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Why are Bink compressed videos striped?
If you've ever seen a Bink compressed color video, chances are it was striped and each second stripe was much brighter than the first. They went like this: bright-dim-bright-dim. Was it some kind of compression trick aimed at CRT displays that would blend the rows of pixels into evenly bright picture?
I don't have an example picture, but you can probably find an old PC game CD with a Bink-compressed video on it that has this striped pattern.

While I am not 100% sure, I believe that the effect you are talking about (such as how it is seen in Command & Conquer) is a result of applying a reduced color pallet to the video.  For old games, disk space was at a premium and file sizes had to be kept exceptionally small and modern advanced compression was too processor intensive to be used.
Smacker (the precursor to modern Bink video) used an 8 bit color pallet to simplify video display greatly, however this left a large restriction on the quality of video.  To get around this, they allowed the color pallet to be switched out on a per-frame basis and blocks from the last frame to be used.  By using each frame as a field in interlaced video, they could use a bright color pallet on one set of rows and a darker one on the other.  This resulted in a dithered color pallet that was much larger than 8 bits.
Dithering is the process of using spots of color that are near a color you want someone to perceive in order to make it look like that color when the brain blends them together.  The net result is video that looked much better than the technology of the day would have otherwise allowed for, which is why at the time it looked amazing, even if looking back now we end up wondering what we were on.
More detailed information is available on the Smacker Wikipedia page.

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

This is not what he is describing.  He is describing an old video format used for rendering really small video on low power setups back in the day.  Video clips from Command & Conquer are a perfect example of what he is talking about.


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What are the steps to apply filters to all my video clips in Corel Videostudio?
I am able to drop each each filter to each of the clip.
But when I try - Select all clips - Drop a filter to the selections, it does not work as expected.  Instead the filter gets applied only to one clip.
Is there any other way to achieve what I am doing - Automatically fix exposure and colour levels to all clips?

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Best way to get synced audio from multi-cam Premiere project into Audition and back
I have a Premiere Pro project with a multicam sequence, shot with two cameras, A and B, on HDV. The total is about 1:16 long. I have two clips from each camera - A1 and A2, B1 and B2, and after A1 ends, there is a tape switch before A2 starts, and then B1 ends with a tape switch to B2. So I have continuous video and audio, even if I only have from one camera at a time at those two points.
Camera A has audio from an XLR microphone. The mic is mono, but the sound is recorded as stereo, i.e. same audio in each track. Camera B has "room audio" with audience reactions etc.
I want to now take the audio from these 4 (in total) audio channels and export them to Audition. There is some noises I have to remove in the camera B track, and I want to adjust the mix so that the XLR audio is clear and the room audio is present, but not dominating.
I then want to export this back to Premiere as a nice, clean, two channel mix that can replace the original audio in the sequence.
What is the best workflow to do this? I am a CC subscriber, keeping up to date, if that matters.
Thanks!

Adobe Bridge should allow you to open the Sequence in Audition.  If you go to the project panel and right click the sequence you want to edit, you should be able to choose Edit and then Edit In Audition.  This will automatically bring the sequence over to Audition with the tracks properly laid out.  You should then be able to do any work you want to in Audition.
For output you have two options, you can either rely on Bridge to apply your changes from Audition when rendering the sequence or you can output a mix-down from Audition and then import it to Premiere and use it to replace the existing audio.  Since the project in Audition is synced to the Premiere sequence, the audio length should be correct starting from the beginning of the sequence.
More details are available in Adobe's online documentation here.

Thank you - that was a lot easier than I feared it would be. As you say, I get the tracks laid out just like I hoped, and I even get a video to go along with it. Awesome. :)

@RuneJacobsen - yeah, that is why the Adobe suite is so popular among professionals.  They have done a lot to make it so that it works well as a production pipeline, which means that applications have to work cleanly with each other.  The only reason it isn't used by the big houses is that it doesn't support multiple users working on stuff at the same time very well, but as long as it's a small shop, it's pretty awesome.

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


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Beginner: what software to combine 2 videos of a dance show
I would like to make a film of our dance show from 2 videos which were shot of it, keeping 1 audio track and the movement synched to the audio. Can anyone tell me what software can do this as easily as possible? I had a go a couple of years ago, spent many hours on it and completely failed! As far as I can remember the problem was that I couldn't line up the videos one above the other and in time with each other so that I could choose which bits I wanted to cut from one to the other and put them in the right place. I happen to have a reduction for corel video studio - can it do this, if not what can?
thanks very much
any suggestions on what the technical terms I need to do this are would be much appreciated to help me search the web

Do any of these previous questions help you? If not, what is missing from them?

You are looking for a Non-Linear Video Editing packages or NLE.  Premiere and Final Cut Pro are two of the most popular, but they are also relatively pricy professional products.  There are also many cheaper and/or free options available such as Windows Movie Maker (Windows) or iMovie (Mac).  If you search for non-linear editing software or video editing software, you should find lots of possible options.

I had almost no experience in video editing and I used kapwing (https://www.kapwing.com/tools). I found it to be very intuitive. It is free for videos below 7 minutes as output and below 250MB of input.
If you don't want to pay any money, you can trim the videos using kapwing and remerge them using the photos app (https://www.winhelponline.com/blog/merge-combine-videos-windows-10-built-in-photos-app/).

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


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GIF individual frame timing
I have a GIF that uses variable framerates throughout. It plays back correctly in web browsers, and opening it in GIMP shows the time for each frame. If I import it into Premiere CS6, it plays at a constant average framerate.
Is there a way to preserve the correct frame timing without cutting and splicing several copies of the source GIF?

That does sound like a tricky issue. Have you tried opening the GIF in PhotoShop using video to layers (file > import > video to layers)? If so, did the timing appear accurate? What are you ultimately trying to do with the GIF?
http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/editing-video-animation-layers-photoshop.html

I have a GIF that is something like: Frame 1 - 1000 ms, Frames 2-9 - 50 ms each, Frame 10 - 3000 ms. If I import this to Premiere, it plays at the average overall framerate - 400 ms per frame. I eventually "solved" the problem by inserting each piece of the GIF separately, then adjusting the framerates individually.


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What Is That Misty, Glowing, Saturated Look 2000s Music and Pro Videos Have?
Is it just to do with the image sensor tech of the time or is it a deliberate effect? What is it called?
A lot of music and pro videos shot during the 00s have that misty, glowing, saturated and grainless look throughout the entire videos, which you don't see any more.
Just a few prominent examples:
Usher - U Don't Have To Call -

Professional ad for a facial workout DVD -

Outkast - Hey Ya! -

Pussycat Dolls - Don't Cha -

I don't know how much of this contributes to the effect,
but it seems that they are applying a blurred copy of the footage with very low opacity.
Similar to this: http://digital-photography-school.com/4-easy-photoshop-techniques-to-make-your-pictures-pop

That is definitely quite similar, thanks for sharing. (Would upvote but I don't have enough reputation on here.)

no problem, can't upvote you either because not enought reputation. I'll do when I have more

and now I can! I hope you will get more details


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How Can I Eliminate Moiré With Blackmagic 2.5K?

Just picked up Blackmagic camera. Shooting in 2.5K for a series of interviews and experiencing excessive moire throughout all subjects. There are no obnoxious patterns on anyone, so I'm wondering what I can do minimize this and/or cancel out in the future.
Is there something I can do in Blackmagic settings in camera or in post production to cancel this out?
Thanks!

Is it possible to post a full size frame grab?  It's hard to clearly see what is happening with the scaled down image.  JPEG artifacts also makes it hard to identify, so a full quality full size frame grab would be helpful.


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Special effect in videos and gifs
I'm looking for a program but since I don't really know how these kind of effects are called, it is hard to search for it, so I hope someone here can give me some pointers.
I want to create animated gifs like this one: http://9gag.com/gag/aozMMGg
The remarkable thing here is, that some parts of the gif enjoy a "wind effect". The tie and the picture in the background are blown away.
Personally, I think the creator did this in a SFX video program and converted the video to a gif. If so, does somebody know which program can do this?

You could possibly draw each frame in Photoshop... Most likely a video editing program converted into a GIF. I personally can't help.

For that specific example, any editing package would do - either an image stitching program or as Weylin said, more likely a video editing tool.
All that they have done there is have a background layer which is fixed throughout, then 5 layers containing the sign, his chin, his mouth, his tie and the ticker.
Each of these layers is manually edited to move the item, then the frames are stitched together to form a gif.
There are ways to automate all the movements along animation tracks, but for a simple gif like this that would probably be overkill.

The "wind effect" on the text is just a linear blur. In the case of that GIF, the creator likely used After Effects to accelerate the scroll while gradually increasing the linear blur. As for the tie, mouth, and chin, he/she almost certainly used Puppet Warp for that smooth, stretchy animation. I'd be very impressed if he/she edited frame-by-frame.


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connect 8 projectors together to create a large image
For an experiment purpose i collected 8 projector with 5000 lumens and 1080P resolution.
I need to connect them altogether to create a really large image?
So, should i use 1 computer for each projector and slice the image and then adjust them to match?
Or, is there any hardware and software to help me do this?
Thanks in advance.

Thanks everybody for your suggestions. I used an Chinese solution from userlcd. They have a similar product like Watchout server.

Do you expect the large image to be seamless, both in dimension and in tone? Each is a separate challenge. Color-matching 8 projectors can be daunting, depending on the technology. As a general rule, you would overlap the images from the projectors and feather their edges. This costs you something in size, with the benefit of disguising mismatches to some degree. Some projectors have this blending ability built in.
In any case, it would probably be better to use a pair of 4-head graphics cards on one computer, rather than 8 separate PCs. Keeping 8 PCs sync-locked is not easy.
There are commercial products like Watchout that will perform the slicing and syncing of one image into multiple playback PCs, if you have the budget for that.

