Dan are you out there?

I've been searching over on the 2-pop boards and quite a few folks have issues with artifacting, dropped frames and even gettin the deck recognized (when hooked with firewire). It seems to be the perfect solution for me (function/price) and maybe the deck is just a little sensitive and only works if it's treated a certain way....

I think there are some tips and maybe even a tutorial on lafcpug.com about Chroma keying.
BTW I have heard After Effects (if you have that too) gets better results easier then FCP.

Oops, exact url http://www.lafcpug.org/

Anybody know the answer to this? I am using FCP

I think it depends on what is in your scene that you want to keep and what you want to knock out. With FCP you can use the eye droper tool to select the exact colour you wish to take away. Bluse and green are suggested normal colour to key as they are not in skin tones much. (my understanding only)

I have a new Panasonic DVX100 and would like to know if it's possible to dump 24p footage right into FCP? I read on another forum that 24P footage can be edited in a normal 29.97 dv sequence just as regular DV footage- but it somehow doesn't seem right- anyone know for certain if this is true- and if it's not- can someone explain how 24p can be edited without additional software?

Steve,

Are you going to film or tape or DVD etc. with your footage? Remember that NTSC video is still 29.97 (30) frames per second. that's what every NTSC VCR plays, not 24p. What 24 frame mode are you using, p or a?

Hey Jeff,

I feel like we're old frineds with us posting here so much..how's all?

I'm no pro- I'm just looking to produce videos for eventual output back to mini-dv tape or .mov files....definitely not transferred to film (however DVD is an option with my Mac)

...so can I put recorded footage in 24p (not advanced mode- which is for evetual film transfer as I understand) into a standard 29.97 DV sequence in FCP3? Can it be treated normally?

Also, my DVX allows the option to record in drop frame and non-drop frame- which is the better method when going back to FCP? I just want to make things easy!

Thanks Jeff
(and to any whom answer)

Last things first Drop Frame (DF) and Non-Drop Frame (NDF) do not drop actual frames. Drop Frame, drops a frame number periodically so time code stays consistent with real time (29.97 fps vs. 30 fps) That small difference would throw all broadcast programing off over the course of a day. The spec for DV is drop frame, so I would recommend staying with drop frame.

I will suggest you read the following two links for a more complete understanding

Adam Wilt has a power point presentation that he did for MacWorld that you can view (http://www.adamwilt.com/24p/MWSF2003-24p.htm)

"Digital Alliteration:Panasonic, Progressive, Pulldown and "Pretty Darn Cool" (http://www.lafcpug.org/panasonic_24p.html)

By Charles Roberts

Adam's is a brief over view, but very concise and to the point. It will bring you up to speed in a hurry. The article by Charles Roberts is much more in depth and more of a how-to article.

If you have any questions after reading those articles, post back and I'll try to explain.

I need some help on this. I did disk utility repair. Trashed Pref. still come up w/same issue; I run G4 DP533 1.2G Ram. I went to my OS 9.2.2 there FCP2 said I did not have proper Quicktime. I went to FCP2 CD downloaded QT version, then upon opening FCP2 it said that I had a missing or invalid software key and I need to reinstall FCP from the CD. Are the 2 issues related? The difference is that in OS 10.2.3/FCP3.04 it almost loads b4 I get the alert "FCP has unexpectedly quit". When I attempt to open FCP in OS 9.2.2 it doesn't even begin to load; the alert "Final Cut Pro requires a software key that is either missing or invalid. Reinstall FCP from the CD". I am in the worst case scenario. This happened b4 I was able to make a copy of my project. How can I save myself & my project and get this to work correctly?

I'm not sure what's happening but I am confused.

- Are you running FCP 2 or FCP 3?

- If the latter, why didn't you reinstall Quicktime Pro from the FCP 3 CD's?

- Are you running OS 9.x or OS 10.x?

FCP binds to an internal id of the Mac after successful installation. It cannot be copied or partially reinstalled without complete reinstallation.

Also, FCP on OS 9 is separate from FCP on OS 10. That is, you cannot invoke the same program file for either platform.

Your pre-problem project file will probably be fine, although you likely lost work in progress.

How do you export an OMF audio file? If your project is longer than 2 hrs how do you split the file on to 2 cd's?

<<<-- Originally posted by Mandla22 : How do you export an OMF audio file? If your project is longer than 2 hrs how do you split the file on to 2 cd's? -->>>

From what application?

Sorry I take things from granted. FCP3; I try to export to cd disk but it tells me I do not have enough space. How do put on 2 disks? Is this just a straight burn to cd process when I press export?

OMF is just a file format. When you hit the save button in the OMF dialog box it starts the creation of the file. How you burn it will be up to you and the software on your system. OMF does have a 2 gig limit. If your file will be bigger than 2 gigs it will generate an error dialog box.

How can I export my dialog audio as wav file then burn to cd to give to as sound editor? FCP3 w/OS X. I also have Toast.

Sorry I missed your post. Import your file into QuickTime. Export the file (via QT) via export, change sound to WAV. Use Options to set Rate, bit rate, stereo/mono, and compression.

