Options
Related

Creating DL2 content questions

I am designing content for a show next month, and I have a couple of questions of what I need to do. We are projecting onto a large circle that
is part of the set. When I design my content, video and stills, should I build
it in a circle, with black on the outside of the image, or is the image cropped onsite? If I create a looping animation, does it matter how long I make the clip? Would an 8 second piece work just as well as a one minute piece?
I will be creating all the video clips in final cut. Should I just work on a DV
720 x 480 timeline? When I do the conversion to mpeg, I have Compressor 3.02, and Sorenson Squeeze 4.5 suite. Would either of these programs work?

Thanks for your help.
  • 0
    First, I would go through the "Custom Content Page" on the High End Site here. That will help on most of your questions.

    Personally, I would create the content full size (640x480 for DL2 or 1024x768 for DL3/Axon) and add a circle mask from within the DL2 to work for your set. Depending on the needs, I would create the mask in photoshop as a PNG that way you can scale different sides and sizes, however, this would take up one of your layers. This has advantages and disadvantages.

    Go ahead and setup crop guides in Final Cut and when you render it, center cut it to 4:3 rather than full size.

    For conversion to MPEG2, HES only recommends 2 setups. Episode (Mac or PC) or TMPGEnc 4. From the content page, "At this time we do not endorse Apple's, Compressor 3 or Autodesk's Cleaner software as they cannot produce all "I" frames mpeg-2 files compliant with DL.2/Axon." I used to to Compressor 2 for MPEG2 stuff and never had a problem, but you might run into issues as footage is used later. I personally use Episode as I am a Mac guy. Works beautifully. Very simple.
  • 0
    Thanks for your reply.
    When you say when you render in final cut, "Center Cut it to 4:3", I am not sure what you mean by that.
    Could you explain. Also, can the content be created at 720 x 480, or does it need to be 640x 480?
    Thanks.

    [QUOTE=jxgriffi;35036]First, I would go through the "Custom Content Page" on the High End Site here. That will help on most of your questions.

    Personally, I would create the content full size (640x480 for DL2 or 1024x768 for DL3/Axon) and add a circle mask from within the DL2 to work for your set. Depending on the needs, I would create the mask in photoshop as a PNG that way you can scale different sides and sizes, however, this would take up one of your layers. This has advantages and disadvantages.

    Go ahead and setup crop guides in Final Cut and when you render it, center cut it to 4:3 rather than full size.

    For conversion to MPEG2, HES only recommends 2 setups. Episode (Mac or PC) or TMPGEnc 4. From the content page, "At this time we do not endorse Apple's, Compressor 3 or Autodesk's Cleaner software as they cannot produce all "I" frames mpeg-2 files compliant with DL.2/Axon." I used to to Compressor 2 for MPEG2 stuff and never had a problem, but you might run into issues as footage is used later. I personally use Episode as I am a Mac guy. Works beautifully. Very simple.

www.etcconnect.com