In a recent newsletter, I invited readers to send in their favorite iPhone apps for production or post. I thought you might be interested in some of their replies:

Ian Hart

I find Movie*Slate very handy as I often need a clapper to sync multi-cams and/or digital audio recorded on my Zoom. I work on my own or with a very small team and I can operate Movie*Slate with one hand (shake to iPhone to cause the slate to clap).

I bought Storyboard (Cinemek) with which you use the iPhone camera to construct a storyboard, then perform pans, tilts, zooms etc, rearrange your shots, add dialogue (as subtitles) etc, play in "real time" and then export to a PDF document. Very impressive app, but until now it’s been more like a party trick than a serious part of my workflow.

Voice Memos is a really convenient tool for research. With a 30GB iPhone you can do very many hours of recording.

And the camera, of course. Just about an indispensable tool these days.

Gary Wales

My current favourite iPhone App is Movie*Slate. A simple yet multifunctional digital clapperboard that allows you to export/import XML files into Final Cut. A real time-saver on a shoot and can be blue tooth synced with another iPhone for multi-cam use.

Steve Schumacher

Time calculator is great if you need to add minutes and seconds, etc. Works just like a stand alone time calculator.

For pre-production and planning of shoots, Sunrise & Set Lite is fantastic. It tells you when the sun rises and sets, not just for today’s date, but for any day you choose. Perfect for knowing in 5 months when the sun is setting.

Kit Lammers

Convert – convert any units, use for time (no time code though)

OS X Ref – Quick reminder for key commands

DipSwitch – Calculate DipSwitches

Keith Marshall

ProPrompter
This is a very cool app where I can upload/download scripts and use my iPhone as a teleprompter. If you have another iPhone/iPod available, you can use it to control the other as well.

Storyboard
This will allow you to build a storyboard, animate camera movements and export as a pdf. I was working on a project as a teaching experience to a group of teens and we used this to educate them the process of planning.

And my most favorite…

iProRecorder
I can dock my iPhone into my Alesis ProTrack and record 16/44.1k stereo or mono to my device. This acts just like a field recorder and the ProTrack allows me to plug in XLR or Phono audio source or use the built in X-Y stereo microphones

Norman Hollyn

AJA DataCalc
DVDBudget
Both of Moviola’s guides: FCP Guide and Pro Video
Diana Weynand’s iKeysTo Go is also a good alternative
And I also like NEDi (which is macPro Video’s online tutorial guide

Pat DeFilippo

P D Post has used DJay software (Mac only, $50) for years to live- and auto-mix walk-in/walk-out music at corporate events, dance music at parties, etc. Today, DJay released DJay Remote, a $5 app for iPhone/iPod Touch. You still need the full version of DJay installed on your Mac, however DJay Remote lets you completely control all of your songs with DJay’s powerful functions remotely via the same Wi-Fi network that your Mac is on!

Tore Jonssen

I use CodecCalc and AutoCue all the time, works like a charm.

John Warner

I use Focalware on each and every location shoot to accurately predict sun and moon positions globally from sunrise through sunset anytime of the year.

All interesting choices. Let me know what your’s are and I’ll add them to the list.
Larry

Michael Cowan sent me a note earlier today that I wanted to share with you.

He was having problems sending sequences from Final Cut Pro to Soundtrack Pro (STP). Since I do this all the time with my own projects, without problems, I couldn’t figure out why he was having difficulty.

First, I suggested that he send his sequences from the Browser, rather than selecting all the clips in the Timeline. I find sending Browser files to STP to be more reliable.

That didn’t work.

Second, I suggested that he trash both his FCP and STP preference files. I have found that corrupted FCP preference files can mess with sending files to STP.

That didn’t work.