I just got a Logitech trackball with a scroll wheel. It works in all apps except Final Cut (v3.02 OSX 10.2.5).

Anyone else having this problem? If I had to guess, I'd say it's the Logitech drivers.

-Aaron

I don't think scrollwheels have worked in any FCP product to date, and I don't expect them to work in FCP4, either (though of course I could be wrong). OS X supports scrollwheels and right mouse buttons natively (no drivers needed). But whether you have drivers or not, the screens ain't scrollin' in FCP. Tis a shame. Not sure why it is the way it is, but I've grown used to it.

PS - I use a Microsoft optical two-button mouse with scrollwheel.

Same goes with Final Cut Express.

My MS Intellimouse Explorer's scrollwheel doesn't work in this app.

You would have to have a way to program the wheel's actions to match the FCP key commands corresponding to how you want FCP to behave. Once done, you would have to have a way to save that application's settings. I don't know if the mice you're using have such capabilities but I suspect they do. This is basically how the Contour Design ShuttlePro operates.

Or Apple could design the windows in FCP to behave like the OS windows. That would work.

Hello FCP'ers....

quck question for your FCP3 experts....

I capture all my footage as DV without compression (raw DV) and edit in FCP as such.....but with my 933 machine i find myself waiting long times for certain effects or composites to render out- is there a way to edit in a lower res mode to speed up the "non rendered" footage to finalize the edit then change the sequence back to raw DV for export back out to tape? I know the entire sequence will need to be rendered out where needed- but I'd like to edit and composite the footage first in a lower res mode to assemble the edits then preview it for effectiveness prior to commiting to a full DV sequence.

I'm aware of the "Offline RT" but that's not a good solution for people who have their footage archived as raw DV and wish to work with it natively......any recommendations? I'm also aware of the other "res" modes when building sequences- but was wondering if there's another prefferd method.

Thank to any and all whom can help.

That's too bad. It definitely slows me down.

Scroll wheels do now work in FCP4. Just saw the first UK demo last week and the scroll wheel can be used in certain areas, maybe more, but we didn't see eveything.

If I remember right the scroll wheel was used to control a slider.

FYI the a scroll wheel can be used to control the play head in QT Player.

Hi there,

I just realized that none of my realtime effects are actually working in FCP3. I mean I even need to render a cross dissolve. I have the dual g4 1.25 powermac running FCP 3.04 and the latest version of quicktime. My realtime audio mixing is set to 4 and audio playback at low. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Hi Steve,

I don't know of a practical way to achieve what you want. The built in method is the best way to achieve what you want. I don't know if FCP 4 will offer any additional features in this regard or not.

I have a Powerbook 17", 1gb ram, LaCie 200gb FW800 external and FCP3. When I try and capture from my GL1 to my external drive, I get audio/video sync problems. The video is off by a good 2-3 seconds. My drive's plugged into the FW800 and the camera's into the FW400.

When I capture to my internal drive, there's no problem.

Should I daisy-chain my camera into my FW800 drive, then into my FW800 port in the Powerbook?

Thanks-

I don't actually have a solution, but I have read that by putting a Firewire 400 devices on a Firewire 800 chain you limit the speed of the Firewire 800 to Firewire 400. Unfortunately, the site I saw this posting on, BareFeats, appears to be having some problems right now. I cannot confirm this is what I actually read.

Does your audio sync problem happen right off the top of your capture, or after a few minutes (the GL-1 requires the Sync Adjust Movies... Preference to be checked).

As well, the Quicktime 6.3 update claims to help with audio/video sync issues. However, as the problem only happens when capturing to your FW800 drive, it maybe that is the issue.

I really should just let someone who has the equipment and knowledge answer this one rather than indulging in speculation.

first do the simple and obvious things. defrag the drive with your choice of tools. I use speed disk from norton after an OS9 boot. There are others.

if that doesn't do it, replace the cable with a high quality cable.

get the latest quicktime for sure.

be sure your audio is 16 bit. QT 6.03 is supposed to help with 12bit audio import.

if you have optimized the drive and updated the software then you have to wonder if the drive is good enough for external capture. Many aren't.

Anybody out there had this problem:

I'm using FCP3 in OS 10.2.6. Everything's properly rendered and ready for export to M2V. When I go to the M2V options dialog box and see that there are no estimates of file size listed, only "--", I KNOW from experience there is a problem. It's usually at tiny piece of unrendered footage. BUT NO, everything is cool on that end.

SO, I re-boot in OS9.2, try the same thing, and in the M2V options dialog box everything is completely normal. I proceed with the export and everything goes normally to completion.

Now, I know that I have exported to M2V while in OS 10 earlier in this project, so what is different now. Is there any possibility that working on the same file in FCP3 booted in the different OS's could be an issue?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Richard DuPree, Manager
Music Media Services
College of Music
University of North Texas
Denton, TX 76203

I think the problem is OS X. I have had nothing but troubles trying to edit for DVD in OS X using FCP3 and DVD Studio Pro. I haven't had the problems exporting to M2V that you have, but I have had problems with FCP3 itself and many many problems with A.pack. Everything works perfectly under OS 9. OS 9 is simply better than OS X when it comes to working with video.

