text:
How to get FFMPEG to join non-sequential image files? (skip by 3s)
I have a bunch of images, that follow this pattern.
0001.png
0004.png
0007.png
0010.png
0013.png
0016.png
0019.png
...

They're in the correct order, but FFMPEG ignores anything after the first file, because it can't find a 0002.png.  How can I get it to join these files?
I tried
ffmpeg -i %04d.png out.avi

How about temporarily renaming them, making the AVI and then renaming them back to the (3x-2).png scheme? Bulk Rename Utility @ http://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/Main_Intro.php is a free, umm, bulk renamer.

For recent versions of ffmpeg, see Gyan's answer instead
Original answer:

with ffmpeg 0.11.1 it's as easy as:
ffmpeg -f image2 -i %*.png out.avi

From the man page, in an example under "Video and Audio file format conversion":

When importing an image sequence, -i also supports expanding shell-like wildcard patterns (globbing) internally. To lower the chance of interfering with your actual file names and the shell's glob expansion, you are required to activate glob meta characters by prefixing them with a single % character, like in foo-%*.jpeg, foo-%?%?%?.jpeg or foo-00%[234%]%*.jpeg.

Update per comments: on recent versions you should now use -i '*.png' syntax.

This hasn't been working for me using ffmpeg or avconv in Ubuntu 13.04

This appears to not be an option any more.

It seems they deprecated this syntax at some point.  The updated documentation was committed 8-Aug-2012 but I can't tell what version that equates to across the multiple branches.  See http://git.videolan.org/?p=ffmpeg.git;a=commit;h=7794ddeae3edba09fbf3e5badfedf5ea20a9a1f6

The glob_sequence pattern type is deprecated, but the glob pattern type is not. The answer by Mulvya and Peter Cordes works.

Pattern type 'glob_sequence' is deprecated: use pattern_type 'glob' instead

Just as clarification, since this page is currently the top result in Google for that warning message (Pattern type 'glob_sequence' is deprecated...): the command given by rymo above (specifically, -i %*.png) will cause the warning. To eliminate it, use the slightly-different syntax in Peter Cordes answer (-i '*.png').

"Could find no file with path '%*.jpg' and index in the range 0-4" This does not work with ffmpeg 4.1.3

Besides the workaround in my comment, you should be able to use this syntax from the ffmpeg documentation:
ffmpeg -f image2 -pattern_type glob -i '*.png' out.avi

The quotes are important, you need ffmpeg to see the *, not have the shell expand it.

Doesn't work for me, but it's probably because I have an older build.  I'm accepting this one because it's most likely to help future users.

According to the ffmpeg documentation you should use '*.png' instead of %04d.png with the glob pattern type.

That would then select all the pngs present in the folder, besides 00xx.png, whereas the OP wants to queue only the %04d pngs without worrying about numbering continuity.

Did you actually test this command? I don't think -pattern_type glob works with %04d.png and will probably result in Could not open file : %04d.png.

I haven't tested it. I just checked the syntax for glob @ http://www.jedit.org/users-guide/globs.html and it seems that %04d won't work. However, %?%?%?%?.png should work.

I'm pretty sure that you need to put *.png in single-quotes (so '*.png') to avoid it being expanded by Unix-style shells (so, OSX and linux etc).

And probably by whatever portability layer ffmpeg on windows is compiled with.  The ffmpeg docs example has it quoted.

Sadly the ffmpeg developers make file globbing support an option! The standard windows builds don't include it.

This isn't working, error: Pattern type 'glob' was selected but globbing is not supported by this libavformat build
C:\Users\francois.kruger\Documents\tf_global_local\dev\tf_ffmpeg\ffmpeg_examples\renders\img.*.exr: Function not implemented

Globbing is not supported on Windows.

From http://www.ffmpeg.org/faq.html:
If you have large number of pictures to rename, you can use the following command to ease the burden. The command, using the bourne shell syntax, symbolically links all files in the current directory that match *jpg to the ‘/tmp’ directory in the sequence of ‘img001.jpg’, ‘img002.jpg’ and so on.

x=1; for i in *jpg; do counter=$(printf %03d $x); ln -s "$i" /tmp/img"$counter".jpg; x=$(($x+1)); done

I used this to combine multiple sequences seqA-[0001-n].png, seqB-[0001-n].png, etc. Much easier than messing around with image2 globbing and the concat filter.

For me this didn't work until I replaced for i in *jpg with for i in /full/path/*jpg, because all the symlinks were broken

I would actually suggest the same thing Mulvya suggested.  Whenever I've needed to do stuff like this when dealing with 3D animation renderings, I've renamed the files to make them sequential.  It's just easier to work with that way in a lot of different software unless you need to preserve the file names for some reason.  Total Commander is also a great tool for multi-renaming.

I ended up doing something similar (a Python renaming script).

For the missing sequence part, I used 2 liner
CONCAT=$(echo $(ls *.png | sort -n -t _ -k 2) | sed -e "s/ /|/g")
ffmpeg -framerate 25 -i "concat:$CONCAT" -c:v libx264 -profile:v high -pix_fmt yuv420p output.mp4

Hope this will help someone in future

If the images are dated, exiftool can be used to rename the source files to yyyy-mm-dd_hhmm pattern. Then a bash script can create an input file for ffmpeg.
Here is a script that shows the idea:
https://github.com/leobard/timelapse-prepare-and-run-ffmpeg.sh/blob/main/timelapse-prepare-and-run-ffmpeg.sh


text:
RG6 vs RG59 HD-SDI cables for live stream
It seems there are lots of discussions on the web, none recently though, on RG6 vs RG59 and the distances that they can carry signal.
For situations when quality matters, such as live streaming (as opposed to something like CCTV), is RG6 the only way to go?
A 984' RG59 cable costs just about as much as a 200' RG6 cable. Assume that the signal is powerful enough to send the signal over 900'. Will the RG59 cable experience significant and noticeable signal loss compared to the RG6 cable?
There is a significant price different between the two types, so if I can get away with a RG59 cable, certainly I will.

Unfortunately there is no perfect or exact answer. Your question topic mentions HD-SDI, which is a digital signal. Those tends to degrade 'cliff-wise', unlike analog signals where degradation is gradual. It will partly depend on the quality of the receiving device -- whether or not, or how well, it can capture the signal as the eye pattern turns to mush.
Having said that, 900 feet over RG59 is bound to be trouble, even over the premium shielded variants like Belden 1505a. For 720p, that's rated for maybe 200 feet. Your footage may vary (-:
RG6 will be better, but again, shielding matters so you're better off with 1694a or equivalent. Even then, I wouldn't gamble on 900' without testing it in place.

Thanks for the thorough answer. After further research, it does look like Belden 1694a RG6 will probably be the best bang for my buck. Here's a chart from Belden showing their cables and the recommended footage: http://www.belden.com/docs/upload/Recommended_Transmission_Distance_at_Serial_Digital_Data_Rates.pdf

Using that chart and a dealer's pricing charts, it looks like the 1694a RG6 is the best price point. If I go down in the cable, it looses distance. If I go up, it gets too pricey.

When considering costs, don't forget to consider the cost of testing out various solutions, replacing 'cheap' cable with better cable, etc. Also factor in the labor cost of running 900' of cable. Taken as a percentage of your total cost rather than an absolute value, the upgrade to better cable may be more palatable.

RG59 vs RG6 vs RG11 cable lengths
HDSDI can be 1.5GHz or 3.0 or more depending in if it is a 1080i or 1080P or 2K and at what frame rate.
It is a far more technical question requiring a much more detailed answer.  If you are buying cable, quad shield is supposed to be muchbetter than dual shield.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


text:
Blur whole text and then "unblur" part of it
I have a text in after effects that I wish to first blur the whole thing and then animate it so that a part of the text is clear.
If I have the text Maecenas sed diam eget risus varius blandit sit amet non magna.
First the whole text is blurred. Then it animates and at the end just the last part non magna is blurred.
So far I've used the blur function by going to my Text Layer > Animate > Blur. I've tried doing the thing I want by setting keyframes for the Range Selector properties but I can't get it right.

So what does currently happen? Can't get it right could mean a lot of things.

Currently I can only either unblur the whole text at once or just unblur a part of it and the rest stays blurred. What I want is that it first unblurs the first part, waits for some frames and then unblur the last part.

What you need to do is to use a regular blur effect. You also have to apply the effect to an adjustment layer. I'll explain why later on. Why don't I just make a recipe for you to follow first, and then I'll explain what's going on! :)

Make your text layer and fill it with text.
Make an Adjustment Layer. (Layer -> New -> Adjustment Layer)
Make sure the Adjustment Layer is selected, and go Effect -> Blur -> Test some of them (Gaussian Blur is very common.)
Go to the Effect Controls panel to set the blur to what you want it to be.

What is happening now, is that the Adjustment Layer is blurring all the layers below it. So if you have other layers below, you may need to Pre-Compose the two layers so that the Adjustment Layer doesn't affect more than the text layer. And the reason why we are using an Adjustment Layer, is that now we can either animate the layer away to reveal the naked text layer, or we can animate a mask to do the same thing. If you use a mask, you can add a feather that will make it look much better in most cases.
Alternatively, you can make two copies of the text, one with the blur directly on it, and one without any blur at all. Then you could animate the mask of the naked text layer to reveal it, but this is a bit difficult if you are animating the text or something like that, because you'll have to do exactly the same on both layers...
Here I'll explain how to do it with the Adjustment Layer with a mask.

Select the Adjustment Layer and select the Rectangle tool from the top toolbar, and draw a rectangle covering the whole of the text.
Press M to open the mask settings on the layer. Now you can set the feather to what you want it to be.

Move the mask a bit to the right to see how the effect will look like. Remember also that when you are adding feather, you'll have to make the mask bigger because the mask will fade away in the corners...

