I use a clapper for live video all the time. I miss having one for iclone. Has anyone done anything like this we can just add to the front of our takes with fill in the blanks.

I do this with naming conventions, but I still lose track of things and forget the sequences, and what a video is about.

Maybe, there is an easy way to do this without much effort. The graphic is easy to find, but writing directly onto the board graphic quickly for addition to the iclone scenes/takes is where I'm stumped.

Instead of having exerpt from the video scene, seeing the clapper board would be much better. Then you wouldn't have to guess at the saved scene you are loading. Often, when I stop on a project and go back to it weeks later I have forgotten and the name of the project or grouped props doesn't make sense to me.

So, with a clapper board graphic you read exactly what the scene and take is.

If you know one, I'd appreciate to read about it.

That would indeed be useful. You might try using the image layer.

The downside is that you would need to create the text as a bitmap somehow and paste it into the diffuse channel. The 2d image layer has diffuse, opacity, and glow. Maybe a quick screen grab from a text editor?

you could provably just take that image you posted above and import it into the software with the info you want on it.

Or you can just come up with a naming convention for your files based on project, scene, shot etc.


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Currently I have abbreviated project name, Scene # and take # as the name of the file.

The picture looks just like all the other pictures, because it is of the same project.

I probably don't need to make anything of this, because what I do is probably good enough.

I do get mixed up, mostly because I forget to rename, and do the numbers on the file name after the file is saved.

Also, when I save the file it is updated with every save of the file. I accumulate quite a stack of files sometimes. I also have a tendency to continue improving the file and not cutting off the scene, since my script is already done.

I seem to keep working on the file as everything is pretty well placed in the scene. I should cut off the scene and move on.

As for file-naming I do something similar: <project abbreviation>_<scene name>_<take>. I keep three takes, which are numbered: so, 1, 2, 3, and then 1 again. Now because it is hard to remember which is the latest one, I add a letter ("e") to that take number. So if I see LC_S04_2e, I know that Take 2 is the latest take of Scene 04 of the Lost Client.

Bookkeeping is indeed tremendously important for projects with multiple scenes. Sometimes I make a mistake and overwrite the wrong take... I do make a daily backup of everything so that has saved me a couple of times.

I like the idea of the clapper, though. An image layer would probably be the easiest.

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Wouldn't be hard to make one.. if you can wait for it a day or two. I'll even put in areas that you can edit the labels and write in areas. It's been a while since I did a prop, so I may as well give it a shot.

Would an exact style work as shown?

I figure reach targets for the top clapper might be handy too, huh?

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" If I had Alzheimer's (Old Timers), would I know it? "

Also, check your video editor track display settings. Many of them can display the track name instead the frames. I suspect many do both.

It may just be needless extra work if your editor can display the name at the beginning of each film strip already..

Simple yet effective.

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" If I had Alzheimer's (Old Timers), would I know it? "

That goes for a lot of what we do, obviously... It may not be very practical, but it is kind of a fun idea.

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