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Tip #436: What is a B-spline Curve?

… for Visual Effects

Tip #436: What is a B-spline Curve?

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

B-splines are used to create shapes with no sharp corners.

An example of an open-ended B-spline curve.

Topic $TipTopic

B-spline curves (short for Basis spline) are frequently used to create shapes because, unlike Bézier curves, B-splines have no corners.

A B-spline is a combination of flexible bands that pass through a number of points (called control points) to create smooth curves. These functions enable the creation and management of complex shapes and surfaces using a number of points. B-spline and Bézier functions are applied extensively for shape optimization.

B-splines can be open (where the ends are not connected, as in this screen shot), or closed.

The shape of the B-spline is determined by moving the nodes, the red dots in this illustration. These act as magnets, attracting the shape of the curve as the nodes move.

Neither Premiere nor Final Cut support B-splines, but After Effects and Motion do.

EXTRA CREDIT

An extension of B-splines are NURBS (short for “non-uniform rational B-splines”). The big benefit to NURBS is that they can exist in three dimensions. I’d, ah, show you the equations for these, but they make my brain hurt.

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Tip #435: Faster Still Image Rotoscoping

… for Visual Effects

Tip #435: Faster Still Image Rotoscoping

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

The secret is to let Photoshop figure out where the edges are.

The girl was rotoscoped, then the color was removed from the background.

Topic $TipTopic

Rotoscoping allows you to select a portion of an image by tracing the edges of the subject you want to isolate. The problem is that rotoscoping is really, really tricky; especially when hair or other soft edges get involved.

While this tip involves Photoshop, I’ve used it constantly to extract images for my video projects.

  • Open the image you want to rotoscope in Photoshop.
  • Convert the image to a layer; click the small lock icon on the right side of the layer.
  • Choose Select > Subject. (I don’t know when this feature showed up, but it’s magical.)

Photoshop makes its best guess and selects what it thinks is the subject. At which point, you can do whatever you want with it.

EXTRA CREDIT

To create this screen shot:

  • Convert the image to a layer
  • Chose Select > Subject
  • Inverted the selection
  • Deleted the color from the selection

Took me 15 seconds. And, yes, I remember how hard this was in the past.

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Tip #338: How to Create Retro Looks

… for Visual Effects

Tip #338: How to Create Retro Looks

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

These can be used in Premiere Pro, After Effects, Final Cut Pro X and Media Composer.

An image from a Red Giant tutorial on using Universe.

Topic $TipTopic

This tip – featuring Red Giant Universe effects – first appeared as part of a YouTube segment from Kelsey Brannan, showing how this can be created in Premiere Pro. However, these effects can be applied in recent versions of Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer, and After Effects, as well.

Select the clips to which you want to apply a retro look.

NOTE: A “retro” look is one that makes your footage look like it was shot years ago, using older technology.

  • Search for Universe Stylize in your Effects browser.
  • Within the folder, select uni.retrograde
  • Inside uni.retrograde, browse the presets to view a selection of 8mm and 16mm scans
  • To give a bit more “stuttery” effect to movement, select 18 FPS
  • Adjust frame, vignette, grime, and color treatment settings to create a more realistic effect

EXTRA CREDIT

Here’s the link to Kelsey’s original video.

And here’s the link to learn more about Red Giant Universe.

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Tip #431: A Fast Way to Build a Premiere Sequence

… for Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Tip #431: A Faster Way to Build a Premiere Sequence

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Automate to Sequence is a very fast way to create an edit.

The Automate to Sequence dialog in Adobe Premiere Pro CC.

Topic $TipTopic

This article first appeared in MotionArray. This is an excerpt.

Let’s say you are building a montage or music video where the audio determines where the edits need to be.

  • Add your audio to the timeline.
  • Play the audio and add markers (shortcut “M“) where you want to add shot changes; generally on the beat.
  • Select the clips you want to add in the order you them added to the sequence.
  • Click the Automate to Sequence button in the lower right of the Project Panel.
  • In the dialog displayed in this screen shot, make SURE to set Placement to At Unnumbered Markers.
  • Click OK and, poof!, instant sequence.