Animate the mask as you please. Tell me if you want me to explain how to do this! :)

If you need to have more layers below the text layer, you need to Pre-Compose it:

Select both the layers, right-click and select Pre-Compose.

That's it! Good luck with your movie :)

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
create subtitles track by automatic timing of existing text
1
00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,000
I am using Adobe Premiere to produce videos in English by gluing together multiple clips put together from lots of different footage or sources. I do have a text transcript of what is being said though, in English, so talking about word-for-word English subtitles for the voice in English.
2
00:00:04,250 --> 00:00:06,250
How would I go about creating a subtitles file for the final video?

I do not wish to render the captions into the video
The transcript I have does not have any time information and that is the crux of this question - what is the easiest way to generate semi-accurate timing records, as automatically as possible?
So the question is NOT about how to sync existing subtitles with existing timestamps
I could do it in Premiere, or Adobe Audition, or Subtitle Edit, Subtitle Workshop or any other subtitle editor that may provide relevant synchronization functionality?
The end result I'm hoping for is a flv file with closed captioning (.sub, .srt or similar) that could be turned on or off in a web-browser / Flash player
Like this lecture, for example, when you click on CC and choose the embedded English subtitling (not the automatic captions that YouTube offers)

I know there is an analyze option that does language recognition in Premiere that may be able to help.  I believe it can take a script file as well to produce closed captioning.  I do not know off the top of my head how it works however, but if I have a chance, I'll try messing around with it tonight and see if I can get a workable result.

If you select your clip and go to the Clip menu, then choose Analyse Content, Premiere will attempt to identify speakers and even attempt to dictate what is being said.  You can assist this analysis by providing a script file to it by adding either an Adobe Story Script file or a TXT file to the Reference Script option.  I don't have any experience with how well this feature works, but it's certainly worth a shot if you already have an accurate script file to try it with.

havent tested it yet, but that sounds like it will work!

managed to get a valid astx transcript file from Adobe Story Free, but the very last stage in Media Encoder did not work as expected, and due to lack of troubleshooting time, ended up using YouTube facility instead, which works for videos up to 15 min long :)

According to this article from Adobe, the above approach won't work anymore because Adobe removed the feature. I just checked on Adobe Premiere CC 2020 – the feature is still removed. Can't believe that there aren't any other solutions in 2019!

Try to publish your video on youtube and add 'Titles' as plain text file. It will be synced automatically if language is supported by Google voice input.

thats what i ended up doing (see comment to aj henderson), and you can validate to do more than 15 minute clips

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
How to get Greek symbols (alpha, beta) in Cinema4D text
I'm trying to get Greek symbols in a Cinema4D text object that is extruded, however when I select the Symbol font the text disappears from the viewport. I can still see it in the text input frame, but it's not visible in the render.
How can I get an extruded Greek letter in Cinema4D?

I can't be 100% certain, but the problem is most likely your font type.  I'm not familiar with Cinema4D specifically, but some fonts are raster based for given point sizes and some are vector based.  Most extrusions require you to have a vector based format and if the font is raster, then you aren't going to get any result.
The best bet is either to find a vector based greek font or to use something like illustrator to create a vector path that fits the characters and import that vector document for extrusion.


text:
DSLR filmmaking tutorials and tips
The title says it all. I have a DSLR and would like to learn more about video, from basics to advanced (I am an intermediate+ photographer). Are there good tutorials I can find online? I could not find much but very basic intros on the web.

This one may be tough to answer in its current form.  Presently, it's wide open... no constraints whatsoever.  To, "learn more about video, from basics to advanced," covers everything, yet points to nothing.  Do you have a first project in mind?  Have you come across troubles so far?  Please edit to narrow your question's scope.

Actually this could be a very good question if it included the specifics of using DSLR camera when filming. For example, how to work with lenses properly? Since these were not destined for filming, there is no auto-focus. So one of the aspects could be How to handle the DSLRs manual focus when filming..

The best suggestion I can come up with is to get a book on cinematography.  There isn't really much in the way of difference between using a DSLR for video versus any other camera.  The techniques are all the same, just the mechanics of the particular camera differ.
The best way to learn the mechanics of a camera is just to read the manual and try it.  The way to figure out what you need to use those mechanics to do is to study cinematography in general.
Beyond that, if you have more specific questions, I'm sure we can help you with those in more detail.


text:
CamTwist + Blackmagic Intensity Thunderbolt Shuttle Settings
I'm trying to set up CamTwist + a Blackmagic Intensity Thunderbolt Shuttle on a MacBook Pro but am getting a black screen in CamTwist.
What are the correct settings?
Thanks!

SOLVED:
Mac System Preferences > Blackmagic Design > Set default video standard as > HD 1080i 59.94
CamTwist > Blackmagic HD 1080i 59.94 - 8 Bit
I figured out my camera settings using the Blackmagic Media Express app, which did detect the camera. Just take a look in the app's settings to find your camera's connection settings.

Hi Craig, and welcome to AVP!  I'm glad you found an answer to your question.  I realize that there is a waiting period to "answer" your own question, but now that that has passed, it would be great to have your answer as an "answer" so that future visitors can see that there is one.  Thanks, and once again, welcome!

Solved the problem...
Go to: Mac System Preferences > Blackmagic Design
Set default video standard as HD 1080i 59.94 CamTwist > Blackmagic HD 1080i 59.94 - 8 Bit
I figured out my camera settings using the Blackmagic Media Express app, which did detect the camera. Just take a look in the app's settings to find your camera's connection settings.

I can't seem to get my Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle Thunderbolt to show up in CamTwist under Video Devices - is there anything else you can think of that I might be missing? Usually the HD 1080i 50 setting works for me, and


text:
Stretch or Change Timing in After Effects
I am new to After Effects. I downloaded the free file for the Month of May from VideoHive and have been playing with it. Some of the text is displayed just a bit too short for my linking. I do not want to change the look of the effects but take everything and make it a half second to one second longer. Basically take the length from 35 seconds to about 55-60 seconds without messing up any of the transitions or effects.
Is this possible?

The solution will be found in the Timeline. Scroll through the items in the timeline until you find the track for the text object you want to change. The duration of the text on screen is defined by starting and ending keyframes on the object's track.
Moving the last keyframe on the object's timeline will extend the duration of an object, so clicking and dragging the last keyframe for the text will extend how long it is on screen.


text:
how to join video files?
I have 12 parts of videos .
I want to join them in a sequence and make a single video.
Please suggest me software and steps to do this.
can i need to install adobe premier?
thank you
example videos are https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTShW1Bm7xcM0bLdbadfpsdia5MkOEkrI

Any video editor will do, you'll just need to put them in the desired order.

Quicktime can do this. I tried the following steps on a Mac with two .mov files.
One file was encoded with the h264 coded, the other with JPEG.
Open the first video in Quicktime and just drag and drop the second video on it.
The second video will be appended to the end of the first. The timeline will be showing the different movies and a button titled Done.
Add all your videos in the above manner and then click Done. To save the result go to File -> Export to -> Web... and choose the destination and video settings.

If you have money CarbonCoder does this. It is very easy, drag and drop the video, check the "stitch" box and select the output format.
Else you can use ffmpeg + avisynth.
Create an avisynth script which will just read and add the different videos:
Avisynth script:
vid1 = FFmpegSource2("path_to_first_video.avi")
vid2 = FFmpegSource2("path_to_second_video.avi")
vidn = FFmpegSource2("path_to_nth_video.avi")
concat = vid1 + vid2 + .. + vidn
return concat

ffmpeg command
ffmpeg.exe -i avisynth_script.avs [ encoding options ] concatened_video.avi

In the example I used avi container, but avisynth supports also quicktime and other.
Find here the Avisynth documentation . This will work on windows, as far as I know avisynth does not work on linux ( or in alpha stage ? ).


text:
Why filmmaking with DSLR?
Adding video feature to digital camera was for their popular applications, as unprofessional users wanted to have both photography and videography at the same time. Professional cameras were exclusively divided to photography or videography. However, this situation is changing, and videography features are added to DSLR cameras too.
The interesting point is that the level professionality of videography on photography cameras are reaching the highest level, as many filmmakers use DSLR camera for professional projects. I understand that technology is advancing with better DSLR cameras, but video cameras were also advanced. Why there is such tendency to use photography camera for filmmaking?
What are the technical advantages (or even better pros and cons) of using photography DSLR camera for filmmaking?

The main advantage is cost.  Historically, there were two main types of imaging sensors, CMOS and CCD.  CMOS was historically used in digital cameras (because of the higher quality images it can capture, the lower cost, and the fact that digital cameras only have to capture a single moment).
CCDs on the other hand were historically used in video cameras, with one CCD per color (3CCD) to increase the quality.  They have been significantly more expensive and generally capable of lower resolutions, but had the advantage of capturing the entire frame at the same time.
Most CMOS sensors scan line by line rather than capturing a fixed image at a time, they exhibit an artifact known as a rolling shutter.  This appears as a distortion when the camera is moving (particularly panning) due to the change of orientation mid-frame.  Previously, the sample rates for CMOS sensors were too slow to allow their use for video, but as the technology has improved, it is now possible to sample quickly enough that, while still present, rolling shutter is not nearly the problem it was even a few years ago.  Now there are even CMOS sensors capable of offering a global shutter and they have all but supplanted the old CCD based cameras, with even major motion pictures being shot on CMOS sensors with global shutters.
The advances in CMOS technology have allowed for CMOS sensors to be used in professional level video, bringing with them the low cost, high resolution and high quality that had previously not been possible.  Global shutter CMOS still costs more than rolling shutter relative to other features of the sensor, so rolling shutter is still present in many cameras (even fairly high end cinema cameras) due to the cost savings and the fact that higher sampling speed has greatly reduced the impact of rolling shutters.
Another large advantage is size.  DSLRs tend to have less processing capability to work with the large amounts of data involved in things like 4k video, so they are more limited in capability, but they also are much smaller and more portable.  This is probably most visible in comparing the Black Magic Production Camera and the Black Magic Ursa Mini 4k.  Both use the same 4k sensor, however the size of the BMPC limits it's ability to work with high frame rate video as well as some other features of the camera.  The Ursa Mini is a much larger form factor that currently costs the exact same amount, but is able to fit more features in due to the extra size and hardware that can be included in the larger form factor.

