STUMP the video edtior --- PART 3 ---- (mini contest)
 

Well Its that time again! I woke up sick this morning, so I won't be going to the gym and all my machines are currently rendering, so I decided to have another go at my STUMP THE VIDEO EDITOR thread.


Rules are simple, you ask me any question related to video, video editing, special effects (and maybe even a little bit of sound). If you can stump me, well then you'll have bragging rights for life about stumping one of the most confident guys out there :thumbsup haha, and I can offer a free trailer, animated logo, cool banner or whatever tickles your fancy.

The purpose of this thread isn't to be a blowhard, its to kill time as and its too help out those that have hit a brick wall in their productions or that just want to pick my brain. I am not stating that I know EVERYTHING (yes I am stumpable), but I do know quite alot.

My ONLY condition is that you don't ask me where such and such Option can be found in your program. Any RTFM questions (Read The Fucking Manual) will be replied to as RTFM.



For those that don't know me, I've been in the film and tv world for almost over 5 years now, I'm still quite young but I have a very impressive portofolio. I've been doing adult now since september '05 and I'd like to think I've made my impression on the adult community by now.

Here is a small sampling of my work :

- My attempt at making the Milton twins look good
- One of many trailer styles I did for Oyeloca.com (all trailers on there were done by me)
- An HD trailer for Emily Doll


Animations :

You can have a look here to see a few of them

Not trying to stump you with this one, but what is your ideal workstation setup? Hardware and software.

Well, here we go with the endless debate :winkwink:

Personnally I'm a PC guy... I've never liked MACs much. Don't ask me why, I just don't hehe.


As far as a physical setup, well, for adult based editing (straight to web video) I like my machines to be power hungry bitches. Meaning : lots of CPU power, lots of RAM and LOOOOOOTS of Harddrive space. For my HD content I run it on a Dual core 3.6 ghz PC with 4 gb of RAM and everything works fine. I also like to have dual monitors (screen real estate is pricess when video editing) and have my comp hooked up to my TV right above my setup to view my stuff in a larger format (and to hear what it sounds like from a different source)

The lowest specs for an editing station I would recommend would be a 1.8ish ghz with 512 mb RAM. Its what I first started out on. Its slow as a bitch, but gets the job done. Anything slower than that and render times will usually be too long to be worth the trouble.

As for video cards, well, depends on what you want to do. If you want to capture from multiple sources (firewire, analog, S-Video and all that jazz), then you might want to consider getting an ATI All In Wonder. If you want to have a huge, accurate setup with multiple monitors, you might want to splurge on a Matrox card. But, I'm not a big fan of Matrox. Even though they are very versatile cards, every time I used them they ended up being buggy as hell and you can forget playing video games with them.

As for Audio, don't be cheap. Get a good sound card. Sound is 80% of an audio-visual experience, so be sure its good. Sound takes up less space than video, so don't be afraid to crank up the quality settings when rendering, its worth the extra bandwidth. Also I recommend getting a good pair of headphones (preferably open eared) for when you're editing so as to pickup any small glitches there might be.









Now for Software :

I don't want to be plugging any specific software, but I'm an Adobe slut. There full package of programs is fully bridged (meaning you can import projects from Photoshop into Premiere, then into After effects and back again). To me, this is the most conveniant and versatile tool Adobe has every developped.

Of course there is Avid which is the video industry's standard, but I've never been a big fan... so I won't talk about it.

Other progs such as Pinnacle, Final Cut, etc are just fine for your basic editing, but once you want to go a step further, things can get a bit complicated.


Personnally I always use a mix of Adobe Premiere, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Audition (for correcting and cleaning my audio) and Adobe Photoshop for whenever I want to create snazzy little graphics.


Also, if you want to just cut your shit up, I suggest videocharge for the new guys. Its easy and simple to use.



Oh, and on a final note, before anyone asks. When I encode my stuff I usually use After Effects and not Sorenson Squeeze. To me its easier for After Effects to do it cause my projects always end up there, but if you're not using After Effects, I suggest you use Sorenson Squeeze for your encoding.




Wow that was a long answer but there ya go! :thumbsup

Oh, and keep in mind I did not mention wavescopes, vectorscopes and the such cause well I would have lost 99.9% of you folks there:)

can athlon x2 3800+ (dual core) handle HD editing?? coz i duwanna buy intel.. im an athlon freak...