Hopefully FCP4 and DVD Studio Pro 2 will change this.

I couldn't find anything in the archives on this and Google didn't help much either, but I'm getting an error upon launch of FCP 3 due to the program not finding "IsochronousDataHandlerLib", whatever that is. Any ideas?

Dave

That's a new one on me, Dave. You'll probably be best served trying Apple's support site (http://www.info.apple.com/) for this one, perhaps even browsing their support discussions if nothing turns up in their knowledge base.

Ken,
I finally figured it out after searching Apple's site (no hits) and it turns out that my updating Quicktime to the latest version hosed my QT inside of FCP. Apparently FCP was looking for the older version and got confused when it found v6. This kinda ticks me off. I just recently bought a Mac so that I could get away from this kind of app conflict nonsense. I thought I got away from this kind of "Windows nonsense" but I guess not. I still use my Win machine and I'm REALLY trying to love my Mac too.

dave

....oops, forgot to add that I had to trash all of QT6 and reinstall FCP to get it working again

d

Huh. That's nasty. I've upgraded QT at least twice while using FCP3 and never encountered that bug (although I always expected it...coming from a PC world, also).

Thanks for following-up here, Dave. It may well be a blessing to someone else who hits this bugaboo.

Hi,
New to macs so maybe this is an easy one, but i can't find it anywhere. I recently installed a new true type font, ttf into my library on my hard drive. It's recognized by all my other programs except fcp3. Any ideas why/how to solve?
thanks

I am trying to get a split screen effect on fcp3, but when I resize both clips and render, my mac slows down to nothing. Memory problem or? Running a dual 867 w/133MHz system bus 512MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM - 1 DIMM ATI Radeon 9000 Pro dual-display w/64MB DDR

thoughts?

Sorry,
I got it to work. Seems it was just a matter of shutting down and restarting as i've done it twice now with the desired results.

I don't beleive FCP3 supports True Type Fonts. It may in FCP4, I haven't had a chance to install FCP4 yet.

Hi
I am using a PAL xl1 in SE Asia where i bought my 800hz IMac and I have just started using FCP3 in OSX but have run into problems from the start. So far I am unable to get the footage into the computer as I keep getting the "dropped frame warning" so many people seem to have problems with. I believe I have the correct settings and have been searching web sites for relevant info in vain. Does anyone have any experience of this or recomend any particular group of settings. I have everything set to PAL, the device control set to firewire basic as per the apple site but still no luck.
Also pls note I am trying to capture to a separate HD with over 110 gb available, and have tried all the ways to capture, batch etc without any luck.
many thanks
'bloody frustrated' of Phnom Penh

Just turn off the warning, It's in FCP preferences and says something like warn and abort capture on dropped frames. Uncheck that box and try capturing again. What type of drive is your second drive? Is it an external FireWire drive? USB drives aren't fast enough. iMacs can only have one internal drive.

many thanks
I think maybe the external HD maybe the problem, it is firewire, but i have tried using the internal HD as the scratch disc and it seems ok, so I am going to take the HD back to the shop to get it looked at. I also tried importing in imovie to the ext HD and had a similar problem, the quality was awful and it seemed to be droping frames.
From what I have read turning off the warnings will mean I will have problems with future editing, is that the case or should I not be concerned.
cheers
Allan

if the dropped frames are infrequent and there aren't too many of them it probably wont' be an issue if you're not too picky and the footage isn't critical. if you have a lot of them then of course things could get jerky and nasty. One missing frame from a movie would normally not be noticed but of course the real issue is why the dropped frames. It can be the fw cable (surprise) or the drive or the drive being too fragmented. I have one drive that cannot even be on the fw chain if I want to capture. I have to dismount it entirely. If the drive is too slow or badly fragmented that can be a problem so you might want to defrag before trying other things.

Just wondering how I could go about using I-Movie Sound FX in FCP 3 if it is at all possible.
Thanks.

It's been a looooooooong time since I attempted to mess with iMovie, but I *believe* that there is a folder somewhere (checking.... iMovie>iMovie>Resources>Sound Effects... at least in OS 9 anyway) with the sounds you want in them. Simply import that folder into FCP3 and you'll be able to use them to your heart's content. If you are using OS X then go to the Finder, press Apple-F to open the search menu and search for "Sound Effects" and you'll find it.

Thank you so much!!!

If there are sounds you cannot find you can always drop the audio into a blank iMovie and then export as an AIFF or something and get it that way...

I'm a new owner of the DVX100...it's probably the most fun camera I've owned since the XL-1, 6 years ago. Picture wise it's on par with my DV500 and the 24p option makes it extraordinary. I recently shot an event and have found that I had the audio set at 32k. I edit in FCP at 48k to mix in SFX and music. Is there a way to convert the 32 k to 48k during the log and loading process so as not to have to render up all the audio while I work in the time line? Thanks, Craig Hollenback

I'm not a mac user, but do you need the 32 khz 4 channel mode?
Otherwise you can just switch the camera into 2 channel audio
mode and get 48 khz. I would have thought FCP3 had a 32khz
project template as well....

What you might be able to do is change the project to 32khz
and then render out to 48 khz if that is what you need!