Readable Timecode Window Burns in Compressor

One of my clients does a lot of shooting, and needs rather quick turnaround on timecode window burns. We could set up the DVD recorder, and play out through the Kona card, but that is real time, and occupies an edit suite for the entire time. Final Cut has a timecode reader filter, but it has long render times, again hogging up a suite.

So I turned to Compressor, to see what it could do. It has a timecode generator filter as well, but it is lacking one major thing- readability. There is no built in background, bar, or shadow that ensures it will be readable no matter the background. White text may disappear on a beach shot, for instance, and black text will disappear on dark night shots.

So I figured out how to use the Watermark filter in conjunction with the Timecode generator to give that transparent background.

First, I made a graphic for the watermark, a transparent 720×480 with a simple black bar near the bottom. It should work for 16×9 or 4×3. You can download my .psd here – no use in reinventing the wheel, as it took a bit of tweaking to get it positioned correctly.

To make the preset, open up Compressor, and duplicate the MPEG-2 6.2Mbps 1 Pass preset from the DVD: Fastest Encode 90 minutes folder. Here’s how to do it in Compressor 3.

You can do this with the 120 or 150 minute presets if you want, but I rarely get a tape longer than 90 minutes. The preset is set up fine as is – we want to take a look at the filters tab in the Inspector window.

Turn on the Watermark filter. Hit the “Choose…” button, and choose the tcwb.psd file you downloaded earlier. Change the position to Upper Center, and make sure Scale by is set to 1, and Alpha is set to .5.

Now, turn on the Timecode Generator filter. Set the position to “Lower Right – Title Safe”. Leave the Alpha at 1. Change the Text Color to white. Click “Select Font…” and up the font size to about 50. You can change the font if you wish, but make sure it is readable.

Important note- Compressor applies the first filter in the list, and then moves down the list. You’ll probably need to move the Watermark Filter above the Timecode generator – otherwise, the watermark will be in front of the timecode, and make it hard to read.

Save the preset, and you’re ready to convert away. To make it really easy, set up a droplet. I used Final Cut Server to make a watch folder, so my edit suite is completely free for other work. The only thing left is to burn the DVD.

Making XDCam duplicates with correct timecode

Recently, I’ve had to make duplicates of XDCam Masters from a variety of different media- some XDCam, HDCam, DVCPro. Now, making XDCam masters is a pain, especially when you have 100’s of clips on a single disc. There’s no quick and easy way of doing it. No way of batch exporting. No way of simply dragging a .mov onto the disc. You can drag .mxfs onto the disc, but there isn’t a way of batch exporting to mxf. Not only that, but since other people are using these discs as masters, they need to match the timecode of the window burns you’ve given out.

And then there’s this problem:

So what I used to do was this

1. Insert clip into a new sequence.
2. Apple-0 to bring up sequence settings.
3. Set the starting timecode of the sequence to the starting timecode of the clip.
4. Change the audio outputs to dual mono.
5. Export to XDCam.

This method was very error prone, and took forever. One day, I realized I wouldn’t make the deadline for getting the disc out if I did it my normal way. So, I clicked around in Final Cut until I came up with an unlikely solution- Multiclip Sequences. Here’s the simplest way I’ve found to quickly export to XDCam from any source media, while maintaining timecode-

First off, it takes a bit of setup.

1. Go to your User Preferences, and go to the last tab, Audio Outputs.
2. Duplicate the Stereo Monitor: L+R preset.
3. Set up the new one like this:
4. Hit OK, and make sure there is a check mark next to the new preset. From now on (until you change it back), all new sequences will have a dual mono output, prefect for exporting to XDCam.

Now you’re ready to go. To make things easier, I added buttons in the Browser for “Make Multiclip Sequence” and to export “Sony XDCAM” (It’s the second one on the button bar list- the first is to import.) You can also make shortcuts to these commands, and I even set up Spark to hit that shortcut key, then hit enter on the screens that follow.

So now, to actually export-

1. Select the Clip you want to export to XDCam.
2. Make a Multiclip Sequence using the shortcut or button bar. Default settings are fine.
3. A bin with a multiclip and a new sequence called “Multiclip Sequence x” will appear in the browser.
   
4. The new sequence has the right timecode, and if you check your sequence settings, you’ll see the audio outputs are correct.
5. Notice that for some reason, the last frame is cut off. If you’re giving raw footage, this likely won’t matter, but you may want to open the Multiclip Sequence, and type “v” (to select the closest edit- your playhead should be at the very end of the timeline) and then “]” to move the edit 1 frame forward.
6. Now, you should be able to export your new Multiclip Sequence to XDCam perfectly with correct timecode.

Of course, it’s helpful if you have already transcoded the files to the XDCam codec- do it overnight in Compressor, and then the hands on portion will go much faster.

I hope this helps!

Visual Enhancement Pro Filter

I’d like to announce “Visual Enhancement Pro” filter. Visual Enhancement Pro in itself is not a revolutionary plugin- it simply is a reapplication of the state of the art technologies used by CSI units and top secret spy agencies. It allows you to enhance several parameters to get an image that is impossible with other enhancement tools, all within Final Cut.

Watch the video below for more info. You can download and install the plugin here.

I plan on adding more features in future releases, including:

• License plate enhancement
• Rotating around subject in 3D from single camera
• And more! Let me hear your suggestions.

Thanks to Tim Stotz for his help.

Quality of blank DVD media

You’ve heard warnings of bad DVD media, most likely. But how can you tell whether your stack of DVDs is a dud or good? Evidently, you can’t tell by a brand- you have to do some sleuthing to see if it’s good or not.

Sadly, this method only works after you have bought that stack, but at least you can tell whether to get the same kind again.

First, you’ll need to insert your blank media into your Mac (this method only works on Macs, and I can only say that it works on Leopard). Open up the System Profiler by choosing “About the Mac” from the Apple Menu, then hitting the “More Info” button. Then, choose “Disc Burning” under “Hardware”. This will bring up something like this:

What you’re looking for is the Media ID, which is highlighted in orange above. Take that code, and go to http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm. Search for the ID on the page (you may need to remove spaces), and see if it comes up under 1st, 2nd, or 3rd class media. Hopefully it’ll be under 1st class.

Follow all Followers Twitter Applescript

Looking to keep up with following your followers on Twitter without clicking through Twitter’s interface? I whipped up a script that will do that (with help from all over the web, including the bulletin boards at Macscripter.net).

Download the script

This is Mac only. The script will open in Script Editor, and hit CMD-R to run the script. It’ll prompt you for your username and password. It will then retrieve all your followers (not just the first 100), then retrieve all your friends (not just the first 100), and send a follow twitter message to all your followers who aren’t your friends.

Feel free to mess around with the script (but be careful- if you change the wrong thing, you can end up like me with a whole lot of messages accidently showing up on my timeline).

If you find this useful, especially if you use Twitter for business purposes, feel free to send me a few bucks through PayPal.

FCPTutorials.com launched

I’ve been working on another site, over at http://www.fcptutorials.com. It’s an aggregate site, where I’ll be posting links to Final Cut tutorials from around the web.

When I learned Photoshop, I did it through tutorials that I found through one site. I couldn’t find a similar site for Final Cut, so I decided to make it.

If you have any interest in Final Cut, it’s a great site for picking up little tidbits and project savers.

Check it out at http://www.fcptutorials.com.

New Motion Tutorial- Animating a Poster Effect

Inspired by the Obama posters that are everywhere these days, I made a tutorial on animating a similar effect in Motion 3. Of Representative Jim Gerlach. Not Obama.

Poster Turn Example

Check out the tutorial here.