VideoFusion Q&A

Q: What's the difference between Adobe Premiere and VideoFusion?

A: Premiere and VideoFusion complement each other nicely. While VideoFusion offers a wide variety of dazzling special effects for digital video, users with a traditional video editing backg round may find Premiere s editing interface more familiar. VideoFusion s editing interface may be more intuitive to those who use graphics packages or who have Macintosh experience. Either package alone offers both editing and special effects for QuickT ime movies, but the combination is extremely effective. Both Premiere and VideoFusion are offered in the Radius VideoVision Studio bundle.

Q: What's the difference between CoSA v2.0 After Effects and VideoFusion?

A: CoSA v2.0 After Effects costs almost t wice as much and has a steeper learning curve, but it is flexible for layering QuickTime movies and still images. With After Effects, you can adjust layers up until the time you render the final QuickTime movie. VideoFusion also offers a vast number of ways movies can be layered, but layering operations are done one at a time creating new QuickTime movies at each step. VideoFusion has many high-quality special effects including the ability to pan, zoom and rotate QuickTime movies over plain backgrounds , still images, or other QuickTime movies.

Q: Is VideoFusion a special effects or a multimedia presentation package?

A: VideoFusion is a movie making and special effects tool for QuickTime movies and PICT images. You can create and play back QuickTime movies or print movies to tape (with appropriate hardware).

Q: What file formats are supported?

A: VideoFusion can import and export PICT, PICT series, Kodak Photo CD, PICS, QuickTime, Raw, OMF, and AIFF files, and can save custom effects like Warp, PZR, Tr ansitions, and Morph data points.

Q: What makes VideoFusion 1.6.1 different from previous versions?

A: VideoFusion 1.6.1 includes:

1) Optimized support for Apple's Power Macintosh(TM) . A Power Macintosh computer running VideoFusion 1.6 will give video producers a 300% average increase in performance.

2) Support for Avid Technology's Open Media Framework Standard. QuickTime movies created and edited on the Macintosh using VideoFusion 1.6 can be transferred, edited and played on other platforms such as W indows-based IBM PC and PC compatibles, and Silicon Graphics workstations.
And
3) Enhanced chroma key filtering. Improvements to this feature have resulted in much sharper and cleaner mattes with fewer keying artifacts for more dramatic chroma key overlays, mattes, and special effects.

Q: What do users create with VideoFusion?

A: Users create movies for use in interactive CD-ROM titles, training programs, multimedia presentations, or for export to videotape. VideoFusion is also used to create special e ffects for short clips of video or film. VideoFusion has been used in projects such as Peter Gabriel s XPlora! and Eleanor McEvoy s music video Only a Woman s Heart.

Q: Does VideoFusion support QuickTime 2.0 and System 7.5?

A: VideoFusion 1.6.1 offers basic compatibility with QuickTime 2.0 and System 7.5.

Q: Do you have a Windows version of VideoFusion?

A: Currently, VideoFusion is available only on the Macintosh platform.

Q: Does VideoFusion support SMPTE timecode?

A: Currently, VideoFusion provides a time ruler in the Time View which displays a SMPTE format time for each frame, with the beginning of the file (frame 1) always starting at time zero. This feature allows the user to make selections of a specific duration for editing, and to place t he insertion point after a specific time interval. However, the representation of SMPTE timecode in the Time View does not reference timecodes which may be striped onto a video source tape.

Q: What effects does VideoFusion have?

A: VideoFusion offers a wide variety of special effects, including:

1) Changing the size of the movie (Resize, Crop)
2) Changing its speed or direction (Set Duration, Vary Speed, Reverse)
3) Combining movies (Blend, Chroma Key, Composite, Mix, Arithmetic, Logical)
4) Channel operations (Replace, Merge or Extract Channels)
5) Color operations (Balance, Cycle, Negative, Palette, NTSC Safe)
6) Filters (Threshold, Window, Convolve, Posterize, Mosaic)
7) Transitions (extensive library includes fades, wipes and dissolves, over 100)
8) Motion (Pan-Zoom, Pan-Zoom-Rotate). And
9) Altering the image (Warp, Morph)

The above list is not exhaustive. One important feature of VideoFusion s effects is that most of them can vary over time. The user can set key frames at the beginning and ending of an effect, and VideoFusion calculates the in-between frames.

Q: What kind of computer can I run VideoFusion on?

A: VideoFusion requires at least a Macintosh II series computer. While it will run on a Macintosh II, Performa, Centris, Quadra or Power Macintosh computer, it offers better performance on the more powerful computers (Quadra, Power Macintosh).

