one place I found mentioning that intended, so I'm sorry that it isn't very clear, but it was the best I could find.

Hopefully someone else has actual experience with DSS and can provide better guidance than I.


I am doing a scene in a movie where someone runs through a forest

There are a number of options for keeping a moving camera steady. There's the new electronically controlled gimbal mounts, they do an amazing job of removing camera movement, and they're relatively inexpensive to buy or hire. I use one of these, and it's great for DSLRs or a Blackmagic Cinema camera.

There are also passive stabiliser mounts, that let the camera swing freely but use weights to slow the rotation down. If you're on a super low budget you might want to consider one of these.

Going the other way are the full-body stabiliser rigs like SteadyCam and GlideCam. These are rigs that the operator wears and provide a very stable platform for even quite large cameras. We have a glideCam rig where I work and from experience it requires a fair bit of practise to use well - not to mention stamina and physical strength.

As for lighting, you can't fix what you can't see. Colour correction and grading will fix problems and create a 'look', but you have to be in the ball park for the results to be any good. This is because physics: if you don't have enough light and you try to bring up the levels in post you're only going to get a bunch of noise. Similarly if your picture is completely blown out you won't be able to retrieve any information where the levels are completely white.

To light a forest requires either big lights and a generator truck, or imagination. Without large light sources you're only going to get pools of light, so you need to use smaller shots and edit it cleverly. You could give the character a practical source of light - torch, lantern burning branch, and then move the light source with them, using the pools of light it creates.

Another good trick for lighting for darkness is to mainly light from behind, giving your subjects rim light, but little light on their faces, except maybe a small eye light and some bounce. For close-ups you bring in a bit more fill, but for the wides you keep everything silhouetted.

You can also shoot day for night. That's where you shoot during the day, but then bring down the exposure and saturation and grade it to give the feeling of night time. Done badly it looks rather cheesy, but it is a common technique, you'll find plenty of tutorials for it.


Using a Nikon D5100 or Sony SR68 to shoot video of an event

bmargulies, There are few questions here:

Are you looking for a multicam setup?  If so the two cameras are unlikely going to match unless you are willing to put in time to post production work. (fix it in post! http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/639498971.jpg?1345259967)
What is the purpose of this video If its a 'creative' project (as in you are making a video about the event and not 'of' the event) then you should go for a camera that gives you some aesthetic flexibility which normally starts with a good eye and a good lens.
What is the budget for the shoot? If you have a budget then you should get the setup for the purpose.  If its a documentation then consider hiring a couple of cameras of the same model for a muticam setup.  If its creative then I would check how flexible your Nikon is to get the story/feeling/looks that you want to achieve - then see if you need to hire something better.

I'll also touch on what you mentioned about light levels.  If you are working with low light then here you would have two options:

Use the budget camera: DCR-SR68 and other off the shelf budget cameras will work well but at the cost of image quality (ie. the footage will look just like its budget)
Add flexibility to lighting - 1) get a LED Ring light, if you have a decent budget then you can hire out a Gekko George light.  2) You can also hire a lens that have a really low f-stop, just one stop can actually make enough of a difference. 3) Get a camera that can shoot RAW - RAW footage gives you more flexibility in post to push up the levels to brighten the footage and merry this with a decent noise reduction plugin and you will be looking at decent footage.

Hope this helps!


Stream tablet to computer with switcher to stream to internet

So possibly OBS (i havnt checked) as CasparCG (im using) do not support stream producers (input), I was recently looking into this option, and one program i found (there may be others) that supports this is vmix http://www.vmix.com/software/features.aspx which has a free version.


Keying Out Smoke Against a Black Background

While chroma-keying is a good technique for dealing with solids, it doesn't work so well when dealing with transparent or semi-transparent objects.  Because the difference can be very subtle, you want to copy the difference instead or blend off luminance.

In Premiere, you can use the Set Matte effect to set a track as a luminance matte.  In the case of the sample of smoke from mmphilips post, the luminance was a bit low so I put it in a separate sequence and used curves to boost the overall luminance.  I then placed the matte on Video 3 and made it invisible.  I then placed the Set Matte effect on Video 2, pointed it at Video 3 and specified that it should use Video 3 as the matte.

The same thing can be accomplished in After Effects in a similar manner.  Again two copies are placed on the composition and the top most is made invisible.  The modes option toggles is clicked to bring up the proper controls and luminance is chosen for the second layer so that the third layer is used as a matte.  As shown, I applied curves to the third layer directly to make it blend more naturally.  Note that in this screen shot I actually inverted the matte layer and thus used inverted luminance, but those steps aren't necessary, I just made an error while getting it working and didn't bother to correct it.

Note how this results in much smoother results than a luminance key or chroma key since a luma or chroma key makes a hard cut off and is not able to do alpha blending based on the intensity of the smoke.  Smoke however is somewhat transparent and you want to be able to see through it where it is darker.  That's why this blending technique works.


I fixed it with a panning / zoom plugin I found for virtualdub


AE - Composition video file/layer missing audio

Make sure the sound icon of the layer is enabled and check the audio waveform of the layer in your composition at this time.

For RAM Audio Preview see this answer: How can I preview with audio in After Effects and be able to pause / resume the preview?


How can I recreate this distortion effect from Midsommar?

Without having seen the movie, it may be difficult to get it down exactly, but here is what I came up with.

Duplicate your layer twice, so that you have three copies.
On the top layer mask out the person.

Set the mask feather to around 30px.
Copy and paste the mask to the other two layers.
On the middle layer, set the mask feather to 60 and the mask expansion to 60. (can be adjusted to suit).
On the bottom layer, set the mask to subtract mode and add a 'Turbulent Displace' effect to the layer.
Adjust the size to suit (I chose 30) and you can keyframe the 'Amount' to have it animate on or off. I also added the expression 'time * 500' to the 'Evolution' property to add some movement.

Here is what mine ended up looking like:

Hope this is close to what you're after.


Making a Digital clock with a specific time for Sony Vegas Platinum 12

It is feasible in Vegas Pro using Vegasaur's Text Wizard, but your problem is that "Vegas Platinum 12" is not Vegas Pro, it is consumer-level Movie Studio Platinum 12.


How do I create a video of typing math symbols

You could be clearer about what 'on my video' means. Does that mean: composited with other moving pictures in your video; or does it mean: in a sequence all by itself that's edited into your video? Or something else? And what video tools can you use?

For compositing use a compositing tool like Adobe After Effects. After Effects would also be perfect for building the 'typing on' sequence of symbols that you want.

If you don't have access to After Effects, why not build your sequence as a set of Photoshop layers which you can then export as an image sequence. Import that sequence into Quicktime (Pro), then re-export as a .mov using a codec that makes sense for you project. If you don't have access to Photoshop you can still do this with any cheap graphics software. Just 'manually' output identically sized images and name your output files sequentially. Tell Quicktime Pro to import them as a sequence.

Another idea:

create a single good image (similar to the ones that you provided links for) of the complete expression or equation that you want to 'type on' the screen.
import into Adobe Illustrator or PhotoShop.
create a series of white 'masks' (just rectangles) to cover each term in the expression or equation) and put each one on it's own layer, in the sequence in which you'll want them revealed.
De-select the eyeball on each layer, in sequence, to hide the 'mask' for that layer and reveal each term in sequence. Run Camtasia as you do this and you'll have the 'typed-on' movie you're looking for. You could pre-record your audio so that you'd have a good sense of timing for the reveal of each term.


Capturing room audio (audience questions/comments)

Audience questions : there's not much alternative than to have another mic (probably a hand-held one) ready to be used by the audience. If the room is really small, possibly a cardioid microphone on a stand pointed toward the audience could do the job.

Round table : have one or two hand-held mics that the speakers take when they want to speak. That's a constraint on them obviously. You can also try a boundary microphone on the table.

Notice also @stib good suggestion below to have a boom operator for audience questions.


custom DaVinci Resolve key mapping does not work

The solution turned out that if a key is already mapped to something else then it won't work. Davinci usually points out errors if something is already mapped however as seen from the attached image, no warnings are triggered so I assumed it should work.


It is possible that Premiere is detecting a spanned file and automatically connecting them.  If a file goes beyond 4GB, it may have to be split in to two files due to limitations of the file system used on some memory cards.  It is possible that when you load the file in to Premiere, it recognizes the file was split and puts them back together for both parts that you import.


After Effects, especially with Mocha, has the most advanced motion tracking and stabilization capabilities of these 3 options, but they are also the most complicated to use if you want the best possible results.  (Note that AE also does offer simple options like Warp Stabilizer if you don't need super advanced stabilization.)

