Quicktime movie

[batj]

from a newbie in that field:
it's possible to import a Quicktime movie in PT (I mean the picture...), but only one in a session, am I right?
Is there any way to import several Quicktime movies in the same session?

Is it really possible to do audio-to-picture work with Quicktime?
What are the drawbacks?

Thank you to all of you having experience in that matter, I'm planning doing audio for an animation project, and want to know how much I can do with my set-up (and what I'll have to do elsewhere).

[Mr T]

"Is there any way to import several Quicktime movies in the same session?"

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">No. The only way to do this would be to use Saved as copies of your session (as many as the number of movies) and import a different movie in each created copy of the session.
I agree that it would be pretty convenient to be able to import several movies (specially when it comes to ad. or animation work, which are often small format movies, and which often requires the same SFX /Music/Foleys to be used several times in different "movies"->ex for ad.=30"version, then 15" version of the same ad.).

"Is it really possible to do audio-to-picture work with Quicktime?
What are the drawbacks?"

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I'm doing it for short movies and ads, but I'm mostly working on music or SFX at home. As you might know, this doesn't require a perfectly-totally precise sync.
Now ,I wouldn't work on foleys (is that the word for footsteps, doors slamming, and various such noises?...) or actors post synchro (?). The movie window is too small ( even if , in my case, with my settings, it fills about half of my monitor) and the sync. can be sliding a little, depending on the system (CPU,RAM,HD) used and the size of the movie. Others might tell you they're doing it and it's working fine. I wouldn't personnaly take such jobs at home. Specially when it comes to animations where ALL sounds have to be created from scratch !
Just my opinion and personnal experience.

[batj]

Thanks Mr T for the advice.
And yes, foley is the word for steps and doors and props...
I actually did work in that field in a time when DAW were non existent.

Well, my idea was to prepare at home with my iBook small sessions based on Quicktime movies, which will be fragments of a 30 mn animation film, sent to me by the picture team as long as the work progress.
I can search in my sound libraries, create electronic noises, etc... at home, and thus save time in a bigger studio.
I understand this is less than ideal, but probably I can anyway do some job.
The problem of how to integrate those small sessions in a bigger session has to be solved, anyway.

[Mr T]

"my idea was to prepare at home (...) as long as the work progress.
I can search in my sound libraries, create electronic noises, etc... at home, and thus save time in a bigger studio.
I understand this is less than ideal, but probably I can anyway do some job."

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Of course you can !... I thought you were talking full project here (from scratch to end->audio master delivered to the client).
As far as preparation's concerned, PTLE+QT is more than a decent set up to work with.
I often do this at home for commercials.
I import all of the sounds I need in PTLE (foleys, music), edit them while syncing to a rough editing of the picture delivered by the client (while the client is still working on picture's finalization that won't change a lot the original editing->Edit Box, Henry, Flame...).
When I'm done, I just burn the whole thing to CD and take it to the 200$/hour studio to work on the final master. My clients love me ! This often saves them 8 to 10 hours of work in the 200$/hour studio (which is way too big and well equiped to just search sounds or do some pre-editing)...
Good work and keep me posted if you need any advices.

[batj]

Well, that's exactly what I wanted to know.
I actually worked a lot doing audio-to-picture, but it was 10 years ago, so it was Betacam-VITC-dedicated DAW (at the beginning 1 inch video-analog 24 tracks-manual console. And coffee break each time you push rewind). And I owned the studio.
Very different now, and I changed too.

It's too much fun to be able to do such a great deal of work on a portable set-up, at home, or anywhere else. For example a bigger studio.

I love this technology, sometimes.

Anyway, for long projects that you cut in more manageable bits, how do you integrate this pieces to the growing project? If you want to keep the thing at the session level, I mean.
I already know how to transfer SD2 files.
I would like to go farther.
There is no TC sync in any way, all right?
No time stamping of the sound files, except based on the starting point of an arbitrary session (that start being the start of the Quicktime movie you import, right?)
So how do you transfer the WORK you put in a session? Sure, you can premix things, but that's not realistic for a big project requiring changes at the smallest level until the last time...
How do you insert a session in a session?
Put it at the end of an already existing session, nudge a bit the whole thing to fit, and there you go? How do you do that?
Import tracks, one by one, on more tracks of the big session? Tedious. Doable. If no better way...

