Final Cut Pro 7 User Manual
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Contents Preface 27 27 28 28 Welcome to Final Cut Pro About Final Cut Pro About the Final Cut Pro Documentation Additional Resources Chapter 1 29 About the Post-Production Workflow 29 The Industry Workflow 30 The Post-Production Workflow Chapter 2 35 35 35 37 37 39 Video Formats and Timecode About Nonlinear and Nondestructive Editing Video Formats Compatible with Final Cut Pro Audio Formats Compatible with Final Cut Pro Video Format Basics About Timecode Chapter 3 41 41 45 48 50 Understanding Pro
73 Customizing the Browser Display 4 Chapter 6 85 85 86 87 90 92 93 95 96 99 100 Viewer Basics How You Can Use the Viewer Opening a Clip in the Viewer Learning About the Viewer Tabs in the Viewer Transport Controls in the Viewer Playhead Controls in the Viewer Marking Controls in the Viewer Zoom and View Pop-Up Menus in the Viewer Playhead Sync Pop-Up Menu Recent Clips and Generator Pop-Up Menus Chapter 7 103 103 104 105 107 109 110 112 113 113 Canvas Basics How You Use the Canvas Opening, Selecting,
Chapter 11 177 177 178 179 179 184 185 Connecting DV Video Equipment Components of a Basic Final Cut Pro Editing System Setting Up a Final Cut Pro Editing System Connecting Your Camcorder Opening Final Cut Pro and Choosing Your Initial Settings Confirming Remote Device Control Between Final Cut Pro and Your DV Device About FireWire Chapter 12 187 187 191 197 202 206 212 215 218 219 Connecting Professional Video and Audio Equipment Components of a Professional Final Cut Pro Editing System About Video In
Chapter 16 257 257 258 259 261 263 264 264 About the Log and Capture Window Opening the Log and Capture Window Controls in the Log and Capture Window Preview Area in the Log and Capture Window Logging Tab in the Log and Capture Window Clip Settings Tab in the Log and Capture Window Capture Settings Tab in the Log and Capture Window Log and Capture Buttons in the Log and Capture Window Chapter 17 265 265 267 268 269 270 271 272 275 276 278 279 279 Logging from Tape Overview of Logging Steps Opening t
324 Renaming Media Files After Capture 324 Using the Media Manager After Capturing Chapter 21 325 325 326 327 328 Overview of Transferring File-Based Media About File-Based Media Introduction to the Log and Transfer Window File-Based Media Terminology Example File-Based Media Workflow Chapter 22 331 About the Log and Transfer Window 331 Opening the Log and Transfer Window 333 Controls in the Log and Transfer Window Chapter 23 343 343 345 347 Logging File-Based Media Preparing to Log File-Based Media
Chapter 27 391 391 397 401 403 Organizing Footage in the Browser Using Bins to Organize Your Clips Using Labels to Organize Your Clips Sorting Items in the Browser Using Column Headings Searching for Clips in the Browser and Finder Chapter 28 411 411 415 418 Creating Subclips Learning About Subclips Techniques for Breaking Large Clips into Subclips Creating Independent Media Files from Subclips After Capturing Chapter 29 421 421 422 424 425 426 Merging Clips from Dual System Video and Audio Worki
474 Editing Markers into Sequences 474 Exporting Markers with Your QuickTime Movies 475 Exporting Marker Lists as Text Chapter 33 477 477 480 483 493 494 495 Setting Edit Points for Clips and Sequences About In and Out Points Setting Clip In and Out Points in the Viewer Setting Sequence In and Out Points in the Canvas or Timeline Navigating to In and Out Points Moving In and Out Points Clearing In and Out Points Chapter 34 497 497 501 506 507 509 Working with Tracks in the Timeline Adding and Deleting
583 Color-Coding Clips in the Timeline 10 Chapter 39 585 585 589 589 Cutting Clips and Adjusting Durations Performing Basic Cut Edits Changing the Duration of Clips in the Timeline Opening Sequence Clips in the Viewer to Change Durations Chapter 40 591 591 596 599 600 604 606 607 Linking and Editing Video and Audio in Sync Linked Sync Relationships Between Video and Audio Clips Linking and Unlinking Video and Audio Clip Items in the Timeline Selecting Individual Clip Items While They Are Linked Getti
Chapter 43 663 663 664 666 670 678 682 684 686 Audio Editing Basics The Goals of Audio Editing Using Waveform Displays to Help You Edit Audio Learning About the Audio Controls in the Viewer Editing Audio in the Viewer Editing Audio in the Timeline Creating or Separating Stereo Pairs Working with Audio at the Subframe Level Examples of Ways to Easily Edit Audio Chapter 44 693 693 694 697 701 711 Performing Slip, Slide, Ripple, and Roll Edits About Trimming with Slip, Slide, Ripple, and Roll Tools Slidin
Chapter 48 779 779 787 787 791 Refining Transitions Using the Transition Editor Using the Transition Editor Applying a Modified Transition Directly to a Sequence in the Timeline Trimming Transitions and the Surrounding Clips Previewing and Rendering Transitions Chapter 49 793 793 794 794 797 803 Sequence-to-Sequence Editing Methods for Editing Clips from One Sequence to Another Opening More Than One Sequence at a Time Copying Clips from One Sequence to Another Nesting Sequences Editing the Content
857 857 858 861 Assigning More Audio Outputs Than Your Hardware Supports Audio Output Export Settings Downmixing Multiple Audio Channels to a Stereo Mix Configuring External Audio Monitors Chapter 54 869 Evaluating Levels with Audio Meters 869 About Audio Meters 874 Setting Proper Audio Levels Chapter 55 881 881 881 889 Overview of the Audio Mixer About the Audio Mixer Controls in the Audio Mixer Using Audio Mixer Views Chapter 56 893 893 900 903 911 917 919 Using the Audio Mixer Making Basic Audio
970 970 972 973 975 977 978 982 984 985 14 Expander/Noise Gate Filter Noise Reduction Filters Echo and Reverberation Filters Applying Filters to an Audio Clip Displaying Filter Keyframes in the Timeline Modifying and Removing Filters Automating Audio Filter Parameters with Keyframes Making Real-Time Audio Filter Adjustments Saving a Filter or Transition as a Favorite Installing Third-Party Audio Units Filters Chapter 60 987 987 988 990 990 994 995 999 999 1002 1003 Exporting Audio for Mixing in Other A
1042 Copying and Pasting a Clip’s Filters 1042 Removing Filters from Clips Chapter 64 1045 1045 1046 1047 1049 1050 Installing and Managing Video Effects Plug-in Formats Supported by Final Cut Pro Installing Video Filters Identifying and Organizing Video Effects Transferring Effects Between Systems Plug-in Restrictions and Troubleshooting Chapter 65 1053 Video Filters Available in Final Cut Pro 1053 About Final Cut Pro Video Filters 1054 Video Filters Installed with Final Cut Pro Chapter 66 1075 1075
Chapter 70 1189 1189 1190 1191 1192 1192 1193 1193 1197 1198 1198 1199 1199 1199 1200 1201 Working with Freeze Frames and Still Images Using Still Images and Graphics in Your Sequences Creating Freeze Frames from a Video Clip Exporting Still Images Creating Graphics with the Correct Frame Size for Video Working with Graphics Clips of Different Sizes Bit Depth of Imported Graphics Scaling a Graphic to Fit the Frame Size Creating Graphics with the Correct Color Settings for Video Choosing the Maximum Wh
1286 Managing Media and Motion Analysis Data 1286 Improving SmoothCam Filter Results and Troubleshooting Chapter 75 1289 1289 1290 1290 1291 1293 1296 Creating Titles How You Can Use Titles in Your Project Installing and Choosing Fonts Making Sure Titles Fit on TV Screens Text Generators Available in Final Cut Pro Creating and Adding a Title Clip Other Options for Creating and Adding Titles Chapter 76 1297 Working with Motion and Shake 1297 Using Motion with Final Cut Pro 1302 Using Shake with Final Cut
Chapter 81 1369 1369 1371 1384 1399 1400 Color Correction Filters The Final Cut Pro Color Correction Filters The Color Corrector Filter The Color Corrector 3-Way Filter The Desaturate Highlights and Desaturate Lows Filters RGB Balance Filter Chapter 82 1403 1404 1408 1416 1422 1426 1427 Chapter 83 1433 Color Correction with Color 1433 Using Color for Color Correction Chapter 84 1435 1435 1440 1442 1449 1450 1451 1453 1454 1455 1456 1456 Using RT Extreme Introduction to Real-Time Processing Loca
1489 Tips for Reducing Render Time Chapter 86 1491 1491 1492 1494 1495 1497 1498 1500 1500 1501 1501 1501 1506 1507 1507 1508 Working with Mixed-Format Sequences About Mixed-Format Sequences Determining Whether Clips in a Sequence Will Play Back in Real Time Conforming Sequence Settings to Match a Clip’s Settings Conforming Clips to Match Sequence Settings Mixing Frame Rates Combining Interlaced Footage with Different Field Dominances Mixing Footage with Different Codecs Nesting Nonmatching Sequences Addi
1548 1549 1549 1550 Modifying Master-Affiliate Clip Relationships Moving Clips Between Projects How Does Final Cut Pro Identify Matching Clips? Resolving Property Differences Between Matching Clips Chapter 91 1553 1553 1555 1557 1559 1562 1563 Offline and Online Editing About Offline and Online Editing Offline/Online Editing Workflows Using the OfflineRT Format in Final Cut Pro Reingesting Media at Full Quality and Full Resolution Online Editing on Non–Final Cut Pro Editing Systems Trading Project F
Chapter 95 1617 1617 1618 1621 Diagnostic Tools for Clips Different Tools for Diagnosing Clips About the Analyze Movie Command Finding and Marking Long Frames Chapter 96 1623 1623 1628 1635 1638 1641 1644 Importing and Exporting EDLs About EDLs Exporting EDLs Importing EDLs EDL Considerations Before Capturing EDL Considerations During Editing Transition Wipe Codes for EDL Export Chapter 97 1647 1647 1648 1651 1653 1654 1655 1655 Using Final Cut Pro XML and QuickTime Metadata What Is the Final Cut Pr
1687 Methods for Output to Tape in Final Cut Pro 1689 Setting Up Your Editing System to Output to Tape Chapter 101 22 1695 1695 1698 1707 Assemble and Insert Editing Using Edit to Tape Overview of Tape Editing Methods About the Edit to Tape Window Using the Edit to Tape Window Chapter 102 1717 1717 1718 1720 1722 Printing to Video and Output from the Timeline Different Ways You Can Output Video from the Timeline Printing to Video Recording from the Timeline Outputting to VHS Tape Chapter 103 1725 1725
1801 Exporting an AVI File Chapter 107 1805 1805 1810 1813 1813 1814 Exporting Sequences for DVD The DVD Creation Process Adding Chapter and Compression Markers to Your Sequence About DVD Authoring Applications Exporting a QuickTime Movie for DVD Use Using Compressor to Create DVD-Compliant Sources for DVD Studio Pro Chapter 108 1815 1815 1816 1817 1819 1820 Using Compressor with Final Cut Pro About Compressor The Two Ways to Use Compressor with Final Cut Pro Using Compressor as a Standalone Application
1879 Creating a Preset to Capture Audio Only 24 Chapter 114 1881 1881 1885 1886 1887 1890 1890 Device Control Settings and Presets About Device Control Presets Device Control Protocols Supported by Final Cut Pro Using FireWire Device Control Using Serial Device Control Using a Non-Controllable Device Troubleshooting Your Device Control Setup Chapter 115 1893 1893 1893 1899 1903 Sequence Settings and Presets What Are Sequence Settings? About Sequence Settings and Presets Timeline Display, Render, and
1944 1946 1947 1949 1956 Scanning Method Color Recording Method Video Sample Rate and Bit Depth Video Compression Video Formats Supported by Final Cut Pro Appendix D 1961 1961 1962 1963 1964 1966 1966 1969 1970 Frame Rate and Timecode What Is Frame Rate? Understanding Flicker and Perceived Frame Rate How Many Frames per Second Is Best? Choosing a Frame Rate What Is Timecode? About Drop Frame and Non-Drop Frame Timecode Timecode on Tape Comparison of Various Timecode Formats Appendix E 1973 1973 1974 1
Preface Welcome to Final Cut Pro The first choice of professional editors worldwide, Final Cut Pro delivers high-performance digital nonlinear editing, native support for virtually any video format, and professional-level extensibility and interoperability. Its workflow extends through the other Final Cut Studio applications and Final Cut Server for even more power. Whether you’re working solo or collaborating with a team, Final Cut Pro gives you the creative options and technical control that you need.
About the Final Cut Pro Documentation Final Cut Pro comes with various documents that will help you get started as well as provide detailed information about the application. • Exploring Final Cut Pro: The Exploring Final Cut Pro manual presents the basics of Final Cut Pro in an easy, approachable way. Each chapter presents major features and guides you in trying things out. A PDF version of the printed manual is available in Final Cut Pro Help (in Final Cut Pro, choose Help > Exploring Final Cut Pro).
About the Post-Production Workflow 1 No matter what your project, Final Cut Studio is the cornerstone of your post-production workflow. This section covers the post-production workflow in general terms. For more detailed information, see Final Cut Studio Workflows, available at http://documentation.apple.com/en/finalcutstudio/workflows. This chapter covers the following: • The Industry Workflow (p. 29) • The Post-Production Workflow (p.
Stage 4: Post-Production Post-production is where you organize and assemble your production footage, putting scenes in proper order, selecting the best takes, and eliminating unnecessary elements. Production sound is synchronized (with the picture), edited, sometimes rerecorded, and mixed. Music is composed and added. Footage is color-corrected and special effects are created. The final movie is output to tape, film, or some other high-quality media format.
Here is an overview of the basic Final Cut Pro post-production workflow. As you begin your project, remember that there are no hard and fast rules for editing. Different editors have different working styles and, given the same source material, no two editors will cut the same finished program. The workflow described here offers just one example of how you might approach a typical project.
Stage 2: Setting Up In this phase, you set up your editing system by installing and connecting the hardware you need, as well as configuring your software. For example, before logging and ingesting, you need to connect your computer either to the video and audio from your camcorder or VTR (video tape recorder) or to a device containing your file-based media.
Often, the type of project you’re working on determines your method of editing. For example, documentary editing, in which the script often evolves in parallel with the editing, is quite different from commercial television and film editing, in which there is already a finished script to provide an order for clips.
If you need to finish your project on a different editing workstation, you can export your project to an interchange file format such as Edit Decision List (EDL) or Final Cut Pro XML Interchange Format. You may need to output on another system if you work with uncompressed video, do lots of real-time effects processing, or require specialized video monitoring. For more information, see Using Final Cut Pro XML and QuickTime Metadata. You can also refer to Offline and Online Editing.
Video Formats and Timecode 2 Before you begin editing, you need to decide what video format you will use to capture, edit, and output. The format you choose determines your post-production workflow. This chapter covers the following: • About Nonlinear and Nondestructive Editing (p. 35) • Video Formats Compatible with Final Cut Pro (p. 35) • Audio Formats Compatible with Final Cut Pro (p. 37) • Video Format Basics (p. 37) • About Timecode (p.
Final Cut Pro uses QuickTime technology, allowing you to use almost any digital video format available. This flexibility ensures that your Final Cut Pro editing system always works with the latest video formats. • DV editing: Final Cut Pro supports DV video natively, using your computer’s built-in FireWire port for capture and output. DVCAM, DVCPRO, DVCPRO 50, and DVCPRO HD are also natively supported. Therefore, your system requires no additional hardware to edit DV material on your computer.
Audio Formats Compatible with Final Cut Pro You can use a variety of audio formats with Final Cut Pro, including audio files transferred from digital recorders, captured from tape, imported from audio CDs, or provided by musicians and sound designers. Final Cut Pro is compatible with audio files with sample rates as high as 96 kHz and a bit depth of 24 bits. You can work with most audio devices, such as audio CD players, DAT machines, digital multitrack recorders, or audio from videotape.
More recently, digital SD video formats were introduced, as well as digital high definition (HD) video formats. Most consumer camcorders today record SD digital video (such as DV), and professional cameras may record SD, HD, or digital cinema video. Image Dimensions and Aspect Ratio The horizontal and vertical pixel dimensions of your format determine the frame size and aspect ratio. For example, SD NTSC video is 720 pixels wide and 486 pixels tall.
About Timecode Timecode is a signal recorded with your video that uniquely identifies each frame on tape. When you capture video or audio in Final Cut Pro, you also capture the timecode signal, which is displayed in Final Cut Pro when you play back your clips. Timecode allows you to recapture your footage from tape and always get the same frames.
• Drop frame timecode has a semicolon (;) between the seconds and frames fields, and two timecode numbers are skipped from the frames counter each minute (except every tenth minute). 01:16:59;29, 01:17:00;02 A clip’s timecode comes directly from its media files. To set sequence timecode, you can use the Drop Frame checkbox in the Timeline Options pane of Sequence Settings. For more information, see Changing Timeline Display Options.
Understanding Projects, Clips, and Sequences 3 The basic elements in Final Cut Pro are projects, clips, and sequences. Once you learn what these are and how you can use them, you can begin working in Final Cut Pro. This chapter covers the following: • The Building Blocks of Projects (p. 41) • Working with Projects (p. 45) • About the Connection Between Clips and Media Files (p. 48) • Filenaming Considerations (p.
What Are Clips? Once you have media files on your hard disk, you need a way of working with them in Final Cut Pro. A clip is the most fundamental object in Final Cut Pro. Clips represent your media, but they are not the media files themselves. A clip points to, or connects to, a video, audio, or graphics media file on your hard disk. (For more information on the relationship between media files and clips, see About the Connection Between Clips and Media Files.
What Are Sequences? A sequence is a container for editing clips together in chronological order. The editing process involves deciding which video and audio clip items to put in your sequence, what order the clips should go in, and how long each clip should be. Sequences are created in the Browser. To edit clips into a sequence, you open a sequence in the Timeline from the Browser. Project Sequence Clip Clip Clip A sequence contains one or more video and audio tracks, which are empty when first created.
• Bins, or folders within a project in the Browser, for organizing elements such as clips and sequences Project Video clip Audio clip Still image ABC Sequence To start working in Final Cut Pro, you must have a project open in the Browser. For more information, see Browser Basics. You can have multiple projects open at the same time, each represented by its own tab in the Browser. Note: A project does not contain any media at all, which keeps it small and portable.
You can create separate bins for organizing clips by movie scene, source tape, or any other category. You can organize bins hierarchically and open them in their own windows. You can even put bins inside other bins. There is no limit to the number of bins you can have in your project, or the number of items you can store in each bin. Bins exist only in project files.
Creating and Saving Projects When you create a new project in Final Cut Pro, a new blank sequence is automatically created and named Sequence 1. You can change the sequence name to better reflect its content or the type of program you’ll be working on. The settings for the new sequence are determined by your current Easy Setup. (To check your current Easy Setup, choose Final Cut Pro > Easy Setup.) For more information, see Audio/Video Settings and Easy Setups.
µ To save all open projects Choose File > Save All (or press Option-S). If you haven’t named a project yet, a dialog appears where you can enter a name and choose a location for the project. Opening and Closing Projects You can open and work on more than one project at a time. When you finish working and quit Final Cut Pro, a message appears for each open project, asking if you want to save your changes.
3 If you’ve modified the project and haven’t saved it, a message asks if you want to save changes to the project. Click Yes to save the project. µ To switch between several open projects In the Browser, click a project’s tab. To switch between projects, click a project’s tab. µ To close all open projects Close the Browser. Any project that has its own window (because you dragged the project’s tab out of the Browser) remains open.
Note: Every file on your hard disk can be located by its directory path. A directory path describes where a file is located within the file and folder hierarchy of the operating system. To see a clip’s Source property 1 Select a clip in the Browser by clicking it. 2 Choose Edit > Item Properties > Format (or press Command-9). The Item Properties window appears. 3 Look at the directory path in the clip’s Source field.
An offline clip has a red slash through its icon in the Browser. In the Timeline, an offline clip appears white (when you play back your sequence in the Canvas, offline clips display a “Media Offline” message). To view these clips properly in your project, you need to reconnect the clips to their corresponding media files at their new locations on disk. This reestablishes the connection between the clips and their media files.
Avoid Example characters Reasons File separators : (colon) / (forward-slash) \ (backward-slash) You cannot use colons (:) in the names of files and folders because Mac OS 9 (Classic) uses this character to separate directories in pathnames. In addition, some applications may not allow you to use slashes (/) in the names of items. These characters are directory separators for Mac OS 9, Mac OS X, and DOS (Windows) respectively.
Adding Times and Dates to Final Cut Pro Project Names When you make a backup copy of your project file, adding the date to the project name helps identify the file among the other saved versions. If you add dates to a filename, avoid using special characters like the slash (/), since that may be interpreted by Mac OS X as a file separator. The Final Cut Pro autosave feature appends the date and time in the following format: ProjectName_03-21-09_1744.
Overview of the Final Cut Pro Interface 4 The Final Cut Pro interface has four main windows and a Tool palette. This chapter covers the following: • Basics of Working in the Final Cut Pro Interface (p. 53) • Using Keyboard Shortcuts, Buttons, and Shortcut Menus (p. 55) • Customizing the Interface (p. 57) • Undoing and Redoing Changes (p. 62) • Entering Timecode for Navigation Purposes (p.
You see these windows when you open a sequence with clips already in it. These windows are covered in more detail in the chapters that follow. Browser: This is where you organize the media in your project. Viewer: Used for previewing and preparing source clips for editing, as well as for adjusting filters and motion parameters. Canvas: Allows you to view your edited sequence, as well as perform a variety of editing functions. Works in parallel with the Timeline.
• Audio meters: Option-4 Note: There is no keyboard shortcut to open the Tool palette. µ Choose Window, then in the submenu, choose the window you want to display. Using Keyboard Shortcuts, Buttons, and Shortcut Menus Final Cut Pro offers several methods for performing commands. You can choose commands from the menu bar at the top of the screen or from contextual shortcut menus, or you can use keyboard shortcuts to perform many commands.
Using Button Bars You can create shortcut buttons and place them in the button bar along the top of the main windows in Final Cut Pro—the Browser, Viewer, Canvas, Timeline, and any Tool Bench windows. (The Tool Bench is a specialized window containing tabs for specific tasks, such as the Audio Mixer.) You can then click any of the shortcut buttons in the button bar to perform commands, instead of using keyboard shortcuts or menus.
Note: If you have a multibutton mouse, clicking the right mouse button is the same as Control-clicking by default. Learning Commands by Using Tooltips When you move the pointer over a control in Final Cut Pro, a small box called a tooltip appears with a description of the control. Next to the description is the keyboard shortcut for using the control. You can turn tooltips off and on in the General tab of the User Preferences window.
The windows on either side of the border are resized accordingly. Any border between two windows in Final Cut Pro can be dragged. When borders line up, such as the tops of the Browser and Timeline, they act as a single border—resizing one window resizes the other as well. See Moving and Resizing Final Cut Pro Windows for more information. Working with Tabs and Tabbed Windows The Viewer and Browser contain tabs that let you access different functions. The Browser also contains tabs for open projects.
When multiple tabs appear in a Timeline or Canvas window, you can have Final Cut Pro close all the tabs except the active one. To close all tabs except the active one in the Timeline or Canvas window Do one of the following: µ Click the tab you want to keep open to make it the frontmost tab, then choose File > Close Other Tabs. µ Control-click the tab, then choose Close Other Tabs from the shortcut menu.
µ Control-click in the Label column of the bin or sequence, then choose a label from the shortcut menu. The corresponding tab displays the color you chose. For more information about assigning labels, see Using Labels to Organize Your Clips. When you hold the pointer over a tab, a tooltip appears showing the location of the tab in the hierarchy of tabs. You can drag tabs out of their main, or parent, windows so they appear in a separate window.
µ To put a tab back in its original window Drag the tab to the title bar of its parent window. Drag the tab to the title bar of the original window to put it back. Moving Windows There are several ways you can move windows in Final Cut Pro. You can move a window by clicking its title bar, and then dragging it to a new position and releasing the mouse button. You can also hold down the Command and Option keys, and then click anywhere in a window and drag it to a new position.
Showing and Positioning the Dock When you use Final Cut Pro, your screen space may be limited by the presence of the Dock. You can make the Dock smaller so it takes up less room on the screen. You can also hide the Dock, so it only appears when you move the pointer over its (hidden) position. Another option is to position the Dock somewhere else on the screen. The default is on the bottom, but you can also choose to place it on the left or right side of the screen.
Entering Timecode for Navigation Purposes Timecode is a signal recorded with your video that uniquely identifies each frame on tape. Timecode also allows you to navigate through your sequences to a specific point in time.
Browser Basics 5 The Browser is where you organize all of the clips in your project. This chapter covers the following: • How You Use the Browser (p. 65) • Learning About the Browser (p. 66) • Working in the Browser (p. 67) • Using Columns in the Browser (p. 71) • Customizing the Browser Display (p. 73) How You Use the Browser The Browser is a powerful tool used to organize your project’s clips. In the Browser, you can sort, rename, and rearrange hundreds of clips in a multitude of ways.
Learning About the Browser You can view items in the Browser in different ways. When the Browser displays items in list view, all items appear in a sorted list. Each tab represents a project or an open bin. You can also access effects through the Browser. Columns display clip properties. Bins help you organize clips in your projects. Sequence You can also view items in the Browser in icon view, which lets you easily see items by type.
Working in the Browser Before you can work in the Browser, it must be the currently selected, or active, window. Otherwise, any commands or keyboard shortcuts you use may perform the wrong operations. To make the Browser window active Do one of the following: µ µ Click anywhere in the Browser. Press Command-4. Creating Sequences Before you can begin editing clips into a sequence, you must create a sequence. To create a new sequence 1 Click in the Browser to make it the active window.
To select a group of adjacent clips Do one of the following: µ Select an item, press and hold down the Shift key, then click the last item. The first and last items are selected, along with all items in between. µ Drag over multiple clips. Drag across multiple items to select them.
µ To select multiple, nonadjacent clips Press and hold down the Command key while clicking multiple items. Select the first clip. Then press the Command key while selecting other clips. Navigating Within the Browser Using the Keyboard You can navigate to items in the Browser in various ways, depending on whether you are viewing items in list view or icon view. (See Customizing the Browser Display.
µ Select the item, then hold down the Option key while you drag the item to a new bin or to the Name column heading. Hold down the Option key while you drag the item to a new bin or to the Name column heading. µ Press Option-D to duplicate the selected item. To duplicate a master clip, creating a new master clip instead of an affiliate clip 1 Select a clip in the Browser. 2 Do one of the following: • Choose Modify > Duplicate as New Master Clip.
2 Click the item’s name, type a new name, then press Return or Enter. Enter a new name for the item in the Name field. Renaming a clip automatically renames all affiliated clips in the current project, because there is only a single Name property shared between a master clip and all of its affiliate clips. This affects all clips in the Browser and in all sequences within your project. For more information on master and affiliate clips, see Working with Master and Affiliate Clips.
The Browser can display many columns of information at once. You can customize the Browser to display only the columns you want, as well as rearrange columns and change their width. The Name column cannot be hidden, and always appears at the far left.
Customizing the Browser Display There are various ways you can display items in the Browser, depending on your needs and work style. You can display items in list or icon (thumbnail) view, choose columns you want to show or hide, and choose the frame you see for a clip in icon (thumbnail) view. Choosing Views in the Browser You can view items in the Browser in list view or icon view.
µ Press Shift-H to toggle through all four views. Working with the Browser in List View When items are displayed as a list, the Browser displays information about the items in columns. You can customize these columns in several ways. You can: • Rearrange, resize, hide, and show individual columns • Display, hide, and scrub (move) through thumbnails of clips • Change the Master Comment or Comment column headings µ To rearrange a column Drag the column heading to the new location.
Note: You can’t hide the Name column; it’s always displayed. Control-click a column heading, then choose Hide Column. µ To display a hidden column Control-click the column heading to the right of where you want to display the column, then choose the column you want to display from the shortcut menu. Control-click a column heading, then choose the column you want to display.
µ To display thumbnails Control-click any column heading other than Name, then choose Show Thumbnail from the shortcut menu. Control-click a column heading, then choose Show Thumbnail. A thumbnail column appears with images for all video clips. Thumbnails appear as small images of your video clips. When thumbnails are displayed, the image shown is the first frame of the clip or the In point of the clip, if one is set.
µ To scrub, or move, through a thumbnail Drag the thumbnail image in the direction you want to view. The thumbnail you’re scrubbing through is highlighted. Note: You can also scrub through clips that are displayed in large icon view. See Scrubbing Through Clips in Icon View. To change the name of the Master Comment or Comment column heading 1 Control-click a Comment column heading, then choose Edit Heading from the shortcut menu. Control-click a Comment column heading, then choose Edit Heading.
2 Type a new name in the column’s Name field, then press Return. Enter the new column name. The Master Comment and Comment column headings are the only column headings you can change. Once you customize the name of a Comment column, it remains changed in that project file, even if you hide it. New projects you create use the default names. If you want to change several Comment headings at once, use the Project Properties window. For more information, see Working with Projects, Clips, and Sequences.
Working with the Browser in Icon View In large, medium, or small icon view, you arrange your clips graphically in the Browser. Video clips are displayed as a thumbnail of the starting frame of video, audio clips are displayed as a speaker, and bins are indicated by a folder icon. If a video clip has an audio track, a small speaker icon appears inside the clip’s thumbnail. Video clip with audio Thumbnails of clips in icon view Audio clip You can use different views for open Browser windows and tabs.
To scrub through clips in large icon view 1 Do one of the following: • Select the Scrub tool in the Tool palette. Selection tool Scrub tool Note: When the Scrub tool is selected, you can hold down the Shift or Command key to temporarily make the Selection tool active to select, open, or move clips. • Select the Selection tool in the Tool palette, then press Shift-Control to temporarily make the Scrub tool active. 2 Drag the Scrub tool over the thumbnail.
To arrange items in the Browser into rows in icon view Do one of the following: µ µ Choose View > Arrange > by Name or by Duration. Control-click in an empty area of the Browser, then choose Arrange by Name or Arrange by Duration from the shortcut menu. Before using the Arrange command After using the Arrange command Setting the Poster Frame The poster frame is the picture that represents a clip in icon view in the Browser.
2 In the Viewer, navigate to the frame you want to use as the poster frame for the clip. 3 Choose Mark > Set Poster Frame (or press Control-P). µ To set the poster frame in the Browser in large icon view Scrub through a clip until you get to the frame you want, press and hold down the Control key, then release the mouse button. Original poster frame (before scrubbing) The poster frame is now set to the frame you scrubbed to.
To save a custom column layout 1 Rearrange the Browser columns the way you want them to appear. Note: The Name column always appears on the far left and cannot be moved. 2 Control-click any column heading, then choose Save Column Layout from the shortcut menu. 3 In the Save dialog, choose where you want to save the layout, change its name if you like, then click Save.
Viewer Basics 6 The Viewer is used for viewing a clip’s media and preparing clips before editing them into a sequence. This chapter covers the following: • How You Can Use the Viewer (p. 85) • Opening a Clip in the Viewer (p. 86) • Learning About the Viewer (p. 87) • Tabs in the Viewer (p. 90) • Transport Controls in the Viewer (p. 92) • Playhead Controls in the Viewer (p. 93) • Marking Controls in the Viewer (p. 95) • Zoom and View Pop-Up Menus in the Viewer (p. 96) • Playhead Sync Pop-Up Menu (p.
Generators are special clips that can be generated by Final Cut Pro, so they don’t require source media. Final Cut Pro has generators that create color mattes, text of different types, gradients, color bars, and white noise. For more information, see Using Generator Clips. • Open a transition, such as a dissolve or a wipe, from an edited sequence for detailed editing For more information, see Adding Transitions. Before you can work in the Viewer, it must be the currently selected, or active, window.
µ In the Viewer, select a clip name from the Recent Clips pop-up menu in the lower-right area of the window. To open a sequence clip in the Viewer from the Timeline or Canvas Do one of the following: µ µ In the Timeline, double-click the clip. In the Timeline or Canvas, move the playhead over the clip, then press Return or Enter. The clip on the lowest-numbered track with Auto Select turned on is opened in the Viewer. µ µ In the Timeline, select the clip and press Return or Enter.
Controls in the Top Part of the Viewer The top part of the Viewer has the following controls. Clip name and the project it’s in Tabs Current Timecode field View pop-up menu Playhead Sync pop-up menu Image display area Timecode Duration field Zoom pop-up menu • Tabs: There are five tabs that can be shown in the Viewer—Video, Audio, Filters, Motion, and Controls—each providing certain editing functions. For more details, see Tabs in the Viewer.
Controls in the Bottom part of the Viewer The bottom part of the Viewer has the following controls. Shuttle control In point Playhead Out point Marker Scrubber bar Jog control Generator pop-up menu Marking controls Transport controls Recent Clips pop-up menu • Jog and shuttle controls: You use the jog and shuttle controls to navigate within your clip, much like traditional VTR controls.
Tabs in the Viewer Each tab in the Viewer provides a specific set of editing functions: Video, Audio, Filters, Motion, and Controls. You can drag tabs out of the Viewer so they appear in separate windows. This is useful, for example, if you want to adjust filter or generator parameters while watching the results in the Video tab. Video Tab The video tab lets you view a clip’s video media, set In and Out points, and add markers and keyframes.
Filters Tab You use this tab to adjust parameters for any video or audio filters you’ve applied to a clip. You can also set keyframes to adjust filter parameters over time. For more information on video filters, see Using Video Filters. For more information on audio filters, see Using Audio Filters.
Controls Tab You use the Controls tab to change the parameters for generator clips, such as the font and text size in a Text generator, or the size of a Circle Shape generator. The Controls tab appears only when a generator is open in the Viewer. For additional information, see Using Generator Clips. Transport Controls in the Viewer Transport (or playback) controls let you play clips in the Viewer. (The same controls also appear in the Log and Capture and Edit to Tape windows.
• Play Around Current Frame (Backslash): Plays the selected clip “around” the current playhead position. When you click this button, the playback begins before the playhead position based on the value in the Preview Pre-roll field in the Editing tab of the User Preferences window. Playback continues through the original position of the playhead, and then continues for the amount of time set in the Preview Post-roll field in User Preferences.
µ To move the playhead to the end of your clip Press End on your keyboard. Jog Control in the Viewer To move forward or backward in your clip very precisely, use the jog control. The jog control allows you to move the playhead as if you were actually moving it with your hand, with a one-to-one correspondence between the motion of your mouse and the playhead’s motion. This control is useful for carefully locating a specific frame (for instance, if you’re trimming an edit).
Marking Controls in the Viewer Marking controls let you set In and Out points, add markers and keyframes, and navigate to matching frames in master or affiliate clips. (This is called performing a match frame.) There are keyboard shortcuts for each control. Show Match Frame Add Marker Mark In Mark Out Add Motion Keyframe Mark Clip • Show Match Frame (F): When you click this button, Final Cut Pro searches the current sequence for the same frame shown in the Viewer.
• Mark In (I): Click to set the In point at the current position of the playhead. • Mark Out (O): Click to set the Out point at the current position of the playhead. Zoom and View Pop-Up Menus in the Viewer The two pop-up menus near the top of the Viewer let you quickly select the magnification level and a viewing format to control the way media in the Viewer is displayed. Note: These menus also appear in the Canvas, and the options are the same.
Besides simply choosing a magnification level, you can choose one of the following: • Fit to Window: Increases or decreases the size of your media’s image to match any size of the Viewer window. You can also do this by clicking the Viewer to make it active, and then pressing Shift-Z (Zoom to Fit). Before After • Fit All: This is similar to the Fit to Window command, but this command takes into account clips whose borders extend beyond the current Viewer boundaries.
• Correct for Aspect Ratio: Displays non-square pixel images as square pixels so they look correct on your computer screen. Standard definition (SD) video equipment displays video using non-square pixels, whereas computer monitors display video with square pixels. Because of the difference in the shape of the pixels, the same video image looks different on each kind of monitor.
• Overlays: Final Cut Pro provides translucent visual cues, called overlays, that help you easily recognize certain parts of your edit in the Viewer, such as the markers and In and Out points of clips in your sequence. To view overlays such as title safe and timecode overlays, you need to turn on this option. • Title safe and action safe overlays: These overlays show you the boundaries within which you need to keep your graphics and text so they’ll appear when the sequence is played back on television.
The following playhead sync modes are available from the Playhead Sync pop-up menu: • Sync Off: The Viewer and Canvas playheads move independently of each another. This is the default behavior. • Open: As the playhead moves through your sequence, the clip that appears at the current position of the playhead is automatically opened in the Viewer. Playhead sync between the Viewer and Canvas is maintained so the same frame is always open in both windows.
Recent Clips Pop-Up Menu This pop-up menu shows recently used clips. A clip is not added to this list when first opened in the Viewer, only when another clip replaces it. The last clip that was replaced in the Viewer appears at the top of the list. By default, the maximum number of clips that appear in this list is ten, but you can change this number. For more information, see Choosing Settings and Preferences. The clip replaced most recently is at the top of the list.
