Editing ProRes

[bluap84]

I was playing around with slow mo last night within FCP. I was editing footage from my GOPro shot @ 720p 60fps.

i followed this link to convert the files. I used the proress codec it suggested. Should i be using any of the others? ProRes 422maybe? When converting the files i left the settings as they were, but they were exported @ 50fps. Should i of put 60fps where it says frame rate? Are those settings correct?

Anyways...when it came to editing, and dropping the speed of a clip down to say 25% it became abit jumpy. So i went to the sequence settings and then realised i wasnt using the correct preset, so i changed the preset to involve 60fps. the re-edit was abit smoother but still jumpy, is this simply because its footage from the gopro or is it me? Is there a sweet spot % to get the best slow mo? I would imagine bringing it down to something like 25% it would of needed to be shot in a higher fps?

Should the settings when changing speed be different? Should it say 200% as its double the frame rate? Or is that % simply just speed of film?

if someone understands where im coming from, and can shed some light in editing with 60fps...that would be very much appericated.

 

[ZballZ]

Well, first, you dont shoot anything slo-mo. You shoot at a certain FPS. If you shoot something 60 fps, like you did, but open a sequence in FCP at also 60 fps. there is no difference, thus same speed, no slow motion!

Standard video-fps-settings varies from 24 (film) to 25 (pal) to 30 (ntsc), or 29.97 to be exact, but nevermind this...

So if you set you 60 fps material to play back at 25%, you get 15 only fps. This is no good! This will not give you smooth playback.

1) First. Decide what you END result is? Is it a PAL or NTSC-project?

2) Use Cinema-tools to conform your material to match that framerate.

3) Simply import this into FCP, and playing back at regular speed should give you a 50% slowdown at ntsc and a little more in pal...

 

[hsilver]

I think if you shot at 60i you shot NTSC. and you should keep that rate in ProRes. You can probably get away with ProRes LT for 720 footage with no loss of quality. If you want to edit a PAL project then you will need to convert frame rate, perhaps using CinemaTools which I am not familar with, possibly Compressor.

 

[bluap84]

Well, first, you dont shoot anything slo-mo. You shoot at a certain FPS. If you shoot something 60 fps, like you did, but open a sequence in FCP at also 60 fps. there is no difference, thus same speed, no slow motion!

Standard video-fps-settings varies from 24 (film) to 25 (pal) to 30 (ntsc), or 29.97 to be exact, but nevermind this...

So if you set you 60 fps material to play back at 25%, you get 15 only fps. This is no good! This will not give you smooth playback.

1) First. Decide what you END result is? Is it a PAL or NTSC-project?

2) Use Cinema-tools to conform your material to match that framerate.

3) Simply import this into FCP, and playing back at regular speed should give you a 50% slowdown at ntsc and a little more in pal...

thanks ill give cinema tools a go when i get home - never used it before but i think i found a good tutorial...do you suggest a sweet spot % for slow mo? What would be the lowest % to go to before it got jumpy?

 

[laurim]

thanks ill give cinema tools a go when i get home - never used it before but i think i found a good tutorial...do you suggest a sweet spot % for slow mo? What would be the lowest % to go to before it got jumpy?

I use Motion more than Final Cut. When I have had to significantly slow down a clip (I usually get 30ish fps clips), I've had some luck smoothing motion out by adding Optical Flow frame blending. Basically, it attempts to add in frames that fill in the difference between one frame to the next in the original clip. It significantly increases your render times but it's something to try when the other suggestions don't work.

 

[bluap84]

I use Motion more than Final Cut. When I have had to significantly slow down a clip (I usually get 30ish fps clips), I've had some luck smoothing motion out by adding Optical Flow frame blending. Basically, it attempts to add in frames that fill in the difference between one frame to the next in the original clip. It significantly increases your render times but it's something to try when the other suggestions don't work.

could this be done the same with after effects?

lol so it can http://www.cinema5d.com/videolog/?p=4103

 

[gameface]

thanks ill give cinema tools a go when i get home - never used it before but i think i found a good tutorial...do you suggest a sweet spot % for slow mo? What would be the lowest % to go to before it got jumpy?

With cinema tools, conform, you aren't "slowing" it down by any percentage really. It is just telling the file to be played at 24fps instead of 60 which is 2.5 times slower. Slowing the clip down in FCP will not give you smooth playback (you will in Premiere though).

Watch these 2 videos I made for someone showing exactly the difference between conforming to 24p or slowing it down with a time remap x 2.5 times (in FCP).

http://vimeo.com/20354939
http://vimeo.com/20373648

 

[gameface]

could this be done the same with after effects?

lol so it can http://www.cinema5d.com/videolog/?p=4103

If you want better results for major time remapping you want Twixtor.

 

[bluap84]

If you want better results for major time remapping you want Twixtor.

i actually emailed brain farm, and Eric replied with info on Twixtor so i have been using that. Seems easier enough and found a nice tutorial on creative cow. so been giving that a go

but will look at all other aspects, my cinema tools wouldnt open last night so went through after effects, couldnt really get it...then emailed BF and go on twixtor plugin for FCP seems to work well.

