What specs should I be looking for in a camera to record board-game sessions? I'm a computer science engineer with no experience and very little knowledge in camera and video processing.

I would like to record boardgame sessions (timelapse for example) and record boardgame rules description for my friends.

I'm therefore looking for a camera and I'm a bit lost. There are plenty of different camera on the market with lot of specs and I don't really know what I need to have to record boardgame sessions...

I think it has to have:

HD capabilities
A good microphone input both to catch my voice or multiple voices during a game
No specific spec related to frame rate
No waterproof capability

Could you help me with other different parameters I would need to care about when buying a camera?

Thanks for your help and precious advices

Random example :

P.s. I'm not looking for a shopping list here...

There are two approaches you can take based on budget.  The first is to record audio in camera, the other is to record audio to a dedicated audio recorder and mix it with the video after.  The former is cheaper, but the latter will generally produce better quality.

As far as features, beyond HD, you are mostly just looking for good performance in whatever lighting conditions you will have and then looking for good color and video quality.  Best bet is to look at sample videos from them to find one you like.  I'd also recommend taking a look at the GoPro, it's one of the better, cheaper video cameras available and would probably work well for your needs.

If you want something more general purpose, you could also look at a DSLR with video capabilities such as a Canon T4i which would allow for high quality stills as well as high quality video.

Your best bet for narrowing down your choices is really going to be to think about what else you might want to do with it and how much you would like to spend, then look at what is in your price range.

If you do want a dedicated audio recorder, the Zoom H4n is a reasonably cheap and decent option that will allow external microphones to be used for recording audio.


After Effects CC slant effect crops artwork I'm a newbie to AE so there's probably a simple answer to this. So I've imported some art from illustrator and dropped in on the stage. I then Create shapes from vector layer. Then I apply the effect CC Slant under the Distort menu under Effects and give the slant a value of 50.

Looking good. Until I move it to the edge of the stage and then the artwork gets cropped. Notice how only the "mple" of "Example" are visible:

Even after rendering the movie (with the position changing from center stage to left stage while slanted), the problem persists. I have tried re-importing my artwork, and applying the slant effect while the artwork is in different positions on the stage to no avail. I've also tried other effects like the warp effect, and the same thing happens.

Is there a way to keep the artwork from getting cropped on the edge of the stage?

Depending on how you imported it, it is possible that it ended up nested as a nested composition or smart object.  If you applied the effect to the outer object but then dragged it within the inner object, you could end up dragging it off the edge of the outer object which would produce the result you are experiencing.

Effectively, you would have an outer object that is tilted and an inner object that is going off the edge of the outer.  Thus, the outer object displays only the half of the object you see and then the skew gets applied (which makes the otherwise vertical clipping to be angled.)

That's the only thing that occurs to me as a possible cause.

Even if that isn't it, a work around might be to put the original graphic in a composition and then apply the effect to the composition instead and then move the composition as you need.  This would probably work around whatever issue you are having here.


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

How can I get an extruded Greek letter in Cinema4D?

I can't be 100% certain, but the problem is most likely your font type.  I'm not familiar with Cinema4D specifically, but some fonts are raster based for given point sizes and some are vector based.  Most extrusions require you to have a vector based format and if the font is raster, then you aren't going to get any result.

The best bet is either to find a vector based greek font or to use something like illustrator to create a vector path that fits the characters and import that vector document for extrusion.


Illustrator Import to After Effects I have an illustrator file with vector paths made up of all strokes. When imported into AE and converted to shape layers, all the strokes turn into filled shapes. I want them to stay as strokes so I can utilize Trim paths. Any Idea about this?

I've had success with

import composition > layer size

Double click comp

Highlight all > Create > Create Shapes from vector layer

Delete the .Ai layers

Tutorial here:


Loudness control LUFS level adjustments Is there a tool that can adjust the loudness level of a video?

for example I need to make the loudness to be -23 LUFS with max deviation of 0.5 lu.

is there a simple tool/cloud service that doesn't cost too much, that can do this ?

FFmpeg's loudnorm filter can be used. Basic syntax is

ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -c:v copy -af loudnorm=I=-23:LRA=1 -ar 48000 out.mp4

The loudness range (LRA) should be 2 x max deviation.

Also see the ebur128 filter for measuring loudness.


Path shape not masking text through Track Matte in After Effects I'm trying to hide some text using a path I'm tracking around someone in order to 'hide' the text behind him. Because the text will be moving independently of the person it'll be hiding behind, I'm using a shape layer as my mask with Track Matte. But, it seems the path shape isn't being filled by AE because it isn't hiding the text. Other shapes in the layer are still behaving as expected and hide the text when they intersect, but at no point is my text masked by the pen shape. Nothing I've found on google has been helpful, as most of the tutorials are on converting shapes to paths, but not the other way around. Is there a way to fill the penned out shape so that the mask actually works? Or did I waste around 2 hours tracking the edge of this guys body only for there to be no way for it to be used as a mask?

Your approach is really creative, but I'm afraid you could have made it much easier on you.

If your text is moving on its own, you can simply pre-compose the text layer. That way, the newly created precomp doesn't move, allowing you to draw a mask around the person if needed. Remember to only draw a mask where the text touches the person, you'll easily create bigger masks than you have to (speaking from experience) which will take up unnecessary time.


Action camera connected via two usb extenders and RJ45 doesnt work? I started using my Action camera as Webcam via USB - works good. I wanted longer cable so googled a bit how to extend USB cable and found solution two USB extenders via RJ45 cable.

Computer <--> usb 2.0 to RJ45 <--> RJ45 UTP cable <--> RJ45 to micro USB <--> action camera

The problem is, camera is not turning on - basically I bought extenders which are converting RJ45 to USB (and micro usb on the other side).
Question is how to make it happen ? Invert signal or something is possible ? Camera is dead and extenders are not showing any traffic on led lights.

More details

USB 2.0 port on motherboard has not been modified. Both USB to RJ45 are working - tested when plugging in etrhent cable to usb. To give you more information, here are the models I am using - so from motherboard USB is going Edimax EU-4208 which is connected to RJ45 cable, that cable (1m) is going to ICY BOX IB-AC510 and from this, its going via microusb to action camera Eken H9. I am very afraid that this will not work as they are only converters or is there any hope ?

Thanks.

Unfortunately, given the models you mentioned in comments, the purpose of both of your ethernet adapters is to connect usb host devices, like computers, to ethernet network devices, like switches and routers.

There do exist purpose-built USB extenders (see: example NewEgg search), some of which have RJ-45 ports to operate over cat5 or cat6 cables just for availability and cost savings—but sadly, that's not what you have. They're also usually considerably more expensive. And they do not work with ethernet data networks, instead only as a matched pair. I'm afraid you'll need to work up another solution.


Stock footage search service Is there any service where I can describe stock footage that I need using human readable search terms and sentences and send out a search request to multiple footage archives at once, so I will not have to contact each one individually, that will then use real humans or otherwise search intelligently and send me a list of suggested and relevant footage clips?

I don't know what you mean by human readable search terms, as opposed to keywords or tags?

But for a meta search directory service I would recommend (know of)
http://www.footage.net/
(If anyone knows of any additional search engine stock video directories, I would love to know about it as well)

Otherwise, ya, you would be going through each service looking for footage.
These are the stock services that I am aware of:
http://www.shutterstock.com/video/
http://www.gettyimages.ca/footage/ <- used by major media outlets
http://www.pond5.com/
http://www.alwayshd.com/
https://www.videocopilot.net/products/ <- geared more to adding effects to clips
http://www.footagesearch.com/

And many more... I am sure others can chime in with their favorite sites.


Video Graphics Editing By what process, graphics programming, editing or any other method can a human object in a live video be carved or cropped out of the video and the background unchanged and the video moving pixels continue in motion?

I believe You want to delete some objects from Your scene.
Adobe After Effects recently introduced a feature allowing users to do just that:

Documentation: https://helpx.adobe.com/pl/after-effects/using/content-aware-fill.html

Video example:

If You meant anything else please clarify Your question a little bit more.


After Effects - EG Template: Of 2 keyframes I only want to change the 2nd in EG, help! I'm trying to create a new Essential Graphics template in After Effects.

I have an animation (at its most basic, it's a rectangle that expands from a set, small size to - hopefully! - a user defined size) that can be controlled by moving 4 sliders (it took some fiddling about but I've got a Top Left Null and Bottom Right Null and the 4 sliders control their positions (TL X & Y and BR X & Y), which - in turn - determine the positions for the four corners of the rectangle).

However, having begun setting up the template, I'm slightly worried that this is not going to work. Moving the slider control from within the template window just sets new keyframes (so the animation is all over the place) and, thinking about it now, even if using the template in PP doesn't create new keyframes, how will the EG panel know which keyframe (if any) to affect?

I guess what I'm really wondering is if we can, using an expression, cause the slider controls to affect only the LAST keyframe of an animation (I'm no expression whizz but I can't find anything like that out there following some extensive Googling and I cannot figure out a way to write this myself).

Also, if you think there might be an easier way to do any of this, please let me know!

To use the keyframed value of a property in an expression, there is a value attribute. And properties also have the key() method to access their keys, as well as the numKeys attribute to find out how many keys the property has. Lastly, there's the global time attribute.

So now we've assembled the list of ingredients, here's how you could put it all together. This expression will use the keyframed value up to the last keyframe, and then hand over the reins to the result of an expression, in this case the value of the slider:

// link to your slider, or any calculated value:
var sliderVal = effect("Slider Control")("Slider");
var lastKey = key(numKeys);
if (time <= lastKey.time){ // before the last keyframe
  // use the keyframe value before the last keyframe
  value;
} else {  // after the last keyframe
  // control using the sliders, or any expression
  sliderVal;
}

Of course this will jump from the keyframed value to the expression value instantly at the last keyframe. You can interpolate between the values by using one of the interpolation functions. So to interpolate between the keyframed value and the expression value between the second last keyframe and the last keyframe, you might use:

var sliderVal = effect("Slider Control")("Slider");
var k2 = key(numKeys); //last key
var k1 = key(numKeys - 1); //second last key
// linear can take 5 arguments:
// time, start time, end time, start val, end val
// and interpolates between start val and end val
linear(time, k1.time, k2.time, value, sliderVal)

You could also take advantage of the ease(), easeIn() or easeOut() interpolation functions, which you can just substitue for linear().