Interchangeable lenses at reasonable prices, along with sophisticated exposure controls. No consumer-priced video camera offers either. From personal experience, I've found it is much easier to produce professional-quality video with a $1000 Canon DSLR and a few lenses than with a consumer video camera.

This is a good start to an answer, but by no means a complete answer.  The list of pros and cons are much longer...


text:
What are the rights to exported video from the Apple's Keynote app?
When

I make an presentation in the Apple's Keynote with transitions an like, and
export it to an video,
can I publish the video as commercial - as my own work?

I'm added the soundtrack later - it is royalty free (public domain - classical music).
Any difference when

using apple supplied THEME?
or when the presentation contains  only my own theme?

This is really going to come down to what the terms of the EULA is.  It should outline what rights you have to use the Apple provided contents.  Most likely you would be fine as included assets are typically intended for reproduction.  It might be trickier if you were going to sell copies, but a commercial is probably ok.
As far as using it as commercial work, I'd be careful about what you use it for.  The quality level is still probably going to be sub-professional for most purposes.  Programs like Keynote and PowerPoint are really more designed for making basic presentations easy for the average consumer rather than trying to actually make a good commercial production.
It is also worth mentioning that while the classical music itself may be in the public domain, the particular recording may not be.  Rights are a complex thing and while classical music in the public domain is free for anyone to play, copyrights can still exist on particular recordings that have been done recently.  Unless you specifically purchased it as royalty free from a reputable dealer, then you may want to double check that as well.

I don't think he meant advertisement when he said commercial :)

@FriendOfGeorge - oh yeah, rereading the phrasing "as commercial" just means as a commercial output rather than ad.  Yeah, I agree now, I think the point about quality still stands though about asking what the purpose is as it is still probably going to be lacking in quality.

The question's background is: publishing the video on the Youtube with monetization ON. :) And sry, but my english is only as good as good is google translate. :)

Typically, there shouldn't be a legal problem using any transitions\effects\clip art that come with any software package.  That is what they are there for.
Ultimately, you will need to read the license agreement and possibly contact Apple to find out what your actual rights are.


text:
Calibrate internal camera under Windows
My internal camera (shown as USB 2.0 camera, but it is mounted in the laptop screen) shows all pictures quite blueish in different lighting situations. Manual post processing of photos/videos greatly improves the result. Does somebody know a possibility to calibrate (hue, lightness, contrast, etc.) the camera so that it produces more useful pictures for any application? There is no camera driver from Sony (I have an SVS1511), it uses the generic one from Windows. However I did not find a way to calibrate with the Windows driver. Any suggestions?

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure this is going to be entirely up to either your camera driver or the software you are using.  You might have better luck on superuser as this is really more of a computer system's question than an audio/visual question.

Meanwhile, I found a solution. Not sure if there is a hidden function under Windows to do the calibration, but some programs like Skype can be used to configure the camera settings. Whatever settings are applied in Skype->Options->Video Settings, they are global for the overall system.


text:
Keynote video pausing/playing
I have an idea for linking a keynote presentation with a video (exported from a 3d tool).  The idea is that each time you 'click' (as you would to move to the next slide/transition) it would play x more frames of the video then pause.  So frame 1-30 might be the first animation, and it would pause on frame 30.  Then, you click again and it plays 31-60, stopping on 60.
Is such a thing possible and if so how would I achieve it?  Assume a video file is available in the required format.
Many thanks.

The easiest way I can think of would be to actually do it as multiple videos and stills.  Have the first video play and then go to a still of the last frame.  The next would be the next video clip followed by the still.  Continue doing that for the length of it.  Not sure if it works like that in Keynote or not, but that's how I'd do it in any of my sequencing/presentation packages.

Many thanks, you're right.  You mentioned other sequencing/pres packages - are there any potentially more suitable ones I should check out?

@Glinkot - unfortunately all my stuff is PC based rather than Mac and tends to run the higher end.

I run both, so any mentions still appreciated :)

ProPresenter is one of the ones I typically use for doing sequencing.  It's built more specifically as a media sequencer and so it gives better overall control of the order of things, but less "fluff" in the way of animation of text and such.


text:
How to make the rest of the mask transparent in Premier Pro CS6?
I'm trying to highlight a part of my video. Since I'm totally new to video editing on Premier Pro - I'm not sure if this is the best way of doing that, but I'm using masks.
I have a title sitting in video 2 row, in it a have a rectangular mask (100% opacity)

I then apply a Track Matte Key effect on the video I'm trying to highlight, and get the following result:

This seems like a step in the right direction, but I can't find the place to change the settings of the mask to enable transparency. The intended result is to have dimmed out frame, with only the masked area fully shown.
This is the Effect Controls screen for my video:

Ok, now that I was able to reproduce your technique thus far, I can fill in the missing pieces.  Your use of the Track Matte Key produces a layer that is transparent everywhere other than where the mask is present.  You need to layer it overtop of the video that you want behind it and you need to apply the dimming effect to the background layer.
In your example, Move video 2 to Video 3 and copy Video 1 to Video 2.  Leave the track matte key on Video 2 and remove it from Video 1.  This will layer the highlighted area (Video 2) over the full video (Video 1).  You can then either reduce the opacity or apply a brightness reduction to Video 1 to make it appear more subdued and get the look you are going for.

Hey, thanks for the answer @AJ, what still puzzles me - how/where do I make the mask grey? Screenshots would be so much appreciated! :)

@MorganWilde - I can post screenshots later, but at the moment my Premiere system isn't accessible to me.  If you are using solids, you should be able to change the color of it when making the solid at least.  I believe there is a way to change it after as well, but I don't recall off the top of my head.

I really hope to hear from you soon @Aj, since I've yet to solve my issue :/

@MorganWilde - I'll be home in about 3 hours.  I'll take a look first thing when I get home and post after that.

@MorganWilde - ok, you were going about it a slightly different way from how I normally would, but your way should work fine.  I have updated my answer to reflect the missing steps in your approach.  Let me know if you still need screen shots.

that definitely did the trick, and I now understand premier pro much better now :) thanks!

@MorganWilde - no problem.  Sorry I couldn't tell you off the top of my head.  I usually do this kind of a thing in After Effects which is more purpose built for compositing type effects like this.  Back in the day, it was the only way, but they've added more and more features to Premiere over the years. (I've been using Premiere since version 5, not CS5 mind you, 5 from before there was a CS.)

well it's just awesome that this community has people like you :) I was a bit unsure before posting if anyone qualified could answer...


text:
How are 3-dimensional overlays synchronized with videos?
One popular feature on TV nowadays is to create 3D overlays on top of the recorded content. Also, as the camera changes direction or position, the 3D content view is subsequently adjusted. How is this implemented?

There are two different approaches that can be used.  Motion/Camera tracking and Motion Control.
In Motion or Camera tracking, multiple non-coplanar fixed points in the scene are tracked and from that it is possible to extrapolate the position of the camera within the scene.  This information can then be fed into a virtual camera used to generate the output from the 3d model such that when the 3d model output is superimposed over the video, the movements line up.
Motion Control is similar but uses a special camera rig to either track the camera movement exactly or to reproduce a movement plotted in the 3d software exactly in real life.  This is the more precise but also much more sophisticated approach as it requires far more elaborate gear to do.  It also allows for more accurate tracking of things like change in zoom verses actually moving the camera in (which are otherwise only evident by fairly subtle shifting of perspective and vanishing points.)
The result of both is effectively similar though.  You end up with data on how the camera moves in the real life scene and it matches the movement done in the 3d scene.  There are other factors such as lighting that also have to be matched for the best looking composition.  Then both outputs are brought in to a composition package like After Effects where they can be overlayed and blended together.  Sometimes various additional effects like depth of field and other virtual camera effects may be applied to help it blend.
Another thing is that if anything in the real scene needs to move in front of the 3d object, then they need something called a mask layer.  This is normally produced by rotoscoping, which is a process of updating the image on every frame to follow the subject.  This mask then tells the compositing software that the real video plate should be placed over the 3d plate on the areas where the mask is painted.  Otherwise the 3d plate is used over the real plate.  Alpha channel blending is used to convey information about the transparency of a 3d shape such that the image behind it can be visible.
If the 3d object has any refractive properties, then the real life plate may be fed into the 3d software as an environment.  Then the 3d render engine can actually sample information from the environment in order to figure out refraction in things like a glass object or a 3d object with a mirror.  Since it is mapping a 2d environment onto a 3d one, a lot of the selection of how the environment is applied would be done manually though.

Thanks! I take it there is no consumer-grade solution for this?

Using After Effects and the 3d motion tracking it can provide is the closest you are going to get to consumer-grade.  It's still a pretty intense process though.  The most expensive part would be the software for actually making the 3d models.  Typical 3d animation software runs for several thousand dollars a seat unless you do something lower end with Blender (which is free).  After Effects is only a few hundred dollars for a seat or can be obtained for $20 a month through Adobe's Creative Cloud.  It would still be labor intensive to rotoscope though.

I guess the question is - can the software infer movement and rotation of the camera just by analyzing the image?