The options in Final Cut Pro X and Premiere CS6 are far more limited, but both are still reasonably powerful.  I will deffer to Guus' answer for that comparison though since I don't have experience working with Final Cut's stabilization.


This is a simple animated lens flare. The specific lens flare they use is likely from a package of lens flares you pay for (a plugin) made by Andrew Kramer over at videocopilot, specifically: https://www.videocopilot.net/products/opticalflares/

To create custom light flares without the need to pay for them, I'd recommend watching this video:

You simply create the object, the flare in this case, and animate its' position. Do you know how to do that?


DJI Osmo X3 vs Canon 5D Mk III for easier chroma green screen keying

The key to pulling a good key is a clean separation between key and subject.  All things being equal, higher resolution will give a sharper edge between key and subject, which is good.  But that's just one consideration.  Chroma subsampling is another.  Chroma recorded at full bandwidth (at least 10-bits and 4:4:4) will give a cleaner key than chroma recorded at reduced bandwidth, such as 4:2:2, or worse, 4:2:0.  Chroma recorded at 4:2:0 is 1/4 the total resolution of chroma recorded at 4:4:4.  This not only fattens up the key's edge, but averaging of four chroma samples creates mystery colors that never existed in the original image, further confusing the key.  The EOS 5D Mk III can be rooted and rebooted with Magic Lantern software to create truly great RAW video, but the stock camera's video uses 8-bit 4:2:0 Chroma subsampling.  It is possible to use HDMI out to record 8-bit 4:2:2, but you have to record audio separately in that case.

The thing to remember about green screen is that unless you have a major sound stage with 60' ceilings and 100'+ wide scrims, you will probably be doing all your work against a small background in a small room, which means very little flexibility in terms of both working distance and focal length.  Which also means that a fixed-lens camera like the DJI Osmo 3 will either qualify for that environment or be radically unqualified.  But the 5D Mk III is a very expensive camera not terribly well-suited for green screen work.  You can go much cheaper with a GH4 (which can record 10-bit 4:2:2 1080p internally).


changing this code to check for a collision from a specific layer

Yes, checkLayers() is what is performs the collision test, and compares every layer in the Comp against the one running the script.

To check against only one layer, you could re-write that function a little cleaner, but here's a quick solution.

First, remove the lines that start and end the for loop, since you'll only be checking one layer. But don't remove the code inside the for loop, since that code is what does the collision check.

for ( idx = 1; idx <= thisComp.numLayers; idx++){  // delete
    ... // keep this stuff
} // delete

You can also delete these two lines, since you don't need to check every layer in the Comp for whether it's the same as the layer running the script, or whether the layer is active or not:

if (index == idx) continue; // skips if the comparison layer is the same as the current layer

if (! L.active) continue;   // skips if the comparison layer is inactive

Last, modify this line:

L = thisComp.layer(idx);

… to make L the one layer that you want to compare to. You might do that by referencing a layer by index or name, such as:

L = thisComp.layer("Name of Single Layer to Compare");

Check the Adobe documentation on Comp attributes and methods to see other options for referencing a specific layer.

You do need the if (checkLayers()) 1 else 0 line at the end, because that's the “switch” that returns the final value of your expression, depending on whether there was a collision (returns 1) or not (returns 0).


connect 8 projectors together to create a large image

Do you expect the large image to be seamless, both in dimension and in tone? Each is a separate challenge. Color-matching 8 projectors can be daunting, depending on the technology. As a general rule, you would overlap the images from the projectors and feather their edges. This costs you something in size, with the benefit of disguising mismatches to some degree. Some projectors have this blending ability built in.

In any case, it would probably be better to use a pair of 4-head graphics cards on one computer, rather than 8 separate PCs. Keeping 8 PCs sync-locked is not easy.

There are commercial products like Watchout that will perform the slicing and syncing of one image into multiple playback PCs, if you have the budget for that.


The easiest way would be to use the shapes as track mattes for the video layers.

Put the Footage A video layer directly beneath the Shape A layer and in the Modes column choose Alpha Matte "Shape A" from the Track Matte drop-down. Repeat for Footage B and Shape B and Footage C and Shape C

What track mattes do is use the alpha (transparency) or luma (brightness) of a layer to set the transparency of the layer directly below it. The Alpha Inverted option reverses wht is visible or invisible.

There's always at least two ways to do anything in After Effects, so I should just mention that other ways to do the same thing include copying the shape paths and pasting as masks on the video layers, or using the silhouette alpha mode on the shape layers and pre-comping. All methods have advantages and disadvantages. Read the page here for more.


How to create a pseudo 3D/virtual POV effect

Th general technique is called camera mapping, projection mapping, or videogrammetry. It works by taking a photo or video from an angle and projecting the image onto geometry.

As a simple example, think of a picture of a typical A-frame house taken from the front of the house. You could easily create the geometry of the house in a 3D application like Max, or Maya. You'd need a plane for the front of the house and planes for the sides of the roof and any dormer windows. If you projected the image of the house onto your plane and masked out the parts that were not house (the sky, ground, etc.), you could then move the virtual camera around it and it would appear you were moving around the front of the house in 3D.

Of course, as soon as you got far enough over to the side, you'd see there's no side to the house. So you'd need a picture from the side, and you'd need more geometry for the side of the house to project it onto.

In the case of a game like the Super Bowl they have cameras all over the stadium, and they know the geometry of the stadium, too. Mostly you just need a ground plane to project the field onto, and a rectangle for each player. Given that the field is green, you may be able to chroma key the players out from the field. You'll need to fill in where they were with at least something green.

There are tools to help with this. It's tedious, but in After Effects you can use lights to project footage onto a solid. There are also plug-ins to help, such as Buena Depth Cue's Camera Mapper.


Create a splitscreen video from two videos of different lengths with delay

Get some basic knowledge of premiere Pro first.

Import both videos and set the settings for your output.
Move the right video in the timeline to where it should start.
Use effects to slow down or speedup your video
Create a still of the first frame and add it to the layer. You can do this as easily as a screenshot and cut it out with photoshop. Ah hell even import the video to Photoshop.


Cannot import XAVC S/AVCHD with Premiere Pro CC 2019

the same problem encountered here with a different sony handy cam.
I don't know how to solve the issue but I have a way to get around it.

import both AVCHD file & MP4 file in Premiere Pro and open both in a sequence.
now use video of AVCHD file & Audio from MP4.

\\ I don't want to use video from .mp4 file because its resolution is lower than the AVCHD.


How can you create on-screen text messages using video editing programs?

These are actually really simple shape/text overlays with a bit of animation. You could probably do a quick and dirty version (though, honestly, it wouldn't even look that dirty!) right in your editor by dropping on some shapes and writing over them in text.

Alternatively, you can create high-resolution versions of the messages in something like Photoshop or Illustrator (or GIMP, if they aren't available) and export them as PNGs which you'll then drop into your project (I use Premiere Pro so I don't know how well FCP talks to Adobe programs - sorry!).

Personally, I use After Effects for things like this and, again, you can either create the text messages in Ae or use Ps/Ai to create the individual layers then import that into your project.

In terms of making it work, there are multiple ways of doing this, too. You could just create a single image and mask areas off until you need to see them (at which point you can animate the mask to reveal the messages or just remove it for simplicity). Or you could animate each message coming in with a swipe or a pop or, perhaps, you could have the sender scale on, the message bubble pop on and the message write on one at a time - entirely up to you!

One more thing - don't worry about sticking too close to a particular design, or about copying the little flick at the bottom of the bubble - as long as you can tell at a glance (ie: without reading the sender info) which messages are incoming and which are outgoing (different colours/left and right margins) you'll be fine ;)


Split one video file into small files made up of its scenes

For AVI-Files there is a little program that can help you split your file into scenes: http://www.avcutty.de/english/index.htm


Adding video into the picture with ffmpeg?

Use the overlay filter:

ffmpeg -loop 1 -i image.jpg -i overlay.mp4 -filter_complex \
"overlay=main_w-overlay_w:main_h-overlay_h:shortest=1" output.mp4


How to view my project elements while working in a composition?

Short answer: yes.

Say you have a subcomp which you want to work on and you want to see how this affects the composition in which it is nested. This is easily done; you just need to open up a new viewer. You can have as many viewers open as you like (until your graphics card catches fire), this will let you see any number of linked compositions at once.

To do it from the menu go to View>New Viewer or hit Ctrl/CmdaltshiftN or right-click in your comp window and choose New>Viewer from the contextual menu.

By default (?) this viewer will show the current composition (this is useful when working in 3D because you can set it to a different perspective), and it will switch when you change comps, so we have to lock it. That's what that little padlock icon is at the top of the comp window.

