This workflow may be better titled "getting around Apple's QuickTime Player X limitations" in a nod to a recent Bit of Tech review that notes the new version of QuickTime, named QuickTime X and completely rewritten for Intel Macs, is a bit lacking when compared to the Pro options in the old QuickTime Player 7.
In fact, compared to QT Player 7's Pro options, such as aggregating movie clips together (appending a second clip on to the end of another in basic "cuts only" editing) and the extensive list of export options, the QuickTime X player is a step backwards.
Fortunately, for those who upgraded to Snow Leopard (10.6) from the Leopard (10.5) operating system, Apple left QuickTime Player 7 intact, including the Pro version, if Pro was already installed on the old Leopard system. Whether this is an oversight, or a nod to the fact that QuickTime X was shipped too early, the fact that QuickTime Player 7 is still functional is welcome news.
The work-around workflow, then, for aggregating clips and exporting content to more than just an Apple TV, iPhone, iPod or Macintosh computer, is to use QuickTime Player 7 with Pro options.
If you've already upgraded and didn't have Pro installed at the time, you'll need to downgrade to Leopard, or find an alternate paid application, until such a time as Apple chooses to add back the functionality it stripped from QuickTime Player.
Showing posts with label Export. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Export. Show all posts
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Workflow - iPhone 3GS video export to iTunes vs iPhoto vs iMovie
[For more on QuickTime X and its limitations, see this Bit of Tech article and the export workflow on workflowed.com]
The new iPhone 3GS, and the most recent iPod nano, are both touted by Apple as easy-to-use video cameras. Capturing video is relatively straightforward: press the camera application, slide the slider from camera to video, turn the phone sideways and press the
Even trimming and saving files, at least in iPhone 3.1 and beyond, is easy; the new iPhone 3.1 software adds an option to "save as new clip" to the original "trim original" option.
The new iPhone 3GS, and the most recent iPod nano, are both touted by Apple as easy-to-use video cameras. Capturing video is relatively straightforward: press the camera application, slide the slider from camera to video, turn the phone sideways and press the
Even trimming and saving files, at least in iPhone 3.1 and beyond, is easy; the new iPhone 3.1 software adds an option to "save as new clip" to the original "trim original" option.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Workflow - PDF with OCR - NeatWorks 2.1.7 for Mac
Workflow - Business Productivity - NeatWorks 2.1.7 Mac
A lot has been written recently about the NeatWorks software for Macintosh and its ease of creating PDF documentation of receipts for reimbursement. David Pogue, for instance, in The New York Times gave it rave reviews for its multi-page PDF generation capabilities.
While the program can be used for many more options, such as creating records of receipts, complete with subtotals, sales tax and aggregated totals, the Windows version does a much better job than the Mac version for these tasks. The accuracy (or inaccuracy, to be precise) of the Mac version means that the practical use as a Mac replacement to the Windows version is severely limited for the time being until both applications are brought to parity (more details on this in a separate product review can be found at www.bitoftech.com).
Despite the Mac version's shortcomings, though, we've found it to be a timesaver for some of the simpler scanning-to-PDF processes that we go through for scanning phone bills, receipts and other reimbursements that we don't need a permanent record of. In fact, we've found it cuts out numerous steps for both single- and multi-page PDFs, complete with optical character recognition (OCR) when compared to the built-in solution for Apple Mac desktops and laptops, mainly Image Capture.
The NeatWorks Mobile Scanner (we have the 2008 version to test) can scan both to Image Capture and to NeatWorks.
So the primary question is, can you scan to PDF without opening Neatworks? The short answer is NO, for two reasons.
1. Due to an error in Snow Leopard Image Capture, PDF files scanned with Image Capture and the Neat Mobile Scanner 2008 generate a file that won't open up in Preview or Acrobat Pro, even though QuickLook shows the image.
The files, when opening is attempted in Preview, generate an error message stating:
The file "name.pdf" could not be opened. It may be damaged or use a file format that Preview doesn’t recognize.
In Acrobat Pro, the error message states:
Acrobat could not open 'name.pdf' because it is either not a supported file type or because the file has been damaged (for example, it was sent as an email attachment and wasn't correctly decoded).
To create an Adobe PDF document, go to the source application. Then print the document to Adobe PDF.
2. Acrobat Pro 9.0, another potential timesaving application for scanning to PDF, does not recognize the NeatWorks Mobile 2008 as a valid scanner, eliminating its 2-step process to multi-page scans (and significantly reduced file sizes of more than 66% when compared to both Image Capture and NeatWorks).
Before stepping through the workflows for single- and multi-page PDFs from NeatWorks and Image Capture, it's important to note the button settings on the top of the NeatWorks Mobile 2008 scanner. On the top of the scanner are two buttons, Scan and PDF. These buttons are considered "soft" buttons as they can be reassigned to a variety of options.