As said by AJ Henderson and Jim Mack, you should just use one computer with multiheaded video. On an X11-based window system, you can use xrandr to organise the screen segments. Most operating systems have also GUI tools for doing this.
The biggest problem will probably be the fine alignment. Most good projectors have settings for perspective correction built in, but in particular at extreme angles this always becomes troublesome.
If you're projecting from very far away so the area could in principle be covered with one projector (or two) and you mainly need more luminance, it might be easier to use them simply "in parallel", i.e. with the same signal on multiple projectors covering the same area. If they are very close to each other (e.g. stacked – careful that each gets enough cooling!) the parallax difference becomes neglectable.

Nice expansion for X11 based systems. +1

The easiest way to do this is multiheaded video cards.  Many video cards support 3 displays and it is possible to get cards that support even more than that, particularly via DisplayPort (which allows for chaining multiple displays on a single connection).
When using multiple displays in Windows, it will allow you to specify how they are arranged and software can also be used to make it act as one giant display.
Alternately, you can use a stand alone splitter that can take one ultra high resolution output and split it to multiple screens, but it's generally cheaper to simply use one or more video cards to use multiple monitors.

One additional option on Linux setup will be DMX: http://dmx.sourceforge.net/
If enough heads per machine can not be supported and the presentation data is relatively "slow", DMX will provide a single, ultra high resolution X11 display to an application and will automatically split the image between multiple "slave" X servers forming a unified display wall.
If 3D data presentation is desired, VirtualGL supports a "display wall" mode as well (albeit with somewhat more effort): http://www.virtualgl.org/

if you are going for a more profesional look, and have the budget look into pandoras box media servers. They have functionality to not only edge blend multiple projectors, but also map the image onto any 3d object. you might need two of them in order to run 8 projectors but they are much easier to sync up than 8 individual pcs

1 PC with many outs is usually easier to handle than multiple PCs.
Do you have any specific software you're working with? Is it for an installation, or for general use? Do you have a budget you need to stay under? Are they all the same brand and model of projector? Tearing might also become an issue.
As far as software goes, some have been mentioned above, but if you're doing an art installation or similar, these software would be more helpful:
-Derivative TouchDesigner
-Resolume Avenue
-d3
-MadMapper
But answering the above questions will help get you more precise answers.


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Software to Remove a Person from a Video
I have a video with multiple moving people, from which I would like to remove one person. I know this is possible and that software exists to do it (see this paper), but I can't find any available to the general public.

Is the camera moving?  A moving camera makes this problem significantly more difficult.

Adobe After Effects has the ability to fill based on previous frames which works fairly well if the camera is stationary.  Basically it pulls pixels from previous frames where the person isn't there and places them over the person.  It can extract the person because it is easy to tell what pixels are changing and look for a group of them from frame to frame.
There are some major limits though.  If there is anything else moving in front or behind the person, then there isn't an effective way to distinguish the person from the other object.  Similarly, if the camera is moving at all, then both the background to fill in behind and the reference of what is stationary go out the window.
In cases where it can't be automatically processed, it would be necessary to rotoscope the person out frame by frame.  After Effects is also capable of supporting rotoscoping pretty easily as well, though it is a time consuming process.

You could export the video to still frames, then the problem is reduced to removing the person from pictures.
You can use Gimp or any decent paint program with a clone tool to copy sections of a good image to the image that needs correcting.  The clone tool is pretty quick to use.  But yes, at 30 fps if your perpetrator is in the scene for 5s is a lot of frames to tinker with.

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend this... Very time consuming, even for just a second of footage. If the camera is pretty stationary, then this method is definitely not worth it... Even some pretty cheap or perhaps free software (Wax) could do this exact same thing much easier, as AJ Henderson hinted at. However, I'm not trying to disparage your answer... Thank you for it! This method is useful if the person in question was only visible for a very small number of frames... So your answer is very applicable, don't get me wrong!

Thanks for the feedback... since there was no answer for 4 hours I took a stab.  I suspected there was a better way, and was also hoping to be out-answered :)

@Michael - If I had a rep for every time I posted an answer that I was hoping would be out answered but wanted there to be some kind of info for the asker to work from, I'd probably have double the rep, so I know what you mean. In fact, I'd say my answer to this one is still an example of that since I don't have enough direct experience doing this.  I just know how the algorithms work that do it.  :)

Hmm, maybe I'll take a stab at it... :)


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How do you get the highest quality type in After Effects?
I'm a complete beginner to After Effects and Premier Pro. When I typed directly into After Effects and then did a "Best Settings" render my text looks a bit pixelated. Is this the best quality AE can do or would it be better to import the text in another format for high quality? Transparent TIF for example? Is there another thing I should look at in the render settings to ensure the type renders crisp?

It depends on how bad the aliasing is, but a very slight fast blur can sometimes smooth a layer that looks too digital. I most often use this on thin linework, but sometimes type as well.

The quality of the text is going to depend on the quality of the font.  There are two types of fonts, bitmap and vector.
Bitmap fonts basically have pictures of each letter and information about how they should be spaced, each font size that is officially supported has its own picture.  Vector fonts are a mathematical description of the characters and can be resized smoothly.
If you are using a bitmap font and not using a sufficient font point size, then you will get a pixelated image.  Try using other fonts and/or adjusting the point size to find one that isn't pixelated.  It should be perfectly possible to render fonts smoothly in After Effects directly.

I'm not using bitmap fonts. I only use TrueType or OpenType. In this case the font used was Arial.

@Ryan - Are you using a higher point size or using the % size adjustment to make it bigger?  The font is rasterized on the layer based on your point size and then scaled based on the layer size.  If you are adjusting the layer size with a small font point size, you would still get pixelization.

I used Font Size only.

@Ryan - are you able to reproduce the problem in a project file you could share?  I'll mess around a bit tonight and see if I can figure out how to reproduce your problem and fix it.  I know I've done smooth fonts in AE natively, but I forget exactly what was involved.  I don't remember anything special, but maybe I'm forgetting something.

About to leave the office today but I can reproduce it in the morning

I suspect you have the view window set at less than 100% scale. Your quality setting should match your view screen scale. For example, if your view screen is at 50% you should set the quality to half. If the screen is at 49% or 51% the text will look jagged (aliased). The Auto setting on the quality drop down is useful to keep the closest quality setting to your scale.

this is happening not just in AE but when I render to an .mp4

If you paste text directly on the screen without creating a text box first, it will be very pixelated.
Cut the same text and place it in a text box and it becomes much sharper.


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How do I blur the background, but not a moving subject in FCPX to create a depth-of-field effect?
So I am using my camera to make vlogs for youtube and sometimes interview people. I have a background that doesn't move and I have a person in front of the camera who sometimes moves from left to right.
My camera already has a subtle depth-of-field, but I want to make it more noticeable. Now I know that photobooth in OS X has a trick where you step out of the frame for a moment and then when you step into the frame it can separate you from the background. I guess FCPX can probably do the same trick, but I haven't found that feature yet. Is it in there? Can I use it to create the effect that I want to create?

Your best bet is going to be to make the effect in camera by getting the camera as close as possible to you and moving the background as far away as possible.  Shooting with the widest open aperture possible would also help.  Adding a background blur in post is not the same and does not get good results as it does not understand the depth of the background.  (Background blur from depth of field changes over depth and that is what gives it the soft, 3d feel.)  Artificially doing it doesn't work well in photos and works even more poorly in video.

FCPX can't do this automatically (like Photo Booth) unless the background is a single colour.
As a workaround, if possible…

Take a picture of the background.
Film the vlog in front of a green screen.
Key the background leaving the alpha channel.
Place the picture behind the video layer.

There is a full guide in this Apple KB article:

Final Cut Pro X: Use chroma keys

Is there another video editing app that can do this without the green screen workaround?

@Evert Not that I'm aware of


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Kdenlive Render Effects
I'm using Kdenlive on Linux Mint 16, and I was finding that my keyframed "Box Blur" effect was significantly slowing down playback, and so I thought there might be a way to render the effects on a clip, essentially making them "non-editable", to speed up playback.
Is there such a function?
Thanks in advance!

Yes, you can preview effects using timeline preview rendering since version 16.08 (video tutorial):

Set in and out points using I and O keys for the area in which your effect is active.
In the main menu in Timeline/Timeline Preview press Add preview zone.
In the same menu, press Start Preview Render and wait until the red bar turns green at the top of the timeline.

Any change to the area - including moving clips or adding effects to clips in it - will result in requiring to re-render to regain the playback speed enhancement.
In case 16.08 or later is not available on Linux Mint yet, you might be able to install it manually (video guide):
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kdenlive/kdenlive-stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install kdenlive


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How does ARRI saturation formula differ from the ASC-CDL spec?
In the context of ASC-CDL, saturation is applied as:
luma = 0.2126*iR + 0.7152*iG + 0.0722*iB
oR = luma + saturation*(iR-luma)
oG = luma + saturation*(iG-luma)
oB = luma + saturation*(iB-luma)

However, in the ARRI Look Files in the ALEXA Camera whitepaper they say:

Note: The ALEXA saturation parameter differs from the ASC CDL
  saturation.

But they don't specify in what way, and I can't find that information anywhere.
Does anybody know?

I would imagine it has something to do with the white point/primary chromaticities are Alexa Wide Gamut vs. Rec709.
http://www.arri.com/camera/alexa/learn/log_c_and_rec_709_video

Welcome to Video Production on Stack Exchange.  That made an interesting read.  Also enjoyed checking out your demo reel.