(I just noticed when taking this screen shot that the icon was already locked. Adobe may have changed the default behaviour of new viewers).

With this padlock locked the viewer will stay on whatever comp you set it to, so you can hop over to a child comp, make changes and see it update in the parent. You can drag your timeline to a new frame by dragging the tab, meaning you can see both timelines and compositions concurrently. Below is an example where you can see both a pre-comp and the composition it is used in, to allow for editing and live updating without switching tabs.


For such low quality footage (320 by 240 was quarter resolution even in the early 2000s), I'd probably go with DV format.  It's a major video standard that, while not used much anymore (though HDV is still used), was a major video standard and thus isn't going anywhere quickly (just look at how MPEG-1 has hung around).  It is designed for high quality video in SD formats and was one of the most common standards for that type of video even at the time of your project.

Many of the MJPEG formats were a pain even when they were new.  I know I had issues with my Matrox MJPEG format content not working without some level of difficulty even when it was current.  DV on the other hand, I've never had a problem with anywhere, including current systems.


I assume that after effects is creating its cache-files on the c-drive (which is the standard location if I recall correctly) and because there is near to no space left, it struggles to cache frames. The first thing you can do is go to edit -> purge everything and see if that helps. In any case, I highly advise you free up your c-drive - I'd feel comfortable with about 100-200gb of free space (at least)


Android,iphone,blackberry, Virtual reality content creation

I wouldn't suggest trying to do it manually unless you are a mathematician - as it really is all about the transforms that take your cylindrical shots and calculate views and sight lines in real time.

Generally this would be done using one of the commercially available panorama to virtual tour applications. There are many out there - I have only used one, but the functionality seems similar across them all.

Try out something like Pano2VR, which has a free trial version to get a feel for how it works.


x264 supports both 8-bit and 10-bit outputs, and you don't have to do anything special.

ffmpeg

If using ffmpeg you can see what pixel formats and bit depths are supported by libx264:

$ ffmpeg -h encoder=libx264
  [...]
  Supported pixel formats: yuv420p yuvj420p yuv422p yuvj422p yuv444p yuvj444p nv12 nv16 nv21 yuv420p10le yuv422p10le yuv444p10le nv20le

10-bit pixel formats are: yuv420p10le, yuv422p10le, yuv444p10le.

x264

You can also check x264 for supported bit depths:

$ x264 --help
  [...]
  Output bit depth: 8/10

Previously you had to compile x264 with --bit-depth=10, and then link your ffmpeg to either an 8-bit or 10-bit libx264, but that is now unnecessary. See Unify 8-bit and 10-bit CLI and libraries for more info.


Should you shoot flat when shooting with a DSLR?

There are two schools of thought on this topic but nothing I know has suggested that shooting with a flat profile is a bad thing. Here is what I understand:

1) When shooting with Canon DSLRs, it's generally advised that you shoot with a flat profile (Technicolor cinestyle, Prolost, etc.) and over expose (but don't clip!!) and you get a picture with much more detail, specifically in the shadows. Here is a video showing this: https://vimeo.com/73909925

It's rather long, but the entire series is good. In there he specifically shows the effects of shooting standard and exposing correctly v.s. shooting flat and over exposing. Lots of detail in the shadow is preserved when performing the latter.

2) A lot of more professional film makers (Shane Hurlbut, and Stillmotion) suggest that you should use a color profile that best matches your final color result. Less work is needed in post, and  you have a better feel for your film. I think I see this school of thought from professionals more often because the gear they own has high dynamic range and retains so much information anyways, so detail isn't something to worry about.

Personally, I'm not a professional and I record with a Canon 550D but I use the Standard Profile when exposing my shot (aka, over exposing) and switch to technicolor cinestyle when I hit record to give me more color grading flexibility in post.


How to distribute multiple clips on the timeline, by Date and the time of the first one?

In Davinci Resolve, I would solve this problem by creating a multicam clip using Timecode as the method for synchronization and keeping clips organized by camera.  This will create a multicam clip with only a single camera, but each clip spaced out according to its timecode.  If you like, the multicam clip can then be decomposed in place and converted into a compound clip, preserving the spacing between the video clips.  You can then place the single compound clip to start at 7:55 and all the rest of the clips inside the compound clip (or multicam clip if you didn't convert to compound clip) should line up as expected.


Can i do audio monitoring with wireless headphones with a field recorder?

I see no reason why not. You'd just have to make sure you find a transmitter that's battery powered, and small enough so you can bundle it with the micro-recorder.

The question is; is it necessary. Would you be able to do anything, such as stop the event/filming, if there was a problem? Secondly; the feed you're monitoring is only going to tell you it's listening, not recording.

We use the micro Tascams with Lav Mics for some events. My recomendation is:

Double Up:  Two Micro Tascam Units
Double Lav Mic Clip
Test Test Test your settings; input levels, auto gain vs manual, bit rate, etc, and get them both setup so you wont overmodulate.
Run one slightly cold. Lower the gain / input on 1 mic by 5 db. So if the speaker gets really loud, you have a lower gain recording.
Record in PCM 24 Bit if possible. You can then use compression in post to get super even audio.
Use black gaff tape to tape OVER the hold button after starting the unit. This will prevent the units from having both a button pressed, as well as the guy turning off the hold button - it's happened to me.
When you start the recorders in the field, at the very start; talk right into the mics, and say; DATE, TIME, EVENT, PERSON THE MIC IS GOING ON, ETC.
Then tape HOLD and LAV them up.

I'd do double mics over monitor, but not sure if that's what you want monitoring for.


Does the project resolution affect the quality of a chromakey?

There isn't a right or wrong answer here I don't think.  Both approaches have advantages.  Keying at 1080p will give you clearer detail when trying to find edges, but also will have more noise that could throw off a key.  Additionally, the downscale after the key will apply a slight blur to the image further disguising the edges to make the keying less obvious without having to do an additional blending on the 720p version.  That said, it will take additional processing effort as the image is larger and there is more area to process.

On the flip side, keying at 720p will reduce the amount of processing needed, but will not blend as well and will potentially have softer edges that don't key quite as easily.  The noise is reduced as mentioned before though, which makes the fill areas easier.  It also matches the native resolution of your final output so it may save some quality on the content being keyed in depending on what the source resolution of that content is.

If both source and key are 1080p, I might consider doing it at 1080p and then downscaling the result, but if one of them is 720p to start with, I'd probably key at 720p and soften the edge a bit unless I ran in to problems.


It's easy to do this with FFmpeg which is run from the command line.

Method 1 – this will size the video appropriately and encode the result in H.264 MP4 format:

ffmpeg.exe -i inputfile.mpg -vcodec h264 -s 720x576 -aspect 5:4 outputfile.mp4

Method 2 – this will set a hint in the file as to the size it should be displayed at (with no recompressing or quality loss). VLC should respect this although not all players/editors will:

ffmpeg.exe -i inputfile.mpg -vcodec copy -aspect 5:4 -acodec copy outputfile.mpg

Method 3 – if you detect a decrease in the quality of the MPEG you can compress it at a high-bitrate MPEG-2:

ffmpeg.exe -i inputfile.mpg -vcodec mpeg2video -aspect 5:4 -acodec pcm_s16le -b 30000k outputfile.mpg

Good luck!


Is there a way to stretch only a portion of the video?

Yes, you need to work with two video tracks, use the crop and scale effect.

Create a sequence from your clip.
Apply the crop effect and set it to left: 50%
Locate the scale settings under the always present motion effect
Disable uniform scaling and set scale width to whatever you like
Add the clip again as a new track on top
Apply the crop effect on this track too and set it to right: 50%

And that's it.


Premiere Pro - Animation - rotate question mark about its "dot"

The least pain-staking method? Open After Effects, press "y" to move the anchor point and drag it over the dot. If you rotate now, the rotation is happening from the anchor-point.


YUV to RGB/sRGB color space conversion using ffmpeg

ffmpeg -y -i output.mp4 -c:v libx264rgb output_264.mp4
Output #0, mp4, to 'output_264.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : mp42
    minor_version   : 0
    compatible_brands: isommp42
    encoder         : Lavf57.83.100
    Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (libx264rgb) (avc1 / 0x31637661), rgb24(progressive), 636x360 [SAR 1:1 DAR 53:30], q=-1--1, 27.05 fps, 13524 tbn, 27.05 tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : VideoHandler
      encoder         : Lavc57.107.100 libx264rgb
    Side data:
      cpb: bitrate max/min/avg: 0/0/0 buffer size: 0 vbv_delay: -1
    Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 44100 Hz, mono, fltp, 69 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2018-02-04T15:39:08.000000Z
      handler_name    : IsoMedia File Produced by Google, 5-11-2011
      encoder         : Lavc57.107.100 aac

ffprobe output_264.mp4
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'output_264.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : isom
    minor_version   : 512
    compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41
    encoder         : Lavf57.83.100
  Duration: 00:07:50.02, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1006 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (High 4:4:4 Predictive) (avc1 / 0x31637661), gbrp(tv, gbr/unknown/unknown), 636x360 [SAR 1:1 DAR 53:30], 928 kb/s, 27.05 fps, 27.05 tbr, 13524 tbn, 54.10 tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : VideoHandler


Mic shot looks like a dolly back tilt to track the subject. This is a compound movement that is natural to do with a hand held camera but more challenging when using a digital camera. Try tracking your camera to a null object in the scene roughly in the same place as the subject, but you can then move the null away from the subject to get better balanced framing.