What happens when I upload a multi-audio video to YouTube? I livestream video game tournaments. The videos I record have two audio tracks. The first track is a low-volume game sound, combined with commentary audio. The second track is just the normalized volume game sound.

When I upload this video to YouTube, what is going to happen? Will YouTube combine both audio tracks into a single track? Will it throw out track 2?

Has anyone done this before?

Youtube will encode the primary or default audio stream.

Youtube doesn't support multiple audio streams. Neither does Vimeo.

Although, apparently, some videos like the 2012 Olympic streams did have it. Special handling by Youtube, I'm sure.


FFmpeg add logo watermark to live stream I am trying to execute this commands in FFmpeg and it is working. Now I want to add logo to this live stream. How to do that?

find "/video path" -name "*.mp4" | xargs -I $ "/ffmpeg path" -y -re -i $ -vcodec copy -acodec copy -dts_delta_threshold 1000 -ar 44100 -ab 32k -f flv  rtmp://xxx.xxx.xx/live/

Use the overlay video filter:

find "/video path" -name "*.mp4" | xargs -I $ "/ffmpeg path" -y -re -i $ -i watermark.png -filter_complex overlay -c:a copy -f flv rtmp://xxx.xxx.xx/live/

You can't filter video (-filter_complex or -vf) and stream copy (-vcodec copy) the same stream. If you try you'll get an error:

  Streamcopy requested for output stream 0:0, which is fed from a
  complex filtergraph. Filtering and streamcopy cannot be used together

So remove -vcodec copy when filtering the video.


Changing Key of Audio Premiere I haven't been using premiere for long, and I want to try to make an MLG meme video.

For this, I wanted to get an audio file and change the note/key of it to match music.

From what I know (which is very little), pitch and key are unrelated. I may be wrong, but when I tried to use pitchshifter, it didn't seem to change the note.

I'm sorry that is a stupid question and I know this question will get negative reputation, but how would I change the note/key of audio files? Would I use audition, or is there something in premiere I am overlooking?

One approach is to change the speed of the clip slightly.  This will change the pitch; speeds above 100% will make the pitch higher, and speeds under 100% will make the pitch lower. You can fiddle around with the percentages until the pitch matches.  Obviously the clip will visually run faster or slower as well, so hopefully you won't need to change the speed too much. If it makes the clip look funny, you may want to separate the audio track from the video track so you can just adjust the audio speed while leaving the video speed at 100%.

As for pitch vs. key, I can tell you what they mean from a musician's point of view. A "pitch" is the vibrations per second (hertz) of a note.  The more cycles per second, the higher the pitch. The word "key" has two meanings.  On a piano, each of the things you can hit is a "key".  There are white keys and black keys.  Each one has a different pitch.  The other meaning of "key" pertains to composition. The "key" a song is written in defines the scale it uses (for the most part). Songs in the key of C major or A minor will be played on all the white keys (unless there is what's called an "accidental" note, which would be one of the black keys).  Songs in the key of G major or E minor are played on all the white notes except for F# ("F sharp"), unless there are "accidental" notes.  There is a major and minor "key" for each of the 12 "keys" in a scale.


AfterEffects Text Templates - Do changes Progagate to Instances in PPro I have created a number of Live Text Template Capsule (.aecap) files from AE CC2017. And used them a number of places in multiple timelines in a Premiere project. I now need to make a tweak to background layers. If I make the change in AE do I need to re-export the aecap file and if so, do I overwrite the old cap file? I don't want to loose all the instances in my PPro timeline and the unique text associated with each.

What's the proper way to update the AE portion of Text Templates after they are used in Premiere?

Updating in AE does not update the template in PPro directly -like updating a direct linked AE project-composition does.

To update Live Text Templates that are already used in Premiere: Update the composition in AE and export Composition as Text Template (.aecap) and Overwrite the previous .aecap file. It will update in Premiere after a RESTART without loosing the unique text in the instances you've already used. Note: just making the element offline and then relinking does not seem to update it. It's possible if I deleted the preview files it would work, but I haven't tried it. So far a Restart of PPro is required to update the Live Text Template.


Replacement for Windows Live Movie Maker for combining images and audio (Windows 10)? I want to combine some audio I recorded with an image (for uploading to YouTube).

Googling turned up "Windows Live Movie Maker" which appears to be more dead than alive, now, at least as far as Windows 10 is concerned.

Who can recommend a free software download (or web-based service) that will allow me to create this simple, You-Tube-uploadable file? All I want is for a single image to remain static during the entire playing of the audio file.

The audio file was created with Audacity and is, at present, available as an .m4a file (but could be converted to another format from within Audacity); the image file is a .jpg, but could of course also be saved to another format.

UPDATE

I tried to figure it out using both of those links from the Upload page (Slideshow and Edit Video) and in neither case did I see how to combine and audio file and an image, and then convert that mashup to a video.

I found this link, which appeared promising initially, but wasn't of much help.

It can be made directly on the YouTube website. Look at the "Upload" page at the bottom-right corner:


Easisest way to convert whole DVD folder (all titles and chapters) to MKV file(s)? I have lots of movies stored as DVD folders(.bup, .vob, .ifo files); I am looking for the easiest way to convert each folder into one (or more) mkv files (preferably by using freeware program(s))

HandBrake does a decent job; there is only one problem - it would not convert all titles automatically, you'd have to go and do it one title after another one; would anyone suggest a good DVD->MKV converter, or, perhaps, describe how to force HandBrake to convert all titles (just as is takes all chapters for each title)?

If you wrote a small script (say in python) you could use the Command line client of the software convert all the videos sequentially. Python has good system calls functionality and make this quite easy.


How to cut part of MP4 file using FFmpeg without reencoding? I have MP4 file. It's duration is 18 minutes 22 seconds. I want to cut part form 7:35 to 14:01 and to save this part as another MP4 file without reencoding. How to do it using FFmpeg?

May you try
ffmpeg -y -i input.mp4 -ss 00:07:35 -to 00:14:01 -c copy output.mp4


How should I understand audio levels in FCP7 xml? I'm a software developer working on an application which takes a Final Cut Pro 7 xml file as input, and reads the audio in that XML file (for reporting purposes).

For any given <clipitem> which represents an audio file there is often an <effect> which represents audio levels. The audio level <effect> element has a child <parameter> element which contains multiple <keyframe> elements.

<filter>
  <effect>
    <name>Audio Levels</name>
    <effectid>audiolevels</effectid>
    <effectcategory>audiolevels</effectcategory>
    <effecttype>audiolevels</effecttype>
    <mediatype>audio</mediatype>
    <parameter>
      <name>Level</name>
      <parameterid>level</parameterid>
      <valuemin>0</valuemin>
      <valuemax>3.98109</valuemax>
      <keyframe>
        <when>0</when>
        <value>0</value>
      </keyframe>
      <keyframe>
        <when>94.1429</when>
        <value>0.125893</value>
      </keyframe>
    </parameter>
  </effect>
</filter>

I need to figure out what the audio level at any given point in time is for the given <clipitem>.

What I don't get is that the <clipitem> may have <start> set to 1757 and <end> set to 2523. That's a duration of 766 frames.

However, for that very same clip I see the below which to me indicates that the audio level changes to 0.0562341 in frame 1252.57.

<keyframe>
  <when>1252.57</when>
  <value>0.0562341</value>
</keyframe>

How can a keyframe occur at 1252.57 for a clip that has a duration of 766 frames?

The documentation says...

  The first keyframe always has a value of 0 for when, and the last
  keyframe always has the duration of the clipitem as the value for when

How can a keyframe occur at 1252.57 for a clip that has a duration of 766 frames?

Because the user could have used a clip that was longer than 1252 frames, set a keyframe, then trimmed the clip down to 766 frames. If the user later decides to make the clip longer again by changing the out point to a later time, the keyframe will still be in the place they originally placed it. So your calculations should treat the keyframes as they are, even if they are outside of the clip times.


Can I modify the volume of a shot in the timeline of Premiere Pro? I have imported a mp4 clip in my Premiere Pro CS6 timeline for which I would like to turn down the volume:

However, when I try and drag the Volume effect to the clip (or any other audio effect), I see a "forbidden" sign over the cursor:

If I go through the Clip menu the Audio options are greyed out:

I tried removing the shot from the timeline and dragging the effect to the file listed in the Project window, but it didn't do anything. When I right-click on the file in the Project window, a lot of options appear, but the modifications I do there do not seem to work.

How can I just lower the volume of this shot?

When you drag a clip into a sequence, PPro will show a video track (if there is video) and audio track(s) if there is audio.  If there is both audio and video, the tracks will be linked.

The volume controls are on the audio track, not the video track.  You can adjust volume both on a clip basis and on a track basis.  Buy volume is a meaningless concept on a video track (even if the video clip is linked to an audio clip).


Cannot render 16:9 video for youtube I downloaded this YT video, and want to make it 16:9 in Vegas 10 pro.

Here is my file settings:

Template - HD 1080 24p (1920x1080, 29.970 fps)
Frame rate - 29.970(NTSC)
Field order - None (progressive scan)

Render settings:
Save as type - Sony AVC (.mp4,.m2ts,*.avc)
Template - Internet1280x720-30p
Bit rate - 8,000,000

Right click on video track - properties - Maintain aspect ratio is not checked.

Playing in Vegas is fine, but rendered video is full of interruptions, freeze places...
Audio sounds ok.
Rendering still images with the above settings is ok.

Any help, pls.

Have you tried to disable graphic card rendering? Incompatible graphic cards or drivers may cause the exact symptoms you describe. Preview may not use graphic card rendering, as this is controlled by another setting.

Select Options|Preferences
Go to tab card "Video"
Set "GPU acceleration of video processing" to "Off"
When rendering: Open your render template and select Encode Mode:
Render using CPU only.


Problem setting first frame timecode using ffmpeg - timecode always different from requested for 59.94fps video Edit: Found to be a small bug in FFmpeg. It should hopefully soon be patched.

