BROWSE CATDV SUPPORT MANUALS

In the Professional Edition you can create markers to flag particular events of interest within a clip without having to create subclips for each event. Timecode event markers can also have a range and be assigned to particular categories, for example “highlights” or “bad language”.

Defining marker categories

Under the User Columns section of Preferences (or on the Field Definitions page), press the Marker Categories button to define your own event marker categories. Click ‘+’ to define a new category or ‘-‘ to remove the selected category.

Marker categories have a name, a type, and can be assigned a colour which is used when displaying the marker in the Movie Controller. The following types are available:

  • Event: a single timecode value within the clip is flagged
  • Range: the marker has a start timecode and a duration and can be used to flag portions of a clip, eg. for “bad language”
  • Chapter: chapter markers are a special type of range marker and divide the clip into sections. When you insert a chapter marker the duration is automatically set to take it up to the next chapter mark.

Creating and using timecode markers

You create and edit event markers using the movie controller:

  • Use the ‘flag’ button (under the Movie or Proxy tab) to create an event marker for the current timecode value. (You can also use the ‘m’ keyboard shortcut if the player has keyboard focus.)
  • If you have defined marker categories in Preferences you can choose the category from the drop down list. You can also create basic single event markers without needing to define any categories.
  • For event and chapter markers the current playhead timecode is used. For range marker you need to make a selection in the clip using the ‘i’ and ‘o’ keys first.
  • Once you have created some markers a drop down underneath the movie controller lists all the markers for a clip. You can jump to that point in the movie by selecting it from the drop down.
  • You can edit an existing marker by holding down Shift when you press the ‘m’ key, or by double clicking a row in the Event Markers table. When editing a marker you can change the name or category, and you can also move the marker by dragging the playhead in the movie controller. (If you have already moved the playhead to where you want to move the marker to, hold down the Shift key while selecting a marker from the drop down: instead of moving the playhead it will update the marker instead.)
  • To delete a marker, click the Delete button in the edit marker dialog. You can delete multiple markers in one go by selecting them in the Event Markers table (under the Summary tab) and using the Clear Event Marker(s) command in the Logging menu.

Other features:

  • As well as the drop down in the movie controller, you can use the Event Markers table as a convenient way to see all the markers in one go, complete with their thumbnails and descriptions. (The Event Markers table is normally under the Summary tab unless you have customised the layout of the details panel.)
  • Click on the play button in the Event Markers table to play the movie from the start of the marker
  • You can convert to and fro between subclips and event markers using the Logging > Convert To Subclips or Edit > Merge commands respectively.
  • You can import and export event markers from QuickTime movie chapter markers, and from Final Cut Pro projects via FCP XML.
  • When you export a movie you can add burnt-in text from event markers as a simple way of creating subtitles.
  • Using Export As Stills you can export each event marker as a still image
  • You can also create event markers using the Verbatim Logger and using automatic scene detection.
  • You can copy and paste event markers from one clip to another (if they have the same timecode, for example multi-camera shoots with time of day timecode) by right-clicking on the header bar of the Event Markers table to display popup menu commands to copy and paste the markers. You can also use the Paste Metadata command.

Note that in earlier versions of CatDV markers were stored as text within the clip Notes field, whereas in CatDV 8.0.3 and Server 6.1.3 onwards they are stored in a separate markers field. If you open a catalog using an older version of CatDV it is possible therefore that the markers won’t appear.