Try using a handheld real world camera, like a phone, to rehearse shots around a substitute object like a glass or cup. Just fly around but try to stick to a fixed duration, a slow shot might last 6 seconds and a quick move might be 2 seconds. This will give you an idea how long a move takes while still being comfortable to watch later.

They used to do this revisualisation in the movies all the time, before CG came along.


Why sometimes I can set framerate sometimes I can't?

Note that camera has many different pixel_formats supported and they have different framerates specification. Check the pixel_format you used, it is likely that the default pixel_format does not support the framerate you want.


Problem setting first frame timecode using ffmpeg - timecode always different from requested for 59.94fps video

The user-supplied timecode value is converted to an integer value that represents the frame number which is associated with that timecode. It is this integer which is stored in the file.

In drop-frame timecode, since some timecode labels are periodically skipped, timecode and (frame count/fps) do not correspond anymore i.e. timecode * fps != frame count. This necessitates an adjustment in order to derive the corresponding frame number. The code assumed a fixed 30 fps, but has now been fixed.


It has been a long time since you asked the question. Maybe you have found your answer to your question in mean time. I am going to answer it anyway for you and for all others that are using this video editor.

I am using Shotcut in version 17.03.02.

There are probably more elegant and simple ways of doing this. The way I like to do it create a SVG file with the text I want (for example in Inkscape). I import this SVG into Shotcut and put in a separate video track above the main track and leave compositing enabled. Then I add fade-in and fade-out video filters to the SVG-Text video and enable the option "Adjust opacity instead of fade with black" for both filters. You can also adjust the duration of the filter/filters.

So to sum up:

create svg file with your text
add a video track with the svg file
leave compositing on
add fade-in/out filters and adjust duration
check "Adjust opacity instead of fade with black" in both fade filters

Enjoy!


How do I turn audio into video (that is, show the waveforms in a video)?

You can use ffmpeg to create video from audio using several filters.

ahistogram

Convert input audio to a video output, displaying the volume histogram.

ffmpeg

ffmpeg -i input.flac -filter_complex \
"[0:a]ahistogram,format=yuv420p[v]" \
-map "[v]" -map 0:a output.mp4

ffplay

ffplay -f lavfi "amovie=input.flac, asplit [a][out1]; [a] ahistogram [out0]"

See the ahistogram documentation for more options and examples.

aphasemeter

Convert input audio to a video output, displaying the audio phase.

ffmpeg

ffmpeg -i input.wav -filter_complex \
"[0:a]aphasemeter=s=1280x720:mpc=cyan,format=yuv420p[v]" \
-map "[v]" -map 0:a output.mp4

ffplay

ffplay -f lavfi "amovie=input.wav, asplit [a][out1]; [a] aphasemeter=s=1280x720:mpc=cyan [out0]"

See the aphasemeter documentation for more options and examples.

avectorscope

Convert input audio to a video output, representing the audio vector scope.

ffmpeg

ffmpeg -i input.mp3 -filter_complex \
"[0:a]avectorscope=s=1280x720,format=yuv420p[v]" \
-map "[v]" -map 0:a output.mp4

ffplay

ffplay -f lavfi "amovie=input.mp3, asplit [a][out1]; \
[a] avectorscope=zoom=1.3:rc=2:gc=200:bc=10:rf=1:gf=8:bf=7 [out0]"

See the avectorscope documentation for more options and examples.

showcqt

Convert input audio to a video output representing frequency spectrum with musical tone scale.

ffmpeg

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -filter_complex \
"[0:a]showcqt,format=yuv420p[v]" \
-map "[v]" -map 0:a output.mp4

ffplay

ffplay -f lavfi "amovie=input.mp4, asplit [a][out1]; [a] showcqt [out0]"

See the showcqt documentation for more options and examples.

showfreqs

Convert input audio to video output representing the audio power spectrum. Audio amplitude is on Y-axis while frequency is on X-axis.

ffmpeg

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -filter_complex \
"[0:a]showfreqs=mode=line:fscale=log,format=yuv420p[v]" \
-map "[v]" -map 0:a output.mp4

ffplay

ffplay -f lavfi "amovie=input.mp4, asplit [a][out1]; [a]  showfreqs=mode=line:fscale=log [out0]"

See the showfreqs documentation for more options and examples.

showspectrum

Convert input audio to a video output, representing the audio frequency spectrum.

ffmpeg

ffmpeg -i input.oga -filter_complex \
"[0:a]showspectrum=s=1280x720,format=yuv420p[v]" \
-map "[v]" -map 0:a output.mp4

ffplay

ffplay -f lavfi "amovie=input.oga, asplit [a][out1]; \
[a] showspectrum=mode=separate:color=intensity:slide=1:scale=cbrt [out0]"

See the showspectrum documentation for more options and examples.

showwaves

Convert input audio to a video output, representing the samples waves.

ffmpeg

ffmpeg -i input.m4a -filter_complex \
"[0:a]showwaves=s=1280x720:mode=line:rate=25,format=yuv420p[v]" \
-map "[v]" -map 0:a output.mp4

ffplay

ffplay -f lavfi "amovie=input.m4a, asplit [a][out1]; [a] showwaves [out0]"

See the showwaves documentation for more options and examples.

showvolume

Convert input audio volume to a video output.

ffmpeg

ffmpeg -i input.mka -filter_complex \
"[0:a]showvolume=f=1:b=4:w=720:h=68,format=yuv420p[vid]" \
-map "[vid]" -map 0:a output.mp4

ffplay

ffplay -f lavfi "amovie=input.mka, asplit [a][out1]; [a] showvolume=f=255:b=4:w=720:h=68 [out0]"

See the showvolume documentation for more options and examples.

Notes

See FFmpeg Wiki: H.264 Encoding Guide for more detailed information regarding output quality.
format=yuv420p makes sure that libx264 uses a pixel format that is compatible with crappy players like QuickTime.
Instead of re-encoding by default, you can use -c:a copy to stream copy the audio if your output container format supports the audio format. Think of stream copying (re-muxing) like a copy and paste – no re-encoding.

Get ffmpeg

You should always use a recent version since development is very active. Links to builds of ffmpeg for Windows, OS X, and Linux are available on the FFmpeg Download page. Or you can follow a step-by-step guide to compile ffmpeg.


Why does FFMPEG fail when converting Intervalometer photos into a time lapse movie?

The problem is that a sequence of images is not a video file.  In order to convert it to a video format such as h.264, it has to load an entire group of pictures (probably somewhere around 15 of them) and then perform a whole bunch of calculations to determine how the images are related to each other.  It then uses that information to determine what to actually store.

It doesn't store actual pictures, but rather it stores a couple of pictures (I frames) but then stores information about what changed from those frames to the next frames and what will change from those frames to the frames after (known as P and B frames).  This is a big part of why h.264 compression (and most other modern video formats) are able to fit so much video in to such small amounts of space compared to how much space the images take on their own.

If you were to save it as something like an MJPEG where each image is actually stored on its own, then it would just be a matter of appending them together, but then the file size of the video would probably be unplayably huge.


Use In/Out points.
Put an "In" point on the audio clip, and one on each of the already-synced video clips. Those "In" points should be put on the same sync points (that is, moments that are clearly visible on all clips, say, the clap-board clapping and the sound of the clap!). Whatever sync-point you choose, make sure it's also visible on your non-synced clip.
Put an "In" point on your non-synced clip, at the sync-point that you've already marked on the synced-clips.
Choose to sync your sequence by "In" point.
The program will align the "In" points and you should have a synced sequence.


How can I rotate in steps with After Effects?

Figured out how to do it with expressions. You need to know the time taken for a full rotation and the number of degrees you want to increment.

degrees = 6; // Number of degrees to rotate by
fullRotationTime = 60000; // Number of milliseconds to complete a full 360 degree rotation

steps = 360/degrees; // Number of steps in one rotation
divisor = fullRotationTime / steps;

ms = 1000*time; // Milliseconds since start
degrees*(Math.floor(((ms)/divisor)%steps))

This example will "tick" once a second for 60 seconds.