@DmitriNesteruk - yes, though not as accurately as direct collection.  Any plane in the video can be tracked and the corners of that plane will reveal information about the rotation, position and focal length of the camera in question.


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Delete unused video clips in Vegas
After finishing editing a video with Sony's Movie Studio Platinum 12.0, I'm left with a giant folder of uncompressed rushes. I would like to delete some of them to save disk space.
Is there an easy way to keep only the video files that I have used in a project ?

I use Vegas Pro, but I think this applies to the Movie Studio version as well. As far as I know there is no magic clean up button that removes the unused files from your folder. However, if you go to the 'project media' tab in Vegas, you will see reference icons of all the files that were used during your editing session including jpegs, and .wav files. This is an accumulation, so if you pulled a clip in and then decided to delete it from the timeline it will still show up here until you click the button with the lightning bolt icon, this updates this folder so it will show you everything that is currently on the timeline.
This can be your reference to manually remove from the folder outside of Vegas. Caution: if you delete a file that is in the timeline, Vegas will complain and ask you for the location of the file the next time you launch this session. Likewise, if you move or rename any clips that were in the timeline, Vegas will treat this like a lost file and you will have to show Vegas where it is.

FYI There is no lightning bolt in Movie Studio 13/14 but you can do the same via Tools>Clean Project Media.

Another option to physically deleting non-used files:

Go to your video file folder and delete all the sfk files
Open your project in Vegas. Vegas will re-create all sfk files for files present in your project (assuming the audio is also present in the timeline). Wait some time until Vegas has finished doing so.
Press the lightning button in your project media tab and close the project.
Go to your video subfolder. It's pretty easy now to select all files without corresponding sfk file. Move those files somewhere else. (I guess it's not too hard to create a batch script for that job, but I haven't yet)
Open the project again and see whether Vegas complains about any missing files. If it does, bring back those files.
The remaining stuff doesn't seem to be needed.


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Is it better to have a player application stretch the video or to use a resolution that matches the video file?
I have a Samsung LN40A550 LCD TV, purchased in 2008.  I have a 2011 mac mini connected via HDMI, and I use VLC Media Player to play tv/movies, most often x264/mkv files.
The native resolution of the TV is 1920x1080 so that's what I have the mac set to output most often, and I get video files with the same resolution whenever I can.  However, often the video files I get are only 1280x720.
So my question is:  Will it look better to leave the mac set to the 1920x1080 resolution, and then have VLC's full screen mode stretch the 1280x720 image to 1920x1080, or will it look better to set the mac to output a 1280x720 signal, and then VLC doesn't do any stretching.
By "look better", i mean picture quality and the shading / filling in of pixels, not frame rate or anything CPU performance related, obviously the latter would have less CPU load.

That's really a loaded question.  In general, the rest of your content is going to look better if you leave the computer at native resolution and let the computer scale the video.  If for example you have a video that is a slightly different size, then you would end up scaling to get the resolution setting and again to get the native resolution of the display.  The TV should be able to take into account more information about the exact display too, so I'd leave the computer at native resolution and let software scale it.

You keep saying "computer at native resolution"... you mean "TV at native resolution", right?

Oh... you mean "set the computer to the native resolution of the TV".  got it.  thx!


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Why does Premiere Pro 6 Generate Peak Files?
I am having a challenge with Premiere Pro 6. Every time I open a project I get a little progress bar in the lower right hand corner of the window that says:

Generating Peak File...

This can take a fair amount of time with a lengthy project. Is this normal? I have see comments on Adobe forums about issues with this.
Another possibly related issue is the project getting corrupted. Before I noticed this I tried making some changes while PP6 was Generating and ending up getting the dreaded project corruption message...
With that as background, is the Generating Peak File normal? What can I do about it and do I just need to be careful while it is going on not to make any changes?
Thanks!

Peak file creation as well as creating alternate forms of various assets is perfectly normal background behavior for Premiere.  When you load new assets into a project, Premiere automatically starts a number of background processes to analyze the clip and make it easier for Premiere to do its job smoothly.
This should not cause any trouble and should not be a concern to you.  It is just the program functioning as it should.  It shouldn't cause any problems if you start working with it prior to completion of the work, but some functions may work more slowly or provide incomplete information while the processes are still going on.

AJ, thanks for the insights. Good to know things aren't going to blow up. Should it be doing this every time I resize the workspace window size?

@fmz - no, but sometimes it will redisplay the information about the background processing that is going on.  It doesn't seem to keep the display up all the time since it can sometimes be a time consuming operation.


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Premiere export to WMV causes aliasing
I have a clip made of a sequence of .png images, which I import to premiere. When I create a new sequence with different dimensions from that of the clip, add the clip to it and export it as a .wmv file, I see a lot of aliasing. However, when I make a sequence out of the clip (using the "New sequence from clip" option) and export it to a .wmv file, everything works great, even if I scale the clip in the sequence. In what lies the difference? The two sequences's settings only differ in their dimension.

OK, found out the problem: the sequence's interlacing option was turned on, while I was exporting without interlacing.

Glad you found your answer.  Thanks for posting what you found rather than deleting the question.  I'm sure this could be useful to others in the future.  Also, welcome to AVP.


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Canon 600D/ T3i Video Output and Converting?
I purchased Canon 600D Few days ago. I am very new to the kind of photography and Videography .
I generally use my camera for taking pictures in auto mode .But yesterday I was in the party I shoot some good video which is important to me . When I was previewing that video in my camera it was good but when I import that to my system . It was very choppy I played in almost every video player . (. mov) This file works great on my iPod Touch .I read somewhere I have to convert the file so I use some simple convertor in Ubuntu . But I get poor quality video in .avi format. In short
I just want to know 3 things here :

1) Is it nessecary to Convert video which I shoot from my T3i .
2) How do I convert video simply without losing its HD quality.(Which
       format is good for HD videos)
> 3) I am using Sandisk Extreme 4 GB card it is Getting full in 10 min
  in 1920*1080p 24fps.Why it is taking too much space

The default video files made by most Canon DSLRs is an H264 video file in an MOV container.  Decoding high definition video at the data rates that most Canon cameras use is intensive for both memory, disk and CPU unless you have a dedicated decoder chip.  Your iPod Touch uses flash storage (which is fast) and has H264 decoding capability to make it run smoothly.
On the other hand, a lower end desktop in particular is going to have slow hard drives and may not have sufficient power to decode the file on the fly, thus resulting in lag during playback.  Based on the quality level you describe, data retrieval from disk is most likely the problem you are experiencing.  So now with some groundwork set, lets move on to your direct questions.
1) It isn't necessary to convert video you shoot from your T3i.  It's a standard format and will play or be editable on any system capable of playing it.  If you are having issues with the H264 playback lagging on a particular system, you can try converting it to a lower data rate or less CPU/Memory intensive compression.
Either of these options might make the issue worse if you go in the wrong direction (for example, most algorithms that are less CPU intense take more space and vice versa, so if you were CPU limited and you use a higher compression, it might be more jumpy).  You can also simply sacrifice quality to make it play faster and take less space, but this isn't really ideal.
2) Any good transcoder can do the job.  The files that come off the camera are generally pretty high quality and thus should transcode well.  Your choice of encoder depends a lot on the platform you are on.  FFMPEG(MPEG based formats, including H264) isn't that user friendly, but is freely available and works cross platform.  Other options include the free Windows Media Encoder(WMV) on Windows, Quicktime(several formats) on Mac or Windows, Adobe Media Encoder(numerous formats) on Mac or Windows or Microsoft Expression Encoder(WMV).
The basic key for quality conversion is to keep the native resolution (number of pixels) in the video and use a high enough data rate to support the quality.  VBR 2 pass is better than VBR 1 pass which is generally better than Constant Bit Rate, but each takes more time than the latter to encode.
3) Video is BIG.  Really, REALLY, BIG.  Since the camera needs to record fast, fairly limited compression is used.  It sounds like you are probably using All I frame video which is fairly high data rate video.  Keep in mind that you are effectively storing 24 pictures every second, continuously.  If it was truly uncompressed, it would go even faster.  RAW, uncompressed HD video produces 261 megabytes of information PER SECOND! (14 bits per color, 3 colors, 1920 x 1080 pixels per picture, 24 pictures a second.)  Makes 10 minutes on a 4GB card sound a lot better doesn't it?
If you don't need as high of a quality, you can use IBP frame video which will drastically reduce (about 1/5 to 1/6 the size) the amount of space required though it also drops the quality of the video.

I have doubt in the second part . That you were saying I use both windows and Linux platforms . I want a common HD file format which can work on every OS . Can you name me and if You can then please tell me whcih output should i use .

And I would like to tell you that I spend almost 4 year on ask Ubuntu. But never get this type of so much convincing answer this is the best answer I ever saw on a site you tell me much more for what i asked . Depth of answer was so good . I hope you will answer my future Question as well. I am hoping I can just Upvote your answer atleast 50 times. You just get your fan .

@gaurav_Canon Lol, you want to upvote his answer 50 times. I laughed at that one.

@Gaurav_Canon - H264 and either MPEG2 or MPEG4 should work in either.  They are established standards used in DVD and Bluray among other things.  The only thing that might be hard to play would be WMV.  I think there are players on Linux and Mac for WMV, but I'm not 100% sure on that.  FFMPEG is available for all of them, but isn't the most user-friendly beast around.

@gaurav_Canon also, thanks for the kind words.  It's nice to know my efforts are appreciated.  I started out in the A/V field about 17 years ago and started out being mostly self taught before getting formal training.  I know how hard it can be to filter through all the info out there and can remember the little things I didn't know that I needed to know, so I try to spread the knowledge.  I'm on both AVP and Photography daily.