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How to focus when recording video using a DSLR?
I'm looking for advice on how to adjust focus effectively when using a DSLR to record video.  I find it difficult to judge focus on the small LCD screen on the back of the camera when focusing manually, and the auto-focus feature is not very useful during recording.
I am aware that it's possible to attach external monitors which help by having larger screen or focus peeking.  Other than expensive external accessories, what techniques can one use to achieve the best results in various situations?
I am not looking to get serious about video making.  I'm simply trying to find out what I can do with the video feature of a DSLR I got primarily for still photos, and focusing has been one of the major pain points so far.   I was successful only when pre-setting focus, and not adjusting it during recording.

It wasn't available when the original question was asked, but the Canon 70D has vastly-improved AF-while-recording compared to older DSLRs, and a touch-screen that lets you tap on subjects to focus on them.

Other than what you mentioned, the only other alternative is to use a third party firmware that highlights the points of highest contrast.  This gives you a better idea of what is focused on by highlighting the edges that are sharp in the LCD.  MagicLantern offers this for most Canon cameras.  I don't know if third party firmware for other DSLR makes has similar features or not.

I agree auto focus can mess with your capture especially when there is low contrast at the point of interest. In this situation with auto focus engaged, the focus tends to oscillate.
I generally do the following:
1) compose frame of shot.
2) set to auto-focus and zoom in on point of interest until auto focus is stable.
3) once this is stable, I then switch to manual, that is auto focus has got it and manual now keeps it there.
You may not have a zoom so you will have to improvise the best focus area.
I also use a Sony camcorder, my in camera display is only 3 or so inches.

You could check focus before you start recording and use a narrow aperture so that everything stays in focus.


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What software do you recommend to easily import and edit tapes?
We've got loads of tapes filmed with an old camera that are just sitting there never being watched, and we want an easy way to import and play with them.
We purchased the Dazzle DVC100, which seems to be working fine, but I'm trying to find the right set of tools to import them.
I gave Pinnacle Movie Studio a try, but although the scene detection is really good (detects all the missed footage, blue/black screens, etc), using the software itself is rather agravating and complicated.
So, keeping in mind my father, who isn't very tech savy, is going to be doing the importing, what software would you recommend for us ?
We need to :

Be able to work with the Dazzle DVC100/be able to import footage easily
Be able to detect scenes, so we can get rid of blue/black screens and things we don't want
Be able to add little transitions and a tittle at the beggining
Needs to be fairly easy to use

Any tips on what I should try/buy ? Currently trying Pinnacle Movie Studio 17, but it's pretty heavy, and is probably a bit too advanced for something as simple as what we are trying to achieve.
Thanks a lot !
Mark

I used to translate videos from tape to digital with a capture device.
The program i used was Ulead Video Studio which is really easy to set up and use. Right now it is called Corel VideoStudio.
It has a bunch of transitions and media generators to add titles and credits.
http://www.corel.com/corel/product/index.jsp?pid=prod4900075
Oh the other hand, going to a much cheaper option, you could try  Lightworks, it is a lightweight program that has a lot of functionallity suitable for what you are asking.
Hope it helps


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What encoding settings does Revision3 use to get quality high but file size so low?
I am creating my own content. We have recorded uncompressed, and are now at the exporting stage.
This video will be downloaded, not streamed via YouTube or Vimeo. So far, we are rendering it at 5Mbps bitrate and it is coming in at very high.
It ranges from 23MB/minute to 38MB/minute for 720p high-def quality (mp4).
However, I know that many videos downloaded from the internet, for example -
Film Riot - has an HD file that is 84.5MB for 10:11 (so that works out to about 8.45MB/minute). The quality still looks nice...not necessarily THE BEST....but definitely pretty decent.
Film State - has an HD MP4 file that is 203.5MB that runs 25:50 (so that works out to about 7.8MB/minute).
HD Nation - has an HD MP4 file that is 236.2MB that runs 17:55 (so that works out to about 7.8MB/minute).
How do I get it so low, but quality still being so high?

What codec are you using?  A look at the page source shows that film riot is using h.264

Part of my question was what codec is the best to use. I should have been more explicit. But that's kinda what I wanted guidance on.

Your best bet for high quality and low size is 2 pass variable bit rate, but it is worth noting that the size of the video also has a ton to do with how much motion it contains and how often the scene changes.  One of the most popular modern codecs to use for such compression is h.264.
Video compression works by looking for similarities not only within one frame, but also between nearby frames.  They more similarities there are, the less data it takes to represent it at a given quality.  Variable bit rate seeks to maximize quality by using the most data where it is needed and saves data where it is not.  Using two-pass allows the first pass to figure out what the best places to use the available data are before actually making the final compression.


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Low cost DIY high-speed video camera
I always have been intrigued by high speed/fps video. And I have looked online how much it would cost to buy one myself. However they are often very expensive, I do not know what the average price range was, but to much for me to buy for "fun".
I recently saw this video which made me realize that instead of reducing the exposure time, you can also influence the lighting within the exposure. However in the video this was used to make high speed photos, which made me think if this could not be used for a video camera. My initial idea was to place multiple cameras around a fast rotating mirror. However this might be dangerous when not correctly balanced.
My other idea was also partially based on an article I saw a few years ago. I want to keep it simple, so instead of using some sort of "filter" to only illuminate certain pixels of the sensor at certain times, I would like to take advantage of the fact that it would be a color camera. This involves a red, green and blue light source, such that each frame would be exposed by each light source for a short moment at different times. After shooting I would need to separate each color layer out of frame and possibly convert it into grey-scale images. This would mean that I would only be able to reach three times as high frame rates, the object, which is being filmed, has roughly the same emission/absorption for all three colors and is not highly fluorescent with "large" stokes shift.
This was a bit of a long introduction, but here are my related questions:

Would colored LED's suffice for the different light sources? Such as their spectrum, assuming a Bayer filter sensor is used.
Are there any theoretical/technical limitations to this idea? Such as the exposure time, since if this is to small compared to the time between each frame then there would still be a substantial gap between every 3 frames.

You could use multiple cheap cameras recording at low fps, but slightly out of phase.  Bennett Wilburn talks about this in his 2004 Stanford Doctoral thesis, "High Performance Imaging Using Arrays of Inexpensive Cameras".

There's video on his website. http://graphics.stanford.edu/papers/highspeedarray/

@AJHenderson Not if two time slices overlap. Say, one camera records from 0ms-1ms, the next from 0.2ms-1.2ms, the next from 0.4-1.4 ms. Then it is - at least in theory - possible to calculate 0ms-0.2ms by filtering.

@AnnevanRossum - good point, though you'll still be limited a bit by the different perspective since the cameras don't overlap exactly.

This will not work because of the difference in absorption of light.  The scene will look completely different lit by different colors of light and thus each of the frames will not fit together in a sequence.  There is no shortcut for capturing high speed video, you need a high speed camera.  You can get cameras up to about 240fps at consumer price points (look at Lumix (Panasonic) in particular), but much beyond that you need a true high speed camera which is more comparable to the cost of a house than the cost of a consumer camera.
You could use an array of sensors and try to account for the differences in position, but you are still limited to the shutter speed of each of the cameras you use and would require elaborate timing equipment to make sure they all fire in sequence and behave similarly optically.

I stated in my question that this technique would only be appropriate for scenes with: "roughly the same emission/absorption for all three colors and is not highly fluorescent with "large" stokes shift.". If this is the case then it should work right?

@fibonatic - if everything is precisely neutral grey, then yes, you would be ok.  Very, very few things have "roughly the same emission/absorption for all three colors".  Even so, you are going to have to manage to coordinate and time the lights and will only triple the frame rate, which for most cameras gets you up to only 180fps on a very limited set of subject matter.  One of the 240fps cameras that Lumix makes would probably be a better deal (though I suppose you could try to do it for getting 720fps with the 240fps camera, but your still talking some pretty advanced custom lighting.


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Portable screen for USB camera
apologies if this is not the correct place to ask this question.
I need to use a USB camera with a long extension (something like this http://www.lightinthebox.com/5m-usb-waterproof-borescope-endoscope-mini-inspection-snake-tube-home-camera_p344225.html) in the field without a laptop. I don't necessarily need to record anything - only view the image on a screen. Is it possible to buy a battery-operated screen / monitor compatible with these USB webcams / borescopes? Or even a cheap tablet computer? Basically, a cheaper option than buying a handheld inspection camera (http://www.toolstop.co.uk/ridgid-micro-ca-100-36738-hand-held-inspection-camera-p14976) with £££s worth of extension tubes?

This is off topic here but, as @ClintGrimsley has suggested, I would recommend you check out the raspberry pi.

This question appears to be off-topic because it is about alternatives for handheld inspection cameras and not Audio or Video production.

Pair a raspberry pi with one of these 3.5 inch lcd displays and that should bring you under the cost of one of those handheld displays.
Finding a decent way to enclose it would be the difficult part.

check out http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/ for info regarding OS etc.


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Problem of overview with my created closed caption in Premiere CC
When I create a new closed caption on my video, nothing appears on my images. (I can see the overview on the closed caption monitor but nothing appears on my video)

Closed captions are not sub-titles.  They are supposed to be encoded to be able to be turned on as an option by the final viewer.  If you want sub-titles you will need to do things a little bit differently.  Historically I've just used titles for further control over positioning and formatting.


