I would love a thumbnail view in Reaper. Never have had any problems with it in Pro Tools (9&10 native). It totally would enhance the overview.
You should make a request in the issue tracker about this and promote the request with a thread here in the Feature Request section.
Reaper could make .reapeak files for the video part of an item, so it could actually be fairly quick as well. They've got code in place to display images on the timeline already. It might happen, so get to it.
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Is there a feedback by the devs because of this thread? The ideas are great to improve Reaper for post producers.
They might, occasionally. They have a lot of things to check, so you shouldn't rely on that. What they always see is the stuff posted in the issue tracker, so put up your feature request for discussion in the feature request section of the forum(this section), and write a good request for the issue tracker, and link the two. It's important to remember that they can't see everything, and they can't do everything when you want them to.
But they'll fix bad stuff fairly quickly if you can get their attention.
The bug report forum section is for discussing bugs and really bad behaviours(not stuff you don't like). When that bug is confirmed or you feel it's bad enough (again, opinions count for nothing, facts count for everything), post that information in the issue tracker as a bug, and link back to the bug thread.
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Maybe there would be a way for alternate scrubbing with any additionally key like Shift/Alt/Control (forgotten the official word)
You can scrub with almost any combination you like. Left-click and drag in the upper half of the item for example. Check the mouse modifiers in the preferences and see what you can achieve there.
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Also the selection method of PT is great for editing, just one track, and not all the time the "global" time selection.
That's the area selection request. See the link in my signature. Go and vote for it, and please write down why you want this as well in the dicussion thread of the request. Do not post in the issue tracker thread, but in the discussion thread. The link to it is at the top of the issue tracker request.
You should make a request in the issue tracker about this and promote the request with a thread here in the Feature Request section.
Reaper could make .reapeak files for the video part of an item, so it could actually be fairly quick as well. They've got code in place to display images on the timeline already. It might happen, so get to it.
Can you explain it a bit more how you code it?
Maybe you can sell your idea to the devs
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Originally Posted by airon
so put up your feature request for discussion in the feature request section of the forum(this section), and write a good request for the issue tracker, and link the two.
Ah, great. I'll do it later today. Now I got to go to the "Mai-Fest" at the "Kottie" (just perceived, that you are from Berlin, too)
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Originally Posted by airon
mouse modifiers
That was the word I looked for
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Originally Posted by airon
That's the area selection request. See the link in my signature. Go and vote for it, and please write down why you want this as well in the dicussion thread of the request. Do not post in the issue tracker thread, but in the discussion thread. The link to it is at the top of the issue tracker request.
i mentioned this in a thread earlier today about locking tracks.
locking the video track was of particular interest in that thread.
my suggestion coincides with the above request for thumbnails as
well as the track locking behavior.
i'd find it particularly useful if reaper users could both see
thumbnails in the video track as well as lock it from scrolling
vertically. that would make it a static reference track. while
the audio tracks below it could be freely scrolled and zoomed,
the video track would remain in a fixed position vertically.
horizontal zoom and scroll would work as they currently do,
only below it.
for longer form projects, anything longer than a few minutes, i'd
find this an invaluable feature for finding quick visual reference
to scene location.
i think that's, basically, what i was suggesting. hadn't thought of
multiple video tracks, though. if the video item displayed it's
content like the audio items do, video showing thumbnails, whereas
audio shows waveforms, it would be useful as a reference track.
Yes, it would need to be a feature request, refined and well written in the issue tracker to make it show up on their radar. They simply can't keep track of all the conversations going on here.
For the video thumbnail view of an item containing video, I propose we have a default image size of 160 by 90 pixels. This gives you a good overview and plenty of frames.
A comparison of 320x180 versus 160x90 versus 80x45 from a specific frame. ______
An example of how much memory and file space is used:
Video length: 7:02 16:9 ratio
@ 1 thumbnail-frame per second that's 422 thumbnail images
JPEG Quality 85 - average of 5337 bytes per thumbnail - 320 kBytes per minute of video
JPEG Quality 75 - average of 4167 bytes per thumbnail - 250 kBytes per minute of video(best compromise IMHO)
JPEG Quality 65 - average of 3353 bytes per thumbnail - 200 kBytes per minute of video
This would look a bit like this (with 4 pixels of padding on either side of every frame, which would change depending on zoom level):
Technically this simple overview could be stored in one file, just like a waveform overview is.
