Rather than start a new thread each time I have a small question regarding FCP which isn't covered in the help menu, the training dvd or the YouTube tutorials, I thought i'd start one thread and update it each time I have an enquiry, if that's okay?


I have three questions to start with, firstly:

Animating png images over video - let's say I have spent a long time working on my keyframes and bending my path to get the desired effect but I have changed my mind about the png image or found one that is more suitable for the project... Is it possible to replace the image without losing all that work that went into planning it's path and rotation etc..?

Secondly, there are many options with audio filters. What is the simplest way to 'preview' the audio changes I have made before rendering like I could in iMovie HD?

Is there another way/shortcut I put the time line at the beginning of the project instantly other than clicking on it in the player window?



Thanks in advance.

Cameron

Cameron.

Queston #1. Click on the new still you want to insert. Command-C to "load up" that content to the system clipboard. Then in FCP select the clip where you want to REPLACE the content, look in the File menu and invoke the the Paste Attributes command, and select CONTENT. It's that easy. However, unless BOTH stills are precisely the same size and aspect ratio, don't be surprised if you have problems - the motion path you've created for ONE SIZE file - applied to another size file, can net totally different results.

Questin #2. If you have lots of RAM and a fast system, FCP can often play audio changes in real time - but if the system resources are limited, or your effects are complex, you may need to render things as you go. Just set a short range IN and OUT point and apply the filter and render ONLY that small part to audition things before you apply them globally.

Question #3. Don't understand this. If your content doesn't start where the timeline starts, just click to select the blank part of the timeline and hit BACKSPACE and the clips will move down to the head of the project - just like closing any other gap in a timeline. Hope that's what you meant.

Good luck.

Thankyou Bill, yes the first question was the big one and I look forward to trying it. The png was a rotating flower with a face in the middle and it's the face I need to change so hopefully it'll work out alright.

The answer to question 2 and many more is a new laptop.

I discovered the answer to question 3 yesterday and it's the fn key plus left arrow.

Cheers again, new batch of questions coming up!

Can I rejoin clips after they have been sliced in half when command Z is no longer an option?

I a newbie at FCP, but thought I'd help out where I can.

Animating png images over video - let's say I have spent a long time working on my keyframes and bending my path to get the desired effect but I have changed my mind about the png image or found one that is more suitable for the project... Is it possible to replace the image without losing all that work that went into planning it's path and rotation etc..?

I don't know if there is a way, within FC, to do what you are asking. Possibly copy attributes, and past onto the new png? However, I just did exactly what you are asking, but not in Final Cut. I did it with Motion. Created a logo sequence, then saved the project. I would export as a QuickTime movie, then throw into my FC timeline. I would then go back into the Motion project, and change the png, and export again. Everything moved as I wanted, but with the new logo.


Secondly, there are many options with audio filters. What is the simplest way to 'preview' the audio changes I have made before rendering like I could in iMovie HD?

I'm sorry I don't know the answer to this one.

Is there another way/shortcut I put the time line at the beginning of the project instantly other than clicking on it in the player window?

You can use the HOME key, on the keyboard. It will take you back to the beginning of your timeline. Unfortunately, I am using the wireless Bluetooth Apple keyboard, and there is no home key.

Cheers Jeff, yeah there's no Home key on the 2006 MacBook Pro but I found out that the fn key (which I'd never used ever) with the left arrow worked perfectly.

NEW QUESTIONS:

Can I rejoin clips after they have been sliced in half when command Z is no longer an option?

and...


Can audio from an edited clip be recovered after it's been accidentally deleted? ...In iMovie HD you can extract the audio, delete it but lift the volume back up from inside the original clip.

To re-join, just delete one of them and stretch the remaining one out to replace it.

To get the audio, open the original clip from the bin. After setting the in and out points to match your clip in the timeline, there's several things you can do at this point to re-drop the clip onto your timeline. Look up in the Help on how to use little tabs labeled "v1, a1, a2" shown in the attachment. You can use them to prevent the video from being dropped onto the timeline.