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How do I decide if 14ms response time in IPS LCD monitor enough?
I was considering buying an IPS LCD monitor (this one; though the question is generic).
It lists the response time of 14ms.
How do I judge if that is enough?
I am slightly concerned since some of NewEgg reviews for that monitor mention issues with playback of movies, but I'm not sure if their attributing the problems to the response time is the correct call. Researching online (TomsHardware forums, Yahoo answers, some other forums) keeps giving contradictory answers, some say don't go above 5ms, some say 14 is enough unless you do FPS sensitive high end games.
The intended usages of the monitor include light fare (productivity, web browsing, Youtube, some light gaming where FPS isn't an issue; and - what seems to be the most taxing to me LCD wise - watching movies encoded as DivX or MP4, with resolutions between 720p and 1080p).

Is there danger with ghosting or any other image issues due to 14ms response time given such usage patterns?
What other things may need to be considered that would either mitigate or exacerbate the response time?

A second sub-question is whether this response time will become a serious problem if the user of LCD becomes interested in some light video editing (it's a child, so nothing professional).

At 14ms, you can still get an effective 71 frames per second.  It should be fine for working with video.  The frames might not show up exactly at the start of their time interval, but it still should be ok.
Faster response is still better, but it isn't going to be critical for anything other than really high frame rate gaming.  5ms is very VERY fast for a high end screen.  Cheap screens go faster because they use simple techniques that are fast and cheap but produce (greatly) inferior image quality.  Better screens like IPS and PVA are by nature slower and the last time I was seriously in the market (which was a couple years ago), 6 to 8ms was considered fast for an IPS or PVA.  sub-5 is completely unnecessary.  14ms is probably on the slower end, but should still be fine.  Even 20ms would likely be ok, though it might start getting more noticeable.
As far as if ghosting would be an issue, at 71 refreshes per second, a frame won't be able to off by more than 1/3 or so of a frame.  That's 1/90th or so of a second, so would be pretty minor.  It might make for a slight stutter, but isn't that likely to be noticeable.  I think most of the arguments against it come from the faster is better mantra and the twitch reflex crowd.  You might or might not be able to notice the difference, but it shouldn't be a significant problem and I'd personally much rather have a good quality display with a slower refresh than a display I can only view from one exact angle and even then have color differences from the angle of one eye to the other, but have "crisp" frame rendering.


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How to create Apple Keynote style Picture in Picture video
I want to take two video sources:

A screencast of a PowerPoint presentation
A camcorder AVCHD recording of the presenter and the conference room

..and create a video in the style of Apple's Keynote videos. See here for exactly what I'm looking for:
http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2012/06/12/apple-wwdc-video.jpg
The video feed of the PowerPoint itself would take up the majority of the screen and the video recording of the room/speaker would take up another, smaller, separate area of the screen.
I'd appreciate any advice on:

What software can create this dual video effect?
What method/software would you recommend for creating the screencast?

Thanks for your time.

Any fairly basic video editing package should be able to closely emulate the look.  You just have to be able to distort the video to make it fit the shape that looks like it is 3d and then size and position the speaker's video appropriately.  I'd personally probably do it in After Effects with a 3d layer for simplicity, but most far cheaper consumer video editing packages should be able to do basic deformations to get the same look.

Apple has a software package, called Keynote. Apple uses a version of it to make those presentations you see.
You would need to capture the camera footage to your computer, then you could embed the clip into a presentation easily. The workflow would be: import powerpoint, embed captured video, then export presentation as Quicktime movie with streaming enabled.


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What can cause Bluray disks burned from Encore to get laggy/skippy?
I have a bluray disk that I burned from an image I made with Encore CS6.  The source footage is a timeline composed of multiple different video assets that are linked Premiere projects.  They run back to back within a single timeline.
When I burned it to disk, most of it works fine, but there are a couple of spots where the playback stops and gets gittery and then jumps ahead.  If I try to chapter skip to a part that is in this area of playback, it simply hangs for a while before jumping forward to a later section.
Any ideas what could be causing this?  I've tried two different builds of the disk and both have had the problem, but in different spots.  The only odd thing about the build is that both times I was attempting a build and then had it fail part way through because of not having enough disk space.  I then freed more space and restarted the build, but I figured it could have something cached that is corrupt, so I thought it was worth mentioning.

Never figured out what the problem was, but got around it by using a Bluray folder and then burning it to a UDF 2.5 Bluray disk with Nero Burning Rom.

It seems that this may have just been that the burning software in Encore doesn't work well with my burner.  Since burning a folder itself with Nero worked, this seems to be the only logical conclusion.


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Is it still necessary to fill in gaps in sequence?
I know that in the early versions of PremierePro it was necessary to fill all gaps in your sequence (places where there was no video) with black video.
If you left these gaps Premiere would give you trouble exporting or wouldn't export at all. Does anybody know if there is any need to still do that, or is that a thing of the past?

I don't think it has been an issue for some time.  I've been using Premiere since version 5 and don't seem to recall ever having a problem with exports though I don't recall my work area ever extending over a gap (though I certainly had many projects where there were gaps between work areas.)
I did verify that in CS6, it is no problem.

Thanks for the reply, and yes, I've been doing some research around the internet and it doesn't seem to be a requirement, although I have yet to see an absolute affirmative that it's a non issue anymore. Everything that I've seen so far basically says that it's a good idea, but everybody seems to be pretty noncommittal.

@CircleB - just in case it wasn't clear, I am committing to saying it isn't an issue any more.  I was just saying that I don't think it has been an issue for a long time.  I don't recall it ever being a problem in over a decade of using Premiere.

Ok, gotcha! Sorry for the misunderstanding.


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What software do movies use for FX?
Movies these days have a lot of computer generated effects and they all seem to follow the laws of physics, what render program is used for this kind of stuff ?

"Render programs" don't do physics, they render*. Physics is done during the animation phase of a project.  Particle simulation, fluid dynamics, smoke, fire, explosions, and newtonian simulations all typically have their own specialized software package (whether it's a full app, or a plugin, module, or whatever)  Perhaps clarify your question to address a particular area more specifically.  *edit: technically, I guess render engines do simulate the physics of light.  But that's it.

There are a number of different options.  Some production companies use their own proprietary, in house systems for rendering.  There are a large number of companies that use existing commercial products however.  Maya, SoftImage, 3D Studio Max and Cinema4D are some of the big ones.  I have not personally worked with Cinema4D, but I know that physics simulation is possible in all of the first 3.  Cinema4D also supports physics simulation according to comments, though I have not personally used it.
It is also worth noting that a combination of both physics simulation and physical modeling can be used.  For complex systems like particle effects and such, simulation is pretty much the only option, but for some larger actions, they may actually film a movement and then animate it to match what they record.  This can either be automated (using motion capture where they tracks dots on an object from multiple angles and computers reconstruct the motion) or by an animator manually watching the video and reproducing it.
These models and scenes are then rendered using a process called ray tracing.  Ray tracing works by having a simulated view point and a simulated screen.  The image is formed at the simulated screen by sending a ray from the view point, through the pixel on the simulated screen and then allowing the reflections to be traced back until they reach light sources.  This produces highly accurate reflections and lighting effects but is much more time consuming than the kind of rendering used in 3d games.
The output of the ray tracing is then combined with other information (such as depth and transparency) that comes out of the 3d rendering engine.  This information is all fed in to a compositing program such as Adobe After Effects or Autodesk (formerly Discreet) Inferno.  These programs combine the 3d elements back with the actual video elements and allows for filters and effects to be applied to help blend the layers together smoothly.

Cinema 4D does have physics simulation.

@JasonConrad - thanks, I updated the answer to include that information.

Blender is a free, open source 3D modeler and renderer which has physics support. It also supports compositing, or layering, animated graphics into your movie footage, right inside Blender. Like any 3D program, there's a steep learning curve. Blender has lots of learning resources to help with that, like user web sites, and Youtube tutorials.
Some short films made with Blender are available as source files - meaning the entire 3D scene files, character rigs, lighting, everything - are available for a modest cost. Having high quality content like this to take apart and play with is a very valuable learning resource.
Please be aware that when you hear about a movie FX studio using a product, they do use it - but, they usually have a team of in-house programmers that customize the daylights out of it. Those customizations are generally not available to anyone else.

Also: the artist skills matter more than the software.

Useful links: http://www.blender.org/blender-institute/ and http://www.tearsofsteel.org to find out about the open movie projects.


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How to make an Ableton Live project a set time
I'd like to make be able a project file only ninety seconds, and have Ableton discard any music that runs over that time as a result of any midi tranformations or effects.

Go into arrange view, expand the master track

Enter draw mode: press ctrl+b or click on the pencil button at the top of the screen next to the little keyboard. You want it to be yellow.

Use draw mode to zero out a region of the Master Mixer - Track Volume automation

Exit draw mode: press ctrl+b again, or click on the pencil button so that it is no longer active.
Use the pointer cursor to click on one of the automation corners to the right, deleting it.

Delete the other rightmost automation corner. Now the automation curve should be down at the bottom for the rest of time.

i'm in arrange view, and can highlight the first 90 seconds and can make that little green arrow, but how do i do the last two steps in your solution?

I've redone my answer with screenshots.

So nice to see a cleanly illustrated answer. +1 to you.


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Record and stream what's on my screen
I'm trying to make a videogame review video, with the help of a friend. I'd rather have each of us in different places, so that I can record our audio independently. But then I have a bigger problem : I need to record my screen AND stream it live to my friend at the same time ! Is it feasible ?
I record using Fraps and I'm happy with it, and the stream doesn't have to be HD, just nice enough to see what is going on.

