Easiest solution for FCP workflow to smooth a shakicam shot?

[Blair Erickson]

Have a handheld shot that has a bit too much wobble to it. I'm looking for the most elegant solution to smoothing a shot that has a bit too much shake to it in the FCP workflow. Is there a way to simply use the FCP smoothcam plugin or should I be working with something else such as Motion or Color to handle that?

BTW I know I've asked quite a few questions here, but I appreciate greatly all the terrific responses that have helped me survive my first harrowing ordeal with Red One post-production. I've got less than 2 weeks to finish the edit so I'm thankful as hell this resource is here.

 

[Rob Castiglione]

Smooth cam can actually work really well.

One thing though. Select just the bit of the clip you want to use (that is export it as a separate mov and then reimport it) otherwise it will process the entire clip which will take ages.

 

[Blair Erickson]

Okay so I'm working off native ingested footage proxies... do I just apply SmoothCam to the proxy clip in the timeline and it will work from the 4k in the final render or what?

 

[Noah Kadner]

I'd break that shot out and do it separately. It will not survive a round trip to Color as an effect.

Noah

 

[Blair Erickson]

So how do I use SmoothCam and still ensure it's applying the effect to the original raw footage and not the native ingest?

 

[Noah Kadner]

Basically you don't if you're doing it in FCP because you can't do 4K directly within the program. This is a better job for Shake to be honest... But running it on the 2K is likely to be reasonably acceptable looking.

Noah

 

[Blair Erickson]

I thought Shake was discontinued last year? Is there a way to still get at it?

 

[Ivan G]

Reconform, then add to the final clip. FCP does a pretty good job stabilizing!

 

[Blair Erickson]

edit: My question is simply... what tool/menu option should I reconform the native ingest using and into what kind of files in FCP in order to run the SmoothCam filter on them?

 

[Patrick Demers]

I thought Shake was discontinued last year? Is there a way to still get at it?

Yes, You can still find copies and it works in Snow Leopard!
I prefer to apply the smoothcam in Shake in 4K. It's more precise. Smoother.
You need to convert to DPX sequences first.

 

[Colin Hubick]

another inexpensive tool is Mocha, but as others have wrote, your best to export this clip on it's own and deal with it independently.

 

[Ben Brainerd]

edit: My question is simply... what tool/menu option should I reconform the native ingest using and into what kind of files in FCP in order to run the SmoothCam filter on them?

The issue here is that you don't want to render your proxy version of the smoothcam. And it's not likely to survive any Color round-tripping.

Personally, what I would do here is this: Make a note. Put a little text field over the clip, or write it down somewhere. Finish the edit. Send everything to Color (Or whatever you're grading on) and when you get back to FCP, put the smoothcam on. (If you're using FCP7, the smoothcam filter is basically lifted straight out of Shake, so no worries on that count.) Smoothcam is in Effects -> Video.

One thing to remember when doing any stabilization is that you're going to lose some of the edges. Smoothcam does a digital-zoom on the clip to prevent the bouncing-black-border you get once it's stabilized. So keep that in mind as you figure out your final resolution.