Wisnaes.com - Visual communication

Do you try to keep a finger on the pulse of your favorite blogs and websites? Do you spend a lot of time clicking your way around to the same websites every day? Then RSS is the right thing for you. No idea what I am talking about? Well, I was going to write something very clever about this and then I stumbled across someone that had done it already. Lee LeFever from Common Craft did it in a very cool way. So here is that video. Enjoy both the content and the style!

 My choice of rss reader at the moment is GreatNews , but I am happy to try out new ones whenever I come across them. I think that a tool like this is invaluable for people that work in the tv and film business as it allows us to stay on top of what is happening in our fields of interest. You find the links to add this blog in the right column or in the address bar of your web browser.

What is your favorite rss reader?

When you want to embed animation and graphics into moving images in a believeable way, you have two main choices. Either use a computer controlled camera rig, or buy horribly expensive software. Until Andersson Technologies came along.

Their software, SynthEyes, will set you back only USD 399 and runs on both Mac and Windows. Not too long ago they released a new version with many improvements. One of the improvements is a stabilizer that promises to do a correct stabilization of your footage. According to their website:

The hallmark of incorrect stabilization is that, though the point of interest remains stable, the corners of the image appear to be doing some very strange things, moving in and out. This is the result of 2-D stabilization, or 3-D stabilization with an incorrect field of view.

They then explain why

The underlying problem is that 2-D stabilization changes the image in a way that no real camera can. When you shift an image, it is not the same as pointing a real camera in a different direction

and explaines more about how they solve it.

The software has been used in a long list of movies, commercials and tv-programs all over the world. If you need to place a building into footage shot from a helicopter or any other moving images, I think you should have a closer look at this. You do not need to get a mortgage to buy it!

It is never too late to learn something new.

I have not been paying too much attention to my logs lately, but reading an article online on web security made me take a look. And I discovered som incoming links that were very unfamiliar. So I decided to take a look and it turned out to be a hotlinked picture from an article about RSS Owl (a splashscreen that I had permission to use).

My first thought was to contact the author of the site. But this is an Arabic site and I do neither speak the language nor write it. Then I remembered an article I read at Eirikso.com about this and thought I would try something similar just to see if it was detected.

I used a picture of George W. Bush and added a text about supporting him and USA. Then replaced the image. If the picture is still up, you can view it here.

So I will try to make an effort checking logs a little more often. Not that stealing bandwith this way means a lot, but I have to admit that the kid inside me got a little kick out of placing something like this on an Arabic website…

Update: Found another one linking to another picture. This one had not even bothered to use the size tags on the picture, so I used the same picture as in the former one, totally breaking the layout of the site. You can view the result here if it is still up.

I sometimes need to make the content in a video available in other languages. Or the content is in a different language than what my customer use. Because dubbing is not used for anything else than programs for kids in Norway, I need to subtitle the program. None of the editing systems I know have subtitling built in. They all have some kind of character generator, but to do anything more than a few seconds of subtitling in this is just a waste of time and money.

Unfortunately, subtitling software cost a lot and is usually operated by a specialist. But that all changes with Belle Nuit Subtitler . This program, costing USD 120 for one license, can be used for making subtitles that you edit onto your video in most major editing systems, or you can include it on your DVD. If you add it to your DVD, the viewer can choose to see the subtitles or not. And choose what language to see if there are multiple translations available.

Using the software is pretty straight forward. I am a little disappointed that entering the text first and do the spotting afterwords does not work very well. But according to Matthias Buercher, the intended workflow is to do the spotting one by one, entering the titles either by copying from an open text document or by translating directly. And this workflow works very well.

During the spotting, the keyboard can be used for most of the important things and the most used shortcuts are similar to Avids editing systems. This means using JKL to play the video, I and O or E and R to mark in and out. Pressing Q and W bring the cursor to the in and out point and ESC switches between the video player and the text area.

The style of the text is adjusted in the top of the main window. Font, border, shadow, box behind text and placement in the frame can be adjusted there. I think the quality of the text Belle Nuit Subtitler output is excellent. And getting it into the Avid editing system was very easy.

First I exported the titles by selecting all in the text area and the choose File>Export . The titles are then exported as TIFF with alpha. The timing of the titles are exported as a CMX 3600 EDL and both titles and the EDL are then imported into the Avid system.

The program has a built in function called the Avid helper that essentially is a small macro the replace the Offline Media in the timeline with the correct subtitles. Or you can do it manually.