It is unlikely that you will be able to do that.  To stream a high quality video over a home Internet connection is going to take a LOT of complex compression.  Compression is both memory, CPU and possibly GPU intensive and running a game is also CPU, memory and GPU intensive.  This is why the files that FRAPS produces are so massive.  They apply minimal compression to make sure that it doesn't have more of an impact on the game than necessary.
What you could do is play the game, record the video portion, compress it (possibly to a really low quality version so that you can stream it quickly), stream it and record both of your dialog, then mix the dialog back with the higher quality version of the video.

recording the game then the audio is what I'm doing now, but I'd like having immediate reactions :)

Yeah, not gonna happen unless the game has a spectator mode that can render it on his PC rather than send video data.  It would be hard to do even with a top end rig with custom encoding hardware and a dedicated lan connection.


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Auto ISO for shooting videos with DSLR
I'm just starting shooting videos with a DSLR (5DMIII). I already have a good background in photography. I was wondering if Auto ISO is good when shooting a video or if it is better to tune ISO manually.
It be nice to hear some thoughts from more experienced people.

It depends on what you are doing, but generally for video you want pretty tight manual control to avoid changes during a shot.  What I often do when I'm in a hurry (and don't want to determine optimum settings manually) is to let the camera figure out what it wants for settings and then manually enter those.
That said, while changes in exposure during a shot can be very distracting, it's still better to get the shot than not get it, so occasionally I may shoot with the camera fully on auto and use exposure compensation as necessary to adjust the exposure.  This can be particularly useful for live events where you don't have time to adjust manually.  Note that if you are shooting with multiple identical cameras however, it is best to lock everything down (including white balance) to ensure a consistent look between cameras.
Ultimately, there isn't a right answer, just be aware of how distracting changes in exposure can be during videos and balance the need to have the camera adapt vs the need to control when and how adjustments are being made for the content you are shooting.  It's best to try to avoid uncontrolled changes, but not at the expense of not getting a shot.


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ALL-I vs IPB. Which one to use
I'm fairly new do filmmaking. I've been trying to figure out which is best, but people seem to have very different opinions and everyone has his own arguments. My guess is that ALL-I should be better because they are all I-Frames, whereas IPB should be used when storage is a concern. However, some people are saying IPB is actually better.
Any thoughts?

First we need a primer on I, P and B frames.  An I frame is a frame that is a completely independant picture of the frame.  It doesn't depend on any other frames and is a frame which B and P frames are based on.  A P frame stores only the changes from the previous frame and a B frame stores only the changes in either direction.  IPB uses a mix of all 3 frame types in a set sequence to capture video with much lower data usage, but every P and B frame is an approximation of what the frame that was originally captured was.  They are not exact.
For the same size I frame, all I will ALWAYS be better quality, however, it could be possible for IPB to be better if the camera has a set limit rate for I frame that could end up with larger I frames for the IPB due to the saved space, but that would depend on the exact data rates used by the camera.  The theory behind it would be to say we have all I with 3k per frame (making this number up completely) then we have 30 pictures of whatever quality we can get out of 3k.  Now, if the IPB frame, if we had say 1k per frame on average, but the P and B frames are very small, then it might be possible for the I frame to use 5k of data and the P and B frames to use only .5k each and result in a higher overall quality.
This would depend on the quality of the motion and the data rates being used by the camera however.  In most cases, recording all I on the camera is probably going to produce I frames equal or larger in size than those in IPB.  However, when doing a final output, the highest quality for a given size will almost always be compressing to IPB.  All I will also capture fast motion better since the difference between frames will be larger.

A P frame stores only the changes from the previous frame and a B
frame stores only the changes in either direction.

Not exactly - encoding happens at the macroblock level, and macroblocks, like frames, can be I, P or B (or Skip, but we'll ignore those here).  Frame type definitions follow from these:

I frames may only have I macroblocks (remember, we are ignoring skip blocks)
P frames may have I and P macroblocks
B frames may have I, P, and B macroblocks

P (and B) blocks are reconstructed by starting with a reference block (or two, whose time offsets may be from the same direction, not necessarily both) that typically has a spatial offset ("motion vector"), and then adding the reconstructed residual to the reference block (or weighted combination of reference blocks).  So it isn't straightforward at all to characterize what happens in generic P and B frames.


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Which ND filter should I use?
I have a Tiffen variable ND filter. I was wondering if the quality is good enough for video, since I'm pretty new to this. I've heard people using other filters but they are way too expensive for me right know, so I was wondering if, quality-wise, the Tiffen is a decent filter for DSLR videomaking.

If a filter is good enough for photo, it is good enough for video.  Video is much MUCH lower quality than photography.  Ultimately, it really depends on your standards though and we can't tell you if it is good enough for your particular tastes and needs.  The reason that there are more expensive cinema lenses is because of how focus works while zooming.

Bob, if you ask 10 ASC Cinematographers which filters they think are best and which lenses are higher quality, youll get 10 different answers.
Point is, it is subjective. You have to test and choose for yourself.
Frame a nice picture, with dark and light elements in frame, with a bare bulb in frame, add something highly textured (like plants or a piece of clothing), and with some skin tone (a model). Then shoot some tests with your lenses, with and without the ND filter, with the lenses wide open and also with your most common shooting stop (f/2.8 to f/4 probably), and screen the results. You will clearly see if your ND filter flares, or has a color cast, or makes you lose resolution, or not. And then you can decide if you are ok with it or not.


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How to import youtube video into premiere cs4
I installed adobe premiere cs4 and was really astonished by the fact that it's not possible to import a video downloaded from YouTube, but it is needed to convert it firstly. This application is weight about 3GB on my hard disk and now I must search for a plugin to import a video from YT.
It would be perfectly if i could download a video directly into premiere, and also upload finished file up to youtube.
The only result of my search is a paid plugin named moyea-importer - USD 70
Is there any free plugin for this task. Or any similar solution.
If not - in which format should I download youtube video, in which format should I convert it (what is the best converter for that) to make it editable in premiere.
Working on win xp sp3.
Thanks.

How exactly were you downloading youtube videos?  Youtube is a streaming video service.  I wasn't aware there was an option to download.  There are third party tools that will rip a Youtube stream to disk, but it is worth noting that, strictly speaking, most of those are against the Youtube TOS I believe.  Once you have an actual video file on your computer, Premiere is unlikely to have a problem opening it.

It's not really all that astonishing.  Youtube is a streaming media service and Premiere is a video editing suite designed to work with files on your local computer.  It isn't part of the function of Premiere to deal with streaming media or convert from a stream to a file or to stream content (though it can produce stream ready files).
To use a video from Youtube, you would first need to use a Youtube stream ripper that will save it out as an actual video file which Premiere should then have no problem opening.  When you finish your project, you would then export to a Youtube compatible format and upload the file to Youtube.  Adobe Media Encoder (which can be used for doing the rendering out of Premiere) actually has presets specifically for Youtube.

Excuse me if I am assuming something that is incorrect.  It appears that you want to download some one else's hard work, modify it by removing any signs of ownership and the HTTPHostHeader, making it appear like you are the owner, and ran your own raw data thru Adobe.  Is that correct??
Being a Youtube channel owner, I hate it when that happens.  Some one stealing your stuff and claiming it as their own...........
You may want to visit:    https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/youtube/categories
You can see what happens to people who are caught stealing some one else's work.
Other than that, try getting a video encoder from sourceforge and re encoding it first.  Then Adobe should be able to handle it.  I use Cyberlink Power Director 11 because it's smarter than Adobe, and will take anything you can feed it.
Sorry, I really dislike seeing people go against the YT terms of service and hurting other people on the way there.  I've seen a lot of channels terminated for doing just that kind of stuff.

That could be it, but there's also legitimate use cases IMO: commenting on someone else's video in your own video or embedding a few seconds of it for legit purposes like criticizing it. I see people on YouTube do it constantly, I think (assuming you are in the US) it falls under the fair use clause. Other countries have similar stuff. That said I have no idea what OP plans on doing.


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how to blur a short scene in a video
I need a software which can blur a scene from a video file. I have thought about VirtualDub and Adobe Premiere but I am not sure if they provide the desired functionality.
My requirement is to blur a some-seconds scene for example blur the scene from 10:12 to 10:45 in a video file.

I fulfilled my requirement in Adobe Premiere Pro by following the below procedure:

Load the complete video in Timeline panel.
Using 'Razor' tool cut the section which I need to blur. When we cut using 'Razor' tool, Adobe Premiere Pro marks it as a logical separate clip.
Drag the Video → Blur effect on the desired clip and set the Gaussian blur settings.
Repeat the above steps for all other sections of the original video which I need to blur.
In the end, Export the complete sequence.

You can use ffmpeg, and you currently have a choice of four video filters that can blur: boxblur, sab, smartblur and unsharp. These filters can use the enable option for timeline support, so you can apply the blurring effect to a certain duration if desired. You can view what filters have timeline support with ffmpeg -filters.
Example

This example will apply the blur from 22-113 seconds, then again from 275-286 seconds:
ffmpeg -i input.avi -vf "boxblur=enable='between(t,22,113)',boxblur=enable='between(t,(60*4)+35,286)" -codec:a copy output.avi

You can enter seconds or have it calculate seconds for you as shown in the example.
Expression evaluation is not my best area. You may find a method to declare the filter just once.
Note that, since you only want to modify the video, the audio can be stream copied from the input to the output without re-encoding. This is faster than re-encoding and will preserve the quality. This is something most editors, such as Premiere, do not support without additional shenanigans.

Preview
If you have ffplay you can get a preview instead of encoding, watching, re-encoding...
ffplay -i input -vf smartblur

Getting ffmpeg
Builds are available for Windows, Linux, and OS X users. See the FFmpeg Download page, but of course you can always compile ffmpeg too.

For which filters is timeline supported? I would like to use "setpts" and "atempo" (to speed up certaing fragments in a video), but it doesn't work for me (@No option name near '2'@). Do I have an old version, am not passing the parameters correctly or the timeline is not supported?