Canvas Basics 7 The Canvas provides an environment for viewing your edited sequence, and works in tandem with the Timeline while you edit. This chapter covers the following: • How You Use the Canvas (p. 103) • Opening, Selecting, and Closing Sequences in the Canvas (p. 104) • Learning About the Canvas (p. 105) • Editing Controls in the Canvas (p. 107) • Transport Controls in the Canvas (p. 109) • Playhead Controls in the Canvas (p. 110) • Marking Controls in the Canvas (p.
Before you can work in the Canvas, it must be the currently selected, or active, window. Otherwise, any commands or keyboard shortcuts you use may perform the wrong operations. To display the Canvas, you must open a sequence from the Browser (see Opening, Selecting, and Closing Sequences in the Canvas for more information). Note: Most of the commands you use in the Canvas also work in the Timeline. To make the Canvas window active Do one of the following: µ µ µ Click the Canvas. Press Command-2.
Learning About the Canvas The following is a summary of the controls in the Canvas. Controls in the Top Part of the Canvas The top part of the Canvas has the following controls. Tab for the open sequence Timecode Duration field Name of the currently selected sequence and the project it’s in Current Timecode field View pop-up menu Playhead Sync pop-up menu Image display area Zoom pop-up menu • Tabs: Each tab in the Canvas represents an open sequence, and has a corresponding tab in the Timeline.
• Current Timecode field: This field displays the timecode of the frame at the current position of the playhead. You can enter timecode numbers here to navigate to a new position in your sequence. • Image display area: This is the area of the Canvas where you can see the video from your sequence play back. Controls in the Bottom Part of the Canvas The bottom part of the Canvas has the following controls.
Editing Controls in the Canvas You can perform five basic types of edits in the Canvas to place a clip displayed in the Viewer into the current sequence. The clip is placed in the Timeline according to the In and Out points set in the clip and the sequence, following the rules of three-point editing. The basic edit types are: • Overwrite: Replaces the clip items in the destination sequence track with the clip in the Viewer.
Edit Overlay The Edit Overlay appears only when you drag clips from the Browser or Viewer to the image area of the Canvas. The Edit Overlay appears translucently over the image currently in the Canvas. Drag a clip to the image display area of the Canvas. The Edit Overlay appears with its seven sections. There are seven sections in the Edit Overlay. If you simply drag your clip to the image display area to the left of the Edit Overlay, an overwrite edit is performed.
Transport Controls in the Canvas Transport (or playback) controls let you play sequences in the Canvas, as well as move the playhead in the Timeline. These controls play clips and sequences at 100 percent (or 1x) speed. There are keyboard shortcuts for each control. Go to Previous Edit Go to Next Edit Play Around Current Frame Play Play In to Out Note: Similar controls also appear in the Viewer, Log and Capture, and Edit to Tape windows.
Playhead Controls in the Canvas The Canvas provides a number of controls for moving the playhead in a sequence quickly and easily. Inactive video Inactive video Playhead Scrubber bar Jog control Shuttle control Playhead and Scrubber Bar in the Canvas The playhead shows the location of the currently displayed frame within the current sequence. The scrubber bar runs along the entire width of the Canvas, below the video image. To scrub through a sequence, drag the playhead across the scrubber bar.
Final Cut Pro looks for the previous edit, In point, or Out point. If overlays are turned on in the View menu, an L-shaped icon appears in the Canvas, indicating whether you are on an In or Out point. To move the playhead to sequence markers Do one of the following: µ Control-click in the Current Timecode field in either the Timeline or the Canvas, then choose a marker from the shortcut menu. µ µ Press Shift–Down Arrow to move to the next marker to the right of the playhead.
Marking Controls in the Canvas Marking controls let you set In and Out points, add markers and keyframes, and navigate to matching frames in master or affiliate clips. (This is called performing a match frame.) There are keyboard shortcuts for each control. Mark Clip Show Match Frame Mark In Mark Out Add Motion Keyframe Add Marker • Mark In (I): Click to set the In point at the current position of the playhead. • Mark Out (O): Click to set the Out point at the current position of the playhead.
Zoom and View Pop-Up Menus in the Canvas The two pop-up menus near the top of the Canvas let you quickly select the magnification level and a viewing format to control the way media in the Canvas is displayed. These menus are also present in the Viewer, and the options are the same. For details, see Zoom and View Pop-Up Menus in the Viewer in the Viewer Basics chapter.
Navigating and Using Timecode in the Viewer and Canvas 8 While the Viewer and Canvas serve different purposes, navigating and working with timecode are nearly the same in both windows. This chapter covers the following: • Navigating in the Viewer and Canvas (p. 115) • Working with Timecode in the Viewer and Canvas (p. 121) Navigating in the Viewer and Canvas Aside from using the transport controls, there are numerous ways to move around within clips and sequences in Final Cut Pro.
To play a clip in the Viewer or a sequence in the Canvas 1 Open a clip in the Viewer or make the Canvas or Timeline active. 2 Do one of the following: • Choose Mark > Play > Forward (or press L). • Click the Play button. • Press the Space bar. To stop playback, press the Space bar or click the Play button again. You can navigate backward at 1x (normal) speed, for instance, if you want to search for precise locations to set your In and Out points.
2 Do one of the following: • Choose Mark > Play > To Out (or press Shift-P). • Command-click the Play button. You can also play around the current playhead position. This is useful if you want to watch the outgoing and incoming media around an edit point, perhaps to decide how you want to trim one side or the other. To play a clip around the current playhead position 1 Open a clip in the Viewer or make the Canvas or Timeline active.
As you scrub through your clip or sequence, audio also plays back more quickly, but it doesn’t play back smoothly—it will seem to stutter (not speed up) as individual audio samples are skipped. This is normal. For smooth playback of audio at speeds under 1x, use the shuttle control instead. µ To scrub through a clip or sequence Drag the playhead along the scrubber bar. To move around, drag the playhead along the scrubber bar.
Dragging to the right moves the clip or sequence forward; dragging to the left moves the clip or sequence in reverse. The farther you drag the slider from the center, the faster the clip or sequence plays in that direction. Drag to the right to play forward; drag to the left to play in reverse. You can also use the J, K, and L keys on your keyboard to shuttle through your clip. When you use the keyboard shortcuts, the only speed available under 1x is 1/3x.
µ To move the playhead one frame at a time Hold down the K key, then press J or L. µ To move the playhead at below 1/3x speed Hold down the K key, then press and hold down J or L. Note: When using keyboard shortcuts for device control, the speed of forward (L) and reverse (J) may differ depending on your video equipment. Jogging Through a Clip or Sequence To move through a clip or sequence more precisely, you can use the jog control.
Looping Playback Normally, playback of a clip or sequence starts at the current playhead position and stops at the end of the clip or sequence. If you turn on looped playback, the clip or sequence plays over and over again until you stop playback. When looped playback is turned on: • Using Play In to Out loops playback only between your two edit points. • Playing in reverse loops playback from the end of your clip to the beginning.
Note: Clicking the icon to the left of each field highlights the entire field so you can enter new numbers. Control-clicking the Timecode Duration and Current Timecode fields displays a shortcut menu that lets you select the following timecode display options: • Non-drop frame timecode, drop frame timecode, feet+frames, or frames: The menu item in boldface indicates the type of timecode currently specified in that sequence’s settings.
• Make the Canvas active. 2 Click the Current Timecode field (or the icon to the left of it) to highlight the field. 3 Enter a new timecode value, then press Return. Instead of moving the playhead to an absolute timecode number, you can move it relative to its current position by pressing the + and - keys. For example, to move the playhead 15 frames forward from the current position, type “+15”. To move the playhead 1 minute and 20 frames back from the current position, type “-01.
About Timecode Overlays and Sync Color Coding In the Viewer, timecode overlays display the source timecode for each clip item. In the Canvas, timecode overlays provide a powerful way to see the sync relationship between clip items stacked in multiple tracks. You can see the source timecode track of each clip item in each track at the current playhead position. Timecode overlays, like other overlays, don’t appear during playback; you’ll only see overlays when playback is paused.
Information Displayed by Timecode Overlays Timecode overlays give you an “at-a-glance” view of a wide variety of information about your clip in the Viewer or sequence in the Timeline. Shows timecode for the In point of the current clip or sequence. Shows timecode for the Out point of the current clip or sequence. Timecode numbers for audio clip items at the position of the playhead Items that are in sync are color coded with the same color.
For example, if the clip items on tracks V1, A1, and A2 all refer to the same media file, and they all have the same timecode number at the current playhead position, the timecode overlays for these tracks are displayed with the same color.
Timeline Basics 9 The Timeline shows a graphical representation of your edited sequence, with all of that sequence’s clips laid out in chronological order. This chapter covers the following: • How You Use the Timeline (p. 127) • Opening and Closing Sequences in the Timeline (p. 129) • Learning About the Timeline (p. 130) • Changing Timeline Display Options (p. 141) • Navigating in the Timeline (p. 149) • Zooming and Scrolling in the Timeline (p.
The Timeline window below shows several items in the Timeline. Sequence tab Current Timecode field In point Playhead Out point This image shows the same items as they appear in the Canvas. Sequence tab Current Timecode field Playhead Out point In point Since the playhead in the Timeline mirrors the playhead in the Canvas, you can use the navigation, marking, and editing controls in the Canvas to navigate in the Timeline, and vice versa.
Opening and Closing Sequences in the Timeline In the Timeline and Canvas, tabs represent sequences. Opening a sequence opens the Timeline and the Canvas windows simultaneously (if they’re not open already). If the Timeline and Canvas are already open, a newly opened sequence appears in its own tab on top of any other sequence tabs. To open a sequence in the Timeline and Canvas Do one of the following: µ µ Select the sequence in the Browser, then choose View > Sequence in Editor.
Learning About the Timeline You can view the content of your sequences in many different ways in the Timeline. Track height, clip opacity and audio level overlays, keyframes, and many other sequence properties can be displayed and edited in the Timeline. Each sequence has its own unique display settings; changing the zoom setting or audio controls in one sequence doesn’t affect another. Each tab represents a sequence.
Editing Controls The Timeline editing controls determine which tracks are selected and turned on for editing and playback. Track Visibility control Destination control Lock Track control Auto Select control Source control Locked tracks are cross-hatched. • Source and Destination controls: These allow you to connect (or patch) clip items of the source clip in the Viewer to tracks in the Timeline.
• Lock Track control: Prevents a track’s contents from being moved or changed in any way. Overlays in locked tracks can also be protected by deselecting the “Pen tools can edit locked item overlays” option in the Editing tab of the User Preferences window. Locked tracks are cross-hatched all the way across the Timeline. Tracks can be locked and unlocked at any time. For more information, see Choosing Settings and Preferences.
More tracks can be added at any time. Additional audio tracks can be used for adding music or sound effects, or for organizational purposes. Additional video tracks can be used for superimposing clips and compositing layers of video clips together. Each tab represents a sequence. Video tracks Divider Audio tracks Thumb tab Vertical scroll bar The unused area provides space to accommodate new tracks.
• Unused area: This is the area either above or below the outermost video and audio tracks in your sequence. Ordinarily, this area is blank, but if you drag clips directly into this gray area, new tracks are created to accommodate them. • Vertical scroll bars and thumb tabs: If you have more tracks than can be displayed in the Timeline window at one time, the scroll bars let you scroll through your video and audio tracks separately.
• Current Timecode field: Indicates the timecode position of the playhead. Typing a new timecode number moves the playhead (as in the Viewer and Canvas). Current Timecode field • Zoom control: Lets you zoom in and out of the contents of your sequence in the Timeline. Zooming in shows more detail in the ruler, and the duration between the numbers in the ruler shrinks. Zooming out shows less detail in the ruler, but allows you to see more of the total duration of your sequence in the Timeline.
• Zoom slider: Like the Zoom control, the Zoom slider allows you to zoom in and out of a sequence in the Timeline. Dragging the thumb tabs on either side of the slider adjusts both thumb tabs and leaves the visible area of the Timeline centered. Drag the slider to scroll through your sequence. Pressing the Shift key and dragging one of the thumb tabs locks the opposite thumb tab and moves the visible area of the Timeline in the direction you’re dragging.
Audio Controls The following controls affect vertically working with audio in the tracks. Solo control Mute control Audio Controls button • Audio Controls button: Click to display the mute and solo buttons to the left of each audio track in the Timeline. By default, these controls are hidden. • Mute and solo controls: Use to turn on or turn off audio playback on individual tracks for monitoring purposes. The track strips in the Audio Mixer have corresponding mute and solo buttons that work the same way.
Other Miscellaneous Controls Following are other controls within the Timeline. Linked Selection button Snapping button • Snapping button: Click to turn snapping on and off. This button appears in the Timeline button bar by default. When snapping is on, the playhead “snaps to” key areas in the Timeline, such as the boundaries of other clip items, sequence markers, and sequence In and Out points.
• Stereo pair indicators (within clip items): Two pairs of triangles indicate that two audio clip items are linked as a stereo pair. If you select an audio clip item that is part of a stereo pair, the other clip item in the pair is also selected. This is useful when you are working with stereo audio clips such as music or sound effects. For more information, see Audio Editing Basics. Speed change is shown as a percentage.
• Render status bar: This bar at the top of the Timeline indicates which parts of the sequence have been rendered at the current render quality. The top line is for video, the bottom for audio. • Video render bar (upper region): Indicates the presence and render status of video effects items. • Audio render bar (lower region): Indicates the presence and render status of audio effects items. Colors in the render bar above items indicate whether the items need to be rendered.
Clip items can be linked so that they can be selected and edited together. This allows you to keep clip items that came from the same Browser clip together, such as a video clip item and a stereo pair of audio clip items. When you select a linked clip item, all the other linked clip items are selected as well (unless the Linked Selection button is disabled). For more information about working with linked items, see Linking and Editing Video and Audio in Sync.
µ To change Timeline display options in the Sequence Settings window Select a sequence in the Browser or Timeline, choose Sequence > Sequence Settings, then click the Timeline Options tab. Settings in the Timeline Options tab General Options These are basic display options you can change at any time.
Track Display The Track Display settings allow you to customize many aspects of how tracks appear in the Timeline. • Show Keyframe Overlays: Select this option to display opacity overlays (thin black lines) over your video tracks, and audio level overlays (thin red lines) over any clips in the audio tracks of the Timeline. These lines indicate video transparency or audio levels. For more information, see Adjusting Parameters for Keyframed Effects.
• Show Through Edits: A through edit is an edit composed of two adjacent frames that have the same reel number and subsequent timecode numbers. For example, if you use the Razor Blade tool to cut a clip in half, that edit point is considered a through edit. Select this option to display through edit indicators—two red triangles—where they exist. This may help you discover unnecessary edit points in your sequence, which you can then delete.
Clip Keyframes You can click the Clip Keyframes control to display the keyframe graph area—additional space below each video and audio track in which to view and edit keyframes for effects that are applied to your clips. A green bar indicates a filter has been applied to the clip. A blue bar indicates a clip’s motion settings have been altered.
• Speed indicators: Speed indicators show you the speed of clips in your sequence using tick marks. The spacing and color of these tick marks indicate the speed and playback direction of your clips. The speed indicators of clips in the Timeline update in real time as you make variable speed adjustments to clips in your sequence, showing you exactly how you’re altering a clip’s timing.
• Clip labels This pop-up menu also allows you to save, choose, or restore custom track layouts. This menu can hold up to 40 custom track layouts. µ To change Timeline display options using the Track Layout pop-up menu Click the triangle to the right of the Track Height control, then choose an option from the pop-up menu. Click here to view the Track Layout pop-up menu.
Each separate instance of duplicated frames is color-coded differently. There are six different colors used to indicate separate sets of duplicated frames: red, green, blue, white, black, and purple. If there are more than six sets of duplicate frames in your sequence, these colors are reused. In the following example, the first clip is duplicated once, as indicated by the red duplicate frames indicator. The second clip is also duplicated once, as indicated by the green duplicate frames indicator.
You can Control-click a clip with duplicate frames to see a shortcut menu with the Dupe Frames option. Choose this option to see a list of all clips that contain duplicates of the frames in the selected clip. Each item in this list contains the number of duplicated frames, the timecode value of the first duplicated frame, and the name of the clip that contains the duplicates. When you select an item in this list, the playhead moves to the first duplicated frame in the clip that corresponds to that item.
µ To scrub through a sequence in the Timeline Drag the playhead in the Timeline ruler. Playhead µ To jump to a specific location in the Timeline Click the desired location in the Timeline ruler. (You can do this while your sequence is stopped or playing.) Using Timecode to Navigate in the Timeline The Current Timecode field shows the current position of the playhead. If you enter a new timecode number, the playhead moves to that position.
Zooming and Scrolling in the Timeline Being able to navigate quickly to any point in your sequence is critical to efficient editing and storytelling, and the ability to jump to any point in the Timeline instantly is one of the main benefits of a nonlinear editing environment. There are many ways to navigate through the Timeline. Learning keyboard shortcuts can save you time.
µ To zoom in and out of the Timeline using the Zoom control Click or drag the Zoom control to view the Timeline at a different time scale while keeping either the playhead or the current area of the Timeline centered. Clicking to the right of the control zooms out to show more of your sequence; clicking to the left zooms in to show more detail. Drag the Zoom control to change the Timeline to a different time scale.
Note: When the Zoom In or Zoom Out tool is selected, pressing the Option key temporarily changes it to the opposite tool. Drag the Zoom In tool to expand the sequence. This shows the above sequence zoomed in, so you can see more details within the sequence.
This reduces the amount of detail but shows more of your edited sequence until the entire sequence fits into the Timeline. You can zoom out further to reduce the scale of your sequence in the Timeline and show more empty area to the right of it. Before zooming in After zooming in The playhead remains in the same position. µ To fit the entire contents of the Timeline into the available window size Press Shift-Z. The zoom factor changes so that the entire sequence fits into the available window size.
Scrolling Horizontally Through a Zoomed-In Timeline It’s easy to zoom far enough into your sequence that you are only seeing a small fraction of the whole Timeline. To see another portion of your sequence, you can drag the playhead in the Canvas to move to a new location in the Timeline. If you want to see another portion of your sequence in the Timeline without moving the playhead, use the Zoom slider. The area of the horizontal scroll bar encompasses the total duration of your sequence in the Timeline.
Scrolling Vertically Through Multiple Tracks The tracks in the Timeline are divided by default into two regions, one for audio tracks and one for video tracks. A divider between the two regions can be dragged up or down to resize the regions, giving more space to either the video or audio tracks in your Timeline.
Customizing the Interface 10 Final Cut Pro lets you customize the way you work with windows, rearranging them and creating new layouts. You can also set up custom keyboard shortcuts and use shortcut buttons to work more efficiently. This chapter covers the following: • Changing Browser and Timeline Text Size (p. 157) • Moving and Resizing Final Cut Pro Windows (p. 157) • Using Window Layouts (p. 159) • Ways to Customize Keyboard Shortcuts (p. 162) • Working with Shortcut Buttons and Button Bars (p.
Note: You can also resize and move the Tool Bench window, a window used for specialized editing, including audio mixing and recording voiceovers. Default Two Up layout For example, you may want to increase the height of the Timeline while simultaneously shrinking the size of the Viewer and Canvas to work on a sophisticated multitrack sequence. You could also enlarge the Browser while shrinking the Timeline to perform multicolumn searches for clips in the Browser as you edit.
To resize multiple windows at the same time 1 Move the pointer over the border between the windows you want to resize. The pointer changes to the Resize Window pointer. Pointer between two windows Pointer between three or more windows 2 Drag the border in the desired direction to resize the appropriate windows. The windows on either side of the border are resized accordingly. Any border between two windows in Final Cut Pro can be dragged.
µ To choose a window layout Choose Window > Arrange, then choose an option from the submenu. • Audio Mixing: This places the Viewer, Canvas, and Tool Bench at the top. The Tool Bench window contains the Audio Mixer tab (you can also open the Audio Mixer by choosing Tools > Audio Mixer). The Browser and Timeline are on the bottom, with the Tool palette and audio meters to the right of the Timeline. • Color Correction: This places the Viewer, Canvas, and Tool Bench at the top.
The resolution you choose will become the minimum resolution for that particular window layout. 2 In Final Cut Pro, arrange any combination of the four main windows, custom Tool Bench windows with tool tabs, the Tool palette, and audio meters as you want them. 3 Hold down the Option key and choose Window > Arrange, then choose one of the Set Custom Layout options. µ To use a custom layout Choose Window > Arrange, then choose Custom Layout 1 or Custom Layout 2.
2 In the Open dialog, navigate to the location where the window layout is located, select it, then click Open. Ways to Customize Keyboard Shortcuts You can customize the way you work in Final Cut Pro by setting up keyboard shortcuts for many commands. The default keyboard shortcuts appear to the right of the command name in menus and in tooltips.
Command List Area By default, commands are listed by menu set (such as File and Edit) and command group function (such as Audio and Capture commands). You can also view commands alphabetically. You can use the controls in this area to choose how to display commands as well as how to search for them.
Keyboard Area The currently selected keyboard layout appears here and includes the following features. Tabs let you choose the modifier key to use. This specifies the currently selected keyboard layout and input type. An icon for the default command is shown on each key. Lock button • Tabs: There are tabs at the top of the Keyboard Layout window for each modifier key or combination of modifier keys, such as No Modifiers, cmd (Command key), shift (Shift key), and opt (Option key).
Assigning Keyboard Shortcuts Specifying shortcuts for commands is easy. You don’t have to set up the entire keyboard with your preferred shortcuts—you can choose specific menu sets or command groups. For example, you can specify keyboard shortcuts for all commands in the File menu or for all render functions. Important: Before you begin specifying keyboard shortcuts, make sure you choose the appropriate language and input type. For more information, see Using Different Keyboards and Languages.
• Enter the name of the command in the search field. (Commands that match are displayed automatically.) If you enter “edit,” all commands that include that word are shown. 6 Click a command in the list to select it, then do one of the following: • Press the key or key combination you want to assign as the shortcut. • Drag the command from the list to the key on the keyboard layout that you want to assign it to.
• If the key combination is already used by another command: In this case, a message appears asking if you want to reassign it. Click Yes. The keyboard shortcut you entered now appears next to the command in the list. The icon for that command also appears on the appropriate key. Note: If the command already has a shortcut assigned to it, you can delete the existing one. If you don’t, the command will have two keyboard shortcuts assigned to it.
Avoiding Keyboard Shortcut Conflicts Certain keyboard shortcuts may not work in certain Final Cut Pro windows. For example, if you press an alphanumeric key, such as J, K, or L in the Browser, the first clip beginning with the character you pressed is selected (clips named Jacob, Katy, or Larry, for example). This is the default behavior of the Browser, and keyboard shortcuts cannot bypass this feature.
At some point, you may decide that you want to restore all of the keyboard shortcuts to their original default settings. To restore the default keyboard shortcuts 1 Choose Tools > Keyboard Layout > Customize. The Keyboard Layout window appears. 2 Click the Lock button, then click Reset. 3 When a message appears asking if you want to reset the defaults, click OK. Saving Commands and Keyboard Shortcuts as Text Files You can save commands and their keyboard shortcuts in a text document.
2 In the Save dialog, enter a new name for the layout if you want and choose where to save it, then click Save. The default name is Custom Keyboard Layout. The default location where these files are stored is: /Users/username/Library/Preferences/Final Cut Pro User Data/Keyboard Layouts/. 3 If a file with the specified name already exists in that location, a message appears asking if you want to replace the file. If so, click Replace; otherwise, click Cancel and rename the file, then click Save.
Working with Shortcut Buttons and Button Bars Shortcut buttons can be created and placed at the top of the main windows in Final Cut Pro—the Browser, Viewer, Canvas, Timeline, and any Tool Bench windows. You can then click any of these shortcut buttons in this “button bar” to perform commands, instead of entering the key combination or using menus. Shortcut buttons added to the Browser Some windows, such as the Timeline and Tool Bench, include some buttons in their button bar by default.
To create a shortcut button in the button bar of a window 1 Make sure the window you want to add the shortcut button to is displayed. If you’re adding a shortcut button to the Tool Bench window, make sure the tab of the feature you want is in front. 2 Choose Tools > Button List. The Button List window appears. This looks the same as the command list area of the Keyboard Layout window. Tip: You can also drag icons from the command list area or keyboard area of the Keyboard Layout window.
µ To rearrange shortcut buttons in a button bar In the button bar, drag shortcut buttons where you want them to appear. µ To add a spacer to a button bar Control-click the button bar, then choose Add Spacer from the shortcut menu. Spacer added between buttons µ To move spacers in a button bar Drag the spacer where you want it to appear in the button bar. µ To remove a space in a button bar Drag the spacer out of the window.
Note: In the case of the Timeline, which contains default shortcut buttons, choose Remove > All / Restore Defaults from the submenu. Saving and Using Custom Shortcut Button Bars You can manually save the shortcut button bars that you set up in the Viewer, Canvas, Browser, and Timeline. This is useful if you are working with others on a project and want to use your shortcut button configuration. You can also load and use shortcut button bars that others have created.
Note: When you restore a button bar or use a saved shortcut button bar, all existing shortcut buttons in all windows are replaced by those you are loading.
Connecting DV Video Equipment 11 Setting up Final Cut Pro to capture DV video is as simple as connecting your camcorder to your computer with a FireWire cable. This chapter covers the following: • Components of a Basic Final Cut Pro Editing System (p. 177) • Setting Up a Final Cut Pro Editing System (p. 178) • Connecting Your Camcorder (p. 179) • Opening Final Cut Pro and Choosing Your Initial Settings (p. 179) • Confirming Remote Device Control Between Final Cut Pro and Your DV Device (p.
Setting Up a Final Cut Pro Editing System This section explains how to set up a basic editing system. Even if you are building a more complex editing system, you should read about the basic setup process first. References to more advanced information are included within each stage. The basic process for setting up a Final Cut Pro editing system is outlined below.
Connecting Your Camcorder The following illustration demonstrates how to connect a camcorder to the FireWire port on your computer, so that you can capture video (transfer the video from your camcorder to your computer) and output your program back to DV tape. For more information on FireWire, see About FireWire.
Choosing an Easy Setup Final Cut Pro comes with predefined Easy Setups based on the most common video formats and devices, such as DV NTSC and DV PAL. The Easy Setup you choose applies to all new projects and sequences until you choose another Easy Setup. If you always use the same type of camcorder or video deck, you may never have to change your Easy Setup. If you do change the device or the format you are using for capture and output, you should choose a matching Easy Setup.
Note: Make sure you choose a device control preset that uses FireWire so Final Cut Pro can control your camcorder or deck. Both the DV-NTSC and DV-PAL Easy Setups use a FireWire device control preset. For more information, see Device Control Settings and Presets. 5 Click Setup. The corresponding capture, sequence, and device control presets are loaded, as well as A/V device settings. The selected Easy Setup applies to all new projects and sequences. Settings for existing sequences do not change.
If this is the first time you’ve opened Final Cut Pro, this window appears automatically after you’ve chosen an Easy Setup. 2 To specify a disk or a folder on a hard disk as a scratch disk: a Click Set. b In the dialog that appears, locate and select the disk you want to use. Only connected external disks or installed internal disks are listed. If your hard disk doesn’t appear, make sure that it’s connected properly and correctly initialized and mounted.
6 Specify additional settings for capturing and exporting files: • Minimum Allowable Free Space On Scratch Disks: Enter a value to set the minimum space you want to keep available on a scratch disk. The default value here is usually sufficient. If you have limited scratch disk space, you may want to set this to the amount of disk space you want available for render files. If you use most of your disk space for captured clips, you may run out of space when rendering.
Assigning Search Folders for Reconnecting Media Files After you specify which volumes and folders you want to use to capture media, you may want to assign these same locations as search folders for the Reconnect Files dialog. This allows Final Cut Pro to limit its search for media files if they become offline. For more information about assigning search folders, see Choosing Settings and Preferences. For more information about the Reconnect Files dialog, see Reconnecting Clips and Offline Media.
About FireWire FireWire (also called IEEE 1394a or i.LINK) is the consumer and professional standard for DV-format digital video. DV devices typically use FireWire 400 connectors. There are two kinds of FireWire 400 connectors: a 4-pin connector (typically used to connect to video equipment such as camcorders or decks) and a 6-pin connector (used to connect to computer equipment). However, some newer video equipment uses the 6-pin connector and some video cards use the 4-pin connector.
Connecting Professional Video and Audio Equipment 12 You can expand your input and output options by installing third-party video, audio, and device control interfaces. This chapter covers the following: • Components of a Professional Final Cut Pro Editing System (p. 187) • About Video Interfaces, Signals, and Connectors (p. 191) • Connecting Professional Video Devices (p. 197) • Audio Interfaces (p. 202) • Audio Connectors and Signal Formats (p. 206) • Connecting Professional Audio Devices (p.
• RS-422 serial device control interfaces: Most professional devices use an RS-422 interface for remote device control during capture and output. • Video, audio, and remote device control cables: A variety of cables is required for separate video, audio, and remote device control connections. Unlike a basic DV editing system, which uses a solitary FireWire cable to transfer video, audio, and remote control signals, many professional configurations require a separate cable for each of these signals.
External Video Monitor When you edit your video, it’s ideal to watch it on a monitor similar to the one you will use for the final screening. An external video monitor can display color, frame rate, and interlaced scanning more accurately than your computer display. If you are working on an NTSC or PAL project, you should watch it on an external video monitor that shows the video interlaced. Your ability to color correct is limited by the accuracy of your monitor.
• You need to capture, edit, and output full-resolution, uncompressed video signals instead of DV video (which is compressed) • You need to capture or output multiple audio channels Third-party video and audio interfaces can be installed in one of your computer’s PCI Express slots, connected to the USB port, or connected via FireWire (for example, the AJA Io). For more information, see About Video Interfaces, Signals, and Connectors and Audio Interfaces.
About Video Interfaces, Signals, and Connectors There are many types of video interfaces, signal formats, and connectors that can be used when setting up your system. Video Interfaces Final Cut Pro allows you to use a wide variety of video interfaces for capture and output. The following sections show examples of the most common types of video interfaces available.
Important: Although this type of video interface uses FireWire, it is not used to connect DV devices. If you want to capture or output DV video, you can connect your DV device directly to the FireWire port on your computer.
Many PCI Express cards aren’t big enough to fit all of the necessary video and audio connectors. In these situations, a breakout box is connected to the PCI Express card via a multipin connector on a long cable, and the connectors are accessible on the breakout box instead of the back of the PCI Express card. A breakout box is also useful because it allows you to place the connectors somewhere more convenient than the back of your computer, such as an equipment rack or a desktop.
In professional editing environments, composite video signals are most commonly used for troubleshooting, for menu outputs, and for low-quality preview monitoring. For consumer and home use, composite signals are often used to connect VCRs or DVD players to televisions. RCA connector BNC connector S-Video S-Video, also known as Y/C, is a higher-quality video signal used by high-end consumer video equipment.
SCART Consumer PAL equipment sometimes has a special connector called a SCART connector. A SCART connector has multiple pins that run composite, component RGB, and stereo audio in one bundle. SCART input or output can be broken up into individual connections using special adapters available from video and home electronics stores. SCART connector FireWire 400 FireWire 400, also called IEEE 1394a or i.
SDI Serial Digital Interface (SDI) is the standard for high-end, uncompressed digital video formats such as D1, D5, and Digital Betacam. Many devices can send both video and audio data through a single SDI connection. BNC connector HD-SDI High Definition Serial Digital Interface (HD-SDI) is a higher-bandwidth version of SDI designed for the extremely high data rates required by uncompressed HD video. Like SDI, HD-SDI is capable of sending both video and audio through a single connection.
DVI Digital Visual Interface (DVI) transfers full-resolution analog or digital signals between computers or HD video devices and flat-panel displays or projectors. DVI connectors have up to 24 pins plus 4 additional pins for analog signals. Not all devices use all pins, so read the documentation included with your equipment before purchasing DVI cables and making connections. DVI connector DVI supports single- and dual-link connections. Single-link DVI connections are limited to 2.
Unlike DV video devices (which use a single FireWire cable), third-party interfaces send and receive video, audio, and device control data on separate cables. For remote device control connections on professional equipment, 9-pin (DB9) connectors are used.
For detailed information, see the documentation that came with your video interface and your computer. 2 If you are using a PCI Express card video interface that came with a breakout box, connect the breakout box to the PCI Express card using the cables provided. 3 Connect the video output of your VTR or camcorder to the video input of your video interface. 4 Connect the audio outputs of your VTR or camcorder to the audio inputs of your video or audio interface.
• For more information about sequence settings and presets: See Sequence Settings and Presets. Connecting Professional HD Video Devices The steps for connecting HD devices are essentially the same as those for connecting SD devices. For HD video, you need to have a video interface that supports HD video capture, which is usually transferred via an HD-SDI signal. To connect equipment, follow the instructions in Connecting Professional SD Video Devices.
This kind of setup is used mainly for low-resolution capture and offline editing. Because Final Cut Pro can edit DV video natively, you can capture your video as if it were DV footage, edit at DV resolution, and then recapture only the necessary media files for your finished movie at full resolution using a third-party video interface. Important: If you plan to recapture footage later, make sure timecode is captured accurately.
Note: The DV converter mentioned above could possibly be a DV VTR that can convert analog video and audio input to DV FireWire. Some decks need to be in Record mode to allow this conversion. Other decks may not support this. 5 Connect the remote device control. For details, see Connecting Remote Device Control. Audio Interfaces By default, Final Cut Pro uses one of the built-in audio interfaces included with your Mac computer, such as a stereo headphone jack or a stereo speaker output.
Built-in S/PDIF Digital Audio Some computers have built-in S/PDIF optical digital ports (sometimes called TOSLINK) that you can connect to some CD players, DAT recorders, and other digital audio devices. TOSLINK optical digital connector Computer Audio or video device DV FireWire If your sequence uses a DV codec, you can output audio via the FireWire port on your computer. This allows you to use a DV deck, DV camcorder, or DV-to-analog converter as an audio interface.
Tips for Selecting a Third-Party Audio Interface When you select an audio interface, make sure it has the following: • Connectors that match your audio equipment, such as XLR, 1/4" TRS, RCA, or TOSLINK • Support for audio signal formats that your audio equipment uses, such as AES/EBU, S/PDIF, or ADAT Lightpipe • Enough audio inputs and outputs to connect your equipment • Sample rate and bit depth at least as high as your audio equipment.
FireWire for Digital Audio As an alternate to PCI Express cards, many manufacturers now offer audio interfaces that connect to your computer’s FireWire port. These are not DV devices, but merely devices that use FireWire as a means of transferring digital audio data. FireWire interfaces are more convenient to switch between computers than are PCI Express cards, and they can be used with both desktop and portable computers.
PCI Express Audio Interface Card with Built-in Connectors Some PCI Express audio interface cards have audio connectors attached directly to the card. Because there is limited space on a PCI Express card to mount audio connectors, RCA connectors are typically used.
1/8" Mini Connectors These are very small, unbalanced audio connectors. Many computers have 1/8" mini inputs and outputs at –10 dBV line level, and many portable audio devices such as CD players, iPod digital music players, and MP3 players use these connectors for headphone outputs. Portable MiniDisc and DAT recorders often use 1/8" mini connectors for connecting microphones.
XLR Connectors These are the most common professional audio connectors. They almost always carry a balanced signal. Many cables use an XLR connector on one end and a 1/4" TRS connector on the other. The signal may be microphone level (when using a microphone) or +4 dBu/dBm (professional) line level. XLR connector Digital Audio Connectors and Signal Formats Although digital audio signals are completely different from analog audio signals, the same connectors are often used for convenience.
DTS Digital Theater System (DTS) is a compressed digital audio signal format used for transmission of 5.1-channel surround sound. This format is primarily used in movie theaters and on DVD releases. More recent variations of DTS support more than six channels of audio. This audio signal is usually embedded within a S/PDIF signal and carried via TOSLINK or coaxial cables with RCA connectors. TOSLINK TOSLINK is an optical digital audio format developed by the Toshiba Corporation.
• Instrument level: Between microphone and line level, around –20 dBV or so. Guitars and keyboards usually output at instrument level. • Line level (consumer): Consumer line level is output at –10 dBV. • Line level (professional): Professional line level is output at +4 dBu (or dBm in older equipment). • Speaker level: This signal varies considerably depending on the amplifier used, but it is very strong compared to the others because it is used to drive speakers.
A balanced audio cable sends the same audio signal on two wires, but inverts the phase of one signal by 180 degrees. Original signal Inverted signal (reverse phase) When noise is introduced into the cable, it is introduced equally to both the original and the inverted signal. Noise on line (affects both signals) When the signal arrives at its destination, the inverted signal is put back in phase and both signals are combined.
Now, both audio signals are in phase, but the noise is inverted, causing the noise to be canceled. At the same time, the original signal gets a little stronger because it is sent on two wires and combined. This helps compensate for the reduction in signal strength that occurs naturally on a long cable run. Combined signals (noise eliminated) Any noise introduced into the cable across its long run is almost completely eliminated by this process.