This simple approach does not take scene changes in to account, and we have to remember that live-calculation of overview data is exceptionally expensive in terms of CPU, especially for H264 compressed video. Thus this overview should be all the thumbnail overview ever shows, i.e. no additional frames by default. Perhaps a zoom threshold after which missing frames are added as the user can make proper use of an actual frame-by-frame overview of the video. That would have ot be live-generated however, and kept in memory.
Should Reaper in fact try to detect scene and angle changes, which is just a severe change in screen content and prioritize thumbnails like that or would this simplistic approach give a good enough overview ?
One thumbnail per second of video is pretty good since most people only strive to find scenes or locations with such an overview. Anything else could be handled by following the video window.
this sounds good to me, although, i'd go with the smallest thumbnail,
maybe even smaller than that. all i need is to be able to get an idea
of where scenes are. i need very little detail for that. once i get
close, the big monitor is what i use. the spacing between the thumbnails
also seems a bit excessive. all the info is much appreciated, though,
airon. thanks.
I'm coming from Samplitude / Sequoia. I'm amazed so far demoing the Reaper.
What I would like to say regarding post is:
- AFF/OMF advanced import/export (by selected range, channels etc) Samp/Seq had only basic one where you can export and import only entire project. Not good enough. We all know PT are industry standard. Ever post production work so far was delivered in PT format and requested in PT format. OMF/AAF is a must!!!!
- ADR click precount. It's 3 clicks before voice talent starts to record. It should repeat on every loop when loop record. It should work like this. You place to cursor on a place where you want voice talent to start recording. When you press REC, cursor should jump backards leaving space for 4 clicks. 4th click should be the position of the placed cursor.
- Automatic talkback switching, by sending MIDI messages out for hardware midi relays or to RME totalmix. It's amazing how much time you save when not have to press talkback button 3000 times a day. ALSO a Control room mixer with this feature ITB, when used lo-latency mode.
I'm coming from Samplitude / Sequoia. I'm amazed so far demoing the Reaper.
What I would like to say regarding post is:
- AFF/OMF advanced import/export (by selected range, channels etc) Samp/Seq had only basic one where you can export and import only entire project. Not good enough. We all know PT are industry standard. Ever post production work so far was delivered in PT format and requested in PT format. OMF/AAF is a must!!!!
That import and export is taken care of by AATranslator. They're actually working on PTF export, which is the session format of Protools 7 and up. They can already import it and export Protools 5 sessions(the last unencrypted format they released).
Runaway and John Lundsten are involved in AATranslator, so you can pop a questoin at them in this Reaper thread.
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- ADR click precount. It's 3 clicks before voice talent starts to record. It should repeat on every loop when loop record. It should work like this. You place to cursor on a place where you want voice talent to start recording. When you press REC, cursor should jump backards leaving space for 4 clicks. 4th click should be the position of the placed cursor.
That is currently possible if you use the metronone. Right-click on the metronome toolbar button in the top left of the default Reaper arrangment window.
Activate "Count-in before recording" (or playback if you like), set the BPM to 60 (one beat per second), set both levels to equal levels(because Reaper still only operates on bars and beats for this and the On-Measure sound could pop up anywhere) and pick the same custom sound (I made a 1 frame 1kHz sine beep).
0.75 measures(three beeps).
It may look like this, though I only set it to do playback for testing here.
I also tried to write a Perl script to produce EMPTY ITEMS drawn from a CSV file that any Excel-type program can produce. You would have ended up with a track per character and empty items with the lines and comments in the item notes, which for empty items display right in the arrangement(try entering notes for an empty item by right-clicking and picking Item Settings / Item notes).
In the end though, the studio you're likely to run ADR at already has a package fully setup, such as Protools with one of the many ADR packages or Nuendo 5.5 which has damn good ADR support, because it has all the importing and count-in beep stuff implemented.