EXTRA CREDIT

Review Premiere’s Help Files to learn what the other automation settings do.

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Tip #430: Compressing 10-Bit HEVC Media

… for Codecs & Media

Tip #430: Compressing 10-Bit HEVC Media

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Windows will, generally, compress 10-bit HEVC faster than a Mac.

Comparing color spaces between Rec.709 and Rec. 2020. (Image courtesy of Intel.)

Topic $TipTopic

A reader asked this week why it took so long to compress 10-bit HEVC media. At first, I thought it was because Intel CPUs did not support hardware acceleration, but the answer is more complex than that.

7th generation Intel Xeon and Core processors support the BT. 2020 (also known as Rec. 2020) standard in 10-bit HDR and more. This screen shot compares the color spaces of Rec. 709 (HD) with Rec. 2020 (HDR). The BT.2020 represents a much larger range of colors than previously used in BT.709.

NOTE: Dynamic range is the ratio between the whitest whites and blackest blacks in an image. HDR video interprets better dynamic range than conventional Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) video, which uses a non-linear operation to encode and decode luminance values in video systems.

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), also known as H.265, is a video compression standard, a successor to the widely successful H.264/AVC standard. HEVC 10-bit hardware acceleration for both decoder and encoder with HEVC/H.265 Main 10 Profile is supported in 7th generation Intel processors; released in 2017 or later.

However, the tools to create 10-bit HEVC that Intel supplies only support Windows. So, assuming a Windows developer implements Intel’s HEVC SDK (Software Development Kit), they can access faster compression speeds using hardware acceleration.

Here’s an article from Intel that describes this in more detail.

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Tip #428: Better Ways to Create LUTs

… for Codecs & Media

Tip #428: Better Ways to Create LUTs

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

LUT software allows us to create looks that can’t be achieved any other way.

A red car, re-colored to blue simply by changing the LUT.

Topic $TipTopic

Tip #427 showed how to create LUTs using Photoshop. However, what if you need more, or want to create a radically different look for your media. That requires a 3rd-party LUT utility.

Consider 3D LUT Creator.

3D LUT Creator makes 3D LUTs that can be imported into many programs such as Adobe Photoshop, DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro X, and Adobe After Effects.

Color correction in 3D LUT Creator is made by bending the grid tied to the color plane containing saturation and hue. The use of this interface allows you, in just a few clicks, to completely change the color scheme of the image or work with the desired color ranges separately.

A free trial version, and more details, are available here.

EXTRA CREDIT

LUTs don’t require rendering, making these the fastest way to change the colors in your clip.

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Tip #427: Create a LUT in Photoshop

… for Codecs & Media

Tip #427: Create a LUT in Photoshop

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Photoshop can create LUTs that work in Premiere, Resolve or Final Cut Pro X.

Save LUT settings in Photoshop using the CUBE format.

Topic $TipTopic

LUTs are a great way to take log or RAW images and convert them into something pleasing to look at. You can even use this technique for Rec. 709 media, which we use every day in HD projects.

Here’s a technique that creates LUTs that work in Premiere, Final Cut or Resolve.

  • In Photoshop, import a still frame from your video that you want to create a LUT for.

    • NOTE: This image needs to retain some detail in the highlights. TIFF or PNG are the best export formats to use.

  • Select the layer containing the image and choose Layer > New > Background from Layer. (This setting is important.)
  • Add at least one Adjustment layers, then adjust Levels and other settings to the adjustment layer to create the look you want.

    • NOTE: Do not adjust the image, only modify the adjustment layer.

Here’s the magic part – as long as you convert the image into a background and use adjustment layers, you can take your look and convert it into a LUT which can be opened in Premiere, Resolve, or Final Cut.