Connecting Professional Analog Audio Devices Professional analog audio devices use balanced XLR or 1/4" TRS connectors for each audio channel. Most audio interfaces that support multiple audio channels come with a breakout box that contains all the connectors.
Professional VTRs, camcorders, audio devices, and interfaces often have the ability to accept sync signals from an external device. These connectors are labeled “genlock” (short for generator lock), “external sync,” “reference input,” or “reference video.” On some equipment, the normal composite video input of a device can be used to lock to external sync. Important: To synchronize your video or audio devices and interfaces, they must all accept an external clock source (such as a blackburst generator).
7 If you are using a blackburst generator, choose Final Cut Pro > User Preferences, and in the General tab of the User Preferences window, make sure that “Sync audio capture to video source if present” is selected. 8 If you’re using Final Cut Pro to control your audio deck, make sure that the device control switch on the equipment is set to Remote. For more information, see Choosing Settings and Preferences.
To connect a USB-to-serial adapter for remote device control between your computer and a VTR 1 Connect a USB-to-serial adapter to a USB port on your computer. Important: For best results, always connect a USB-to-serial adapter directly to your computer, not to a USB hub connected to your computer. 2 Connect the 9-pin connector to your device-controllable camcorder or deck, and connect the other end to the USB-to-serial adapter.
• Choose a device control preset in the Audio/Video Settings window. To choose a device control preset in the Log and Capture window 1 Choose File > Log and Capture, then click the Capture Settings tab. 2 From the Device Control pop-up menu, choose a device control preset that corresponds to your connected device. For an explanation of each device control preset, see Device Control Settings and Presets.
• VTR in Local: Your device is set to work only with its built-in playback buttons. Set the switch on your camcorder or deck from Local to Remote and you’ll be able to remotely control the device from Final Cut Pro. Note: Decks with serial device control have a switch that lets you choose Local or Remote control. • To control your deck with Final Cut Pro: Set the switch to Remote. • To use the transport buttons on your deck to control the deck: Set the switch to Local.
Important: This section covers Euphonix control surfaces only. For information about Mackie Control protocol control surfaces, see Using a Control Surface with the Audio Mixer. To add a connected control surface using the Euphonix control protocol 1 Follow the instructions for software installation and equipment setup that came with your Euphonix control surface. 2 Choose Tools > Control Surfaces. The Control Surface Configuration dialog appears.
Determining Your Hard Disk Storage Options 13 To make the most of your Final Cut Pro editing system, you need to make appropriate choices about hard disk selection and maintenance. This chapter covers the following: • Working with Scratch Disks and Hard Disk Drives (p. 221) • Data Rates and Storage Devices (p. 221) • Determining How Much Space You Need (p. 223) • Choosing a Hard Disk (p. 225) • Types of Hard Disk Drives (p.
Format Typical data rate 25:1 Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) 1 MB/sec. DV (25) HDV (1080i) 3.6 MB/sec. DVCPRO 50 7.2 MB/sec. DVCPRO HD (1080i60) DVCPRO HD (720p60) 14.4 MB/sec. DVCPRO HD (720p24) 5.8 MB/sec. 2:1 Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) 12 MB/sec. Uncompressed SD video 24 MB/sec. Uncompressed 8-bit 1080 29.97i HD video 124 MB/sec. Uncompressed 10-bit 1080 29.97i HD video 166 MB/sec.
Note: Removable media drives such as Jaz, Zip, and CD-RW drives are not suitable for video capture and playback because of their low data transfer rates. Determining How Much Space You Need The amount of disk space you need depends on the specifications of the video format you are using for editing. In some cases, you can capture video at a lower quality (which saves disk space) for rough editing and then recapture only what you need at higher quality to create the finished movie.
Video data transfer rates 30 sec. 1 min. 5 min. 10 min. 30 min. 60 min. 3.6 MB/sec. DV-format video HDV (1080i) 108 MB 216 MB 1.08 GB 2.16 GB 6.5 GB 13 GB 6 MB/sec. Medium-quality M-JPEG 180 MB 360 MB 1.8 GB 3.6 GB 10.8 GB 21.6 GB 11.75 MB/sec. DVCPRO HD 1080i 352.5 MB 705 MB 3.4 GB 6.9 GB 20.7 GB 41.3 GB 12 MB/sec. High-quality 2:1 M-JPEG 360 MB 720 MB 3.6 GB 7.2 GB 21.6 GB 43.2 GB 24 MB/sec. Uncompressed SD video 720 MB 1.4 GB 7.2 GB 14.4 GB 43.2 GB 86.4 GB 121.
Note: These calculations are also important when planning how to archive your projects when they are finished, though many people choose to archive only the project file and not back up their media files. (Because the original footage is stored on tape, you can always recapture the footage if necessary.) Choosing a Hard Disk The disk that contains your computer’s operating system is called the startup disk or boot disk.
Types of Hard Disk Drives Disk drive technologies have advanced quickly over recent years, making terabytes of storage available at reasonable cost. When researching the type of hard disk storage system appropriate for your needs, keep in mind the format and data rate of the video you’re capturing.
Parallel ATA disks use 40- or 80-pin-wide ribbon cables to transfer multiple bits of data simultaneously (in parallel), they have a cable length limit of 18 inches, and they require five volts of power. Depending on your computer, there may be one or more parallel ATA (or IDE) controller chips on the motherboard. Each parallel ATA channel on a computer motherboard supports two channels, so you can connect two disk drives.
SCSI Disk Drives Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) disk drives used to be among the fastest drives available, although newer computers may no longer provide SCSI ports. Although no longer highly popular, SCSI technology has been implemented in various ways over the years, with each successive generation achieving better performance.
Using a RAID or Disk Array You can improve the transfer speed of individual disks by configuring multiple disk drives in a disk array. In a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID), multiple SCSI, ATA, or FireWire disk drives are grouped together via hardware or software and treated as a single data storage unit. This allows you to record data to multiple drives in parallel, increasing access time significantly. You can also partition the array into multiple volumes.
One of the most common ways of connecting a computer to a Fibre Channel disk drive system for video capture and output is called a point-to-point connection. A single computer, equipped with a Fibre Channel PCI Express card, is connected to a single Fibre Channel disk drive array. Unlike SCSI systems, Fibre Channel cables can be run extremely long distances, up to 30 meters using copper cables and 6 miles (10 kilometers) using optical cables.
• Producers can view dailies or finished sequences for approval without being in an editing suite. For more information, go to http://www.apple.com/xsan.
External Video Monitoring 14 It’s best to preview your video on an external video monitor to accurately see how your final program will look. This chapter covers the following: • Using an External Video Monitor While You Edit (p. 233) • Using Digital Cinema Desktop Preview (p. 240) • Compensating for Video Latency by Specifying a Frame Offset (p. 243) • Troubleshooting External Video Monitoring Problems (p.
Consumer Video Monitors Versus Broadcast Monitors Throughout the Final Cut Pro User Manual, a distinction is made between “video monitors” and “broadcast monitors.” This is to differentiate between cases when any video monitor will do and cases when only a high-quality broadcast monitor is appropriate for a given task.
Connecting a DV FireWire Device to an External Monitor A DV FireWire setup is a common Final Cut Pro configuration. A DV device (either a camcorder, VTR, or FireWire-to-analog converter box) converts DV signals to analog video and audio signals that are then sent to a video monitor (and to self-powered speakers for audio monitoring). If you have a home stereo system, you can also connect the audio output of the DV device to any available channels on the home stereo system.
Connecting a Third-Party Video Interface to an External Monitor You can use third-party video interfaces to connect a Final Cut Pro system to an external monitor. A third-party interface may be able to transcode your sequence to one or more of the following output formats: SDI, HD-SDI, analog component (YUV), S-Video (Y/C), composite, HDMI, and even DV. For more information about these signal formats, see Connecting Professional Video and Audio Equipment.
About the A/V Devices Tab This section describes the features of the A/V Devices tab. Playback Output Area • Video pop-up menu: Choose a device to output video to. • None: This turns off external video output. If you play clips or sequences in Final Cut Pro, you can’t view them on your camcorder, deck, or NTSC or PAL monitor. • Digital Cinema Desktop Preview: Depending on the number of computer displays you have connected, there are several options. For details, see Using Digital Cinema Desktop Preview.
• Options button: Depending on your video interface and its associated codec, the video frames may need to be decompressed when viewing video on an external monitor. Click Options, then select the “Decompress after compress” checkbox. This option is not available when using FireWire. If you’re using a third-party video interface, check the documentation that came with it to see if you should use this option.
If no video device is connected when Final Cut Pro opens, but you connect one while Final Cut Pro is open, you will not be able to use it immediately. If the video device does not appear in the Video Playback submenu of the View menu, make sure the device is connected and turned on, then choose View > Refresh A/V Devices. • Do not show warning when audio outputs are greater than audio device channels: This option affects the Audio Outputs tab of the Sequence Settings window.
Using Digital Cinema Desktop Preview The Digital Cinema Desktop Preview feature allows you to preview your video using any available computer display. If you have two computer displays, one can be used to view the Final Cut Pro interface and the Finder while the other can be used as a dedicated video monitor. For Final Cut Pro portable systems and other single-display systems, you can switch between the user interface and the Digital Cinema Desktop Preview display.
Note: The Main option is available on single-display systems, but the remaining options are available only if you have two or more displays. Digital Cinema Desktop Preview - Main Video is shown on the main computer display (that normally shows the menu bar for applications). This option is available at all times, regardless of how many displays you have connected. Video presented on the main display is always shown in full-screen mode and scaled to fit the display in at least one dimension.
• Con: This mode is not useful for general viewing. No scaling or pixel aspect ratio adjustments are made, even when the video is larger than the display. Using Digital Cinema Desktop Preview to Monitor Your Video Unlike using a third-party video interface (or DV via FireWire), directly monitoring video on a computer display does not introduce video latency (inherent processing delays).
• Because of the refresh rate of LCD computer displays, 1080i60 and 720p60 material may exhibit temporal artifacts during playback. • Interlaced media is scanned progressively at the frame rate instead of the field rate. Therefore, when viewing formats such as 1080i60 or SD NTSC or PAL video, both fields are scanned simultaneously, which may result in interlacing artifacts. • If you need to change your display resolution, do so prior to opening Final Cut Pro.
3 Enter a number of frames in the Frame Offset number field. Frame offset can be any whole number between 0 and 30. The default value is 4. For example, if a video monitor connected to your DV camcorder shows your program four frames later than your computer display, a frame offset of 4 will synchronize the two. Note: Depending on your external monitor configuration, you may need to experiment with frame offset values to synchronize the external monitor and the computer display. 4 Click OK.
• Make sure the signal formats of your output device match the signal format of your monitor. For example, both SDI and composite analog video can use a BNC connector, but the signal formats are incompatible. • If you are using a DV FireWire camcorder to convert DV to analog video, make sure the camcorder is in VCR (or VTR) mode and that it is turned on.
Overview of Capturing Tape-Based Media 15 You can capture taped-based media using the Log and Capture window. You can log your tapes to create clips and then capture your clips as media files on disk. This chapter covers the following: • What Are Logging and Capturing? (p. 247) • Ways to Log and Capture Footage in Final Cut Pro (p. 247) • The Importance of Logging (p. 250) • Benefits of Logging (p. 251) • Preparing to Log (p. 251) • Additional Sources for Logging Information (p.
Log your tapes, then batch capture using the Log and Capture window This is the traditional method of logging and capturing. In this case, you watch your footage by playing videotapes in a deck or camcorder connected to Final Cut Pro. You can set In and Out points using the timecode information coming into Final Cut Pro, and create clips that represent portions of your original videotape. After you finish logging, you capture media for only the clips you think are necessary for your project.
• Logging the media on the hard disk after capture is faster than tape-based logging because you can access any frame instantly. You can also loop playback on a particular shot to review it multiple times. On tape this would be much more time-consuming. Note: If you are using an uncompressed video format, the amount of hard disk space required to capture entire tapes may still be too high, even with the cost of hard disk space dropping rapidly.
Important: Whenever you create clips from NTSC footage without a tape in your video device, you risk entering the wrong type of timecode (drop frame instead of non-drop frame, or vice versa) because Final Cut Pro isn’t reading timecode directly from the tape itself. If you are manually entering timecode in the Log and Capture window, and there is no tape in the device, make sure that the Default Timecode pop-up menu in the device control preset you are using is set to the proper timecode.
Important: When you log in Final Cut Pro, you add descriptive information to clips, not to media files. This means that all of your logging information is stored in your project file, not the media files on disk. If you delete your project file or clips from the Browser, your logging information is gone forever.
• Use a simple clip-naming convention: Final Cut Pro can handle long clip names, but other systems often can’t. See Choosing Names and Logging Information for Clips. • Identify the audio sample rate and bit depth of your tapes: You should always log and capture your footage with matching sample rate and bit depth settings. Keeping Track of Footage with Reel Names and Timecode Clips represent media files on your hard disk, but they also represent sections of your original tapes between In and Out points.
Note: Tapes recorded using professional video equipment allow the user to define the timecode with custom hour numbers, so you can use those for your reel names. For example, tape 001 would begin at timecode 01:00:00:00, and tape 022 would start at timecode 22:00:00:00, and so on. Of course, this method only works if you have fewer than 24 tapes.
• Using the Good checkbox to identify the takes you want to use while editing. Your first impression is important, and you might forget what it was later on. When you’re ready to start capturing your clips, you can use the Find command (or sort by the Good column in the Browser), to select only the clips you’ve marked as good, and then capture them, if you like.
If several people are logging footage on a large project, it is important that they use similar naming conventions, and that notes are made using consistent descriptions and shorthand. For example, everyone should use the same abbreviations, such as “CU” for close-up, “MOS” meaning “without sound,” and so on. It doesn’t matter what conventions you use, as long as you are consistent.
Stage 1: Creating a Project in Which to Log and Capture You need a project to log clips to, as well as to edit in. When you open Final Cut Pro for the first time, an untitled project is created by default, which you can rename to make your own. You can also create a new project by choosing File > New Project. Stage 2: Connecting Video and Audio Devices to Your Computer There should be a connection from your camcorder or VTR to your computer.
About the Log and Capture Window 16 You use the Log and Capture window to capture tape-based footage. The Log and Capture window provides controls for controlling a VTR or camcorder, previewing video from tape, setting In and Out points, logging, and capturing clips. This chapter covers the following: • Opening the Log and Capture Window (p. 257) • Controls in the Log and Capture Window (p. 258) • Preview Area in the Log and Capture Window (p. 259) • Logging Tab in the Log and Capture Window (p.
µ To open the Log and Capture window Choose File > Log and Capture (or press Command-8). Logging, Clip Settings, and Capture Settings tabs Preview area Log and capture buttons Controls in the Log and Capture Window This section describes the features and controls of the Log and Capture window. There are several areas in the Log and Capture window. • Preview area: On the left is the area where you view video while logging clips.
Preview Area in the Log and Capture Window This section of the Log and Capture window lets you view video from tape while you log and capture it. If your camcorder or deck is not on or there is no tape inserted, you see color bars or black. The following controls appear if your camcorder or deck is on and properly connected, and device control is turned on.
Tip: You can drag timecode values to the Log and Capture timecode fields from other timecode fields in Final Cut Pro, such as Browser columns. Hold down the Option key while you drag a timecode value from a column in the Browser to either the Timecode Duration or the Current Timecode field. Transport Controls in the Log and Capture Window If you have device control, use the transport controls to control your camcorder or deck.
Marking Controls in the Log and Capture Window Use these controls to set In and Out points for a clip on tape. Clip In Point Timecode field Clip Out Point Timecode field Go to Out Point Go to In Point Mark In Mark Out • Mark In (I): This button sets the In point for a clip on tape. • Clip In Point Timecode field: Shows the timecode value of the currently set In point. • Go to In Point: This button causes the connected VTR to cue to the currently set In point.
Logging Bin Controls The Logging Bin controls have the following buttons. Up New Bin The Log Bin button contains the name of the currently selected logging bin. • Log Bin: This button displays the name of the bin in your project where logged clips will be placed. There can be only one logging bin at a time, no matter how many projects are open. When you click this button, the bin opens in its own window; if the bin is already open, the bin’s window comes to the front.
• Set Marker In: Click this button to set a marker In point, or enter a timecode number in this timecode field. • Set Marker Out: Click this button to set a marker Out point, or enter a timecode number in this timecode field. • Update: To update a marker in the list, click to select it, make your changes, then click Update. The marker in the list then displays the new information. • Marker list: Displays all markers and associated information for the current clip.
Capture Settings Tab in the Log and Capture Window Use this tab to select a scratch disk for capture, a capture preset (video and audio rate, compression settings, and frame size) and a device control preset to remotely control your video or audio device. For more information, see Changing Capture Settings.
Logging from Tape 17 For many editors, logging is the first phase of editing, when they identify which shots to capture from tape. The logging information you enter at this stage serves as a guide throughout the project. This chapter covers the following: • Overview of Logging Steps (p. 265) • Opening the Log and Capture Window (p. 267) • Inserting a Tape in the VTR (p. 268) • Setting a Logging Bin to Store Logged Clips (p. 269) • Entering a Reel Name for the Current Tape (p.
Stage 1: Opening the Log and Capture Window The Log and Capture window provides controls for controlling a VTR or camcorder, previewing video from tape, setting In and Out points, logging, and capturing clips. It must be open before you can log and capture clips. See Opening the Log and Capture Window for more information. Stage 2: Inserting a Tape in the VTR You need to make sure there is a proper connection between the VTR and camcorder and Final Cut Pro.
Stage 11: Logging a Clip Once you have entered basic logging information, you can log the clip, which means adding it to your project. See Logging a Clip for more information. Opening the Log and Capture Window The Log and Capture window provides controls for controlling a VTR or camcorder, previewing video from tape, setting In and Out points, logging, and capturing clips. It must be open before you can log and capture clips. For more details, see About the Log and Capture Window.
This option routes the incoming signal to the audio output selected in the Sound pane of System Preferences. Each audio channel you turn on for capture is routed to a corresponding output on your audio interface, while disabled channels are not heard. If your audio interface has fewer audio outputs than the number of channels you are capturing, the audio is downmixed to stereo. This does not affect your captured media files; only the preview of audio during logging and capturing is affected.
Considerations When Logging NTSC Footage When a new DV tape is inserted into a camcorder or deck connected via FireWire to your computer, it can take several seconds of playback for Final Cut Pro to determine whether the tape’s timecode is drop frame or non-drop frame. To compensate for this delay, the Default Timecode pop-up menu in the Device Control Preset Editor allows you to specify which timecode format Final Cut Pro defaults to when the Log and Capture window is opened.
• Control-click the bin, then choose Set Logging Bin from the shortcut menu. The slate icon appears next to the current logging bin. As you log your clips, you may want to check to see how many you have or view their names. To open the logging bin Do one of the following: µ µ µ In the Log and Capture window, click the Logging tab, then click the Log Bin button. In the Browser, double-click the logging bin. In the Browser, click the disclosure triangle next to the logging bin.
For example, if the current reel name is 500, clicking the Slate button increments the reel name to 501. However, if the current reel name is 500C, clicking the Slate button increments the reel name to 500D. If the reel name is 500Z, clicking the Slate button increments the reel name to 501A. Enter the source tape name here. Slate button To ensure compatibility with older editing systems, the safest reel names are simple, three-digit numbers, such as 001, 244, 999, and so on.
• Enter a timecode value in the Current Timecode field. 4 To set the Out point for the clip, do one of the following: • Click the Mark Out button. • Press O. When you set an In or Out point, you may be off by a few frames. You can adjust the clip In and Out points using timecode. To adjust clip In and Out points using timecode Do one of the following: µ Enter a timecode number for the In or Out point. Enter the In point timecode here. µ Enter the Out point timecode here.
There are two features available to several fields: • Slate buttons: Click the Slate button to increment the last number or letter in the field. • If the current field doesn’t end with a number, a “1” is appended. • If the field ends with a single character (such as “A”), the character is incremented alphabetically (in this case, to “B”). • Combinations of numbers and letters, such as “893z”, are incremented as well (for example, to “894a”). Uppercase and lowercase characters are preserved.
µ To clear the Description field along with the Shot/Take field Option-click the Slate button next to the Description field. µ To clear the Shot/Take field Option-click the Slate button next to the Shot/Take field. To reset the Shot/Take and Angle fields to “01” Do one of the following: µ µ Click the Slate button next to the Scene field. Option-click the Slate button next to the Scene field. This clears the Scene field in addition to resetting the Shot/Take and Angle fields.
Note: If the Prompt checkbox is unselected, Final Cut Pro logs the clip without asking you to confirm, when you click the Log Clip button. For more information, see Logging a Clip. Adding Markers to Clips While Logging As you log, you can set markers within clips to note significant parts for future reference. Markers can be used for several purposes. • Reference: Each marker can contain a name and associated note to help you identify the content or other noteworthy information.
Selecting Which Tracks to Capture For each clip you log, you need to specify which video and audio tracks are captured to the clip’s media file. For example, a typical DV videotape has one video track and two audio tracks. You can capture video only, audio only, or both video and audio. You can also choose how many audio tracks to capture, and how they are grouped together (mono or stereo). To select which tracks on tape are captured 1 In the Log and Capture window, click the Clip Settings tab.
Important: In Final Cut Pro 6 and later versions, each mono audio channel is captured to a separate track in a QuickTime media file. Each stereo pair is each captured to a single interleaved track in a QuickTime media file. In versions previous to Final Cut Pro 6, only two-channel audio capture is supported to a single QuickTime audio track. Therefore, older versions of Final Cut Pro can only recognize media files if you capture them with a single stereo pair audio track.
• Batch Capture dialog: If you are batch capturing clips, deselect the Use Logged Clip Settings checkbox. In this case, individual clip settings will be overridden by the current video and audio track selection in the Clip Settings tab of the Log and Capture window. Make sure this option is not selected. Changing Capture Settings If you’ve already specified a scratch disk and selected an Easy Setup for the setup you’re using, you don’t need to change the capture settings.
Setting Video and Audio Levels for Analog Video If you are capturing from an analog source, you can adjust analog video and audio levels for each clip in the Clip Settings tab of the Log and Capture window. If you are capturing digital video, these settings usually do not apply. For example, if you are capturing DV video via FireWire, all the video level adjustments are disabled. However, some third-party video interfaces have specific level sliders turned on.
Logging Media Efficiently If you’re logging a lot of material, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the various keyboard shortcuts you can use. Here’s an example of a logging workflow. • Use the J, K, and L keys to quickly play through your tape. Press J to play the tape at various speeds in reverse, press K to stop playback, and press L to play the tape at a variety of speeds going forward. For more information, see Shuttling Through a Clip or Sequence.
Capturing Video from Tape 18 Capturing is the process of transferring footage from your original tapes to media files on the computer hard disk. You can then edit the media files, leaving your footage untouched. This chapter covers the following: • Capturing Clips as You Log (p. 281) • Capturing Entire Tapes (p. 282) • Batch Capturing Clips (p. 287) Capturing Clips as You Log For more precise control over the capturing process, some editors prefer to capture each clip as soon as they’ve logged it.
To capture a single clip in the Log and Capture window 1 Log the clip using the instructions in Logging from Tape. 2 Once all of the clip information is entered, click the Capture Clip button. Click here to capture a clip. 3 If the Prompt checkbox is selected in the Logging tab, a Log Clip dialog appears. Enter or change any information for this clip, then click OK. Click the Slate button to increment the clip name. Click here to mark the clip as Good. If desired, enter additional notes here.
• For footage without timecode, you have to use Capture Now because Final Cut Pro can’t locate In and Out points for batch capturing. Once you capture all of your tapes, you can break these large (up to an hour or more) clips into smaller, more manageable subclips. For instructions on creating subclips and smaller media files from larger clips, see Automatically Creating Subclips Using DV Start/Stop Detection or Creating Subclips.
3 In the Scratch Disks dialog, select the Limit Capture Now To checkbox. Then enter a number of minutes for the maximum duration of your tape. To be safe, you can add an extra minute or two. You can also follow the steps in Limiting the Duration of the Capture Now Process. 4 Rewind the tape to the beginning by doing one of the following: • Press the Rewind button on your VTR or camcorder. • Click the Rewind button in the Log and Capture window.
About Automatic Filenaming During Capture Now Unless you enter text in the Description field, Final Cut Pro automatically names media files (and captured clips) using the following convention: Untitled, Untitled1, Untitled2, and so on. If you’re capturing a clip using the Capture Now command and the currently specified name is already taken by a clip in the current Scratch Disk folder, the letter or number at the end of the name is incremented.
3 With the Viewer active, choose Mark > DV Start/Stop Detect. A marker appears in front of every start and stop in the clip. Note: If you have any exceptionally long clips, you can break these up further by adding a few more markers manually. For more information, see Using Markers. 4 Switch the Browser to list view and locate the clip you were working on in the Viewer. For more information, see Choosing Views in the Browser. 5 Click the disclosure triangle to view the clip’s markers.
6 Drag in the Browser to select all the markers. 7 Choose Modify > Make Subclip. Note: If you gave your markers new names, your subclips will use them. All of the material between the markers you selected should now appear as subclips. The subclips appear in addition to the original clip with the markers. You can rename the subclips, if you want. You can review the subclips, deleting any clips you might not need.
Batch capturing is useful for the following workflows: • When you log all of your tapes first and then select some of your logged clips for capture • When you import a batch capture list created in another application • When you import an EDL (which becomes a sequence of clips) or a sequence from another Final Cut Pro project, in which the clips’ media files are offline • When you want to recapture media files using different video and audio settings (in other words, a different capture preset).
• Clip and media filenames: When you log clips, it’s possible to accidentally create two or more clips with the same name. However, when you batch capture, all clips in the same folder on the same scratch disk must have unique filenames. Since clip names are used as filenames, you need to change any duplicate clip names before you capture, or there will be a media filename conflict during capture.
The following settings are in the Batch Capture dialog. Choose the kind of clips you want to capture from this pop-up menu. Select the desired options. Select your capture settings. Summary of capture settings These calculations are based on the capture settings you specify. • Capture pop-up menu: Lets you capture offline clips, online clips, or both.
• Selected Items in Logging Bin: If you selected specific clips in your logging bin, you can choose to capture only these. This is a good way to capture or recapture clips from a specific reel or a limited number of clips that you isolate using the Find command or by sorting a specific Browser column. This option is only available when you initiate batch capturing from the Log and Capture window and you have selected items within the current logging bin in the Browser.
To batch capture clips 1 In the Browser, select the clips you want to capture by doing one of the following: • Select clips. • Select one or more bins. (All clips in a selected bin will be captured.) • Select one or more sequences. (All clips in a selected sequence will be captured.) • Control-click a bin, then choose Set Logging Bin from the shortcut menu. You can choose the entire project as the logging bin if you want to capture all the clips in your project.
6 You are prompted with a list of all the reels needed for capture. Select a reel in the list, then click Continue. 7 Insert the selected reel into your camcorder or VTR. You need to make sure that your equipment is properly connected and turned on. For more information, see Connecting Your Camcorder or Connecting Professional Video Devices. 8 Final Cut Pro captures all of the clips on that reel and then prompts you to select another, until all the clips in the batch have been captured.
Make sure you choose Aborted Clips from the Capture pop-up menu in the Batch Capture dialog. About the Additional Items Found Dialog When you start batch capturing, Final Cut Pro verifies the master clip status of all selected clips. If any selected clips are independent (meaning they have no master clips or are not master clips themselves), Final Cut Pro checks all currently opened projects to see if there are any other clips outside of your current selection that refer to the same media files.
Working with Batch Lists A batch list, also called a batch capture list, is a tab-delimited text file that contains information about clips you want to capture and use in your project. These lists provide a convenient alternative to logging tapes and creating clips within Final Cut Pro. In another application, you can create a list of clips with descriptive information such as reel name, timecode, log notes, director’s comments, and so on, and then import the list into Final Cut Pro.
Creating a Batch List You can create a batch list using a VTR that can display timecode while you play your tapes back (assuming your tapes or other original media have timecode) and a spreadsheet program or word processor. Enter a reel name, Media Start, Media End, and clip name for each clip you want to log. Save this list as a text file, and then import it into Final Cut Pro. The result is a set of offline clips stored in your logging bin.
Rules to Follow When Creating a Batch List You can use any spreadsheet or word processing program to create a batch list. Because spreadsheets are already set up to enter rows and columns of data, they are the easiest programs to use to create batch lists. However, even a very simple program such as TextEdit will work, as long as you use tabs instead of spaces to separate entries in your list.
2 Select a project tab or open a bin in its own window. 3 Arrange columns in the Browser in the order you want information exported. All visible columns are included in the exported batch list. • To hide a column: Control-click the column heading, then choose Hide Column from the shortcut menu. • To display a hidden column: Control-click in any column heading, then choose Show [Column name] from the shortcut menu, where Column name is the name of the hidden column. 4 Choose File > Export > Batch List.
The logged clips appear in the Browser as offline clips that you need to capture. Clips from the batch list are offline until you capture them. You can capture the clips all at one time by doing a batch capture. For more information, see Batch Capturing Clips. Note: Make sure you have all the source tapes associated with the batch list before starting the capture process. If you’re having a problem importing a batch capture list, check the format of the text file.
Capturing Audio from Tape 19 Final Cut Pro allows you to capture multiple audio channels at the same time, as well as capture audio-only media files. This chapter covers the following: • About Capturing Audio (p. 301) • Capturing Audio-Only Media Files (p. 302) • Capturing Multiple Audio Channels (p. 302) • Adjusting Analog Audio Levels for Capture (p. 308) • Capturing Audio from an Audio Deck Using Device Control (p. 310) • Capturing from an Audio Device Without Device Control (p.
Most Mac computers have built-in stereo mini inputs, and some models also have optical S/PDIF (consumer digital) stereo audio connectors. For more information about setting up an audio interface with Final Cut Pro, see Connecting Professional Audio Devices. Important: To ensure that Final Cut Pro can accurately capture and consistently recapture the exact same portion of the audio tape, your audio player must support remote device control.
Setting Up for Capturing Multiple Audio Channels Before you capture, you need to set up your audio interface with Final Cut Pro. To select an audio interface for capturing audio 1 Choose File > Log and Capture (or press Command-8). 2 Click the Capture Settings tab. 3 From the Capture/Input pop-up menu, choose a capture preset that contains the audio interface you want to use. If you have a third-party audio interface, you may need to create your own capture preset, or modify an existing one.
If no audio device is connected, you can choose how many audio inputs you eventually want to capture from (once an audio interface is connected). This is helpful when you are logging tapes without an audio device connected. Don’t select more audio inputs than you will have available when you capture.
• Capture Audio Channel control: Turning on this control tells Final Cut Pro to capture the corresponding audio channel. • Individual channel meter: Each audio channel meter shows the current level of the audio entering your audio interface. Note: If the Preview option is turned on, and an audio channel is disabled for capture, then the audio meter does not display levels. • Clipping indicator: Each audio channel meter has a clipping indicator that lights up when audio levels above 0 dBFS are encountered.
6 Click the Stereo/Mono control next to any pair of audio channels that you want to capture as a stereo pair, so it’s darkened. Stereo/Mono control is enabled. Stereo/Mono control is disabled. Audio inputs can be selected independently. Dual Mono Versus Stereo Audio If you’re using a DV camcorder, you typically record two channels of audio during production.
Audio device channels Audio grouping chosen in Clip Settings tab QuickTime media file track Channels 1 and 2 Stereo pair 1 (Stereo) Channel 3 Mono 2 (Mono) Channel 4 Mono 3 (Mono) Channels 5 and 6 Stereo pair 4 (Stereo) Channel 7 Mono 5 (Mono) Channel 8 Mono 6 (Mono) How Multichannel Audio Clips Appear in the Viewer The order in which channels are grouped in the Viewer depends on the type of clip.
About Capturing Multiple Audio Channels from DV Devices DV video devices can record up to four tracks of audio, depending on the sample rate and bit depth chosen on the camcorder. However, Final Cut Pro can only capture two audio channels via the FireWire port of a device at a time. You need to choose or create a capture preset that captures the DV audio channels you want. For more information about creating or modifying a capture preset, see Capture Settings and Presets.
Note: When capturing digital audio, the gain level is already set and cannot be modified. To adjust the audio gain levels before capturing analog audio 1 In the Log and Capture window, click the Clip Settings tab. 2 Do one of the following: • Cue your tape to the reference tone recorded at the beginning of the tape, if you’re recording from a premixed tape that includes a reference tone. • Cue your tape to the clip with the loudest audio signal of all the clips you want to capture on that tape.
About Audio Peaks When you capture audio, clipping occurs if any part of the audio signal goes over 0 dBFS. Because 0 dBFS is the maximum digital level possible, all levels that would have been above 0 dBFS are set to the maximum audio level, causing clipping. Due to the nature of digital audio recording, such clipped audio typically results in a crackly, brittle-sounding clip that is unsuitable for use. All occurrences of clipped audio appear as 0 dBFS peaks.
This will usually be one of the serial RS-422 or RS-232 device control protocols. See the documentation that came with your audio device for information on which one to use. Choose the appropriate device control preset. Make sure you choose the appropriate audio capture preset. 3 Choose an audio-only capture preset from the Capture/Input pop-up menu. For more information about creating an audio-only capture preset, see Capture Settings and Presets.
If you want the ability to recapture your audio again later, you need to capture from media that has timecode using a deck that supports device control. One solution is to dub your audio onto a tape format that has a timecode track, such as DV or Digital Betacam. If you dub your audio to DV, make sure you use 16-bit (2-channel) audio mode so you record at the highest possible quality.
When capturing audio from an audio-only player such as a DAT player, it is important to precisely synchronize the sample clock of the digital audio player with the clock of your audio interface. USB USB-to-serial adapter Serial Device controllable DAT deck PCI card Breakout box Audio Computer Reference video Blackburst generator Reference video Using a common timing signal for both your audio device and capture interface is especially important when you capture long segments of audio.
Advanced Topics in Capturing Tape-Based Media 20 This section describes some of the advanced topics and issues that an editor may encounter when capturing footage: how to capture footage from a video source that doesn’t permit device control, how to capture video and audio separately, how to recapture media should it become unavailable or lost, and how to capture footage that has timecode breaks.
More and more footage is acquired digitally (using DV formats, for example), and capturing analog, non-timecoded footage is becoming increasingly rare. One way to avoid capturing from a non-timecoded tape is to first transfer your footage to a timecoded format, such as DV, Betacam SP, or Digital Betacam, and then capture footage from the timecoded tape using device control.
The steps for capturing without device control are the same steps for capturing using Capture Now. The only important difference is that you need to choose the device control preset for a non-controllable device. µ To choose a device control preset for a non-controllable device Click the Capture Settings tab, then choose Non-Controllable Device from the Device Control pop-up menu. To capture a clip without device control, see Capturing Entire Tapes.
• You captured clips at a low resolution for rough, offline editing, and now want to recapture the clips at full resolution for your final sequence. Recapturing is essentially the same as capturing. The only notable difference is that when you recapture, there may already be a media file associated with a clip. When you recapture media, you can replace the clip’s existing media file, or capture a new media file to a different location by changing the path of the scratch disk.
If someone asks you to capture media from timecode 00:00:00:00 to 00:01:00:00 on reel 1, you assume that you should capture the first minute of the tape. But if the camcorder was powered off and back on at some point during the shoot, the timecode counter may have reset somewhere in the middle of the tape.
• During production, pay attention to the position of your tape: Camcorders attempt to create continuous timecode by quickly reading the last timecode number written on tape. The process of generating new timecode based on the last stored timecode number is referred to as jam syncing timecode. However, if the camcorder doesn’t see a timecode or video signal on the tape (for example, at the beginning of a blank tape), the timecode counter is reset to zero.
Since most timecode breaks happen between the end of one shot and the beginning of another, they’re pretty easy to avoid if you log your footage one clip at a time. Still, if Final Cut Pro captures a clip with either type of timecode break, the timecode that Final Cut Pro captures and writes to that clip’s source file on disk will be incorrect from the point of the break forward.
• Warn After Capture: If this option is selected, timecode breaks are reported after capture and the media file with the timecode break is preserved. It is unwise to use such a clip unless you have no choice, because timecode breaks result in incorrect timecode from the timecode break forward, and will make it difficult to accurately recapture your media.
Each time a timecode break occurs, Final Cut Pro continues to move the In point later until there is enough continuous timecode to accommodate the In point in addition to the duration of the pre-roll. This ensures that you will be able to recapture the clip again later. Reset Timecode Breaks Reset timecode breaks are handled differently. Since a reset timecode break results in the timecode at the point of the break being reset to 00:00:00:00, the reel name is incremented along with the clip name.
Renaming Media Files After Capture You may want to rename your clips and media files after you capture. For example, if you use Capture Now and forget to enter a clip name, your clip and media file are named “Untitled.” You can easily rename a clip in the Browser, but you should also make sure to change the name of the clip’s media file to match; keeping your clip and media filenames matched makes media management much easier.
