This is a pretty huge development for me in terms of my post workflow with the new breed of HDDSLR cameras - so I hope that many of you too willx be excited with the upcoming piece of software from Glue Tools.
I know that the developer has been working on this for quite awhile - and I’ve been waiting to share the news for a release candidate to be on the horizon. (Check the Glue Tools website for updates on pricing and availability - don’t ping me - I’m just reviewing the beta at this time and announcing it)
Of course - this workflow only applies to Mac people and Final Cut Pro users at this point. But for those who do use FCP - this is a very very nice solution that will solve many problems for a lot of folks.
So what does this plugin software do? Well on a basic level - it’s “simply” a Final Cut Pro “Log and Transfer” plugin. Stick a disk in - launch FCP - and open the Log and Transfer menu up and you’ll be greeted with the familiar FCP menu here.
And that’s a beautiful thing in it of itself. Why? As any professional editor will let you know - the log and transfer/capture process is the cornerstone of any good editing workflow.
With this plugin you can enter a REEL name, a CLIP NAME, SCENE, SHOT/TAKE, ANGLE and LOG NOTES. Not to mention of course - that you can scrub through the takes quickly - and even set IN and OUT points on the fly. (While the footage is still on the card - but I’d copy it off right away… more on that in a sec.)
This alone is a big deal. The goal of course is to get the HD DSLR workflow on par w/ the workflows that professionals out there are used to in the film world - then the entire HD DSLR “pill” becomes easier to swallow if you will.
Now comes the fun part - the plugin also allows you to make a DISK IMAGE of your CF Card. This is very very cool feature and would be my automatic first step in my workflow. This makes a sacrosanct copy of the disk (with all metadata, THM files etc.) in a spot you specify. That way you have all of your originial H.264 files forever. At some point I hope that camera manufacturers will catch on - and allow users to name their disks within their cameras… (i.e. set a REEL name on the disk) so that the whole production workflow can work more easily.
The next step? Well of course you can enter all of the SCENE/TAKE info as well as IN and OUT points - and the Log and Transfer plugin will instantly start to churn away at converting your footage into ProRes422 or ProRes444 - or whatever you choose in FCP. (The plugin will also import just the raw video files if you want w/o converting them- and it FLIES through this.)
The comes the NEAT stuff.
For one - this is the ONLY app that I know of that can read the Metadata from the Canon cameras - in other words - it can read out the Aperture, ISO, Lens and all other settings - and that’s AWESOME!
Until now - I’ve had to GUESS what ISO I shot this or that scene at. Now for the very first time - I KNOW.
And lastly - here’s what REALLY exciting. The software will create a VIRTUAL TIMECODE for you. It can read the metadata that includes the time clock from your camera - and turn that into a useable timecode. Obviously - this is not accurate down to the millisecond - but as long as you set your multiple cameras to the same date and time - it will be accurate within the minute. This isn’t perfect yet - but it’s HUGE - when you consider that prior to this there was NO WAY to know when a clip was shot within most editing apps. So when you imported hundreds of clips in FCP from one day - let alone a few weeks - it was an absolute nightmare.
This was such a hurdle that I until now found myself recommending tthat documentary filmmakers not try to shoot long term docs w/ the 5D MKII - the post headache in terms of finding what clips were shot when was too tough.
Now that’s changed.
Glue Tools will announce the pricing and availability on their site.
The plugin will work w/ the following cameras: The Canon 1D MKIV, 5D MKII, 7D, and the 500D/T1i.
I can also tell you that there are quite a few REALLY exciting things on the horizon for this emerging HD-DSLR market. As soon as I can share - I will.
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That sounds awesome! Thanks for sharing. Having the meta data in the video files would be a great help. Very cool.
Comment by Steven 11.06.09 @ 12:51 amSocial comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by gopalbalaji: HDDSLR Workflow solution from Glue Tools report Vincent Laforte - http://tinyurl.com/yenww77...
Trackback by uberVU - social comments 11.06.09 @ 4:50 amThanks, i like the idea, it is really cool, and i am looking forward to your updates
Comment by mens dress shirts 11.06.09 @ 5:33 amThis is great news. In my case, I am mostly excited about the meta data.
Te other nice feature of the log& transfer tool is how you can automate it. You can use scripts to automate the whole thing. No more drag&drop! Just plug the card in the reader and that is it!
But just to standardize the nomenclature. You should not type HD-DSLR by HDSLR as in Hybrid DSLR since they are already High Definition DSLR…
Comment by Alain 11.06.09 @ 6:45 am[...] Vincent covers the tool very well in his blog post. [...]