[batj]

Well, that's exactly what I wanted to know.
I actually worked a lot doing audio-to-picture, but it was 10 years ago, so it was Betacam-VITC-dedicated DAW (at the beginning 1 inch video-analog 24 tracks-manual console. And coffee break each time you push rewind). And I owned the studio.
Very different now, and I changed too.

It's too much fun to be able to do such a great deal of work on a portable set-up, at home, or anywhere else. For example a bigger studio.

I love this technology, sometimes.

Anyway, for long projects that you cut in more manageable bits, how do you integrate this pieces to the growing project? If you want to keep the thing at the session level, I mean.
I already know how to transfer SD2 files.
I would like to go farther.
There is no TC sync in any way, all right?
No time stamping of the sound files, except based on the starting point of an arbitrary session (that start being the start of the Quicktime movie you import, right?)
So how do you transfer the WORK you put in a session? Sure, you can premix things, but that's not realistic for a big project requiring changes at the smallest level until the last time...
How do you insert a session in a session?
Put it at the end of an already existing session, nudge a bit the whole thing to fit, and there you go? How do you do that?
Import tracks, one by one, on more tracks of the big session? Tedious. Doable. If no better way...

[batj]

Arrgh the double post syndrom again.

[Mr T]

As far as doubled post are concerned (don't clic "previous" in your browser once you're post has been edited, that's how it happens) , just edit your doubled post ("pencil and paper sheet icon") and check the delete post box.

Anyway, for long projects that you cut in more manageable bits, how do you integrate this pieces to the growing project? If you want to keep the thing at the session level, I mean.
I already know how to transfer SD2 files.
There is no TC sync in any way, all right?
No time stamping of the sound files, except based on the starting point of an arbitrary session (that start being the start of the Quicktime movie you import, right?)
So how do you transfer the WORK you put in a session? Sure, you can premix things, but that's not realistic for a big project requiring changes at the smallest level until the last time...
How do you insert a session in a session?
Put it at the end of an already existing session, nudge a bit the whole thing to fit, and there you go? How do you do that?
Import tracks, one by one, on more tracks of the big session? Tedious. Doable. If no better way...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Let me see if I get this right...You'll have different parts of ONE movie sent to you on a regular basis as the work on picture is in progress?...So you'll have to work on part 1, create the corresponding session, then part 2 will be sent to you = create new session for that new picture, etc, etc...
And,of course, when you're done (all parts are finished) , you want to bring all those sessions together in order to create one big final session.
Well import tracks is definitely the only option in PT !...That sucks, I know!!...Since tracks are limited, this is gonna be a real drag ! Let's say you have 22 tracks on session#1, you'll have to import tracks from the next session two by two (is that english?...), drag the content of those tracks (regions) to existing tracks, delete new imported track to make room and start again for new tracks. If you have 10 sessions to paste and 24 tracks in each sessions, that will take some time !
And I'm not even mentionning the risk of loosing sync at the "slicing" points (where two sessions meet).
I would personnaly ask for TC to be burned on screen, that could help.
And (maybe that's part of your plan) I wouldn't work on part 1, then part 2 ,then part 3 ... but I would ask to receive Part 1, then part 1+part 2 (ONE movie), then Part 1+2+3 (ONE movie) and so on; that will limit the risk of loosing sync at the end. When working on movie that represents part 1+2, for example, you'll just have to leave an empty space equal to duration of part 1 (that you'll have already worked on in session#1) and work on part 2. That way, when all parts are finished you should be able to lign them up in ONE session (with the full movie imported) without bad surprises (and perform eventual needed crossfades).
Regarding the transfer-import process, I wouldn't do it at home but in the TDM studio ->more tracks available= more tracks to import at a time.
For info, one of the studio I'm working in has a DAWN (by DOREMI Lab); this thing is wayyy too old but had some great features. One of them is to be able to copy a scene from one session (can be the whole session= all regions), open another session and paste the scene saved in the other one (using "copy to source", the saved scene will be pasted at its original TC position) ! Great feature.
Anyway, back to your case, you're mentionning TC. There's always the "TC Template" found last year by some Ducers (with TC in the nudge window); check the forum, there's actually a thread about this.
Hope this is not even more confusing (hard to explain with words, even more using my terrible technical english) and is related to your problem. Don't hesitate to keep me posted. I'm pretty sure others will also have solutions to propose. Hang on.