Dashware - Anyone have any experience?

[BirdDog]

Hmm... Maybe you are doing it the hard way.

 

My plan (if it works) is to import my GPS data and create an overlay of the gauges for the entire flight. Create a video file of that. Then bring that into Final Cut Pro X, and use it as the timebase for my video. I can then drop whatever videos from whatever camera feed I like into the mix, as long as the time lines up, it will match.

 

For example... If I performed say a simulated engine failure 30 minutes into my flight, the gauges will show that in the way of slowing down, and whatever I happened to do next etc etc. I can grab any video feed I like from my 3 GoPros and drop them straight in. As long as the times line up (and that's actually an easy bit) then it will work perfectly.

 

One trick is to get a moment in time to snap sync all of your videos. In other words... get all of your cameras running and then make a loud sharp sound that all of them can record. It can be as easy as clapping once really loud. (take a time check too for GPS data) That shows up as a spike in the audio stream when you drop it into the editor. Align all of your camera feeds up at that point, and for the rest of the editing experience, everything is on time.

 

Hollywood has been doing that method for decades. ;)

 

 

[cscotthendry]

Hmm... Maybe you are doing it the hard way.My plan (if it works) is to import my GPS data and create an overlay of the gauges for the entire flight. Create a video file of that. Then bring that into Final Cut Pro X, and use it as the timebase for my video. I can then drop whatever videos from whatever camera feed I like into the mix, as long as the time lines up, it will match.

 

For example... If I performed say a simulated engine failure 30 minutes into my flight, the gauges will show that in the way of slowing down, and whatever I happened to do next etc etc. I can grab any video feed I like from my 3 GoPros and drop them straight in. As long as the times line up (and that's actually an easy bit) then it will work perfectly.

 

One trick is to get a moment in time to snap sync all of your videos. In other words... get all of your cameras running and then make a loud sharp sound that all of them can record. It can be as easy as clapping once really loud. (take a time check too for GPS data) That shows up as a spike in the audio stream when you drop it into the editor. Align all of your camera feeds up at that point, and for the rest of the editing experience, everything is on time.

 

I create a separate video of the file I want, in DW, then I import that into PD's MC designer with the original footage it came from. I can then select the original footage or the footage with the overlay while I'm doing my cuts.

 

Hollywood has been doing that method for decades. ;)

OK, I see a couple of problems

1) If you're working with MP4 files, the max size is something like 4GB. So if your flight lasts for a couple of hours, your GPs are going to split that into roughly 37 minute chunks. I

 

2) f you load the full two hours of footage into DW (if you can even do that?) and then try to render it all out at say 1080, your going to produce a file that will be waaaay bigger than 4GB, if that is even possible.

 

3) Now you have to load all that video footage into your timeline ... then you have to load your other footage as well. Now your NLE is going to be choking on data if it is even possible!

 

4) Now you have a full, real time timeline that you have to slice and dice to make the flight watchable, while still keeping all the video and overlay data in sync. Yikes!

 

The NLE I use has a VERY good multi-cam function. I have tried a few of the "professional" NLEs and none of them comes close to the ease and flexibility of PD's multi-cam designer. It allows me to load up to 4 cameras, synch the footage and then do like a TV director would do, that is press record and then switch cameras while the record is running. BUT there's more, I can skip ahead with the record off, select a new in point and restart the recording there, again selecting whichever camera I want as I go. In addition, PD allows me to import a separate audio file and use that audio, or use the audio from one of the cameras. As I do clips in the MC designer, it marrys up the selected audio and when I press OK, it does all the cuts for me and places the results into the timeline.

 

As I said, I tried Lightworks, DaVinci, Premier elements, Sony Vegas, Media Composer First and a few others. None of them do multi-cam as easy as PD.

 

 

[BirdDog]

Yep. That's all part of the process. :)

 

Mate, I process video files here that are WAY bigger than that. I guess, if you have never done any serious video editing, then it probably is a mind mash. Once you get experienced, it's actually pretty easy. The trick is a VERY good computer to process it all.

 

With regards to the 4GB files - Yep - no problem there. The GoPros are actually pretty good and when you butt those files together, there is not even a millisecond of loss etc. So you just bang them in one after the other. :)

 

 

[BirdDog]

OH...PS... It's why I shoot everything on my flights in 720. Unless I am going to be broadcasting professionally, there is no need (from my point of view) from shooting anything higher than that.

 

 

[cscotthendry]

John:

 

Yes, I shoot at 720 also, but I shoot at 50FPS to help reduce the rolling shutter distortion. That makes for more data, but the GPs with a bacpac battery only run for about 4 hrs and a 32GB card will hold that much data so all good there.