I'm having issues with setting the timecode for some .MXF files that I have. If I run the command:

ffmpeg -i test.MXF -vcodec copy -acodec copy -timecode "00:05:00;10" tmp.MXF

and then check using ffprobe:

ffprobe tmp.MXF
dpc3:tmp me475$ ffprobe tmp.MXF
ffprobe version 3.4 Copyright (c) 2007-2017 the FFmpeg developers
  built with Apple LLVM version 8.0.0 (clang-800.0.42.1)
  configuration: --prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/ffmpeg/3.4 --enable-shared --enable-pthreads --enable-version3 --enable-hardcoded-tables --enable-avresample --cc=clang --host-cflags= --host-ldflags= --enable-gpl --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-opencl --enable-videotoolbox --disable-lzma
  libavutil      55. 78.100 / 55. 78.100
  libavcodec     57.107.100 / 57.107.100
  libavformat    57. 83.100 / 57. 83.100
  libavdevice    57. 10.100 / 57. 10.100
  libavfilter     6.107.100 /  6.107.100
  libavresample   3.  7.  0 /  3.  7.  0
  libswscale      4.  8.100 /  4.  8.100
  libswresample   2.  9.100 /  2.  9.100
  libpostproc    54.  7.100 / 54.  7.100
[h264 @ 0x7fb652816600] Truncating likely oversized PPS (9469 > 4096)
    Last message repeated 4 times
[mxf @ 0x7fb652815200] decoding for stream 0 failed
Input #0, mxf, from 'tmp.MXF':
  Metadata:
    uid             : adab4424-2f25-4dc7-92ff-29bd000c0000
    generation_uid  : adab4424-2f25-4dc7-92ff-29bd000c0001
    company_name    : FFmpeg
    product_name    : OP1a Muxer
    product_version : 57.83.100
    product_uid     : adab4424-2f25-4dc7-92ff-29bd000c0002
    modification_date: 0000-01-02T00:00:00.000000Z
    material_package_umid: 0x060A2B340101010501010D0013E30DF252947134C9E30DF20052947134C9E300
    timecode        : 00:05:00;30
  Duration: 00:00:08.01, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 577647 kb/s
    Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (High 4:2:2 Intra), yuv422p10le(progressive), 3840x2160 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 59.94 fps, 59.94 tbr, 59.94 tbn, 119.88 tbc
    Metadata:
      file_package_umid: 0x060A2B340101010501010D0013E30DF252947134C9E30DF20052947134C9E301
    Stream #0:1: Audio: pcm_s24le, 48000 Hz, 1 channels, s32 (24 bit), 1152 kb/s
    Metadata:
      file_package_umid: 0x060A2B340101010501010D0013E30DF252947134C9E30DF20052947134C9E301

Then the timecode is clearly later than the requested timecode (00:05:00;20 -> 00:05:00;30)

I have tested with various different valid input timecodes, and the output timecode is always different from what I request.

e.g.

00:10:00;00 -> 00:10:00;18
09:58:34;00 -> 09:58:51;58

Any suggestions?

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

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


Rendering video from Photoshop CS6 leaves background grey where it should be white On export of an animation from Photoshop, the rendered video has a grey background where it should be white.

We have tried multiple settings and documents and nothing we've tried works.

These are the exact setting we are using. And also tried numerous other options.

Does anyone know what might cause this? Using CS6. Thanks.

We have now tried every conceivable solution and not found it. Oddly enough, when we play the video in Windows Media Player it is perfect but not in VLC. Also, uploaded the video to YouTube

             and in the player it is grey but when you open it in the Video Manager, it is white.

It also appears as white in Google+, Facebook and anywhere else.

It is probably worth checking your Image>Mode settings.
I find they tend to change my colours between exports and prints etc.


Adding noise to a still photograph to make it look live If I record some video of a static scene, there is noise in the video that makes it obvious that it is video and not a still photograph.   But if I add a photograph to a video in a non-linear video editor, it is obvious that it is a still photograph because of the lack of this noise.  How can I add such noise?  My first thought was to create a mostly transparent layer that just has low-level noise, but then I realize that this will give it more of a noisy effect that doesn't resemble live video.  What are some other effects that I can use to make a still photograph look like it was shot as video?

If it makes a difference, I am using the OpenShot editor. (There doesn't appear to be a tag for this)

I suggest to use the very noise that your camera captures and blend it with the photograph.

point your camera against a white object (e.g. wall, door)
The automatic exposure should stop down the lens until the white becomes a mid grey.
capture as long as you need
In your Editor, blend the grey noise with the photo by using a layer blending mode like "multiply" or "overlay" (at least shotcut has blending modes)


How can I stream to a single channel, from multiple geographical locations? We are looking at broadcasting a live 'roundtable discussion' between 4 or 5 people. We are after either a service which would allow us to stream from all of these 4 people into a single channel. Note that none of the participants would be in the same geographical location.

In a perfect world, it would work like streaming a Google+ Hangout to however many thousand people we have watching the overall stream.

The video needs to be private, so we cannot use something like Hangouts on Air because this will be listed publicly. We don't need encryption or anything like that, just it cannot be publicly advertised somewhere.

It would also be very good to simply get an RTMP stream from a Wowza/FMS server so that we can play it back through a player such as JW Player or FlowPlayer.

Any suggestions or ideas?

Hangouts On Air will allow you to stream your G+ Hangouts to Youtube. This should allow you to reach as large an audience as you wish.


What kind of output is this? I would like to connect my computer to my HDMI-enabled monitor. The computer has a VGA out and one of these:

I don't know what that is called.

That's a DisplayPort socket. Display port to HDMI adaptors are available, almost always DisplayPort is set up as displayport dual-mode, meaning a simple, cheap cable adaptor—e.g. this randomly selected two dollar jobbie from ebay —will suffice for connecting it to HDMI equipment.


After effects position expression issue I'm trying to make clouds move out of frame and than appear again from the other side.

var vel = 100;
var pInit = position.valueAtTime(0)[0]; // initial position of a cloud
var tInit = (thisComp.width-pInit)/vel; // time it takes to cross the right border starting from init position
var tFull = (thisComp.width+width)/vel; // time it takes to cross the frame starting behind the left border
var offset = 0;
tBound = tInit;

if(time > tBound) {
  tBound += tFull;
  offset += thisComp.width+width;
}

[value[0]+time*vel-offset,value[1]]

First time if statement works as expected. tBound becomes 40s and it offsets cloud. But when time gets bigger than 40 nothing happens. Neither offset variable gets bigger nor tBound. If statement doesn't work anymore. What's the problem here?

I don't think you need an expression to achieve this.  You could just loop a cloud moving across the screen inside a precomp.


Can you losslessly ediit H264 at the GOP level? My scenario is this: I have a few .mp4 files containing H264 video with AAC audio. Each file was encoded from a DVR source. There are a few frames too many at both the beginning and end of the file (less than 1 second worth). I want to edit off these few frames.

The problem is that I can tell that the first keyframe falls a couple seconds into the desired video.

I'd like to chop the first few undesired frames off of the video, but I'd like to not have to re-encode the entire file because this comes with the inherent generation loss of re-encoding already compressed video (and the time taken).

(I'm ignoring audio issues for the moment - for MP3 there are frame-level editors like MP3DirectCut and I think there's something similar for AAC audio. I can use ffmpeg to split the two streams out and work with them independently and then later remux them into a new .mp4 file.)

Here's a simple illustration of what I'd like to do:

Source file
|------GOP---------|------GOP---------|------GOP-----|
IBBPBBPBBPBBPBBPBBPIBBPBBPBBPBBPBBPBBPIBBPBBPBBPBBPBBI...
^   ^
|   first desired frame
- undesired frame(s)

Re-encoded first GOP, other GOPs copied losslessly:
|----New GOP----|------GOP---------|------GOP-----|
IBPBBPBBPBBPBBBPIBBPBBPBBPBBPBBPBBPIBBPBBPBBPBBPBBI
|               |
+---------------+
re-encode just these
frames to a new short
GOP, copy all remaining
GOPs losslessly

I could be completely wrong, but my understanding of video encoding leads me to believe that GOPs are independent sets of frames that can stand alone; you need all of the frames of a GOP to decode the GOP, but one GOP will not be dependent upon another GOP. So, unless that assumption is completely wrong, I imagine something like this should work, theoretically:

Re-encode the first couple of seconds of the video, starting at the desired frame, using the same settings (profile, level, etc.) that encoded the original source. I'd need to be able to do one of the following:

Extract off the first GOP of this newly-encoded file, and truncate that GOP so it ends on the frame right before the keyframe of the next GOP in the original file.
Specify a hard limit on the number of frames per GOP during encoding, so that I could then extract off the first GOP and it would already be the correct size.

Take this new shortened GOP and append all but the first GOP of the original file. The end result would be a new H264 stream where only the first GOP has been re-encoded; all the rest of the GOPs would be copied losslessly.

I'm not necessarily against a paid tool, but pretty much any NLE is going to involve re-encoding the video at some stage. My goal is to bring as much as possible over from the original video losslessly. (Basically, if I could do this, the only area I'd be suffering any generation loss is in the first second of the file, which is likely to be a fade-in or even some black frames and of little importance to the overall presentation.)

Can this be done??

This is possible to do, in theory. The key is to match all relevant source bitstream properties when encoding.

#1 Segment source video

ffmpeg -i source.mp4 -c copy -an -f segment -segment_time 0.01 seg%d.ts

Since the segment muxer by default only splits at keyframes, by providing a very low segment time, each produced segment will be one GOP long.

(I suggest using the whole audio from the source, we don't extract it here)

#2 Re-encode first segment

ffmpeg -i seg1.ts {-encoding args} -copyts -x264opts stitchable{+any-other-args} new1.ts

It's important here to match source settings.

#3 Rejoin segments

ffmpeg -i "concat:new1.ts|seg2.ts|..." -i source.mp4 -c copy -map 0 -map 1:a new.mp4


Avid/Pinnacle Liquid I have a licensed copy of Liquid on my Windows XP machine. No matter what I've tried, I can't move or reinstall it to my Windows 8.1 machine. Any suggestions?

The Avid Liquid product line was EOLed in 2010 and Windows XP SP2 is the latest Windows version supported.

At the Liquid forum, someone suggests a method to install Liquid 7.2 on Windows 7. See if you can use it for Windows 8.1


Is there a program that can change monitor color temperature for lighting? I'm shooting a scene for a film where the actor will be placed in front of a computer monitor. I want to use the monitor to light the actor, but I want to be able to adjust the color temperature to get the look I want. I have F.lux (https://justgetflux.com/), so I know changing monitor color temperature is possible, but I want to be able to control it. Preferably the program would be free, and I would be able to adjust the temperature in real time.