@Janis Neither of those filters have timeline support. See ffmpeg -filters.

audio can be stream copied, so video can't be stream copied? Even though we only want to modify a tiny fraction of the video? Guess I'll better cut it out, blur, then join back.

@Klesun You can't filter and stream copy the same stream, but what you can do is cut out a section exactly on key frames, filter that section, and concatenate with the concat demuxer. See Cut a video in between key frames without re-encoding the full video using ffpmeg? for an example.

Important missing part: to change the blur level, you have to replace boxblur= with for example boxblur=10: (found in this answer: https://superuser.com/questions/1088062/how-to-conditionally-blur-video-using-ffmpg/1088096#1088096)

Premiere can certainly do what you need.  You could either cut the clip into sub-clips and apply a blur filter or you could apply a filter and keyframe the level of blur.  Note that this would be if you are trying to blur the entire frame.  If you want to blur only a portion of the frame, you would probably want something like motion tracking in After Effects that could follow the thing you want to blur and limit the blur to only the area impacted by a mask that follows the motion.

I want to blur the entire screen, not just a single object. Is it possible

@user1451111 - yes, then just use the filter in Premiere like I suggested.  I was just mentioning that if you wanted to be more targeted than the whole frame, it would need more advanced software.  Blurring the whole frame is trivial.

Let's say I have a 5 minute video and I want to blur the following two segments within it.
00:00:22 - 00:01:53 and
00:04:35 - 00:04:46
How to proceed?

You can either break them in to two subclips using the razor tool (looks like a little razor blade) and apply filters to each of the subclips you want to blur or you can apply blur to the whole thing and then use keyframes on the parameters of the effect to adjust the amount of blur to be 0 during the time you don't want blur.

authors: Андрей Павлюченко


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Would it be legal to use Cott-produced, generic beverages in a film?
Walmart sells a line of beverages manufactured by Cott with very generic labelling, for example:
Cott Grape soda image
Since these drinks bear no brand name, I know there are no trademark/brand issues there. There are also no trademarked logos (with the exception of a very small Royal Crown logo by the nutrition facts which would be easy to not show on camera).
Here's what I'm wondering: Could the printed format on the can be protected by some sort of copyright/trademark or other form of intellectual property protection? If so, how can I find out?

I wouldn't hang my hat on any answer that didn't come from an actual lawyer.  I think this will likely boil down to some very localized and specific details.

I received an answer from an actual lawyer:

Context matters. As a general matter, it is perfectly "legal" to use anyone's logo or brand indicia in a film, without permission, as long as it is done in a manner which does not falsely suggest the endorsement or sponsorship of the film or the producer's products by the trademark owner. For example, it is entirely possible to have your hero drink Beefeater or 7-Up in clearly identified containers. No permission is required. It is not really clear what interest you may think is being protected, but trademark law doesn't preclude all use of the trademark owner's mark by others. Sometimes, in an excess of caution, such permissions will be sought. They are nearly universally granted.

From Hilary B. Miller on Lawyers.com

I think you have the reason that brands don't appear in films backwards.  "Promotional Consideration" is the term for a company paying to have their product used in media as a form of advertising.  Generally, entertainment companies avoid displaying any brands because they want to be paid for the product to appear and couldn't charge for it if they just did it anyway.
It doesn't hurt to verify in your jurisdiction (and I am not a lawyer), but I'm not aware of any restrictions on a trademark appearing in media as long as it appears on something that the trademark actually belongs to.  If one of your characters is drinking a Pepsi, it isn't a misuse of the Pepsi trademark because it is the product being used.
Now if you instead slapped the Pepsi logo on the side of a building and filmed it as if it was what was going on at the Pepsi headquarters, then there might be trademark issues since it is a use of the trademark for purposes other than official Pepsi products.

Ah, that is a good point that I didn't think about. In that case, if I wanted to avoid displaying brands in order to avoid giving the impression that I supported one brand over another, this method would probably work.

You have addressed my primary concern about whether or not it would be ok for the soda to appear on film, but if you could also address my secondary question as to whether or not the layout of the can is protected in anyway and how I could find out, then I could accept this answer.

@called2voyage - I thought that was clear from my answer, I am not aware of any aspect of trademark law that prevents a unaltered product from appearing in film as long as it is an actual product that bears the mark from the mark holder.  I would still verify it with a lawyer and your local jurisdiction if you plan to use the film commercially though.

In addition to what AJ says, and I am also not a lawyer, one reason for not displaying actual brand logos is if your use (by a character, etc) could be seen as placing the brand in disrepute, or in some way showing it in a negative light. Many companies are very touchy about reputation and won't hesitate to call out the legal beagles.

Thanks for pointing out a possible legal concern. I'm still looking for someone who can answer whether or not the can format is protected and how I could find out.

No one here can (or if they can, should) give you legal advice, but as long as you're not disparaging the brand, or associating it with negative themes, there should be no issues. Try contacting the product placement rep at Ford or their ad agency -- you might be surprised.

This answer is actually to a different question ( http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/12497/ ), which was merged as a duplicate. That's why it seems to address a topic not mentioned here.


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Freezing/repeating the last frame of a video clip in Apple Motion 5
I have two clips running at the same time. One is a computer and the other is a clip that I've made to look like its running on the computer screen. I've used four corner motion tracker to keep the two in sync as the computer clip zooms in.
At a certain point i'd like to freeze the computer clip while the clip on its screen plays out. I can crop the computer clip up to the point I want it frozen but I'm unsure of how to extend/repeat that last frame so it stays visible until the other clip finishes. At the moment it just dissapears when it hits the crop.

Okay, figured out how to do this. Make sure you location is at the frame you want to freeze, hide all the other layers in Motion to just show the video that you want to freeze.
Then go Share menu > Save Current Frame. Then save that image somewhere.
All you have to do then is import that image back in and place it again at the end of the clip it came from. Ensure it's lower in the layer stack so that other clips appear on top of it until they disappear - or just crop it.

That is not a good solution.
With this solution you are now locked at the size and position of your window, not the source media.  If you want to zoom in or out you have now lost that ability.
Better solution is to use the timing controls and set the end condition to "Hold"


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Best way to edit multi screen footage into one clip.
I'm planning on making some "let's play" videos. These videos are usually edited together from screen recordings of multiple different players but have one shared audio track.
Here's an example:

What's the best way to go about doing this? What software would be good for this? Ideally I'd like to import all of the screen recordings into the software and then have a way of easily switching between "cameras".
Links to tutorials doing this or something similar would also be a huge help.

Most professional video editing software will let you do this - for example Adobe Premiere. You can pop in all your video streams and mix/chop between them as required.

Adobe Premiere Pro actually has a multicamera mode you can use where it will display all the videos playing together and you can switch between them.  You just line up the time and then can swap.  If they aren't time synced, then you can simply cut clips out and place them at will.  That's why it is called non-linear editing (NLE), because you can take clips and put them together without having to work linearly (deck to deck) like you used to.
While links are generally discouraged, I think this link to Adobe's help pages is probably the most ideal explanation of how to do multicamera editing.

This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!


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Using cell phone camera to record and play back in theaters?
I know this might sound absurd but can i use use a cell phone camera NEXUS 4 & iphone 4s to be specific, to record 1080p HD videos and will those videos be good enough to play in a theater environment. This is what i have for shooting, is it possible. If yes do i need to make any tweaks with apps, processing, editing. Need your guidance.
Thanks a ton, i am completely new to this but want to do this all by my self.
Appreciate your answers and help !!!

This depends on what's your definition of "good enough". Why won't you try and see if the results are plausible?

The video should not be grainy or appear to be stretched, at least like a 320p video on youtube which is fairly good to view. That would be quite acceptable and since i can at max have one trial run because hiring the facility would ruin the already minute budget that i can manage. Within that i want to be sure as to what final changes i would have to make. Thanks for the replies !!!

1080p is sufficient in terms of resolution, though 2k or better yet 4k is prefered these days, though resolution isn't the only measure of quality. The quality of the color and dynamic range of the camera and the use of a global shutter (or lack there of) can make a big difference on how good the footage looks in a theater environment, depending on what the footage is like. Footage from a cellphone is not going to have the quality of color or the shutter to hold up well in a theater. You'd really want to spend a minimum of probably $1500 or so and preferably at least $4,000 or so on a minimal setup for high quality video.
As far as editing software, After Effects is not an editing package. You would want to use a NLE (non-linear editor) like Premiere to edit the footage. After Effects is useful for things like titling, color grading, stabilization and effects work. Sufficient quality H.264 is ideal. Probably a high data rate All I frame would be ideal, though the exact best option would depend on the playback gear available at the theater.
As far as how to play it at the theater. The majority of theaters are rapidly going digital. It is easier to manage digital cinema since there are only large files to deal with that can be delivered electronically and don't wear out. Also, the editing is generally done digitally anyway, so there isn't quality loss that would be necessary to move back to film.
320kbps is low for editing sound, but fine in terms of final output. Ideally you would want to record 96khz, 24bit PCM audio for each channel and then do your edits on that and only compress it for the final output.
The bigger deal is that technique and skill make a far bigger difference when blowing it up a lot. A little bit of vibration that isn't that bad on a TV screen quickly becomes physically nauseating when blown up to an entire wall. You need to use good tripods and dollies and such when shooting for the theater. It would likely be possible for a really skilled individual to make something passable with a cellphone camera if the rough quality made sense for the piece, but without proper shooting technique and stabilization (physical, not added in post production) the footage would make people ill to watch in a theater.