Yup, to handle HD you need 2 things : Lots of CPU power and LOTS of RAM (I recommend a minimum of 2 gigs... but I say you should go for at least 4 gigs)


And by HD I figure you mean HDV which is the prosummer format of HD. True HD is HUUUUUUUUGE. Most people have HDV cameras though... I haven't seen an adult company shoot yet in true HD so I wouldn't worry.

thanks dude... i planning to buy athlon x2 3800 or higher.. im just preparing my PC just in case ... i will edit HDV format in the future... just learned video editing in my own way.. reading tutorials in the internet... have a few clients ... im starting to like video editing works.. its fun and no sweat.. thanks again... :thumbsup

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh

bro, i'm lost with half the shit you're talking about. i'm just happy i can load an mpg in vegas, make promo clips, render wmvs, and do basic swipes and transitions.

YOU ROCK!


:thumbsup :thumbsup

how much would to charge to edit 32 min worth of video?

it is on mini dvd's

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh

I try to use the simplest terms I can use hehe, but jargon is still jargon

Depends on what you've got. Usually I would ask how you would like the final product to be (cut up into 1 minute clips ... wmvs... mpegs?, etc etc).


But if its just straightforward editing (meaning capturing, cutting out the fluff, cleaning up the audio and adding a watermark), I usually ask for 85$ or so.

The render outputs will cost extra depending on what you want.

How can I take a large .wmv movie and cut it up into 2 minute slices?
Ive used ezsplitter but it doesnt work on .wmv format.
what does?

how do you export an edl out of FCP and have it work in Premiere? or vice versa?

I would recommend Videocharge

Its well worth the 50$ or so dollars it costs. The wizard makes tasks uber simple even for the not-so technically inclined. I use Videocharge every day when I need to cut up alot of stuff.


Quick recommendation though, if you do not want to lose image quality, take your WMV and convert it to an uncompressed AVI (or Microsoft DV). That will create a HUGE file, but when you compress it again to WMV (and cut it up) you will not lose any image quality.

Ouch, Premiere and FCP don't play very well together...

you'll need to export EVERYTHING that comes with the project and it MIGHT work (by which I mean all the log files, preview files, media encoding files, etc etc). Its a laborious task if you ask me.

Why do you want to make the switch?

no way

ill cut them by hand with windows movie maker before i pay $50 for something thats as simple as splitting up clips that Ill only use once a week.

thanks for the rest of your tips though

What options are there for basic editing of H.264 in Windows, marking of in/out points and cutting sub-clips, without an additional transcoding step?

I much prefer FCP for editing, effects and encoding. If Premiere had a batch encoder I might feel differently though.

The only issue I have with FCP is that it doesn't encode to WMV-HD worth a damn...I have used flip4mac and Cleaner...neither perform as advertized. I have figured out how to get around this...but the lack of batch encoding in premiere means I have to sit at my editing suite rather than letting it run for hours or days at a time like I do with FCP.

Thats ur choice mate. I look at things this way : time is money.

If you take 1 hour per week cutting clips up and say you give yourself an average salary of 15$/hour. You will have paid for the program in 4 weeks.

After those 4 weeks, everything else is gravy. You have an extra hour per week to work on something else earning you more revenue.

I never did get this to work right :helpme - can you do a quick walk through starting at the import settings for Pro. Thanks :) Everytime I though I had it I either lost audio, the video was double encoded, or something else went wrong. :helpme

Most NLEs (Non-Linear Editing systems, ex: Premiere, Final Cut Pro, Vegas, blah blah blah) will accept the format if you have the correct codecs for the format. Some of the programs will even allow you to create custom settings (frame size, frame rate, field order, etc) for new video formats (you'll have to read manuals or google-it to find out which ones).

For H264, I would have to recommend Avid.

As for cutting sub clips... well, you can create sub clips in a given project (cut your clip up into smaller clips), but if you want those sub clips to become ACTUAL clips on your Hardrive (i.e : Cut up clip A into smaller clips labeled : clip B and clip C) you WILL need to render them.

I'd love to if you told me what you were trying to do with the program :upsidedow

example: take a 2 minute wmv and cut out 15 second clips, (15 second wmv clips).

