Help

[Larry Landolfi]

Friends,
Excuse the lengthy message here. I see that this forum seems to be for people who are pretty savvy with shooting and editing. I am neither of these. Here is my "simple" problem - I have a Sony HDR-TD30 video camera. Love it to death. Have the Sony 3D TV, glasses, the whole nine yards. Couldn't be happier with the presentation and product. The problem - how to share the experience with others, especially on the internet. I am a Mac user and have Final Cut Pro 7. I would simply like to create some red/blue anaglyph movies to maybe put on Vimeo (since I see that YouTube doesn't really cater to 3D people so much any more) and share these with others. That's it. That's it.
Was wondering how to do this EASILY. Would I need something like Toolbox LE? Remember, this Sony camcorder has 2 lenses shooting at the same time, so I'm not sure if they need to be separated in post production like I see in a lot of these tutorial videos.I really know nothing about editing, but if someone could really keep it simple for me maybe I could get it.
Just want to share some anaglyph movies online with others. That's all.

Thank you SO much for any info you could provide! Larry Landolfi

[Tim Dashwood]

Hi Larry,

At one time YouTube fully supported stereoscopic 3D so you could upload side by side formatted S3D and the viewer could select the viewing format (anaglyph, sbs, crossview, etc.) Google seemed to drop support for it about a year ago so you will have to make an anaglyph yourself using a plugin like Stereo3D Toolbox LE.

The only problem is that your camera shoots in the MVC format, which must first be demuxed into something Final Cut Pro 7 will be able to work with. Someone introduced new Mac MVC demuxing software to me the other day. It isn't that user friendly, but it gets the job done and it is only $100. Vision III | MVC Splitter

Once you have split the files into new mp4s (H.264) you can then convert them into quicktimes in another codec like ProRes422 for FCP7 use. (If you upgrade to FCP X you can work with H.264 natively after you change their suffixes to .mts)

I hope that helps.

Tim

[Roger Gunkel]

Hi Larry,

I love 3D video and have a number of different setups, but unfortunately I don't have a Mac. If you have access to a PC though you could try the Magix Movie Edit Pro MEP 17 or later. I have been using it for 3D for years and it takes mvc footage from my JVC GS1 with no problem and will output in most 3D formats including anaglyph. There are free trial versions available.

You will need to get to grips with some basic editing principles, but that will apply to any editing software. There is a tutorial on using the Magix software for 3D here Magix Movie Edit Pro 17 Tutorial 1, 3D Video Editing and there are two further tutorials in the tutorial section of that forum. They are downloadable from the first page of the threads, right at the bottom of the post. The tutorials show the programme being used with a voice over commentary.

Roger

[Larry Landolfi]

Tim,

I finally got around to getting a 7 day trial on that Mac Splitter software you said to try. The last line in your reply-

Once you have split the files into new mp4s (H.264) you can then convert them into quicktimes in another codec like ProRes422 for FCP7 use. (If you upgrade to FCP X you can work with H.264 natively after you change their suffixes to .mts)
-has me a little lost. I am NOT proficient in video at all. You'll have to walk me through this like a first grader.
Sony has a browser (if you want to call it that) that comes with their video cameras called Play Memories. I practiced with a stereo clip of mine and saw that it downloaded as an MP4 file AND an MTS file in Play Memories.
OK, what do I do (exactly) with either one of them and do I need to buy Toolbox LE? Thank you for your patience. Larry

[Tim Dashwood]

Hi Larry,

I'm going to assume you already figured out how to use the MVC Splitter software to create new L & R mp4 files. It's not my product and I've only used it once so I'm not really qualified to provide tech support.

Once you have mp4 files you will need to convert them to ProRes422 quicktimes to use them in FCP7. You can do this with Apple's Compressor, which should have been installed in your Applications folder when you installed Final Cut Studio.

You can then follow the instructions in the Stereo3D Toolbox User Guide to prep your files with our Stereo3D Toolbox plugins. Select "anaglyph" as your output format if that is what you would like to share.

I hope that helps.

[Roger Gunkel]

Wow, didn't realize editing 3D on a Mac was such a pain, glad I am on PC, its's a doddle :-)

Roger