I have not had the chance yet to try adding titles to a DVD, but will get back here with some comments after I have tried it.

I can really recommend Belle Nuit Subtitler to anyone looking for a cheap and easy way to get prefessionally looking subtitles on video or DVD.

Sometimes you get big, positive surprises. I got one last week when I stumbled across a program I had never heard about before.

Making TV programs, you need to plan your production and write a script. There are a few programs out there that do this, but they are any good at all, they cost money. The program I found last week is the first Open Source program of this kind that I have heard about.

Celtx, which can be found on http://www.celtx.com/ is a pre-production tool that is built on the same code enginge as the Mozilla products.

It has story development tools, script writing and a calendar for the project schedule. You can add video and audio clips to the scripts and print customized reports. And on top of all this, a special server has been set up online that allows users of Celtx to share their production planning with other members of their team.

The features are good, the layout is nice. Of course, the calendar is a straight port of Sunbird, no need to change anything that is already working!

The users have already made a contribution to the project in the form of a portable version of the program. Some users, including myself, have asked for a version that can be put on a USB flash drive so you can bring it with you in your pocket. One of the users took that challenge and based on work already done for the Mozilla products, he came up with a portable Celtx. After contacting the team behind Celtx, I understood they are thinking about making an official portable version. Open Source works!

I really like this product and it will become a permanent part of my software collection. Now I am just hoping they will implement something to make it work for planning multicamera recordings as well. Keeping my fingers crossed…

If you like this idea, you can download it and give it a try. They are at version 0.9.5.1 , so it is still a very young product. Join their forum, add requests for new features. This is how open source programs are developed, and it is the perfect chance to get the tool you always wanted!

UPDATE: Volda University College (Norway) is now installing Celtx on all PC’s in their media education. They are teaching journalism for newspapers, radio, TV and have a separate education for documentary production and animation.

The Celtx blog made a comment about this article.

I like carrying programs and data with me. I love my laptop. But recently, I have found that the really portable thing is a 1GB USB memory drive. So I got myself a 1GB Flash Voyager.

The reason I got it was to move data. But I found a few programs that did not need to be installed, just double-click on them to run them. I added them to the Flash Voyager and started to search for more programs like this. I am definitely not the first one that has this idea! Several websites are dedicated to this.

One of them is PortableFreeware . On the frontpage, you find the latest updates. But if you click on All in the top menu, you will find categories with a lot of programs. At the moment this site only caters for Windows users.

The first program you should get is PStart portable. This gives you a “Startmenu” in your systray (at the bottom of your screen, next to the clock). After that, it is up to you to add the programs you find interesting.

Another site for you to check out is TinyApps.org . Here you also find programs for OSX.

As with everything else that has to do with computer, it is very important to make a backup. And Microsoft has made available an application that do exactly that. It is called Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager .

If you know any other good resources for this type of programs, or if you know any good programs that should get a mention, just leave a comment!

When preparing images for web or for TV it can be quite nice to have a tool that is easy to use and delivers great results. It does not hurt if the program is small and on top of everything is free.

This is exactly what Resize.exe is. The program is made by Peter Bone and you can download it from his website, http://www.geocities.com/peter_bone_uk/resize.html . Another great thing about the program is that it does not require any installation. So you can put it on your USB drive and bring it with you all the time.

Peter Bone has a few other programs also available for download on his website. 

When I train people in video editing I try to get everyone to understand the importance of labeling tapes with unique names. This way you avoid the searching for "Tape 01" when you are going to batch capture your sequence.

I promised my students in Norway to find someone that can supply labels like this, so here it is:

When I started working with video the format was called Umatic and C-format. And we had a few pieces of equipment that was crucial for the production. Broadcast monitors and video scopes. But with the introduction of DV, this seems to have gone out the window. I for one, miss those things. But very many people today enter the video business from the computer side. They start playing with Photoshop, Flash or other applications and somehow find out that it is just as easy to load a videoediting program on their computer and start using it.

But even if video is easy to work with and manipulate, the technical specifications have not changed. We still have limits we need to stay within. And a lot of people do not have any idea if their video is within these limits. On top of that, traditional scopes rarely has FireWire inputs and they cost a fortune. A waveform monitor and scope plus a good broadcast monitor can easily cost more than all your other equipment combined.