Overview of Transferring File-Based Media 21 Many advanced camcorders record their media as files stored on non-tape-based media such as hard disks or compact flash cards. You use the Log and Transfer window to view media recorded on file-based media and transfer it to your scratch disk. This chapter covers the following: • About File-Based Media (p. 325) • Introduction to the Log and Transfer Window (p. 326) • File-Based Media Terminology (p. 327) • Example File-Based Media Workflow (p.
Introduction to the Log and Transfer Window Final Cut Pro can transfer file-based media into your projects as clips using the Log and Transfer window. You can then edit the resulting clips just as you would edit clips in any other format. Preview area Logging area Transfer Queue area The Log and Transfer window is organized into four areas: • Browse: Provides an overview of all mounted media volumes and the clips contained within them.
File-Based Media Terminology When you transfer file-based media using the Log and Transfer window, it’s important to know the following concepts and definitions: • Ingest: A general term for capturing or transferring video, audio, and metadata from one media storage system to another.
• Media file: A file containing one or more video or audio tracks of sample data. Media files contain your actual footage (also called content or essence). Associated video and audio content (for example, interview footage including both image and sound) may be stored together in a single file or as separate files. Separated video and audio must be associated together via a metadata file (P2 cards have an XML file for this purpose).
Stage 1: Backing Up Your File-Based Media After a shoot, your footage is basically recorded as files, often stored in a specific hierarchy of folders. As with any computer files, you should first back up the media onto a storage device for safekeeping. You then always have access to your original source media should you need to replace lost clips or conform your source media to a transcoded edit of the media files later.
A typical file-based media folder may hold several types of files associated with each shot of footage, including the video, audio, and other files such as XML files. To transfer your media to your computer, you should transfer the entire folder that the file-based media is recorded in.
About the Log and Transfer Window 22 Many new and advanced camcorders record footage as files stored on devices such as optical discs, hard disks, and solid-state cards. You use the Log and Transfer window to transfer file-based media into your Final Cut Pro projects. The Log and Transfer window provides controls for previewing file-based media, setting In and Out points, logging, and transferring clips into Final Cut Pro.
µ To open the Log and Transfer window Choose File > Log and Transfer (or press Command-Shift-8). Preview area Logging area Transfer Queue area Note: The illustrations in this chapter show examples of the Log and Transfer window ingesting P2 footage. The window may display slightly different features when ingesting other video formats. To resize areas in the Log and Transfer window Do one of the following: µ µ Drag a horizontal or vertical resize bar.
Controls in the Log and Transfer Window This section describes the features and controls of the Log and Transfer window. Controls in the Log and Transfer Browse Area The top of the Browse area contains several buttons and controls: Add Volume button Eject button Search field Flat List View and Hierarchical List View buttons Action pop-up menu Column headings Mounted volume Other Browse area controls include the following: Media map indicator shows how much media has been ingested.
• Search field: An iTunes-like search field that limits which clips are displayed. All columns are searched for matches even if some columns are not currently displayed. For example, if you type “DV,” clips whose names contain “DV” are displayed, but so are clips using DV and DVCPRO codecs. You can press Command-Control-S to highlight the search field. The search field accepts three kinds of timecode delimiters—periods (.
• While logging clips to a new project in the Log and Transfer window, you won’t see clip property modifications that you made while logging clips in other projects. In other words, clip properties are only stored on a per-project basis. • Media map indicators: Indicate how much of a clip’s media has been ingested into the current project. Before you ingest any media into a project, all the media map indicators are empty.
Controls in the Log and Transfer Preview Area This section of the Log and Transfer window lets you view a video file as you log and transfer it. Timecode Duration field Clip name Current Timecode field Image display area Transport controls In point controls Out point controls • Timecode Duration field: Displays the duration, in timecode, between the current In and Out points. If you enter a duration in this field, the Out point is adjusted.
Transport Controls in the Log and Transfer Window Use these buttons to control the preview of the file footage. These controls are similar to controls in the Viewer and Canvas, except that they control playback of a file. For more information, see Navigating in the Viewer and Canvas.
Navigation and Marking Controls in the Log and Transfer Window Use these controls to set In and Out points for a clip, navigate to the next or previous clip in the Browse area, and add clips to the Transfer Queue. Previous Clip button Scrubber bar In and Out point markers Next Clip button In point controls Out point controls • Mark In (I): This button sets the In point for a clip. • Clip In Point Timecode field: Shows the timecode value of the currently set In point.
Logging Options in the Log and Transfer Window Click the Logging button in this area to add descriptive information to each clip that you log, such as reel name, In and Out points, scene, shot/take number, and so on. Much of this information can also be added later in the Browser. Autofill pop-up menu Increment button Logging fields • Name Preset pop-up menu: You can use this pop-up menu to choose a naming preset that will be applied to your clips.
Import Settings Options in the Log and Transfer Window Use this button to choose which video and audio tracks you transfer from the selected file. You can choose to transfer video only, audio only, or both video and audio, and you can specify which audio channels you transfer. Two audio channels enabled and grouped as a stereo pair One mono channel enabled • Video checkbox: Select this checkbox to include the video track of the selected clip in the transfer into a project.
You can pause or restart ingest at any time by clicking the Pause button or by pressing Command-Control-Q. Click to reveal the current logging bin in the Browser. Progress bar Pause button Click this button to automatically transfer a volume’s clips as soon as the volume is mounted. Thumbnail Resize slider • Reveal Logging Bin: Click this button to reveal the current logging bin in the Browser. • Pause button: This button starts and pauses the processing of clips in the Transfer Queue.
Logging File-Based Media 23 Logging is an important first phase of editing. The logging information you enter at this stage serves as a guide throughout the project. For general information about the importance and benefits of logging, see The Importance of Logging and Benefits of Logging. For information about choosing clip names and logging information, see Choosing Names and Logging Information for Clips. This chapter covers the following: • Preparing to Log File-Based Media (p.
Choosing Reel Names for Folders of File-based Media Its recommended that you assign reel names to your source media folders to be used by Final Cut Pro during the logging process. Older editing systems accepted three-digit reel numbers, starting at 000 and ending at 999. For maximum compatibility, this is a good naming convention to start with. Unless you have more than a thousand volumes in your project, this reel-naming convention should be sufficient.
Entering Logging Information After you’ve mounted a volume and selected a clip in the Browse area, you can enter logging information for the selected clip.
If you have already logged clips, previously entered logging information appears in the pop-up menus of each field. You can open the pop-up menus and choose the logging information you want. You can also click the Increment buttons beside a logging field to add a number to the end of the logging information. Each time you click the Increment button, the number increments by one.
Automatically Naming Your Clips The names given to files by the camcorder are often difficult to distinguish. When you transfer media and create clips in your projects, you can have Final Cut Pro use a clip-naming convention, called a preset, that you choose or create. For example, you can use a name format that includes a clip name that you specify, plus the reel, shot or take, scene, and any date information that you want.
Avoid Example characters Reasons File separators : (colon) / (slash) \ (backslash) You cannot use colons in the names of files and folders because Mac OS 9 (Classic) uses this character to separate directories in pathnames. In addition, some applications may not allow you to use slashes in the names of items. These characters are directory separators for Mac OS 9, Mac OS X, and DOS (Windows) respectively.
The Naming Presets dialog appears. 2 Click the Add (+) button to create a new name format, or select the preset name format you want to change. 3 Drag the name elements you want into the Format field in the order you want them. You can also add valid characters or spaces between the name elements. For more information about valid filenaming characters, see Avoiding Special Characters. 4 Enter a custom name in the Custom Name field, if you want. 5 Click OK.
Transferring File-Based Media 24 The process of transferring file-based media is similar to that of capturing tape-based footage using the Log and Capture window, although it is often much faster because you avoid the inconveniences of tape. After you record your media using a device such as a Panasonic P2, XDCAM, or AVCHD camcorder, you can connect the device to your computer and transfer the media into Final Cut Pro using the Log and Transfer window.
About Transferring File-Based Media When transferring clips from file-based media, you gain the advantage of being able to efficiently access and work with files on a computer, as opposed to working with a camcorder or tape device that linearly rolls through your tape. This ease of access gives you flexibility in how you transfer media files to your hard disk as clips.
Stage 5: Viewing Clips to Be Transferred See Viewing Clips to Be Transferred for information about using the Browse area to view the contents of the mounted volumes. Stage 6: Selecting Clips See Selecting Clips for information about selecting clips to preview and log. Stage 7: Previewing Clips See Previewing Clips for information about previewing selected clips.
Important: Make sure you unmount any volumes before you physically remove storage media or disconnect a media device from your computer. To unmount a volume Do one of the following: µ In the Log and Transfer window, select a volume, then click the Eject button (or press Command-Option-E). µ In the Finder, select the mounted volume, then choose File > Eject (or press Command-E). After unmounting the volume, you can remove the storage media or disconnect the media device.
Choosing a Destination Codec To select the destination codec for your transferred media, choose Preferences from the Action pop-up menu in the Browse area. Final Cut Pro includes built-in support for P2 media and AVCHD. There are third-party plug-ins for other formats. For more information about the format choices, plug-in downloads, and workflows for advanced file-based camcorders supported by Final Cut Pro, see Professional Formats and Workflows, available in Final Cut Pro Help.
Note: The Log and Transfer window shows all available mounted volumes and folders that were displayed the last time the window was open. Add Volume button Eject button Search field Flat List View and Hierarchical List View buttons Action pop-up menu Column headings Mounted volume Media map indicator shows how much media has been ingested. Folder with valid structure Double-click a clip property to modify it, or press Enter. Click to add selected clips to the Transfer Queue.
To select clips to preview and log 1 Select a clip in the Browse area of the Log and Transfer window to view it in the Preview area. 2 In the Preview area, set In and Out points to identify the media you want to transfer. Note: Some formats do not support setting In and Out points. After selecting a clip you want to transfer, you can preview it and add a variety of logging information, including reel, shot/take and angle information, log notes, and markers.
The transport, navigation, and marking controls in the Preview area work in the same way as the controls in the Viewer and Canvas. The same keyboard shortcuts, including the J, K, and L keys for playback, also work. Looped playback can be turned on or off by choosing View > Loop Playback (or by pressing Control-L). You can press the Tab key to move through the fields in the Preview and Logging areas. For more information about the controls in the Viewer, see Viewer Basics.
You can reset clip logging fields and metadata by Control-clicking one or more clips in the Browse area and choosing Revert to Original Metadata from the shortcut menu. The following clip properties are reset: Reel, Name, Scene, Shot/Take, Angle, Log Note, In, Out, and the clip’s playhead position. Naming Clips During Transfer When you’re logging clips for large projects, it’s especially important to use easily understandable clip names that also lend organization to your project.
• A number is appended to any fields ending with multiple letters, and is incremented by one. For example, ABC is followed by ABC1, then ABC2, and so on. Setting Audio and Video Clip Import Settings You can open the Import Settings pane by clicking the Import Settings button in the Logging area. Here you can specify whether video or audio is transferred, as well as the number and grouping of the audio channels. Audio meters display audio input levels on enabled channels.
To pause or restart transfer of files in the Transfer Queue Do one of the following: µ µ Click the Pause button. Press Command-Control-Q. Click to reveal the current logging bin in the Browser. Progress bar Pause button Click this button to automatically transfer a volume’s clips as soon as the volume is mounted. Thumbnail Resize slider Important: Ingesting clips always extracts your media from the original storage media and copies it to a new QuickTime file on your scratch disk.
Organizing Clips in the Transfer Queue The Status column displays the transfer status of each clip in the Transfer Queue: • Ingesting: A spinning disc indicates media is being transferred to your scratch disk. • Paused: A still disc indicates the current clip is partially transferred. • Error: An exclamation point indicates that ingest of the file failed. The source media for this clip may have been unmounted or moved since the clip was added to the Transfer Queue.
When you’re ingesting spanned clips using the Automatic Transfer feature, it’s recommended that you mount all the volumes that hold the different segments of a spanned clip so that Final Cut Pro has access to the volumes it needs before you turn on automatic transfer. If not all volumes are mounted, Final Cut Pro transfers as many segments of the spanned clip as are available on the mounted volumes as individual clips.
Advanced Topics in Transferring File-Based Media 25 This section describes some of the advanced topics and issues that an editor may encounter when transferring file-based media; for example, how to retransfer clips from source media when transferred clips become unavailable, how to view spanned clips, how to archive file-based media for safekeeping, and how to set log and transfer import settings.
For example, the built-in P2 AVC-Intra plug-in allows you to transcode AVC-Intra footage to Apple ProRes 422 or Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) footage. To choose the destination codec for non-native footage transferred in the Log and Transfer window 1 In the Log and Transfer window, choose Preferences from the Action pop-up menu in the upper-right corner of the Browse area.
Choosing Reel Names and Understanding Volume Names When you log clips in the Log and Transfer window, it is important to assign memorable, meaningful reel names so that you can find volumes later for transfer. This is also especially important when you are transferring spanned clips because a spanned clip’s media comes from several volumes, and, by default, Final Cut Pro assigns each clip the Reel property that includes the volume names of the spanned clip.
Retransferring Decode-Only Formats Some formats, such as REDCODE or AVC-Intra, are decode-only formats. This means you cannot encode to (or edit with) these formats and you must edit these formats with an alternative codec, such as an Apple ProRes codec. In an offline-online editing workflow, when you finish editing your offline sequence, you might retransfer footage using the native format for an online edit.
In both views, segments of a spanned clip appear separately when the spanned clip is missing segments from other volumes. However, when a spanned clip is complete, it is displayed differently depending on the view you choose. Incomplete spanned clip in Hierarchical List view Incomplete spanned clip in Flat List view In Flat List view, a complete spanned clip appears as a single item in the Browse area.
Tip: When logging spanned clips, assign reel names that indicate all volumes from which a clip originated. For more information, see Choosing Reel Names for Folders of File-based Media. Archiving File-Based Media from Cards Unlike tape, which is cheap enough to archive permanently, cards are expensive to use for long-term file storage. Therefore, you need to erase your cards to make room for more recording. Before you erase your cards, you should archive their contents in case you need the media later.
4 Enter a name for the disk image file. By default, the name of the volume is used. Important: The name you enter here is the name of the disk image (.dmg) file, not the name of the disk image contained within it. To rename a mounted volume of an archived disk image 1 In the Log and Transfer window, select a volume and then choose Archive to Disk Image from the Action pop-up menu in the Browse area. A new disk image (.dmg) file is created on the desktop.
Importing Media Files into Your Project 26 Final Cut Pro can import almost any media file that QuickTime recognizes, allowing you to integrate different formats within a single project. This chapter covers the following: • What File Formats Can Be Imported? (p. 373) • Importing Media Files (p. 374) • About Importing Video Files (p. 377) • About Importing Audio Files (p. 379) • Importing Still Images and Graphics (p. 384) • Importing Numbered Image Sequences (p.
• Numbered image sequences: Numbered image sequences allow you to store a movie’s frames as individual graphics files. Compositing applications, such as Shake, and film transfer equipment often use this format. Final Cut Pro does not convert image sequences into a single clip, but instead creates individual clips for each graphics file you import.
For more information, see Organizing Footage in the Browser. To import files at the main level, click a project’s tab. To place imported files in a bin, first open the bin by double-clicking it. 2 Do one of the following: • Choose File > Import, then choose File or Folder from the submenu. (To import a file, you can also press Command-I.) Select one or more files or folders in the dialog, then click Choose. Select the file (or folder) you want to import, then click Choose.
• Control-click in the Browser or a bin’s window, then choose Import > Files or Import > Folder from the shortcut menu. Select a file or folder in the dialog, then click Choose. Choose an import option, then in the dialog that appears, locate the file or folder you want to import and click Choose. • Drag one or more files or folders from the Finder to a project tab or bin in the Browser. This is a fast and easy way to import many files.
Important: Dragging media files directly to a sequence in the Timeline creates independent clips, which have no master clips in the Browser. This can make media management more difficult later. For more information about master-affiliate clip relationships, see Working with Master and Affiliate Clips. 3 Save your project. For more information, see Creating and Saving Projects.
• Video codec and quality settings • Audio sample rate and bit depth For details on how to do this, see Sequence Settings and Presets. 2 Set your QuickTime export settings to match the settings of the sequence you want to edit your exported media file into. To import a QuickTime movie file into Final Cut Pro, follow the steps in Importing Media Files.
About Media File Optimization Final Cut Pro captures and writes media files to maximize the number of simultaneous streams and real-time effects during playback. Video streams are defined in terms of the number of simultaneous media files that can be read from your scratch disk, and do not necessarily correspond to the number of video tracks in your sequence.
What Kinds of Audio File Formats Can Be Imported? Final Cut Pro allows you to directly import any audio file format compatible with QuickTime. However, only uncompressed file formats should be used for editing.
Choosing Sequence Bit Depth The bit depth setting in the Sequence Settings window determines the bit depth whenever you output or export your sequence. However, sequence audio is always mixed using 32-bit floating-point values. Note: The Aud Format column in the Browser and Item Properties window always shows the internal mixing bit depth of a sequence, whereas the Sequence Settings window shows the bit depth used if the sequence is exported.
Important: DV sequences sometimes use 32 kHz/12-bit settings, but these settings are not recommended. As long as you don’t record your DV footage using 32 kHz/12-bit, you should not use these settings for your sequence. Audio files can be converted using the Export Using QuickTime Conversion command. To convert a CD audio file so it matches your sequence settings 1 Select a sequence, then choose Sequence > Settings.
• There is no fixed relationship between the number of samples and the number of frames per second. Instead, a repeating sequence of varying samples per frame is established, defined by SMPTE standards. Also, there is no ratified standard to indicate or detect whether a BWF file was recorded with drop frame or non-drop frame timecode. To import 29.97 fps BWF files with drop frame timecode 1 Choose Final Cut Pro > User Preferences, then click the Editing tab.
However, with NTSC-related video rates, there is no simple relationship between the number of audio samples per second and video frames per second. To avoid ambiguity, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) specifies how many audio samples should be mapped to each video frame. The number of audio samples per frame is varied on a frame-by-frame basis to form a consistent pattern.
• Scanning from a book or photograph • Downloading from the web Note: Be aware of copyright issues and don’t use images that you don’t have permission to use. • Capturing from a standard definition or high definition video camera • Creating with a desktop publishing or graphics application Keep in mind that the image needs to be in one of the formats supported by Final Cut Pro: PICT, TIFF, TGA, PDF, Photoshop, or JPEG. Most of these file formats can also contain an alpha channel.
3 Locate the first numbered file of the image sequence you want to import, then click Open. Locate and select the first file of your image sequence. Then click Open. 4 In the Image Sequence Settings dialog, choose a frame rate, then click OK. You can choose any frame rate, but there is almost always an intended correct frame rate based on the original format. If you aren’t sure, check with the person who generated the image sequence to make sure you choose the proper frame rate. NTSC uses 29.
6 Choose a location and enter a name for the file. If you wish, enter a name for the file. Choose a place to save the file. Choose a save option. 7 Choose an option for how you want to save the movie, then click Save. • Save normally: If you choose this option, QuickTime Player creates a reference movie that points to the original folder of image files. No data is actually duplicated, so the reference movie itself is very small, takes very little hard disk space, and is quick to create.
4 Import all the image files associated with the numbered image sequence you want to use in your project. For more information, see Importing Media Files. 5 Do one of the following: • Choose File > New > Sequence. • Control-click in the Browser, then choose New Sequence from the shortcut menu. 6 Double-click the new sequence to open it in the Timeline. 7 Select the newly imported bin with all the image clips in it, open it, and press Command-A to select all the clips.
Sources for still images include: • Digital cameras (including your Aperture Libraries) • Scanners • Freeze frames exported from Final Cut Pro • Hand-drawn computer graphics created with a graphics application All of your images should be the same dimensions, and should ideally match the dimensions of your output format (for example, NTSC DV is 720 x 480, HD is 1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720, and so on).
Organizing Footage in the Browser 27 After capturing media to your scratch disks, you can import clips into a project in the Browser and then organize them to save time during editing. You can also search for clips in various ways. This chapter covers the following: • Using Bins to Organize Your Clips (p. 391) • Using Labels to Organize Your Clips (p. 397) • Sorting Items in the Browser Using Column Headings (p. 401) • Searching for Clips in the Browser and Finder (p.
Bins are unique to project files. Although they behave similarly to folders on your hard disk, bins are not actually connected to folders on your hard disk in any way. Changes you make to the contents of a bin, such as deleting, moving, and renaming clips or renaming the bin itself, have no effect on the original files or folders on disk where the media files are stored. If you delete a clip from a bin, its associated media file is not deleted from your scratch disk.
Note: Dragging folders and files from the Finder to the Browser creates bin and clip objects in your project file. However, unlike clips, which refer to media files on disk, bins do not refer to actual folders on disk. Opening Bins in the Browser There are several ways you can open a bin. To open bins in icon or list view Do one of the following: µ µ Select the bin, then press Return or Enter. Double-click a bin. To reveal bin contents in list view Do one of the following: µ Press the Right Arrow key.
µ To open a bin in its own window Double-click the bin. The bin appears in its own window. The icon for this bin in the Browser indicates the bin is open in its own window. To close a bin that’s open in its own window Do one of the following: µ 394 Control-click the bin’s tab, then choose Close Tab from the shortcut menu.
µ µ Make sure the bin is the active window, then press Control-W. Click the close button of the bin window. For easy access to a bin, you can create a tab for it in the Browser. µ To open a bin as a new tab in the Browser Hold down the Option key while double-clicking a bin in the Browser. If multiple Browser windows are open, the tab is created in the Browser window that contains the bin. To turn a bin in its own window into a tab in the Browser 1 Double-click a bin to open it in its own window.
To close a bin’s tab Do one of the following: µ Control-click the tab, then choose Close Tab from the shortcut menu. µ µ Make sure the bin is the active (frontmost) tab, then press Control-W. Drag the bin’s tab out of the Browser, then click the close button to close the bin’s window. Moving Items Between Bins As you work on your project, you often reorganize clips and move them into different bins.
µ If the bin in which you want to move items has its own window, drag items to that bin’s window. You can also move items into separate bin windows. µ To move an item to the top level of a project Drag the item to the Name column heading. Note: If you move items between projects, the items are copied, not moved. There is no relationship between items in different projects. Using Labels to Organize Your Clips In Final Cut Pro, you can assign labels to clips, bins, and sequences.
About Label Names and Colors The Label property has several labels, each with an associated color and name. When you choose a label for a clip, that clip’s icon becomes the color of that label, and that label’s name appears in the Label column for the clip. If no label is specified for a clip, the label is set to None and there is no color associated with this item. You can change the label names, but not the colors.
Both label properties are displayed when you have Standard Columns selected in the Browser, but you can always choose to hide or show these columns as needed. (To choose Standard Columns, Control-click any column heading in the Browser, then choose Standard Columns from the shortcut menu.) To assign a label to a clip in the Browser Do one of the following: µ Select a clip, choose Edit > Item Properties > Logging Info, Control-click in the Label field, then choose a label from the shortcut menu.
• Control-click in the Label column of one of the selected clips, then choose a label from the shortcut menu. Select the clips you want to label. Then Control-click in the Label column and choose a label. To set and assign a label in the Label 2 property of a clip Do one of the following: µ Select a clip, choose Edit > Item Properties > Logging Info, click in the Label 2 field and type a label name, then click OK.
Keep in mind that labels usually represent fairly broad categories, since there are only five to choose from. You can always use log notes, comments, and the Label 2 property to further refine the descriptions and categorization of your clips. To change the label names 1 Choose Edit > User Preferences, then click the Labels tab. 2 Click a text field to highlight it, then enter a new name for the label. If you wish, enter different label names. 3 When you’ve finished, click OK or press Return.
To sort items in the Browser 1 Make sure you are in list view by Control-clicking in the Browser and choosing View as List from the shortcut menu. 2 Click a column heading to sort by it. A black arrow indicates the primary sort column and the sort order. The heading of the primary sort column contains an arrow whose direction indicates the sort order—down for ascending (0-9, A-Z) and up for descending (Z-A, 9-0). 3 To switch between descending and ascending sort order, click the column heading.
Searching for Clips in the Browser and Finder Final Cut Pro provides a number of options for searching for clips in the Browser. You can also reveal a clip’s media file in the Finder. Revealing a Clip’s Media File in the Finder There are many situations in which you want to directly access a clip’s media file in the Finder. In these cases, you can use the Reveal in Finder command. To reveal a clip’s media file in the Finder 1 Select a clip in a sequence or in the Browser.
µ To open the Find window Make sure the Browser is the active window, then choose Edit > Find (or press Command-F). Search scope Click here to specify more search options. Search criteria Additional search criteria available after clicking the More button Options for Defining the Scope of a Search When you are searching for clips, you may sometimes want to search within a single bin, while other times you may need to search every open project.
• Add to Find Results: Choose this to append the results of the current search to the contents of the Find Results window. This allows you to do several searches and accrue the results in a single window. Options for Defining the Criteria of a Search The Find window allows you to specify search criteria. • More: Click this to refine your search by adding more criteria. • Less: Click this to remove the last search criteria item. • Match: You can narrow or broaden your search by using multiple criteria.
To search for a single item in the Browser 1 Make the Browser active, then choose Edit > Find (or press Command-F). 2 Select your search options, then enter your search criteria. For more information, see About Search Options. Specify your search criteria. Then click here. The above example shows a search for clips used in sequences selected in the Browser that have the word “Copy” in their names. (If a clip has been edited into a sequence, its media file is being used.) 3 Click Find Next.
If necessary, you can restrict a search to the elements of the Find Results window. For more information, see Manipulating Items in the Find Results Window. Searching for Unused Clips in Your Project You can search for unused clips in your project. To search for unused clips 1 Do one of the following: • Open your project. • Make sure your project is the frontmost tab in the Browser. 2 Choose Edit > Find (or press Command-F). 3 Choose your project from the Search pop-up menu.
• Find all the clips with the Good property deselected (in other words, bad takes), select the found clips in the Find Results window, and then remove those clips from the project. The Find Results window works in much the same way as the Browser, and you can do many of the same operations: • Delete found items from a project. • Move or copy found items to another location in the Browser. • Sort and display found items. • Edit found items into a sequence.
µ To see where found items are in the Browser Select the desired items in the Find Results window, then click Show in Browser. Select items you want to see in the Browser. Then click here. µ To delete found items Select the desired items in the Find Results window, then click Remove from Project. Note: As with deleting any clips in the Browser, the media on your scratch disk is not deleted. Only the clips in the project file are removed.
Creating Subclips 28 Lengthy media files can be unwieldy for editing. If you capture an entire tape as a single media file, you can break the clip into shorter subclips. You can also break the media file into smaller media files. This chapter covers the following: • Learning About Subclips (p. 411) • Techniques for Breaking Large Clips into Subclips (p. 415) • Creating Independent Media Files from Subclips After Capturing (p.
Final Cut Pro places new subclips in the same Browser bin as the original clip they came from, automatically appending the word “Subclip” to the name and numbering each successive subclip you create from a particular clip. For example, if the original clip is named “Debra enters cafe,” the first subclip is named “Debra enters cafe Subclip,” the second is “Debra enters cafe Subclip 2,” and so on. When a new subclip is first created, its name is highlighted and ready to be changed.
3 Choose Modify > Make Subclip (or press Command-U). A new subclip appears in the Browser below the parent clip, defined by the In and Out points you set. Sometimes, you may be looking for a particular frame in a subclip, and realize that although those frames existed in the original clip, they were left out when you created the subclip.
Note: If a subclip was created in an earlier version of Final Cut Pro, the Reveal Subclip Parent Clip command may not work. When you create a freeze frame from a video clip, you can have Final Cut Pro display the original video that a freeze frame was taken from. To open the original video clip from which a freeze frame came 1 Select or position the playhead on the freeze frame clip in the Viewer or Timeline. 2 Choose View > Match Frame > Source File (or press Command-Option-F).
The subclip becomes a normal clip, and now references the entire source media file. The subclip in the Browser no longer has a subclip icon, but instead a normal clip icon. Important: When you remove a subclip’s limits, all affiliated subclips also become normal clips. Techniques for Breaking Large Clips into Subclips There are a few ways you can create subclips in Final Cut Pro: • Create markers in a clip, and then turn them into subclips.
Tip: If you are having a hard time dragging the markers out of the clip, try dragging the markers to the Name column heading in the Browser. When you see the Name column highlight with a rectangle, release the mouse button. Subclips, identified by special subclip icons, are created. If you chose Modify > Make Subclip, the markers remain in the clip after the subclips are created. If you dragged the markers out of the clip, the markers in the clip are removed.
How Markers Determine Subclip Durations When you drag markers out of a clip, a subclip is created for each marker. The duration of a subclip is determined from one marker to the next. For example, a clip with four markers produces four subclips. The last subclip created from a marker always contains the Media End point of the clip from which it was derived. Subclip 1 Subclip 2 Subclip 3 Subclip 4 Media End The duration of a subclip can also be defined by a marker with extended duration.
Editing with Subclips You can edit with subclips in the same way as with any other clips. You can even add markers to subclips and create subclips from those. This is no different than creating subclips from clips. Final Cut Pro also allows you to edit directly with markers, turning them into subclips when you release them in the Timeline. However, it’s usually best to not do this. A marker is never a master clip, so subclips created by dragging a marker into a sequence are independent clips.
If you used the method above for separating subclips into Keep and Delete bins, select the subclips in the Keep bin. These are the subclips that refer to portions of the media file you want to keep. 3 Choose File > Media Manager. 4 Choose Use Existing from the “Media referenced by selected items” pop-up menu. 5 Select the “Delete unused media from selected clips” checkbox.
If you choose Continue, a new, separate media file is created for each subclip. The original media file that contained the contents of the entire tape is deleted. The subclips in your project now refer to these individual media files. The subclips you originally selected become clips in the Browser, as indicated by their icons. The subclips that you didn’t process with the Media Manager are now offline because the original media file was deleted.
Merging Clips from Dual System Video and Audio 29 In Final Cut Pro, you can create merged clips that refer to independent video and audio media files simultaneously, making it easy to work with them together, in sync. This chapter covers the following: • Working with Dual System Video and Audio (p. 421) • Using Synchronization Points to Create Merged Clips (p. 422) • Duration of Merged Clips (p. 424) • Creating Merged Clips from the Timeline (p. 425) • Changing the Sync of Merged Clips (p.
When you create a merged clip from two or more clips, it becomes a new master clip, with no affiliation to the clips from which it was created. For more information on master-affiliate clip relationships, see Working with Master and Affiliate Clips. Use Accurately Captured Media to Create Merged Clips It’s always important to make sure that the timecode captured with your video and audio media is accurate before creating merged clips.
2 Scrub through the beginning or end of the clip and find the frame where the clapper on top of the slate first closes. 3 Set an In point if the “clap” appears at the beginning of your clip, or an Out point if at the end. Note: If you decide to use an In point, you should use an In point for each clip you want to include in the merged clip. If you don’t set an In point yourself, the first frame (Media Start) of the clip is used instead.
4 Click OK. A new merged clip appears in the Browser. Merged clips are named after the video clip. Merged clips with no video are named after the topmost selected audio clip in the Browser. In both cases, the word “Merged” is added at the end.
• If you synchronized all of the original clips using timecode: The beginning of the resulting merged clip corresponds to the beginning of the clip with the earliest timecode value, and the end of the resulting merged clip corresponds to the end of the clip with the latest timecode value. Video Audio Audio Merged clip Gaps appear in a particular track if one or more items in a merged clip is shorter than all the others, but they cause no problems.
3 Choose Modify > Link (or press Command-L) to link the clip items together. A line appears underneath the names of the selected clip items to show that they are linked. 4 Drag the linked clip items from the Timeline to the Browser. The new merged clip appears in the Browser. A new merged clip appears in the Browser, named after the topmost video or audio item in the Timeline.
One way to re-create a merged clip quickly is to edit it into a sequence in the Timeline and make it independent by Control-clicking it and choosing Make Independent from the shortcut menu. Then unlink the clip items in the Timeline and make any sync changes. Relink the clip items and drag them back into the Browser to create a new merged clip.
Working with Projects, Clips, and Sequences 30 A project file contains everything you need to make your completed movie: clips, bins to organize clips, and sequences to arrange your clips into a finished movie. This chapter covers the following: • Specifying Preferences Before You Start Editing (p. 429) • Working with Projects (p. 430) • Learning About the Different Types of Clips (p. 433) • Viewing and Changing the Properties of a Clip (p. 436) • Creating and Working with Sequences (p.
Working with Projects Before you can even capture media, import clips into your project, and edit the clips into one or more sequences, you need a project in which to do all of this. Note: Creating, opening, and closing projects is described in Understanding Projects, Clips, and Sequences. Working with Multiple Projects in the Browser You can have multiple projects open in Final Cut Pro at the same time. Each project opens in a separate tab in the Browser.
2 Choose or enter your options, then click OK. Choose a time display option. Use text fields to confirm or modify text labels. Select or deselect marker visibility checkboxes. You can change the Comment column headings shown in the Browser. • Time Display: Choose a global time display option for all clips in your project. Options include timecode, feet + frames, and frames. For details, see Working with Timecode.
To choose new project properties each time you create a new project 1 Choose Final Cut Pro > User Preferences (or press Option-Q). 2 Select the “Prompt for settings on New Project” option. Backing Up and Restoring Projects Regularly backing up your project file is an important part of the editing process. If your media files are lost, they can easily be recaptured, but losing a project file could mean re-creating hundreds of edit decisions made over weeks or months.
2 Choose File > Revert Project. 3 In the dialog that appears, click OK. Automatically Saving Projects with Autosave While you’re working, you may find it necessary to go back to an earlier version of a project you edited: perhaps you tried an alternate cut that didn’t work, or maybe you’re experiencing problems with your computer.
• Clip item: Clips edited into a sequence are distributed to individual tracks as clip items. For example, when you edit a clip with one video and two audio items into the Timeline, the sequence contains one video clip item and two audio clip items, each on a separate track. Since these clip items came from the same clip in the Browser, they are automatically linked together. Linking clip items together keeps them in sync while you edit.
About Offline Clips If a media file is modified, moved, or deleted, the Final Cut Pro clip that connects to that media file can no longer find it. In this case, the clip’s media file is said to be offline. The clip itself is described as an offline clip. An offline clip has a red slash through its icon in the Browser or its file in the Timeline.
Sequences as Clips Sequences are special containers for clips arranged in chronological order. However, in some cases, sequences can also be treated as clips. For example, you can check the Item Properties of a sequence just as you can for a clip, and information about the sequence shows up in the Item Property columns in the Browser. You can also edit sequences into other sequences. This is called nesting a sequence. For more information, see Nesting Sequences.
To change a clip’s property in a Browser column Do one of the following: µ Control-click a column for the clip or sequence you want to change, then choose an option or setting from the shortcut menu. Control-click a column, then choose an option from the shortcut menu. µ Select a clip, click a column, then enter the new information in the text field. Enter the new information.
2 Control-click the column of one of the selected clips, then choose a new setting or option from the shortcut menu. Viewing and Changing Clip Properties in the Item Properties Window If you find yourself constantly scrolling through the Browser to find particular clip properties, you can save yourself some time by viewing the clip’s properties in the Item Properties window instead.
Finding a Clip’s Media File With the exception of internally generated clips (such as slugs or color bars), all clips have a media file path in their Source property. To identify the media file to which a clip refers 1 Select a clip in the Browser, then choose Edit > Item Properties > Format (or press Command-9). The Item Properties window appears, displaying all of the properties of the clip. The clip’s Source property contains a file path to the clip’s media file.
Creating and Deleting Sequences Before you can edit content together in Final Cut Pro, you need to create a sequence to edit it into. You can create as many new sequences as you want in a project. If you want to delete a sequence from your project, it’s easy to do. To create a new sequence in the current project 1 Do one of the following: • Choose File > New > Sequence (or press Command-N). • Control-click in the Viewer, then choose New Sequence from the shortcut menu.
• Press the Delete key. Note: Deleting a sequence from your project does not affect the media files on disk. Opening and Closing Sequences You can only edit clips into a sequence when it is open in the Timeline or Canvas. When you open a sequence, the Timeline and the Canvas open together, if they’re not open already. If the Timeline and Canvas are already open, a newly opened sequence appears in its own tab in front of any other sequence tabs.
When you close the tab of a sequence in the Timeline, its tab in the Canvas automatically closes, and vice versa. Note: If you close the Canvas by pressing Command-W, the Timeline also closes. However, if you close the Timeline by pressing Command-W, the Canvas stays open. This allows you to edit using only the Viewer and the Canvas, since some editors prefer to edit with the Timeline closed.
Copying a Sequence into Another Project If you have more than one project file open in the Browser, you can copy a sequence from one project and paste it into another project. To copy a sequence from one project into another 1 Select the sequence in the Browser. 2 Choose Edit > Copy (or press Command-C). 3 Open a new project and select its tab in the Browser. 4 Choose Edit > Paste (or press Command-V). You can also copy a sequence into another project window by dragging.