Hmmm… time to think. However, while I was thinking, Michael did some research. What he didn’t mention when we were first talking about this was that the sequence he wanted to send contained other sequences in it (what Apple calls “nesting.”) Ah-HAH! Using nests causes problems. As Michael wrote:

“Alas this issue lies with the well-documented nested sequence/XML problem that prevents “Send To” of nested sequences to Soundtrack Pro. I’ll need to change my workflow. There was some guy [Jeremy Hughes] who said he had success by Sending To Apple Color, back to FCP and then on to STP (perhaps Color generates cleaner XML), but it didn’t work for me.”

For those that need more information, here is the link to Apple’s support site:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2155

And here’s the link to Jeremy Hughes‘ Color workflow workaround:

http://filmvideostuff.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-to-get-audio-from-nested-fcp.html

Thanks, Michael, for sharing this!

Just a very quick note – as it is now about 11:58 PM – that our podcast, the Digital Production Buzz is located on the trade show floor at the 2010 NAB Show as the official podcast. We are right next to the Post Pit – South Lower Hall, Booth 8826.

We’ve already created two shows – you can listen to them here: www.nabshowbuzz.com. (Well, OK, if you want to be technical, the second show is done as of ten minutes ago, and will be posted in the morning)

We have a team of almost 30 people – both staff and some GREAT volunteers – helping us put together a huge range of news and special reports. However, it’s too late at night for my brain to think clearly enough to blog about it. (By the way, while we are fully staffed for this year, we’d love to have your help next year!)

I’ll have all kinds of photos and gossip to post later in the week when I have time to breathe.

Starting tomorrow, Monday, at 9 AM, we are streaming and posting live five-minute News Briefs on the hour. Everything will be posted here — www.nabshowbuzz.com — as well as on iTunes and our website.

Our NAB coverage ends this Saturday – a WEEK of special shows and almost 40 News Briefs. Almost 14 hours of programming in five days, way more than 300 interviews. Then, I’m taking a nap. (Visit here to learn how you can put The Buzz on your website!)

By the way, thanks to the NAB for appointing the Digital Production Buzz the Official Podcast of the 2010 NAB Show. Thanks to our sponsors – Adobe Systems, Zeiss Lenses, Pond 5, Data Robotics, and Focal Press - for their financial support. And thanks to our incredible producer, Cirina Catania, and Associate Producer Debbie Price, for their tremendous efforts that make these shows possible.

More later, time to get back to work….

Larry

Recently, Apple released new updates for Final Cut Studio (3).

Pro Applications Update 2010-01 is a revision to Final Cut Studio (2009). This update includes Final Cut Pro 7.0.2, Motion 4.0.2, Color 1.5.2, Compressor 3.5.2, Apple Qmaster 3.5.2 and Cinema Tools 4.5.1. The software improves overall stability and addresses a number of other minor issues. This update is recommended for all users of Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Server, and Logic Studio.

Just as a note, Soundtrack Pro is not updated in this release.

You can find more information here:

www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/download/

As always, whenever Apple releases something new, I wait a bit before upgrading. You know, just in case….

However, there are lots of small bug fixes here that make this seem a worthwhile update – and I appreciate Apple’s willingness to tell us what they are. (For a complete list, see below.)

I installed this update yesterday and things seem to be running fine. If you are running Final Cut Pro 7.0.0, I strongly urge you to upgrade. If you are running Final Cut Pro 7.0.1, upgrade as your projects and schedule allow.

According to Apple:

Issues addressed in this update include the following.

Final Cut Pro

• Fixes an issue with clip duration when removing reverse speed.
• Fixes an issue with the Log and Capture window that could prevent the window from closing.
• Fixes an issue with HDV to Apple ProRes capture via FireWire creating a QuickTime movie with no extension in the Finder.

Cinema Tools

• Fixes an issue with importing telecine logs.

Motion

• Fixes stability issues when using Motion on computers with limited graphics or system memory.
• Addresses issues with filters returning rendered results at lower quality.
• Fixes an issue with the Checkerboard generator rendering incorrectly in 3D.
• Corrects an image corruption problem when rendering complex projects in 32-bit float after applying a motion blur.
• Fixes issues with aspect ratios of shapes in projects created by choosing File > Import as Project.
• Improves the rendering precision of intersecting objects in some 3D scenes.