 

I found these on eBay and I've been thinking of experimenting with 360 video.

 

360° WIFI 4K HD VR Camera Panoramic Camera Action Dash Cam LCD display Sports | eBay

 

So I ordered one. 360 and normal video can't be intermixed, but the 360 gives the viewer control over what they want to look at. It will be interesting to see how long the batteries last in these things.

 

 

[BirdDog]

Hmm.. Seems a little cheap, and with this sort of stuff, you get what you pay for. That said, I am interested to see the results.

 

Keep us posted.

 

Cheers

 

John

 

 

[cscotthendry]

Hmm.. Seems a little cheap, and with this sort of stuff, you get what you pay for. That said, I am interested to see the results.Keep us posted.

 

Cheers

 

John

Yes, it is cheap. But then GoPro cameras (except for the top of the range) are not exactly "studio quality" cameras. But point taken. I had a JB HiFi "el-cheapo" sports camera that didn't work out too well, and this may be no better, but I'll only be out of pocket $80. I'm ok with that.

I thought about the 360 cameras for some time, but the incompatibility between 360 footage and normal footage has kept me away so far. But if they're this cheap, I can experiment. Even if it blows off the wing somewhere in the outback, I'm not going to be too worried about the loss of the camera. I'll be more worried that it hurts someone or that some officious person picks it up and tracks me down from the footage and wants to get my PC cancelled! :-)

 

When I've shot some footage and posted it, I'll put up a link.

 

 

[DGL Fox]

Hi Guys,

 

I have a GoPro silver and I used to use it all the time but the downloading then rendering on my computer took hours....as you say if you don't have top flight and powerful computer it can take hours...I have lost interest in GoPros and then you have the lack of battery time...they just run out way to soon but then I am no expert with GoGro...I think they are a bit painful actually...I prefer now to do live with a Iphone....much easier and no processing video etc.....

 

David

 

 

[BirdDog]

Hi David,

 

I actually never fly without a GoPro running. I use it to look back on the flight, but also in case something happens during the flight that I want to review. Not saying something bad - just something. I use it as a great learning aid too. I am only 60 hours in, so I look back on my flights and see what I can take from them. :)

 

has been invaluable trouble shooting my cool oil problems, and inflight adjustable prop.

 

 

[BirdDog]

BTW - If anyone is curious as to what happens in dashware for me - here is a link.

 

Dropbox - dashware.mov

 

 

[DGL Fox]

HI BirdDog,

 

I am not sure what battery you have in your Go Pro but mine only lasts for 45 mins if I am lucky, and when I do get footage it takes me hours to download it and then edit etc....what comp do have to do all of this? I need to buy a new laptop and I want to buy something powerful enough to do this processing of videos a lot quicker than I can currently do them because it really puts me off do videos now..

 

David

 

 

[cscotthendry]

HI BirdDog,I am not sure what battery you have in your Go Pro but mine only lasts for 45 mins if I am lucky, and when I do get footage it takes me hours to download it and then edit etc....what comp do have to do all of this? I need to buy a new laptop and I want to buy something powerful enough to do this processing of videos a lot quicker than I can currently do them because it really puts me off do videos now..

David

David:

Uploading footage from the GoPro or any other camera is limited by the speed of the USB port. If your computer has a USB3.0 port and if you can find a card reader that has USB 3.0 interface, that will speed up the data transfer quite significantly, like by a factor of 10 or more.

 

Editing is another matter, that takes as long as you like to make it. Doing a simple slice and dice from a single camera shouldn't take long.

 

If you get one of the BacPac batteries for your GoPro, you can get about 3-4 hours continuous recording.

 

Just about any modern laptop will do editing if you're not creating really long videos. The two aspects of editing that tax the computer the most are "scrubbing" that is dragging the edit point rapidly back and forth through the file, and rendering the final footage, especially if you apply a lot of effects and adjustments (like color corrections etc) to your footage. The disadvantage of laptops is not being able to upgrade your video card. The video card can have a substantial effect on render times.

 

Probably the most important specs for a computer for video production are 1) A medium to high end CPU and 2) As much memory as you can afford and 3) as much disk space as you can afford.

 

 

[BirdDog]

Yep...Like stated... Jump packs (portable power units) are great, or simply use the aircraft! :) My bird has a 12v Socket, but I use it for the iPad at the moment, but soon it will run the GoPro too.

 

With regards to editing, I use a Mac running Final Cut ProX. Probably one of the best editing suites in its class. No more waiting for files to render to scrub or preview etc etc.