Nesting a Sequence In Final Cut Pro, you can treat sequences as clips and edit them into other sequences. This is called nesting a sequence, because you put one sequence inside of another. Nesting sequences is a common practice when you work on small, independent sequences for a while and then you want to quickly attach them together in another, master sequence. Nesting sequences does create some processing overhead, and can make media management more complicated.
Changing sequence settings is discussed in Sequence Settings and Presets. Viewing an Existing Sequence’s Settings All sequences have settings as soon as they are created. When you first create a sequence, its settings are determined by the currently selected sequence preset in the Audio/Video Settings window, which is specified by your current Easy Setup. To view sequence settings 1 Do one of the following: • Select a sequence in the Browser. • Open a sequence in the Timeline. 2 Choose Sequence > Settings.
The Fundamentals of Adding Clips to a Sequence 31 Once your clips are captured and organized to your satisfaction in the Browser, you can begin moving your content into a sequence. This chapter covers the following: • Creating a Rough Edit (p. 447) • Overview of Ways to Add Clips to a Sequence (p. 450) • Preparing a Sequence Order in the Browser (p. 452) Creating a Rough Edit During the rough editing phase of your project, the overarching structure of your movie begins to take shape.
How Clips Appear in the Timeline Before you begin editing and arranging clips in a sequence in the Timeline, it’s a good idea to look at how clips are represented when they’re first edited into a sequence. When you edit a clip into the Timeline, an affiliated copy of that clip is placed in your sequence. The clip in the Timeline looks like this: Video clip item Audio clip items An underline indicates items that are linked.
Since the audio and video items of each edited clip are linked, selecting the video clip item also selects the audio clip items, and edits you make to one are automatically made to the others. For example, if you move a video clip item from track V1 to track V2, the audio clip items move from tracks A1 and A2 to tracks A3 and A4. Video clip item in V1 Audio clip items in A1 and A2 When you move a video clip item to a new track... ...the audio clip items move as well because they are linked.
Undoing and Redoing Actions As you begin to edit in Final Cut Pro, rest easy with the knowledge that you can undo actions you take in your projects, sequences, and clips, including editing clips into sequences. The Undo command is helpful if you make a change you don’t like, or make a mistake and want to revert to an earlier version. You can also redo actions that you have undone. By default, you can undo 10 of your previous actions before quitting Final Cut Pro.
About Drag-to-Timeline Editing The faster, less precise way of editing content into a sequence is to drag a source clip from the Browser or the Viewer directly to tracks in the Timeline. This simple method is discussed more in Drag-to-Timeline Editing. Drag a source clip from the Viewer... ...to a track in the Timeline. About Three-Point Editing In three-point editing, you set In and Out points in both a source clip and a sequence to determine the duration and placement of an edit.
However, if you set In and Out points in a sequence and an In point in your source clip, the Out point of the source clip is determined by the duration between the sequence In and Out points. In this case, the sequence In and Out points limit how much of the source clip is placed in the sequence. (3) Clip In point (1 and 2) Sequence In and Out points (4) Clip Out point (inferred) For more details about three-point editing, see Three-Point Editing.
Sorting to Create a Sequence Order The ability to sort by column information in the Browser (in list view) can help you quickly organize clips into the order in which you want them to appear in your sequence. For example, if you entered scene and shot numbers when you logged your shots, you can sort by these two columns, and then select all of these shots to edit into your sequence in the correct order.
Goes into your sequence like this: 1 2 3 4 5 To create a storyboard in the Browser 1 Control-click in the Browser, then choose View as Large Icons from the shortcut menu. 2 Drag the clips into the order in which you want them to appear, keeping the rows of clips relatively straight, so that Final Cut Pro can properly determine their order. Tip: To ensure clips are placed in the Timeline in the proper order, place each subsequent clip several pixels lower and to the right of the previous clip.
Using Markers 32 Markers are reference points you can place within clips or sequences to identify specific frames. You can use them for a variety of purposes, and export them with your finished movie. This chapter covers the following: • Learning About Markers (p. 455) • Viewing Markers in the Viewer or Canvas (p. 461) • Viewing Markers in the Browser (p. 461) • Adding Markers in Clips and Sequences (p. 462) • Deleting Markers in Clips and Sequences (p. 465) • Navigating with Markers (p.
What Can You Do with Markers? Markers let you perform a wide variety of tasks: • Mark several possible In or Out points for future use. • Quickly move the playhead to a marker in a clip or sequence. • Mark a range in a clip that you may want to use as a subclip. • Align a clip marker to a marker in an edited sequence to match a visual or audio cue. • Align a filter or motion keyframe to a marker for future reference.
• Sequence markers appear both in the Timeline ruler and in the Canvas scrubber bar. You can add these markers in the Canvas or in the Timeline. Sequence markers Clip markers Make sure you understand how you want to use markers in your project before you add them. The following list points out some example uses of markers. • Add markers to a clip when you want to remember and mark important moments in a shot.
Types of Markers There are several kinds of markers that you can add in Final Cut Pro. • Note marker: This is the default marker that is created when you add a marker to a clip or sequence. • Chapter marker: These markers are automatically translated into DVD chapter markers in applications such as DVD Studio Pro. A chapter marker is distinguished by the text appearing in the Comment field of its Edit Marker window.
• Shift-5: Turquoise • Shift-6: Blue • Shift-7: Purple • Shift-8: Pink You can also specify or change the color of a marker with the Edit Marker dialog. For more information, see Modifying Markers and Adding Markers in Clips and Sequences.
The Project Properties dialog appears. Choose a time display option. Use text fields to confirm or modify text labels. Select or deselect marker visibility checkboxes. You can change the Comment column headings shown in the Browser. 2 In the Marker Visibility section, do any of the following: • Use the checkboxes to turn on or off the visibility of markers of a particular color/category. • Use the text fields to confirm or modify the text label for a particular marker color/category. 3 Click OK.
Viewing Markers in the Viewer or Canvas Marker icons appear in the scrubber bar, as well as in overlays over the video image whenever the playhead is positioned at a marker. For more information, see Viewer Basics. You can also refer to Canvas Basics. A marker overlay Viewing Markers in the Browser When you add a marker to a clip that you’ve opened from the Browser, that marker is displayed in the Browser in list view.
Adding Markers in Clips and Sequences You can add markers, name them, and attach comments and colors to them. The marker names, comments, and colors appear as overlays in the Viewer, Canvas, or Timeline whenever the frame containing the marker is displayed. You can also add further functionality to a marker by specifying the kind of marker it is, such as a chapter marker, compression marker, or scoring marker.
A clip marker appears. Unless you specified a different color, the marker is red. To quickly add a marker to a sequence clip in the Timeline 1 In the Timeline, do one of the following: • Select the clip to which you want to add a marker, then position the playhead where you want to place the marker. • Double-click the clip to which you want to add the marker; then, in the Viewer, position the playhead where you want to place the marker in the clip.
To add a marker to a clip and enter information for it 1 Do one of the following: • To add a marker to a clip in the Viewer: Open a Browser or sequence clip in the Viewer. • To add a marker to a clip in the Timeline: Select the sequence clip to which you want to add a marker, then position the playhead where you want to place the marker. 2 Navigate to the frame where you want to add a marker, then do one of the following: • Choose Mark > Markers > Add, or press the Grave Accent (`) key. • Press M.
Adding Chapter, Compression, and Scoring Markers Chapter, compression, and scoring markers can be used by external applications such as Compressor, DVD Studio Pro, iDVD, Soundtrack Pro, and QuickTime Player. The Edit Marker dialog lets you specify a marker as chapter, compression, or scoring. To add a chapter, compression, or scoring marker to a sequence, follow the instructions in Adding Markers with Detailed Information. Important: Chapter, compression, and scoring markers are used only for sequences.
To delete specific markers in a clip in the Browser 1 Click the disclosure triangle next to a clip containing markers. 2 Select the markers you want to delete. 3 Do one of the following: • Choose Edit > Clear. • Press Delete. To delete specific markers in a sequence 1 In the Canvas or Timeline, move the playhead to the sequence marker you want to delete. Note: Make sure no items are selected in the Timeline. 2 Do one of the following: • Choose Mark > Markers > Delete, or press Command–Grave Accent (`).
Navigating with Markers You can navigate through your clip or sequence using the markers you’ve set. This is useful when you want to quickly navigate to specific points in a clip or in the Timeline. For example, you can place markers in the Timeline to mark two different frames for matching during color correction, or place markers to quickly jump to different scenes in a sequence.
To move to the next marker (to the right) Do one of the following: µ µ Choose Mark > Next > Marker (or press Shift–Down Arrow). Press Shift-M. To move to the previous marker (to the left) Do one of the following: µ µ Choose Mark > Previous > Marker (or press Shift–Up Arrow). Press Option-M. Modifying Markers After you add a marker, you can rename it, add information in the comment field, change the marker color, or change the marker type. You can also add and modify markers during playback.
• Click a button to specify the type of marker. Enter a name here. Add any comments in this field. Choose a color label. If you wish, click a button to choose the kind of marker. You can add markers and modify them while playing back clips and sequences. To add a marker and open its Edit Marker dialog during playback Do one of the following: µ Press Shift-Option-M. Without interrupting playback, a red marker is added and its Edit Marker dialog opens. µ Press Shift–Option–1 through 8.
µ To move a marker by dragging it In the Viewer, Canvas, or Timeline ruler, Command-drag the marker left or right to the new location. To move a marker in a clip forward by repositioning the playhead 1 In the Viewer or Timeline, move the playhead to the location where you want to move the marker. 2 Choose Mark > Markers > Reposition, or press Shift–Grave Accent (`). Final Cut Pro moves the marker that is immediately to the left of the playhead’s current position.
• In the Timeline or Canvas, move the playhead to the marker and do one of the following: • Choose Mark > Markers > Edit. • Press M. • Click the Add Marker button. 2 In the Edit Marker dialog, enter a new start time in the Start field, then click OK. Using the Ripple Sequence Markers Setting By default, sequence markers (markers in the Timeline ruler and the Canvas scrubber bar) ripple after any ripple edit or insert edit.
Aligning Items in the Timeline by Their Markers You can move a clip item in the Timeline by dragging one of its markers. When you do this with snapping turned on, the marker becomes the clip item’s snap point. So while you’re dragging a clip item by one of its markers, its In and Out points won’t snap to anything. This allows you to quickly align markers in sequence clips to one another, or to markers in your sequence.
The video and audio clip item markers are now aligned with the sequence marker. The video and audio clip item markers are aligned with the sequence marker. Note: When you drag a clip from the Browser or Viewer with snapping turned on, the clip’s markers will snap to other clip or sequence markers in the Timeline. Extending a Marker’s Duration When you create a marker in Final Cut Pro, it is only associated with a particular frame; it doesn’t have a duration.
• Press M. • Click the Add Marker button. • Press Command-Option-M to edit the marker to the left. 2 In the Edit Marker dialog, enter a duration value. Enter a marker duration here. An extended duration marker appears in the scrubber bar. To shorten a marker that has a duration 1 Position the playhead within the duration of the marker. 2 Choose Mark > Markers > Extend, or press Option–Grave Accent (`). The marker is shortened to the location of the playhead.
For information about exporting QuickTime movies with markers, see Exporting QuickTime Movies. You can also refer to Exporting Sequences for DVD. Exporting Marker Lists as Text Marker data can be exported as tab-delimited text. The saved text file can be modified with a spreadsheet application, printed, or reformatted for use in other software. To export marker data as text 1 Select or make active the sequence or clip containing the markers you want to export. 2 Choose File > Export > Markers List as Text.
Setting Edit Points for Clips and Sequences 33 To specify where a clip should be placed in your sequence, and to select a section of a clip for editing, copying, pasting, or any other operation, you set In and Out points. This chapter covers the following: • About In and Out Points (p. 477) • Setting Clip In and Out Points in the Viewer (p. 480) • Setting Sequence In and Out Points in the Canvas or Timeline (p. 483) • Navigating to In and Out Points (p. 493) • Moving In and Out Points (p.
Out point inclusive means that when you set an Out point at the position of the playhead, the frame that the playhead is on is included in your edit. This rule means that whenever you set In and Out points, the minimum duration set is always one frame long. For example, if you place the playhead on a specific frame, and then set both an In point and an Out point, the In point is placed at the beginning of the frame and the Out point is placed at the end, resulting in a one-frame duration.
Things to Keep in Mind When Setting an Out Point When you want to mark the duration of a clip in a sequence, you need to remember to set the Out point one frame earlier than you might expect, or you may also include the first frame of the next clip. This often happens when you have snapping turned on and you snap to clip start and end points to set In and Out points. The Out point includes the first frame of the adjacent clip.
µ Press the Back Arrow key once before setting the Out point, so that you set it on the last frame of the clip you want to select. When you do this, the last frame of that clip is included with the Out point. The Out point ends at the last frame of the clip. µ Make the Canvas active, then choose View > Show Overlays. Make sure you set an Out point when you see the overlay that indicates the end of the clip, not the start of the next clip.
3 Do one of the following: • Choose Mark > Mark In, or choose Mark > Mark Out (or press I to set an In point or press O to set an Out point). • Control-click in the scrubber bar, then choose Mark In or Mark Out from the shortcut menu. • Click the Mark In or Mark Out button. Mark Out button (O) Mark In button (I) For many editors, it’s much more intuitive to set the start (In) and end (Out) points of a clip while the clip is actually playing.
Specifying an Edit Point Using Timecode After setting an In point, if you want a clip to have a specific duration, you can quickly define an Out point relative to your In point. To set an In or Out point for a clip in the Browser using timecode 1 Select the clip in the Browser. 2 Click the In or Out point column of the clip in the Browser, then enter a new timecode number. Tip: You can also make relative adjustments by adding or subtracting timecode from an existing In or Out point.
Reviewing Your Edit Points When you’ve set the In and Out points you think you want to use, check your edit points to make sure that you’ve included all the frames you need for the clip you’re editing. To view your clip from its In point to its Out point Do one of the following: µ µ Choose Mark > Play > In to Out, or press Shift-Backslash (\). Click the Play In to Out button.
You have several options when setting sequence In and Out points. Each choice has certain ramifications, so make sure you understand the outcome when setting your In and Out points. • Setting no In or Out points: When no edit points are set, the playhead position is considered the In point. The clip is placed at the playhead position in the Timeline. • Setting only an In point: When an In point is set, that point determines where the source clip’s In point is placed in your sequence.
When No Sequence In or Out Points Are Set If you don’t set any In or Out points in the Canvas or Timeline, Final Cut Pro uses the playhead as an In point to determine the outcome of your edit. The position of the playhead determines the In point if you haven’t set any edit points in the Canvas or Timeline. The new clip starts where the playhead was prior to the edit. Chapter 33 Setting Edit Points for Clips and Sequences After the edit, the playhead moves to the end of the clip.
When You Set One Sequence In or Out Point If you set only one In or Out point, that point determines where the clip being edited into your sequence will start or end: • If you set a sequence In point: The In point of the source clip is placed at the sequence In point, and the clip extends from the In point to the right for the duration of the source clip. In point The new clip begins at the In point that you set.
• If you set a sequence Out point: The Out point of the source clip is placed at the sequence Out point, and the clip is “backtimed” for the duration of the source clip, extending from the Out point to the left. Out point The new clip ends at the Out point that you set.
When You Set Both Sequence In and Out Points Setting both sequence In and Out points limits the duration of your edit to the duration between these two points. How the source clip lines up within this duration depends on which clip In and Out points have been set in the Viewer: • If you set an In point for the source clip: The clip’s In point lines up with the In point in your sequence, and the clip extends to the right for the duration defined by the sequence In and Out points.
Setting Sequence In and Out Points You can set sequence In and Out points in the Canvas or Timeline. The In and Out points in the Canvas are the same as the ones in the Timeline—they refer to the same timecode values and affect the same part of your sequence. If you set In and Out points in the Timeline, they also appear in the Canvas, and vice versa. To set In and Out points in the Canvas or Timeline 1 Make the Canvas or the Timeline active by doing one of the following: • Click in the appropriate window.
Setting In and Out Points to Match a Clip or Gap When you want to replace one clip with another using exactly the same location and duration in the Timeline, you can set both In and Out points simultaneously. This also comes in handy if you want to quickly set In and Out points to fit the boundaries of a gap in your sequence. To set In and Out points at the beginning and end of a clip or gap in the Timeline 1 Place the Timeline playhead over a clip (or gap) in your sequence.
Note: If the clip items have different durations in the video and audio tracks that have Auto-Select turned on, video clip items take precedence over audio clip items. Also, clip items take precedence over gaps. For more information about Auto Select controls, see Using Auto Select to Specify Tracks for Selections. 3 Do one of the following to set In and Out points: • Choose Mark > Mark Clip (or press X). • Click the Mark Clip button in the Canvas.
To set In and Out points based on the current selection in the Timeline 1 Select clip items in the Timeline. You can select part of a clip, several clips, or parts of several clips using the Selection, Group Selection, or Range Selection tools. For more information on how to use these tools, see Finding and Selecting Content in the Timeline. If you want to set only video or only audio In and Out points, select only video or audio items in the Timeline.
Setting In and Out Points Using Markers Using the Mark to Markers command, you can quickly set sequence In and Out points using markers in the Timeline. The Mark to Markers command sets the In point at the marker immediately before the sequence playhead position and sets the Out point at the marker immediately after the playhead position. This command is particularly useful for three-point editing techniques. See Three-Point Editing for more information.
µ To move the playhead to the current In point in your sequence Choose Mark > Go To > In Point (or press Shift-I). To move the playhead to the current Out point in your sequence Do one of the following: µ µ Shift-click the Mark Out button in the Canvas. Choose Mark > Go To > Out Point (or press Shift-O). Moving In and Out Points You can always change clip In and Out points by simply setting new ones. Here are a few other options for changing In and Out points.
You can also change the location of both In and Out points at the same time. The duration of the marked media doesn’t change, just the location of the In and Out points. This is commonly referred to as slipping an edit. You can slip edit points in both the Viewer and the Canvas or Timeline. To slip both the In and Out points together Do one of the following: µ Hold down the Shift key, then drag the In or Out point left or right in the scrubber bar.
To clear an Out point Do one of the following: µ µ µ µ Press Option-O. Control-click in the scrubber bar, then choose Clear Out from the shortcut menu. Option-click the Mark Out button. In the Viewer or Canvas, drag an Out point vertically off the scrubber bar, either up or down. To clear both In and Out points at the same time Do one of the following: µ µ µ Press Option-X. Control-click in the scrubber bar, then choose Clear In and Out from the shortcut menu. Option-click the Mark Clip button.
Working with Tracks in the Timeline 34 In the Timeline, you view your clips horizontally (in chronological order) and also vertically (stacked in multiple tracks). You can add, delete, and lock tracks, and you can customize how tracks are displayed. Note: For information about navigating and zooming within the Timeline, see Timeline Basics. This chapter covers the following: • Adding and Deleting Tracks (p. 497) • Specifying Destination Tracks in the Timeline (p.
To quickly add a track to a sequence Do one of the following: µ Control-click anywhere in the area above the top video track or below the bottom audio track, then choose Add Track from the shortcut menu. Control-click in the area above the top video track, then choose Add Track. µ Drag a clip to the unused area above the top video track or below the bottom audio track. Final Cut Pro adds new tracks to accommodate any audio or video this new clip contains.
2 In the Insert Tracks dialog, select your options, then click OK. Enter the number of tracks to add. Specify where you want to add the tracks. Select the types of tracks you want to add. • Track type: Select the appropriate checkbox to add audio and/or video tracks. • Number of tracks: Enter the number of tracks for either video or audio. A sequence can have a total of 99 video tracks and 99 audio tracks.
Deleting Tracks You can delete tracks from a sequence at any time. You can delete tracks one at a time, or you can delete multiple video and audio tracks at once. If you delete tracks that contain linked clip items, only the items on the deleted track are deleted; the linked items remain. For example, if you delete a video track, video clip items on that track are deleted, but the linked audio clip items remain in their tracks. Note: If you delete the wrong track, you can use the Undo command to restore it.
Specifying Destination Tracks in the Timeline When you edit a source clip into a sequence, you need to specify the sequence tracks where your source clip items are placed. You use the Source and Destination controls in the Timeline to specify which sequence tracks receive clip items from the source clip. Source and Destination controls are most often used when you perform three-point edits, but they can also affect some aspects of drag-to-Timeline editing. For more information, see Three-Point Editing.
Important: While editing, make sure that Source controls are connected to the Destination controls for the correct tracks. If you don’t, individual video or audio items in your source clip will end up in the wrong tracks in the Timeline. V1, A1, and A2 are selected as destination tracks. To assign a source clip item to a destination track in the Timeline Do one of the following: µ Control-click a Source control, then choose a new destination track from the shortcut menu.
To change Source and Destination control connections Do one of the following: µ µ µ Control-click a Source control, then choose a track from the shortcut menu. Control-click a Destination control, then choose a Source control from the shortcut menu. Click a Destination control. The first Source control above that track moves to that track. µ Option-click a Destination control. The first Source control beneath that track moves to that track.
For example, if you want to edit the video clip item in the Viewer into your sequence, but you don’t want the audio clip item, you can simply disconnect all of the audio Source controls in the Timeline, leaving only the video Source and Destination controls connected. Performing an overwrite edit adds the video portion of the selected clip to your sequence, ignoring the source clip audio. The v1 Source control is connected to the V1 Destination control.
To disconnect Source and Destination controls in the Timeline Do one of the following: µ Click the Source or Destination control to break the track assignment. Connected Source and Destination controls Disconnected Source and Destination controls µ µ µ Press Shift-F6 to deselect the current video destination track. Press Shift-F7 to deselect the current audio channel 1 destination track. Press Shift-F8 to deselect the current audio channel 2 destination track.
Exceptions to Normal Use of Source and Destination Controls There are several exceptions to the way you normally use Source and Destination controls to specify destination tracks for source clip items. When Dragging Clips Directly to the Timeline If you drag a clip from the Browser or Viewer directly into a specific track in the Timeline, it is placed on that track even if that track is not a destination track.
µ To lock an audio track using keyboard shortcuts Press F5 and the number of the track you want to lock (for tracks 1 through 9). The track is cross-hatched to indicate it’s locked. The control changes to the locked position. Click the control again to unlock the track. µ To lock all video tracks in a sequence Press Shift-F4. µ To lock all audio tracks in a sequence Press Shift-F5.
You can still edit items on disabled tracks; they just won’t appear in the Canvas during playback. A track can be enabled or disabled at any time. This does not permanently affect either your sequence or the clips edited into it. There are several reasons you may want to disable a track: • A track contains audio that you want to temporarily turn off, while you focus on other parts of your audio mix. • A track contains an alternate edit of clips in your sequence that you haven’t yet committed to using.
Customizing Track Display in the Timeline You can modify the way tracks are displayed in the Timeline in several ways: • Tracks in the Timeline can be resized, either individually or collectively. For more information, see Resizing Timeline Tracks. • Clip items on video tracks can be displayed with name only, name and thumbnail frame, or filmstrip. All video tracks in the sequence share the same display settings. If you display the Timeline in Reduced track size view, you can’t see thumbnails.
µ To resize a single audio track in the Timeline Drag the lower boundary of the track in the Timeline patch panel. Timeline patch panel Drag a boundary to resize a track. µ To resize all video or all audio tracks at once Hold down the Option key, then drag a track boundary to resize it. If you drag a video track boundary, all video tracks in the Timeline are resized by the same amount. If you drag an audio track boundary, all audio tracks are resized by the same amount.
The selected track height is highlighted blue. Track Height control You can also preserve relative track sizes. µ To resize all tracks relative to their individual sizes Hold down the Option key, then click the icon in the Track Height control that corresponds to the track size you want to use. Resizing All Tracks Using the Track Layout Pop-Up Menu You can also use the Track Layout pop-up menu (to the right of the Track Height control) to choose Reduced, Small, Medium, or Large track heights.
Creating a Static Region in the Timeline If you are working with more tracks than you can see on the screen at once, and you spend a lot of time scrolling through multiple tracks in the Timeline, you may find it useful to create a static region in the middle of the Timeline for tracks that you always want to see. This region can contain video tracks, audio tracks, or both.
µ µ To resize a static region in the Timeline Drag the dividers or thumb tabs to include tracks in (or exclude tracks from) the static region. As the static region gets larger or smaller, the size of the other regions is adjusted accordingly. To move the static region up or down in the Timeline Drag the center slider in the static region’s scroll bar to move the entire region, automatically resizing the scrollable regions above and below the static region.
Drag-to-Timeline Editing 35 Drag-to-Timeline editing is a quick, intuitive way to move clips from the Browser or Viewer into your sequence. This chapter covers the following: • Overview of the Drag-to-Timeline Editing Process (p. 515) • Dragging Clips to the Timeline (p. 516) • Doing Simple Insert and Overwrite Edits in the Timeline (p. 517) • Automatically Adding Tracks to Your Sequence While Dragging (p.
If you want to place a whole clip or group of clips in the Timeline, you can skip this step. For information on arranging a group of clips, see Preparing a Sequence Order in the Browser. Stage 2: Drag the clip to the Timeline Drag one or more clips from the Browser or the Viewer to the Timeline. Dragging Clips to the Timeline An easy way to edit clips into your sequence is to drag them from the Browser or Viewer to an open sequence in the Timeline.
For more information, see Preparing a Sequence Order in the Browser. 2 Drag the group of clips directly into your sequence in the Timeline. The clips appear in your sequence according to how they’re organized in the Browser. Doing Simple Insert and Overwrite Edits in the Timeline When you drag clips to the Timeline, you can perform insert or overwrite edits. (For more information about insert and overwrite edits, see Performing the Different Types of Edits.
As you drag your clip into the Timeline, a two-up display appears in the Canvas to show you the sequence In and Out points for the edit you’re performing. What appears in this display depends on the kind of edit. • If you’re performing an overwrite edit: The two-up display shows the frame before the clip being edited in (on the left) and the frame immediately after it (on the right). Clip names appear at the top of the display, and each frame’s source timecode number appears at the bottom.
µ To do an overwrite edit Drag the clip to the lower two-thirds of a track in the Timeline. Drag a clip to the lower two-thirds of a track to do an overwrite edit. Note: If you drag a sequence clip to another location within the sequence, an overwrite edit is performed by default. To perform an insert edit instead, hold down the Option key after you begin dragging the clip.
Clips with both audio and video clip items create both kinds of tracks by default, unless either the video or audio Source and Destination controls are disconnected. Dragging a clip to the unused space above the highest track creates a new video track. After edit When you drag a source clip to a track in the Timeline, all the clip’s items are linked. The track you drag a clip to always receives a clip item, regardless of whether its Source and Destination controls are connected.
For example, suppose you have a clip that contains a video clip item and two audio clip items. If you drag that clip to a video track in the Timeline, the video clip item is placed in the video track, even if the Source and Destination controls for the video track are disconnected. Each audio clip item is placed in the corresponding Timeline audio tracks, but only if the Source and Destination controls of those audio tracks are connected. Video Source and Destination controls are disconnected.
Three-Point Editing 36 When you’re adding content to a sequence with three-point editing, you only need to set three edit points to tell Final Cut Pro what content should go where in the Timeline. This chapter covers the following: • Understanding Three-Point Editing (p. 523) • About Edit Types in the Edit Overlay (p. 526) • Performing the Different Types of Edits (p. 527) • Three-Point Editing Examples (p.
Stage 1: Setting Clip In and Out Points in the Viewer Specify which part of a source clip you want to place in your sequence. You do this by opening it in the Viewer and setting the In and Out points (where the clip should start and end). If you only set an In point, the Out point will be determined by the sequence In and Out points or the Media End time of the clip.
Note: If you don’t drag directly to one of the overlay choices, the default edit is Overwrite, meaning the clip overwrites anything located at its destination in the Timeline. Drag a clip to a section of the Edit Overlay. Edit Overlay with its seven sections When you drag a clip to a specific section of the overlay, that section is outlined in its own color. If you drag your clip to the area to the left of the Edit Overlay, an overwrite edit is performed by default.
Using Keyboard Shortcuts With a clip open in the Viewer, you can also use keyboard shortcuts to perform each of the seven types of edits. All of the keyboard shortcuts use the function keys along the top of the keyboard. (If you forget a keyboard shortcut, position your pointer over one of the edit buttons and pause for a moment. A tooltip appears with that button’s function, as well as its keyboard shortcut.
• Replace: A replace edit replaces a clip in your sequence with the source clip, aligning the frame at the Viewer playhead location with the frame at the Canvas/Timeline playhead location. This type of edit does not use In and Out points in the same way as insert and overwrite edits. For more information, see Performing a Replace Edit.
By definition, an insert edit makes your sequence longer because the duration of the inserted clip is added to the sequence. Typically, you use insert edits when you want to add a new shot in the beginning or the middle of your sequence. You can also use an insert edit to interrupt the action in an existing clip with the action in the newly inserted clip. The action in the original clip then resumes after the inserted clip.
After the edit, all clips on all unlocked tracks (including nondestination tracks) are moved forward in time, from the playhead position to the right, to make room for the clip or clips being inserted. Before an insert edit After an insert edit New clip is inserted. Note: By default, Sequence markers (in the Timeline ruler) will ripple with any ripple edit or insert edit. For more information, see Using the Ripple Sequence Markers Setting.
Important: When you perform an insert with transition edit, make sure that there is enough media at the beginning of the new clip and at the end of the previously edited clip to create the transition. Each source clip must have enough unused frames outside the defined edit points to equal half the duration of the default transition. Tip: You can also perform an insert with transition edit with multiple clips.
The source clip is inserted into the sequence with the default transition. Before an insert with transition edit New clip is inserted with transition. After an insert with transition edit Performing an Overwrite Edit Since this is the most commonly used edit type, it occupies the biggest overlay area in the Canvas. If you drag a clip into any part of the Canvas to the left of the Edit Overlay, an overwrite edit is performed.
For example, if you have a sequence clip of a comedian making a joke, but there’s a long pause after the joke while the comedian stands there waiting for a reaction, you can overwrite the pause using a source clip of an audience laughing. To do this, you position the playhead at the frame right after the comedian finishes telling the joke, and then perform an overwrite edit. The pause is covered by the clip of the audience laughing.
The clip overwrites all items on the destination tracks from the playhead position through the duration of your edit. No items are moved. Before an overwrite edit New clip overwrites existing clips. After an overwrite edit Performing an Overwrite with Transition Edit The overwrite with transition edit is a quick way to do an overwrite edit that includes a transition between your new source clip and the clip before it in your edited sequence.
Important: When you perform an overwrite with transition edit, make sure that there is enough media at the beginning of the new clip and at the end of the previously edited clip to create the transition. Each source clip must have enough unused frames outside the defined edit points to equal half the duration of the default transition. You can also perform an overwrite with transition edit with multiple clips.
The clip overwrites other items on the destination tracks for the duration of the edit, and uses the default transition. Before an overwrite with transition edit New clip with transition overwrites existing clips After an overwrite with transition edit Performing a Replace Edit A replace edit is a specialized form of overwrite edit. A replace edit places the frame at the current Viewer playhead position at the Canvas/Timeline playhead location in your sequence.
• Replace edits only replace existing clip items in your sequence. For example, if you perform a replace edit using a Browser clip containing video and audio items in a segment of your sequence containing only a video clip item, only the sequence video clip item is replaced; no additional clip items are added. To add additional clip items during an edit, you can use an overwrite edit instead.
3 Double-click the replacement source clip to open it in the Viewer, then move the Viewer playhead to the frame you want to match in the Timeline. Do not set any edit points for the clip in the Viewer. For example, if both the sequence and source clip are shots of a person jumping, you could move the Viewer playhead to the first frame where the person’s feet leave the ground. This frame will be placed at the location of the playhead in the Timeline.
2 In the Timeline, find the audio cue you want to sync your video clip to, and position the playhead there. 3 Make sure that the Source and Destination controls in the Timeline are set to the tracks containing your video clip, and not your audio clip. The video track should be the only destination track set. 4 Without moving the Timeline playhead, press the F key to perform a match frame operation.
5 Move the playhead in the Viewer to the new frame that you want to align with the audio cue that you selected in the Timeline. 6 Now that the Timeline playhead is lined up with the audio cue in your sequence and the Viewer playhead is lined up with a video frame that you want to sync to it, perform the edit by doing one of the following: • Press F11. • Drag the clip from the Viewer to the Replace section of the Edit Overlay in the Canvas. • Click the Replace button in the Canvas.
To use a replace edit with sequence In and Out points 1 In the Canvas or the Timeline, set In and Out points for the section of your sequence you want to replace. In and Out points define the area you want to replace. 2 Move the playhead to the frame that you want the source clip to line up with. This frame can be at any point between the In and Out points. 3 Make sure that the tracks containing the items you want to replace are set as destination tracks.
The selected area in the sequence is replaced by the source clip. Final Cut Pro automatically calculates the clip duration. Before a replace edit New clip replaces the selected area of the sequence. After a replace edit Superimposing Clips In some cases, you may want to place one clip directly above another clip in a different track. This is called a superimpose edit. You can use a superimpose edit to quickly stack a source clip on top of a clip already in your sequence.
Likewise, if you perform a superimpose edit with several source clips at once, all of those clips are stacked on top of one another. The first clip in your selected group is on top, with each successive clip appearing underneath. D A Before edit B C D A B C After edit To perform a superimpose edit 1 Do one of the following: • Position the Timeline playhead over a clip above which you want to superimpose your source clip.
The clip in the Viewer is placed in the track above the destination track, starting at the beginning of the clip that intersects the Timeline playhead, or at the sequence In point. If there is no track above the destination track, one is created. Before a superimpose edit After a superimpose edit Three-Point Editing Examples There are a few key things to keep in mind when you are doing three-point editing.
Edit points set Results • Clip Out point • Sequence In and Out points The Out point of the source clip is placed at the Out point of the sequence, and the duration of the edit is determined by the sequence In and Out points. If there is no sequence In point, the Timeline playhead is used as the In point.
4 Now, if you do an overwrite edit, you’ll see that the duration of your clip, defined by the In and Out points in the Viewer, has been edited into the sequence. The new clip starts where the playhead was. As you can see, defining only three points—the clip In and Out points in the Viewer and the sequence In point in the Timeline—gives you total control of the edit that’s performed. Example: Editing a Clip into a Gap in Your Sequence You can also do the reverse of the previous editing example.
3 In the Timeline, move the playhead to the middle of the gap you want to fill. Move the playhead into the gap. 4 Choose Mark > Mark Clip (or press X) to set In and Out points around the gap. Note: You must select the Auto Select controls for the tracks containing the gap. For more information, see Using Auto Select to Specify Tracks for Selections.
To edit a clip into your sequence using only an Out point in the Canvas or Timeline 1 Double-click a clip to open it in the Viewer. (This is your source clip.) 2 Specify In and Out points for the source clip in the Viewer. In point Out point 3 In the Timeline, move the playhead to the point in your edited sequence where you want your clip to end, and set an Out point. Set an edit point at the location where you want the clip to end.
Example: Editing a Clip with No Specified In or Out Points into Your Sequence If you don’t specify In or Out points for a clip in the Viewer prior to editing, Final Cut Pro edits in the entire clip, either to the position of the playhead or to an edit point specified in the Canvas or Timeline. To edit a clip into your sequence that has no specified In or Out points 1 Double-click a clip to open it in the Viewer, but don’t set In or Out points. No In or Out point is set.
Since you used an overwrite edit, any clip items that were already in those tracks in the sequence have been overwritten by the source clip. The new clip begins where the playhead was located. Chapter 36 Three-Point Editing The playhead moves to the end of the new clip.
Finding and Selecting Content in the Timeline 37 When you want to arrange, copy, delete, or otherwise manipulate items in a sequence, the first thing you need to do is select them. This chapter covers the following: • Understanding What’s Currently Selected (p. 551) • Direct Methods for Selecting Content in a Sequence (p. 553) • Finding and Selecting Based on Search Criteria (p. 561) • Selecting a Vertical Range Between In and Out Points (p. 563) • Using Auto Select to Specify Tracks for Selections (p.
Even if there are no clips highlighted, Final Cut Pro usually considers something in the Timeline to be selected. This occurs in two situations: • If no clips are highlighted and there are no In or Out points set: Clips under the current position of the playhead are considered selected for many commands. For example, if you choose a filter from the Effects menu, it is applied to any clips under the playhead, even if nothing in the Timeline appears to be selected.
For example, if sequence In and Out points are set and a clip is selected, the next operation is performed on the selected clip rather than the content between the In and Out points. If you deselect the clip, the portions of clips between the In and Out points on tracks with Auto Select turned on are affected. For more information, see Using Auto Select to Specify Tracks for Selections.
2 Move the pointer to the tool you want to select, then release the mouse button. The selected tool becomes the current tool in the Tool palette for that group of tools. The selected tool becomes the default shown in the Tool palette. Click a tool to select it. These are the selection tools, in order of appearance: Selection tool • Selection: Selects individual items, such as a clip, transition, edit point, or keyframe, or multiple items if they’re linked.
