Posts Tagged ‘final cut pro’

Get Automatic Duck Plugins for free…

Automatic Duck, who make plugins for interchanging data between different platforms, such as Avid and Final Cut Pro, last month announced a new partnership with Adobe.

Today they’ve announced they will be unable to support their current range of products, and as such, they are giving them all away for free.

Wow.

You can download the plugins from their website.

Posted: October 29th, 2011
Categories: News
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Synaesthesia Beta 13 now available…

This new release of Synaesthesia removes EDL and Final Cut Pro XML support, and adds “Publish to Facebook” functions…

…Um no. I was thinking of something else there.

This is just a very minor update to fix some bugs and tidy up some loose ends. It also extends the trial period through the end of September.

Read about the changes here.

Download the new version.

Speaking of everyone’s favourite editing system, Apple have officially announced that there will be APIs made available soon. Hopefully this will allow a future version of Synaesthesia tie directly in to Final Cut Pro, and thus restore some of the missing functionality.

Posted: June 29th, 2011
Categories: Synaesthesia
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Save stills from Final Cut Pro…

Here’s a quick way for anyone looking to save a number of stills from a Final Cut Pro project:

  1. Create a new sequence at the desired resolution and open it in the timeline
  2. For each still you want to output:
    1. Open the clip or sequence in the viewer
    2. Cue to the frame to export
    3. Mark in/out (type “IO”) on the frame
    4. Cut it into the timeline (press F9)
  3. Select all the clips in the timeline
  4. Add a “de-interlace” filter to them
  5. From the File menu, choose “Export > Using QuickTime Conversion”
  6. Change the format to “Image sequence”
  7. Click options
  8. Choose the desired file format
  9. Make sure the frame rate matches the frame rate of the sequence
  10. Click ok

Strange that there isn’t really a more convenient way, but there you go.

(For more tips and tricks, see my book Fix It In Post)

Posted: August 23rd, 2010
Categories: Tips & Tricks
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Synaesthesia Beta 3 Released…

It’s NAB, so of course that means new releases. We’re no exception, and so a new version is now available for everyone on the beta programme. The latest version includes only one major new feature, but it’s a really good one: you can now import clip data from Final Cut Pro XML files.

With this latest addition, Final Cut Pro becomes another, extremely convenient source for capturing metadata and linking it into Synaesthesia. For example, you can shoot some footage, ingest it into FCP, and then save off the XML file. You can then import this XML file into Synaesthesia, which will then create reels, clips and attach their linked files for you. You then have all your footage inside Synaesthesia to use in the usual way, and if you make any changes, you can always export the clips as FCPXML and load that back into Final Cut.

The other bit of news is that we’re extending the beta programme, to include a greater number of users. Anyone interested in downloading the new beta version can do so for free at http://synaesthesia.surrealroad.com/beta

There’s been a lot of talk about shooting 3D at NAB this year. Let me jump on that bandwagon too. Synaesthesia can be used 3D productions, by setting up two recorders- one for the left eye and one for the right eye. You can then use shooting mode as you would normally.

As always, if you’ve already been accepted into the beta programme, you will receive an email soon with the download link.

Posted: April 12th, 2010
Categories: Synaesthesia
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Synaesthesia Beta 2 Released…

I’m pleased to announce the release of beta 2 of Synaesthesia. All the reported bugs in beta 1 are fixed, and there are some great new features that make the application even more useable.

What’s new in this release? Well, according to our statistics, 89% of you use Final Cut Pro, so integration with Synaesthesia is a big priority for us. In this version, you can export clips to Final Cut Pro XML. (To do this, go to the clips tab of a breakdown, select the clips to export, and click export). When you import the XML into FCP, the exported clips will be added to a new bin, along with all the metadata Synaesthesia has for that clip, such as the scene, take, editing format and so on. And speaking of exports, it’s now possible to export screenplays (as text) and sequences (as EDLs).

FCP development is still ongoing, so expect a lot more in that area in future releases. Also new in this version is tighter RED camera integration. Whereas beta 1 would only retrieve RED metadata from files with RED’s software installed, beta 2 eliminates that restriction entirely. So when linking a clip to a file (via Clip Breakdown > Digital > Linked File), just point it at the R3D file and let Synaesthesia do the rest.

Some processes in Synaesthesia can be quite complex (and therefore lengthy), and so the latest version also includes feedback in the form of progress bars, so you can be confident that it is doing something, rather than just hoping it hasn’t crashed.

You can check out the release notes for more details on the other improvements and fixes. As always, the best way to send us feedback is from the software itself (Help > Send Feedback).

If you have already been accepted into the beta programme, you should be receiving an email soon with a link to download the latest version. If you have not yet enrolled in the beta programme, you can still apply to take part now.

Posted: March 29th, 2010
Categories: News, Synaesthesia
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Comments: 1 comment