For instance, Scan can be assigned to scan in color or black and white, or to scan to PDF in color or black and white. The PDF button can be set for the same PDF settings or to "scan extra page". While this last command would be very helpful for scanning multiple pages directly to PDF, it only works within the NeatWorks database, so to scan a multi-page PDF requires launching NeatWorks, scanning into the database and then exporting to a PDF. A long process, to be sure, with room for improvement, but it still beats the Image Capture workflow by at least four steps.
WORKFLOW 1: Single Page PDF with OCR
WORKFLOW 2: Multi-Page PDF with OCR
A final note about Image Capture and Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6). Snow Leopard's Image Capture is also a bit spotty; while it will scan JP2 (JPEG2000) files, which will open in Preview, the same error message is generated in Acrobat for JP2 files as is generated for PDF files scanned via the NeatWorks Mobile 2008 scanner in Image Capture. We put this down to an Image Capture issue, but further testing will be needed to determine whether Snow Leopard's Image Capture via other scanners result in JP2 and PDF files that Acrobat can open.
A lot has been written recently about the NeatWorks software for Macintosh and its ease of creating PDF documentation of receipts for reimbursement. David Pogue, for instance, in The New York Times gave it rave reviews for its multi-page PDF generation capabilities.
While the program can be used for many more options, such as creating records of receipts, complete with subtotals, sales tax and aggregated totals, the Windows version does a much better job than the Mac version for these tasks. The accuracy (or inaccuracy, to be precise) of the Mac version means that the practical use as a Mac replacement to the Windows version is severely limited for the time being until both applications are brought to parity (more details on this in a separate product review can be found at www.bitoftech.com).
Despite the Mac version's shortcomings, though, we've found it to be a timesaver for some of the simpler scanning-to-PDF processes that we go through for scanning phone bills, receipts and other reimbursements that we don't need a permanent record of. In fact, we've found it cuts out numerous steps for both single- and multi-page PDFs, complete with optical character recognition (OCR) when compared to the built-in solution for Apple Mac desktops and laptops, mainly Image Capture.
The NeatWorks Mobile Scanner (we have the 2008 version to test) can scan both to Image Capture and to NeatWorks.
So the primary question is, can you scan to PDF without opening Neatworks? The short answer is NO, for two reasons.
1. Due to an error in Snow Leopard Image Capture, PDF files scanned with Image Capture and the Neat Mobile Scanner 2008 generate a file that won't open up in Preview or Acrobat Pro, even though QuickLook shows the image.
The files, when opening is attempted in Preview, generate an error message stating:
The file "name.pdf" could not be opened. It may be damaged or use a file format that Preview doesn’t recognize.
In Acrobat Pro, the error message states:
Acrobat could not open 'name.pdf' because it is either not a supported file type or because the file has been damaged (for example, it was sent as an email attachment and wasn't correctly decoded).
To create an Adobe PDF document, go to the source application. Then print the document to Adobe PDF.
2. Acrobat Pro 9.0, another potential timesaving application for scanning to PDF, does not recognize the NeatWorks Mobile 2008 as a valid scanner, eliminating its 2-step process to multi-page scans (and significantly reduced file sizes of more than 66% when compared to both Image Capture and NeatWorks).
Before stepping through the workflows for single- and multi-page PDFs from NeatWorks and Image Capture, it's important to note the button settings on the top of the NeatWorks Mobile 2008 scanner. On the top of the scanner are two buttons, Scan and PDF. These buttons are considered "soft" buttons as they can be reassigned to a variety of options.
For instance, Scan can be assigned to scan in color or black and white, or to scan to PDF in color or black and white. The PDF button can be set for the same PDF settings or to "scan extra page". While this last command would be very helpful for scanning multiple pages directly to PDF, it only works within the NeatWorks database, so to scan a multi-page PDF requires launching NeatWorks, scanning into the database and then exporting to a PDF. A long process, to be sure, with room for improvement, but it still beats the Image Capture workflow by at least four steps.
WORKFLOW 1: Single Page PDF with OCR
WORKFLOW 2: Multi-Page PDF with OCR
A final note about Image Capture and Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6). Snow Leopard's Image Capture is also a bit spotty; while it will scan JP2 (JPEG2000) files, which will open in Preview, the same error message is generated in Acrobat for JP2 files as is generated for PDF files scanned via the NeatWorks Mobile 2008 scanner in Image Capture. We put this down to an Image Capture issue, but further testing will be needed to determine whether Snow Leopard's Image Capture via other scanners result in JP2 and PDF files that Acrobat can open.
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