• Range Selection: Selects a range of multiple contiguous items. This tool does not automatically select an entire item, but only the part of the item that you drag across. Use this tool to select only a part of a clip, or to create a selection that includes portions of several clips. Select Track Forward Select Track Backward Select Track Select All Tracks Forward Select All Tracks Backward • Select Track Forward: Selects all the items in a track after the selection point you click.
If the Canvas is set to display overlays, a cyan blue border appears around the video image to indicate that the clip beneath the playhead is selected. (To set the Canvas to display overlays, choose View > Show Overlays, so there is a checkmark next to it.) A cyan border indicates the clip is selected. Selecting a Group of Clips by Dragging Sometimes the fastest way to select a group of contiguous clips is to drag a box around them.
You can also Command-click a specific item again to deselect it. Noncontiguous selection µ To select multiple contiguous clip items with the Selection tool Select a clip item, then hold down the Shift key and select another clip item farther down on the Timeline. All of the clip items between the two are selected. • If you select two clip items on the same track: Only the items on that track (and items linked to items on that track) are selected.
To select a portion of a clip item 1 Select the Range Selection tool in the Tool palette (or press the G key three times). Range Selection tool 2 Click a clip item where you want to start your selection, drag to the right until you reach the end of the portion of the clip you want to select, then release the mouse button. Drag with the Range Selection tool to select an entire clip and part of a second clip.
2 Click anywhere in the track. All clips in the track are selected, as well as any items linked to those clips. All clips in V1 are selected. You can also select all items before or after a specified clip item. For example, if you want to select all clip items in track V1 except for the first item, you can use the Select Track Forward tool. To select all clip items after a specified item on a single track 1 Select the Select Track Forward tool in the Tool palette (or press the T key).
• Press the T key four times to select the Select All Tracks Forward tool, or press the T key five times to select the Select All Tracks Backward tool. Select All Tracks Forward tool Select All Tracks Backward tool 2 Click the first clip item on any track that you want to include in the selection. All clip items in all tracks from the point you click onward (either forward or backward) are selected, as well as any items linked to those items.
Selecting or Deselecting All Clips in a Sequence To move or delete all clip items, you can select them all at once. To make sure no clip items are selected anywhere in the Timeline, you can deselect all of them. To select every clip item in the Timeline 1 Click in the Timeline to make it active (or press Command-3). 2 Choose Edit > Select All (or press Command-A). To deselect every clip item in the Timeline 1 Click in the Timeline to make it active (or press Command-3).
4 Enter the text or timecode number you want to search for. Enter text or a timecode number here. Choose additional search options. 5 Choose the type of item to search for from the Search pop-up menu. • Names/Markers: Search for the text in clip names, marker names, and marker comments. • Timecode: Search for any source or auxiliary timecode in a clip. 6 Choose which tracks to search from the Where pop-up menu. • All Tracks: Search all tracks in the sequence.
Selecting a Vertical Range Between In and Out Points When you want to copy, move, or cut a selection of content that ranges vertically across multiple tracks, a quick method is to select it by setting In and Out points. To select clip items between sequence In and Out points 1 Set In and Out points in either the Canvas or the Timeline. 2 In the Timeline, turn on the Auto Select controls for tracks that contain clip items you want to select.
Using Auto Select to Specify Tracks for Selections Auto Select controls determine which tracks are affected by an operation. When sequence In and Out points are defined, operations such as the Copy and Lift commands are limited to the regions of tracks with Auto Select turned on between the Timeline In and Out points. You can intentionally turn off Auto Select controls for tracks that you don’t want to operate on.
If you press the Delete key, only the items on track V1 are deleted. After deleting; only the selected region is deleted. µ To turn on or turn off Auto Select on a track Click the Auto Select control for the track. Auto Select control µ To turn on Auto Select on one track while simultaneously turning off Auto Select on all other tracks Option-click the Auto Select control on the track you want single out for Auto Select.
If you Option-click the Auto Select control on a video track, Auto Select is turned off on all other video tracks in the sequence. If you Option-click the Auto Select control on an audio track, Auto Select is turned off on all other audio tracks in the sequence. Option-clicking allows you to quickly target a single track for editing operations. Option-click the control for the track you want to single out for Auto Select.
Arranging Clips in the Timeline 38 After initial content has been added to the Timeline, the next part of the rough editing phase is assembling clips into the order in which you want them to appear. This chapter covers the following: • Snapping to Points in the Timeline (p. 567) • Moving Items Within the Timeline (p. 568) • Copying and Pasting Clips in the Timeline (p. 573) • Deleting Clips from a Sequence (p. 578) • Finding and Closing Gaps (p. 580) • Color-Coding Clips in the Timeline (p.
When you drag the playhead or a selected clip item in the Timeline, it “snaps” to these elements when it encounters them. A small pair of arrows appears above or below the edit, marker, or keyframe to indicate that the playhead has snapped to this item. While snapping is extremely useful, it can also be a hindrance if you’re trying to move a clip only a few frames among a series of markers and clip boundaries, and you don’t want it to snap to any of these points.
2 Release the mouse button. The arrow pointing down indicates that an overwrite edit will be performed. To move a clip to a new position by dragging (and do an insert edit) 1 In the Timeline, drag the clip to the new location. 2 Press and hold down the Option key (after you’ve started dragging the clip). The pointer looks like a right arrow. 3 Release the mouse button. The arrow pointing right indicates that an insert edit will be performed.
To move an item by entering a timecode value 1 In the Timeline, select the clip item or items you want to move. 2 Type a relative timecode value for where you want the clip to be positioned. For example, type “+48” (or simply 48) to move the item 48 frames forward. To move 48 frames backward in time, type “–48”. When you type a number, a Move field appears above the track. You can also type a regular timecode value to move the clip to that location in the Timeline.
For more information about editing numerically using timecode, see Performing Slip, Slide, Ripple, and Roll Edits and Trimming Clips Using the Trim Edit Window. Using the Command Key to Drag More Slowly When you’re dragging clips, edit points, or keyframes, usually the default one-to-one correspondence between the motion of your mouse and the motion of the item you’re dragging works just fine.
To shuffle a clip item from one position to another 1 Select a clip item you want to move in the Timeline with the Selection tool. Select the clip item to move. 2 Drag the selected clip item to the beginning of the clip item you want to insert the dragged clip item in front of. 3 While continuing to hold down the mouse button, press the Option key. The pointer turns into the Shuffle Edit pointer.
• If the small arrow points left: All clip items to the left of the insertion point are rippled to the left, filling the gap where the moved clip item was previously located. 4 Release the mouse button to place the selected clip at the insertion point. After Clip D moves here. Clips A, B, and C move right and fill the gap left by Clip D. Important: Shuffle edits are only possible if you move a clip item beyond the boundaries of its original position.
Modifying Selections and Commands Using the Option Key When you’re working with clips in the Timeline, you can use the Option key to do one of three things: • Hold down the Option key while you select a clip to temporarily turn off linked selection (if it’s on) or turn it on (if it’s off ). • Hold down the Option key after an item is selected, then drag the item from its original position to make a duplicate of that item.
4 Paste the clip items at the playhead location by pressing Command-V. Copied clip items Pasted clip items To copy (or cut) and paste clip items from one Timeline track to another 1 Select one or more clip items in the Timeline. 2 Do one of the following, depending on what you want: • Copy the clip items by pressing Command-C. • Cut the clip items by pressing Command-X. 3 Option-click the Auto Select control for the track you want to paste clip items into.
The copied clip items are pasted to the tracks with Auto Select turned on, except where no Auto Select change was made. Where no Auto Select change was made after copying, the clip items are pasted to the original tracks. See the picture below for an example of these results. The V2 Auto Select control is enabled after copying a clip item. The video clip item is pasted to the track with Auto Select enabled. The audio clip items are pasted to the original tracks.
2 Copy the clip items by pressing Command-C. 3 Position the playhead where you want to paste the items. 4 Option-click the track V2 Auto Select control. The video clip item will now be pasted into track V2. 5 Option-click the track A2 Auto Select control to set the lowest-numbered audio paste destination track. The lowest-numbered audio track for pasting is now set to A2. 6 Paste the clip items by pressing Command-V. Track V2 becomes the pasting destination after Auto Select is enabled.
Deleting Clips from a Sequence As you edit, you can delete items from your sequence at any time, provided that the track you want to remove them from is not locked. There are two ways to delete items from a sequence: • Lift edit: Leaves a gap in the sequence. • Ripple edit: Closes the gap from the deletion by moving all subsequent clips to the left. Important: Removing clips from a sequence does not delete the original master clips from the Browser, nor does it delete source media files from your hard disk.
• Choose Edit > Cut (or press Command-X) to cut the material, if you want to paste it somewhere else. Selected clip items After a lift edit, a gap is left in the sequence. Deleting with a Ripple Edit (Leaving No Gap) Deleting with a ripple edit (also called a ripple delete) removes selected items from the sequence and closes the resulting gap by moving all subsequent items on unlocked tracks to the left.
• Control-click the selected clip item or items, then choose Ripple Delete from the shortcut menu. • Press Shift-X to cut the material, if you want to paste it somewhere else. Selected clip items After the ripple delete, the clip items are removed, with no gap remaining. Note: By default, Sequence markers (in the Timeline ruler) will ripple with any ripple edit or insert edit. For more information, see Using the Ripple Sequence Markers Setting.
• Gaps: These are track gaps that occur in every single track of your sequence. Gap Track gap To find gaps in a sequence 1 Move the playhead to the beginning of the sequence to start looking from the beginning. Otherwise, you can look for gaps to the right or left of the playhead’s current position. 2 Do one of the following: • Choose Mark > Next, then choose Gap from the submenu (or press Shift-G). • Choose Mark > Previous, then choose Gap from the submenu (or press Option-G).
Because this command shifts all clips to the right of the gap to the left, the command is not available if a clip on another track overlaps this gap. (This would change the relationship of the overlapping clip to the rest of your sequence, or change the audio-video sync if it’s an audio clip underneath a video clip.
• Click the Mark Clip button in the Canvas. In and Out points set based on track gap in V1. Auto Select control enabled The track gap’s duration appears in the Timecode Duration field in the Canvas. Color-Coding Clips in the Timeline If you use labels to identify and sort your clips in the Browser, the clips’ names will be highlighted in the color that matches each label. Using keyboard shortcuts, you can change the labels of clips directly in the Timeline.
Color Label Keyboard Shortcut Green B-Roll Command-Option-6 To assign or change a label for a clip in the Timeline 1 Select one or more clips in the Timeline. 2 Press a key combination (from the table above) for the label you want to assign to the clip items. The color changes to reflect the new label. For information about changing labels of clips in the Browser, see Assigning Labels and Setting Label Names to Help Manage Media.
Cutting Clips and Adjusting Durations 39 Once you’ve assembled clips in your sequence, you can easily cut them and adjust their durations. This chapter covers the following: • Performing Basic Cut Edits (p. 585) • Changing the Duration of Clips in the Timeline (p. 589) • Opening Sequence Clips in the Viewer to Change Durations (p. 589) Performing Basic Cut Edits The most basic edit is a straight cut, like the ones performed with a razor blade on a piece of film.
This can be useful for quickly rearranging pieces of your sequence, for deleting a section of a clip, for applying an effect to a specific part of a clip, or for moving a piece of a clip to the same location on another track. Before The Razor Blade tool lets you cut a clip item into two pieces.
• Razor Blade All: Cuts all clip items on all tracks at the point where you click in the Timeline. Before After The Razor Blade All tool lets you cut clips across all tracks. Using the Add Edit Command to Cut Clips The Add Edit command in the Sequence menu (Control-V) is similar to the Razor Blade All tool, cutting all clip items in the Timeline at the current position of the playhead. However, only clip items on tracks with Auto Select turned on are cut.
Joining Through Edits (Splicing Cut Clips Back Together) Whenever you cut a clip item with the razor blade tool, the clip item is split into two pieces separated by a through edit. You can’t see a through edit when you play back your sequence in the Canvas because the frames on either side of the edit are from a continuous section of a media file. However, you can turn on through edit indicators—two red triangles above and below through edits—to see them in the Timeline.
Changing the Duration of Clips in the Timeline Clips are represented in the Timeline as horizontal bars within tracks. The length of the bar represents the clip item’s duration. The beginning and end of the bar represent the clip’s In and Out points. You can drag the beginning or end of the clip to change the clip’s duration, right in the Timeline.
The video and audio tabs that appear in the Viewer depend on whether the clip item you open from the Timeline is linked to other clip items, and whether linked selection is turned on. • If a clip item is linked to other clip items and linked selection is turned on: All items associated with the one you’ve opened in the Viewer are also opened. Video and audio clip items open in their own Viewer tabs.
Linking and Editing Video and Audio in Sync 40 Final Cut Pro allows you to adjust the synchronization relationship between video and audio items in a clip. Linked clip items can be temporarily or permanently unlinked, resynchronized, and relinked. This chapter covers the following: • Linked Sync Relationships Between Video and Audio Clips (p. 591) • Linking and Unlinking Video and Audio Clip Items in the Timeline (p. 596) • Selecting Individual Clip Items While They Are Linked (p.
When video and audio clip items are linked in the Timeline: • The names of the linked clip items are underlined to indicate that they’re linked. The underlined clip name indicates the link between audio and video items. • As long as linked selection is on in the Timeline (the Linked Selection button in the upper-right corner is green), clicking one clip item selects it and all the items linked to it. Click the Linked Selection button to turn linked selection on and off.
Even when clip items are unlinked, Final Cut Pro keeps track of the relationship between clip items that come from the same media file. This means that you can move those items out of sync at any time, without worrying that you won’t be able to resynchronize them later if you change your mind. Since merged clips contain clip items that do not come from the same media file, out-of-sync indicators are not shown when you unlink and move merged clip items.
This also works with multiple instances of clips from the same media file on disk. For example: You have three items in your sequence, all from different parts of the same media file. If you move the audio item to the left, so that it overlaps the first video item, out-of-sync indicators appear. The same happens if you move the audio item to the right.
Understanding Sync Relationships Between Multiple Linked Audio Items Up to 24 audio items can be linked to a single video item in the Timeline. As a result, some complex sync relationships may result if you slip more than one of a clip’s audio items (for information on slip edits, see Slipping Clips in the Timeline). These are easily managed using the same out-of-sync indicators described earlier.
If you then move a second pair of audio items out of sync by a different amount, each audio item that is out of sync from the anchor item has an out-of-sync indicator noting its individual offset from the anchor item—in this example, the video item. The anchor item displays a mixed-sync indicator with no duration. This tells you that multiple linked items are out of sync by varying amounts.
To link unrelated clip items in the Timeline 1 Arrange audio and video clip items in their respective tracks so that they line up the way you want them to. Video and audio clip items are not linked together. 2 Select up to one video clip item and up to 24 audio items on different tracks in the Timeline. Select video and audio clip items that you want to link. 3 Choose Modify > Link (or press Command-L).
Note: When you open linked items in the Viewer, each linked mono audio clip item or stereo pair of clip items appears in an Audio tab in the Viewer. Names of linked clip items are underlined in the Timeline. Tip: Dragging linked clip items from the Timeline into the Browser creates a single merged clip containing those items. This makes managing your media and keeping it in sync much easier, especially if you want to use it in other sequences.
Selecting Individual Clip Items While They Are Linked Even when clip items are linked together, you may want to perform an action on only a video or audio clip item. For example, you may want to copy just the audio, or delete just the video. The Linked Selection option tells Final Cut Pro whether linked items are selected together, or if clip items can be individually selected even when they are linked to other items. The Linked Selection button is gray, indicating linked selection is turned off.
Getting Clip Items Back in Sync There are three ways to get clip items with out-of-sync indicators back into sync: • Move the clip item back into sync with the Move into Sync command in the out-of-sync indicator shortcut menu. This moves the clip item’s position in the Timeline, if possible. • Slip the clip item back into sync with the Slip into Sync command in the out-of-sync indicator shortcut menu.
If the item is an anchor item (either the sole video item among linked items, or the topmost audio item if there is no video item), it moves into sync with the topmost out-of-sync audio item in the group, starting on track A1 and going down. Otherwise, the selected item moves into sync with the anchor item to which it’s linked. Before syncing Control-click the out-of-sync indicator and choose Move into Sync.
If the item is an anchor item, it slips into sync with the topmost out-of-sync audio item in the group, starting on track A1 and going down. Otherwise, the selected item slips into sync with the anchor item to which it’s linked. Before syncing After syncing The anchor item is slipped into sync with the topmost audio item to which it’s linked. To slip an out-of-sync clip item into sync using the Slip tool 1 Select the Slip tool from the Tool palette (or press S).
2 Choose Move Others into Sync from the shortcut menu. Before syncing After syncing To slip all out-of-sync clip items into sync with the anchor item 1 In the Timeline, Control-click the out-of-sync indicator on the anchor clip item—either the sole video item in a group of linked items, or the topmost audio item if there is no video item among the linked items.
2 Choose Slip Others into Sync from the shortcut menu.
To mark out-of-sync clip items as in sync 1 In the Timeline, select the items that you want to mark as in sync (one video and up to 24 audio items may be marked as in sync). Out-of-sync indicator 2 Choose Modify > Mark in Sync. The items are now marked as in sync, although their positions in the Timeline haven’t changed. The out-of-sync indicators disappear. If you select just the audio and move it out of sync, out-of-sync indicators appear.
Learning About Linking Behavior in Audio Channel Pairs In addition to linking video or audio clip items together, you can also link pairs of audio items together in stereo pairs. Stereo linking is a specific kind of audio item linking, limited to two audio clip items that are parallel in the Timeline. Stereo pairs allow you to control audio levels, pan settings, and effects for two audio items at once. Any modifications made to one item in the pair affect the other item.
Synchronizing Dual System Recorded Video and Audio If you are working with captured audio and video from different sources (dual system recording), you’ll probably want to link the audio and video clips by merging them into single clips in the Browser after syncing them. This way you can easily work with them as single clips in the Timeline or the Browser, as if you had captured each one as a single clip and media file.
Split Edits 41 When video and audio are cut at the same time, the edit is usually more noticeable. Split edits help to “soften” edits by creating continuous audio beneath video edit points. This chapter covers the following: • Learning About Split Edits (p. 609) • How Split Edits Look in the Viewer and Canvas (p. 610) • Setting Up Split Edit Points in the Viewer (p. 611) • Setting Up a Split Edit While Playing a Clip (p. 612) • Modifying and Clearing Split Edits (p. 613) • Split Edit Examples (p.
The resulting edit would look something like this: Video edit point Video track Audio tracks Audio edit point Split edits can be used in many different situations—in dialogue scenes, like the one described above, when cutting to illustrative B-roll footage during an interview, or when transitioning from one scene to another. How Split Edits Look in the Viewer and Canvas The scrubber bar in both the Viewer and the Canvas is divided in half by a light gray line.
When you set video edit points that are different from the audio edit points, as you do for a split edit, the upper half of each triangle marks a video In or Out point, and the lower half marks the separate audio edit point, like this: Video In point Area of video included in edit Audio In point Video Out point Audio Out point Area of audio included in edit As with other types of edits, the Viewer scrubber bar shows edit points in your clip, while the Canvas scrubber bar shows edit points in your seque
• Press Control-I to set a video In point, or press Control-O to set a video Out point. 4 Now move the playhead to the location in your clip where you want to set your audio In or Out point. 5 To set an audio In or Out point, do one of the following: • Choose Mark > Mark Split, then choose either Audio In or Audio Out from the submenu. • Control-click in the scrubber bar, choose Mark Split from the shortcut menu, then choose either Audio In or Audio Out from the submenu.
7 Stop playback by pressing the Space bar. Once you’ve set your split edit points, you can perform an overwrite edit or drag the clip directly into the Timeline. You can also set split edit points in the Timeline using the same keyboard shortcuts. Modifying and Clearing Split Edits If you’ve set up a split edit, but you want to adjust or remove any of the edit points, you have a number of options.
The positions of the different edit points you’ve selected don’t change relative to one another, but the selected area of your clip or sequence does. As it changes, you’ll see the first selected frame of video updated in the Viewer, and the last frame of video updated in the Canvas. The Canvas displays the frame of the new Out point. The Viewer displays the updated frame of the In point with the new timecode value.
Split Edit Examples The result of your split edit depends on the edit points you set. This section provides several examples of the combination of simple edit points and split edit points you might set up, along with their results.
The resulting edit looks like this: The audio precedes the video and begins at the sequence In point. Example: Split Edit in the Viewer and a Single Split Edit Point in the Canvas If you set up a split edit in the Viewer and set a single split edit point in the Canvas or Timeline, Final Cut Pro matches the appropriate split edit point in the Timeline to the corresponding audio or video split edit point in the Viewer; audio to audio, or video to video.
4 Drag the clip in the Viewer to the Overwrite section of the Edit Overlay in the Canvas. The resulting edit looks like this: Video begins at the In point you set. Audio precedes the video. Example: Simple Edit in the Viewer and a Split Edit in the Canvas If you set simple edit points in the Viewer and a split edit in the Canvas or Timeline, Final Cut Pro lines up the In point of the clip in the Viewer with the corresponding split audio or split video In point that you set in the Canvas or Timeline.
3 Set up a split edit in the Canvas or Timeline at the place where you want your source clip to appear. Split edit with audio preceding video 4 Drag the clip in the Viewer to the Overwrite section of the Edit Overlay in the Canvas. The resulting edit looks like this: Video begins at the split video In point. Audio precedes the video and begins at the split audio In point.
Working with Multiclips 42 The multiclip features in Final Cut Pro allow you to group multiple camera angle clips together and switch or cut between them in real time. This chapter covers the following: • About Multiclips (p. 620) • Multiclip Workflow (p. 621) • Preparing Clips to Be Used as Multiclip Angles (p. 623) • Creating Individual Multiclips (p. 624) • Creating Multiclip Sequences (p. 628) • Identifying and Naming Multiclips in the Browser (p. 638) • Working with Multiclip Angles in the Viewer (p.
About Multiclips A multiclip is a set of clips grouped together and synchronized by a common sync frame. Each clip in a multiclip is known as an angle, and you can switch between angles as necessary. The angle whose video and audio is seen and heard when you play your sequence is called the active angle. Sync point Multiclip Angle 1 Angle 2 Active angle Angle 3 Angle 4 Multiclips can be used to edit footage from multicamera shoots or other synchronized footage in real time.
Important: The same capture preset should be used for all footage you plan to make into a multiclip. • Multiclips can be created from any clips in the Browser: video and audio clips, still images and graphics, and even other multiclips. • Multiclips can have a maximum of 128 angles, but only the first 16 can be played back in real time. • Each angle can be a clip with video and audio, video only, or audio only. • A multiclip can have only one active video item and up to 24 active audio items at a time.
Important: Make sure to log an angle number for each clip you capture. Final Cut Pro uses a clip’s Angle property to determine how it is sorted within a multiclip. If you capture entire reels using Capture Now, you can break your footage into shorter subclips. For more information, see Creating Subclips. Stage 3: Creating Multiclips, Assigning a Clip from Each Camera to a Different Angle In the Browser, select the clips, subclips, or bins of clips that you want to group together into a multiclip.
Stage 6: Outputting to Tape or Exporting to a QuickTime Movie or a Project Interchange Format You can output multiclip sequences to tape or export to a project interchange format, such as an EDL, OMF, or XML file. For compatibility with other video editing systems, most output and export formats only include the active angle.
Cinema Tools Clip-Naming Conventions Clips created in the film industry and logged in Cinema Tools often have names such as “C-3-A2,” which indicates that: • “C” is the scene • “3” is the take • “A2” is the camera (or angle) Deriving Clip Angle Numbers from Reel Names and Filenames When you create a multiclip, Final Cut Pro sorts the clips you selected by the values in their Angle properties.
About the Make Multiclip Dialog The following options are available in the Make Multiclip dialog: Choose a clip synchronization option. This column shows the relative alignment of each angle in the multiclip. This column displays the starting timecode number of each clip. Include Angle checkbox • “Synchronize using” pop-up menu: Select In Points, Out Points, or Timecode to determine the method you want to use for synchronizing your multiclip angles. For details, see Synchronizing Angles in a Multiclip.
Synchronizing Angles in a Multiclip When you create multiclips using the Make Multiclip command, you can choose to synchronize the clips by In points, Out points, or matching timecode numbers. In point Out point Timecode 01:00:00:00 01:00:00:00 01:00:00:00 01:00:00:00 • In points: This option aligns all clips so the In point of each clip is synchronized. If you use this method, you first need to visually identify a common sync point (such as a clapboard closing) in each clip by setting an In point.
This method works even if each clip has a different duration, as long as each clip has an overlapping timecode number. For example, one clip may end at 01:00:00:00, and a second clip may begin at 01:00:00:00, so the angles only overlap by a single frame. Overlapping timecode numbers • Aux Timecode 1 or 2: These options are just like the timecode option above, but use the Aux 1 or Aux 2 timecode track in each clip’s media file.
4 Do one of the following: • Choose Modify > Make Multiclip. • Control-click one of the selected clips, then choose Make Multiclip from the shortcut menu. The Make Multiclip dialog appears, showing the angle order and relative media alignment of the selected clips. If a clip’s Angle property is empty, Final Cut Pro looks at the reel name or media filename to derive an angle number. See Deriving Clip Angle Numbers from Reel Names and Filenames for more information.
Consider the following example. Suppose you recorded a soccer game with four camcorders (each starting with the same timecode), and you captured each reel as ten individual media files (each representing a different phase of the event). The total number of clips in your project is 40 (4 reels x 10 media files). Instead of creating each of the ten multiclips individually, you can select all the clips at once and use the Make Multiclip Sequence command.
The Make Multiclip Sequence command always groups clips together into multiclips assuming that your footage has matching timecode, so that the same event is recorded on each tape at the exact same timecode number.
There are two choices for timecode synchronization: • Use Starting Timecode/Starting timecode delta: This option allows you to set a specific timecode offset value when your clips are grouped together as multiclip angles. For example, if you enter 1:00 in the “Starting timecode delta” field and then click Update, the following clips would be grouped together in a multiclip: clip A (01:00:10:00), clip B (01:00:09:00), and clip C (01:00:11:00).
Overlaps other clip Name Timecode Duration Overlap duration Clip A 01:00:00:00 to 02:00:00:00 01:00:00:00 01:30:00:00 to 02:00:00:00 00:30:00:00 Clip B 01:30:00:00 to 02:15:00:00 00:45:00:00 01:30:00:00 to 02:00:00:00 00:30:00:00 In this case, if you set the minimum overlap value to 66% (or any value lower than this), clip B is grouped together with clip A into a single multiclip. This is because 66% of clip B’s timecode numbers overlap clip A’s timecode numbers.
The Make Multiclip Sequence dialog appears. Clips with the same starting timecode numbers are grouped into multiclips, and clips with unique starting timecode numbers are grouped into separate multiclips. Clips with the same starting timecode number are grouped together as a multiclip. Each clip with a unique starting timecode number is placed in a separate multiclip.
A new sequence is created that contains all of the multiclips in chronological order. The location of the multiclips in the Timeline is based on the starting timecode number of each multiclip. Sequence starting timecode is the same as the starting timecode of the first multiclip.
Starting Timecode Offset Is 0:00 When the “Starting timecode delta“ field is set to 0:00, most of the clips are grouped as individual multiclips. Only the few clips that have the exact same starting timecode numbers are grouped together. To group more of the clips into fewer multiclips overall, a larger timecode offset is needed. Timecode offset is set to 0:00. Starting Timecode Offset Is 5:00 In this example, clips that have starting timecode numbers within a 5-second range are grouped together.
Starting Timecode Offset Is 10:00 In this example, clips that have starting timecode numbers within a 10-second range are grouped together. There are now three multiclips, each containing five angles. Timecode offset is set to 10:00. Example: Creating Multiclips Using the Minimum Overlap Options In this example, five camcorders recorded footage with consistently synchronized timecode, but not all camcorders started at exactly the same moment.
Minimum Overlap Is 100% When the minimum overlap is set to 100%, only clips with exactly matching timecode numbers are grouped together.
Minimum Overlap Is 38% In this example, the clips are properly grouped into multiclips when the minimum overlap is set to 38%. Because this value is set quite low, the timecode overlap between clips only needs to be 38% of the duration of the longest clip for the clips to be grouped together into a multiclip. Depending on the timecode of your footage, you’ll need to set a different value to group your clips into multiclips as you intend.
When you highlight a multiclip to change its name, only the name of the multiclip itself can be changed, since the other parts of the name are added automatically. To change the name of a multiclip 1 Click a multiclip in the Browser to select it. 2 Click the name of the multiclip. The name of the multiclip is highlighted. 3 Type a new name for the multiclip, then press Return or Enter.
An up or down arrow (or both) appears in the Viewer. Click the arrow to view additional angles. If an arrow is green, the active angle is not visible, but you can scroll to it by clicking the arrow. 2 Click an arrow to scroll the angles up or down by one row. The active video angle is highlighted with a blue outline, and the active audio angle is highlighted with a green outline. If an angle doesn’t have media at the current time, or if it is an audio-only angle, a black frame is shown for that angle.
Viewing Multiclip Overlays You can display information about each angle in a multiclip by turning on multiclip overlays in the Viewer. The following information appears when you turn on multiclip overlays: • Angle number • Angle’s clip name • Timecode number for each angle frame currently displayed in the Viewer Note: The current timecode number is always the clip’s source timecode. µ To turn on multiclip overlays in the Viewer Choose Show Multiclip Overlays from the View pop-up menu.
The other angles shift position to make room for the angle you are moving. 3 Release the mouse button. The moved angle is dropped into its new position and the other angles shift to new positions. All of the angle numbers change accordingly. To delete an angle from a multiclip 1 Double-click a multiclip in the Browser or Timeline to open it in the Viewer. 2 Command-click the angle you want to delete and drag it outside of the Viewer, then release the mouse button.
Inserting a New Angle The Insert New Angle overlay inserts an angle only into the multiclip you are currently inserting into. Modifying the angle structure of the multiclip breaks the relationship between this multiclip and its master multiclip. To insert a new angle into the current multiclip 1 Double-click a multiclip in the Browser or Timeline to open it in the Viewer. 2 Drag a clip from the Browser or Timeline to one of the multiclip angles displayed in the Viewer.
If all of the multiclips are affiliated with a single master multiclip, you can insert a new angle into all of the affiliated multiclips using the Insert New Angle Affiliates overlay. To insert a new angle into all affiliated multiclips at the same time 1 Double-click a multiclip in the Browser or Timeline to open it in the Viewer. 2 Drag a clip from the Browser to one of the multiclip angles displayed in the Viewer. 3 Continue to hold down the mouse button until the colored overlays appear in the Viewer.
4 Move the pointer over the Overwrite Angle overlay, then release the mouse button. Drag a clip to an angle, then choose Overwrite Angle. The dragged clip replaces the angle in the multiclip. Resynchronizing Angles in the Viewer If you want to adjust the starting time of a multiclip angle relative to all the other angles, you can scrub through a single angle in the Viewer to resynchronize it.
Editing with Multiclips in Real Time Unlike traditional film and video editing, where each edit can be deliberated for as long as necessary, live events like broadcast news and sports are edited in real time. For live events, multiple cameras are connected to a single video switcher, which allows the director (or technical director) to cut between camera angles, making instantaneous editing decisions.
You can set any keyboard shortcuts you want for the multiclip commands in Final Cut Pro. By default, most multiclip commands use the keys of the number pad with modifier keys to switch and cut between multiclip angles. For more information on setting keyboard shortcuts, see Customizing the Interface. Final Cut Pro also comes with a preinstalled keyboard layout and button bars for multicamera editing. These are usually sufficient for most multiclip editing.
Switching and Cutting Between Angles When you work with multiclips in Final Cut Pro, switching and cutting have distinct meanings: • Switching: This means changing the active angle of a multiclip without creating a cut. You can switch the active angle of a multiclip in the Viewer or the Timeline. Before the switch, the active multiclip angle is 1. After the switch, the active multiclip angle is 4.
• Cutting: Like switching, cutting changes the active angle of a multiclip, but an edit is added to the multiclip at the moment you change the active angle. You can see the results of cutting in the Timeline. When you cut from one angle to another, the result is two multiclips in the Timeline: one before the cut point and one after. Before the cut, the active multiclip angle is 1. A cut is added at the point where the active angle changes. After the cut, the active angle of the new multiclip is 4.
• Choose a video or audio angle from the Playhead Sync pop-up menu in the Viewer. • Press the assigned shortcut key to switch to the angle you want to make the active angle. For more information about using keyboard shortcuts for multiclip editing, see Using Keyboard Shortcuts and Shortcut Buttons for Multiclip Editing.
2 Before editing, assign keyboard shortcuts to the Cut Video to Angle N commands, or add the corresponding shortcut buttons to the button bar in the Timeline. Cut Video to Angle 1–4 buttons For more information about assigning keyboard shortcuts to commands or adding shortcut buttons to the button bar, see Customizing the Interface. 3 Press a shortcut key or click a button in the button bar that corresponds to the angle you want to cut to.
Switching and Cutting Video and Audio Items Separately By default, when you switch or cut angles in a multiclip, both video and audio items of a multiclip change together. Final Cut Pro allows you to change the active video and audio items of a multiclip independently. This is helpful when you want to switch or cut to a different video angle without changing the audio, or vice versa.
However, independently switching video or audio angles breaks linking relationships between a multiclip’s clip items in the Timeline. After you perform the switch, only the audio item whose angle you switched remains linked to the video item. After you switch the active angle for audio item 4... These audio items are no longer linked to the video clip item. ...only audio item 4 is changed, and remains linked to the video item.
You can also choose this option from the Playhead Sync pop-up menu in the Viewer. 3 Click an angle to make it active. A blue outline highlights the active video angle. To switch only the audio of the active multiclip angle in the Viewer 1 Double-click a multiclip in the Browser or Timeline to open it in the Viewer. 2 Choose View > Multiclip Active Tracks > Audio. You can also choose this option from the Playhead Sync pop-up menu in the Viewer. 3 Click an angle to make it active.
Note: If the Multiclip Playback option is not turned on, you can still switch and cut during playback, but the angle in the Canvas is not updated until playback stops. Also, multiclip angles are not played simultaneously in the Viewer. Instead, only the active angle is played. To set up Final Cut Pro to edit multiclips in real time 1 Choose Multiclip Playback from the RT pop-up menu in the Timeline. This ensures that all multiclip angles play in real time in the Viewer.
µ Open a sequence that contains multiclips, then choose Multiclip Playback from the RT pop-up menu in the Timeline. Optimizing Real-Time Performance for Multiclip Playback When the Multiclip Playback option is turned on, Final Cut Pro plays multiple media files from disk at once. To improve playback performance, you can do the following: • Use the fastest scratch disk available for your system.
Applying Filters to the Active Multiclip Angle You can add video and audio filters, motion, and speed settings to a multiclip just as you would to any other clip. However, only the multiclip’s active angle is affected. Important: Speed changes to an angle can change the duration of a multiclip. To apply a video or audio filter to the active multiclip angle in the Viewer 1 Double-click a multiclip in the Browser or Timeline to open it in the Viewer.
Switching Angles with Effects If you switch to a new multiclip angle, any filters, motion, or speed settings that you added to the previously active angle are not maintained (unless you applied the effect using the Share with Active Angle overlay). When you switch back to the previously active angle, the effects are no longer applied. However, you can choose to switch to a new angle and transfer the effects that were applied to the last active angle. This is called switching with effects.
• Control-click one of the selected multiclips in the Timeline, then choose Collapse Multiclip(s) from the shortcut menu. The selected multiclips are collapsed to the clips of their active angles. To expand one or more multiclips in the Timeline 1 Select the multiclips you want to expand in the Timeline. 2 Do one of the following: • Choose Modify > Uncollapse Multiclip(s). • Control-click one of the selected multiclips in the Timeline, then choose Uncollapse Multiclip(s) from the shortcut menu.
Master and affiliate multiclips share several properties: • Multiclip name property: If you change the name of a master or affiliate multiclip, the names of all instances of that multiclip in sequences also change. The easiest place to change a multiclip name is in the Browser. • Order, number, and clip of each angle: Every affiliated multiclip has the same number of angles arranged in the same order, and the clip within each angle is the same.
When you work with multiclips, you can choose to match to the original Browser multiclip, or to the master clip of the multiclip’s active angle. To match the active multiclip angle in the Canvas to its master clip 1 Move the playhead to a specific frame of the multiclip in the Timeline or Canvas. 2 Choose View > Match Frame > Master Clip (or press F). The master clip of the multiclip’s active angle is opened in the Viewer to the same frame as the active angle of the multiclip in the Canvas.
For more information about using the Media Manager, see Overview of the Media Manager. Reconnecting and Recapturing Multiclips When a media file for a multiclip angle is offline, Final Cut Pro indicates that the entire multiclip is offline (a red slash appears through the icon). When you view a multiclip in the Viewer, offline angles are indicated by a “Media Offline” frame. Reconnecting media files for angles in a multiclip is the same as reconnecting media files for other clips.