Here is a hack. You can use Blender and the Blackbody Node of Cycles Render Engine. Following example shows a realtime viewport animation of the color temperature in kelvin:

Create some geometry (e.g. a plane) as light emitter
Setup an Emission shader
Create a Blackbody node and plug it into the Emission Color
Position your camera
Switch your Camera by pressing Numpad 0
Set the Viewport Shading to Rendered or press F12 to render the image

blend file

Renderings

2000K

4000K

6000K


best software for multicam video production We have records from 30 cameras (couple TBs of video files), which were started almost simultaneously, part of them were action cameras (so no timecode here, and there are gaps because of battery replacement), other part were usual hd cameras with time codes embeded to video files.
All video is 1080p25.

We need to sync all videos together, and then render all 30 sequences after color correction and cutting.I have tried adobe premiere cc, but is was real pain, especially rendering with crushes and other glitches.

Is there any alternative for Premiere?
We have quite recent workstations running windows 7 with consumer video cards (both ati 7970 and nvidia 680 are available), so it will be great if software can do distributed rendering and use gpu. We also have couple of 2 year mac pro, so osx only software can also be of use.

Premiere is your best option unless you plan on spending a boatload (thousands and thousands) on an Avid system.  I'd suggest working on smaller sets of cameras at a time and then working off the combined feeds.  You can use multicamera editing mode with several cameras at a time, make the best choices out of those and then run each of those sequences in to another multicamera sequence to further resolve them.

The process is going to kind of suck no matter what system you do it on because it is a boatload of synchronous footage to go through.


Smooth horizontal and vertical camera movement I have a Canon EOS 60D camera. I want to use this to take some video by moving the camera smoothly in horizontal and vertical axis. For example, if I want to take video of the bezel of a TV, I'd like to be able to smoothly have the camera move down on the vertical axis with the lens facing the bezel in the same angle the whole time.

Something like this, but not this expensive

Here is an example at 3:40 when the camera man slides through the keyboard horizontally.

Unfortunately, there aren't really cheap options to do this.  You can approximate it using a crane or a stabilization rig (like a SteadiCam Jr), but both of those is still going to cost you hundreds of dollars.

For horizontal movement, the cheapest option is probably to use a more basic track and roll it by hand.  You can use a motion control unit to get smoother motion, but a motion control unit itself is going to be over a grand normally.

For pure vertical, you need something called a camera pedestal.  Unfortunately, this is probably the most complex movement to perform in a controlled manner, so there simply are no cheap options.  There are some DIY approaches out there, but you're looking at expensive hardware if you want to do a pure vertical movement with good control.  (The cheapest commercial pedestal I know of is over a grand.)

That is just the way the market is for being able to do advanced moves.  They are all specialized, limited use devices and the cost rapidly multiplies with the weight of the camera.  That's why rigging costs so much, because the market is so limited and specialized.  It requires careful design, tight tolerances and a very limited market, that all adds up to big costs to the consumer.


Stop video (something like a screenshot) in Hitfilm 3 Express I am new in any kind of video cutting programs. I started using Hitfilm 3 Express, becuase it's free and simple to use, I think. I'm wondering if and how it is possible to make a video stop for as example 5 seconds, show up a text (to explain something) and then let the video go on. Currently im doing this by splitting the video in two parts, make a screenshot of the scene i want and then insert this screenshot between the two videoparts.

The usual way to do this is with a speed effect.  Create a cut around the one frame you want to render as a still.  Your timeline should look like this:

motion-before | single frame | motion-after

You can then place a speed effect on the single frame, slow it down to 0% playback speed, and it will happily play forever if you want.  Stretch single frame to 5 seconds of length (120 frames at 24fps) and then composite your text on top.

People do this all the time.  Some applications have a "freeze frame effect" which is precisely setting the speed to zero for a default number of seconds.


Changing the effect of a certain object but not anything else I am recording a scene in which a "gun" is involved, but I do not have the budget for a realistic gun, so I am using a nerf gun. I am wondering how I would make the nerf gun look real

You could create one with parts from a hobby store or craft store, and paint them the correct color of gray.  Model your gun replica off of a specific existing gun that you find photos of online. Figure out ways to shoot the scene so the viewers don't see the gun too much:

keep it in shadow
only have it on screen for 1/2 second at a time
keep it moving, especially if this is an action or chase sequence
show it from a distance
keep it out of focus (while something "more important" is in focus, like a person saying a line of dialog)
train the camera on the face of the person with the gun and the reactions of the potential victim

Also use visual effects (as suggested by bret7600 in his answer) and sound effects. A Foley artist once said he uses a door deadbolt to simulate the sound of a cocking handgun.


Animating particles with collision avoidance? I need to drive a large number of small 2D cars around on screen in a fairly random fashion... I have the Trapcode Suite.  I'd really like them not to overlap each other.  What's the easiest way to achieve this? Any good tricks using C4Dlite maybe? At the moment I'm using Particular to splatter them all over the screen, and it looks a bit rubbish.

I solved this using the built in Foam particle render - it does have basic collision avoidance


Creating a particle system explosion without a collision I have recently discovered a tutorial about 3DS Max on Youtube that explains (in one of its parts) the creation of an explosion with a PF Source.

I am trying to create the same explosion but for a different scene and scope. My explosion should begin suddenly and without a collision to happen. I followed those steps but I discovered that they don't work in my case.

More information: I have an extruded text (converted into an editable poly object) that is required to explode at the 450th frame in my animation.

How can I create this explosion?

If you want to use a physics simulation, your best bet is to have a collision but don't render the object that collides.  I haven't used 3DSMax personally in a number of years, but there should be an option to have the object physically impact the scene but not be rendered by the render engine itself.  Then you simply do the collision to occur at frame 450 and it should behave the way you want as it does in the tutorial you are following.


Premiere Pro - How to paste effects? (namely opacity) I am familiar with the copy and paste attributes method for pasting effects on multiple clips, however when I tried this method to paste my opacity keyframes from one clip to another, nothing happened.

All I'm after is some animated opacity levels (start from 50% reach 100% opacity in the middle of the clip then at the end of the clip bring the opacity down to 0%).

Question

Does paste-attributes not work for opacity? If not, what is a similar labor-saving solution I can try?

If you need to copy opacity effect with keyframes, you should select keyframes and press CTRL+C, then select clip on timeline and move playhead to time where you want to put first keyframe, then select effect controls window and click CTRL+V to paste. That's all.

In such way you can copy keyframes from one clip to another.

If you want to copy keyframes from one clip to a lot of other clips, you can create preset in such way:


Software to create nice presentations/infographics I need to find some software that will help me create a nice and user friendly presentation, like this one :

I prefere to use better effects and transition between objects but powerpoint needs lot of work to do that, and it is very hard to get it done with good precision.

A graphic like this would have most likely been made using Adobe After Effects. The style of this graphic is a mix of Kinetic Typography and Infographics.

Googling around you can find tutorials on creating infographics and kinetic typographic videos. Though as a warning, generally creating a video like this takes a number of days for an experienced user.


replace video track and keep everything else I want to use FFmpeg to replace a certain video track but keep everything else including chapters, audio, fonts etc…
I know I should be using -map and -map_metadata but not sure how to do it.

I ended up using this and it worked
ffmpeg -i "original video file" -i "video file I want to insert" -map_metadata 0 -map 0 -map -0:v:0 -map 1:v:0 output.mkv

this tells ffmpeg to remove the 1st video track from the 1st file and insert the 1st video track from the second file while retaining everything else as is.


How to decrease resolution from 1920x1080 to 720? I have After Effects CC running on Windows 10.

I have this template with resolution of 1920x1080. After rendering with this resolution my video player keeps on buffering, possibly because the resolution is really too high.

So when I try to render, where settings should I go to change resolution?

I would reccomend downscaling after, maybe using handbrake. Also, when you upload the video to YouTube, it may just be your pc that lags.


What happens if we put 10bpc video in 8bpc composition? What information are lost if we put a 10-bit video in an 8bpc composition in After Effects?

I'm looking for a technical explanation. Because at least they look same to naked eyes.

10-bit footage will look the same as properly shot 8 bit footage, it's how it copes with grading and effects that makes the difference. If you have 10-bit video that's a few stops underexposed you still have a lot of information in the shadows - four times as much information as the 8 bit. You won't see that extra info until you correct the exposure–particularly because most delivery formats are 8 bit, like internet, or broadcast television (but not cinema). The same holds true for over-exposure and colour balance, and any effect that works with colour information. Make the same changes in 8-bit footage and you'll just get mush, because there isn't the data, just like blowing up standard-def footage doesn't make it the same as footage shot in HD.

To understand why, consider the R, G and B channels in an 8 bit image. Each channel has 28=256 possible values*. If your footage is underexposed and the brightest highlight is at 50%, then you've only got 128 values per channel. A 10 bit image starts out with 210=1024 possible values per channel, and the same under exposed footage works out to 512 values, so it still has room to be graded and still have the same colour depth as properly shot 8-bit video.

If your project is set to 16 bit or 32 bit colour then After effects will use the full colour depth of the footage.

*this is simplified a bit, most video codecs are YUV rather than RGB, the information is distributed so there's more data for the Luma than the colour, and the exposure values aren't necessarily linear, but that's beyond the scope of this answer.


Places to look for sound tracks for videos I'm wondering what's a good place to look for background music for our video productions.

I'm not asking for a free one, but for any good place with a good categorization of soundtracks and songs for our videos.

I've tried the ones listed in "Legal Music for Videos" but I was wondering where do pro people get their sound tracks from.

I've used AudioMicro.com and like a lot of their music. I hear good things about incompetech.com.  You can also just Google "royalty-free music sites" and you'll find several, each with different terms and prices.


How to record a video of computer screen movements Can someone suggest good softwares for making a video tutorial of computer screen, like is done on most computer tutoring sites?

I am looking a software that can capture a video of my blackberry simulator run so that the client can preview the look and feel of an app on the device.

Please suggest software that is freely available and which doesn't add any watermarks.

I love using Camstudio!
It's free I've used it , not the best interface but great to use until you are willing to pony up $300 for Camtasia.

http://camstudio.org/


Why can't modern video cameras be used for live streaming without a capture card? I'm just curious what the physical limitation is now-a-days that connectors like USB-C and thunderbolt exist. In the past I thought the issue was that the encodings that video cameras put out (probably mostly some variant of h.264 or h.265) required more throughput than USB could offer but now that doesn't really seem to be the case. What's the issue?

I am not 100% sure but I think that there is a need for a minimal system managing the Internet Protocol in order to enable streaming. So it means there would be a need for a CPU, an OS, and a interface to setup all the related settings to the camera too.

