Protocol for Video Capture and Editing of nematode specimens with Configuration
2 (Pinnacle DV500 and Adobe Premiere 6.0).
I. Initialisation
-
Organise folders for captured and edited files, make subfolders
if necessary.
-
Start Premiere.
-
"Load Project Settings" page appears: choose appropriate
standard for Pinnacle DV500 (i.e. Pinnacle DV NTSC or Pinnacle DV PAL)
and take note of capture frame rate (in our case 29.97 fps).
-
Warning message appears: "No 1394 devices detected. Please
check your device connection and retry again". Just click Ok.
-
Select cascading menus "File" "Capture" "Movie capture":
plug in camera power, switch on LM, channel all light to camera and adjust
microscope to obtain even background in the video display.
-
Adjust camera setup buttons: press Menu on the camera
pad; set WHITE BALANCE to 3200K, SHUTTER to AUTO, AGC to ON; press Menu
on the camera pad.
-
In "Movie Capture" window: Select "Settings" page, click
Edit…
in capture settings box.
-
In "Capture Settings" window: uncheck "Capture audio" box,
click Settings.
-
In "Settings Pinnacle DV500" window, "Video input" page:
set sharpness to 100 and adjust brightness and contrast as necessary.
-
In "Settings Pinnacle DV500" window, "Video format" page:
check "OpenDML" and uncheck "Cropping". Ok. Ok.
-
In "Movie Capture" window, "Settings" page: click Edit…
in preferences box: select the correct folders for capture files and temporary
video preview files. Ok.
II. Capture
-
Place specimen on stage, select objective 4x-60x, center
part of specimen to be captured.
-
In "Movie capture" window: select "Logging" page and name
clip unambiguously; position part of specimen to be captured in the video
window, adjust 1x-2x magnification changer to obtain best coverage of viewing
area, and rotate camera until axis of subject is horizontal.
-
Turn up fine focus until specimen is just out of focus.
-
In "Movie capture" window: click on the Record button,
wait 0.25 sec, smoothly turn fine focus down all through specimen with
the other hand, click on the Escape button of the PC keyboard.
-
Move to other part of specimen and capture next clip, or
proceed to editing stage.
III. Editing (removes duration redundancy)
-
If necessary, open "Project" and "Timeline" windows from
the "Window" menu.
-
In "Project" window: grab film icon of a captured clip and
drag it into leftmost end of track "Video 1A" of "Timeline" window.
-
If necessary, check leftmost box of track 1A to display the
eye icon (for realtime display of clip).
-
In "Timeline" window: set second drop-down menu in lower
left to "12 frames".
-
In "Timeline" window: double-click on clip in track 1A to
open it in the "Monitor" window.
-
In "Monitor" window - leftmost controls: click play
button to verify completeness of captured clip; if unsatisfactory delete
clip and repeat capture.
-
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. If the left
monitor window turns grey, click on timeline track 1 and the left monitor
window to reactivate it.
-
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. If the left
monitor window turns grey, click on timeline track 1 and the left monitor
window to reactivate it.
-
In "Monitor" window - leftmost controls: Note number of frames
after DELTA symbol (written as number of seconds + number
of remaining frames, e.g. DELTA = 2:03 = 2 seconds + 3 frames
= 63 frames if captured at 29.97 fps).
IV. Exporting (removes other redundancy types)
-
Select cascading menus "File" "Export Clip" "Movie…", click
on Settings….
-
In "Export Movie Settings": select file type "Quick Time",
range "In to Out", and check "Open when finished" box.
-
In "Video" subheading: select codec "Cinepak"; set frame
rate to the approximate ratio of 25 times 30/DELTA (e.g.
if DELTA = 63 frames then choose frame rate = 10); set depth
to "Millions"; set quality to 100%; set frame size to 720 by 540.
-
In "Special Processing" subheading: click Modify.
-
In "Special Processing" window: scrub to frame with widest
outline of specimen; slide rectangle controls to crop background. Ok;
Ok.
-
In "Export Movie" window: select folder; type unambiguous
filename; click Save.
-
Premiere will open the result: scrub and verify exported
clip; repeat editing and exporting if necessary.