As the stabilizer got a USB female port things are lot easier. Let me break your question into these two:

In order to use your Android device as a live preview device you need a capture card.
To view what you captured from the camera, you need an application for that.

Re: GoPro Hero4 Black edition has Wi-Fi as in the specs though some cameras lack in Wi-Fi. If you have Wi-Fi you don't need the equipment, you just need the GoPro app on your phone, and it will show you the moments you captured.

Let me answer.

You need an OTG cable with a Capture card for live-streaming. You can refer to the link for purchasing the capture card. Check this link for the video.
There is no possible way to view what you have captured unless you are connected via Wi-Fi or via the USB to PC.

You can try out connecting the camera to the phone via the OTG cable, you need a USB Male-to-Male cable for that.

Recommended Answer: Use an FPV (First-person view) cable for live streaming, easy and fast. You can find all the info related to it here.

Hope this helps. Good day!


Premiere Pro system compatibility report unsupported video drivers

The only solution I found is to open a new project on premiere, go to "edit", preferences, general and uncheck "show system compatibility issues at startup".
This will make that thing desappear, but it won't fix any issue.
Anyway, i hope it helps.
Bye!
Bizzarra


ffmpeg: How to list all possible video parameters for DNxHD dnxhr_lb profile?

The DNxHR profiles have simpler restrictions - only on pixel format and minimum frame size.

Accepted Pixel formats

LB:  YUV 4:2:2 (8-bit)
SQ:  YUV 4:2:2 (8-bit)
HQ:  YUV 4:2:2 (8-bit)
HQX: YUV 4:2:2 (10-bit)
444: YUV 4:4:4 or RGB (10-bit)

In addition, all HR profiles require the picture to be at least 256 x 120.


How can I merge a large collection of video-audio pair of clips without having to repeat the work for each individual pair in primier pro?

What format are the seperate audio/video files? Are the audio files currently in sync with the video?
I did this recently with some old source files that had originally been authored for DVD, the source files were .m2v / .wav pairs of files. I used TMPEGEnc Smart Renderer to merge all the source files into one big .mpg file (no re-encoding in this step with that tool, so no quality change), and then fed the resulting file into Handbrake to get an MP4 file. For a one-off, you can likely just use the trial version of Smart Renderer.
For Premiere it would basically be the same, import all the source files, create a sequence, and then drag the video & audio files onto the sequence as appropriate, and export to H.264 Format. Smart Renderer worked easier for me, as the files were mostly prefixed with number order, and the video/audio files had matching names, so I could literally just import a folder at a time into the project, and not have to rearrange anything to get the correct pairing and sequencing - a bunch of the manual sequencing work got done for free by doing it this way. Premiere just would have taken longer to do the same job, plus not trusting myself not to make a mistake somewhere manually building the sequences.


I have installed SUPER today, and Desktop Capture Engine has appeared on my computer.


It sounds to me like you're describing interlaced video.  Which is, yes, "some kind of compression trick aimed at CRT displays," but has more to do with the perception of smooth motion, and less to do with brightness.  Basically, every other line comes from the next video frame, which may have the effect of making the lines brighter or darker.


iOS 8 Video Editing App That Lets You Hear The Audio While Trimming?

There're many great video editing apps in the AppStore. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to name a specific app according to the StackExchange policy (my previous answer was banned). Some of them play sound while you do video editing (trimming, applying video effects, etc.)

For sure smartphones now have enough computational power to do very complex video editing, they have GPU for even better performance. As a such kind of apps developer I admit that only a tiny fraction of professional desktop video editing software features couldn't be implemented on a smartphone. The major limitation is the screen size. It is freaking hard to make an intuitive user interface and a great user experience on such a small screen.


ffmpeg concatenation of MP3 files to single M4A file fails

Each line in the concat list must be either a comment (start line with #) or a keyword. To specify an input, start with file,
so 01.mp3 becomes file 01.mp3.


How to resolve ffmpeg error "input contains (near) nan/+-inf"?

If you have a ffmpeg build with libfdk_aac then you can use that encoder since it doesn't report that error.

With your current build, you have to convert the audio to 16 bit integer samples first.

ffmpeg -i input.wmv -vf "scale=320:240,setsar=1" -crf 24 -af aformat=s16p -c:a aac -b:a 48k -ac 1 -movflags +faststart output.mp4


As you know, the contrast function darkens dark colors further and lightens light colors further. Software without a pivot parameter assume that the point where darkening becomes lightening is exactly in the middle, at 0.5 (for a color range of 0 to 1). Those with a pivot parameter allow to move the pivot point up or down. Shifting the pivot slightly down (e.g. from 0.5 to 0.4) results in dark-medium colors (let's say 0.45) not anymore being darkened, but lightened.

In your image, the effect is not that visible because most of the colors are already very bright, very dark, or just in the middle.

If you want to lift or lower your midtone details, I would suggest that you use a gamma or midtone control instead.


Best export settings for still image with audio

To minimise the file size for distribution of something like this, you need a Variable Frame Rate encoder, which will effectively just encode 1 frame, and set the frame rate such that there's no further frames. I've not seen this available in Adobe (or any commercial product I've looked into), but definitely there are services I've seen encoding video this way - I've seen examples of very small Facebook video files that appear to be VFR and done this way. In the absence of finding an available encoder, I'd just lower the bitrate as much as you can in Adobe that the image is still good, and use that. The upload time to YouTube might suck, but it only has to be uploaded once anyway.
If anyone does know of an available VFR (Variable Frame Rate) encoder, please post the info - this isn't the first time I've seen the question asked, but I'm yet to learn of any end-user available encoders to do this.


Make video look like it was shot in a dark room

You are lucky that you don't have extreme lighting conditions in your shot, also you're indoors. So it should definitely be possible to get the footage a bit darker looking without making it look weird.
I can recommend working in After Effects rather than Premiere, its far more suited for advanced lighting correction.

I would start by masking the already dark areas of your footage and make them even darker. Try to create a more focused looking light that's coming from the light bulb/screen or whatever light source you want to have. If you want to create new light sources you will also have to make some masks to emulate the way the light would shine on the surrounding objects.
The whole part behind the chair should be a lot darker.
Generally make everything that is already in a shadowy area even darker and lower the brightness of the image overall to a point that feels good.

Also something that should help is this (bit dated) tutorial by Andrem Kramer. Its not perfect but definitely a good help to figure out the workflow:
http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorial/day_to_night_conversion/


Gopro hero 5 black video modes recommendation

Great question! I would take a look at Abe Kislevitz's blog. He is one of GoPro's senior Creative Directors and has a myriad of information on his website that covers the best settings to use on GoPros.


Use cross-platform wrapper library FFmpegSource (around FFmpeg) — particularly, its filter FFmpegSource2() (instead of built-in AviSource() or DirectShowSource()).

See AviSynth Wiki about it.


There's different ways of accomplishing this. The easiest method I'd use is to build the entire dialogue in Illustrator or Photoshop, then Import the psd or ai into after-effects and reveal portions of the text using an animated mask.


Does animation make use of any Artificial Intelligence?

Yes, quite frequently, particularly in crowd simulation.  Actors within the crowd are programmed with particular behavior types and will interact with each other to form a more lifelike crowd.  The interactions are usually fairly simple, but it is a form of AI.  I'm not sure if it is still around, but one of the early programs used for this was actually called "Behavior".

Some procedural animation could also be described as a form of AI as well.  For example, when a character needs to walk across uneven terrain, it can be possible to setup a physics simulation and have the character alter their movements to maintain balance.  This is really also a form of AI combined with physics simulation.

There are probably others as well, but those are the first two that come to mind as relatively common uses.


How to remove background from video without using green screen

Looking at your first example, I woul guess green screen, and not a particularly good one. It looks like they really need to increase the spill suppression, judging by the green spill evident on the feet of the bin.

An alternative approach is to shoot in a studio with an infinite white cyc, for example something like this one (randomly selected from a duckduckgo search, not necessarily endorsed). When lit correctly it will look like the second example, though that too could totally have been done with greenscreen—the forearms look a lot like there's spill that's been corrected.

The reason for shooting against green, rather than shooting against white or black is when you want to do background replacement. If you know that the background is going to just be white, then shooting against white is the way to go. But if you want to replace the background and you use white (or black) then any highlights (or shadows) are going to become transparent. It's much easier to keep green out
of your foreground than stopping it having any highlights or shadows.