I think the computing power needed for video compression would be possible thanks to a recent processor like the one embedded in smartphone. And of course the rate is no longer a problem for new connections. USB-C would even be able to stream raw video 4K 60fps = 12Gbps. Which is fine for be DisplayPort 1.2a available on USB-C


Fix bad files and streams with ffmpeg so VLC and other players would not crash It happened me many times that I could end up in corrupted video files:

video downloaded from official sources but with torrent and for some reason not all the pieces are there in .mkv, .ts or .mp4
records in .ts format where at a certain point the data is missing
copied videos from an old hard drive with damaged sectors

When I play this videos with VLC or other players they plays till a certain point and then instantly exits. Sometimes I can try to skip the bad part but I could meet another bad sector and have an insta-quit again.

Question is:

Can I fix this problems (I suppose stream and keyframes related) with ffmpeg and maybe in a -c copy fashion so I haven't to recompress everything?

What I want to achieve is a full lenght video where the missing parts are skipped, I prefer a glitch rather than having my videos crash.

If parts of the file reside on physically bad sectors, or for whatever reason, the OS cannot serve the whole file to FFmpeg, then naturally FFmpeg can't do anything about that. You should get a utility which can ignore those portions and write the salvageable parts to a new file, like ddrescue.

Now, if the file protocol is not the cause of errors, you can try

ffmpeg -err_detect ignore_err -i video.mkv -c copy video_fixed.mkv


Batch processing individual frames into video I’m new at video editing… and hoping someone can direct me to the best software for my needs.

Running on windows OS. I need to build a video from frames in tga format, convert them in different formats like .mov or .avi and sometimes with different compressions types (none, animation, jpeg).

I also need to be able to set the frame rate and add an audio track.

The software I’m looking for should be able to batch process the jobs as I have many frames in different scenes/folders.

From the reading I’ve been doing I would say virtualdub is the way to go but would like to know what other alternatives are out there.

Hoping I can gain I little more insight here.

Thanks.

Here are some options:

VirtualDub can join still images to videos. Just select the first
image, choose a compression, and save the video. That's some mouse
clicks per folder, but no automatic batch procession.
FFmpeg can do the same, but you need to write a command line for
each folder, which can then be automatically batch processed.


I scaled down a video, but the bit rate does not change I have a 3000 by 3000 VR video encoded in H264. I scaled down the video by

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf scale=2160:2160 output.mp4

To my surprise, the bit rate of output.mp4 did not decrease (in fact, it increased a little bit).

Is not a scaled down video supposed to have lower bit rate than the original video? What is the mechanism of -vf scale=***?

The scale filter has no effect on the encoder's bitrate control.

Yes, a scaled down video should have a lower bitrate if it is encoded with the same encoder settings as the source. In your command, since no encoder parameters are explicitly set, ffmpeg defaults to encoder x264 with rate-control mode CRF with value 23. Apparently, this results in the same bitrate as the full-sized source. Set a higher value to reduce size.

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf scale=2160:2160 -crf 26 output.mp4


Why does FFMPEG fail when converting Intervalometer photos into a time lapse movie? I loaded CHDK firmware on my old Canon IXUS 980IS and took 796 images, each
weighing in at:

JPEG 4416x3312 4416x3312+0+0 8-bit sRGB 9.182MB 0.050u 0:00.049

So I want to convert 796 images into a movie. Each still could be a frame in a 24fps movie, so:

796 / 24 = 30 sec = half a minute video

FFMPEG fails with Killed

x264 [error]: malloc of size 83759040 failedime=00:00:00.-4 bitrate=N/A
Video encoding failed
Killed

Complete log

I guess the 4GB of RAM isn't enough memory. But why can't FFMPEG simply build the movie in a memory efficient manner?

Gstreamer fails

ERROR: from element /GstPipeline:pipeline0/GstDecodeBin:decodebin0: Your GStreamer installation is missing a plug-in.

Complete log

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

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

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


How to switch to camera view in After effects? I'm unable to rotate my camera because I don't know how to switch to camera view.

There's a camera drop-down at the bottom of the comp window. You can select the active camera there.

Pro Tip: Hitting the escape key will toggle between the two last used cameras.


How to make audio "internal editing" in a movie? I've just read an old blog post about "internal editing", a special kind of audio post processing of recorded interviews. It basically consists of removing the unnecessary interjections, like the "ums" and "ehs" that we normally say while speaking. It improves the rhythm of conversations, and make your interviewee look more intelligent.

If you just have audio, it is simple. You crop out the interjections. But if you have an interview recorded in somewhere with background noise, if you delete the interjections, there will be an weird silence. Deleting it, would unsync the audio and image.

Would someone give me some tips to remove just the voice using an audio editor? A step by step guide would be great.

Instead of deleting the offending bit, overwrite it with room tone, a section of nominal silence either recorded specifically for this purpose at the time of filming, or just taken from a nearby bit of silence.


After Effects expressions to sum numbers and control charts_2 Link to Original Post/Question > After Effects expressions to sum numbers and control charts.

The answer featured in the original post was nearly the solution I needed for my specific problem. My question is this: Is there a way that I could get, say, four numbers that change randomly and constantly, yet equal 100 at all times?

For example, I was wanting bars in a bar graph to animate along with polling numbers that are still in flux. Let me know if I need to explain more.

I have followed the example in the previous post and have written the following expressions for ease of use:

Layer 1 [Text]

Source Text Parameter

val1 = Math.round(thisLayer.effect("Slider Control")("Slider"));

val2 = Math.round(thisLayer.effect("Slider Control 2")("Slider"));

t = val1 + val2;
val1 + " + " + val2 + " = " + t

Layer 2 [Bar 1]

Scale Parameter

val1 = Math.round(thisComp.layer("Text").effect("Slider Control")("Slider"));

val2 = Math.round(thisComp.layer("Text").effect("Slider Control 2")("Slider"));

t = val1 + val2;
[ val1*100/t, 100 ]

Layer 3 [Bar 2]

Scale Parameter

val1 = Math.round(thisComp.layer("Text").effect("Slider Control")("Slider"));

val2 = Math.round(thisComp.layer("Text").effect("Slider Control 2")("Slider"));

t = val1 + val2;

[ val2*100/t, 100 ]

If you use random(50) for the first three numbers the average value of their sum will be 75. So you can simply make the last number 100 - (num1 + num2 + num3).
However there is a chance that the three numbers could add to more than 100—up to 150 in the edge case that random(50) gives the result 50 for each one, thus summing to 150. So you could make the third number random(Math.min(50, 100 - (num1 + num2))). This would mean that if the first two numbers added together were more than 50 it would limit the maximum value of the third number to equal or be less than enough to make the sum total 100. I'm not a statistician so I don't know if this would mathematically be perfectly random, but that usually doesn't matter for the purposes of motion graphics.
Which begs the question: why not just make all four numbers just random(50)? Over time the sum will tend towards exactly 100, it might just not add up to 100 at any one time.
But whatevs, the expression for scale would be:
Scale (bar1 )
r = random(100);
[ r, 100 ]

Scale (bar2 )
r = random(100 - thisComp.layer("bar1").transform.scale[0]);
[ r, 100 ]

Scale (bar3)
oneTwoTotal = thisComp.layer("bar1").transform.scale[0] + thisComp.layer("bar2").transform.scale[0];
r = random(Math.min(50, 100 - oneTwoTotal));
[r, 100]

Scale (bar4)
r = 100 - (thisComp.layer("bar1").transform.scale[0] + thisComp.layer("bar2").transform.scale[0]  + thisComp.layer("bar3").transform.scale[0] );
[r, 100]


What to do in order to avoid noises on records from DSLR for greenscreen? I am an amateur, but I would love to record myself at video and then cut the background, so I can paste myself on top of prepared slides.

Unfortunately each time I record a video there is a noise at this video.
Even it is more noisy after green background is cut.

I use DaVinci Resolver to cut green background by adding new layer and make delta keyer. I do same as they suggest in the video How to Turn Green Screen into Replacement Background | DaVinci Resolve 16 Tutorial.

I am recording myself with Nikon D5200 DSLr at automatic mode at 720 HD format.
I bought a green screen from the shop so it is kind of proper one I guess.
The light is not well at my room, but I try to do my best. So I took off lampshade from my lamp at the top (ceiling). And I set two small lamps on both sides of me. Or the other setup I did was one small lamp under me and one small lamp in front of me. This way I got 1250 ISO at automatic mode.

I tried also to set manually lower ISO, but then colours are ugly.

What should I do to record myself properly so after I can cut green screen behind me and paste myself at the top of slides. But I would like to be shown without such a noise. Can you recommend me something in my situation?

Well, the noise has little to do with the green screen, with the probable exception that you can now compare your image vs a clean background.

The only way to reduce the noise is by having more light.

Try to open the aperture to the max, you can or lowering your shutter speed, (But if you are making rapid moves this could have issues)

Making the ISO Higher will give you more noise, so, if you can not do the previous two options, you need to buy a stronger light. Fluorescent lamps are a decent option, they are not as expensive as led lights.

If the noise is on the background, you need either put more light on it or probably have a smoother background.

Do not use auto mode, learn how to set up manual mode, so the image does not change in brightness as you move.


Is it possible to have paragraph text as an After Effects template (in Premiere Pro)? I have a text layer in After Effects that I'm using as a text template for a Premiere Pro project. Is it possible to make the editable text multi-line, and if so, how would I go about this?

Just to sync our watches: Both point text and paragraph text have the potential to be either single or multiline.

If you create multi-line text using so-called point text like this (ie, single-click of the Text tool, w/ multiple lines created by hitting the return key) ...

..then Premiere will display the multiple lines like this:

On the other hand, if you create multi-line text using so-called paragraph text like this (ie, click-drag a rectanglar area with the Text tool, w/ multiple lines created by hitting return key or word-wrapping) ...

..then Premiere will display editable fields like this:

So basically Premiere will add additional editable text fields whenever it sees linebreak characters in your text, whether it's point text or paragraph text. Hopefully that helps!


Grouping multiple objects I'm using After Effects cc2017 and I am wondering if it is possible to group two or more objects in order to align them to the composition? I have two graphics I wish to center. You can do this in other Adobe software applications such as Illustrator by going to the object menu and selecting group**.**

Yes- you can connect objects together using something called parenting.
There’s a tutorial here

https://www.surfacedstudio.com/tutorials/adobe-effects-basics-tutorial-parenting

You could also pre-comp the objects together.

https://greyscalegorilla.com/tutorials/fun-with-precomping-in-after-effects/

Parenting is like one object controlling another (or one object controlling many other objects). Precomping is more like making a new video and placing your objects inside it (sometimes called nesting in video editors).