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Udacity - Hand under notes video effect
In a typical Udacity course, the hand written course videos are displayed with the writers hand beneath a semi-transparant view of the notes (1:02 in video linked below).
I want to replicate this to record some tutorial videos, but am stuck on how Udacity managed to achieve this effect.
Here is a video of their set up:
http://blog.udacity.com/2013/06/coffee-break-episode-6-inside-recording.html
And here is some more information from one of the teachers:
https://medium.com/teaching-learning/1d7c77b857de
From what I gather, they have a Tablet that they draw on, which they then use some form of screen capture software to record the video of the notes.
At the same time, they are recording a video of the teacher writing on the tablet.
With these two videos they seem to be chroma keying the screen capture out of the video of the teacher's hand.
How are they achieving this effect? If they are chroma keying the screen capture out of the teacher's hand video, how can this be achieved?
Thanks

Most likely, they are simply using an output of the notes with transparency.  If you output the digital version of the notes with a transparent background you could just layer it over the video once properly aligned and it would work fine.
Alternately, a quicker process if they do not support alpha is to just apply a blend between the layers.  Since the background matches the video except for where the hand is, it would blend very smoothly.
Finally, what is known as a luma-key could also be used on the screen capture file to generate transparency anywhere that the luminosity (brightness) differs from the empty background.
Any of these options could be used and they are all extremely easy to use, though the first requires the most advanced technique to generate the alpha content, but would also produce the best results.

Thanks for the answer AJ. The part that I'm stuck on is removing the background from the raw video of the hand. In the tutorials, the background is pure white (and not the grey tablet with a screen that is being filmed). I'll keep looking.

@Jack - removing the background from the video with the hand is the wrong way to do it.  You work from the digital version of the notes that knows exactly what is stuff they drew and what is background.  Then you layer those notes over the video from the actual camera, just the way it is, no alterations necessary.

thanks. How would you get a pure white background though? By layering the notes over the hand video, you would see the grey finish of the tablet.

@Jack - the easiest way is just to lower the white point so that grey becomes white.  If you notice the edge of the hand (at least in the video clip you linked) is a bit washed out on the brighter end.

What with the felt-tip pen and the transparency of the writing surface, this actually looks more like they're writing on a transparent whiteboard. Probably perspex, or plexiglass.
This type:

Thanks for the answer Callum, from all of the information in the links above it seems that they are definitely creating the final video using a composition of two videos and some processing in post.

Udacity has answered your question here http://blog.udacity.com/2014/09/udacity-videos-transparent-hand.html

It's recommended to paraphrase the solution given at the link, so should the link go dead, future readers aren't left in the dark.

Sad but true: the ethos of StackExchange is that answers should be sufficiently complete as to be practical despite the death of external links.  A definitive external link could be a "see also" or "see for more details" but the actual answer needs to be present in the Answer.

Yeah, it would certainly be preferable to have more details from the link, though in this case, with such a direct answer, I'm not going to mark it as needing more detail.  It would be a super improvement to include some of the details, but you can't get a much better response than having the details straight from the source.

What is not clear is what they meant by overhead camera, is it the camera of the tablet, if so how does it record the back of the hand, ie if it is a camera outside ie somewhere in the room or say on top of the teachers head then how do they synchronise the relative position of it with respect to the tablet.


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mp4 - Codec or Container
Please explain, so confusing. I get that AVC is a video format, MKV is a container (that can contain mp4 video, FLAC audio etc.), but what is mp4 then?

MP4 has not really an official meaning, but it adds a lot to the MPEG-confusion. MP4 refers to MPEG-4 which is a huge collection of video-related standards that has been growing for more than 20 years.
MPEG-4 part 14 container: takes an .mp4 file extension, therefore often just called MP4, if it contains audio, it can also have the .m4a extension, for video .m4v, and others (.m4p, .m4b, .m4r). the container format is a derivative of Apple QuickTime's container format (.mov).
MPEG-4 Part 2 video codec: Most often just called MPEG-4, sometimes it also takes the name of the encoder software: Xvid, DivX... Became the first de facto standard for web video.
MPEG-4 Part 10 video codec: also called MPEG-4 AVC and (ITU-T) H.264, and by the name of it's most popular encoder software: x264. De facto standard video codec today: video conferencing, smartphone videography, Web, Blu-Ray, TV, camcorders. Almost all video capable devices ship today with H.264/AVC hardware codecs by default besides newer but still less common codecs like VP9, HEVC or AV1. The successor for H.264/AVC has been coming since 2013, but just for fun they decided not to call it MPEG-4, but MPEG-H Part 2 also known as ITU-T H.265 or High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC).
AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is often called MPEG-4 Audio. It is probably the most prominent amongst the many codecs standardised in MPEG-4 Part 3. It often uses the file extension .mp4 or .m4a
I'm not even going to start about all the other MPEGs :-)
TL;DR
MP4 could mean a video codec, a file that contains video and/or audio or even something else. It's not a clear term.

MP4 is a container, not a video format.  MP4 generally contains a variant of MPEG for the video, such as h.264 or generic MPEG-4.  Sometimes they may contain an MPEG-2 or MPEG-1 stream, though that is pretty uncommon.

So MP4 and MKV are only containers? How can MKV contain a MP4 then? This is where I get confused. MP4 can contain AVC, so can MKV. Look this thread.

@evil - an MKV can not contain an MP4, it can contain an h.264 stream or an MPEG-4 stream.  People often confuse MP4 with MPEG-4, one is a container format, the other is a video stream format.  The thread you linked is incorrect in saying that an MKV can contain an MP4 as far as I know unless it actually can contain other containers.

MPEG-4 and h.264 is the same thing though? h.264=AVC=MPEG-4 Part 10. It's really confusing.

h.264 if a portion of the MPEG standard (part 10 as it were), there is also the more general part 2.  MP4 is actually also part of the MPEG standard (part 14).  MPEG is a broad spectrum developed by the MPEG group and covers more than just one thing.


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How can I blur an entire video using iMovie or similar?
I've been searching for this and could not find a single solution.
How can I apply a blur effect to an entire video? not just specific objects or faces.

I work with a company that makes a product called Wondershare Video Editor for mac.  It is what I personally use so i can only offer my solution by this software. Check the screenshot first:

In a word, you can make it by the mosaic function in this software. Now i will show you step by step (8 steps in total).

Step one, import the video file and drag and drop to the video
timeline
Step two, click the power tool button to open the editing window
Step three, choose Mosaic function
Step four, pick up "Apply Mosaic to the clip"
Step five, click "Add"
Step six, adjust the size of blur area you need, if you want to blur
the whole video, drag the rectangular to the border
Step seven, you can change the heavy of this blur by dragging the
percent button
Last step, click "OK"

Done! Check the preview video screenshot as follow:
Export it, you will get a blur video. I wish it's helpful for you.

Please remember to disclose your affiliation with Wondershare when posting an answer about it.  It is fine to post about Wondershare in situations where it is a relevant and helpful answer and this is otherwise a good post, but disclosing your affiliation on the answer is necessary or they will end up being deleted in the future.)  I have updated this answer with an example of how you can work the affiliation in to the answer.

Thanks AJ Henderson, i will pay attention to it next time and won't only recommend the products from that company and will try my best to solve many other questions!


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How to keep audio and video in sync?
I have a few videos I have to convert for a website. They are PowerPoint slides with a narration track over top. The originals I have to work with are in m4v format. I have converted them to mp4 and webm, but it seems like the video in the converted files plays too quickly. The audio doesn't match up. I used ffmpeg to convert to mp4 format. Is there an option I could pass in to keep the audio and video together?

Please show your actual ffmpeg commands and the complete ffmpeg console outputs. What player(s) and browser(s) are you testing the output with?

It sounds like the video frame rate probably got messed up.  You need to make sure you compress the video to the same framerate in webm as the source is.  Also, m4v and mp4 are synonyms, you don't need to alter the file, you can just change the extension.

Hi AJ, simply changing the file extension worked for the m4v and mp4 conversion! Thanks! And I did notice that the images in the webm version were kind of ugly. Looks like my mp4 file has a bitrate of 241 kb/s, and the webm (I didn't specify any options in the command) came out at 79. How do I keep them the same?

@eljefejb Refer to the FFmpeg vpx (WebM) Encoding Guide.


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How to *stream* audio over multiple scenes in Flash?
I must use "stream" because the video must sync with audio.
Suggestions I found on Google:
1) Use Event mode. I am aware the "Event" mode will play over multiple scenes, but it does not force audio sync, which causes major problems with audio sync.
2) Don't use scenes. This is what I'm working on now, but it's a nightmare solution - trying to transfer many layers from many scenes so they all line up again.
I would even be open to trying other software, but flash is the only vector animation program I've found that allows for easy animation and freehand vector drawing (unlike Illustrator-type programs that make you take all day dragging curve points).

Personally, I would output the flash to video and then sync the video and audio in another program probably.

I have to sync the mouths of the animated characters with the vocals - I'm not sure how this could done if audio was added in another program.

I faced a similar problem with a music video. Multiple scenes trying to keep every thing lined up and some lip scync toward the end.  Had a hell of a time trying to get it all to match up with the music- scene changes, action, and lip scync. As the audio was located in scene 1 I did not want to try to cut up the song and try to get it to play correctly over numberous scenes. since the audio disappears when you're working on a different scene it all becomes guesswork trying to estimate the number of frames required for every scene in order to come out where you need to be.
Then it accurred to me to use a line timer to solve the problem. Here is what I did and kept the scenes rather than moving at all to one timeline:

If you are using music in your animation, determine the beat of the audio.  lets say in this case 14 frames per beat (Use an audio editor to determine beat rate.)
Make sure your frame rate in flash is the same as your audio in the audio editor. My case was 29.97 fps
Create a small graphic lets say a red square. Have it appear every 14 frames for a duration of 2 frames.  Repeate pattern until you reach the end of the scene. Always
make sure you end the pattern with it one frame short of repeating the marker.  The rest of your scene layer/s should fall somewhere within this last timing pattern. Don't worry if they are not lined up yet.
Begin new scene. Start your timing pattern at the first frame with a timing marker. Repeat #3, as per need.  (Short cut: copy and paste timing layer using copy frames command by right clicking on layer. Note you will need to add 1 frame to the layer right after the first new timing mark per paste if your time line is longer than your intial paste & if you paste more than one time it will need to be done for each paste.) Saves a ton of time.