Another approach is to use rotoscoping. This is where masks are drawn around the foreground to cut it out from the background. While software like After Effects includes tools to automate this task somewhat, it is still a very time and labour-intensive process, and generally the results are inferior to other techniques. I would use rotoscoping only as a last resort, and I don't think I'm alone here.


Lightroom-like software for video (categorizing & organizing footage)

I think the keywords your looking for is "media asset management" or "video asset management". Apart from the numerous commercial softwares around, this list of open source alternatives might give you a good overview.

http://www.opensourcedigitalassetmanagement.org


Panasonic SDR-H100 Multiple Program Files

If the camera is following DCIM standards, then there should be a 4 digit ID number appended to the end of a 4 digit prefix to form the filename.  The standard is that when a folder is filled (the counter reaches 9999), a new folder is created and the counter starts over again at 1.

While there does not appear to be a way to combine these folders on the camera itself, it should be possible for you to simply copy the files in to the same folder on your PC as long as the names don't overlap.


Scale, position, and zoom a still image in Premiere Pro CC

That's very easy. Simply select all images, press right click -> Nest.
Give it a name and you are done. Now on this single "clip" apply your movement.
If you want to edit the single images, double click the new clip.


Is there any format for videos like RAW format for photos?

Yes there is but if you have to ask, you probably can't afford it :)

Digital video cameras for professional use can shoot in a RAW format with one file for each frame. The bandwidth required is enormous and requires fast hard drives or an output over a fiber-optic link. Pricing is several times that of a full-frame


Put creatures moving around in your videos

Looks like standard CGI stuff. It would be easiest to film the musician against a green screen, and then simply replace the background with computer generated scenery and creatures by using a chroma keyer.

He claims that some of the videos were filmed out doors. I don't know whether he's being cheeky or serious. But even if we take him at his word, you need to generate the creatures in the computer and then composite them into the scene.

In order to make this look good, you need to make sure that the lighting on everything looks correct. If you film the musician against a green screen, you can either put lights on the talent before filming and make sure they match the generated background, or add them in post to match the generated background. It's probably easier to do it during filming.


You can use -r 30 to designate 30 fps for your mp4 output.
The whole cmd can be like this

ffmpeg -i https://example.com/xxx.m3u8 -y -vcodec copy -c copy -bsf:a aac_adtstoasc test.mp4


Footage feels "faster" when exporting from After Effects

I had the same problem!

So let me explain the answer :

After effects imports your video at the wrong frame rate, so to fix it follow these steps :

Open the Project panel (by default on the left of your screen)
Right click on your footage and go to Interpret Footage -> Main... as shown below.

In the screen that opens up input the desired framerate (15fps in this case) in the textbox next to Conform to framerate. Press OK.

Now After Effects should know that the footage is 15fps.


How to *integrate* every two frames of an existing video into one in order to compensate for low illumination?

As you note, just adding (integrating) each pair of adjacent frames to make one new frame decreases the frame rate.

But if all you want to do is integrate adjacent frames, consider duplicating the video into a separate timeline, shifted by exactly one frame. Integrating these two streams would give you a new video with the same frame rate, but shorter by one frame overall.

All the rest of the noted issues might surface, but at least the frame rate wouldn't change.


Best presets to scale legacy 4:3 and 5:4 videos using ffmpeg

In order to maintain the aspect ratio of the source movie through FFMpeg's scaler, you have to specify a scale with an unknown:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -an -vcodec libx264 -profile:v main \
  -pass 2 -vf scale=-1:180 -pix_fmt (etc...)

The "-1" will tell the scaler to make the output 180px high, and however many pixels wide the output must be to preserve it's original aspect ratio.

This would give you movies with the old aspect ratio, you need a way of forcing the original movie into an arbitrary rectangle.  The documentation give an example of how you do this:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf scale="'if(gt(a,4/3),320,-1)':'if(gt(a,4/3),-1,240)'"

This example will create a movie that is 320x240, and preserves the original pixel aspect ratio, whatever that may be.  The output will be positioned against the upper-left corner (I think) so you'll have to do a filter to repo it.


I'm not an economist, but I have built and run a small render farm. I'd make the decision on a ROI basis: will you get back a return from your investment? I can't answer this for you, you'll need to add up all the costs for both options and compare.

Costs for a physical render farm are mostly fixed - i.e. the capital outlay, but you have to factor in depreciation, maintenance and electricity, and the price of housing it. Costs for a cloud-based solution are all on a usage basis.

So a cloud-based solution would work if you only need it occasionally, especially if you need massive render power that would cost a lot to set up and run. Commercial render farms can have thousands of processors, meaning that rendering a sequence takes only as long as it takes to render the longest frame. So cloud farms have the edge in terms of scale. A con with cloud based systems is that you have to trust a third party with your intellectual property. There's also the overhead of sending and receiving the files, depending on your internet connection (a bit of an issue here in Australia).

A physical render farm makes sense if you're using it all the time, and you can afford the upfront cost for the size of farm you need. It has the advantage that it's always available, and using it is (almost) free, so you can use it for things you wouldn't bother sending to a commercial render farm. After all, the more you use it, the more your return.

An inexpensive way of building up a render farm is to retire workstation machines to the farm, thus adding extra value to them. The downside of using older machines is the energy cost - generally they do less computing per watt-hour than newer machines.


If your system has external SAS, you can either buy an older LTO Tape Drive System, such as an LTO-5, or rent one. Or go for an LTO-6 or 7 drive.

Linear tape really is the best choice for a number of production environments which is why so many post houses have adopted it for footage back up.

The tapes have large capacity, are enterprise secure, have built in fault tolerance, are fairly easy to use, and it's the CHEAPEST way to archive.

An LTO-6 Tape will hold 2.5TB uncompressed content (raw video), will write at speeds of roughly 140mb/s and the tape will cost you about $20.

A 2TB HDD Bare Spinning Drive is far most costly than that and will not run/be locked/greased up if you try to use it 50 years from now.

They are archival for 30-50 years.

It's what the National Archives uses.


Panasonic's AVCHD video format: questions about quality, compatability, conversion

The AVCHD vs. MP4 is just a choice of a container format. When all other parameters are the same, choosing AVCHD or MP4 depends on the use you intend to give to the movie clips that you record. If you plan on doing editing, then MP4 is better because it has the index tables that video editors need to find frames fast using random access. If on the other side you plan to just streaming these clips over to a TV or computer then AVCHD is best as it is a transport stream, so players will have to do less work to play the clip from start to end.

Note that a utility like ffmpeg can easily convert between AVCHD and MP4 without any loss of quality, so really the choice you make isn't irreversible.

What determines image quality is the picture size and the recording bitrate, not the container format. I went to the site that has the specs for your camera and found it offers the following recording options:

[HD Video]

1920 x 1080 pixels, 50i (FSH: 17Mbps / AVCHD) (Sensor output is 25p)
1280 x 720 pixels, 50p (SH: 17Mbps / AVCHD) (Sensor output is 25p)
1920 x 1080 pixels, 25 fps (FHD: 20Mbps / MP4)
1280 x 720 pixels, 25 fps (HD: 10Mbps / MP4)

[STD Video]

640 x 480 pixels, 25 fps (VGA: 4Mbps / MP4)

So for best quality you should pick the largest picture size at the largest bitrate. Looking at the above list the best choice is the FHD format, which is 1920x1080 at 20Mbps, and that option is only available in MP4.

The second and third options are at 17Mbps. At that level you have two options, 1920x1080 and 1280x720, both recorded in AVCHD.

Note that I'm not including frame rate in my decisions, since it appears the sensor in this camera can only record 25p.


When using ffmpeg to encode an MP4 for general consumption, should I set the profile and IDC level? (-profile:v and -level:v)

Let the encoder set the level automatically. The encoder will have a default profile (High for x264) and higher the profile, better quality for a given bitrate or lower bitrate for a certain quality target. Unless you have compatibility concerns, default High is fine as well.


Delaying video overlay in ffmpeg without frame drops

Try

ffmpeg -framerate 60 -loop 1 -i ~/Desktop/FP2.tiff -i ~/Desktop/fp.mov -i ~/Desktop/fp.mov \
       -lavfi "[0][1:v]overlay=10:(main_h-overlay_h)/2:format=rgb:shortest=1[v1]; \
               [2:v]setpts=(PTS-STARTPTS)+2/TB[2v]; \
               [v1][2v]overlay=460:(main_h-overlay_h)/2:shortest=1:format=rgb[final]; \
               [2:a]adelay=2000|2000[a2];[1:a][a2]amix=inputs=2[audio]" \
 -map "[final]" -map [audio] -c:v ffv1 -level 3 -c:a pcm_s16be ~/Desktop/filtergraph.nut

If this still drops frames, then you should insert a FIFO filter for the 2nd video after the setpts, like this:

[2:v]setpts=(PTS-STARTPTS)+2/TB,fifo[2v]


Looking for video software for analysing videos

It's possible that this question is a duplicate of one of the questions below:

What Beginner Video Editing Software Should I Use?

