Under new management

Hi all,

I started this site a few years ago as a way to share interesting Avid tips as I discovered them during my day-to-day editing.  I rapidly became too busy to give the site the attention it deserved and then I made a radical left-turn last year and am now enjoying life as full-time carer to my two lovely children.  Although this is a temporary step away from editing I've decided I'd like the site to remain relevant so I'm handing over the reins to the estimable Kyra who runs the even more estimable Avid Assistant Editor's Blog and who also hangs around at Twitter at @AvidAsstEditor.

Thanks to all those who've chipped in with tips and comments, and most importantly, thanks to all the editors and assistants who share their knowledge and time with people coming up through the ranks, whether it be online or in the edit suite.  I owe a debt of gratitude to many mentors in my editing career, and I hope this site continues to be of use to others seeking to learn the beauty of the beast called Avid.

This blog and avidtips.com now belong to Kyra and I know you're all in good hands.  I'm still going to be on Twitter (and occasionally retweeting good tips) at @avidtips.  I'm keeping my twitter account mainly to stay in touch with the other amazing editors who hang out there.

Good luck and remember - If you can't resolve it, don't ever dissolve it.

Grant.

Cue sheets in the Cloud

My previous post described a cue sheet that adds itself up using custom functions in Open Office, a technique that would work equally well in Excel.  I took this approach because I was unaware that Google Docs has a scripting function that lets me do the same thing.

To cut a long story short, I've created a Spreadsheet template in the Google Docs template gallery that will add up your text timecodes.

My apologies to NTSC users (a large swathe of you), but the custom functions in this spreadsheet only work with integer framerates - 24, 25, 30, 50, 60.  The template I've created is for PAL, but you would only need to change the formulas to use other framerates.

Please note: The recalculations on this are slow compared to a desktop app, and I've had to use a second worksheet to handle some of the cuesheet maths - the TRT cell doesn't seem to work if you embed too many nested functions in it.

Disclaimer

A cue sheet that adds itself up

Cue sheets are a fairly bread & butter part of an online editor's life. The last thing I do when I've completed an online job is to printout a copy of the show's cue sheet and place it in the box with the tape. Broadcasters and clients expect it to be there, and it can become an essential tool for other post-production people further down the line, such as other editors who may have to be reversioning your show, and would like to know where the textless elements are.

You can easily just copy the timecodes and durations that Avid (or FCP, or Premiere etc) gives you - but I like the automatic check that you can get when your spreadsheet works out durations from the timecodes you've entered.

Up until recently I've been using the excellent Excel Timecode Add-in which adds some timecode specific functions to Excel. However, I've recently moved to a facility that's using OpenOffice (hey, we spent all the money on plugins, OK) so I needed a solution that would work in this suite.

The solution was to write a couple of custom functions in OpenOffice Basic that would work with timecode formatted as text (i.e. "09:56:13:10") and allow me to add and subtract these values. So, if you would like to have your own cue sheets that add themselves up, please follow these instructions:

1. Download & install OpenOffice for your operating system.
2. Start the Calc program in OpenOffice
3. Choose Tool > Macros > Organize Macros > OpenOffice.org Basic...
On the new window that appears choose the Edit button
4. Copy and paste the following text (2 Custom functions - the text can go before or after the Sub Main...End Sub text that's already there)

Function FRAMESTOTC(a,b)

Dim HrsStr, MinsStr, SecsStr, FramesStr as String
Dim HrsFinalStr, MinsFinalStr, SecsFinalStr, FramesFinalStr as String
Dim MinsInt, SecsInt, FramesInt as Integer
Dim HrsInt as Long

FramesInt = a mod b
FramesStr = FramesInt
If Len(FramesStr) = 1 Then
FramesFinalStr = "0" & FramesStr
Else
FramesFinalStr = FramesStr
End If


SecsInt = ((a-FramesInt)/b) mod 60
SecsStr = SecsInt
If Len(SecsStr) = 1 Then
SecsFinalStr = "0" & SecsStr
Else
SecsFinalStr = SecsStr
End If

MinsInt = ((a-SecsInt*b-FramesInt)/(60*b)) mod 60
MinsStr = MinsInt
If Len(MinsStr) = 1 Then
MinsFinalStr = "0" & MinsStr
Else
MinsFinalStr = MinsStr
End If

HrsInt = ((a-MinsInt*b*60-SecsInt*b-FramesInt))/(60*60*b) mod 60
HrsStr = HrsInt
If Len(HrsStr) = 1 Then
HrsFinalStr = "0" & HrsStr
Else
HrsFinalStr = HrsStr
End If

