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Introducing Pro Media Tools

We're proud to introduce our newest product, Pro Media Tools. Pro Media Tools is a suite of ten workflow utilities focused on processing and managing media, with functions including detecting gamma shifts, editing QuickTime movie metadata, batch renaming files and more.

There are many features that have been in demand for a long time, including notifying when a render is complete, editing markers and adding timecode tracks and reel names to QuickTime movies.

Pro Media Tools also marks our first foray into supporting multiple NLEs. Version 1.0 supports Final Cut Studio 2 and higher and Avid Media Composer 5.0 and higher for Mac*. The Avid support is primarily aimed at people using AMA workflows. Adobe Premiere Pro support will be coming shortly.

The full list of tools is as follows:

Auto Transfer

Detects when a drive is inserted containing P2, RED, AVCHD or XDCAM media and can automatically copy it to your computer. It can copy to multiple locations at once and verifies the copied data to ensure its integrity.

Various actions can be performed after the transfer has taken place, including showing the copied files in the Finder, opening up the clips in QuickTime Player or, if the clips are in a compatible format, importing them directly into a Final Cut Pro project.

Batch Renamer

This is a tool for renaming lots of files at once. There are lots of utilities on the market that do this but what makes Batch Renamer different is that it is designed specifically for post-production workflows. Consequently, it can deal with a large number of files easily and there are lots of features for managing frame numbers, including reversing, adjusting padding, closing gaps and reordering.

Edit Detector

Scans video files to locate where edits and scene changes occur. It doesn't look for timecode breaks but in fact scans the actual video frames. This means it can be used on pre-edited movies or files without timecode tracks.

Results can be exported in a variety of formats including Final Cut Pro marker lists, Avid locator files and EDLs.

Gamma Shift Detector

Allows you to compare two clips for shifts in gamma. It's designed for situations where you export a clip from an app such as After Effects and the resultant clip looks dark or washed out when compared to the original.

Just navigate to the same frame in both clips and click the Detect Gamma button. It will compare them and give you a percentage difference between the two. You can then use this percentage to go back to the app and compensate for the shift.

In some cases, the pixels will be identical but the gamma shift will be occurring due to a mismatch in metadata. In these cases, Gamma Shift Detector allows you to sync the metadata of the two clips with one button press.

Project Overview

This app will show you all media, effects and markers in your Final Cut Pro project. It will show you how many times a particular media file has been used and allow you to batch enable/disable or remove filters.

It also offers comprehensive marker editing capabilities including offsetting, custom printable data fields, label presets (to label all green markers as "Needs VFX" for instance) and the ability to import Final Cut Pro marker lists and Avid locator lists into an FCP project. It's a great companion to Cut Notes, our note-taking iPad app.

QT Edit

Edits QuickTime movies. You can add and remove tracks, import video and audio from other movie files, add timecode, add chapters (you can also import/export these as marker / locator lists and DVD Studio Pro chapter lists) and edit metadata.

Quick Bins

It took some of our beta testers a while to grasp this concept so I'll try to explain it as clearly as I can. Quick Bins is an automatic bin generator that speeds up sorting footage in your browser.

There are several types of quick bins available. A Bin Range generates a group of numbered bins, allowing you to quickly create empty bins for scenes 1-100 in your movie for instance.

A Smart Bin automatically sorts media into the bin if it matches the criteria you have chosen (e.g. "scene greater than 11" or "filename contains MVI_"). A Smart Bin Range takes this concept one step further, where you choose the criteria first and then Quick Bins automatically creates Smart Bins for each variation of the criteria.

As an example, in the screenshot below I selected "File Extension" as the criteria for the Smart Bin Range. Quick Bins went through all of the media files in the project and discovered files ending in .mov, .aiff and .tif, so it created new bins for each of these types and automatically sorted matching clips inside them.

Render Watcher

Watches Compressor batches, Final Cut Pro / Avid render files and any additional directories you specify for new renders. It can notify you with a growl alert, a sound, open the folder in Finder, open the clip in QuickTime Player, send an email, send a text message or send the file to another application such as Compressor.

Timeline Tricks

Performs common cleanup and time-saving tasks on Final Cut Pro sequences. It can collapse tracks, replace gaps with slugs, remove unused tracks, strip filters and more.

Video Check

Scans a video file for illegal luminance values, flash frames and audio peaks and shows the exact frame where errors are occurring. Can output results to FCP marker lists, Avid locators, CSV and text.

The suite is available for an introductory price of $99 and there is a 15-day trial available here. It will run on Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6 on both Intel and PowerPC computers.

If you want to find out more about Pro Media Tools, check out screenshots and the user manual.

We're always keen to hear feedback, so contact us to let us know what you think and how well the suite fits in with your workflow. We have many more post production tools available here.

Update: Just a quick note for FCS Maintenance Pack users - when you install Pro Media Tools the FCS Maintenance Pack launcher will be removed and replaced with "Digital Rebellion App Launcher", so you will need to update any shortcuts or Dock aliases.

* Note: due to technical limitations, a few features of the suite are unavailable for Avid users.