Is there a way to get the bitrate of a specific region of a video? I have some videos I recorded with my cell phone that I want to crop using Avisynth's crop().  I am using x264vfw with VirtualDub which asks for a target bitrate.  I usually just get the bitrate from the vid's properties in Windows Explorer and plug that value in for the target bitrate for the new encoded video, but, since I am cropping it, I don't want to use the full bitrate.  Ideally, I would be able to find out the bitrate of only the region I am wishing to crop.  After all, if the original video is 1920x1080 with a total bitrate of 30 mbps (30,000 kbps) and I want to crop it down to a 1080x1080 region, I don't want to use the bitrate of the full, uncropped video.

You can only estimate the bitrate as proportion of your crop. If you have 30,000 Kbps for 1920*1080 pixel, then for 1080*1080 pixel this would mean 16,875 Kbps. If there is more complexity inside the crop region than outside, I would even increase the target bitrate further.

However, if your videos are not that long and not intended for streaming I wouldn't invest too much thought into saving some disk space. The video quality will degrade anyway with the encoding process and a high bitrate will help you avoiding too much loss.


Moving image to back- and foreground over time I'm using Adobe After Effects. I have a composition with several layers. One layer consists of an image which is shown for around 20s. At time point 10s I would like to bring the image to the foreground (relative to the other layers) and at time point 15s I would like to move it again to the background.

How can I achieve this?

After Effects by default works in 2D, but you can change a layer so that it can be moved in 3D space.  The layer itself is still flat, but (like a postcard moving through space) it can be positioned using x,y and z coordinates where z is depth.

This tutorial explains it well:
https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/how-to/position-2d-layers-in-3d-space.html

You can also do full 3D work in After Effects, but I think this should cover your question.

Alternatively if you want to only work in 2D, sometimes I duplicate a layer, and have one layer at the bottom of my stack, and the duplicate layer at the top, so that when I need to change its apparent "depth", I make one layer invisible and make the other layer visible (by keyframing the Opacity property).


How can I find good quality discounted audio gear? I need to buy some basic accessories (XLR cables, mic stands and clips, etc) on a tight budget. I'd rather pay more for quality gear than buy something cheap that will break quickly, but a lot of times if you look hard enough you can find quality items that are discounted because they're overstock or last year's model, etc.

Does anyone have some recommendations on how to find local or online stores that sell discounted gear, or other creative ways to buy it without paying full retail price? For local stores, I'm specifically looking in Seattle, but some general tips would be good to help people in other cities as well.

I definitely want to buy cables new, but I don't mind buying mic stands used.

Nothing beats word of mouth. Ask other producers, technicians, and musicians in your area who you talk with (I presume you do some networking). Everyone likes a deal; see what your contacts do for theirs.

Here are a few approaches that I've had luck with:

Check classifieds, both on paper and online classifieds such as Craigslist. Look for organizations that are going out of business or upgrading their stock. Check the garage sale section, too. People occasionally clean out their home studios. Does your area have an auction site? I bought a nice synthesizer once from a site like that, through a local college that was upgrading their music program's equipment.
Look to see if there is a regular swap meet or flea market nearby. In my area, there is an audio swap meet every six months, plus a weekly general market. I've found decent used gear at both of these, and generally you can try it out.
Finally, search for pawn shops. Most cities have at least a few, and most of the ones I've seen tend to have a bit of musical equipment.
Look for "deal of the day" sites such as goingtoday.com or woot.com or Musicansfriend's Stupid Deal of the Day. You will probably have to wait a while before something you need shows up, but when it does, it's usually under retail price, and usually refurbished.

Very little of this applies specifically to audio equipment - variations on these basic ideas could work for finding TVs, cars, computers, whatever.


Using the ffmpeg hashframe muxer on encoded frames in real time I am trying to use the ffmpeg framehash muxer to hash frames as they are being recorded.
I've tried
ffmpeg -nostdin -hwaccel auto -fflags +igndts \
-f alsa \
  -ac 1 \
  -ar 44000 \
  -thread_queue_size 2048 \
  -i hw:2,1,0 \
  -acodec aac \
-f video4linux2 \
  -thread_queue_size 2048 \
  -i /dev/video0 \
  -vcodec libx264 \
  -preset ultrafast \
  -tune zerolatency \
  -s 1280x720 \
  -r 30 \
  -t 00:00:05 \
-f avi - \
| ffmpeg -nostdin -hwaccel auto \
-i - \
-f framehash out/out.md5 \
out/out.avi

The first ffmpeg command creates the streams (audio/video) and pipes to a second ffmpeg command in the avi format, which uses the framehash muxer then writes the avi file. The idea of using the piped command is that instead of the hashframe muxer using the rawvideo stream, it uses the encoded stream... That being said, hashframe seems to be using the rawvideo stream, and I can't get the mapping right.
I've tried -map 1:0 -map 1:1 \ before the framehash, because I saw this with a channel of mpeg4 and mp3.
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (h264 (native) -> rawvideo (native))
  Stream #0:1 -> #0:1 (mp3 (mp3float) -> pcm_s16le (native))
  Stream #0:0 -> #1:0 (h264 (native) -> mpeg4 (native))
  Stream #0:1 -> #1:1 (mp3 (mp3float) -> mp3 (libmp3lame))
Output #0, framehash, to 'out/out.md5':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : Lavf58.29.100
    Stream #0:0: Video: rawvideo (NV12 / 0x3231564E), nv12, 1280x720, q=2-31, 331776 kb/s, 30 fps, 30 tbn, 30 tbc
    Metadata:
      encoder         : Lavc58.54.100 rawvideo
    Stream #0:1: Audio: pcm_s16le, 16000 Hz, mono, s16, 256 kb/s
    Metadata:
      encoder         : Lavc58.54.100 pcm_s16le

Anyways, when I compare the output files, (by running ffmpeg -i out/out.avi -f framehash out/out1.md5 the hashes don't match. Any idea how I can fix this problem?
Thanks!!!

Framehash output from stream
Framehash output from file

Use the tee muxer.
ffmpeg -nostdin -hwaccel auto -fflags +igndts \
-f alsa \
  -ac 1 \
  -ar 44000 \
  -thread_queue_size 2048 \
  -i hw:2,1,0 \
-f video4linux2 \
  -thread_queue_size 2048 \
  -i /dev/video0 \
  -map 1 -map 0 \
  -vcodec libx264 \
  -preset ultrafast \
  -tune zerolatency \
  -s 1280x720 \
  -r 30 \
  -acodec aac \
  -t 00:00:05 \
-f tee "[f=framehash]out/out.md5|[f=avi]out/out.avi"


HDSLR Movie Making Flickering Problem I have used Canon 5D Mark III and C100 and both cameras give a footage where motion is slightly flickering especially under sunlight (My teacher doesn't agree but I always see DSLRs and other cameras with -equal quality or price- have this problem). Shortly: I don't like that picture. It grosses me out. It looks like it lack fps but I know it's not about fps (which is generally 25).

Do you agree with me ? I don't see this with the old movies that were shot with 35mm cameras. Even Super 16 or Super 8 footage have no such an issue. Is it about monitors or the camera itself. I wonder if you see this problem, too. (I also used Nikon D3300, Canon 650D, and other cheaper cameras like these) What is the reason ?

If you agree with me then I will suggest no camera under Canon C300 (supposedly) or Black Magic's expensive ones can give me a really fine, smooth, cinematic look.

There are a number of factors that could cause the effect you've described. It's unclear which you're talking about specifically, but here are the possible problems and their possible solutions:

Interlacing - Video filmed for broadcast is split into 2 interlaced fields. For NTSC, this means that instead of ~30 full frames per second, a camera will first film even lines for ~1/60th of a second, then the odd lines for ~1/60th of a second. Or for PAL, instead of 25 full frames, they'll do even lines for 1/50th of a second, then odd lines for 1/50th of a second. The solution to this problem is to shoot progressive (full) frames.
Rolling Shutter - DSLRs, cell phones, and other types of cameras use a CMOS sensor which scans the field of view from the upper left of the sensor horizontally, going down to the next row of sensor sites until it reaches the bottom left and starts over. This can cause artifacts when objects in the scene move faster than the scanning happens. (Or when the camera is moving.) The solution is to use a camera with a different type of sensor, such as a CCD sensor, or to apply a post process to fix the rolling shutter problem. Most video editing applications have a filter of some sort to correct this.
Shutter angle - When shooting video, you can tell the camera how long you want the shutter to be open for each frame. If you're filming at 25 frames per second, then it can be opened as long as 1/25th of a second. But you can reduce it to, for example, 1/50th of a second while still only shooting 25 frames per second. This may be expressed as either a time value (such as 1/50th of a second) or as an angle, where 360° is the full frame time, 180° is half the frame time, etc.

It's hard to tell from your description which problem you might be encountering, but you can try making changes for each. Canon cameras will allow you to film in either interlaced or progressive modes by simply changing a setting. Likewise with shutter angle. Fixing rolling shutter requires either a different camera or applying a post-process.

The Canon C300 has a CMOS sensor just like the 5D and the C100, so it's probably not the rolling-shutter issue.


How to double every frame (and the length of the video itself) in an mp4 video (timelapse)? The video has length of t and is 30fps. I want it to have a length of 2*t.
I just want each frame to be shown a little longer. According to VLC the codec is H264-MPEG4 AVC.
Is there some simple command with ffmpeg?

setpts filter can be used to retime frames. Basic usage is

ffmpeg -i in -vf setpts=PTS*2 out.mp4

PTS*2 sets output timestamp of each frame to 2x its input value.


Are the properties (bitrate, fps) of my h.264 video OK for the web? I'm converting a Flash vector animation to an mp4 video for the web. After trying and failing with Swiffy, it's the only way I have of preserving the work "for posterity", once Flash is gone.

When exporting a FLA to MOV, the frame rate changes. For example, an 18 fps FLA comes out as 9.6 fps in the MOV (according to the QT player properties).

Because the animation is jittery, I used Handbrake to export the MOVs as h.264, with framerates of 24, 30 and 60. They look smoother. (I was surprised the time-length of the video doesn't change, I thought at higher framerates it'd speed up).