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Are stars in Movies realistic?
After watching Battlestar Gallactica and thinking about the Camera Technology of today it got clear that you need a high exposure time or a HDR camera to pick up the starlight.
I know also that you don't see stars at the Pictures takes from the moon becaus the exposure time is too low.
So the question is:
Is it realistic that you can see stars in Motion pictures/movies taken with a HDR camera?

You can see stars from the moon as long as you don't also have the moon lit in shot.

There are many time-lapse DSLR videos out with great star fields moving across the sky per the rotation of the earth and these are very popular.
Here are a few examples:
https://vimeo.com/24253126
https://vimeo.com/48787310
https://vimeo.com/57757618
...this has the moon, but notice how you can't see any detail of the moon's surface as it is overexposed to capture star light:
https://vimeo.com/22439234
The above are for the most part are realistic and shot with DSLR cameras but in time-lapse which can allow for the needed exposure time (both dragging the shutter and opening the lens).
In Hollywood feature films it would be more likely and practical for the editors to composite star fields as shot separately or create in animation as this allows for more control of the total picture with predictable results.
In big productions there is less of a chance that they would try to shoot stars in real time with actors or other subjects simply because the difference in exposing stars is huge compared to that of a lit set. Just as you mentioned that you don't see a detailed moon shot with stars in the background because the moon is like 12 EV units while the stars are like near zero, that's like 12 or more stops difference.
For the present, to get a detailed moon surface shot with a star background would require a composite.
UPDATE:
To be clear, most feature narrative films will not be real stars on their own, possibly composites with the main scene or animation or other effects while many independent cinematographers will use time-lapse that is real however sped up in time.


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Is it possible to alter the playback *preview* speed?
Is it possible to change the speed of Premiere's playback of the video without altering the speed of the produced version? Even if I could play it only 1.5x faster, it would mean a lot of time saved in the long run.

Yes - while playing the video, press the L key to increase playback speed and press the J key to decrease it.
For further options, please reference the relevant Premiere Pro documentation.

Actually if you press J one time from 100% speed, it will pause (0% speed) then it plays backwards.

@AdamanthysBixler-Zavalla Try Shift + J and Shift + L to decrease/increase speed 10% at a time

How do I reset back to 100% playback rate?

Nevermind, just hit space to pause and resure and it will reset playback rate

The K key is a modifier and stop playback key.
Play in reverse
To move the playhead in reverse at a normal speed, press J.
To move it backwards faster, press JJ.
To move backward slowly, press J and K.
To move back one frame at a time, press K and tap the J key.
To play in reverse slightly faster, press Shift + J.
.
.
Play forward
To move the playhead forward, press L.
To move it forward faster, press LL.
To move forward slowly, press L and K.
To move forward one frame at a time, press K and tap the L key.
To play forward slightly faster, press Shift + L.


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Create Project Template in Adobe Premiere cs6
I'm a youtuber and I make a bunch of videos. Every time I make a vid I have to import the same files [watermarks, back ground music]. Is there anyway to make a template so when I create a new file they are already there?

Certainly - you can simply create a new project with the appropriate files already imported. Save that project. Whenever you need to create a new video, go to your template project and save it as a copy. This way, you retain your original template and you can bypass the process of reimporting the necessary media.

The easiest way to do this is with nested sequences.  I will have to double check if it is possible to import a Premiere sequence from one project in to another, (I normally use After Effects for this kind of thing.) however you can produce a sequence that has your watermarks and music and leaders and such and then simply sub-out the underlying nested sequence with whatever your latest project is.
This allows for you to reuse the shared components while only having to adjust for any change in length of the main sequence.


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Fair use with copyrighted material
I did not quite understand if using copyrighted music in a video falls under the umbrella of the so called "Fair use".
Of course, here, I am assuming that the video is not used for commercial purposes, and it is solely produced for artistic/hobbyist purposes.
I am aware of the fact that royalty free music is available online. However, there are some pieces of music, mostly from movies, which are fabulous and it is a pity to not be able to use them.
I am therefore wondering as to what, at least in the US, is permissible and what is not for non-commercial purposes.

This is best answered by a lawyer with music industry experience. The music industry is notoriously litigious. Just because your use falls within fair use doesn't mean you won't get hit with an expensive-to-defend lawsuit.

Related:  http://avp.stackexchange.com/a/5028/2569

I am not a lawyer, but as far as I know, the commercial vs non-commercial distinction doesn't matter in terms of copyright restrictions unless the music is released under a license that allows non-commercial use.  Fair use generally only applies to using a (small) portion of the song.  For example, if you had a character that is supposed to hear the song on the radio, you could play a few measures of it before starting a conversation, but you couldn't just play the whole song.
There can be some exceptions to this such as parody (of the song itself), but that often involves having to record your own performance of the parody version of the song.  Your best bet is still to see a lawyer to see if your use falls under fair use though as there are most likely other exceptions that I don't know about.
There are multiple services that will help you work out the licensing necessary for your video and it often isn't actually that expensive to do for smaller non-commercial projects, depending on the size of the expected audience.  If you search for "music for video licensing" you should get a quick set of results for some current organizations that handle it.

IANAL - but my general rule is, if someone other than myself is going to see/hear it - I have clear rights to use it. I don't use external assets unless I know they are CC with the correct attributes, public domain, or I purchased them.
The original movie producers paid to have that music in there, and the thought is that another movie (even non-commercial) using that music "weakens" their brand. The exception to this is if the new movie is a parody of the original.
Again, I'm not a lawyer... but it seems to me it would be better to be legit and fair, even if it require a bit more searching to find that "perfect" song.


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Null object to toggle volume in After Effects?
Null objects don't have volume controls, but I'd like to control many audio layers in my timeline at once.
Anyone know of a way to adjust volume or toggle mute on a bunch of layers without having to precompose them?

Add a Slider to your Null Object.
Alt-click on the stopwatch next to the one of the volume controls that you want to control.

This will open the Expressions box for the volume control, and a pick-whip icon will appear.

Drag from the pick-whip to the Slider in your Null.

Some code will appear in the Expressions box, something like:
temp = thisComp.layer("Null 1").effect("Slider Control")("Slider");
[temp, temp]

The numbers on the volume control will turn pink to indicate that they are being controlled by an expression.

Now move the slider on the null, and the volume should change on the audio track.

To do this to multiple audio tracks, just follow the same process.
Here is a screen shot to illustrate this:


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Pinnacle 16 vs Pinnacle 16 Plus
I want to buy the ordinary Pinnacle Studio 16 (not the Plus one), because it's cheaper. But I would be dissapointed if it lacked the features I need.
The questions are about the simple version:
1) Will I be able to cut a video from one exact frame to another? I need high precision based on frames. (The comparison shows that the simple version doesn't have "keyframable effects," I'm not sure what it means.)
2) Will I be able to put text in a video?

Keyframeable effects means that you can set values for the effects at various points along the timeline.  For example, you could tell a dissolve that you want to start at 100% opacity, then move to 50% opacity 5 frames in and then sit at 50% for 20 frames and then dissolve the rest of the way to 0% by another frames.  The effect will make sure it hits each value on the frame you specify and blend the values automatically to get to that value.
Without having it, you should probably still have frame accurate control, but you'll only have a begin and end point to work with, no control over how it progresses in between those points.  It's a nice feature to have, but shouldn't be critical for your described purpose.
Chromakey would seem to indicate that you can do your titles in either, but you may have to produce the title in an image editing program outside of it.  I'd guess that it will let you do static titles inside the program, but it sounds like it won't let you easily make the title move without going to the Plus version.

Can I do montage with the precision over every single frame?

@Graduate I would expect you should be able to.  I don't have the software, but I don't see anything in the comparison that indicates you wouldn't be able to.  You just can't control effects and transition values on a frame by frame basis, but start and end points should be frame accurate or the software would be useless.


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Overloading in a Mackie profx8
On one channel of my Mackie mixer, the OL light is on whatever I do. The channel sounds like it's working but the OL light is lit. What is the reason?

Try turning the gain all the way down and unplugging the channel.  If the overload light is still lit, then there is a fault with your board.

Ok. I will take it with the store where I bought it. The channel sounds OK, it might be a glitch with the light itself.

Maybe u mistakenly press button solo

I forgot those boards do this.  That's a great thought.


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AWB and Auto ISO in fast moving scenes
I have recently asked about Auto ISO for video, and got great responses. I would like to have further clarifications in these regards.
I am planning to film an event in a public place. The scene will be fairly dynamic, and I won't have much of a control over what will be going on. I believe I won't have much time for settings either.
For these reasons, I was planning to use AWB and Auto ISO. Specifically, I was thinking about setting the ND filter and aperture such that the correct exposure would correspond to ISO 200. That way, the camera should be able to go up and down when needed.
Now, considering that each clip will be no more than 4 seconds, will I run into any issues with the above strategy?
PS: I will be using a 5DMIII (no Magic Lantern).

Why are you using an ND filter?  If the lighting is going to dynamic, then it is presumably indoors and even outdoors there should be no need in the majority of cases for an ND filter for video on the 5D Mark iii.

It's a toss up either way.  On the one hand AWB may help you get better footage without needing manual correction later, but on the down side, if you end up needing any correction, it will change uncontrolled on you and will complicate the process of color correction in post.  If you don't plan to color correct in post and don't have time to adjust white balance on the fly, then AWB is really your only choice.
Auto ISO has similar problems.  It should generally do a decent job, particularly if you set good edge boundaries for the ISO (which the 5d3 does nicely), but it will shift on you and make adjusting for brightness and contrast in post more difficult.
Ultimately the shot you get is better than the shot you don't though, so if you can't operate it manually fast enough to get the shots, then use Auto for what it is there for, getting the shot you wouldn't otherwise be able to get.

AutoISO + AWB worked this time. It was a fast moving scene. Of course, it may or may not work; but this time, I'm glad to see it did :) Thanks.