5 Remove extra timing marks. End as you would in #3.
6 Here is the tricky part and requirews a little thinking, but this will line every thing up and get it to run to the beat. Add or remove frames in the rest of your layers to the end of your marker frames but just before a new timeing marker appears.  in other words if your final timing marker in the scene is only 4 frames from the end of your current layer subtract the frames so the layer ends before the last timeing marker. so you now at some point need to add these frames back in.  You may be able to do this in the next scene. The way to keep track of this:
formula for tracking:
**
1. A# = added number of frames;
2. R# = removed number of frames;
3. NA# = need to add number of frames;
4. NR# = need to remove number of frames;

**
Sample of how it gets used:
**
1. N0  Scene 1 R4  NA4;
2. NA4 Scene 2 A6  NR2;
3. NR2 Scene 3 R10 NA8;
4. NA8 Scene 4 A8  NR0;

**
Okay here is the logic behind this chart. Starting at the begining of frame 1 scene 1 you are at 0 (N0)**You do not need to add frames to the beginning of this scene. If you remove 4 frames to get to where you need to be in association with your timing marks(R4)** Then you need to add them back in (NA4). Carry over the NA4 to the next line on the chart or scene (NA4 Scene 2). next you had to add 6 frames in scene 2 (A6) since you already needed to add 4 frames and you added 2 more than what you needed you now need to subract these 2 extra frames at some point Need to Remove 2 frames (NR2)
 hence (NA4 Scene 2 A6  NR2)
next line:
NR2 Scene 3 R10 NA8 Needed to remove 2 frames in scene 3, you removed 10 frames you now need to add 8 frames back in.
next line:
NA8 Scene 4 A8  NR0 needed to add 8 frames in scene 4, you added 8 frames which just happens to end at the right spot on the timing marker layer.   Now everything is synced up you can add additional scenes making sure that you end your scene as described in number 3 of these instructions.  Everything should sync up perfectly.  If you have any problems you may have to adjust one or two frames either direction in previous scenes to make up for the lag that flash has.
you always want to get back to a 0 point or (N0)
Also now that the time markers are blinking during your animation you can also add lineup/sync other animations that occur within the scene to the beat of the music.


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Live desktop feed on green screen: thesis presentation
Next week I'm doing my final presentation on my thesis about Android development. Because I go to school in the Netherlands, and my internship is in New York City, I'm going to do my presentation through the likes of something like Skype or Google Hangouts.
For this presentation I was hoping I could use a green screen and project my presentation on the background, like this presentation by Reto Meier on Android 4.4. The difference here is that I think the video has been edited in after the video recording, and I would like to be able to control my presentation live.
Would anyone know of a way to accomplish this? In short, I'm looking for software that can display what's happening on my Mac monitor on a green screen background. I would then like to be able to use that combined view of me and the presentation as a background as a webcam view for Hangouts or Skype.
Thanks in advance,
Dennis Altena

If you have a Mac, download "Cam Twist." It offers reasonable live keying, and it can even put you as picture in picture.
If you use the right browser, I.e. Firefox with the Google Hangouts plugin necessary for hangouts, "Camtwist" will just be an option in the list of cameras.
Download it here.

Thank you for the solution. The application seems to be working, but I can't seem to get an HD signal through to the other end. The internet speed should easily be fast enough, and my view is displayed as 720p on my screen, but I can't get a clear image on the other end. Would you have any suggestions for that?

You may need to force your resolution. If you haven't already, go to preferences and look for the "force resolresolution" option. There may or may not be an actual button for it to be streamed HD. I don't know other than that.


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Will 1080p content on 4K display look as crisp
I have some 1080p content and a 1080p display.
Currently, if I play 720 content, it's not as sharp on the display, obviously, as it is a lesser resolution.
Will this be the same issue if I relay my 1080p content on to a 4K display?
Or will I still get the same crispness of the 1080p content as it is on the 1080p display?

Obviously, it depends a lot on the quality of the displays. A high-quality 720p display may actually give better result than a bad 1080p one, and likewise a bad 4k display isn't that much use!
But assuming the quality is "the same" (though I'm not sure there is a good way to compare this objectively), 1080p footage will look at least as good on 4k display as it does on the 1080p one. In doubt, it can just upsample the footage, that's a lossless operation (in theory) and may in fact already improve the picture, since it's doesn't have the 1080p's pixel grainyness. Likely, it will also do some clever sharpening, which actually gives a "crisper" result, though that may well seem unnatural.
Remember that high-definition TV sets were on the market well before much HD material was actually widely obtainable, and even then it was a substantial quality improvement over the old standards.

It depends on which resolution of 4k your display supports.  Displays have what is known as a native resolution.  Even when you increase the number of pixels significantly, if it isn't an even multiple of both horizontal and vertical resolution as well as frame rate, then the output video must be interpolated to create pixels that fill in the gaps.  This results in distortion and softening of the image as well as potentially producing artifact from trying to guess at what the pixels in between should be.
If the screen is an exact multiple, then it can simply use 4 pixels for each of the previous pixels and there are no impacts on sharpness.
That said, as leftaroundabout mentioned, there are also far more details than simple sharpness that "crisp" could refer to.  Contrast ratio and overall brightness also contribute to how crisp an image looks and that varies based on the quality of the TV itself, independent of resolution.


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How do I get royalty free music, images ,video clips, cartoon characters with different actions and emotions for short filmmaking
How do I get
royalty free music,
images ,
video clips,
cartoon characters with different actions and emotions
for short filmmaking?

Duplicate of http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/47499/how-do-i-get-royalty-free-music-images-video-clips-cartoon-characters-for-sho. Please don't do that.

By buying it or looking for freely licensed media (such as creative commons).  I'm not sure what more you are looking for.  Royalty free content still has to be purchased, there are online stores that specialize in it.  The only trick with it is that you don't have to pay for each copy you make of the final media that you use it in.  There may also be other limitations (such as how much of the media it can make up).  Be sure to read the license for the media closely prior to purchasing to make sure it meets your needs.


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Batch add audio to video - Adobe?
I'm looking for a method to add an audio file (a short blip) to many short video files. Is there a method on any popular video software to create a batch process that will add the same audio file to many video files, so that the 'blip' plays at the start of each video?
Thanks!

Using FFMPEG the command would look something like this:
ffmpeg -i <sourceVideoFile> -i <sourceAudioFile1> -i <sourceAudioFile2> -map 0:0 -map 0:1 -map 1:0 -map 2:0 -c:v copy -c:a copy <outputVideoFile>

Basically you're taking the source video file and multiple audio inputs, then mapping multiple audio files to the output's audio stream 0. Using -c:v copy and -c:a copy, you arent doing any encoding, so your file will keep its original quality.
That command was taken from the link below, which has more instructions:
http://zoid.cc/ffmpeg-audio-video/
Edit: Forgot to mention the point about wanting to do it in batch. Use the link below to create a bat file in Windows that would target all the specific types like *.avi (or all types using .). You'd want to replace the ffmpeg portion of their bat file with the above. Since you have one audio file, try something like:
for %%a in ("*.avi") do ffmpeg -i "%%a" -i  -map 0:0 -map 0:1 -map 1:0 -c:v copy -c:a copy "%%a"
You might want to back up your files and make a copy elsewhere before you process them, because the above will overwrite them I believe.
Link to that below:
http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/356314-How-to-batch-convert-multiplex-any-files-with-ffmpeg

You mentioned Adobe and "any popular video software" - I don't know how to do it in Adobe products, but you can do it in Vegas Pro with Vegasaur extension (transcoder tool)
You can also try ffmpeg - free command-line utility with myriad functions.


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How to record multiple days worth of video without interrruption
I'm working on breaking a world record for continuous game play, multiple days, with my brother and tried to use my MBP to record it all but Quicktime kept stopping.
Questions: Does someone have a better solution for continuously recording that video file?
Does someone have suggestions for how I should/can easily edit that ginormous file?

The problem with recording video while also playing is that you are forced to split processing time between video compression and the game.  Your best bet for this kind of extended recording is a real-time encoder that can take the load off the CPU, however such devices are not particularly cheap.  Devices such as the BlackMagic Intensity and Matrox MX02 will perform such a real time encoding task, however they cost $200 to $500.
For best results, I would suggest outputting to an HDMI splitter and using a completely separate computer for recording with the capture interface installed on the secondary computer.  This should also greatly reduce the space required since real time encoding hardware will provide a much higher degree of compression than real time CPU only encoding.

sorry i should have mentioned that we are playing on xbox, i just need regular video recording for a long time and i used quicktime with my webcam

Ah, the same principal still applies though.  Computer recording of a video without encoding hardware is going to be big.  CPU based encoding has a hard time making good compression in real time and it is almost certainly going to run in to issues if you try doing it for days at a time not to mention the enormous size of the footage.  If you want a cheaper option, you may want to consider time lapse photography and have a camera take a photo once every few seconds.


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How to film a falling shot
Were trying to film a vine using an iphone. We want to have a first person shot of falling off of a building. Our budget is £20.
Is there a way we can get this shot without damaging the iphone nor jumping from the building and killing one of us in the process? I was thinking of some kind of camera protector if they exist...how do amateurs get falling shots?