This is a little test i done, although it seems jumpy i think thats because the gopro was hand held...oops

 

[gameface]

i actually emailed brain farm, and Eric replied....

Good ol' Hansen. He is my go-to tech guy even though we live 2400 miles away.

 

[bluap84]

Good ol' Hansen. He is my go-to tech guy even though we live 2400 miles away.

haha even though it was a simple bit of info i required. I was so happy he replied, he CC'd Lauren too not sure who she is though lol.

But yea its great when a company like that is more than happy to reply to a random email from a fan asking for help...some companies just ignore ya

kudos to brain farm

 

[gameface]

haha even though it was a simple bit of info i required. I was so happy he replied, he CC'd Lauren too not sure who she is though lol.

But yea its great when a company like that is more than happy to reply to a random email from a fan asking for help...some companies just ignore ya

kudos to brain farm

Not to take anything away from BF, but I think it is more Eric's personality, general love for video tech and willingness to teach someone that was the factor. I can't tell you how many times I skyped him a simple question and he ends up calling me back and talking for 20 minutes because he has such depth of knowledge and wants you to understand it.

http://erichansen.tv/ His current recommendations helped me so much building my home edit suite.

 

[bluap84]

Not to take anything away from BF, but I think it is more Eric's personality, general love for video tech and willingness to teach someone that was the factor. I can't tell you how many times I skyped him a simple question and he ends up calling me back and talking for 20 minutes because he has such depth of knowledge and wants you to understand it.

http://erichansen.tv/ His current recommendations helped me so much building my home edit suite.

well its great to have people like that in these type of industries. As people can pick up a camera or video camera and want to learn from the experts. People like Eric make that learning possible.

Similar to Chase Jarvis i feel, i think he is equally awesome always giving out infomation and tips i have learnt alot from that guy.

More Kudos to Eric and BF - would love to work for them. Even if it was to meet the legend that is Travis Rice

i have signed up to his blog, and whacked in my GReader. Could you ask him, what the best firewire external drive would be for myself? I dont want to keep bombarding him with emails, and as you got a personal relationship with him..might be easier, i was looking at the 2TB GRAID but that only supports RAID0 and Eric suggests going for RAID1 which is alot more understandable

 

[gameface]

I already know what he would suggest if you wanted to go with RAID1 for data protection. http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/usb/raid_1/Gmax

Know that RAID0 is fastest but if one drive fails, you lose everything. RAID1 is safe but you see none of the speed advantages you do in a RAID0. I personally use RAID5 because it is the best mix of speed and security for my tastes, but you need more drives to go RAID5.

 

[bluap84]

I already know what he would suggest if you wanted to go with RAID1 for data protection. http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/usb/raid_1/Gmax

Know that RAID0 is fastest but if one drive fails, you lose everything. RAID1 is safe but you see none of the speed advantages you do in a RAID0. I personally use RAID5 because it is the best mix of speed and security for my tastes, but you need more drives to go RAID5.

LOL something that i can get in the uk ?

 

[gameface]

LOL something that i can get in the uk ?

http://www.thebookyard.com/product.php?products_id=5002

 

[bluap84]

http://www.thebookyard.com/product.php?products_id=5002

thanks dude...what if i was to get RAID0 set up..i have a computer in my garage with lots of space. To counter act the issue of losing data, i was to back up that drive each month, or after a project ended.

that way i get backed up but keep the speed with RAID0 ?

 

[gameface]

thanks dude...what if i was to get RAID0 set up..i have a computer in my garage with lots of space. To counter act the issue of losing data, i was to back up that drive each month, or after a project ended.

that way i get backed up but keep the speed with RAID0 ?

That would work but really there is no need for a RAID0 if you are going over firewire. You aren't going to see big gains. If you were going eSata I would say go for it. If you're just going to back up to another computer anyway I would just go with a single disk. Now you can get twice the storage space for the same money.

But I personally would back up more often than once a month. My system backs up every hour but I am running a business and can't afford to lose anything at all.

 

[bluap84]

Ah I see. This is for personal use however you never know what the furred holds ai.

I'm on the gtech site, the graid says it supports prores where as the gdrive doesn't what does that mean exactly?

I like the idea of the extra apace for the same money. SO I think I'll hither option! Thanks for your help on this dude much appreciated

 

[gameface]

I'm on the gtech site, the graid says it supports prores where as the gdrive doesn't what does that mean exactly?

It says the Graid supports "multistream" prores. This is for a multiple camera shoot that the clips are multiclipped together so you can watch 2 or more angles simultaneously.. If you are not dealing with this, don't worry about it. The single drive won't work as well as the raid because the raid can access both disks independently and increase the speed but if you are going this route you'd be running it eSata anyway.

Multiclip:

 

[bluap84]

got ya! gdrive it is...thanks dude

 

[Gymnut]

Different camera but had varying degrees of success using Motion's Optical Flow and conforming in Cinema Tools:

http://www.crumplepop.com/blog/?p=85

 

[gameface]

Yes, even Twixtor would probably fall apart on the treads. That was tough footage to fake a high frame-rate.