One could write an extension to provide a nice tidy control panel for this sort of thing, which may be nice for music tracking as well. It's just a question of who is going to design, implement and test it, because it's a very specific application. If we can make it useful to more than just us ADR people, then Cockos might one day try and do it.
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- Automatic talkback switching, by sending MIDI messages out for hardware midi relays or to RME totalmix. It's amazing how much time you save when not have to press talkback button 3000 times a day. ALSO a Control room mixer with this feature ITB, when used lo-latency mode.
That may actually be possible. What exactly, step by step happens ?
Manual entry of timecode (alternative "Jump to...")
Please make the option to manually enter timetsode. As programs protools and nuendo. To quickly move from one point to another. Solution in the form of "Jump to..." (ctrl + J) is inconvenient because you have to spend a lot of time to enter characters such as: . and : between the digits of the timecode (for example: hh:mm:ss:ff)
To find and get to the desired point the mouse cursor. From this happen at a point in the miss.
I beg you! Do this please!
Thank you very much!
Please make the option to manually enter timetsode. As programs protools and nuendo. To quickly move from one point to another. Solution in the form of "Jump to..." (ctrl + J) is inconvenient because you have to spend a lot of time to enter characters such as: . and : between the digits of the timecode (for example: hh:mm:ss:ff)
To find and get to the desired point the mouse cursor. From this happen at a point in the miss.
I beg you! Do this please!
Thank you very much!
The developers don't read this forum, they only read requests in the issue tracker, and then perhaps look up the discussion thread of a particular request for more possible details.
The request you're making is already in the issue tracker, and you can vote for it here :
Then, the part we would like to add to Reapers capabilities. It is easiest demonstrated in another application, in this case Protools, which is the most predominant application in use for this type of editing:
better full speed video decoder ( thats in reaper is shittest even see on the world)
little surround panner ( look at the sony vegas pro or pro tools ,)
= little surround pan in track view ( full window when clicked in) for fast automation in viewer
- import omf or aaf
- timecode / frames in timeline sync to video !
better full speed video decoder ( thats in reaper is shittest even see on the world)
The latest version, which is close to release, can use an installed VideoLan Client player to play video, which greatly increases seek speed and compatiblity. The release adds much better compatibility on OSX for Quicktime playback. Christophe, one of the Cockos developers, is working on the video part, and is adding more options to control what engine used for what type of files.
There are still a few timing issues, so keep an eye on the pre-release threads for the latest video developments.
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little surround panner ( look at the sony vegas pro or pro tools ,)
= little surround pan in track view ( full window when clicked in) for fast automation in viewer
I agree with the small surround-pan overview. It is a plugin, so they might have to add some neat extensions to do that kind of thing.
Actually, I'm all for having a small EQ graph in the MCP as well if a ReaEQ instance is present.
Maybe I'll draw up a request for that.
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- import omf or aaf
That is being handled by AATranslator, which you can check out at their website. Those guys will do a test conversion to see if you're really getting what you need with the tool, and they're very responsive to feedback, so if you need that sort of thing, check them out.
The program can convert Protools sessions as well, which works very, very reliably. My fallback workflow is to import an AAF in to Protools, converting any MXF media that Avid Media Composer might send my way, and then convert that to a Reaper session. Works great and is pretty fast too.
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- timecode / frames in timeline sync to video !
That's where timing issues come up right now. 29.97df has some problems, as does 23.976. Those problems are actively being worked on right now. If you want to help out, check in to the pre-release forum.
The "Go To" function(view menu) is a little dumb but works.
For the most part, I'm having little to no problems working with video in Reaper and mix a bunch of web content with it on a ragular basis. (youtube.com/commft Top10 for example)
And don't forget to vote on the stuff that is useful to you. Vote in the Issue Tracker threads (see links below for examples) and discuss the feature requests in the Discussion Threads, which are often highlighted at the top of issue tracker threads.
