stabilze footage motion with Kodak Zi8 footage in fcp

To stabilize motion with Kodak Zi8 footage in fcp:

Drop footage into sequence

Export to quicktime movie (Format: Apple Pro Res 4:2:2 HQ 1920 x 1080 30p)

Re-import footage and make new sequence

Drop SmoothCam filter onto clip (from Video FiltersàVideo)

“Analyze footage” should now take way less time (e.g. 10 minutes instead of 10 hours)

We have had a few questions about how to make contact sheets from photoshop. Well adobe has made it both easier and harder. They removed the option to do it from photoshop and transferred it to Bridge. It is part of the Output Module.

To make it work follow the instructions on the following link:

Best,
Meghan

Powerpoint image issues on Mac and PC

Recently, a professor had difficulty opening a Powerpoint presentation in the Model Classroom on her PC when the project was created on a Mac.

Here is a solution from the internet:

A common problem when working between the Mac and Windows version of PowerPoint is when the file is created on the Mac version and it fails to load images in the Windows version. To fix this you are required to add images to the PowerPoint presentation without using drag and drop. To do this you should follow the instructions below.


If the image is on a web page, save it to your computer first.

In PowerPoint choose Insert > Picture > From File...

Now navigate to the location of the image in the open panel, and select the image by clicking the Insert button.


In addition:

Quicktime-compressed images won't work on the PC. Don't copy/paste images into PowerPoint. Use Insert, Picture, From File instead. Use JPG or PNG formats for images.
Quicktime movies seldom work on PCs. Use MPEG or AVI instead.

Links to external graphics files will break. Embed all graphics.

Links to most media files will break UNLESS you copy the media file to the folder where the PowerPoint file is, and only then insert it.

Embedding Sound in Power Point

To embed a sound within a slide on Power Point:

1. Click on Insert > Sound and Music > From File

Power Point will embed a file automatically up to 100 KB. When you save the Power Point the sound will be built into the presentation file, rather than just linking the sound.

To change the maximum file size, click on File > Preferences > General > Link Sounds With File Size Greater Than.

You can increase the maximum size up to 50,000 KB.

Self-contained videos and compression

Many of us like doing a basic export out of Final Cut Pro and then going to another compressing application to compress the video to the format we desire. When exporting out of Final Cut using the Quicktime option, you are given the option over whether the file should be self-contained or not. If you are planning to bring your export into Compressor, Visual Hub, or Adobe Media Encoder, your Final Cut export does NOT have to be self-contained. This is a big time saver when you are trying to get videos out of Final Cut and into an alternate compressing solution.

- Justin

iDVD One Step DVD and DVD-ROM Contents

Hey everyone, two tips for using iDVD that seem to come up often in CTRL.

1. Make a looping, first-play DVD with One Step DVD: Open iDVD and click on File > OneStep DVD From Movie, then select the movie file that you want to burn onto the DVD. Then enter a recordable DVD, this avoids the menu building process altogether.

2. Make a DVD that is a data disc and plays in a DVD player with Edit DVD-ROM Contents: After creating your custom DVD menu, click on Advanced > Edit DVD-ROM Contents. Here you can add files to your DVD that you can access on a computer.

-Alex

New YouTube Ripper

In our efforts to continue helping customers rip videos from the web, I've found another source that seems to be pretty stable for ripping youtube videos to mp4 (which import directly into iMovie). Sweet, right?

Check out KeepVid at :http://keepvid.com/

Let me know if you have questions. Happy ripping!
LL