Free video editing software


After effects - how to put multiple sources on the same layer line? or how to reduce the scrolling of the layers panel?

Video editing (cutting) is best done with Premiere Pro and animation with After Effects. Both are complex software tools that require lots of training. You should invest more time in training or maybe choose different products, if they simply don't fit to your style of working.
Create a sequence in Premiere where you can easily have as many clips in a track as you want. Create a new sequence where you insert this sequence (this is called nested sequence). Then right click on the inserted sequence and select Replace With After Effects Composition. When After Effects opens you will see that you get a composition with only one layer.


Compressor 4.1: Why can't I select the group I made for distributed processing?

Compressor 4.1 does not support distributed renderings for other programs (such as FCPX).  This is documented on page 11 of the Transitioning To Compressor document.  You can only do distributed encoding for transcodes defined entirely within Compressor, not renders.


After Effects - Can Expressions read from Extend Script?

Short answer: no.

Long answer: There may be an unknown, undocumented hack that enables this, like modifying some of the core classes, or a workaround, like writing to a file and reading the results, but I've never heard of such a thing.

You probably know this, but it might be worth spelling out the differences between the two.

Expressions are evaluated every time a frame is rendered, either during preview or final render (this can be multiple times per frame when motion blur is turned on). They can access the properties of layers and compositions and other project items, as well as making some system calls and reading external files and a few other undocumented JS functions like time and date. They can not change any part of the project, they are limited to returning one value—the value applied to the property they belong to.

This is different to the way scripts work, which is to basically replicate anything the user could do, but programatically. They are not called at render time. Since scripts can change the content of compositions, there would be problems with calling them at render time: just using your example, the alert might be displayed 64 times per frame if motion blur was set really high—that would get old pretty quickly. But even for a non-trivial example: suppose you had a script that added a layer to the current comp. If it was called from an expression it would run every time the frame was rendered, whether it was at final render time, or during previewing, or when the user parked the playhead on the frame. With MB on that could mean 64 new layers could be added per frame—while the comp was being rendered. The results would get pretty messy.


Parent a Position X from Particular World to it's own transform xPosition

There's no property called xPosition, and transform is a property of a layer, not a method, but you're on the right track. The expression has to return an array of two values [x, y], and the components of the position are stored in an array like that too. The expression you want — if you're applying it to the layer position property — is this:

xpos=thisComp.layer("Blue").effect("CC Particle World")("Position X");
ypos=transform.position[1];
[xpos, ypos]

That will apply the value of the Position X property of the effect to the X position of the layer, and the current Y value of the layer to the Y.

If you're trying to use the layer's X position on the effect's Position X property then you need to use:

thisComp.layer("Blue").transform.position[0]

you only need one value for this property.

  Pro Tip a great way to learn how properties are accessed in expressions, as well as being a super quick and typo-free way of
  creating them is to use the pickwhip. Next to the expression box
  you'll see a curly icon. Click that and drag it to the property you
  want to reference in your expression. So in the second case you could
  drag it to the number for the X value of the layer's position and it
  would give you the correct syntax for accessing it.

A good place to learn more about expressions is Dan Ebbert's page: http://motionscript.com/


Is there any AI upscale tool for videos?

There's a few options I've seen listed at https://sites.google.com/view/aiupscalingtutorials/ai-upscaling:

1. ESRGAN

An open source AI upscaler (super sampler) based on a generative adversarial network architecture.
Can be run in CPU mode, but requires a CUDA enabled Nvidia graphics card to get the most out of it.

2. SFTGAN

An open source image enhancer that seeks to restore lost texture details from known types, made by the same team who developed ESRGAN.
Can be run in CPU mode, but requires a CUDA enabled Nvidia graphics card to get the most out of it.

3. Topaz Gigapixel AI / Video Enhance AI

Commercial super sampler that uses artificial intelligence and is made by Topaz Labs.  It costs $100, but comes with a 30 day free trial.
Produces good results with little fuss.  Easy to install, but also requires a CUDA enabled Nvidia graphics card.

4. Sharpen AI

Commercial image enhancer that uses artificial intelligence and is made by Topaz Labs.  It costs $80, but comes with a 30 day free trial.
The algorithm often compliments other super resolution results, effectively sharpening some blurriness and enhancing detail.

5. Nvidia Gameworks

Apparently, it works quite well, but it requires a beta access pass which very few people were awarded.

And then I've also read some good reports about the open-source Dandere2x which may be worth checking out.


Identify paid Features in Davinci-16_ Free

This an older document (v15), but I believe that most of the Free v/s Paid feature list is still valid: https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/SupportNotes/DaVinci_Resolve_15_Feature_Comparison.pdf


Digitize a VHS tape with FFmpeg and get a live preview

The tee muxer is suitable for this.

ffmpeg \
-f v4l2 -standard PAL -thread_queue_size 2048 -i /dev/video1 \
-f alsa -thread_queue_size 2048 -i hw:2,0 \
-map 0 -map 1 \
-vf yadif=1 \
-vcodec libx264 -preset superfast -crf 23 -flags +global_header \
-acodec libmp3lame -b:a 128k -ac 2 -ar 48000 \
-f tee "vhs_output.mov|[f=nut:onfail=ignore]pipe:1" | ffplay -


A very simple one you can do is a transition that is dipping to white. If your editor doesn't offer this kind of transition you can do the following: add a still image which is all white, do a cross dissolve from scene A to the white still, then a cross dissolve from the white still to scene B. Ideally the first time you use it is when audience can infer clearly from context that scene B is a flashback, so that they recognize that this type of transition represents a flashback. Also you may add a subtle, short sound effect.
It does not look that fancy, but should be easy to do and many would argue anyway to keep your transitions clean and simple anyway.


How to concatenate two mxf files with ffmpeg, preserving both audio channels?

Apparently by default ffmpeg only copies one stream of each type.  To tell it to copy all streams, you need -map 0

So, this does it:

ffmpeg -i "concat:a01.mxf|b02.mxf" -y -map 0 -c copy result.mxf


How to set up a Livestream from SJ4000 Wifi?

You have two choices...

The wireless way:

SJ4000 WiFi has a built-in RTSP streaming server, supporting one client at a time with a limited resolution at 640x360.

This can be viewed locally by connecting your phone or laptop to the camera's access point, start a RTSP+H.264-capable media player (e.g. VLC Media Player), and instruct it to open following URL:

rtsp://192.168.1.254/sjcam.mov

However, if you would like to allow multiple people to watch the stream, you would need to install a live streaming software (that supports RTSP video source) on your phone or laptop.

VLC Media Player (at least the desktop version) can do a self-hosted live streaming in this scenario, but is awkward to set up.
Open Broadcaster Studio is known to support this configuration as well as broadcasting into services like YouTube, Twitch, or Dailymotion.

The wired way:

SJ4000 WiFi is capable of acting as a USB webcam with HD-ready 1280x720 resolution.

Once the camera's USB port is connected to laptop or OTG-capable Android phone, choose "PCCamera" mode on camera's screen; and you can view the stream locally with any webcam application.

As you are going to re-broadcast the stream, any live streaming software should work (anything ranging from Google Hangouts, LINE, Facebook Live, Youtube app, to specialized ones like Open Broadcaster mentioned above).

Caveat:

As far as I have tested with my firmware version, the camera does not provide audio streaming in both RTSP and USB webcam mode. Since you are broadcasting sport event, you would have to insert live audio on-field in the live streaming software (optionally, with proper A/V delay compensation). Which in this case, the wired way is recommended, as there are more choices on software you can use.

If you are not particularly picky with the 0.6+ sec A/V desync, using wired mode with video chat applications mentioned above should suffice; they will pick audio from laptop/phone's microphone. However, if you need A/V delay compensation, use Open Broadcaster Studio or other specialized live streaming software of similar ability instead.

Hope this helps.


Preset/macro for complicated nested effect

I'd try to export a sample project as XML and then let a script change the necessary parts of the XML project file.


After Effects: Generate floating effects (smoke, particles, plasma, light, etc)

This effect can be achieved by using different particle systems.

I've almost done the same thing for TV-show intro. It was done with Red Giant Trapcode Particular plugin, see the result here.

You should move your emitter in 3D space with different particle settings for different effects. Also see this tutorial on how to work with Trapcode Particular.

However Trapcode Particular is pretty expensive. After Effects is shipped with the following built-in particle system effects:

CC Particle Systems II
CC Particle World
Particle Playground

You can try to reach same result with them. But they have poor set of settings.