Audio Editing Basics 43 Good audio edits are usually subtle and go unnoticed by the listening audience. After you assemble your video and audio, you can edit your audio independently in the Timeline. This chapter covers the following: • The Goals of Audio Editing (p. 663) • Using Waveform Displays to Help You Edit Audio (p. 664) • Learning About the Audio Controls in the Viewer (p. 666) • Editing Audio in the Viewer (p. 670) • Editing Audio in the Timeline (p.
Besides making clean-sounding cuts, there are other reasons to edit the audio in your sequence separately from the video. You can edit mistakes in dialogue, adjust the sync of off-camera or rerecorded dialogue, or even replace the entire audio of a clip with another take of the same audio. For more information, see Split Edits. Make sure that your video and audio clips are in sync As you edit your audio, you may sometimes find it necessary to adjust the sync relationship between video and audio clip items.
Waveforms are displayed in the audio tabs of the Viewer. Waveforms for a stereo pair of audio items You can also view waveforms in the Timeline, but you need to explicitly turn them on (see Displaying Waveforms in the Timeline). Viewing waveforms should not take precedence over listening to audio tracks during playback. When you’re making editorial decisions, the waveform display is no substitute for your own ear.
Use the J, K, and L keys to shuttle through your clips, and learn to listen for the edit points you want. Once you have set In and Out points, you can use the Play In to Out (Shift-Backslash) and Play to Out (Shift-P) commands to preview your edits. As you do this, you’ll find yourself trimming one or two frames at a time and then setting new edit points, repeating the process until you’ve found the perfect audio editing points.
A change in level between any two keyframes appears as a slope on the level overlay line in the Audio tab of the Viewer. Changes to the level overlay in the Viewer are mirrored by the level overlay on that clip in the Timeline. Tip: Hold down the Command key while dragging the Level slider to adjust the audio level with more precision. • Level Keyframe button: The keyframe button to the right of the Level slider places a keyframe at the current playhead location on the level overlay.
• Pan keyframe navigation buttons: These buttons, to the left and right of the Pan Keyframe button, allow you to move the playhead forward or backward from one keyframe on the pan overlay to the next. The left button moves the playhead to the next keyframe to the left of the playhead’s current position, and the right button moves the playhead to the next keyframe to the right.
• Level overlay line: Drag this line up or down to change the sound level. If you add keyframes to the overlay, you can create changes in level over time. Reset button Drag hand Ruler Zoom slider Zoom control • Reset button: This button deletes all marked keyframes on both the level overlay and the pan overlay of the currently selected audio track, and resets the level and pan values to their original captured states (0 dB for the audio level, and –1 for the pan level).
The playhead in the scrubber bar works the same way it does in the Video tab of the Viewer. The whole length of the scrubber bar represents the entire length of the audio clip opened in the Viewer, and clicking or dragging the playhead in the scrubber bar immediately takes you to that part of your clip. The markers and In and Out points for your clip also appear in the ruler.
• Drag a clip item from your sequence to the Viewer. 2 Move the Canvas or Timeline playhead over the clip item you want to open, then press the Return key. Note: Make sure the track that contains the clip item is the lowest-numbered track with Auto Select turned on. 3 If the clip contains both video and audio items, click one of the audio tabs in the Viewer to see the waveform display. For information about how the audio tabs are labeled, see Viewing Audio Tracks in the Viewer.
• If two audio clip items are linked as a stereo pair: They’re represented in a single Stereo tab that contains the waveforms of that pair’s left and right audio channels. Level changes applied to one item are automatically applied to the other. Editing audio as a stereo pair is useful for intrinsically stereo material, such as music mixed in stereo and built-in stereo camcorder audio.
Note: While this section covers how to zoom in the audio tabs of the Viewer, you can also use these instructions to zoom in to and out of waveform displays of sequence clips in the Timeline. Zoom control µ Zoom slider To zoom in to and out of the audio waveform using the Zoom control Click or drag the Zoom control to zoom in or out while keeping the material in the waveform display area centered.
Scrolling Through a Zoomed-In Audio Clip If you zoom in to the waveform display area, you won’t be able to see all of the displayed waveform at once. There are three ways you can navigate through a zoomed-in audio clip: • If you play back your audio clip and then stop playback: The waveform display area shows the section of your audio clip that the playhead moved to.
To learn more about using the J, K, and L keys for scrubbing, see Navigating and Using Timecode in the Viewer and Canvas. Turning Off the Audio Scrubbing Sounds As you’re editing audio, you may find the sound of scrubbing through audio distracting when you move the playhead from one location to another. You can turn off audio scrubbing in the Viewer so that you don’t hear any sound as you scrub through a clip. Note: This control affects audio scrubbing in the Canvas and Timeline, as well as in the Viewer.
Trimming Audio Clips in the Viewer You can trim an audio clip to be shorter or longer. Trimming generally refers to precision adjustments, anywhere from one frame to several seconds. For more about techniques for trimming clips in your sequence, see Learning About Trimming Clips. Note: If you want to open a sequence audio clip item in the Viewer, independently of its linked video clip item, you need to make sure that linked selection is turned off.
The link between the audio and video in your clip has not been broken, but you can now trim the audio independently of the video to which it’s linked. The audio opens in the Viewer by itself. 3 Select the Selection, Ripple, or Roll tool by clicking in the Tool palette, or by using the appropriate keyboard shortcut. 4 Set new In and Out points as you would for any other clip.
Changes you make to sequence clips in the Viewer are mirrored in the Timeline. The Out point of audio changes to match that in the Viewer. Original Out point Editing Audio in the Timeline After editing a number of clips into a sequence, you can further trim the audio clips directly in the Timeline.
µ Choose Show Audio Waveforms from the Track Layout pop-up menu in the Timeline. Click here to access the Track Layout pop-up menu. Turning off audio waveforms speeds up the time it takes to redraw the clips in the Timeline, which can improve performance, especially when you are not focused on audio editing. You can turn audio waveforms on and off at any time by pressing Command-Option-W.
• Track Height control: You can click the Track Height control to switch between four track display sizes—Reduced, Small, Medium, and Large. The current setting is highlighted in blue and has a small dot in the center. Note: When the track size is set to Reduced, thumbnails and audio waveforms are not displayed. For more information about Timeline display options, see Timeline Basics.
Tip: Pressing the Option key with either the Zoom In or the Zoom Out tool selected temporarily changes it to the opposite tool. Before zooming in Zoom In tool After zooming in Naming Audio Tracks You have two choices regarding the way audio tracks are named in your sequence. Audio track labeling can be changed in the Timeline Options tab of the Sequence Settings window for each sequence (choose Sequence > Settings, then click the Timeline Options tab).
• Organize the audio clips you’ve edited into your sequence into separate dialogue, music, and effects tracks • Place one actor’s dialogue on one track and another actor’s dialogue on another track To move a clip to an adjacent track without changing its position in the Timeline 1 Position the pointer over the clip in the Timeline and hold down the mouse button. 2 Hold down the Shift key. 3 Drag the clip up or down to an adjacent track.
To create a stereo pair 1 Select a pair of mono audio clip items in the Timeline. (Use the Command key to select the second item, if necessary.) If you click one item of a linked pair, the other item is also selected. 2 Choose Modify > Stereo Pair (or press Option-L). The stereo pair indicators appear on the selected clip items in the Timeline. Mono clip items (unlinked) Mono clip items (linked). Underlines indicate linking. Chapter 43 Audio Editing Basics Stereo pair.
If the clip items you want to make into a stereo pair have different durations, the clip items are trimmed to the region where they both overlap. The levels, pan settings, and filters that were applied to the top clip are applied to both, and the clip attributes from the bottom clip are ignored. Before Audio level overlays (the pink lines) Two clips that are not a stereo pair; length and audio levels differ.
Viewing an Audio Clip at Single-Frame Resolution When you’re editing an audio clip in the Viewer, you can zoom in so far that the playhead is the width of a single video frame on the waveform. You can use this single-frame view, along with the subframe scrubbing function in Final Cut Pro, to match the beats of musical clips you edit together; or you can use it to set subframe keyframes to eliminate pops or clicks that occur at the audio edit points you’ve chosen.
2 Move the playhead to the In or Out point of the clip, then press Command-Equal Sign (=) to zoom in on the audio waveform as far as possible. A wide playhead bar in the Viewer represents one video frame at full magnification. 3 Press the Shift key and position the playhead within the frame to a new point with better sync. 4 Click the Mark In or Mark Out button.
Example: Replacing Unwanted Audio with Room Tone As you edit dialogue, you’ll often need to cut out pieces of audio that you don’t want in the sequence. For example, the director may have given directions in between an actor’s lines, or the sound recordist might have bumped into something while shooting on location for a documentary. As long as there’s no dialogue happening at the same time, it’s pretty easy to cut out unwanted sounds.
2 Create a new sequence, name it “Room Tone,” and paste the audio pause into it twice. Paste the pause section you just copied twice into a new sequence. 3 Select the clip containing the second pause, then choose Modify > Speed. 4 In the Speed dialog, click the Reverse checkbox to select it. 5 Play the resulting clips. The looping sound should be gone, but if you hear a clicking at the edit point between the two clips, you may have to add a cross fade transition between them to smooth this out.
7 Render the Room Tone sequence, then edit the sequence into the gap in your program, just as you would a clip. Edit the Room Tone sequence into your existing sequence to fill the gap. To replace an unwanted section of an audio clip with room tone 1 Make the tracks that contain the unwanted audio the audio destination tracks, then disconnect the video destination track. 2 Play your clip using the J, K, and L keys, and set In and Out points right before and after the section of audio you want to replace.
• Press F10. The section of unwanted audio is replaced with room tone. Example: Fixing Awkward Audio Cuts in the Timeline Once you’ve edited a group of clips into a sequence in the Timeline, you can adjust the edit points between audio items without affecting their corresponding video items. To do so, you turn off linked selection. For example, suppose you’re cutting between two people having a conversation. The first person says something, and then the second person pauses for a moment and replies.
2 Select the Roll tool from the Tool palette (or press the R key). 3 Drag the audio edit point to the right so that the entire word plays at the end of the first clip. Now when you play through this cut, you can hear all of the words the first person is saying, and then the second person’s reply.
Performing Slip, Slide, Ripple, and Roll Edits 44 Once your rough edit is complete, you will want to fine-tune your edit. The advanced editing tools in Final Cut Pro allow you to make fine adjustments to clips in your sequence. This chapter covers the following: • About Trimming with Slip, Slide, Ripple, and Roll Tools (p. 693) • Sliding Clips in the Timeline (p. 694) • Slipping Clips in the Timeline (p. 697) • Using the Ripple Tool to Trim an Edit Without Leaving a Gap (p.
Sliding Clips in the Timeline Performing a slide edit allows you to move a clip’s position in the Timeline between two other clips without creating a gap. The clip’s content and duration remain the same; only its position in the Timeline changes. When you slide a clip, the adjacent clips get longer and shorter to fill any gaps that would normally be created. The combined duration of these three clips does not change, and therefore the sequence’s duration remains unchanged as well.
Note: To slide a clip between two others, the preceding and following clips must have handles (extra media beyond the clip In and Out points). To perform a slide edit, you can drag a clip with the Slide tool. For precision adjustments, you can use timecode. You slide items using the Slide tool. You can also move a clip with the Selection tool, but this method may leave gaps between clips. The Slide tool never creates gaps (with the exception of sliding the first or last clip).
3 Release the mouse button. This clip is longer. This clip is shorter. This clip’s duration is the same. Performing Precise Slide Edits Numerically If you need to slide a clip just two or three frames, using the mouse may be difficult. For precision edits, it is much less cumbersome to slide a clip numerically. To slide a clip in the Timeline using timecode 1 Select the Slide tool in the Tool palette (or press the S key twice).
• To slide the clip by a precise number of frames: Type a plus sign (+) or a minus sign (-) and the number of frames to slide, then press Return. The timecode entry field shows the duration of the slide. Note: You can specify the default number of frames to trim by changing the MultiFrame Trim Size setting in the General tab of the User Preferences window. (For more information, see Choosing Settings and Preferences.
The portion of the clip seen in the sequence changes, while its position in the sequence stays the same. Surrounding clips are not affected, nor is the overall duration of your sequence. 00:00:10:00 A 00:00:30:00 B C Before edit 00:00:17:00 A 00:00:37:00 B C After edit In the example above, the slip edit changes the In and Out points of clip B, but not its duration or position in the sequence. When the sequence plays back, a different portion of clip B’s media is shown.
3 Drag either the In or Out point along the Viewer’s scrubber bar. The duration of the sequence clip does not change. The sequence clip’s In and Out points move together. 4 Release the mouse button when the clip is positioned at a range of frames that you like. The In and Out points move together, maintaining the clip’s duration. 5 Click the Play In to Out button, or press Shift-Backslash (\), to review the new section between your sequence clip’s In and Out points.
At the same time, the Canvas displays the frames at the In point and the Out point. 3 Release the mouse button when the clip is positioned at a range of frames that you like. The duration and location of all clips in your sequence remain the same after this operation. 4 Click the Play In to Out button, or press Shift-Backslash (\), to review the new section between your sequence clip’s In and Out points.
Note: You can specify the default number of frames to trim by changing the Multi-Frame Trim Size setting in the Editing tab of the User Preferences window. For more information, see Choosing Settings and Preferences. The timecode entry field shows how far you are slipping the clip. 4 Click the Play In to Out button, or press Shift-Backslash (\), to review the new section between your sequence clip’s In and Out points.
A ripple edit is a one-sided edit, meaning that only an In or Out point of a single clip item is affected. All clips following the shortened or extended clip are moved accordingly in the Timeline, so ripple edits affect both the trimmed clip and the position of all subsequent clips in the Timeline. This is a much more major operation than simply trimming an individual clip’s length.
Tips for Edits Made with the Ripple Tool Keep the following in mind when using the Ripple tool: • If you lengthen a clip item, clip items on the same track move forward in time. Clip items on other unlocked tracks that begin after the original location of the edit point you are adjusting also move forward in time. • If you shorten a clip item, clip items on the same track move backward in time, as do clip items after the initial location of the edit you are adjusting on other unlocked tracks.
• The new Out point that will result from performing the ripple edit Amount the clip’s Out point is trimmed Position of clips C and D before the ripple edit Before edit Clip B has a shorter duration. Clips C and D are positioned earlier in the Timeline. Sequence markers move with the Ripple edit when Ripple Sequence Markers is enabled. After edit To do a ripple edit in the Timeline 1 Select the Ripple tool in the Tool palette (or press the R key twice).
• To move the selected edit point one frame later in the clip: Press Right Bracket (]). • To move the selected edit point by a precise number of frames: Type a plus sign (+) or a minus sign (-) followed by the number of frames to add or subtract from the current edit, then press Return. Note: You can also press Shift-Left Bracket ([) or Shift-Right Bracket (]) to move the selected edit point five frames at a time.
All clip items after the edit point move either left or right to accommodate the new duration of your clip. These clips move left to fill the gap. This clip shortens. Note: By default, sequence markers (markers in the Timeline ruler and the Canvas scrubber bar) ripple after any ripple edit or insert edit. For more information, see Using the Ripple Sequence Markers Setting.
Ripple Edits and Sync Relationships of Clip Items on Other Tracks When you perform ripple edits, it is fairly easy to cause linked clip items across tracks to go out of sync with each other. This usually happens when you perform a ripple edit on one track while other tracks are locked, so the clip items on that track can’t move in sync after the ripple edit.
In the example below, Final Cut Pro won’t allow you to perform a ripple edit because the second music clip in tracks A3 and A4 would either need to be shortened or would overwrite part of the first music clip in order to stay in sync with the clip items in V1, A1, and A2. Because the ripple edit cannot force the second music clip to overwrite the first music clip, Final Cut Pro warns you that the ripple edit cannot be performed because there is a clip collision on track A3 (and A4).
2 Do one of the following: • Drag one of the edit points using the Ripple tool to perform a ripple edit across all tracks with selected edit points. • Enter timecode values to edit numerically. Asymmetrical Trimming with the Ripple Tool Asymmetrical trimming allows you to simultaneously ripple edit points for clip items in different tracks in opposite directions. For example, suppose you want to extend the Out point of a video clip item by 2 seconds.
Holding down the Command key while selecting an edit point allows you to add edit points to the current selection without deselecting previously selected edit points. Intended video edit point Before Current Out point of outgoing video clip In point of incoming audio clips 4 Use the Ripple tool to trim the above selection. The video and audio edit points move in opposite directions, creating a split edit. Audio/video synchronization is maintained in both clips.
Note: In this example, Command-clicking the In point of a stereo pair of audio clip items results in adding both audio items to the selection. You can also Command-Option-click a single audio item to add it to the selection individually, without including other audio items linked to it. This can be especially useful for clips in which many audio items are linked to a single video item in the Timeline.
Roll edits are useful when the relative Timeline position of two clips is good, but you want to change when the edit point occurs between them. For example, suppose your sequence has two clips showing an Olympic diver diving into a pool from two different angles. The first thing you need to do is adjust each clip until their edit points align on a similar action. This is called matching on action, or a match cut.
3 Do one of the following: • Drag the edit point left or right. As you drag, the Canvas shows a two-up display with the Out point of the outgoing clip on the left and the In point of the incoming clip on the right (see also About the Two-Up Display in the Canvas). • Type a plus sign (+) or a minus sign (-) followed by the number of frames to add or subtract from the current edit, then press Return. Edit being rolled After the roll edit, the outgoing clip is shorter and the incoming clip is longer.
To roll edit points on multiple tracks simultaneously 1 Do one of the following: • Press the Command key while clicking to select multiple edit points. • Select the Edit Selection tool in the Tool palette (or press the G key), then drag to select multiple edit points. 2 Use the Roll tool to perform the roll edit across all of the tracks.
Doing Roll Edits in the Viewer Final Cut Pro allows you to perform roll edits in the Viewer by setting In or Out points while the Roll tool is selected. To do a roll edit in the Viewer 1 Open a sequence clip in the Viewer. 2 Select the Roll tool in the Tool palette (or press the R key). 3 Do one of the following: • Drag the In or Out point along the Viewer’s scrubber bar to roll the edit. • Press I or O to set a new In or Out point. Look in the Timeline to make sure the roll edit did what you expected.
Learning About Trimming Clips 45 Adjusting a clip’s duration by moving its In or Out point, or moving the edit point between two clips, is called trimming. This chapter covers the following: • What Is Trimming? (p. 717) • Controls That Affect Trim Edits (p. 719) • Selecting Edits and Clips to Trim (p. 720) • Trimming with the Selection Tool (p. 723) • Extending and Shortening Clips in the Timeline (p. 725) • Trimming Clips in the Viewer (p. 726) • Precision Editing Using Timecode (p.
You can trim edits anywhere you can adjust a sequence clip’s In and Out points—the Timeline, the Viewer, and the Trim Edit Window, which is designed specifically for fine-tuning edits. • Viewer: You can open a sequence clip in the Viewer and adjust its In or Out point. This is useful if you want to find a particular frame for your In or Out point by looking at the clip’s entire media file.
Controls That Affect Trim Edits Before you perform a trimming operation, make sure to check that the following controls are set properly for the operation you need to perform. Linked Selection Clip items that refer to the same media file are linked together when you edit them into the Timeline. You can also link unrelated clip items together so you can operate on them simultaneously, keeping them in sync. For your convenience, you can keep linked selection turned on and temporarily disable it as necessary.
Linked items on locked tracks aren’t affected when you move other linked clip items. For example, if you select a video item to trim that’s linked to an audio item in a locked track, moving the video item does not move the audio item, so they become out of sync. For more information, see Locking Tracks to Prevent Edits or Changes. For information about synchronizing clip items, see Linking and Editing Video and Audio in Sync and Tips for Edits Made with the Ripple Tool.
Selection Tool You can select individual edit points by clicking them with the Selection tool. Select the Selection tool by clicking it in the Tool palette or pressing the A key. Selection tool When you use the Selection tool to adjust a clip’s edit point, the icon changes to indicate it can be used for trimming. If you double-click an edit point using the Selection tool, the Trim Edit window appears, showing the clips on either side of the edit point.
To select a single edit point in the Timeline Do one of the following: µ Select the Selection tool in the Tool palette, then click an edit point to select it in the Timeline. Note: You can double-click the edit point to open the edit in the Trim Edit window. See Trimming Clips Using the Trim Edit Window for information. µ µ Press V to select the nearest edit point. Select the Ripple or Roll tools and then select an edit point. For more information, see Performing Slip, Slide, Ripple, and Roll Edits.
µ Select the Edit Selection tool in the Tool palette (or press G), then drag to select edit points on one or more tracks. As you drag in the Timeline, this tool selects one edit per track. The edits don’t have to be aligned in time. When you release the mouse button, the Trim Edit window appears. One edit per track is selected. µ Select the Ripple or Roll tool in the Tool palette, then click the edge of the clip. Command-click to select multiple edit points.
To trim a clip’s edit point in the Timeline using the Selection tool 1 Select the Selection tool in the Tool palette (or press the A key). 2 Move the pointer to the In or Out point of a clip in the Timeline. The pointer changes to a Resize pointer. Before 3 Drag to the left to create a gap in your sequence (by making the clip shorter) or to the right to cover an existing gap (by making the clip longer). As you drag to adjust the length of a clip, the Canvas shows the frame at the current edit point.
Extending and Shortening Clips in the Timeline A convenient way to extend or shorten a clip in the Timeline is to tell Final Cut Pro to adjust an edit point to the current position of the playhead. An extend edit moves an edit point between two clips to the playhead position in the Timeline. Note: Although these are often referred to as extend edits, you can just as easily shorten clips with this method.
The selected edit point is rolled to the position of the playhead. This clip lengthens. This clip shortens. After If you selected multiple edit points for clip items in several tracks using the Edit Selection tool, all of these clip edit points are moved to the position of the playhead. Note: If you try to extend an edit farther than the total amount of media available in a clip, Final Cut Pro does not extend the edit point.
When a sequence clip is opened in the Viewer, the scrubber bar shows sprocket holes to indicate that the clip is part of a larger sequence. Always check the scrubber bar in the Viewer to make sure you are working with a clip from a sequence instead of a clip opened from the Browser. The title area shows the name of the sequence clip and includes the name of the sequence that contains it. This is the Out point of the sequence clip.
Precision Editing Using Timecode Most of the editing and trimming tools in the Timeline can be used numerically instead of manually. You can select one or more clip items or edit points and then enter a positive or negative number of frames, seconds, or even minutes or hours to adjust the position of the clip items or edit points. This allows you to make precise adjustments, or to quickly move clip items and edit points by specific values.
Moving Clips Using Timecode You can move one or more selected clips in the Timeline using timecode, even if they are nonadjacent. However, if the resulting clip movement will cause an overwrite, Final Cut Pro does not allow the clips to move. In this case, you can manually move the clips. To move a clip in your sequence using timecode 1 Select one or more clips in your sequence. 2 Do one of the following: • To move the clips forward: Press Shift–Plus Sign (+) and type a timecode duration for the move.
2 Move the playhead by doing one of the following: • Enter a timecode number for the frame where you want to place the new In or Out point of the clip, then press Return. For example, to move the In point from 02:40:30:10 to 02:40:30:27, enter “2403027” and then press Return. • Press Shift-I or Shift-O to move the playhead to the current In or Out point. Then enter a relative timecode value to move the playhead.
Media Limit This message indicates that one of the sequence clip items you are trimming no longer has enough media to continue trimming. This happens even though other clip items in your selection still have additional media. Media Limit message For example, suppose you select the Out points of clip items on tracks V1, A1, and A2 and then roll the edit points to the right. If the clip item on V1 is shorter, a “Media Limit on V1” message appears.
For example, suppose you are rippling a clip item on track V1 to make it 10 seconds shorter. In a ripple edit, all clip items that occur to the right of the edit point move left or right by the amount you are trimming. In this case, all clip items should move 10 seconds to the left to fill the gap. However, clip items in A1 and A2 cannot move to the left by 10 seconds because there are other clip items on those tracks that are in the way. The Clip Collision message appears.
Trimming Clips Using the Trim Edit Window 46 You can trim edits precisely in the Trim Edit window. As you trim, you can play back the section of your sequence around the selected edit point to see your changes. This chapter covers the following: • Learning About the Trim Edit Window (p. 733) • Opening and Closing the Trim Edit Window (p. 734) • Controls in the Trim Edit Window (p. 736) • Using the Trim Edit Window (p. 741) • Listening to Audio While Trimming (p.
This window shows a two-up display, with the Out point of the outgoing clip on the left and the In point of the incoming clip on the right. Two green bars—one at the top of each clip—highlight which edit points the Trim Edit window will affect. Using the Trim Edit window, you can perform a ripple edit to either side of the selected edit point, or a roll edit to both sides.
To open the Trim Edit window Do one of the following: µ Choose Sequence > Trim Edit (or press Command-7). The playhead jumps to the closest edit point on the lowest-numbered track with Auto Select turned on. The Trim Edit window shows the clips surrounding this edit point. By default, both sides of the edit point are selected, so the Trim Edit window is set up to perform a roll edit. µ Double-click an edit point in the Timeline with the Selection, Ripple, or Roll tool.
µ µ Move the playhead in the Timeline or Canvas away from the edit point. Click anywhere in the Timeline away from an edit point to deselect all edit points in the Timeline. Controls in the Trim Edit Window Before you begin using the Trim Edit window, you may want to familiarize yourself with the controls.
• Track pop-up menu: If you’ve selected multiple edit points, this pop-up menu lets you choose the track that you want to view in the Trim Edit window. You can change the track you’re viewing at any time.
• Play Around Edit Loop: Click to play from a point before the current playhead position to a point following. The time intervals before and after the playhead position are determined by the preview pre-roll and post-roll settings in the Editing tab of the User Preferences window. For more information, see Choosing Settings and Preferences. • Stop: Click to stop playback and position the playhead on the edit point.
Trim Buttons These controls let you trim clips as well as turn trimming on and off. Trim Backward buttons Trim Forward buttons Dynamic Trimming checkbox • Trim Forward and Trim Backward: Click these buttons to add or subtract frames from the duration between the In and Out points. You can set the –5 and +5 buttons to trim a different number of frames by changing the Multi-Frame Trim Size setting in the Editing tab of the User Preferences window. The number of frames to trim can be set from 1 to 99.
Outgoing Clip Area Use these controls when trimming the outgoing clip. Outgoing clip duration Outgoing clip name Current timecode for the outgoing clip Playhead Mark Out button Out point Out Shift • Outgoing clip duration: Displays the total time between the current In and Out points for the outgoing clip. This value changes to reflect any trim edits. • Current timecode for the outgoing clip: Displays the clip’s source timecode for the current position of the playhead.
Incoming Clip Area Use these controls when trimming the incoming clip. Incoming clip duration Incoming clip name Current timecode for the incoming clip Playhead In Shift In point Mark In button • Incoming clip duration: Displays the total time between the current In and Out points for the incoming clip. This value changes to reflect any trim edits. • Current timecode for the incoming clip: Displays the clip’s source timecode for the current position of the playhead.
Playing Incoming and Outgoing Clips in the Trim Edit Window If you are performing a ripple edit in the Trim Edit window, the side of the Trim Edit window with a highlighted green bar is controlled by the J, K, and L keys. However, if you are performing a roll edit, both sides are highlighted. In this case, you choose whether the outgoing or incoming clip is controlled by the J, K, and L keys by moving the pointer over the outgoing or incoming side of the window.
3 Choose a ripple or roll edit by doing one of the following: • To trim the outgoing clip with a ripple left edit: Click the left image. Trimming indicator bar only appears above the outgoing clip. The pointer temporarily turns into a Ripple tool. • To perform a roll edit: Click the center area between the images. Trimming indicator bar appears over both clips. The pointer temporarily turns into a Roll tool. • To trim the incoming clip with a ripple right edit: Click the right image.
A green bar appears above either or both sides of the edit to show you what kind of trimming operation you’re performing. 4 Trim the edit point by doing any of the following: • Click the trim buttons or use their keyboard equivalents to trim to the left or right using the displayed frame increments. • To trim backward or forward one frame: Press Left Bracket ([) or Right Bracket (]). • To trim backward or forward five frames: Press Shift-Left Bracket ([) or Shift-Right Bracket (]).
7 When you have finished trimming, do one of the following: • Move the playhead away from the edit point in the Canvas or Timeline. • Click in the Timeline to deselect all edit points. • Close the Trim Edit window. Reviewing and Playing Back Your Edits in the Trim Edit Window There are several ways you can play back your edits in the Trim Edit window, as well as review them.
3 Release the mouse button. 4 When you’ve finished trimming, close the Trim Edit window. Listening to Audio While Trimming When you play back the outgoing or incoming clip in the Trim Edit window (using the J, K, and L keys), you can choose which audio tracks you hear. The following options are available in the Editing tab of the User Preferences window: • Trim with Sequence Audio: With this option selected, you hear the entire audio mix when you play back the clip on either side of the Trim Edit window.
Important: Make sure the Trim with Sequence Audio checkbox is also selected. 3 Select edit points in the Timeline and double-click them to open the Trim Edit window. 4 Move the pointer over the side of the Trim Edit window whose clip you want to play back, then use the J, K, and L keys to play back the incoming or outgoing clip.
Adding Transitions 47 You can add cross dissolves and other transitions between cuts to make your program more interesting. You can also add a cross fade audio transition to smooth abrupt changes in audio. This chapter covers the following: • Learning About Transitions (p. 749) • Adding Transitions Between Clips (p. 753) • Moving, Copying, and Deleting Transitions (p. 759) • Modifying Transitions in the Timeline (p. 761) • Working with Default and Favorite Transitions (p.
Common Types of Transitions A cut, the most basic type of transition, is a transition with no duration; when one shot ends, another one immediately begins, without any overlap. All other transitions gradually replace one shot with another; when one shot ends, another one gradually replaces it. There are three very common video transitions used that occur over time: fades, cross dissolves, and wipes. • Fade-out: This begins with a shot at full intensity and reduces until it is gone.
• Soften jump cuts (cuts between two different parts of the same footage) Final Cut Pro comes with a variety of transitions you can use in your programs, but you’ll probably use dissolves and wipes more than any others. For more information, see Video Transitions That Come with Final Cut Pro. How Transitions Appear in the Timeline Transitions are applied between two adjacent clips in the same track of a sequence in the Timeline.
If the In point of your incoming clip begins on the first frame of the clip’s media file, you have no handle at the beginning (or head) of your clip. Likewise, if the Out point of your outgoing clip ends on the last frame of the clip’s media file, you have no handle at the end (or tail) of your clip. If the clips don’t have enough media for the transition, Final Cut Pro attempts to make the longest transition possible with the available clip handles.
• Ending on the cut: Use this alignment if you want the first frame of the incoming clip to be fully visible. A transition ending on the cut Using Transitions in Projects to Be Exported as EDLs Edit Decision Lists (EDLs) were developed for older tape-to-tape editing systems with limited capabilities. Therefore, they can only describe a narrow range of transitions.
For information on performing edits with transitions, see Performing an Insert with Transition Edit and Performing an Overwrite with Transition Edit. Quickly Adding the Default Transition to Clips in Your Sequence You can quickly add the default transition between two clips in your sequence. The default video transition is a 1-second cross dissolve and the default audio transition is a +3 dB cross fade. You can change the default transition if you wish (see Changing the Default Transition).
If there are enough overlapping frames on both sides of the edit point, the selected transition is added to your edit, centered at the edit point. The added transition, centered on the edit point. To change the position of the transition, see Changing the Alignment of a Transition in the Timeline. To add the default audio transition Do one of the following: µ Select an edit point between two audio clips or position the Canvas or Timeline playhead at the desired edit point, then press Option-Command-T.
• Choose Effects > Audio Transitions, then choose the desired transition from the submenu. If there are enough overlapping frames on both sides of the edit point, the selected transition is added to your edit, centered at the edit point. To reposition the transition, see Changing the Alignment of a Transition in the Timeline. Tip: All of the transitions that come with Final Cut Pro will be centered at the edit point if applied from the Effects menu.
You can apply multiple video transitions to your video tracks or multiple audio transitions to your audio tracks. To apply a transition to multiple video edit points, select the video track of the clips to which you want to add transitions. To add a transition to multiple audio edit points, select the audio track of the clips to which you want to add transitions.
You can also apply multiple transitions by setting a single sequence In or Out point. When you set an In point only, Final Cut Pro adds the transition to all edit points after the In point to the end of the sequence. When you set an Out point only, Final Cut Pro adds transitions to all edit points from the beginning of the sequence up to the Out point. You can also change an existing transition and then apply the change to multiple other transitions in a selected range.
For more information, see Adding Transitions to Clips in Your Sequence. If the transition starts at the beginning of the sequence, you’ll see a fade from black. If the transition is placed at the end of the last clip, you’ll see a fade to black. Moving, Copying, and Deleting Transitions After you add a transition, you can move it or change its edit point. You can also copy transitions to quickly add the same transition at another point in your sequence (then modify its properties later, if desired).
If there are enough overlapping frames on either side of the edit, you can drag it before the edit point, on the edit point, or after the edit point. Drag the transition to the new edit point. Copying and Pasting Transitions To add the same transition quickly elsewhere within your sequence, you can copy and paste a transition to other edit points. This is helpful if you’ve changed a transition’s default settings and want to use the modified transition again.
Modifying Transitions in the Timeline Once a transition is placed on a track, you may want to alter the duration to make it longer or shorter, or change its alignment by choosing where the transition begins relative to the edit point between two clips. You can also replace transitions. Note: To make very precise adjustments to transitions, you can use the Transition Editor. For more information, see Refining Transitions Using the Transition Editor.
• Select the transition in the Timeline, then press Control-D. 2 In the Duration dialog, enter a new duration for the transition, then click OK. Enter a new duration here. Tip: If you enter a duration that’s longer than the available amount of overlap between these two clips, you hear an alert sound and the maximum duration possible is displayed in the dialog. You can change the duration or click OK to use the maximum duration.
Changing an Edit Point After Adding a Transition Even with transitions applied, you can still trim one or both sides of the edit point (for example, using the Ripple, Roll, Slip, or Slide tool). Both the alignment and duration of the transition remain the same. For more information on these types of edits, see Performing Slip, Slide, Ripple, and Roll Edits.
Note: If you replace a transition in your sequence with a transition you’ve saved as a favorite, the favorite transition’s duration overrides that of the transition it’s replacing. For more on favorite transitions, see Saving a Transition as a Favorite. µ Control-click an audio transition, then choose another transition from the shortcut menu. Since there are only two kinds of audio transitions, they both appear in this menu.
µ Drag a transition from the Video Transitions or Audio Transitions bin to the Favorites bin in the Effects tab of the Browser. The transition now appears as a copy. To rename a favorite transition 1 Select the transition in the Favorites bin in the Effects tab of the Browser. 2 Click the transition’s name to highlight the name field. 3 Enter a new name, then press Return. Deleting Favorite Transitions If you’ve added a transition as a favorite, you can delete it at any time from the Favorites bin.
Detecting Duplicate Frames over Transitions When Show Duplicate Frames is turned on in a sequence’s settings and a clip appears more than once within a single edited sequence, the duplicate frames are marked by a colored bar appearing at the bottom of the clip’s video item in the Timeline. The red bars indicate duplicate frames used within a sequence.
Transition Result Cross Zoom Causes the video to zoom in on the first clip, switch to the second, and zoom out. You can specify the center point, the amount of magnification in the zoom, and the degree of blur applied during the zoom. Cube Spin Creates a three-dimensional cube from each clip and spins it in the direction you choose. You can also view the cube from the inside or the outside. Spin3D Spins the first clip around its center point, revealing the second clip.
Iris The following filters create transitions that provide iris effects. Transition Result Cross, Diamond, Oval, Point, Rectangle, and Star These effects are similar, but have different shapes. They all create the impression of an iris, which contains the first clip, opening to reveal the second. In each iris effect, you can specify the center point around which the opening is defined and feather the edges, which blends the edges of the clips together and gives a diffused iris.
Transition Result Explode The second clip grows from a single point, expanding outward until it entirely covers the first clip. The center point of the explosion is defined in the effect parameters. Gradient Wipe Uses a matte image to create a transition between two source images. The transition from the first clip to the second clip occurs first where the matte image is darkest, last where the matte image is brightest. Implode The first clip shrinks down to a single point, revealing the second clip.
Transition Result Spin Slide Boxes of the first clip spin and zoom out to reveal the second clip. You can adjust the spin about the center of the box and the number of boxes. Split Slide The first clip splits at specific points and slides to reveal the second clip. You can adjust the orientation of the split. Swap Slide The first (top) and the second (bottom) clips slide in opposite directions, swap places, and slide back, revealing the second clip. You can adjust the slide direction.
Transition Result Gradient Wipe Uses a gradient wipe image to wipe across the first clip, revealing the second clip. You can adjust the softness of the wipe and invert the gradient wipe image. By default, the transition wipes horizontally from left to right. You can override this by dragging an image onto the gradient clip well. Inset Wipe A rectangular wipe from the specified edge or corner of the first clip reveals the second clip.
