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Frame Numbering (Advanced!)
SynthEyes internally starts all shots with frame #0. This is true whether the shot comes from a movie file of some type, or an image sequence, regardless of the image numbers used by the sequence. For example, you have img037, img038, img039, ...
SynthEyes starts with frame 0 (img037), frame 1 (img038), frame 2 (img039), etc.
By far, sticking with this approach will result in the highest efficiency and fewest problems throughout the entire tool-chain, no matter what other applications you use.
If you must, there's also a preference setting that lets you start at frame 1 instead of 0, for movies and sequences.
Similarly, if you must, you can turn on “Match Frame Numbers” checkbox on the Shot Setup panel. This will offset the frame numbers in the user interface such that they appear to match the frame number in the file name. You can turn this checkbox off and on to see what it does. It applies just to that particular shot, unlike the Match Frame Numbers preference in SynthEyes 2107 and earlier. There still is a Match Frame Numbers preference, but now it simply initializes the per-shot setting for new shots.
Although using Match Frame Numbers seems clean and easy, the situation grows more complex when multiple shots are present in the same scene file. SynthEyes applies the offset of the relevant shot wherever possible, and the offset of the active shot when not.
In the Graph Editor, data from multiple shots remains lined up (because everything really starts with the first actual frame being frame zero), though the exact same location may be frame 100 for data from one shot and frame 2000 for data from a different shot. You can see that reflected in the tooltips, which show the shot-specific frame number. With that example, if you want to get to frame 2100, you’d have to go to frame 200 in the graph editor time bar — 100 frames from the start of each shot.
Warning: Spinners for frame numbers present unique challenges, as the spinner doesn’t “know” which shot to use for an offset; as a result they always use the offset of the active object. This affects some Phases, such as “Set Frame Range,” where the relevant shot is determined by the phase’s own control. Either set the the active object (Tracker Host) to match the phase’s object, or keep Match Frame Numbers off while you work on those phases.
Some studios have been working with an approach where every frame ever shot on a given production has its own unique frame number. We recommend keeping Match Frame Numbers off, numbering frames from zero. If you turn on Match Frame Numbers, you will find yourself reading and typing six or seven digit frame numbers all the time within SynthEyes. It may be particularly problematic if the left and right eyes of a stereo shot have different image frame numbers.
Tip: You may find it convenient to keep Match Frame Numbers off, but have frame number burn-in set to Force-Match mode, so you can still see the
longer number in the camera and perspective views: a “best of both worlds” approach.
If you have Match frame#'s turned on, it affects frame number display, but not exports. The compatibility of other software with very large frame numbers will vary. There a several technical problems that they cause. You may be able to easily modify some exports to accommodate large frame numbers, but this is not a standard option.
In summary: starting at frame zero is a good idea! We like to teach what we feel is the best approach.
©2024 Boris FX, Inc. — UNOFFICIAL — Converted from original PDF.