Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Stan Winston, Rest In Peace

I’m surprised that more people haven’t talked about this… I am on vacation on a mountain-top (hence a little removed from civilization).  I was flipping through the paper and saw this:
Visual Effects Master Stan Winston, 62.

Turns out one of the greatest visual FX and animators in the world passed away on June 15.
I suspect most of you know his name and work.  Some of the accomplishments include:

Terminator 2 & 3
Interview with the Vampire
Edward Scissorhands
Iron Man
Jurassic Park
Predator
Aliens
Batman Returns

Be sure to see the history timeline on his site.

You can find a nice overview of him here.

Truly an amazing life and Many of us owe a lot to what her accomplished.

His son, Matt Winston, said his father was in many ways “a big kid” with cool toys who enjoyed what he did and would say, “Just have fun, and success will come.”

Good advice for us all.

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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Learn How to Scan Photos for Video

Seems like a lot of folks have forgotten (or never learned) how to scan photos.  With this is mind, I offer some practical scanning advice.  Several problems can be introduced by those using antiquated scanners with a distinct lack of skill. To get the best results, try the following:

• Before scanning an image, ensure you have the latest software needed by your scanner. You can always check their websites or use Version Tracker. Having problems with a lack of support on the OSX side for older scanners. I recommend checking out VueScan from Hamrick Software.
• The most important thing when scanning is to be consistent. Scan all of your photos in at one time if possible.
• Ensure that the scanner is lying flat, or you may get misregistered scans.
• Use a gentle glass cleaner whenever smudges appear. Spray the cleaner on the soft cloth, and then wipe the scanner bed down.
• Make sure your photos are clean before scanning. Never write on the back of photos, instead write on a post-it note and adhere to the back.
• Place your photos on the scanner straight. Use the edges to help you maintain parallel edges on your photos. If you get crooked photos, try Photoshop CS’s newest automation tool File>Automate>Crop and Straighten Photos.
• If your scanner allows you, set the white and black points before scanning. Think of this as a white and black balance that you would do in a video camera. This will produce the best tonal range. You can then use Photoshop’s color correction tools to adjust the white and black points as well as make additional color changes.
• If you are scanning in previously printed items such as newspapers, magazines, books, inkjet prints, etc, you will likely get a moiré pattern. Photoshop scanning the small spaces between the previously printed dots causes this. Most scanners have a de-screen filter in their software. If available use it when scanning previously printed items. If this is not available, run the Median filter at a low value (Filter > Noise > Median).
• Scan at the quality you need. For video, scan so you have approximately 4,000 by 3,000 pixels. This is generally enough pixel information to perform motion control in After Effects.
• Save to uncompressed formats such as TIFF, PICT or TARGA for maximum compatibility and disk space usage. The PSD format is great for layered files, but is not as efficient for single layered files. Always save the appropriate file extension for your file type.

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Saturday, June 14, 2008

CYA: FCP’s Autosave Vault

Never lose a project again

Ever have a project go bad? A file get corrupted? Maybe the system crashed (OS X never crashes—it just has an undocumented close feature). Worse, you come back from lunch, and the client is standing over your editing system. “I just pushed a few buttons, really!”

It’s okay if the Autosave Vault feature is turned on. This great feature will back up your project automatically. You tell it how often to save, how many versions to save, and how many total projects can be archived. This is a great way to cover yourself against unexpected events.

If things ever go wrong, simply choose File > Restore Project.... This way you can quickly access time-stamped versions of your project. After restoring a project, immediately select the Save Project As command and revert to the original name. Otherwise, the Autosave Vault feature will start building a new project folder for the project with a name such as FCP Tips_08_12_08_0241.

Use this the next time a producer pulls a 180-degree turn on you and wants to go back three hours in time.

Like this tip? It comes from the book
Final Cut Studio On the Spot from Focal Press.

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Thursday, June 12, 2008

Have a Broadband Card?  Want to Share with the rest of the Crew?

Learn how to share broadband internet with the crew.

Author and video podcaster Richard Harrington explains how you can take your wireless broadband card and share that internet connection with others on location.

Business •
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Thursday, June 12, 2008

Perfect Color Balance for Less than $7

Why QP Cards Rock

One way to address color calibration between your angles is to use a calibration card when shooting. This is relatively easy if you just remember to put a fresh color balance card on your clapboard for each shoot.

One of our favorites is the QP Card, an affordable reference card (http://www.qpcard.se). Priced at less than $5 per card, this is a great investment in accurate color.