Compressor

• Corrects disk size limitation messages when burning a project to an AVCHD dual-layer disc.
• Fixes issues with long chapter names and titles not appearing correctly in disc templates.
• Fixes issues when inserting a DVD-R or BD-RE disc with data already present.
• Addresses issues with saving and changing music channels and video using surround sound.
• Corrects color shift when transcoding image sequences.
• Fixes an issue with WAV audio files when transcoding an image sequence.
• Addresses an issue with upload to MobileMe with files containing reserved characters.
• Corrects a problem when burning a Blu-ray or DVD disc from a Final Cut Pro sequence with 5.1 surround sound.
• Fixes an issue with display of password-protected movies on iPhone.
• Addresses a pixel aspect ratio compatibility issue.
• Improves stability when processing large batches.

Color

• Fixes an issue with CFX nodes not being imported when choosing File > Import > Color Corrections.
• Addresses several problems with the loading and processing of trackers.
• Fixes an issue with the green channel on video scopes displaying an incorrect value.

For more detailed information about the changes in an application, choose Release Notes from the application’s Help menu.

Adobe Systems has announced that they will be announcing ALL their new CS5 products on Monday, April 12.

As a note, we will be covering their announcement on our NAB Special Reports, which you can hear as part of the Digital Production Buzz. We’ll have more on that as we get closer.

One of the exciting new features in Adobe Premiere is what Adobe calls their Mercury Engine – a REALLY fast rendering and playback engine exclusively for Adobe Premiere. For those of you wondering what 64-bit memory addressing and GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) support can mean for video, you need to see what these new versions can do. This also gives MacPro owners a reason for owning all that horsepower.

Anyway, this morning, Adobe sent me a note about rumors that are floating around about this new version — many of them are not true. So, if you are interested in learning more, check out this Adobe blog posting debunking Mercury myths:

blogs.adobe.com/VideoRoad/2010/03/debunking_mercury_myths.html

Larry

P.S. I’m getting a lot of email asking what Apple is doing. I am sure that Apple is not standing still. However, April announcements belong to Adobe.

Recently, Apple released an update to its ProAps frameworks. These are behind-the-scenes utilities that provide shared resources used by all the applications. The new revisions are available via Software Update.

In Apple’s announcement, they indicated that one of the things they fixed was a series of memory leaks, which is something that Soundtrack Pro has suffered from since its initial release.

However, my philosophy is to ALWAYS wait whenever Apple announces a new update – just in case the new version does more harm than good. (You can read an article I wrote about upgrading here.) So, I didn’t install the upgrade until this weekend.

At which point, I immediately began having problems using Soundtrack Pro. After experiencing five or six crashes within ten minutes, and sending a crash report to Apple, I did the usual — Safe Boot, Rebuild Permissions, creating new versions of the project file using Save As — all of which did not solve the problem.

What DID solve the problem was trashing Soundtrack Pro’s preferences — something that we have not had to do before.

So, if you find that Soundtrack Pro is becoming unstable:

• Save your work and quit Soundtrack Pro
• Go to your Home Directory > Library > Preferences folder
• Delete com.apple.soundtrackpro.plist
• Empty the Trash

Reopen your project in Soundtrack Pro and you should be good to go.

Once I trashed this preference file, Soundtrack has been running reliably for hours.

Larry

Over at KenStone.net, David Saraceno has written a new article on “Reinstalling OS X and Final Cut Studio the Right Way.”

The first part of his series has been posted: “How To Create A Bootable OS X Firewire/USB Install HDD”. David writes:

“This tutorial suggests a long term strategy designed to produce a problem-free install, and a quick reinstall if problems should arise again — with the proviso that you spend a one time spare afternoon preparing the necessary files and materials. The strategy is intended to produce long term results and far less down time.”

You can read it here.

I mentioned Tools on Air in an earlier blog post, but now I have an audio interview to go with it.