Pop any questions you like. We don't get everything we want when we want it, but the COckos guys do make a good effort and we have to try to support them as much as possible to get what we need.
ok i`m waiting for more features for postproduction all other options it`s super !
need it a cursor on the only one track/item like in pro tools (not on all tracks )
May I direct your attention to the "Area Selection" request, which lists that as one of the desired traits. You can vote for it by following the link in my signature.
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aatranslator ? it`s free ? ...
It's a tool that will cost you a moderate $60 for the normal version, and $160 for the version that includes Protools, OMF and AAF conversion. It's a specialist tool that took a lot of resources to make. Low price for what it does. You can get an example converted for you by the people that make AATranslator, to make sure it works for you. Take a look at their website to see what it can do.
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maybe when imported session from premiere pro or other stuff will be better maybe more people seriously gonna try to soundish the movies in Reaper
pro tools too many cash price $
It depends how the production you are part of works. If you're working all by yourself or with people who use Reaper, you can stay in Reaper and enjoy all the benefits. Should you need to deliver Protools sessions, you can still use Reaper, and AATransaltor to convert the session, but you'll have to stay away from item gain and item fx. Before conversion, you'll need to save a new version of your Reaper session in which all audio media are of the same bit and sample rate too.
Protools 10 costs $700. If it doesn't make the user money, it's kinda of an expensive tape recorder for most people. Not really worth it, as Reaper and Studio One are better at many practical things.
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it`s possible unlink an audio from video ?
I recommend you create a new audio file with a tool like MPEG Streamclip from the video file, since the FFMPEG libraries has not been reliable for audio/video sync. VLC might be, but I haven't done detailed tests yet.
MPEG Streamclip is available at squared5.com and is free. It can handle MP4, Quicktime and AVI files. Look under File/"Export to Audio" after starting the tool. You'll need to have Quicktime installed to use it, which is no big deal though.
I always do that when I receive a video file with audio in it, so I have the audio separately on another track.
For the most part, I'm having little to no problems working with video in Reaper and mix a bunch of web content with it on a ragular basis. (youtube.com/commft Top10 for example)
You made the Teaser: i46 TF2 Documentary video in Reaper? amazing!
Reaper has been great for that kind of content. It needs a little more preperation for any automation-related tasks. God help you if you add a plugin to a slew of existing tracks and you want to automate them .
That was mixed like I would mix a TV show or film. Reapers strengths and weaknesses showed up in force in that project.
It's easy to quickly design or compose stuff in a second project tab, sync stuff to picture because the video can follow the snap offset of an item, control the volume of as many items at once as I like, toss a plugin on a problem item and render as new take and much more, but it was very hard to handle automation in Reaper, because everything is so manual and in many important areas very slow. But since this wasn't a commercial mixing project, I could take all the time I needed.
What I miss in Reaper the most and could have used in projects like this is a reliable frame grid, automation functions, insert multiple tracks from a template and perhaps additional mixing controls on the TCP. I would have loved to tweak sends from the TCP, instead of having to change to another window or have to open another window.
He, I just discovered a post from 2007 where the PT move region (item) sync point (snap offset) to edit cursor is requested. I'd like to push that again. Else I'd have to learn Python first for this small function...
Oh, and another:
I desperately need to see the Notes and Description Row for metadata in BWF files... maybe an editing function too.
Hold on, you continue to become better and better
He, I just discovered a post from 2007 where the PT move region (item) sync point (snap offset) to edit cursor is requested. I'd like to push that again. Else I'd have to learn Python first for this small function...
Thanks.
Does "Item: Set snap offset to cursor" work for you?
No, I already found this action. All it does is setting the sync point / snap offset (corresponding to the shortcut cmd+, in PT.
What I miss is one common way to use this in-item marker to send the item (e.g. via shift+ctrl+click) with its snap offset to the edit marker. Useful for postpro syncing sounds / dialog to the right frame in picture without trimming the left edge of the item first and then extend it back left again...
I think every dialog cutter / sound editor coming from PT would miss it.
Concerning snapping an item to the edit cursor so it's snap offset falls on the edit cursor, I used to be able to do this.