1. They are small and lightweight, easily fitting in your gear bag.
2. Relatively inexpensive and disposable, so you can use a fresh card periodically. Old cards tend to fade in the light.
3. It’s adhesive on the back so you can easily attach it to your clapboard.
4. With a white, black, and neutral grey surface, color correcting with Final Cut Pro’s three-way color corrector is a snap.
5. $7 spent per shoot is well worth hours saved on color correction. In most circumstances, just three clicks per angle will calibrate across each camera.

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Thursday, June 12, 2008

Distressing Text Edges - Photoshop for Video

Instructor Richard Harrington shows you how to use a patterned image to degrade the edges of your text for a unique text effect in Photoshop. 

Motion Graphics •
Post Production •
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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Make Your Gray Skies Blue in Final Cut Pro

It’s not unusual for your skies to be washed out. This is often a problem, because video doesn’t offer the same dynamic range as film (the difference between darks and highlights). Fortunately, Final Cut Pro allows you to isolate the color correction, so you can achieve a fix just to the problem area.

1 Apply the Color Corrector 3-way filter, and access the filter’s visual controls.

2 Using the Select Color eyedropper in the Limit Effect controls, select the desired color you’d like to keep.

3 Click the key icon to view the matte. Use the Select Color eyedropper while holding down the Shift key to add to the matte. You can click in the Viewer or Canvas window.

4 Finesse the matte by adjusting the Width and Softness sliders for the Chroma, Saturation, and Luma values in the Limit Effect controls. When the desired color is clearly selected, there will be no holes in your matte. Also, adjust the Softening slider to improve the matte. You may get a better matte by using fewer limiting ranges.

5 Click the key icon twice to toggle back to View Final.

6 Adjust the color balance wheels and saturation of the shot.

You may need to add a second color corrector to finesse the scene or isolate another problem area.

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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Why Every Post House Needs an Apple TV

Affordable HD Playback Device Serves Needs of Pros

There’s been a lot of ho-hum reviews on the Apple TV… too much of this, not enough of that… but these have all been focussed on the consumer space and the living room.  What I’m here to tell you is why video pros should care about the Apple TV (and why we swear by it in my shop).  Here are a few reasons we use Apple TV at my shop, RHED Pixel.

Client Review Sessions
We often need to have clients into the office to look at progress… sometimes these meetings happen in the edit suite, sometimes not.  Our conference room is a great place for reviewing projects at many stages (and doesn’t feel like a microwave with a bag of popcorn it).  All the editors need to do is quickly export the timeline using the built-in Apple TV presets and drop it in their iTunes library.

You can Share the iTunes library of up to 5 computers.  As soon as the clip is in iTunes (which the editor should keep running in the background) it appears on the Apple TV.  This means you can review HD clips without needing to was time compressing for Blu-ray or burning overpriced discs (currently around $18 a pop for one-time burn).  The quality of the Apple TV is excellent, and its very easy to view clips.

Tons of Storage
The Apple TV can be synced with one computer.  This is very easy to do with just a click and a short code you enter on the synced computer (making it secure).  This content can be transfered to the device so it can be viewed even when the computers are off or the network is down.  The basic unit clocks in at 40GB for $229, but the 160GB unit for $329 is the way to go.  Apple states up to 200 hours of video for standard def content, but you can still easily hold 50+ hours in high-quality HD.

For the Road
We’ve started sending them out for tradeshows and events.  You can easily load a video for playback for booths and exhibits.  Tell me any other solution designed to work with Plasma screen or HDMI that costs this price.  HD playback for less than $250 is just unheard of.  Load up the client’s videos and send them on their way.  From lobbies to tradeshows, these things are fantastic and an absolute steal.

For Inspiration
The staff at my shop have found Apple TV to be great for both relaxing over lunch or a source for inspiration.  With it, you can watch free podcasts as well as quickly look at movie trailers.  We’ve also found ourselves taking advantage of rentals when someone wants to discuss an editing technique or approach.  Plus its nice to have so many commercials and short films available via YouTube.  The Apple TV puts the world of web video at your fingertips and on a giant screen.

The Bottom Line
Every media pro who comes to our shop stops and plays with Apple TV.  Its intuitive, its fun, and its useful.  Clients feel the same way, its super easy to load up what you need for an important meeting or review session.  Add in the Elgato Turbo H.264 and you can compress video even faster.

We save a ton by being able to review HD content in the conference room.  That’s not to say I’d master a show for broadcast this way, but it does a nice job of simulating the consumer experience.  Audio engineers often do the road test of burning the music to a CD and popping it a car and driving around town.  Same holds true with Apple TV, its a great “real-world” test for if a video works.

If you haven’t tried this thing yet, do it. Go to an Apple Store and try it out.  If that’s not an option, Apple offers a virtual tour at their website that gives a great overview.  The Apple TV should be in every post house, it saves time and money (and helps make review sessions fun again).

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