  • In Photoshop, choose File > Export > Color Lookup Tables.
  • Give the file a description that makes sense to you. Then, and this is a KEY step, select the CUBE format. This format is required by all our NLEs.
  • Click OK,give it a name and location, then save it.
  • Switch over to your NLE and import your new custom LUT and apply it to your footage.

Done. This LUT can be used across multiple projects and multiple NLEs.

EXTRA CREDIT

Here’s an article that walks you through all the steps in more detail.

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Tip #412: Secret Multicam Setting Tip for Premiere Pro

… for Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Tip #412: Secret Multicam Setting Tip for Premiere Pro

 

The order you select clips when creating a multicam clip makes a difference.

When building a multicam clip, select the largest frame size first.

Topic $TipTopic

Last week, I was talking with Adobe about multicam editing and discovered a secret configuration tip for multicam editing that I didn’t know. When you are building a multicam clip, the first clip you click on determines two important things:

  • The camera placed into the Camera 1 editing position
  • The settings for the multicam clip

Here, I’m combining four clips into a multicam project. This is the worst of all worlds: different frame sizes and different frame rates.

NOTE: For best results and the easiest editing, all clips in a multicam sequence should have the same codec, frame size and frame rate. If you have problems editing, transcoding them into the same codec and frame rate will help.

In this screen shot I selected the 4K clip first. This means that Premiere will build a multicam sequence that matches the 4K clip, while not scaling the remaining clips.

NOTE: The best way to build a multicam clip, after selecting your media, is to choose Clip > Create Multicam Source Sequence, or right-click one of the selected clips.

Very cool.

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Tip #297: Multiband Compressor Improves Dialogue

… for Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Tip #297: Multiband Compressor Improves Dialogue

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

The Multiband Compressor amplifies soft passages without altering the level of louder ones.

The Audio Track Mixer in Premiere Pro CC.
The FX panel in the Audio Track Mixer in Adobe Premiere Pro CC.

Topic $TipTopic

The best way to control the levels in your dialog is to use the Multiband Compressor filter. This raises the softer passages in your audio, without causing the louder passages to distort. Here’s a simple way to use it.

  • Make sure that all dialog audio is on as few tracks as possible and that no other audio is on those same tracks.
  • Open the Audio Track Mixer in Premiere. (Not the Clip Mixer.)
  • At the very top of the mixer, twirl down the small, right-pointing triangle to reveal the FX settings for the track(s) containing dialog.
  • Click one of the small right-pointing arrows in the FX settings panel and choose Amplitude and Compression > Multiband Compressor.
  • Double-click the words “Multiband Compressor” to reveal the interface.

Don’t be intimidated by how this looks! You only have three settings to change.

  • Change the Presets menu at the top to Broadcast.
  • Change the Margin, on the right, to -3 dB.
  • Uncheck the Brickwall Limiter, also on the right.

That’s it. The difference in the quality and levels of your dialog is amazing!

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Tip #426: How to Add a 3rd-Party LUT to Final Cut Pro X

… for Apple Final Cut Pro X

Tip #426: How to Add a 3rd-Party LUT to Final Cut Pro X

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

FCP X supports any LUT in the CUBE or MGA format.

Applying a custom LUT using the Info Inspector inside Final Cut Pro X.

Topic $TipTopic

A LUT (Look-Up Table) is used to convert camera sensor data into an image worth looking at. LUTs are a part of the color grading process and much faster than adjusting color settings, then rendering a clip or a project.

While LUTs have been in still image photography for a long time, they are only recently making their way into video. While FCP X ships with a number of LUTs, here’s how to add custom LUTs to your system.

Once you’ve purchased and/or downloaded a custom LUT, you can import it into FCP X by selecting the Add Custom Camera LUT option. Remember, it must be in either .cube or .mga format. (CUBE formats tend to be more popular.)

NOTE: LUTs are NOT stored in the Final Cut Library file. This means that if you move the library, you will need to copy and move the LUTs separately. Store your LUTs in a place that will allow you to find them again.

EXTRA CREDIT

You can create your own LUTs using Photoshop, which we cover in Tip #427, or 3D LUT Creator.

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