Along comes DVRack. A software that takes the input from the FireWire port, process it and show it on the computer monitor. It is really a whole rack of tools and Serious Magick that makes it, wanted to make something that could assist anyone shooting with a DV camera. So here you find ten different tools that can help you evaluate the quality of what you are doing. At an affordable price. If you shell out 295 USD you get the following:

• Digital Video Recorder
• Professional Field Monitor
• DV WaveForm Monitor
• VectorScope
• Automated Quality Monitor
• Audio Spectrum Analyzer
• Video Analyzer
• DV Grabber
• Timer/Clock Module
• Sureshot Module

A HDV addition is available for USD 195.

I think this is  one of the best investments you can make if you are working with DV video. It enables you to reliably monitor your signal while you are shooting. But you can also use it while editing or to analyze your production facility to find errors.

When you are shooting, you can keep a PC attached to your camera and immediately see if the signal is within the limits, and see if your framing is ok. And if you want to, you can even let the laptop record the DV signal as a backup for the tape. The DVR will detect when you start and stop recording and follow it. There is also a setting called Shot Saver that will buffer the video so when you hit record, it already has the previous seconds captured making sure you will never miss a situation.

I will not go into too much detail here, go to the website and check it out. But I will mention a few things. A lot of people use a TV as a monitor in their editing suite. This is fine if it is only for watching the cutting itself. But never use it when you do color correction or to evaluate the quality of a signal. A TV has a lot of filters to remove artifacts in a signal. But when you are editing you really want to see every artifact that exist in the material. DV Rack has a monitor that will give you a true picture.

There are a couple of things I am missing. First of all, it does not run on a Mac. And second, I really wish there were a version that would be able to monitor other types of video inputs. SDI, component, S-Video and composite would give people in the industry all over the world an affordable way to monitor their signals. 

To run DV Rack you need a PC running Windows XP or 2000, based on a Pentium 4 1,4 GHz or equivalent with a minimum of 256 MB RAM and a FireWire port.

This is the one tool that can help you perfect your video. But remember - you also need to know how to use it. So when you have bought the software, spend some time on learning how to use each tool. Knowledge is more important than every tool you can buy. Even here, DVRack can help you. The Sureshot module is a collection of charts and a software wizard that help you set up your camera and lighting correct. Do yourself a favour, download the 30-day trial version and check it out today!

I must admit I like to challenge my students sometimes. Just mess a little with their brain. And one of my favourite subjects is the dpi setting in Photoshop. It might be old news to you, but there is still a strong belief that if you are going to use an image for web or TV, it should be 72 dpi. So here is what I say.

Statement 1: Dpi has no impact at all on filesize.

Statement 2: A setting of 3167 dpi is very nice for web. Or TV.

Do you feel the urge to shout "Wrong!!!!!!" ? A lot of people do… But let us examine it closer.

Dpi has no impact at all on filesize.

This is actually very easy to show. Open a picture and change the dpi to 300. Save it. Then change the dpi to 50 and save it again with a different filename. If you have done this correct, the files should be very close in size. There could be a few bytes difference due to the way the filesystem store things. But no dramatic difference.

But maybe you have a huge difference between the files? Then you forgot to uncheck the Resample checkbox. Remember, I said change dpi. Not resample the image. As soon as you uncheck the Resample checkbox, the pixelsize of the image is greyed out in Photoshop. And the only thing that happens when you change dpi, is that the print size changes.

A setting of 3167 dpi is very nice for web. Or TV.

Actually, a setting of 64 dpi is just as nice. Try it.  Make a 300 x 225 pixel file at 3000 dpi. Then make a 300 x 225 pixel file at 50 dpi. Put them on a webpage and compare. Or take a look at my examples here.

The reason for both of these statement is the same. And very easy to explain. Dpi is all about print. Not about monitors or other forms of similar displays.  It is actually very clear in Photoshop. Take a look at the area that has the print size and dpi. There is a border around it that separate it from the pixelsize. This is because on most  monitors you can display a variety of resolutions and as the resolution change, the ratio between the physical dimention of the monitor and the number of pixels it displays per inch changes. Without any change to the dpi setting of the file. And on a TV in Europe, the size is 720 x 576 non-square pixels. This fills the TV no matter how big or small the TV is. So all that matters when you are going to output on a monitor is the number of pixels. Get the pixelnumbers right and set the dpi to whatever you prefer.

You might argue that if only the software could detect what monitor it is and how big it is, you could add a feature that will display the picture according to the right size. But this is a big if. I do not know about any software that can do this at the moment. The only software I know that really cares about dpi is software that is primarily meant for output to a printer. They will scale a picture on a page, relative to the size of the paper.

Please add any comments you might have.