FRAMESTOTC = HrsFinalStr & ":" & MinsFinalStr & ":" & SecsFinalStr & ":" & FramesFinalStr

End Function

Function TCTOFRAMES(a,b)

Dim HrsString as String
Dim HrsInt as Integer
Dim HrsConvToFrames as Long

HrsString = left(a,2)
HrsInt = HrsString
HrsConvToFrames = HrsInt*60*60*b

Dim MinsString as String
Dim MinsInt as Integer
Dim MinsConvToFrames as Long

MinsString = Mid(a,4,2)
MinsInt = MinsString
MinsConvToFrames = MinsInt*60*b

Dim SecsString as String
Dim SecsInt as Integer
Dim SecsConvToFrames as Integer

SecsString = Mid(a,7,2)
SecsInt = SecsString
SecsConvToFrames = SecsInt*b

Dim FramesString as String
Dim FramesInt as Integer

FramesString = right(a,2)
FramesInt = FramesString

TCTOFRAMES = HrsConvToFrames+MinsConvToFrames+SecsConvToFrames+FramesInt

End Function

5. Close the My Macros & Dialogs... window (the one that you've just pasted into)
6. Download this example cue sheet that uses the custom functions that you've just installed.

Some notes and caveats.

• The functions have the same arguments TCTOFRAMES(a;b) and FRAMESTOTC(a;b) where a is the timecode and b is the framerate.
• The timecode MUST be in the form HH:MM:SS:FF as text. The functions search the exactly 11 character timecode to find the hours, minutes, seconds and frames.
• This only works with simple frame rates (24, 25, 30, 50 etc).
• The functions need to be cut and pasted onto each machine where you want to use the cue sheet.

Good luck - and feel free to amend or improve the functions as you see fit. It's probably fairly obvious I'm not a developer - so go for it.

Disclaimer

I'm on Twitter...

...with a strict 'tips only' policy.

You can find me here.

Checkvist - The Holy Grail of web-based to-do lists

This falls slightly outside of the purview of Avid Tips, but if you use checklists and to-do lists as religiously as I do in my day-to-day editing, then this might just interest you.

Just stumbled across a new webapp called Checkvist.  I've used (and abandoned) quite a few similar applications like Remember the Milk and Todoist simply because they weren't exactly what I needed.  Well, I've been using this for the last couple of days and it is so close to the perfect online to-do list that I think I'm converted.

The genius here is that it is a combined outliner and todo list, with one of the simplest interfaces I've ever seen.  I'm not much one for tech punditry - but if this isn't quite a big hit in the next few months then I'd be very surprised.

Disclaimer

A little resource for Marquee

Software: Avid (all with Marquee)
Platform: Any
Skill Level: Intermediate

One slightly annoying thing about Marquee, is that it won't display a 4:3 safe / title action grid inside a 16:9 aperture, the way that Avid's inbuilt grid will.

To get around this, I've made a marquee title that includes a 4:3 aperture grid which you can compose with, and then turn off when you save the final title.  I've only tested this on PAL (and Windows) but it should work for other applications.  At any rate, it would be easy to modify for other applications (like 14:9 aperture for instance).

To use this template you'll need to:

1. Download this marquee title file, and put it somewhere on your Avid so that you can find it again.
   
2. Start Marquee, and then use File > Open to open the file 4x3 Inside 16x9.mqp that you just saved.
   
3. Once you've opened the file you should have a safe action and safe title box with accompanying text.  These four objects are on a layer called 4:3 Safe inside 16:9.
   
   
4. You can then create your title on the Main Title layer and line it up correctly inside Safe Action.
   
5. When you're finished, click the eye icon (with the line through it) to the left of the 4:3 Safe inside 16:9 layer and it will be hidden.
   
6. You can now save your title and it will appear in Avid with only the elements you want, not the Safe Area boxes.

I've locked the objects on the Safe title layer so you can't move (or remove) them by accident.  If you create your new title objects on the Safe title layer by accident, you can cut and paste them so they are on the Main Title layer.

There are other ways of doing this, of course, but I hope for the dedicated marquee users out there, this might prove to be a useful technique.

Disclaimer

Excellent Animatte tutorial at GeniusDV

This is an excellent technique for simulating everything from painting on an image to writing text on as if it were handwriting.

Not to risk deluging you with new posts, but....

Benjamin Hershleder has just launched a range of clothing and other products for the fashion conscious Avid Editors amongst you. I'm particularly fond of the 'Media Offline' mousepads. Check it out.