Easy as pie. For best results do this :

- Open up an editing program such as Premiere, FCP, Vegas, etc. Import your WMV, and then export it as a 720x480 DV clip (standard Microsoft DV). This will give you an AVI file. It would also be a good time to watermark your video(This step is optional, but I recommend it so as to not lose much quality)

- Open up Videocharge and click on COMMANDS, then WIZARD (or press F6)

- In the list that appears, select : Create VIDEO gallery (its in the middle of all the options) and then click on NEXT

- Click on ADD FILES and go find your avi file or wmv file. Click on NEXT

- Then select SPLIT BY TIME. Underneath write down the length you want your clips to be (in this case, its 15 seconds) . Then select SECONDS in the right flipdown menu. You can also uncheck the box at the bottom if you don`t want to lose your last clip. Click on NEXT

- In FOLDER : choose the filepath you want your NEW videos to appear. Your wmvs will be created in that folder. In the File Name Pattern field, write down how you want your files to be named... click on the option to the right to find out your choices. Then click NEXT

- In the OUTPUT format option, select WMV in this case because we want to our new clips to be WMVs. Click NEXT

- For this step, I recommend you select CUSTOM SETTINGS. Choose Windows Media Video 9 (thats the setting I usually use by default). Then click on CBR (Constant Bit Rate is usually better for web video). And select a bitrate (you'll have to play around with this to figure out what you want. Just keep in mind : Higher bitrates = Higher quality video = bigger file sizes). Your Frame Rate should be 29.97 NTSC. Click NEXT

- If you want audio, click on the top box. Select WMV 9 for your audio codec. I recommend an audio format of 44100 khz or so, but that all depends on your original file (if its 32khz, then encode at 32khz)... if you don't really know what I'm talking about, don't worry and go with 44100. Click Next

- If you're using an AVI, your frame size is 720x480.. so you might want to consider resizing your vid. If so, click on RESIZE video and select the frame size you want. Then select STRETCH in the menu underneath and NEAREST NEIGHBOUR for the MODE. Everything after that I don't think you should bother with it.

- And well the last window is for your thumbs if you want any. The screen itself is pretty self explanatory.




If you're still having problems after doing all of this, then I recommend you contact Videocharge support or post on their forums.

This is more the problem:
http://www.hammeredclams.com/vid1.jpg

(image doesn't fill window, (320x240 wmv - the 2 min clip)

This is a 640x480 wmv:

http://www.hammeredclams.com/vid2.jpg

I use Cleaner to encode also - I am familiar with the programs and settings, but when I start with a 320x240 wmv, I end up with a tiny final product. Before, you mentioned changing the "new project" settings in Premiere when you first open the program was the key:
http://www.hammeredclams.com/vid3.jpg

but even after doing that I encountered final exports with either no audio or other problems.

Aaaaaaaaah!! Well ya, take ur tiny vid, put it on the timeline, make sure it is selected,then go to WINDWOS ---- EFFECTS CONTROLS.

twirl down the MOTION twirly and play with the SCALE until your video fits inside the binding box (no black space around your video in the preview monitor).

That should fix your problem

Oh, and when you export your clips, check around in your settings, maybe you don't have EXPORT audio selected or something along those lines regarding your other problems

No need for this to go to page 2

Bump for you big guy.
BTW I might come down today or tomorrow to settle some stuff... I'l drop by to see you

hey nowhere, i have a little question for you, in fact i havent found a 100% sure reply for it, it s about hardware: can you use the blackmagic multibridge as a regular editing card (like the hdlink card), being more clear: is it like a normal blackmagic editing card + extras or is it only a converter ?

thx :D

Well from reading the specs, looks like you can use it as a basic video editing card, but usually with these all-in-one thingies, its not a good idea to rely on it entirely to do a job it wasn't build to do.

Personnally I would get a good video card and compliment it with the blackmagic bridge (its a super cool tool for sure).

You can also contact their support team and ask about the possibilities of using it as a vid editing card as well.



So my final answer is : Yes, looks like you can do it. Would I recommend it? No.

Keep 'em coming!

nice analysis, thx :pimp

With all this childish drama, this thread keeps getting pushed down the ranks :(

whats the fastest and easiest way to get DVDs into .wmv format?

1 - RIP them using any DVD ripping program (ideally they shouldn't have copyright protection on them) into an AVI.

2 - Then use either Sorensen Squeeze, Videocharge, or any other encoding program to convert it into a wmv.


Some ripping programs might even allow you to rip from a DVD to wmv.

3GB is the most amount of memory a non-64Bit OS will address and even then most programs dont take full advantage of thr 64bit OS, plus you have a huge amount of driver issues on the 64bit XP Os

what a good way to go about making high quality stills from DVDs?

also how does sorenson squeeze compare to cleaner?



thanks again

Bump again for you ;)

what software do you use in rostoscoping??