To rejoin a cut clip, highlight the cut and hit delete.

Or right after you make the cut, keystroke command-z for undo. Or go up to the UNDO menu. Or hook up an old VOICE NAVIGATOR and program it to invoke UNDO when you say "sh*t. (I actually did that one once, and laughed like a hyena when I forgot about it, made a mistake, and my curse fixed my messup instantly!)

The truth is that there's usually half a dozen perfectly useful ways to do any single editing operation in FCP.

It's one of it's charms.

One mistake, however, is thinking YOUR way is "right" and other ways are "wrong."

Some people want to use ONLY keyboard commands since they LIKE keeping their hands on the keyboard. Others LIKE using the mouse. Others LIKE using a control surface with dedicated operation keys. Others LIKE sitting back and telling someone else what they want and having THEM make the keystrokes. Know what? They're probably ALL competent at "editing."

For what it's worth.

Great stuff - thankyou all, this was a great idea! I just bought the new MacBook Pro so things should now get faster as well as easier.

Today's question is:

Is there a shortcut to enlarging the right viewer window to full screen for playback?

Yes. But I recommend you spend some time with the manual or other materials based on how you learn. The Cycle of learning->doing->learning will help. The window you describe is called the "Canvas" window. The name is in the title bar.

Playing back fullscreen is controlled by items in the View menu. The Video Playback item controls where it's played. The External Video controls activating it. Mine uses command-12 but I'm not sure if that's the default or my own setting.

Tools -> Keyboard Layout -> Customize lets you adjust the keyboard settings to what you want.

I remember something about that on the tutorial dvd, thanks for reminding me. I have so much to absorb and at the same time I have to move everything over to this new MacBook and make sure all files used in my FCP projects have been imported. I don't want to use time machine, I need a clean slate.

In the view menu, you can choose which screen for "full screen playback" (I have multiple monitors). Then the keyboard combination "command + f12" (if I'm remembering correctly), will switch for full screen playback. Then escape key will go back to standard view.

I took a couple of shots without a tripod as I didn't have time to set one up (I was shooting a scene with kids with a puppy) - if possible I want to 'lock down' these shots which are brief and only slightly wobbly.

On YouTube I saw a tutorial for the BCC Optical Stabilizer however it doesn't show you where it is. I am hoping FCP includes this and that it isn't a separate software program that I need to download or buy.

Can it be done with what I have? I have tried the Smoothcam filter but it seems slightly pixelated afterwards.

Video Filters>>> Smoothcam

How can I import just the clip and not the audio?

I know I can delete the audio once in the time line but I often have to import the clip later on in the timeline, lock the video track, delete the audio, unlock video track and slide it to the end of the video timeline otherwise either it moves clips out of sync or I get 'operation not allowed'.

Let's say I wanted to keyframe a crop from top to bottom as a transition, the 'edge feather' feathers all four corners of the shot instead of just the bottom/top half.

What am I missing?

Nothing. That technique doesn't let you do what you want: only feather the top edge. If it's a constant speed transition, you could use a wipe.

The speed wasn't to be consistent but it'll have to be. Thanks again Les, I'm getting there...

I always setup in Apple Prores 422 as advised by a fellow videographer, regardless of what HD footage I am using. It would be nice to only see green render lines but I think that's too much to ask if using footage from more than one camera.

I export to Quicktime in 1280-720 using the current frame rate and it looks good, but still could be better. Deinterlacing doesn't seem to make any difference and to be honest I'm not even sure what it means, but pressing the space bar on my Mac to freeze a clip shows that the quality is not crystal clear, especially on shots with movement such as a passing train but worst of all on animated png files such as a street sign.

The freeze frame is blurred, yet on playback in the FCP viewer it's fine, even in full screen. Most of the footage in the compression is nice, crisp and clear though it always seems to lose a bit of colour in the process.

command-shift-4 lets you drag a rectangle and capture the part of the screen that it outlines. Post it here to show what you mean about not looking good when you stop.