I have another idea, based on a cliff-jumping technique (which I can't remember the name of).
1) Decide on a suitably tall building that has roof access.
2) Get a rope that is a meter shorter than the building is tall.
3) Build a sturdy case for the iPhone, attached to one end of the rope.  The case only needs to have one small hole for the camera lens.  (I would build it of paper or cardboard, and then wrap it with duct tape.)
4) At the top of the roof, one person holds the camera and that end of the rope, at the edge of the roof. Another person holds the camera and moves SEVERAL METERS AWAY from the person holding the rope, also standing at the edge of the roof.
5) When the phone is dropped it will only free-fall partway down the building before the rope becomes straight. HOWEVER, since the person holding the rope isn't directly above the falling iPhone, the rope will more GENTLY swing the phone to the side instead of stopping it abruptly.
Test this first with something that weighs the same as your iPhone but isn't as valueable (like a piece of wood or a small book).  Figure out where to stand so it doesn't hit the wall when it's swinging.
I hope this works!  Good luck!!

Great practical expansion on what I said about a rope.  Can't emphasis enough that the chances of breaking the phone are still pretty high though.  Glass and even those limited g-forces don't go well together, particularly at the mentioned price limit.

Thanks @AJHenderson! I think the chances of the phone breaking are lower, but it's definitely still a possibility!!

A dad and his young son sent an iPhone to space, had it fall back to earth and got it back safely. You could have a look at their rig for inspiration (basically a polystyrene box and a parachute).

With a £20 budget, you don't have much in the way of options.  Your best bet is probably going to be a piece of rope and a case to attach to the rope, but I'd still give you a decent chance of breaking the phone in the process.  The most typical way to get a shot like this is either a camera that can be destroyed or using a crane, neither is likely within your price range though.

Find a tall slide in a playground, and slide the phone down that. If you cut it right, you could show the hero's face, then swish pan to what appears to be a P.O.V. but you actually CUT to your shot from the slide (which should start with a swish pan).
You could also probably fake it by placing the camera 10 meters from a building and panning down quickly.  If you cut that in between your "I'm at the top of a building" shot and your "I just landed on the ground" shot, that would look pretty believable.
You could get a more comedic effect with a tall still shot of the front of a building, which you could "truck" down in post production (like in iMovie). I trucked horizontally across a still shot in post-production, to give the appearance that I was panning with a pie as it flew across the sky. The pie was a picture-in-picture element in iMovie, and the background was a very wide shot of trees (aspect ratio of about 1x10).


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Adding an image above a video in imovie
I need to add an image above a movie, i.e not overlaying the movie itself. I see this being broken down into two parts:
1) Change the canvas size to create a region at the top for the image to go.
2) Add the image
I've used picture-in-picture to add the image to the screen, which is fine, but that obviously overlays the video. I feel that if I can change the canvas size (I would prefer not to zoom) then I can use picture-in-picture. Is that the best way or is there a cleaner way to do this? How would you go about doing that?
As a sidenote, I have iMovie 10 and iMovie 9 so I can use either on this.

In my experience (2 years), there's not a great way to accomplish this. Here's how I would do it:
1) Make an additional "background image", in the dimensions of your typical video (16x9, I assume).
2) Drag your original image over that background image, at the top, leaving room for (later) the video clip at the bottom.
3) Save that image.
4) Bring that image into your iMovie timeline.
5) Drag your video clip onto it as a picture-in-picture.
:)

I tried imovie several times and found your problem can't be solved in imovie because your image inserted via PIP can't be changed to transparency, while transparent image can solve your problem here. Fortunately, the company I work with makes a piece of software called Wondershare Video Editor that can make it. But you may need to borrow a PC first. (This function only supports by Windows version right now). Here are the step by step:

download and install the free trial version via cnet.com or their
official site, if you don't like watermark and won't pay for any
software, check the tricks to get 100% free lifetime codes here:
http://software-insight.quora.com/How-to-Get-100-Free-Wondershare-License
import your image and video and them drag to the timeline (image should be in PIP timeline)
move your image to the right place with right size you need, up to now, all of steps are similar with iMovie
then double click the image in timeline you will enter the PIP editing section with different transitions, choose the advanced mode.
click the "Effect" tab, you will see a window as below:

Number 1 is the image you insert (i just used one of my colleague's avatar)
Number 2 is the Effect tab
Number 3 is the transparent function area, which can solve your problem
Pick up "Make parts of the clip transparet" in Effect tab, then your image will show like this:

Click save, preview it in preview window, you can see your image won't overlay your video and only float above
Good luck for you!

Same comment here that you need to disclose your affiliation with Wondershare.  Posts that provide useful feedback are perfectly fine, but you must disclose your affiliation in the answer.

Yes, sorry about this~I won't make the same mistake~


text:
What hardware should I get for a conversion farm for MXF => Prores
I currently use a mac pro for importing mxf files into FCP (equivalent to converting to prores, I believe) at about 3x realtime @29.97fps.  I want to get a machine to run ffmpeg & do the conversion from mxf to prores, and then import those to fcp.  From my testing, that import is instant.
On a 4 core PC with plenty of ram but a horrible GPU, using ffmpeg I can only get about 0.7x realtime for the same conversion.
So, I'm looking to buy a computer to install linux & ffmpeg onto which would be able to tear through these faster.
What are the important things to consider?
CPU number/Core count
CPU speed
CPU cache size
RAM/mobo speed
Graphics card.
FFmpeg seems to be maxing out 4 cores on the current PC.  But I haven't been able to find out what other hardware it'd be able to use to speed this up.  Does ffmpeg even use the video card for this kind of encoding?
If I get an 8 core beast, how fast can linux prores encoding get with ffmpeg?  Or is the fast way to do this to split it up and send chunks to different machines?  i.e. is ffmpeg good at splitting up the work between cores, or would that be better handled by something that could split up the work and send it out to independent machines and then stitch it back together?

One important thing you didn't mention: what's inside the mxf files? Depending on the camera it came from, your video can be encoded in many different formats.


text:
Is it possible to use an SSD for the RAM preview in After Effects CC?
I'm looking at my options, I would like to buy an SSD to do RAM previews with but I'm not sure if it can be configured this way... is there anyone else that has tried this?

SSD is not as fast as RAM is. Here's a relevant question: http://superuser.com/q/617864/141595

An SSD is a replacement for a hard drive, not a replacement for RAM.
RAM previews are rendered into your computer's system RAM, not to internal storage (and then you can save the RAM preview to disk if you wish).
Having said that, I recently replaced a 7200rpm internal hard drive in my macbook pro, and added some more RAM. It makes a huge difference to the speed of loading and saving, and seems to improve render times to some extent too. It's like buying a new computer- I would definitely recommend it.


text:
What is the underlying difference between motion compensation and motion estimation?
I know that motion estimation has to do with calculating motion vectors, but where does motion compensation come into play. Can't we just do it with motion vectors, since, we are still calculating the differences in the displacement of the blocks in the reference and the target frames.

Motion compensation is the use of the motion estimation information to achieve compression.  If you can describe the motion, then you only have to describe the changes that occur after compensating for that motion.
I used this article as a primer.  Basically the first involves how you determine what movement is happening and the other is then used to determine what information changed after the movement and to describe what changes need to occur for playback.

My understanding of their differences:
Motion Estimation:

It is to generate the motion vector(s).
It's in the encoder only, since decoder only consumes the motion vector data.

Motion Compensation:

It's using existing motion vector(s) information, along with the reference image(s), to generate a predicted microblock. (The predicted block will be added to the residue block to generate a decoded microblock.)

This generation step can be a simple x/y translation of the single reference block. But it could be more complex when dealing with multiple reference frames/blocks or field based coding.
For example, in H.264, you can have two MVs with different weight, thus the compensation step to generate a predicted block would be like PB = w1*RB1 + w2*RB2.

It's in the decoder. But since there's a mini-decoder in the encoder. So the encoder has this component as well.

This page on MOTION ESTIMATION AND COMPENSATION provides more detailed information. Also looking at their location in an encoder diagram might also be helpful.


text:
disabling streams in quicktime movies with ffmpeg
In Quicktime pro you can turn off streams in movies, without deleting the stream. Is it possible to do this with a command line application like ffmpeg?
I have a bunch of video files that were recorded with both the crappy on-camera mic and a separate audio recorder. I've synched the sound and added it to the video, and now each clip has two audio streams. I want to keep the original audio, for reference and archival purposes but disable it. It's obviously done in metadata, but can it be done by ffmpeg?

QTCoffee let's you edit track information in QuickTime files, but it's OS X only and donationware:
$ modmovie -list clip.mov
Track list for clip.mov:
    * Video Track
    * Timecode Track
    * Sound Track
$ modmovie -disable "Sound Track" -save-in-place clip.mov

If you are on OS X, and if you have QuickTime Pro (included in the pro apps), I would rather use that and AppleScript.
For other platforms: libquicktime can also edit track properties through it's API, so you will need to write a command line wrapper first ...


text:
flv rtmp url for video-js
I cannot get the code right in video-js player when wanting play rtmp url flv file. Does anyone know what it should be? I've tried following a number of examples at the blog reference site for video-js but nothing seems to work.
The Code I was trying to use is:
Oh the code won't input I don't know why sorry :(

Just checking, you do have a streaming server at the other end of the RTMP URL right?  Have you tested to make sure the stream itself works outside the video-js client?

Yes I do have a stream working outside of it. Trouble is I can't get any help with it because video-js developers want questions asked in stack overflow and I've been banned from asking any questions because they deem my questions to be too low grade. This is frustrating as am left out of online community to work out all myself.

But actually I have managed to get it to play since then but now having trouble with linking subtitles.

A configuration issue with video-js is probably off topic for StackOverflow anyway since it isn't particularly software development related.  If you don't mind my asking, what did the problem turn out to be?  You can feel free to answer your own question with your solution if you like.  You could also post the subtitles issue as another question since it really is a distinct question.