Anyway, an mp4 produced like this has the following properties (according to the QT player):

Format: H.264, 550 x 250, millions, AAC, Mono, 48 kHz

FPS: 24.00
File size: 7.41 MB
Data rate: 202.25 kbit/sec
Length: 00:05:07.09

My newbie question is: can anyway tell me, at a glance, whether those properties are within the normal range for a video that is meant to be served from a dedicated web server or CDN?

Sure - it seems ok. However, it is also a good idea to offer other types of video for browsers that do not support mp4 / h264. The usual best practice involves supplying mp4, webm and ogg as containers. This site is a good reference.

A back of the napkin calculation:

1000 viewers / month @ 7.4 MB = 7.4 GB / Month.

Which is probably within the acceptable range for a generic server, just make sure the traffic allowed by your server provider can deal with it...

Assuming your server has a gigabit uplink (which is generally a bit more expensive), you could "theoretically" serve this video to 5000 users concurrently, however this won't work with normal apache servers - and it is probably a good idea to host the media files at amazon AWS (or whatever) if you are expecting that kind of traffic.


What is the name of this type of transition? What is the name of this type of transition in this video? How can I recreate it in Sony Vegas or other video software?

Found this double linear wipe as "Barn doors" transition in Sony Vegas video editor.


Cleaning matte - remove areas smaller than x pixels? I have created a plate through the "difference matte" process - but I have a bunch of area's that show small white speckles on a black background. Is there an automated way to remove those small white dots?

I think adding a matte choker should do what you need. You can expand the matte using this effect.


I'm trying to add guitar tabs to a music video, do you know any software to do it? The question is how can I add guitar tabs to my video? Software?
I am recording a guitar performance and would like to add the guitar tabs for the students to follow.  I watched a Japanese video with a bottom part showing  a movie of how the fingers are placed. Please see below link.

Try to break your task into elementary blocks. If you can't solve the problem, break it into even smaller blocks.

Tabs? If which format? Maybe in form of MIDI files? Or even text on papers? Or in some form of txt files? It is a very important question. In some cases you must convert your tabs from one format to another.

What do you want add to the video? You can add only sequences of images or sounds, not "guitar tabs". You need draw some images first. For example, images with the fretboard and white circles on it.

If I had such a task, I would first convert the tabs into a form convenient for me. Then I would write a simple program that would draw pictures. This can be a C program, a Python script, or a script for 3ds max. Then I can use ffmpeg to assemble such images. And, as final task, I will use some software like Premiere or Final Cut to compose and sync my images with video.


Is there a way to burn video on dvd and set "expire time" of it to be watched? I'd like to ask if there is an possibility to make a dvd-disk that would read from dvd-player clock and compare it to "expiry" data on dvd disk itself.

If the date is after "expiry" date then dvd wouldn't show its content.

I'm aware that someone could just change dvd-player time, but I would like to do it another way.

No there isn't - DVD authoring does not include 'expiry' option.


Editing a movie from DVD in Sony Vegas? I often have a movie (commercial, encrypted DVD) which I would like to import into Sony Vegas for further editing. The goal is to make my own private "Director's Cut", mixing the movie with some other movie snippets from different source ("Making Of" from different DVD).

My usual workflow: I decypt the DVD with DVD Decrypter. Then I got a couple of decrypted VOB files and a few other files. If I open the VOB files with Sony Vegas 8.0, this approach usually works fine, I can just open the VOB file and have the movie on the timeline and can edit it, then re-render to my liking.

However, there are two problems with this approach:

1.) Sometimes, even though I open the VOB files in the right order, the movie parts from some of the VOB files are truncated down to a few seconds in the timeline.

2.) With Vegas 11.0, this approach does not seem to work at all: I can't even see the decrypted VOB files when I do File --> Open and the navigate to the directory with the decrypted VOB files in it.

How can I alleviate this? Is there a better approach? I wonder if if I could go via some lossless AVI intermediate that's easier to import into Vegas? I searched the net, but one problem is that there is a lot of outdated tutorials out there for this specific problem. Would really appreciate some help/ideas.

Software and versions I'm using:
DVD Decrypter 3.5.4.0
Sony Vegas 8.0
Sony Vegas 11.0
Windows 7

You should use Handbrake. If you rip the DVD using Handbrake, you will get a single file, which you can then import into Vegas.


How to create a shredded photo in Adobe Premiere Pro or After Effects? I need to create an effect that would tear the photo into small pieces. These pieces should then fly in all directions. How can I do this as effectively as possible in Adobe Premiere Pro or Adobe After Effects?
I tried to manually divide the photo into many layers in Adobe Photoshop. Then save the individual layers as separate files. Then, in Premiere Pro, put them together to create a complete photo and make a each piece of photo to fly away to different direction.
It's very time consuming... Is there a better way to do this?
Thank you for your advice!

I would do this physically.  Print the images out, tear them up, scan the teared sections. Then introduce the teared sections using key-framed masks with the original sections. I can't think of a way of doing this that wouldn't be time-consuming...


ffmpeg fade in from center (with scale image) I'm trying to apply the effect fade in and zoom/scale image for X seconds. I don't have problems with fade in but how to achieve effect to scale image during X seconds when the first frame is no image and then is zoom in on that image? I think that gif says more than my description.

I thought that upscale video 2x and image 2x and then zoom in will do it but the effect wan not as above in my gif.

Here is my command to fade in image:

ffmpeg -i file.mp4 -loop 1 -i image.jpg -t 5 -filter_complex "[1:v]format=rgba,fade=t=in:d=5:alpha=true:st=0[im];[0:v][im] overlay=x=10:y=10:enable='between(t,0,5)'" out.mp4

Use

ffmpeg -i file.mp4 -i image.jpg -filter_complex "[1:v]pad=iw*2:ih*2:(ow-iw)/2:(oh-ih)/2:c=black@0,zoompan='1+on/125':x='(iw-iw/zoom)/2':y='(ih-ih/zoom)/2':d=125:s=WxH,format=gbrap,fade=t=in:d=5:alpha=true:st=0[im];[0:v][im] overlay=x=10:y=10:enable='between(t,0,5)'" out.mp4

The image is padded to double width and height with the padding colour being transparent black. Then zoompan is used to zoom in over 125 frames (5 seconds). This result is overlaid on the video.

You have to replace W and H in the zoompan filter with the dimensions of your image.


What is the difference between AVCHD and ProRes in terms of quality? Depending on the project and the camera of course I often have to work with ProRes or AVCHD codecs without any thoughts. I assume that the code and the compression algorithm certainly is very different. Therefore I would like to know what is the difference between AVCHD and ProRes in terms of quality for a solid workflow?

You focus on quality in your question, so the answer is clear: ProRes (in various flavors) offers superior quality. There are other reasons you might choose AVCHD, but they don't relate to quality.

AVCHD is generally speaking a distribution format, while ProRes is more an acquisition and intermediate format (it uses all I-frames). ProRes also comes in a 4:2:2 /10 bit flavor, where AVCHD is 4:2:0 / 8 bit.


ffprobe/ffplay/ffmpeg command for checking audio/video sync I'm working on a script that live streams 3 hours of video to several servers. Is there a command (or tool... maybe using something else like wireshark?) that I could run on each of the streams to automate a check for glaring audio/video sync issues?

If so, at least please point me to the relevant reading materials/documentation. Thanks in advance!

This tool is impossible. Almost.

To check sync of audio/video, you need something what appeared in both streams, what can be used as sync points. In old days used Clapperboard during film shooting. In television there was hidden timecode at border of frame, in zone of overscan which not displayed on TV

If you writing professional software, include timecodes to both streams. If not, just stream your video and audio in a single container, it enough.


FFmpeg merge image with video looses quality 0
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I am merging an image with a video, my command looks like this:

ffmpeg -i background.mpg -i Menu.png -filter_complex "[0:v][1:v] overlay=25:25:enable='between(t,0,30)'" -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:a copy merge1.mpg

That works, but something strange happens.

If I run that merged video it continuously looses quality at each second, at the first few seconds the quality is ok but later on it looses quality(the resolution becomes worse).

Any ideas of how this is happening and maybe solutions?

Edit:

I specified a bitrate like Mulvya suggest me to do:

Command looks like this now:

ffmpeg -i background.mpg -i Menu.png -filter_complex "[0:v][1:v] overlay=25:25:enable='between(t,0,30)'" -pix_fmt yuv420p -b:v 2000k -c:a copy merge1.mpg

Console ouput:

ffmpeg version 2.8.4 Copyright (c) 2000-2015 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 5.2.0 (GCC)
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --disable-w32threads --enable-avisynth --enable-bzlib --enable-fontconfig --enable-frei0r --enable-gnutls --enable-iconv --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libdcadec --enable-libfr
eetype --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libilbc --enable-libmodplug --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-librtmp --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enab
le-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvo-aacenc --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxavs --enable-libxvid --enable-lzma --enable-decklink
--enable-zlib
  libavutil      54. 31.100 / 54. 31.100
  libavcodec     56. 60.100 / 56. 60.100
  libavformat    56. 40.101 / 56. 40.101
  libavdevice    56.  4.100 / 56.  4.100
  libavfilter     5. 40.101 /  5. 40.101
  libswscale      3.  1.101 /  3.  1.101
  libswresample   1.  2.101 /  1.  2.101
  libpostproc    53.  3.100 / 53.  3.100
Input #0, mpeg, from 'C:\xampp\htdocs\myApp\storage\generator\projects\dvdrom\Ged\Menus\background.mpg':
  Duration: 00:00:30.00, start: 0.540000, bitrate: 1792 kb/s
    Stream #0:0[0x1e0]: Video: mpeg2video (Main), yuv420p(tv), 720x576 [SAR 64:45 DAR 16:9], max. 1800 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 90k tbn, 50 tbc
Input #1, png_pipe, from 'C:\xampp\htdocs\myApp\storage\generator\projects\dvdrom\Ged\Menus\imageSel.png':
  Duration: N/A, bitrate: N/A
    Stream #1:0: Video: png, rgba(pc), 720x480 [SAR 2835:2835 DAR 3:2], 25 tbr, 25 tbn, 25 tbc
File 'C:\xampp\htdocs\myApp\storage\generator\projects\dvdrom\Ged\Menus\image1.mpg' already exists. Overwrite ? [y/N] y
[mpeg @ 04dca7e0] VBV buffer size not set, using default size of 130KB
If you want the mpeg file to be compliant to some specification
Like DVD, VCD or others, make sure you set the correct buffer size
Output #0, mpeg, to 'C:\xampp\htdocs\myApp\storage\generator\projects\dvdrom\Ged\Menus\image1.mpg':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : Lavf56.40.101
    Stream #0:0: Video: mpeg1video, yuv420p, 720x576 [SAR 64:45 DAR 16:9], q=2-31, 2000 kb/s, 25 fps, 90k tbn, 25 tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      encoder         : Lavc56.60.100 mpeg1video
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 (mpeg2video) -> overlay:main
  Stream #1:0 (png) -> overlay:overlay
  overlay -> Stream #0:0 (mpeg1video)
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
frame=  750 fps=443 q=2.0 Lsize=    5650kB time=00:00:29.96 bitrate=1544.9kbits/s
video:5624kB audio:0kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 0.468742%