"Item: Move item under mouse cursor to edit cursor" is the one I'm using.
Believe me when I say that the Modifier + Click method is less accurate than this, and I've been editing dialog for 15 years, mostly on PT. It's just easier and doesn't involve caring where in the item my mouse cursor is.
A nasty thing happened some time ago, when that action no longer used the snap offset as its target location of where the item would end up.
It used to be this way, now it isn't, and I have to move stuff manually, which isn't a huge deal since the snap offset will have the item snapping to the edit cursor for example.
Also, you can have the video follow the snap offset instead of the items start, which by default sits at the start of the item.
That said however, I'll probably need to request an "Item: Move..." action that used the snap offset and not the item start.
You do however have actions to move the items so the END of the item falls on the editor cursor.
Item edit: Move right edge of item under mouse cursor to edit cursor
I put that in to a macro that unselects all items first btw, so I don't accidentally move anything but the stuff my mouse cursor is over.
Find that action by entering Move Right Edge in the search box.
It pays off to search around in the action list for clever things to do.
Btw, in case you didn't know, you can put a macro or action like that on a toolbar button, and then RIGHT-CLICK on that toolbar button to arm the mouse cursor with that action.
That means whatever you then left-click, that action/macro will then be peformed until you right-click on the toolbar button again.
People love discussing this stuff here. It's one of Reapers cadinal strenghts.
Yes! I have been annoyed by the same thing! ...perhaps a FR is needed
I've been using "Xenakios/SWS: Move selected items to edit cursor" along with "select items under mouse cursor" in a macro and it still seems to line up to the sync point of the item.
While it may not be ideal from a new user perspective to be using a third party command to accomplish the task if you need it to work then this is one way to do it.
I've been thinking I should do up a little video of how I've got things working as I'm quite happy recording/editing/positioning foley and sfx in Reaper now. Perhaps someone may be further helped by it. I've embraced the non-time/item selection nature of Reaper and have found more than a few big speed advantages once I let go of that mindset. It's kind of like unlinking timeline and edit selection in PT but much easier to work with in a comprehensive manner.
Reaper has been great for that kind of content. It needs a little more preperation for any automation-related tasks. God help you if you add a plugin to a slew of existing tracks and you want to automate them .
That was mixed like I would mix a TV show or film. Reapers strengths and weaknesses showed up in force in that project.
It's easy to quickly design or compose stuff in a second project tab, sync stuff to picture because the video can follow the snap offset of an item, control the volume of as many items at once as I like, toss a plugin on a problem item and render as new take and much more, but it was very hard to handle automation in Reaper, because everything is so manual and in many important areas very slow. But since this wasn't a commercial mixing project, I could take all the time I needed.
What I miss in Reaper the most and could have used in projects like this is a reliable frame grid, automation functions, insert multiple tracks from a template and perhaps additional mixing controls on the TCP. I would have loved to tweak sends from the TCP, instead of having to change to another window or have to open another window.
This is just amazing! great editing, enjoy the video, really felt immersed and the panning and effects just great. I love your workflow as well , what theme is that? I'd like to try it out, seems really simple.
Now my confidence in mixing big projects is restored. I'm guessing majority of those tracks had to be rendered as a new take. Anyway, I totally understand where your coming from. Do you think any devs will see this thread and take some notes?
I've been using "Xenakios/SWS: Move selected items to edit cursor" along with "select items under mouse cursor" in a macro and it still seems to line up to the sync point of the item.
While it may not be ideal from a new user perspective to be using a third party command to accomplish the task if you need it to work then this is one way to do it.
I've been thinking I should do up a little video of how I've got things working as I'm quite happy recording/editing/positioning foley and sfx in Reaper now. Perhaps someone may be further helped by it. I've embraced the non-time/item selection nature of Reaper and have found more than a few big speed advantages once I let go of that mindset. It's kind of like unlinking timeline and edit selection in PT but much easier to work with in a comprehensive manner.
Yep a video would help most people, especially when putting it on YouTube. That last part you mention, I'm having trouble visualizing and understanding.. I guess because I mainly do music vocal editing.
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