Tools on Air describes itself as “A TV Station on a Mac.” Currently, they are only distributed by NMR in the UK and have only been shown at the Broadcast Video Expo in London in February. However, they will be attending NAB 2010 in Las Vegas in April, so those of us attending that show will have an opportunity to see them.

This product has the potential to completely alter the options for live video production on the Mac. Prior to this product, QuickTime limited the number of live video streams it could record to one. Tools on Air has found a way to increase that to sixteen HD cameras or video feeds, plus the ability to switch between video feeds live, add graphics, and create multiclips for Final Cut Pro.

Listen to this interview with Neil Anderson, Business Manager for NMR, about what Tools on Air can do and decide for yourself.

Click here to listen to the interview (TRT: 6:20 — 3.0 MB — QuickTime movie).

Larry

I’m spending the week at Broadcast Video Expo 2010 in London (well, Kensington Square, if you want to be specific.)

This is the UK’s largest show focused on video production gear. If you listen to the Digital Production Buzz tonight (www.digitalproductionbuzz.com) you’ll hear reports from Scotland and the BVE show.

However, after I finished recording this week’s show, I discovered two interesting products at the show that I want to share with you.

First, is Gridiron Flow. This software tracks what files are used in your projects, the amount of time you spend working on a project, and helps you backup and archive the elements in your projects — all, essentially, automatically. While I can see how it can be a tremendous timesaver for Photoshop and digital still artists, I’m still pondering its usefulness in a Final Cut workflow. However, Apple is talking about it recently, so this is definitely worth checking out.

Second, is: Tools on Air. Basically, this is a TV Station/broadcast facility on a Mac. This is brand new, from an Austrian company. NMR is their sole distributor and they are looking for US distribution. This puts the power of multi-camera ingest, switching, recording, and playout in a Mac. A single MacPro can handle up to eight cameras and two MacPros connected together can handle up to 16 cameras.

If you were looking at the Newtek Tricaster, this was announced two days ago and is worth a look. Pricing and distribution are still fluid – this is brand new and likely to get US distribution quickly. (Thanks to Jonathan Tyrrell for pointing me to both these companies.)

More soon, I’m off to explore. (I also have some new audio interviews with new products for 3D and RED that I will post as soon as I get them edited.)

Larry

I’m getting ready to head to Scotland, England, and Ireland for a two-week series of Final Cut Studio seminars. (You can read about where I’m going and what I’m discussing here.)

When I’m in London, in addition to speaking at the Broadcast Video Expo, I’m conducting a full-day class on plug-ins that work with Final Cut Pro for Academy Class. I’ve never done an entire day on plug-ins, so I’ve been doing my research on what to present and what to say.

One plug-in that I like a lot is PluralEyes from Singular Software. This plug-in allows us to easily create synced multicam clips in Final Cu Pro. Bruce Sharpe wrote it, along with another staple in the podcast universe called “Levelator.”

Anyway, Bruce is a cool combination of computer scientist and audio guy, based in Vancouver, Canada.

The reason behind my writing all this is that I’ve been getting a lot of mail recently regarding shooting and editing DSLR video in Final Cut Pro. While the workflow continues to improve, there are still some kinks that need to be worked out.

One of these is that DSLR cameras often do a very poor job recording audio. A great solution to this to record audio on a different piece of gear than you record the video – a process called “double-system recording.”

Hollywood has been doing this for years and it works great. However, if you aren’t used to it, it can be very confusing. This process becomes more complex because DSLR cameras don’t shoot at the traditional NTSC frame rate of 29.97 frames per second, instead they shoot at the much more logical 30 frames per second. Which can cause audio problems.

That’s where Bruce comes in. He’s written a very helpful blog that discusses this whole issue, along with easy solutions on how to resolve this in Final Cut Pro.

If DLSR work is in your future, take a few minuets and read Bruce’s posting:

brucesharpe.blogspot.com/2009/06/dslr-dual-system-audio-999-solution.html

Thanks,

Larry