Using Quick Capture

If you have QuickTime-supported video capture hardware installed on your workstation, or have a capture device (such as a DV camera or Sony converter box) connected to your Macintosh FireWire port, you can capture video footage directly into combustion with the Quick Capture feature.

Quick Capture provides a simple way to capture from supported QuickTime hardware cards and devices. The footage is captured as a QuickTime clip. You specify the software codec (compressor) applied to the clip, such as Motion JPEG A or Sorenson Video, and the codec's related image and quality settings in the Video Settings.

Note: Quick Capture does not digitize frames, only single-file QuickTime clips.

You can capture audio associated with the footage, or capture audio from a source other than the video at the same time. For example, you can simultaneously capture audio from the internal CD player and footage from a DV camera.

In general, use Quick Capture to quickly get material into your computer to use for pre-visualization or as a "scratch" track. You can also grab a single image off video and immediately use it. For example, you can take a "frame-grab" and then start painting with it using the Clone feature in Paint.

For motion graphics projects, Quick Capture is a handy way to capture video intended for use as a texture or background.

If QuickTime is not installed on your Windows system, the Quick Capture feature is not available. QuickTime is installed with all Macintosh operating systems.

The first time you open the Quick Capture dialog, you may get a message that the QuickTime Sequence Grabber cannot be opened, or that you are missing other QuickTime extensions. This means that you do not have the latest version of QuickTime installed on your system. Follow the on-screen instructions to download the necessary QuickTime component.

To capture from a QuickTime device:

1. Choose File | Quick Capture.

The Quick Capture dialog and preview window appear.

2. To capture video, enable Capture Video.
3. Click the video Settings button to access the video options.

The Video dialog appears. To set these settings, see Quick Capture Video Settings.

4. To capture audio, enable Capture Audio.
5. Click the audio Settings button to access the audio options.

The Audio dialog appears. To set these settings, see Quick Capture Audio Settings

6. If you want the captured footage to be added to the workspace, enable Import into Workspace.

When this option is enabled, the footage is added into the Footage Library. You can also see the Footage operator in the Schematic and Footage Library views. A layer is not created from the imported footage.

7. Click Filename to open the Save dialog.
8. Navigate to a folder, enter a filename in the File field, and click OK.

The Record button becomes available.

9. On the capture device, begin playing the source.

The source image plays in real time in the Quick Capture preview window.

10. Click Record to start capturing from the device.

Note: While the clip or audio is recording, the play rate in the preview window is dependent on the installed hardware. In most cases, the source image does not play in real time when recording.

While recording, you can click Pause.

11. Click Record again to stop recording.

If you enabled Import into Workspace, the captured clip is added to the Footage Library. A layer is not created from the imported footage.

Note: To create a layer from the captured footage, select the Composite operator in the Workspace panel and choose Object | New Layer from Operator. In the Operator Picker, select the captured clip and click OK. In the Schematic view, you can drag an edge from the Footage node to the Composite node, then choose New Layer from the context menu.