Protocol for Video Capture and Editing of nematode specimens with Configuration
1 (Pinnacle DC30 and Adobe Premiere 5.1).
I. Initialisation
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Organise folders for captured and edited files, make subfolders
if necessary.
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Start miroVideo Capture
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"Mode" page: choose Advanced.
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"Settings" page: Set data rate to 4000 kbps; set sharpness
slider to maximum in "Image settings" box.
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"Projects" page: click Create new; name the project;
uncheck "Capture audio" box; check the "Full" bullet and "TV cropping";
select the correct video standard (e.g. PAL or NTSC); set frame rate to
25 fps in "Frames/Sec" menu.
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"Record" page: plug in camera power, switch on LM, channel
all light to camera and adjust microscope to obtain even background in
the video display.
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Adjust camera setup buttons: set ENHANCE to 5 in the VIDEO
ADJUST menu; set SHUTTER to MANU (1/120) and W.BAL to MANU in the MODE
SELECT menu; adjust white balance by eye.
II. Capture
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Place specimen on stage, select objective 40x-100x, center
part of specimen to be captured.
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Channel all light from LM to camera.
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"Record" page in miroVideo: name clip unambiguously; position
part of specimen to be captured in the video window, and rotate camera
until axis of subject is horizontal.
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Turn up fine focus until specimen is just out of focus.
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"Record" page: click on the recording button, wait
0.25 sec, then smoothly turn fine focus down all through specimen, click
on stop button.
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"Clips" page: replay captured clip to verify completeness,
number of frames (should be over 30 and under 60) and file size; delete
clip and repeat capture if unsatisfactory.
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Move to other part of specimen and capture, or close miroVideo
Capture and all other running programs.
III. Editing (removes duration redundancy)
-
Open Adobe Premier 5.1: the "New Project Settings" window
will appear.
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In "General Settings" select "DC30 editing mode", set timebase
to "25", time display to "25 fps Timecode". Ok.
-
If necessary, open "Project" and "Timeline" windows from
the "Window" menu.
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Select cascading menus "File" "Import" "File…", browse for
captured clips and import them into "Project" window.
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In "Project" window: grab film icon of a captured clip and
drag it into leftmost end of track "Video 1A" of "Timeline" window.
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If necessary, check leftmost box of track 1A to display the
eye icon (for realtime display of track).
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In "Timeline" window: set second drop-down menu in lower
left to "12 frames".
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In "Timeline" window: double-click on clip in track 1A to
open it in the "Monitor" window.
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In "Monitor" window - leftmost controls: click on Frame
Forward below display until first focused structures appear (cuticle,
setae, …); click Mark In below and Apply above.
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In "Monitor" window - leftmost controls: scrub to end of
clip; click on Frame Back below until last frame with focused structures
appears; click Mark Out below and Apply above.
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In "Monitor" window - leftmost controls: Note number of frames
after DELTA symbol (written as nr of seconds + nr of remaining
frames, e.g. DELTA = 2:03 = 2 seconds + 3 frames = 53 frames).
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In "Monitor" window - rightmost controls: Click on video
display and on play button to verify correctness of the marked In
and Out points.
IV. Exporting (removes other redundancy types)
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Select cascading menus "File" "Export" "Movie…", click on
Settings.
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In "Export Movie Settings": select file type "Quick Time"
and uncheck "Save Audio" box.
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In "Video settings" subheading: select codec "Cinepak"; set
frame rate to the approximate ratio of 25 times 25/DELTA
(e.g. if DELTA = 53 frames then choose frame rate = 12.5);
set depth to "Millions"; set quality to 100%; set frame size to 720 by
540.
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In "Special Processing" subheading: click Modify.
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In "Special Processing" window: scrub to frame with widest
outline of specimen; slide rectangle controls to crop background; compare
coordinates of cropping rectangle with its reported size (miscalculation
bug - see discussion), if necessary correct the coordinates but not the
rectangle. Ok; Ok.
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In "Export Movie" window: make and select folder; type unambiguous
filename; click Save.
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Premiere will open the result: scrub and verify exported
clip; repeat editing and exporting if necessary.