AB Source Strobe Effect

This a simple strobe effect between an A and a B clip as requested elsewhere on the forum.

ADDITION: The latest version is now titled "Free Strobe" to stop any conflicts with this version and can be found in the free "Template Master" app on the "Mac App Store".

NocoDave wrote:

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This a simple strobe effect between an A and a B clip as requested elsewhere on the forum.

Dave you are the man! I didnt get a chance to test it out yet but believe me, if it works you have just solved a problem that ive been trying to figure out for a year! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

No problem. It should work fine, but I put it together quickly so if there's any problems reply here and I'll sort it.

I've had a few ideas for more features, so check back for updates. I'm also open to feature requests.

Very cool effect! Thank you.

It works really well. I played around with it last night on a few clips for a music video I'm working on...it looks pretty amazing...Thanks.

Is there a correlation between how many frames are being sliced out at 0 vs.100 on the frequency slider?

Thanks, I'm glad it's of use.

Is there a correlation between how many frames are being sliced out at 0 vs.100 on the frequency slider?

Funny you should say that, it's always going to be a bit different depending on what frame rate project it is being use in, but at the moment it's just been set quickly.

0 = no activity, 100 = almost alternating frames.

I just set the slider to be constant from one extreme to the other. But I was looking closer at it this morning, once you get above 50 it is very close to the setting at 100 anyway.

I was going to change the slider so that what is now mapped from 0-50 will be stretched to 0-90 and what is between 50-100 will be squashed to 90-100. But not yet, when I get a bit of time I'm going to do some tests on how it performs when this value is key framed. I may be wrong but I have a feeling that while the above may offer more control for constant settings it might not be so great for key framing frequency changes in FCP.

I'll take a look at the start of next week.

I taken another look at this and it's pretty erratic depending on what frame rate project it is being used in. The maths are pretty complicated but I have an idea on how to rig/publish it to be consistent at all frame rates. It won't be a quick job, so I've made a change that should make operation easier at a temporary level.

I changed the slider, "0" is set to alternate the source every 5 seconds and "100" is set to alternate every frame when used in a 60fps project. When used at 30fps "50" will alternate the frames and values above "50" are erratic, so the first half of the slider can be used in the same way as the full slider range at 60fps.

The maths for other frame rates are where the can of worms gets opened, but it can still be used in the state that it's in and I'll get it rigged up with consistent operation over the next week or two.

The maths weren't as complex as they could have been once I found out that customising the sliders wasn't going to help a great deal. I found a more consistent (still not perfect at all frame rates) relationship between the slider and the strobe by setting the frequency range from 1 second to 1 frame alternations.

Here's the final version.

The maths weren't as complex as they could have been once I found out that customising the sliders wasn't going to help a great deal. I found a more consistent (still not perfect at all frame rates) relationship between the slider and the strobe by setting the frequency range from 1 second to 1 frame alternations.

Here's the final version.

Lessons learned, "final" isn't a great word and check everything, even things that worked before. When I set up the frame rate options it never allowed the wave shape options to work properly.

I changed the method for doing the frame rate conversions, which is better than the previous one anyway, and the wave shapes, now titled "Strobe Style", works fine with all frame rates.

THANKS!!!

I was wounding if there is any way to do bpm or tempo integration. Is there any mathematical conversion i could do to sync it with a bpm? and if not that would be a very useful feature to add later.

I did look into finding a way to have an audio file control it, but getting it to translate to the audio in FCPX never seemed possible.

I've got an update almost ready, I'll be uploading as a free download to the mac app store very soon. In the new version the sliders have been mapped properly so the rate of change is linear across the sliders and the mathematic conversions are far more accurate, so it should be a lot easier to do what you want. I'll post here when it's ready.

Dave I would love to know what math you used to relate the sliders to frames

If your looking at the settings for the previous uploads, there are some inaccuracies left from making slider adjustments when initially looking to see what timings come out. I started off like this and worked out what the maths should be from there.

In the latest (not yet uploaded) update it's all a lot cleaner and quite simple. I set the speed to alternate every second, this turned out to be 30 so everything is then taken from there.

At 60fps 30x60 = 1800 so that's the setting for alternating frames at the opposite end of the slider, at 50fps it's 1500, 25fps = 750 etc.

Mapping the sliders was a bit like rotoscoping, it all got very complex checking the various frame rates all being rigged to the one slider and my head is still a bit of a mess from doing it, but it's quite simple for a single control.

Setting the speed to 60 would alternate at half the rate of 30 (every half second) so this is set at the 50% point on the slider. Then a bit like rotoscoping, you keep moving half way between the previous point and the alternating frame end setting the mathematical equivalent to result in a more liner slider control.

Even if you could make a audio file control it, as someone who often mixes and masters music, I can tell you with these modern day masters that wouldn't work to well. I think the ideal way to make it work well with music would be if there was a BPM integration where you could input the beats per minute and it would convert that to a number you could use.

I see what you mean now. I don't think it's going to work but I will look into it, it sounds good.

I think I'm going mad Al, I don't even know why I thought to look into it, I know it's not going to work.

It would take a very long time, would become very complex and it would still be impossible to make an input field, the function isn't there to do this so you would be stuck with a very long list of tempo's to choose from.

I think you'll find it easier with the new updated slider.

DGWVideo, I got your PM in relation to this, but I'm not sure if my reply went through or not. If you never got it can you PM me your email address.

PM sent, NocoDave !