Vegas Pro 13 : Project's and Timeline's framerate are suddenly not the same

Are you sure that your footage is in 25 fps? If so, try and see if you can change the interpretation of the clip like in premiere. Other than that, a restart is the only thing I got left to propose.


Photoshop Layer Blending Goes Away When Imported into After Effects

If you want to be able to edit your layer styles from Photoshop inside After Effects, you need to do the following:

Save your photoshop project as a .PSD file.
Import it into After Effects with the following options-
Choose "Import Kind: Composition (retain layer sizes if you wish)
Set Layer Options - Editable Layer Styles

Double click on the comp that is created.  You'll see a series of layers in your timeline, which should correspond to your layers in Photoshop.

If you pop open the triangles next to the relevant layer, you should see the layer styles, as shown below:


Not enough info. Try getting a copy of the GSpot Codec Information program (google it) and report back here what it says about the file.

Size is almost certainly not the problem.


Why use 35 mm film raw stock and camera?

This is a debate that could go on forever. Both have pros and cons.
I think it is inevitable that Digital will overtake Film, and we can already see it happening in that article that ObscureRobot posted.

However, people will continue to use film as long as it is available simply because of its look. You can tell when something is shot on film because of its grain and general aesthetic.
Film is cinema as we know it.

I'd argue that this is probably the biggest reason. There are many others but I don't know enough about them to get into it.

I think if a filmmaker can afford to use film, they will.
This is probably the best argument for film: http://motion.kodak.com/motion/Products/Customer_Testimonials/index.htm

^ Very informative.


If you want to develop your craft beyond just technical proficiency then I'd say that being open to the broadest range of influences is crucial.

For example: if you want to learn about lighting for portraits or interviews, go look at Rembrandt or Vermeer. You can learn a huge amount from the way the old masters used light and composition.

As for where to start: go to a gallery. Walk around and find an artist that you like, whatever style it is. Read about them and take it from there. A good intro to the history of modern art movements (Impressionism onwards) is the book What Are You Looking At? by Will Gomperz.


Importing multiple images into premiere, getting the same one multiple times

Solved by using the "Video" mode in Illustrator which you can select while setting up your file after you click "create new"


What are some versatile, standalone lenses under $600?

If you are starting from scratch with a m43 camera, then buying EF lenses kinda defeats the whole purpose of that format.

First things first: the m43 is approximately 1/2 the image diagonal of a full-frame 35mm camera, which means lenses need to cover only 1/4 the area, and that means you can use 1/8th the glass to get the same job done.  That translates to much smaller, lighter, and less expensive lenses, which is the main idea of the format.

When it comes to depth of field, the variables that go into that equation are focal length, focal distance, aperture, and circle of confusion (which is related to image size and magnification).  Boiling it all down, a "standard" 50mm EF lens shooting a subject 10 feet away at f2.8 on a 35mm camera is going to give similar field of view and depth of field as a 25mm m43 lens shooting the same subject 10 feet away at f1.4 on an m43 camera.

If you then place the 50mm EF lens on your m43 camera, it behaves like a telephoto lens.  It doesn't give you a shallower depth of field than a 50mm m43 lens on an m43 camera--that stays 100% the same.  The reason you get shallower depth of field on a 35mm camera is not due to the lens alone, but the variety of parameters (lens, distance, aperture, circle of confusion).  Putting an EF lens on your m43 camera will make it heavier, unbalanced, more expensive, and will do nothing at all to change the depth of field compared to the same focal length m43 lens.

As for your desire to "do it all" for $600, architecture really requires wide-angle lenses.  Really wide.  Wider than you can afford for $600.  But you can do something with a 12mm lens--much more than with a 14mm (or longer).  For weddings, you'll want medium wide to medium telephoto.  If you are trying to stand really far away and pick up candids with a long telephoto, you are doing it wrong.

A great lens that does both 12mm and the wedding range is the Olympus 12-40 f2.8: https://www.42ndphoto.com/Product/olympus-12-40mm-f2-8-m-zuiko-ed-pro-lens-62mm-/110022

It's a little more than $600, but an incredible bargain for what it does.

As for the range beyond 40mm (which is the equivalent of approx 85mm in 35mm full frame territory), a great shallow depth of field telephoto option (which again is more than $600) is the 75mm f1.8 lens: https://www.42ndphoto.com/Product/olympus-75mm-m-zuiko-f1-8-lens/110025

An f4.0 zoom lens on a m43 camera has the depth of field of an f8 lens on 35mm cameras--pretty deep.  An f2.8 lens, especially toward the longer end (40mm) will give you some separation between subject and background if you are careful.

Me?  I have the f2.0 zooms (14-35 and 35-100), which cost $2,000 +/-:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/546539-REG/Olympus_261011_14_35mm_f_2_0_ED_SWD.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/404517-REG/Olympus_261012_35_100mm_f_2_0_ED_Zuiko.html

That's the cost of shallow DOF and really high performance on m43.  There are f2.0 zoom lenses that almost cover the 35mm format, but they weigh about 15 lbs and they cost almost $100,000:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/840523-REG/Fujinon_hk4_7x18_f_18_85mm_T2_0_Premier_PL.html

Which is why you see very few f2.0 zooms for 35mm.  Any why an f2.0 zoom on m43 is hand-holdable and much more affordable.

Bottom line: if you are going for m43 for cost and weight, don't blow it by buying EF lenses.  If you already have $20,000 worth of EF glass, then maybe it makes sense to spend $600 on a speed booster so that you can repurpose some of that glass for your new camera.  But it's no reason to go out and get some new.


Best format (compression-wise) for Khan Academy Style video

Format doesn't really matter, I usually use something fairly common like .mov or .mp4.  The more important thing is the codec.  Usually when exporting for online upload, H.264 is the most common codec because of its balance of size and quality.  For resolution, either 1080p or 720p.  Most people can't tell the difference between the two, but 1080p is the standard so I generally stick with that.

Another thing to keep in consideration is color bit-depth.  I'm not sure if the H.264 codec or different programs allow you to export with different bit-depths, someone else can comment on that (or downvote, whatever).  Assuming you can control bit-depth, I would go with 10.  Most consumer grade cameras only shoot with 8 bit-depth, but you can get higher with the animation depending on what you generate it in and how you render.  The extra bit-depth will improve the overall crispness.

One last thing to keep in mind is how you render the animations.  I know you probably intend to create 2D, but I'll describe my process with Maya which is 3D, and hope all the information pretty much transfers over.  First, export at slightly higher than 1080p.  I'd go with something like 2K.  The downscaling will improve your quality and it's just nice in general knowing you have that extra space to work with.  Don't enable motion blur, or at least keep it to a minimum.  Other than that, just experiment with the render settings to get the effect you want.


You need to use video projection mapping software, and 3D rendering software. Mad Mapper is a well known projection mapping application.
Blender or Cinema4D would do the 3D rendering.


Is there such thing as an unlimited point matte in Premiere?

I think you need to use the Rotobrush rotoscope tool in AE.. Good luck!  It will take a while...

Tutorial link:
https://library.creativecow.net/harrington_richard/after-effects-cs5-roto/1


Google the config setup to have the computer auto-login, bypassing the login screen. You can change a setting in regedit and it will auto login to the default profile, which cannot use a password.

Over Remote Desktop, you can then control the system.

If it crashes, you'll have to do a hard reboot.


Static on Mic line in when using EOS Utility on 600d

The computer is probably inducing interference on the unbalanced mic cable. Try putting a ferrite bead/choke on the tethering cable.


Use Freemake Video Converter, it's 100% free and you can just burn MKV files on dvd, on the dvd, the subtitles also work if you set that up properly in the Freemake Video Converter program.


Is color banding usual problem in commercial released movies?

It really depends on the distribution medium. Many are very low quality.

Most consumer distribution is 8 bit, but when a studio masters a DVD, they'll put a lot of effort into making that specific content look good. That doesn't happen for streaming.


Two thoughts:

Go to images.google.com and search for "gold".  Find something you think is gold-colored, check its RGB values, and then use that as a target for your gold.  Many editing programs have the ability to aim one color toward another, so you can select a range of colors that your camera thinks of as gold and then aim it toward what you think of as gold.
Perhaps the reason why Apple's high-end iPhones are rose-gold instead of regular gold - they want pictures to look warm and rich no matter whose camera is snapping the image

Ultimately (and perhaps this is your best answer) the eye very much judges color on a relative basis.  See http://www.archimedes-lab.org/color_optical_illusions.html. To get something that really looks gold, you have to have both the right target color and the right complementary contrasting colors around it to make it really look gold.