For proper color rendering in the QT player, make sure you've set the Quicktime Player Preferences properly to set "Enable Final Cut Studio color compatibility"

Here's the best (worst) example, the blue street sign is an animate png that passes from right to left allowing fro a cop transition behind it. On the FCP playback the '11' has perfect clarity.

Sorry to bundle another question on so soon but the volume blobs, how can I see how many db's a volume point is at without moving it - thus having no idea what it was before it was moved.

Les, your continued help is much appreciated.

What you are seeing there is the effect of interlacing on an object or camera in motion. It's normal for interlaced timelines. If you are trying to get a still, you need to find a place in the clip that isn't moving. SOmetimes I'll get lucky with the QT Pro player by selecting deinterlace in the visual details settings (command-J) and take a screen shot off the player.

If it's normal then it's not an issue, it's only a website promo but it's good to know I'm not causing it. Regarding my last post, appalling spelling on the first line, I meant to say 'allowing for a crop transition'.

No 'Preferences' in QT Player by the way, no idea why this is. I'm on the home run with this video, just the volume issue now. Again, it's a case of discovering an easier way of doing things.

FCP comes with a Quicktime Pro license. You may have to install the Qt player since by default, it doesn't get installed on Snow Leopard. Google how to do it and then put in your QT pro license to enable the extra features in the player.

Will do, thanks.

The volume issue should have been common sense, far easier to place two spots before and after dialogue and pull each dialogue section down in one go to the right volume and make a note of it.

Next challenge is animating the company logo which I have done by separating each letter as a png in Photoshop and keyframing them in a separate FCP project which I will compress in QT and add on the end of the main project.

Once complete and on Vimeo i'll post the finished promo here, then perhaps immerse myself in a few Motion tutorials. :)

I highly recommend a basic mastery of Motion for animation. Especially since you are on FCP 7 where it integrates so nicely. MacBreak weekly is a great place for production tutorials and frequently are about Motion with Mark Spencer from applemotion.net where there's many more:
Tutorials, Tips, and Troubleshooting for Apple Motion - Blog (http://www.applemotion.net/)

Thanks for the link, will do.

The finished video is almost perfect, but being an obsessive perfectionist there is one complicated 3 layer shot which I wanted to add a touch of motion zoom to but this didn't look right, so I compressed the entire thing and put the part I wanted back in as a single layer QT file, only the sound doesn't quite match.

The customer won't notice, but it bugs me. Arrow left is a fraction too soon and arrow right is a fraction too late, I can't move the soundtrack in small enough increments to line up the waveforms.

I'm pretty stumped on this one.

RIght-click the soundtrack and choose Send To Soundtrack Pro Audio project. See if STP will let you shush it in smaller increments and then deal with the "end caps"

There's a slight dip in sound on the QT compression of my finished project that is audible on my managers laptop but not on mine. He also says that the hiss needs tweaking but on my headphones there's no distort when the talent says an 'S' sound.

I will have to experiment with this one but what I'm here to ask is how can I export the soundtrack from an FCP project to an MP3 or other audio file. Then I can email it to my manager and compare.

On the FCP Export dialog window, you can change the drop down to Audio Only. That give you an uncompressed audio file. One way to compress it into an MP3 is to use iTunes. But if the problem is in the compression you are using to create the version your boss is listening to, you would need to compress the audio file the same way you compress the video that your boss is watching. If the uncompressed audio file does not have the S and hiss problem, then it points to the compression step you're performing. What are you using for that?

I always compress the finished product as Export/Using Quicktime Conversion/1280 - 720 HD

This sound issue is the worst problem I've had in a way because there's no problem with it on my MacBook Pro (his is not a Mac) and I even the compressed version on my usb stick which my boss found the fault on is, or seems faultless on my MacBook. I have nothing to compare it to.

I think I'm on my own with this one, i'll have to play it on a friend's laptop tomorrow, or as a last resort take it to a fellow editor I know.