Pingback by HDSLR Log and transfer tool for FCP | Canon 5D tips 11.06.09 @ 6:51 amBack in the summer I thought it was announced that Canon bought this software from Glue Tools… is it back in their hands, or are they releasing it on Canon’s behalf?
Either way, great news - these features are going to help!
Comment by Bill Crawford 11.06.09 @ 10:04 amI’m looking forward to this tool!
Great preview, thanks for posting
Comment by Lars Steenhoff 11.06.09 @ 3:02 pmVery exciting news form an editor’s point of view. Let’s hope the company will be offering the plug-in it for a reasonable amount of money. But looking at their other products (that are much more high-end than this upcoming plug-in), I am not overly optimistic. Please, Glue Tools, prove me wrong!
Comment by Markus 11.06.09 @ 3:14 pm“…a few REALLY exciting things on the horizon for this emerging HD-DSLR market…”
New cameras???The perfect affordable camera?;-)
..and Vincent thank you all theses infos
jai
> Until now - I’ve had to GUESS what ISO I shot this or that scene at
Not true..
The .THM file created for each video file is simply a JPEG file, which contains both a preview image and lots of metadata about the video (including ISO/shutter speed/aperture/time the file was created).. If you rename it to .jpg, you can load it in any EXIF using utility (like OS X’s Preview application)
This is where Glue Tool’s utility gets most(/all?) of it’s data (including the timecode, which is from the aforementioned time-the-file-was-created EXIF metadata), just in a nice, useful interface..
Comment by dbr 11.07.09 @ 12:06 pmIf it is priced at $99 or under then it is a winner.
Over $100, forget it.
Peter
Comment by Peter Wiggins 11.07.09 @ 1:03 pmSO your working from the h.264 codec the entire time no more trans-coding?
Comment by Jeff 11.07.09 @ 2:37 pmHey Vincent,
This is great news, also not sure if you know about the peeps at the Magic Lantern project.
http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Magic_Lantern_Firmware_Wiki
They are doing some pretty interresting modification to the Canon 5D software and firmware.
check it out.
[...] It’s been a not too great secret that Gluetools is working on an FCP Log and Transfer plug-in for Canon media. [...]
Pingback by The Editblog » Thanksgiving Linkage: November 2009 11.15.09 @ 10:08 amThis sounds really great !!!
Looking forward to seeing it finally announced…
I hope they are thinking that it should cost the same $1000.00 that their other products are listed for. That would wipe out the small indie market who buy the 5D and 7D to begin with.
Comment by Bonzoix 11.18.09 @ 6:43 pmIf you use Downloader Pro, there is an option to synchronize the clock to the camera. Doing this with multiple cameras before a shoot would probably help keep things in sync.
PS. Keep in mind, clocks will drift over time so what I typically do is to keep my laptop synchronized using NTP to say pool.ntp.org and then syncing my cameras to the laptop. This way, you have a consistent point of reference.
Comment by Jauder Ho 11.21.09 @ 2:44 amGuys,
I’ve made a free util (well, it’s free now, not sure about the future) that can batch add TC to ANY QT file. (thus, also the Canon files)
It can do so either TOD (the time you’ve shot the footage) or ‘ rec run’ style (thus, each clip gets it’s own timecode)
Also, it can batch add Reelnames to get your footage organized.
Download from here.
http://www.videotoolshed.com/?page=products&pID=42
(Do NOT forget to set your colorsystem right in the pulldown menu!)
hth,
Bouke
Sorry for the double post, somehow i see different threads with different posts, and now they are suddenly merged….
Mea Culpa!
Bouke
Comment by bouke 12.28.09 @ 7:29 amHuh? It vanished completely from the Glue Tools website, even from the support forum, without any notice…
Hm…
Comment by Shamol Majumder 01.01.10 @ 7:04 amApparently Glue Tools sold the Plugin, let’s hope the rumour is true and Canon is the buyer. Since Canon isn’t in the software business, they might distribute it for free…?
Comment by Shamol Majumder 01.07.10 @ 8:31 amCanon is the buyer, question is when will they release it……
Comment by Lars Steenhoff 01.14.10 @ 10:43 amYou can see some of the metadata with the image browser software the comes with the 5d (Mac) , if you open a movie with it there is an icon on the bottom of the screen that says ’show shooting information’. It includes the shutter speed, aperture, ISO, focal length and colour temperature.
Comment by Thomas 02.02.10 @ 5:46 amLeave a comment
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