<link href="http://mysite.net/sites/all/libraries/video-js/video-js.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<script src="http://mysite.net/sites/all/libraries/video-js/video.js"></script>
<script>
  videojs.options.flash.swf = "http://mysite.net/sites/all/libraries/video-js/video-js.swf"
</script>
<script src="http://mysite.net/sites/all/libraries/video-js/videosub.js"/></script>

<video class="video-js vjs-default-skin"
       controls=""
       data-setup="{"example_option":true}"
       height="264"
       id="example_video_1"
       poster="http://video-js.zencoder.com/oceans-clip.png"
       preload="auto"
       width="640">
  <source src="rtmp://mysite.net/oflaDemo/takeout.flv" type="rtmp/flv"/>
  <track kind="subtitle" label="English" src="http://mysite.net/takeout.srt" srclang="en-US" />
</video>

sorry having trouble getting the block of code inputed on here

the SRT is NOT working part of this answer but the flv is working.

What I think I need to use is a script called mediaelementsjs  and/or change permissions in xml for stream content


text:
Set ipad compatible thumbs for mp4 videos based on a frame of the video with command line
I have a directory of 100 mp4 files. All are working well on my ipad but most of them do not have a working thumb.
I want to generate these thumbs with a command line command (on macosx) based on a frame of the movies (at second 30 for example).
Thank you in advance

What's the difference between the videos that do have a "working thumb" and ones that do not?

I dont have any idea. It is very weird because i dont have the same results in OSX.

Do you see any differences within the ffmpeg console output? ffmpeg -i works.mp4 -i notwork.mp4?

Is this in the iPad's native Videos app?

This is how it looks in Finder http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/cb653aicns4xtql/2014-02-19%20at%2009.57.png

It's worse on ipad with the native Video app https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/n629jjphzkjqv6z/2014-02-19%20at%2010.00.png

When i try to update the illustration with iTunes, the tab is just disabled for some videos. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/1q7phyyqwypxc6v/2014-02-19%20at%2010.07.png

I get errors when using ffmpeg https://gist.github.com/iesta/9088516


text:
Motion 5 - Link Parameters but Trail or Lag Value by a Few Seconds
How do I link the parameters of one element to another so that they mimic each other but have there be a 1-2sec delay in the mirroring behavior?  Normally I would use a link behavior to join the parameters but that doesn't allow you to set a delay as far as I am aware.


text:
Precise Keyframing in Final Cut Pro X
I'm wondering how I can expand the transformation line like it's possible for the compositing. Can it be done? Where can I edit the connection between two keyframes from linear to ...?

Try clicking on the little triangle next to the name.  I don't have FCPX myself, but that generally indicates that something can be expanded.

You cannot expand the Transform Line in the Timeline. You can finetune your Position keyframes separately in the Viewer.

Create keyframes and navigate between them with the keyframe buttons in the top-left corner of the Viewer.

Position keyframes

Click the Transform button in the lower-left corner of the Viewer (Shift-T).

The yellow handles in the middle of your clip are your position keyframes. Control-click on one of them.

Choose Smooth in the popup, you will see two smaller red dots, they are the bezier handles!

You can change direction and speed by moving the bezier handles.

change the length of the handle that points to the other keyframe
short means fast, long means slow
set your start speed in the first keyframe, and your end speed in the last keyframe.
if you make them both short, you will start gradually, speed up in the middle and slow down before stopping. use it for a smooth motion
if you make them both long, you will start promptly, slow down in the middle and stop abruptly. Use this effect to imitate gravity (bouncing)

Rotation and Scale keyframes

These can also be set separately but they are not visible on the Position line in the viewer as yellow dots.
In the middle of your clip is the blue Rotation handle.
On the corners and borders are the eight blue handles for Scaling.
Scale and Rotation keyframes don't have a smooth option in FCPX. It might be possible to do that in Motion.


text:
jquery-videosub how to

Standards compliant video subtitles for HTML5 video tags. Original MooTools implementation by Thomas Sturm, jQuery port by Max Wheeler.
Usage
UsageDead simple. Call the videoSub() function on any jQuery collection of video elements. This will probably look something like:"
  $('video').videoSub();

This might be dead simple for some but not for me. Where does this code go?
The subtitles for flv is starting to become something for the too hard basket for me because it really requires some understanding of security in terms of changing and implementing code on the RED5 server side of things.
Now I even question my use of RED5 for streaming pre-recorded video. Surely Red5 is only really useful for streaming LIVE broadcast. Perhaps I should put my pre-recorded video in various formats in a folder outside of RED5 and let the player do the streaming work. In fact I think that is the next thing I shall try.

What exactly is your question? Do you want to add subtitles to your flash streaming video? Do you want subtitles on a normal video element? Or you want help with videoSub? Or do you want information about how to migrate your videos from the streaming server to a normal web server? It might help to reformulate. Also, you might have more luck with programming questions on StackOverflow.

unfort I've been banned from stackoverflow forum because they say I ask dumb questions.

my question is WHERE does that jquery code go?

Please give use more details, it's absolutely not clear what you want to know and why you are currently doing. If this is simply about web programming, it's offtopic.


text:
Is it better to scale video or images when doing time-lapse?
Without caring for speed of processing, extra disk space needed, and other such factors, which of the following two is better (i.e. produces higher quality/better compressed video).

Scale each individual image with imagemagick's convert, and then use that as the input to libav without any additional filters.
Keep the images as is, but then apply scale video filter at the encoding time.

It is going to depend on which of the two provides a higher quality resize option.  If imagemagick's convert is higher quality than the scale of your encoder, then it will do better, if not, then it will be the other way around.
The one exception to this will be if there is any resolution dependent alterations made to the content along the way.  If for example, you add text to the video, it would be much better to scale the images so that the you are creating new content at the native resolution of the finished video.
Anything you can avoid scaling you should and if the images are larger than the output, the earlier you can scale them down, the faster everything else will run anyway.
So with that in mind, I would generally scale down the images initially, if it was necessary to have the video at native resolution already when encoding, though most decent editing software will make it irrelevant because they will use the full quality image and put any new content at the native resolution and still combine everything to the proper resolution when rendering out at the end.

This is basically what i've figured as well. The thing is that i was making a lesson about creating time-lapse, and i didn't want to end up recommending something that would be detrimental to quality. I ended up just doing the scale filter in the end, thinking that since these were JPEG files i was working with, i'd be forced to convert them to something lossless intermediately (so that i would not introduce additional JPEG artifacts), and that was going into the image editing, rather than video editing (thus out of scope of that lesson).


text:
Set variables on imported comp?
Using After Effects CS6, I'd like to import one project (ProjA) into another project (ProjB). Let's say that ProjA has some text that I want to customize from ProjB. I'd like to be able to import ProjA into ProjB and then set some property "this is ProjB" on the imported project/comp and have the text in ProjA render that text dynamically. Is there a global properties/variables collection I can use to do this inside of a comp?
The way I see this working is I would add a variable called myText to the comp in ProjA. Then I would add a text layer and set its Source Text to an expression which would grab myText from the comp's properties/variables: thisComp.properties("myText")
This would allow me to import ProjA over and over into many videos and have unique text for each instance.

A normal 'pick-whipped' expression:
thisComp.layer("Solid 1").transform.position

An expression referencing another composition within your project:
comp("Second Comp Name").layer("Solid 1").transform.position

As long as the composition name in Project A is consistent, you could just reference it and include a fallback in case it hasn't been imported like this:
try { comp("PROJECT A COMP NAME").layer("YOUR LAYER NAME").text.sourceText; }
catch(err) { text.sourceText }

Reference:
 https://gist.github.com/animoplex/b426933ae6c896c79ea98a50855ff62e
I figured I'd give this a quick response since it's been a while and there haven't been any answers. Send me a comment if you have questions.
Hope this helps :)


text:
IMovie 11 to FCP 10.1
Is it possible to import a IMovie 11 project into FCP 10.1? I tried to Export the XML in IMovie, but when I try to import it in FCP the file is grayed out.
For some reason apple keeps changing how this works from version to version and I'm wondering if its even possible anymore.

Just remake it in Final Cut Pro x and then make all projects in final cut. It should simplify what you have to do.

You should be able to send it directly to FCPX using the "Send To Final Cut Pro" menu item. Per the documentation, they say:

Do one of the following:

Select the project in the browser, or double-click the project to open it.

With the project open, click anywhere in the timeline.
Note:  If you can’t find the project you’re looking for, verify that the correct library is selected.

Choose File > Send Movie To Final Cut Pro.

Final Cut Pro X opens. A new library appears in Final Cut Pro X with the name of your iMovie library, and a new event within that library contains the movie project you sent.


text:
Play video skipping some scenes
I need a (desktop) video player that is able to play a movie and automatically skip some scenes that I define in advance. Is this feature supported in any video player? I looked at Km Player and VLC and I couldn't find what I am looking for.
Any ideas?
Thanks

It is unclear what this has to do with Video Production, could you clarify how this is on-topic?  It sounds like it is probably a better fit for Software Recommendations.

Alternately, is there a reason you can't simply edit the video to remove the scenes you want to skip?

This is do-able with the Flash player, or with Adobe AIR which is a great platform for desktop programs.  The video would have to be encoded with cuepoints that were accessible, somehow, to the user. Maybe via buttons that allowed the user to choose which scenes to show or not to show. How much work do you want to do?


text:
Script to create video in standard format?
I've been making videos (episodes) for my YouTube channel. They are all in a standard format with an intro which has the episode # and title, then the clips fade in always using the same simple cross-fade. I'm putting it all together using After Effects CS6. It seems to be too time consuming to manually trim/align the clips and then apply the transitions.
The first thing I do is watch my source content and note the in/out times for all of the clips (could be one or more in/out per clip). Then I mark certain things like "speed up 4x" or "no audio", etc. I wonder if there's a way I can write a script and then have the video be produced for me, quickly. I'd need to supply some values  for some variables, such as episode # and name, and then the in/out/etc. for each clip.
What tools exist that would allow me to create the final video from a "script"?
PS: I'm a software engineer so I'm sure I could just write a program to do this for me, but I'm sure it already exists!

