CS3 crossgrade discount for FCP owners

Overheard:

the Adobe store might be offering a nice crossgrade discount on the CS3 Production Premium to owners of Final Cut after 9 pm on June 1, 2008.

Update: It looks like already a mail-in rebate for US$500 off Production Premium or US$300 off Adobe Premiere Pro for Avid Liquid, Liquid Pro, and Avid Xpress users.

Use iPod Nano settings for Zune

I like Zune fine but it's not better than the iPod and iTunes (read about MS strategically innovating off Apple Spotlight search for a parallel). The navigation is not quite as easy and the software and the way it works with the hardware is still kludgy, despite having a few features up on iTunes. Integration with WiMP was expected, but the new app is more unwieldy, maybe do to DRM concerns.

You can get around not having shows on Zune marketplace by using iTunes to subscribe and download and set Zune software to pick up the files from the iTunes folder. That idea is sorta obvious but you can find real tips via CNET's Crave or Lifehacker, who pick news and tips from Zune fan sites.

In any case, if you're exporting video for the smaller Zune, you can use the iPod Nano preset found in many utilities.

Adam Wilt's P2 Purge utility

DV maestro Adam Wilt of ProVideoCoalition's Camera Log shared his utility on the SF Cutters list:

Question: "Once the P2 files are imported into FCP, is there a way to quickly delete the original P2 files (.mvx, or whatever they are) without having to unlock each one individually?"

Answer: "I have an Applescript droplet called 'P2Purge' designed expressly for this: it'll unlock and erase the file hierarchy on a P2 card (leaving the folder structure and an empty LASTCLIP.TXT file), then eject it. It can also be set up to allow folder purging for on-disk copies of P2 cards.

http://www.adamwilt.com/downloads/P2Purge_1_4.zip

Use at your own risk: no warranty of fitness or suitability; professional driver on closed course; files in mirror are bigger than they appear; P2Purge is not intended for the operation of nuclear reactors, air traffic control, avionics, medical equipment, or other life-critical systems; etc."

And if you're feeling especially technically competent, Adam still has his FXScript filters available; he mentions these every once in awhile in articles.

SF Cutters: Duck, Adobe, Ripple, Final Cut Server

SF Cutters are meeting tonight, Thursday May 29, with guests that include:

Wes Plate of Automatic Duck: "NEW Pro Export FCP 4.0"
Steve Martin, Ripple Training: "Soundtrack Pro and more"
Vicki de Mey, Robert Strong, Jeff Chang: "The Dead Sleep"
Kris Koch, Advanced Systems Group "Final Cut Server"
Kevan O'Brien, Adobe Systems "Adobe Media Encoder: Flash to Blue-Ray"

The event is at Adobe SF so you have to pre-register and see the details!

What Frank has learned at Avid

Studio Daily notes What Frank has learned at Avid, thus far. Avid's new frankness is via a new Avid product designer, Frank Capria of Xprove, FinalCutPro-List, ProVideoCoalition, Capria.TV, etc.

Frank's new Avid blog is Source / Record.

Trapcode on Horizon

Peder Norrby, the person behind Trapcode, announced the release of a new After Effects filter on the AE list:

"Trapcode Horizon is a 3D camera-aware background gradient and image mapping tool for AE7 and higher. It is the perfect companion to the other 3D plugs from Trapcode such as Particular and Form, etc. USD 99. More info, examples, trial download here:
http://www.trapcode.com/products_horizon.html"

There's a somewhat redder look at Horizon on the Red Giant Software site.

Update: On the AE-list, Jonas Hummelstrand asks, 'I can't see how "Horizon" differs from "Environment" that is included with Cycore FX HD? (Environment example movie) From the Cycore manual:
"Environment is a filter that enables the use of Spherical Map (Latitude-Longitude), Light Probe (Angular Map) and Vertical Cross images as environments in compositions, similar to 3D programs, where an AE comp camera is present and active. HDR images are supported for all three formats. When a camera's transform parameters have been animated, you'll appear to be looking around in the envi- ronment. Includes controls for horizontal panning and texture filtering. This effect would typically be applied to a solid layer the same size as the composition.'

3D Earths

Maltaannon has joined the ring of 3D Earth tutorials with the variously titled Advanced 3D Planets / 3D Solar System. He plans to create a to-scale solar system in 3D that you could fly through, so the 3D Earth tutorial is just a small piece of the bigger project, which would also be one of his CustomEffects.

Jonas Hummelstrand (with map and texture links), The Genesis Project with help from Aharon Rabinowitz, and Andrew Kramer also have planet Earth tutorials with projects. Kramer's Video CoPilot has a variety of planet and related tutorials with projects. Earth zooms are also popular and tutorials are provided by Video CoPilot and Digital Arts.

There are many more of these sorts of tutorials, even by NASA using their own images, and some for Google Earth Pro.