Looks like you're aiming for DVD-spec output. By default, FFmpeg encodes to MPEG-1 video into a MPEG-1 program stream, when the output extension is .mpg. You can force MPEG-2 DVD by specifying -f dvd. And for a standard like PAL, set -target pal-dvd

Try

ffmpeg -i background.mpg -i Menu.png -filter_complex "[0:v][1:v] overlay=25:25:enable='between(t,0,30)'" -pix_fmt yuv420p -target pal-dvd -f dvd merge1.mpg


ffmpeg. Converting through rawbitstream results to noise I tried consequentially commands below. On output I'm getting video with a mess (even.mp4).

ffmpeg -i in.MOV -an -vcodec rawvideo -pix_fmt yuv420p rawbitstream.yuv

ffmpeg -r 2 -s 640x480 -i rawbitstream.yuv -vf select="not(mod(n-1\,2))" -c:v rawvideo -r 1 -format rawvideo -pix_fmt yuv420p -an even.yuv

ffmpeg -f rawvideo -vcodec rawvideo -s 640x480 -r 25 -pix_fmt yuv420p -i even.yuv -c:v libx264 -preset ultrafast -qp 0 even.mp4

Here is full log.
Video files are here.

Use

ffmpeg -i in.MOV -an -vcodec rawvideo -pix_fmt yuv420p rawbitstream.yuv

ffmpeg -s 640x480 -i rawbitstream.yuv -vf select="not(mod(n+1\,2))" -c:v rawvideo -vsync 0 -an even.yuv

ffmpeg -f rawvideo -s 640x480 -pix_fmt yuv420p -i even.yuv -c:v libx264 -preset ultrafast -profile:v high -qp 1 even.mp4


Convolution matrix for converting 1080i to DVD? It's pretty common to shoot in HD but deliver on DVD. This requires a reduction in resolution from 1920x1080 to 720x480 (for NTSC).  If you just interpolate and throw away pixels, you get bad aliasing artifacts such as shimmering lines.  The right way to do it is to first apply a low-pass filter, then get rid of the extra pixels.

Most of the popular video editing suites (Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, etc.) will convert the resolution but they don't do the low-pass filter step.  You have to do it yourself.  Many people approximate it with a Gaussian blur filter, but that is pretty crude, hard to control and can easily lead to loss of detail.

A better approach would be to apply a 3x3 convolution filter, with the parameters precisely tuned to the specifics of this conversion.  Someone skilled in DSP theory should be able to derive the optimal convolution matrix once and for all so we can all use it.  I'm hoping someone can do so in answer to this question.

Really nice question, common problem.
After Effects, Autodesk Combustion and Autodesk Smoke can bring you a software downconversion(1920x1080 -> 720x480) with more quality than Final Cut Pro or Premiere Pro. Smoke can make it near perfectly.

You can use (buy/rent) hardware downconverters, like AJA Kona 3, or Blackmagic clones. Better results goes with AJA.

There are even more expensive/professionals solutions like Sonic and others which will make the MPEG-2 compression directly in hardware too.

If  you don't get your matrix filter from someone (not me, I'm not skilled for this kind of mission), best approach will be small tests with software and settings, tests, tests, tests, and then setup the workflow to not change forever!

Good Luck!


Wireless focus for the Ronin-M I've recently purchased a Ronin-M and have been shooting a good bit of run-n-gun projects with it. But the biggest limitation I've found with it is focusing, so I've started looking around for wireless focus systems, but the best deal that I can find is more than the gimbal itself (the RedRock MicroRemote). Does anyone know of any (-$1000) system for one-man focusing on a small gimbal?

Depends on the type of mount your camera has. This is a good solution for the A7S or A7R and was recently shown at NAB: The Aputure DEC. They also have one for MFT.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?ci=23192&N=3989452947&mnp=0&mxp=1000

And this should be available soon!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1608311032/lenzhound-wireless-lens-motor-control-system/


What HD projectors have a 80" screen at about 13 feet? We are trying to replace an older Optima projector, but we'd like to upgrade to something that can be used to show higher resolution, has more lumens, a longer lamp life, but will still work with our audio equipment.  We bought something and had to return it, because we couldn't get the display small enough in our room.

The wall area we have to use is 43" high, 70" wide, so about an 80" diagonal.  The projector itself is set at 12" 7" (152") away.  To get it any closer, we'd have to have it hanging above our heads.  And the room is designed with the ceiling angling down, so ceiling mount is out.

The audio equipment has ordinary analog input.  We have a blu-ray player (not yet used) with HDMI and digital audio output.  Ideally, the projector would have plugs for RCA phono-jacks.  In other words, we have a nice library with a wall, nice old speakers, and would like to upgrade so we can watch blu-ray without replacing everything and perhaps also having to move to a completely different space.

You need to look for the lens throw ratio. That number will tell you how big the size of the image is going to be. Also many projectors have zoom capabilities.
A lens with a 2.0 throw ratio means that for every unit you go away from the projecting surface, the size of the image will grow 2 times (simplest example, you won't find that specific throw distance). So 152"/ 70" gives you a throw ratio of around 2.17.


Issue Importing CineForm to Premiere CS6 I installed the GoPro CineForm codec recently and used VDub to create a CineForm AVI file. Works fine in MPCHC, VDub, etc.
It won't import into Premiere Pro CS6 though. I get an error about an unsupported or damaged file.
When exporting, "CineForm AVI" and "CineForm MOV" are both options, and I can export timelines as CineForm AVI that, again, works fine in MPCHC and VDub but won't import into Premiere.
For a while I was getting this error when opening AME, but it stopped after a reboot:

Monitor: PProHeadless.exe - System Error

The program can't start because CFHDDecoder64.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem.

OK

I'm still getting this error when I open After Effects:

After Effects warning: The following plugins have failed to load.  Please reinstall these plugins:
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Common\Plug-ins\CS6\MediaCore\CineForm\CFHD_AVI_Importer.prm
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Common\Plug-ins\CS6\MediaCore\CineForm\CFHD_MOV_Importer.prm

OK

Just browsing around C:/, and stumbled across CFHDDecoder.dll and CFHDDecoder64.dll in C:/Program Files (x86)/CineForm/Tools. Copied them to C:/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Premiere Pro CS6, and the file now imports successfully.


Android apk for (nearly) professional video edit Is there any better aplication for nearly professional video edit than PowerDirector Video Editor ?
I've tried many, also Premiere which I'm also using on my desktop, but nothing was that profesional that above mentioned app. I need quality output rather than fancy effects.

Thank you :)

Is it the Adobe Premiere Clip apk you said you used, or is it Premiere on desktop?

For professional video edits it is recommended you use the desktop as most of the Video Editing apps come with tons of effects,fancy items for quick, easy use. I personally would recommend to try out Quik Video Editor over below mentioned Video Editors,when it comes to Android.

Quik Video Editor features:

Free
Photos and Videos limit - 75
Carefully designed Video transitions and graphics
Beat sync transitions
Output quality ( 1080p/720p)
Video styles (Raw/stylish )

The other Apps that you can use (Not recommended - but you can try)
FilmoraGo Video Editor
Viva Video editor
Kine Master
Magisto Video Editor & Maker (Second suggestion)
Adobe Premiere Clip

All of the aforementioned apps offer basic video-editing features. Some excel at social media integration, some are clearly designed to be a desktop replacement. Which one works best for you will depend on your needs which is "Professional video edit and quality output".

The best thing is that all of the apps mentioned are either completely free or offer a free version. Give them a try and see which is the best fit for you.

For a fact: "Since some apps are clearly designed to be a desktop replacement,we cannot expect desktop quality professional edits,outputs (codecs,fps) from the apps which come for the mobile devices"


How to add a scoreboard to a pre-recorded video file I have a pre-recorded video file of a sport game and I need to add a scoreboard on top of it. Imagine a basketball game where the score is changing dynamically and quite often so there are a lot of modifications that must be done on the scoreboard.

I'm trying to find a painless way to do it as using something like Adobe Premiere, for example, would require a creation of a separate title/label for each change in the score board and then a lot of back and forth deleting and adding new titles on the sequence line. It's doable but it takes a lot of time and I'd rather have a tool that would allow me to do it in real time while watching the video. Any suggestions?

Have you ever heard the expression: 'Good, fast and cheap. Pick any two.'?

A good and fast way would be to hire a professional post-production studio capable of layering over the video a scorebdoard graphic, and layering over the graphic a character-generator input. You sit in the chair behind the editor and tell him what scores to input and when. The new edit master would have your scores popping on in sync with the action. This will not be cheap, but you didn't say that you want 'cheap.'

You could also use a programming environment like Flash to layer-on the scoreboard and add sequential cue-points to the video. Then you'd write some code that would insert the proper score at the proper points.

This is, potentially, cheap and good. But you'll need to get some programming skills and that won't be fast.

I think that a better idea would be to realize that good video work, like all good craft, is NOT painless. Just do the work. And, by the way, Adobe After Effects would make this job almost fun.


Best practice for recording video calls I’m a video producer isolated because of Covid19. I’m going to be spending a tonne of time recording guests over video calls.

So far I’ve been asking them to record audio locally, recording the google hangout, then resyncing the audio with Pluraleyes or manually, which is pretty time consuming.

Assuming that most of the people I’m recording are fairly non technical, are there any other better methods for getting the best out of a recorded video conference?

Are any of the machine learning frame rate and resolution enhancing services giving good results? Is there anything better than Pluraleyes for resyncing audio? I’m on a Mac with the adobe suite.

If you can use Zoom, it has a pretty good recording feature which can record separate audio files for each participant in addition to the video in gallery view.  Obviously, already synced.

As far as quality, Zoom does have a video optimization option that improves the resolution at least.