Is there a particular reason you are trying to do editing tasks in After Effects?  After Effects is the motion graphics and effects composition software.  Premiere is the video editing package and After Effects is really not ideal for trying to do editing.

I need to learn this stuff for sure!

I'm not aware of any software that does what you are looking for.  The workflow doesn't really fit within a typical post-production workflow, so there isn't really a reason for it.  You can find software that will do things like adding the beginning and ending leads to a video based on meta data, so doing the titles automatically should be possible.  However, actually making automated edits based on timestamps is fairly non-typical.
Generally, the clips are cut in as they are reviewed if you are reviewing that way.  You can watch a clip, set an in and out point and then send it to the timeline.  This way you document the edits and build the sequence at the same time.
Your best bet would probably be to use software for making EDLs (editing decision lists).  If you can produce an EDL with the cuts you have defined in your "script" then software that can process EDLs (such as Premiere) should be able to make use of them.  Normally EDLs are used for transitioning between different editing systems, so it should be possible to modify or create your own EDL fairly easily.

Thanks for the info. I'm sure, coming from a non-video-editing (e.g. software development) background, my expectations/methods will be different than a real video editor. In general, I just want to get to the point where I can enter my cuts and hit "DO IT" to make the final video. :) I'll post back here if I find a solution.

@JoshM. - right, my point is that why would you enter your cuts in some third party tool that can then "do it" when with the same effort, you can have it done.

It's more than just cuts though. Thing such as adding a standard overlay (with custom text), etc. But I do get your point. :)

Oh, I forgot to mention... the reason I was not cutting/trimming in-place is because when I preview footage I get no audio (even though the audio is ON in the preview panel). I'll ask another question about that!


text:
Sony HDR AS30 detect device on imac
Does anyone know for sure if Sony HDR AS30 is only compatible with macOS 7 and up?
I know from reading docs it's only compatible for 7 and up for wifi setup but it's hard to know for desktop because there is software current for mac but no ability to input without device detection. I can see the USB connection on the mac and camera but the software is not detecting a camera.

Ok finally worked it out haha
Do not be a dummy like me and insert the memory stick upside down!
You will know when it is correctly inserted because a red light will come on indicating ready to record.


text:
How to keep EXIF data in a DSLR video after editing / compressing with Photoshop CC?
So I have a bunch of home video files with my kids and family. I want to do some edits like text overlay, music backgrounds etc and also compress them using Photoshop CC. However, after compressing or exporting the video file, the original EXIF is lost. I don't have the capture date and time, the camera & lens used etc.
How can I make Photoshop keep this information? Or is there a way to copy the EXIF after the export?
I tried using ffmpeg, but it only copies the capture date and time.
Thanks.

I don't think any video release format allows per-frame metadata. The best you can do is per-file metadata, which won't preserve the info from individual scenes in an edited piece.
It's theoretically possible to construct a file in (say) AVI format which uses RIFF chunks. You could add text chunks at scene changes to tag the source. But AFAIK this is not something anyone has actually done -- you'd have to build it yourself.
What you might do is use an EDL to identify the shots by source and time, and use it to index a database that holds the extracted EXIF data from each source.

I'll vote up since it is an informative post, but I think you may have overcomplicated what the OP seems to be asking.  It sounds like he is just doing very basic manipulation rather than what we'd typically think of as editing.  Sounds like he is going 1 clip to 1 clip, just adding text, color changes, music tracks, etc to the clip and then re-exporting.  So he has meta-data on the clip coming in but when he renders out the meta data is destroyed.  He just wants a way to preserve it on the re-render, similar to how RAW EXIF survives on to a rendered JPEG.

Yep, he probably wants a 1 shot = 1 clip solution, but I don't think the question is limited to that, hence the more complicated answer. For the simpler case, it's still probably a matter of using a container that allows per-file free form metadata, which many do, and copying it manually. I've never seen a consumer video container that holds structured EXIF metadata.

agreed, I just wanted to make sure that was clarified for him.

Thanks guys for your answers. AJ is right about my needs. I just need to keep capture date & time and maybe camera & lens data (I use a Canon 7D).
I posted the same question on SuperUser and someone suggested using exiftool:
exiftool -tagsFromFile original.mts newfile.mp4 and that works, partially. It copies capture time and camera, but no lens info. It's not all I needed, but it's something.
Thanks for contributing :)


text:
I want to have multiple streams (up to 4) on one YouTube Live broadcast, Is that possible?
I want to have multiple streams (up to 4) on one YouTube Live broadcast, Is that possible ?
It would be a news cast report with up to 4 reporters from separate locations discussing the weather.

not sure about youtube, but I'm pretty sure google hangouts can do this.

Interesting idea! And it seems as though there would be someone in a "director" role switching between the feeds at the appropriate time...?

You can do this by using a vision switcher (preferably a hardware one), and then sending the mixed/switched feed to the computer that is streaming to YouTube Live. I don't have details of how, so I won't make an answer.

you can use something like a M/E switcher with a multiviewer to do this. Just feed the program out into the computer you are streaming from using an input card.
I have not used youtube streaming, but I know that justin.tv or other streaming services can use something like OBS to switch between scenes which you can setup with different video inputs in different configurations on the stream.
As these all rely on having external gear to get the camera feeds to the streaming location, the google hangout solution would be the best, as I am assuming you are on a low budget

You want to start an Event, it support multiple cameras.
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2853812?hl=en
You'll also need either a program that supports send multiple streams or a program that can be opened in multiple sessions and that way send multiple streams.
I strongly recommend OBS Studio.

authors: Назар Топольський


text:
How to achieve trippy breathing effect (visual drifting) on static photo
How can I achieve a trippy visual drifting effect like the image is breathing?
See The Visual Components of a Psychedelic Experience - Visual drifting section or more precisely this fragment of this video.
Any software solution is fine, but I would be most thrilled with an implementation in Processing or Javascript

What do you mean by an implementation in "Processing"?  If you are trying to do this programatically, it may be a better fit for Stack Overflow.  Can you also describe the effect more directly in your question?  The youtube link you provide is already dead on copyright grounds and the other link could go dead in the future.  While external clarifications are helpful, it is best if your question is still able to stand alone without them.

Processing is a programming lanuage geared towards video manipulation and visual effects. http://processing.org

BTW, you could probably hold a photo in front of the camera and move it around to get any effect you want. It won't look perfect, of course, but it's an option.

You can achieve an effect like this with a couple of distortion filters from most video editing or motion graphics packages. For example in FCPX/Motion, you could apply a couple of Bulge distortion filters to the upper right and lower left and adjust the scale and radius as appropriate.
In terms of implementing it yourself, I agree that it's a question for StackOverflow (once you've attempted to write it yourself). The algorithm is fairly straightforward. For all the pixels within the radius, apply a mapping function along the vector from the center to the current point. For example (in pseudo code):
distort (vec2 center, float radius, float amount)
{
    for (each pixel in the image)
    {
        vec2 dir = pixel.coord - center;
        float dist = dir.length()
        if (dist >= radius)
        {
            outPixel = pixel;
        }
        else
        {
            float percent = dist / radius;
            float newPos = pow(percent, amount);
            dir = dir / dist;
            vec2 newCoord = dir * newPos * radius;
            outPixel = getPixel(newCoord);
        }
    }
}


text:
Exporting to Vimeo
I'm having trouble understanding the settings I'm supposed to use to upload a video to Vimeo.
I'm a total newbie to Final Cut Pro, so I might've chosen the wrong settings to edit..
Currently, my footage that I imported into final cut pro is all in widescreen. But my settings are under DV NTSC 48kHz. (probably wrong?)
There are black bars at the top and bottom when I edit, and I'd like to keep it that way when I export to both Vimeo and Youtube.
I took a chance out of impatience and uploaded the video to Vimeo.
I understand that Vimeo probably resized my video--because when I play it, the footage is centered in the frame, but now has black borders all around.
I'm wondering if you can help me/have any advice.
The video looks great on my iphone because it actually fits the whole frame, but for some reason when I go to vimeo.com and watch the video, the footage resizes into a smaller rectangle.
What settings should I have used from the beginning/can I use so that the video looks like it's in a standard widescreen format?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much.
-Melissa

First, the bars you are referring to are known as letter boxing and they are not a desired feature.  This is what happens when you force a widescreen video (16:9) video in to a 4:3 video.  Then you are seeing the video played back as a 4:3 video on a 16:9 device, which adds bars on both sides.  This full square of wasted space (along with the wasted data that has to be streamed, and thus reduces the quality of your video) is why you do not want to use letter boxing with your widescreen video.
The DV NTSC format is a 720 by 480 format with non-square pixels.  Your video was likely shot at either 720P or 1080P both of which are substantially higher quality and use square pixels.  You should use the same resolution in final cut as your source videos were to make sure you get the highest quality edit.
As for output to Vimeo, you will want to follow the standard recommendations for Vimeo.  Vimeo has a document published here that outlines the formats they recommend.  They do support 480p but prefer square pixels (640 by 480).  They also support wide screen HD formats which would be better for your purposes.  You should also export as h.264 video.

Thank you so much for all this info. Really helps. I realize all the video I imported are all different formats, so I will probably have to compress them into the same thing and then export according to the Vimeo standards.