A thread for my Final Cut questions

Cameron Poole · June 19th, 2011, 01:26 AM

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'.

Cameron Poole · January 26th, 2012, 08:58 PM

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?

Les Wilson · January 26th, 2012, 09:08 PM

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.

Cameron Poole · January 26th, 2012, 11:38 PM

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

Cameron Poole · January 29th, 2012, 08:40 AM

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.

Les Wilson · January 29th, 2012, 07:07 PM

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"

Cameron Poole · February 1st, 2012, 09:04 AM

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.

Les Wilson · February 2nd, 2012, 08:25 AM

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.

Cameron Poole · February 3rd, 2012, 11:58 AM

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.

Les Wilson · February 3rd, 2012, 09:05 PM

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.

Cameron Poole · February 4th, 2012, 01:26 AM

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. :)

Les Wilson · February 4th, 2012, 06:25 AM

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

Cameron Poole · February 4th, 2012, 08:29 AM

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.

Les Wilson · February 4th, 2012, 11:18 AM

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"

Cameron Poole · February 10th, 2012, 05:00 AM

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.

June 19th, 2011, 01:26 AM	#16
Cameron Poole Major Player Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: London Posts: 212	New Question: 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'.

January 26th, 2012, 08:58 PM	#17
Cameron Poole Major Player Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: London Posts: 212	January 27th 2012 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?

January 26th, 2012, 09:08 PM	#18
Les Wilson Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Boca Raton, FL Posts: 3,014	Re: A thread for my Final Cut questions 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.

January 26th, 2012, 11:38 PM	#19
Cameron Poole Major Player Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: London Posts: 212	Re: A thread for my Final Cut questions The speed wasn't to be consistent but it'll have to be. Thanks again Les, I'm getting there...

January 29th, 2012, 08:40 AM	#20
Cameron Poole Major Player Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: London Posts: 212	Best compression 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.

January 29th, 2012, 07:07 PM	#21
Les Wilson Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Boca Raton, FL Posts: 3,014	Re: A thread for my Final Cut questions 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" Attached Thumbnails

February 1st, 2012, 09:04 AM	#22
Cameron Poole Major Player Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: London Posts: 212	Re: A thread for my Final Cut questions 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. Attached Thumbnails

February 2nd, 2012, 08:25 AM	#23
Les Wilson Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Boca Raton, FL Posts: 3,014	Re: A thread for my Final Cut questions 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. Attached Thumbnails

February 3rd, 2012, 11:58 AM	#24
Cameron Poole Major Player Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: London Posts: 212	Re: A thread for my Final Cut questions 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.

February 3rd, 2012, 09:05 PM	#25
Les Wilson Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Boca Raton, FL Posts: 3,014	Re: A thread for my Final Cut questions 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.

February 4th, 2012, 01:26 AM	#26
Cameron Poole Major Player Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: London Posts: 212	Re: A thread for my Final Cut questions 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. :)

February 4th, 2012, 06:25 AM	#27
Les Wilson Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Boca Raton, FL Posts: 3,014	Re: A thread for my Final Cut questions 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

February 4th, 2012, 08:29 AM	#28
Cameron Poole Major Player Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: London Posts: 212	Re: A thread for my Final Cut questions 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.

February 4th, 2012, 11:18 AM	#29
Les Wilson Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Boca Raton, FL Posts: 3,014	Re: A thread for my Final Cut questions 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"

February 10th, 2012, 05:00 AM	#30
Cameron Poole Major Player Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: London Posts: 212	Exporting audio only 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.