SnapzPro, H-264, FCP??

I'm doing movie screen grabs with SnapzPro. Which is making H-264 QT files. Which I import into Final Cut. Which Final Cut seems to be a bit confused about.

I can't get the 'frame sizes' to match up. If I do a 720 X 480 H-264 QT it doesn't fit the FCP sequence 720 X 480 frame (it's a bit smaller top and bottom). Same discrepancy with any frame size.

I'm doing some 'dummy' flying sequences in Google Earth ... to give our animators a more exact example of what we want. This is for an IMAX film, which is more or less a 4:3 ratio. It would be nice to be able to do this at a larger frame size also ... say 1920 X 1440.

Would anyone have a suggestion? The best way to marry SnapzPro export with FCP import?

Ben

You're using SnapzPro screen captures in an IMAX film? Yipes.

First off, you shouldn't be using H.264. Very heavy compression, and not an editing-friendly codec.

Are you using SnapzPro's "Fixed Frame Size" option? Even with that, I've also found some irregularities with the way SnapzPro interacts with FCP. But when I have to use SnapzPro captures for editing, it's usually a "last resort" kind of thing and I'd just scale up the clip slightly (one to three per cent should do it unless your original frame size was utterly wrong) to fit my Sequence Settings.


www.derekmok.com

Hi Derek,

No to first question. I'm just flying around the standard Google Earth 3D using a controller. I could film this off the Apple Cinema screen with an HD camera ... but it's a pain to set up, and the IMAX frame format isn't HD. SD has too much artifacting when I'm flying around - Google Earth is already a bit jagged in motion.

All we want is to get the 'moves' right in Google Earth. Then we'll have the animators build a 3D model and mimic those moves. This dummy version helps the director plan his moves, and saves a fortune on the back-and-forth with the animators. But I still want the dummy version to look decent.

I'm wondering, I'll have to check, if when I'm using the Google Earth app, I'm still having to access the web ... which makes for really pokey performance, and constant re-setting of the Google resolutions. Ugly. And getting responses from the Google Earth forum is a bit tricky I've found.

So I'm looking for the ideal way to do these 'dummy' sequences.


B.

FWIW,

iShowU is another screen cap software that's very user friendly.
i use it (have never used SnapZ)

using iShowU i found H264 captures to be slow and clunky. too much overhead on the processors with that complex codec, i suspect.
Prores, worked better, and will work a lot better for you in FCP.
DVCProHD is also an option.

iShowU is surprisingly affordable. might be worth a look.
[shinywhitebox.com]
there is also a new "Pro" version which looks pretty cool.


nick

thank you Nick,


I'll check it out. I finally set SnapZ to record in HDV 1920 X 1440. Seems to be working. It's a weird app. You shoot whatever it is you are shooting ... THEN it processes whatever you've shot. I can't figure out what format it's capturing to BEFORE you get to save it as whatever format you select.

The HDV did come into FCP the appropriate size.

I'll check out your iShowU, thanks for the tip.


Ben

hey, Ben.

yeah, that does sound a bit weird.
iShowU is instant, FWIW,
and most of the people doing screen caps for demo work prefer it, i believe.

HDV is another crummy codec for editing.
FCP can deal with it, but it;s can be slow to render, and can make exporting a chore

i'd still recommend the others, which are surely available in SnapZ, but see how you go


all the best,
nick

I've read a bunch of 'critiques' and 'comparisons' ... SnapzPro seems to come out on top, slightly. And I may have just stumbled on Ambrosia fans. But I like the idea of instant capture. I will try your iShowU.

I agree about HDV. But I'm on the road with only a laptop ... full on HD is a bit of a struggle (drive space).

When we move to actually DOING these little dummy animations (instead of me just doing tests before committing) I'll be on a tower and switch over to HD.

Thanks mucho for your help Nick, much appreciated...

Ben