VideoFusion requires a minimum 5Mb partition, so the Macintosh should have at least 8Mb of RAM. Realistically, a user should have a minimum of 16Mb of RAM (24Mb minimum if they are working with 640x480 full-screen media). The Power Macintosh series seem s to consume more RAM consider 24Mb and 32Mb respectively.

Q: Does VideoFusion have EDL support?

A: No. VideoFusion cannot read or generate an Edit Decision List, commonly called an EDL. VideoFusion lacks machine control capability, so it cannot control a tape deck or set In/Out edit points. Recording is done manually by pressing Record and Stop.

Q: Can VideoFusion control a tape deck?

A: No. VideoFusion does not support any type of machine control. Digitizing is performed by manually pressing the Record and Stop buttons in the Record Window. The Print to Video command has a time delay feature to facilitate recording to tape, but the VCR must be operated by the user.

Q: Can you put VideoFusion out to tape frame by frame?

A: VideoFusion has a Print to Video feature which will allow the user to step through the movie manually by pressing the Right Arrow key to advance one frame. However, a much better way to generate frame by frame output (although more expensive) is to us e a DiaQuest Animaq controller card to control a frame-accurate tape deck, and to use their software QuickPass to play QuickTime movies back a frame at a time. Self-containe d QuickTime movies created with VideoFusion can be used with the QuickPass software.

Q: When using VideoFusion with the Media Suite Pro, does it matter if the video is compressed or uncompressed when transferring OMF files back and forth?

A: VideoFusion 1.6 supports several Avid AVR levels. The higher the AVR level, the better quality the video. Video compression offers None, JPEG (high quality), and several choices that allow Avid systems to import data directly.

VideoFusion 1.6 can import and export video and audio files in the AVID standard Open Media Framework Interchange Format. This is a cross platform standard developed by AVID and adopted by the Interactive Multimedia Association (IMA) as a recommended practice for data exchange. This allows transfer of video and audio files to other programs on the Macintosh that support OMF interchange, as well as other platforms that support it, such as Windows and Silicon Graphics. When importing OMF files, VideoFusion will present the user with a dialog that enables the user to choose to import an audio or video track. If the OMF file has multiple tracks, the user must import each track separately.

Q: What customers use VideoFusion?

A: VideoFusion s primary customer base is CD-ROM producers, and those people using digital technology to create interactive experiences on the Macintosh or PC. VideoFusion also has users in the professional video arena and the business, education and hom e markets. VideoFusion provides powerful special effects making it an attractive tool for these markets.

Q: Will VideoFusion s native version run on both a regular Macintosh and a Power Macintosh?

A: VideoFusion 1.6 and later is a fat-binary application, meaning that it contains code for both the Power Macintosh and the 68K or Motorola 68000 processor-based Macintosh. The program will run on either type of Macintosh, although it will be faster on a Power Macintosh.

Q: What advantages does the native Power Macintosh version of VideoFusion offer?

A: A Power Macintosh computer running VideoFusion 1.6 or later will give video producers a 300% average increase in performance.

Q: How long is rendering time?

A: Rendering time depends on many factors, including frame size and compression settings. Larger frames take longer to compress than smaller ones. Additionally, some compressors, such as Cinepak, have very slow algorithms. Rendering speed is usually va stly improved on a Power Macintosh.

Q: Do I need anything else besides VideoFusion if I want to get video on and off the Macintosh?

A: VideoFusion by itself is a software package. While it can work with a variety of QuickTime video capture hardware devices, it cannot by itself bring video on or off the Macintosh. One option would be an AV-equipped Macintosh computer, which has the v ideo capture hardware built-in. For non-AV Macintosh computers, a separate video capture hardware device such as VideoVision Studio must be purchased. Prices can range from a couple hundred dollars to thousands of dollars depending on image q uality and features offered.

Q: Can I create full screen movies with VideoFusion?

A: Because of QuickTime s scalability, VideoFusion can create movies that are full motion, full screen. The user must have the correct capture and playback hardware necessary for digitizing at the preferred resolution and frame rate. Using appropriate hardware like Radius VideoVision Studio, users can print their movie to videotape in real time, eliminating the need for multiple tape decks or frame controlled decks.

Q: If I want to do full screen videos, what should I buy?

A: A Power Macintosh or Macintosh Quadra, a Radius VideoVision Studio (VideoFusion is included), and lots of disk space. The faster the hard drive the better, because the more bytes/sec the disk will transfer, the higher the quality of the video you can achieve. You may want to consider purchasing a fast disk array.

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