• Position the Canvas or Timeline playhead at the desired edit point. • Position the Canvas or Timeline playhead on a transition that’s already been edited into your sequence. 2 Choose Effects > Video Transitions > Wipe > Alpha Transition. For more information about adding transitions, see Adding Transitions to Clips in Your Sequence. To open the Alpha transition in the Transition Editor Do one of the following: µ µ µ Double-click the transition.
• Wipe Matte clip well: The actual wipe animation between the two clips in the Timeline is determined by the luma values of the clip dropped into this clip well. Any white areas in this clip will display the first clip. Any black areas in this clip will display the second clip. Any levels of gray will display the appropriate mix of the two clips. The wipe generated by this clip well is generally invisible to the viewer because it happens underneath the main element clip.
To create an asset wipe transition using three clips 1 Drag the main element clip to the “Clip” clip well. In this example image, the media element moves across the screen, essentially “wiping” the frame from right to left. 2 Drag the luma track matte clip to the Clip Alpha Matte clip well. The white area in this clip should be an exact outline of the media element you added in Step 1. White represents 100% opaque and black represents 100% transparent.
In the resulting effect, the media element wipes across the screen to reveal the next shot from right to left. Asset Wipe Transition Using Two Clips In this technique, you drag an element clip that already contains an alpha channel into the “Clip” clip well. This makes the track matte element in the Clip Alpha Matte clip well unnecessary. Note: This method requires a video codec that supports alpha channels.
2 Drag the wipe matte clip to the Wipe Matte clip well. This clip determines the wipe between the two Timeline clips. Any white areas in this clip will display the first clip. Any black areas in this clip will display the second clip. In the resulting effect, the media element wipes across the screen to reveal the next shot from right to left. Custom Transition Using One Clip You can use the animated luma values of just a single clip to create complex animated transition effects.
By default, this cut between the two Timeline clips occurs at the midpoint of the transition. The Mid-point Offset allows you to roll the cut point to the left or right. µ To create an alpha transition with the Mid-point Offset slider Drag the slider so that the cut between the two Timeline clips occurs while the main media element fills the frame.
Refining Transitions Using the Transition Editor 48 Use the Transition Editor to precisely modify a transition and preview it before you render. This chapter covers the following: • Using the Transition Editor (p. 779) • Applying a Modified Transition Directly to a Sequence in the Timeline (p. 787) • Trimming Transitions and the Surrounding Clips (p. 787) • Previewing and Rendering Transitions (p.
Controls in the Transition Editor When you double-click a transition in the Timeline or the Effects tab of the Browser, a special tab for the transition opens in the Viewer. This Transition Editor window indicates that the transition is “loaded,” or opened, so you can view and modify the transition’s settings. Tab with the name of the transition Effects (specific to each transition) • Timecode Duration field: This timecode field displays the current duration of your transition.
• Alignment buttons: The selected button indicates the current alignment of your transition. You can change the alignment of a transition by clicking a button (if there are enough overlapping frames in the direction in which you want to realign the transition). Alignment buttons • Recent Clips pop-up menu: Choose from a list of recently used clips. A clip is added to this list when another clip replaces it in the Viewer (not when the clip is opened in the Viewer).
• Outgoing and incoming clip handles: A transition that appears as two overlapping clips on the same track in the Timeline is represented differently in the Transition Editor. The outgoing clip and its Out point appear on the top track, the incoming clip and its In point appear on the bottom track, and the transition itself appears on a track between the two.
• Start and End percentages of transition: These sliders allow you to set the starting and ending percentages of the transition’s visual effect. For example, if you are using an edge wipe, the default starting percentage of 0 percent places the border of the wipe all the way to the left of the image, essentially revealing all of the outgoing clip.
You can change the starting and ending percentages for the transition. This is an excellent way of creating split-screen effects if you plan to export your sequence as an EDL for import into another editing system. For more information on exporting EDLs, see Importing and Exporting EDLs. For example, you can set both the starting and ending percentages to 50 percent.
• Reverse Transition button: Some transition effects have a default direction. For example, a wipe goes from the left to the right, a clock wipe’s border travels in a clockwise direction, and the spin 3D transition spins the outgoing clip out to the right. Reverse Transition button To reverse the direction of an effect, click the Reverse Transition button.
To zoom out of the ruler in the Transition Editor Do one of the following: µ Click the Transition Editor to make it active, then choose View > Zoom Out, or press Command-Hyphen (-). µ Select the Zoom Out tool, then click either clip or the transition shown in the Transition Editor. µ To zoom to fit the ruler in the Transition Editor Press Shift-Z. This zooms the ruler to a medium size in the Transition Editor.
Applying a Modified Transition Directly to a Sequence in the Timeline After you modify a transition’s settings in the Transition Editor, you can apply the transition directly to an edit point in the Timeline. If you do this, the modified transition is only saved in the Timeline. To use this transition again, make it a favorite (see Saving a Transition as a Favorite) or copy it (see Copying and Pasting Transitions).
About the Two-Up Display in the Canvas You can drag the pointer in the Transition Editor to trim the transition and change the duration of the transition or the actual location, or edit point, where the transition occurs between two clips. When you do this, a dual-frame display appears in the Canvas to show how your change affects the clips surrounding this transition. • The frame on the left: This displays the current frame at the transition’s start point in the outgoing clip.
• Drag the beginning or end of the transition to change its length. When you do this to a transition centered at the edit point, both sides of the transition change duration, but the edit point itself doesn’t move. Drag either end of the transition to the length you want. Changing the Location of a Transition with a Roll Edit If you move the pointer over the middle of a transition in the Transition Editor, the pointer changes to the Roll tool.
Adjusting the Length of a Clip in a Transition with a Ripple Edit Even when a transition is applied between two clips, you can change the duration of the outgoing or incoming clip using the Ripple tool. Ripple edits do not cause gaps in your edited sequence. • Rippling the Out point of the outgoing clip: This moves the transition and the edit point at the same time so that the outgoing clip is shortened or extended. The rest of your edited sequence moves forward or backward to accommodate this change.
Previewing and Rendering Transitions Many transitions can play back in real time, depending on your system and the transition you’re applying. Those that can’t need to be rendered. Rendering is the process of combining your video and audio with the applied effects, such as transitions or filters, one frame at a time. The result is a new file, called a render file, that can be played back in real time.
Previewing Transitions Before Rendering Them If you have to render your transitions, it’s a good idea to preview complex transitions first. You can preview transitions while you’re modifying them or any time before rendering them. To preview a transition Do one of the following: µ Move the playhead in the Canvas or Timeline to a frame just before your transition, then choose Mark > Play > Every Frame (or press Option-Backslash or Option-P).
Sequence-to-Sequence Editing 49 You can edit from one sequence to another, either by nesting one sequence into another, or by actually editing the clips from one sequence to another. This chapter covers the following: • Methods for Editing Clips from One Sequence to Another (p. 793) • Opening More Than One Sequence at a Time (p. 794) • Copying Clips from One Sequence to Another (p. 794) • Nesting Sequences (p. 797) • Editing the Content of One Sequence into Another Without Nesting It (p.
Opening More Than One Sequence at a Time To copy, edit, or nest a sequence into another sequence, the destination sequence must be open in the Timeline or Canvas. When you open a sequence, the Timeline and the Canvas open together, if they’re not open already. If the Timeline and Canvas are already open, a newly opened sequence appears in its own tab on top of any other sequence tabs. If you want to view your sequences separately, you can move each into its own window.
4 Do one of the following: • To do an insert edit: Drag the clips where you want them to appear in the other sequence, positioning the pointer in the upper part of the track (the pointer looks like a right arrow).
• To do an overwrite edit: Drag the clips where you want them to appear in the other sequence, positioning the pointer in the lower part of the track (the pointer looks like a down arrow). 5 Release the mouse button. The selected clips from the first sequence are copied into the second sequence. To copy clips from one sequence to another using the Copy and Paste commands 1 Open the sequence that contains the clip or clips you want to copy.
7 In the Current Timecode field, enter the timecode number where you want to place the beginning of the copied clip or clips. 8 Choose Edit > Paste (or press Command-V). The copied clips are pasted into the second sequence. Important: If you copy and paste clips between sequences in different projects, the master-affiliate relationships are maintained in the projects. Master clips are also pasted into the project and can be revealed.
Nested sequences can be used in the same way as clips. You can add audio and video filters to them, set their opacity and level overlays in the Timeline, work with their audio in the Audio tab of the Viewer, and adjust their motion parameters in the Motion tab of the Viewer. Note: A sequence can’t be edited into itself. When Do You Nest Sequences? Nesting sequences is useful in various situations: • You can edit a movie using multiple sequences; for example, you can create a sequence for each scene.
How Many Audio Items Does a Nested Sequence Have? When you nest one sequence inside of another, the nested sequence has only one video item, regardless of how many video tracks it has in its own Timeline window. However, the number of audio items that are nested is equal to the number of audio output channels specified in the Audio Outputs tab of the Sequence Settings window for the nested sequence.
3 Specify the destination tracks where you want the nested sequence to go. 4 Choose Edit > Paste (or press Command-V). The selected sequence is now nested, or placed, into the second sequence. You can reveal a nested sequence in the Browser by selecting the nested sequence in the Timeline. To reveal a nested sequence in the Browser 1 Select the nested sequence in the Timeline. 2 Choose View > Reveal Master Clip.
3 In the Nest Items dialog, enter a name for the new sequence into which the selected items will be placed. 4 Choose a width and height (frame size) for the new sequence that will be created to contain the selected clips. You should usually use the default settings provided, since these match the sequence that your new sequence will be nested inside.
About Changing the Duration of Nested Sequences When you first nest a sequence into another sequence (sometimes known as the parent sequence), changes in the original nested sequence that affect its duration are reflected in the parent sequence. For example, if you shorten a clip in the original nested sequence, the overall sequence duration changes.
Important: If you modify a nested sequence duration in a parent sequence, or if you specifically set In and Out points in a sequence before you nest it into a parent sequence, the nested sequence may no longer ripple clips in the parent sequence when you adjust content in the nested sequence. Editing the Content of One Sequence into Another Without Nesting It Instead of nesting one sequence inside another, you can simply edit the clips of a sequence into another sequence.
If you hold down the Command key while dragging Sequence A into the Canvas, you’ll edit the clips contained within Sequence A into Sequence B. So each clip in Sequence A is still an individual clip in Sequence B. This allows for more flexibility should you want to make changes to any clips that are in Sequence A. However, future changes in Sequence A have no effect on Sequence B; Sequence B does not automatically update to reflect the changes.
• Set an In point in the Timeline or Canvas. Set an In point where you want to place clips from the source sequence. 2 If necessary, create additional tracks for each track present in the source sequence. Important: If you don’t create additional tracks, only clips on V1, A1, and A2 will be copied from the source sequence.
• To perform an overwrite edit: Press Command-F10. The content of the source sequence is edited into the destination sequence in the Timeline. To edit content from one sequence into another by dragging it into the Timeline 1 In the Timeline, open the destination sequence (where the copied clips will go) by clicking the sequence’s tab. 2 If necessary, create additional tracks for each track present in the source sequence.
Matching Frames and Playhead Synchronization 50 You can use the frame displayed in the Canvas to open the matching frame of a master clip in the Viewer, or you can synchronize the playheads in the Canvas and Viewer to automatically open each sequence clip in the Viewer. This chapter covers the following: • Working with Sequence Clips in the Viewer (p. 807) • Matching Frames Between Sequence and Master Clips (p. 810) • Synchronizing the Canvas/Timeline Playhead and the Viewer Playhead (p.
Note: Sequence clips display sprocket holes in the Viewer’s scrubber bar to indicate that they are part of a larger sequence; Browser clips don’t display sprocket holes. Sprocket holes indicate that this is a sequence clip. Opening a Sequence Clip in the Viewer When you open a sequence clip in the Viewer, you can work with it directly in the Viewer instead of in the Timeline. To open a sequence clip in the Viewer from the Timeline Do one of the following: µ µ µ Double-click a clip in the Timeline.
Switching Between the Viewer, Canvas, and Timeline When you work with sequence clips in the Viewer, you can quickly switch between the Viewer and the Canvas or Timeline. For example, opening a sequence clip in the Viewer activates the Viewer, but you might want to open the clip in the Viewer and then play the sequence. µ To switch between the Canvas and Viewer Press the Q key. To switch between the Viewer, Canvas, and Timeline Do one of the following: µ µ µ To make the Viewer active, press Command-1.
5 Navigate to a new Out point and press O to set a new Out point. If the new In or Out point is not accepted, check to see if Final Cut Pro displays an alert message. Some edits are not possible because they would cause other sequence clips to be partially overwritten or moved out of sync. For more information, see Understanding Alert Messages When Trimming.
• You want to open the master clip with all of its video and audio items, instead of the sequence clip, which may only be a single clip item. For example, your sequence clip may be a video clip item that no longer has its corresponding audio. You can get those audio clip items back by opening the video clip item’s master clip in the Viewer.
Matching a Frame in the Canvas to Its Media File Frame There are some situations in which you may want to reveal the original media file of a clip instead of the clip’s master clip. For example, if you are working with a subclip in the Timeline and you want to see all of the original media (instead of only the portion defined by the subclip limits), you can match to the original media file. This opens the entire media file as an independent clip in the Viewer.
Matching a Frame in the Viewer to a Clip in the Canvas or Timeline Just as you can match a sequence clip’s frame to the same frame in its master clip, (see Matching a Frame in the Canvas to Its Master Clip Frame), you can also find frames in a sequence that match a clip open in the Viewer. This is a very powerful feature because you can instantly check to see if footage open in the Viewer is used anywhere in the current sequence.
• Enabling real-time multiclip editing. When the Multiclip Playback option is selected, the Open playhead sync option is automatically selected. About Working with Playhead Sync The Playhead Sync pop-up menu appears in both the Canvas and the Viewer. You can choose only one playhead sync option at a time in Final Cut Pro, but you can do so in either window. The playhead sync option you choose remains active until you close the Viewer or Canvas.
The Open ganging option is useful for making filter adjustments to multiple clips in a sequence. For example, if you have multiple clips that have color correction filters applied to them, you can move the playhead from clip to clip, and the Color Corrector tab changes to the current clip’s filter settings. Using the Gang Playhead Sync Option You can lock the playhead in the Viewer to the playhead in the Canvas and Timeline so that they move together while scrubbing through clips.
3 Move the Canvas/Timeline playhead to the Out point of the last clip in the sequence. The Out point of the last clip in the sequence is the sync point in the Timeline and Canvas. 4 In either the Viewer or the Canvas, choose Gang from the Playhead Sync pop-up menu. 5 Move the playhead in the Timeline to the In point of the last clip in the sequence. The playhead is moved to the In point of the last clip in the sequence. The playhead in the Viewer moves to the left by the same amount.
Working with Timecode 51 Timecode provides a unique address for each video frame on your tapes. Timecode is the vital organizational link between your original camera tapes, media files on disk, and clips in your Final Cut Pro project. This chapter covers the following: • About Timecode in Final Cut Pro (p. 817) • Displaying Timecode in Final Cut Pro (p. 818) • Modifying Timecode in Media Files (p. 825) • Modifying Sequence Timecode (p. 828) • Working with 60 fps Timecode (p.
Frame Rate Versus Timecode The frame rate of film, videotape, or media files determines how quickly frames are recorded or played back. Timecode (or edge code in the case of film) is a unique address for each frame, providing easy navigation, logging, recapturing, and final Edit Decision Lists (EDLs) that accurately refer back to original camera reels.
• Frames: Shows an absolute frame count instead of hours, minutes, seconds, and frames. This option is available for any frame rate. • Feet + Frames: Displays a film feet and frames counter using the default film standard assigned in the Project Properties. To change the current film standard in your project, choose Edit > Project Properties and select an option from the Default Film Standard pop-up menu.
Displaying Timecode Affected by Speed Changes If you alter the speed of a clip by applying a constant or variable speed change, the frames of the media file are no longer played at their original rate. By default, Final Cut Pro displays the timecode in italics whenever a clip is not playing at normal speed. This option, called View Native Speed, is selected by default.
Adding auxiliary timecode tracks to your media files allows you to add matching timecode to both media files without removing the original source timecode—which is still important for referring back to your original tapes. In Final Cut Pro, you can choose which timecode track to display for each clip: source, Aux 1, or Aux 2. Many clips only have a source timecode track, so in these cases there is no option to display Aux 1 or Aux 2 timecode.
To choose default timecode display options for the active project 1 In the Browser, click the tab of the project for which you want to change timecode display settings. 2 Choose Edit > Project Properties. 3 Choose a new timecode display from the Time Display pop-up menu. 4 Click OK. To reset the timecode display for all clips in the active project 1 In the Browser, click the tab of the project for which you want to change timecode display settings. 2 Choose Edit > Project Properties.
Timecode Overlays Timecode overlays in the Viewer and Canvas always display source time from the media file (not clip time). Timecode overlays are not affected when clip time is selected or View Native Speed is deselected. µ To view timecode overlays Choose View > Show Timecode Overlays, so there’s a checkmark next to it (or press Option-Z). Each timecode overlay is colored to indicate linked video and audio clips.
To display or hide the frame counter or additional channels of timecode 1 Control-click the top half of the Timecode Viewer. 2 Choose one or more of the following from the shortcut menu: • Timecode Frames • AUX 1 Timecode • AUX 2 Timecode To display or hide additional metadata 1 Control-click the bottom half of the Timecode Viewer.
The clip now plays back frames from the media file at 25 percent speed. The source timecode plays back just as slowly. 4 In the Viewer, move through the clip one frame at a time using the Left Arrow and Right Arrow keys. Note that the timecode numbers change once every four frames. This is because the speed-adjusted clip holds each video frame for a duration of four frames, and the native timecode numbers are displayed.
Timecode modification Using Modify > Timecode Using Browser Viewing different timecode display formats Allowed Allowed. Control-click in any timecode field. In the Browser (or the Item Properties window), you can only adjust Media Start and Media End fields for offline clips that are not associated with media files (in other words, the clip must be completely offline, which means the file path in its Source property must be empty). You should rarely need to adjust a media file’s source timecode track.
2 Choose Modify > Timecode. The Modify Timecode dialog shows all properties associated with the selected clip or sequence. 3 Verify that the settings are correct: • Frame to Set: Choose the frame you want to alter. • Current: Choose this to alter the timecode of the current frame in the clip or sequence. • Starting: Choose this to change the timecode of the starting frame of the clip or sequence.
The TC Rate item property (visible in both the Browser columns and the Item Properties window) always shows the rate of the source timecode track of a clip’s media file. The Aux 1 or Aux 2 timecode rates are never shown here. Use the TC Rate column in the Browser to adjust the timecode rate for many clips at once. Some timecode rates are not allowed for some video frame rates. Note: The TC Rate property is the rate of the source timecode track in a media file.
2 Choose Sequence > Settings. 3 In the Sequence Settings window, click the Timeline Options tab. 4 Type a new timecode number in the Starting Timecode field. 5 Click OK. In special editing scenarios, the video frame rate (timebase) and timecode rate of a sequence need to be different. For example, if you are editing 24 @ 25 film-to-PAL video, you use a sequence with a video frame rate of 24 fps with a timecode track modified to 25 fps.
Working with 60 fps Timecode Some high definition video formats, such as 720p60, have a video frame rate of 60 (or 59.94) fps. Final Cut Pro can display 60 fps timecode for 60 fps media files, or you can choose to view the timecode at 30 fps, using the special 60 @ 30 timecode display option. 60 @ 30 is a timecode display option used specifically with 59.94 and 60 fps video footage. Because 30 fps is a more universally accepted timecode rate than 60 fps, it can be useful to view your timecode this way.
Note: In versions of Final Cut Pro earlier than 4.5, timecode reading and generation were contained in a single filter called the Timecode Print filter. Older projects that use the Timecode Print filter will still function properly. • Timecode Reader: This filter generates a visible timecode counter based on the video frame rate (timebase) of the clip or sequence to which the filter is applied.
Audio Fundamentals 52 To successfully create your movie soundtrack, it’s important to learn about the basic properties of sound and digital audio. This chapter covers the following: • What Is Sound? (p. 833) • Measuring Sound Intensity (p. 837) • Signal-to-Noise Ratio (p. 839) • Headroom and Distortion (p. 839) • Dynamic Range and Compression (p. 840) • Stereo Audio (p. 841) • Digital Audio (p. 843) What Is Sound? All sounds are vibrations traveling through the air as sound waves.
Fundamentals of a Sound Wave The simplest kind of sound wave is a sine wave. Pure sine waves rarely exist in the natural world, but they are a useful place to start because all other sounds can be broken down into combinations of sine waves. A sine wave clearly demonstrates the three fundamental characteristics of a sound wave: frequency, amplitude, and phase.
Phase cancelation can be a problem when mixing similar audio signals together, or when original and reflected sound waves interact in a reflective room. For example, when the left and right channels of a stereo mix are combined to create a mono mix, the signals may suffer from phase cancelation. Separate signals In phase Out of phase Mixed signals Frequency Spectrum of Sounds With the exception of pure sine waves, sounds are made up of many different frequency components vibrating at the same time.
Note: Different manufacturers and mixing engineers define the ranges of these frequency bands differently, so the numbers described above are approximate. The human voice produces sounds that are mostly in the 250-4000 Hz range, which likely explains why people’s ears are also the most sensitive to this range. If the dialogue in your movie is harder to hear when you add music and sound effects, try reducing the midrange frequencies of the nondialogue tracks using an equalizer filter.
Musical sounds also typically have a volume envelope. Every note played on a musical instrument has a distinct curve of rising and falling volume over time. Sounds produced by some instruments, particularly drums and other percussion instruments, start at a high volume level but quickly decrease to a much lower level and die away to silence.
Important: When you mix audio, you don’t need to worry about the mathematics behind logarithms and decibels. Just be aware that to hear incremental increases in sound volume, exponentially more sound pressure is required. What Is a Decibel? The decibel measures sound pressure or electrical pressure (voltage) levels. It is a logarithmic unit that describes a ratio of two intensities, such as two different sound pressures, two different voltages, and so on.
• dBu: This reference level measures voltage instead of power, using a reference level of 0.775 volts. dBu has mostly replaced dBm on professional audio equipment. The u stands for unloaded, because the electrical load in an audio circuit is no longer as relevant as it was in the early days of audio equipment. • dBV: This also uses a reference voltage like dBu, but in this case the reference level is 1 volt, which is more convenient than 0.775 volts in dBu.
0 dB on an analog meter refers to the ideal recording level, but there is some allowance for stronger signals before distortion occurs. This safety margin is known as headroom, meaning that the signal can occasionally go higher than the ideal recording level without distorting. Having headroom is critical when recording, especially when the audio level is very dynamic and unpredictable. Even though you can adjust the recording level while you record, you can’t always anticipate quick, loud sounds.
The goal is to make the quiet sounds (in this case, the crickets) louder so they can compete with the ambient noise in the listening environment. One approach to making the crickets louder is to simply raise the level of the entire soundtrack, but when you increase the level of the quiet sounds, the loud sounds (such as the train) get too loud and distort. Instead of raising the entire volume of your mix, you can compress the loud sounds so they are closer to the quiet sounds.
Examples of dual mono recordings include: • Two independent microphones used to record two independent sounds, such as two different actors speaking. These microphones independently follow each actor’s voice and are never positioned in a stereo left-right configuration. In this case, the intent is not a stereo recording but two discrete mono channels of synchronized sound. • Two channels with exactly the same signal.
Interleaved Versus Split Stereo Audio Files Digital audio can send a stereo signal within a single stream by interleaving the digital samples during transmission and deinterleaving them on playback. The way the signal is stored is unimportant as long as the samples are properly split to left and right channels during playback. With analog technology, the signal is not nearly as flexible. Split stereo files are two independent audio files that work together, one for the left channel (AudioFile.
Audio sample rates When used 192 kHz A multiple of 48 and 96 kHz, this is a very high-resolution sample rate used mostly for professional music recording and mastering. Bit Depth Unlike analog signals, which have an infinite range of volume levels, digital audio samples use binary numbers (bits) to represent the strength of each audio sample. The accuracy of each sample is determined by its bit depth. Higher bit depths mean your audio signal is more accurately represented when it is sampled.
For example, a 1-bit system (a ladder with only two rungs) can represent either silence or full volume, and nothing in between. Any audio sample that falls between these rungs must be rounded to full volume or silence. Such a system would have absolutely no subtlety, rounding smooth analog signals to a square-shaped waveform. Sine Square When the number of bits per sample is increased, each sample can more accurately represent the audio signal.
Bit depth When used 8-bit In the past, 8-bit audio was often used for CD-ROM and web video. Today, 16-bit audio is usually preferred, but available bandwidth and compatibility with your target user’s system are your chief considerations when outputting audio for multimedia use. 1 Many consumer DV camcorders allow you to record four audio channels using 12-bit mode, but this is not recommended for professional work.
Assigning Output Channels and External Audio Monitors 53 Final Cut Pro supports multiple output channels for audio monitoring and output to multichannel devices. This chapter covers the following: • Audio Signal Flow in Final Cut Pro (p. 847) • Configuring Audio Outputs (p. 851) • Creating and Saving Audio Output Presets (p. 854) • Assigning a Default Audio Output Preset for New Sequences (p. 855) • Assigning Tracks in the Timeline to Audio Outputs (p.
• Speakers, devices, or exported files Output busses 1 1 2 2 1 Speakers 2 Timeline Audio Tracks Signal flow begins in the Timeline, where you can have up to 99 audio tracks. Audio tracks contain audio clip items from clips that you have edited into your sequence. The signal from each audio track can be routed to an output bus, and multiple audio tracks can be assigned to the same bus.
Note: Busses in Final Cut Pro are used for routing tracks to hardware audio outputs or for automatic stereo downmixing. You cannot create send or auxiliary busses as you would in other audio applications. Hardware Outputs Hardware outputs are the physical outputs on your audio interface or any other device you connect your audio output busses to, such as the audio outputs of a DV deck. Final Cut Pro supports up to 24 hardware audio outputs.
Dual Mono Output Groups Dual mono output groups allow you to output tracks to hardware outputs discretely. Assign a sequence track to a dual mono output whenever you want to send your audio directly to a hardware output without pan control.
Speakers Speakers (also called audio monitors) are devices that turn an audio signal into sound. Your computer has built-in speakers, but you can also purchase external audio speakers for higher-quality monitoring. Most speakers are sold in a stereo pair, but 5.1-channel surround sound speakers (totaling six speakers) are also becoming common.
• FireWire DV: If you connect a DV camcorder or deck to your computer, this option becomes the default setting. • Other available audio interfaces: If you have a third-party video or audio interface installed, it appears in this list. Depending on your hardware, additional options may be available to configure your audio interface. 3 Click Options, then make choices for the following: • Channels: Choose the number of channels your audio interface can output.
2 Choose View > Audio Playback > Audio Follows Video, and make sure that the option is turned on (indicated by a checkmark). With the Audio Follows Video option turned on, you can now select a video interface and the corresponding audio interface or device is selected automatically. Tip: If you don’t see your audio interface appear in the list of audio outputs, choose View > Refresh A/V Devices, then try to select your output again.
To choose an audio output preset for your sequence 1 Select a sequence in the Browser or Timeline. 2 Choose Sequence > Settings (or press Command-0), then click the Audio Outputs tab. 3 Choose an audio output preset from the Load Audio Output Preset pop-up menu, then click OK. To modify the audio output settings of your sequence 1 Select a sequence in the Browser or Timeline. 2 Choose Sequence > Settings (or press Command-0), then click the Audio Outputs tab.
Assigning a Default Audio Output Preset for New Sequences If you use a particular audio output preset regularly, you can make it the default audio output preset for all new sequences by choosing it in the Audio Outputs tab of the User Preferences window. To change the default audio output preset assigned to all new sequences 1 Choose Final Cut Pro > User Preferences, then click the Audio Outputs tab. 2 Select an Audio Output preset from the Presets list by clicking in the column next to the preset’s name.
How Audio Outputs Are Assigned Automatically Final Cut Pro automatically configures audio output busses according to the selected linked clip items in your sequence. This feature is often used with 5.1-channel surround sound clips, but keep in mind that Final Cut Pro supports only the following 5.
Final Cut Pro also warns you if the new audio outputs exceed the number of available hardware outputs on your computer or audio interface. You can disable this warning by selecting the “Do not warn again” option in the warning dialog. To verify your sequence’s new audio outputs, choose Sequence > Settings, then click the Audio Outputs tab to see your settings.
Config Pop-Up Menu Both the Export Audio to AIFF(s) command and the Export QuickTime Movie command use a Config pop-up menu to determine whether sequence audio output busses should be exported individually or as a stereo downmix. However, each command has a different Config pop-up menu in different locations: • File > Export > QuickTime Movie: The Config pop-up menu is in the Audio Settings area of the General tab of the Sequence Settings window.
• Exporting to multiple audio channels. For more information, see Exporting Audio Output Groups to AIFF Files and Exporting Multichannel QuickTime Files. How Downmixing to Stereo Works When a sequence is downmixed, all output busses are mixed together in a downmix stereo bus and then sent to outputs 1 and 2 on your audio interface. Stereo output busses are sent to the downmix bus in stereo; mono output busses are centered in the downmix bus.
One of the main purposes of downmix level adjustments is to maintain mono channel levels when downmixing common 5.1-channel surround sound, for which there are industry-standard settings. After using the Match Audio Outputs command on a recognized 5.1-channel surround sound clip, industry-standard level adjustments are applied to the audio outputs’ downmix levels. You can verify these settings in the Audio Outputs tab of the Sequence Settings window.
You can turn Downmix off at any time and your audio will be output to multiple channels again. This is much more convenient than reassigning all of your tracks to a single stereo channel and then reassigning your tracks to multiple outputs again. Downmix button deselected All channels are output independently. Downmixing During Export You can select the Downmix button to quickly export multiple audio outputs to a stereo mix without changing your audio output presets.
Monitoring 5.1-Channel Surround Sound Final Cut Pro does not support multichannel surround sound mixing capabilities or editing of speaker assignments, but you can configure your system to monitor certain kinds of 5.1-channel surround sound audio files. If you have 5.1-channel surround sound files that have been mixed in another audio application such as Soundtrack Pro, you can import these files and then configure your audio outputs and hardware to monitor in surround sound.
2 Edit the multichannel clip into the Timeline. In most cases, you should place the audio clip starting on track A1 in the sequence. 3 A clip with six linked clip items appears in the Timeline. 4 Choose Edit > Linked Selection, and make sure that a checkmark appears next to the Linked Selection menu item. 5 Select the clip in the Timeline. 6 Choose Sequence > Match Audio Outputs. 7 If Final Cut Pro alerts you that your sequence’s audio outputs will change, click OK.
3 Adjust the volume in the menu bar. You can also adjust the volume in the Sound pane of System Preferences. To mute all alert and Mac OS X user interface sound effects 1 Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Sound. 2 Click the Sound Effects button. 3 Deselect the “Play user interface sound effects” checkbox. 4 Deselect the “Play feedback when volume is changed” checkbox. 5 Slide the “Alert volume” slider all the way to the left.
Tips for Choosing Speakers and an Amplifier Professional audio engineers have to be able to trust the sound coming from their speakers. When you mix your audio, you need audio monitors that can handle the full range of audio intensities and frequencies. Ideally, your monitors will have a flat frequency response from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz (or 20 kHz). This means that they neither attenuate nor amplify any frequencies.
Self-Powered Versus Passive Speakers Speakers powered by an external amplifier are called passive speakers. When you use separate amplifiers and passive speakers, a number of factors affect the overall frequency response and quality of your audio. Instead of using a separate amplifier and speakers, a simpler option is to use self-powered speakers (speakers with built-in amplifiers). These have become increasingly popular, especially for studio monitoring and video editing.
Speaker Placement and Listening Position Most video editing suites use near-field monitors, which are speakers designed to be listened to at fairly close range. Speakers should be at least a foot or two away from any walls to prevent early reflections of sound, which combine with and muddy the original sound. Position the speakers as far from your listening position as they are from each other (forming an equilateral triangle).
Evaluating Levels with Audio Meters 54 You use audio meters to keep levels consistent throughout your movie and to make sure audio signals never get so high that they distort. This chapter covers the following: • About Audio Meters (p. 869) • Setting Proper Audio Levels (p. 874) About Audio Meters Audio meters display the level of your audio signal in an objective way, helping you to set consistent levels throughout your program and ensuring that you have sufficient headroom and dynamic range.
• Average loudness: The average loudness of a clip generally determines its overall perceived volume, and this is probably somewhat lower than the level of the peaks. In the sample waveform, the level of average loudness appears as the densest, darkest part around the middle. Average loudness, rather than the brief peaks, tends to influence your decision about mixing a sound higher or lower.
Analog 0 dB Versus Digital 0 dBFS Even though audio is exclusively digital in Final Cut Pro, it is likely that your audio will exist in an analog context at some point. Most digital workflows begin with microphones and end with speakers, which are both analog devices. On an analog meter, 0 dB is the optimal recording or output level of a device. If the voltage is much higher, the signal may distort. If the voltage is much lower, the signal may be lost in the noise inherent in the device.
About Audio Meters in Final Cut Pro Final Cut Pro uses peak audio meters, which respond very quickly to the audio signal, alerting you to potential peaks over 0 dBFS. The meters in Final Cut Pro display a peak level indicator, which is a yellow line that shows recent peak levels for up to 3 seconds (assuming a higher peak hasn’t been reached).
µ To turn off clipping indicators during playback Click the clipping indicators in the Master audio meters or floating audio meters. Red clipping indicator Floating Audio Meters The floating audio meters display the output levels of the Viewer or Timeline with a simplified stereo display. If you’ve set up more than two audio outputs in the Audio Outputs tab of the Sequence Settings window, the floating audio meters display the highest levels of any audio outputs in either the right or left channel.
Unlike the track and Master audio meters, the floating audio meters do not show levels above 0 dBFS. 0 dBFS Levels above 0 dBFS Floating audio meters Master audio meters Setting Proper Audio Levels When you work with audio, you need to make sure you set proper levels at each stage of your production: • Production: During this phase, you record the elements used in your movie: actors’ voices, ambient location sound, music, and so on.
• Mixing and output: During mixing and final output, you need to ensure that audio levels are consistent compared to a reference audio level, such as audio tone. Loud parts should be consistently loud, and quiet parts should be consistently quiet (but not so quiet that they get lost in the noise). The dynamic range (the change in levels between quiet and loud) should be large enough to create a varied mix, but not so large that viewers have to constantly adjust the volume when they watch the finished movie.
A status window appears with a progress bar showing how much of the process is complete. Markers are placed at each peak. • If you selected a clip in the Browser: Markers appear for the clip and are labeled “Audio Peak N,” where N starts at 1 and increases, depending on how many audio peaks are detected. These markers also appear in the Viewer when the clip is opened there.
How Normalization Gain Works in Final Cut Pro Audio normalization works by scanning audio for the peak (loudest) sample level and then applying a Gain filter that brings the peak level to the level you request. By default this value is 0 dBFS, the highest level possible before clipping occurs. The Gain filter raises the overall audio level. 0 dBFS 0 dBFS 0 dBFS Next, gain is added so the audio peak is set to 0 dBFS. The audio is normalized, with the peak level set at 0 dBFS.
Reapplying Normalization Gain Final Cut Pro searches for peak audio only between a clip’s In and Out points, not for the entire duration of the clip’s media file. If you trim a clip’s In or Out point, new peaks may be introduced and the Gain adjustment may no longer be appropriate. In this case, you can easily reapply normalization gain to set an appropriate level. Reapplying normalization gain is no different from applying normalization gain for the first time.
Venue Acceptable amount of dynamic range Theatrical Dolby Digital 20 dB Average videotape 12 dB Television broadcast 6 dB When you mix your final audio, you choose a consistent reference for the average level. When you choose the average reference level, you are actually choosing how much additional headroom you have before your signal distorts. The higher you set the average level, the less safety margin you have for peaks in the signal.
Outputting Bars and Tone at the Head of Your Tape When you output your program to a tape for duplication or delivery to a broadcast facility, you’ll typically include a 1 kHz reference tone at the beginning of the tape. The level of this tone is supposed to indicate what the average level of your audio mix is. For this tone to be meaningful, you must mix your audio so that the average level of your mix matches the level of the tone.
Overview of the Audio Mixer 55 You can use the Audio Mixer to monitor audio levels for all of your sequence clips, as well as adjust audio levels and pan settings in real time. This chapter covers the following: • About the Audio Mixer (p. 881) • Controls in the Audio Mixer (p. 881) • Using Audio Mixer Views (p. 889) About the Audio Mixer The Audio Mixer provides faders, panning sliders, and solo and mute buttons for each track in your sequence.
• Track Strips area • Master area Additional Audio Mixer controls appear above these three main areas: • Record Audio Keyframes button • View buttons • Source pop-up menu View buttons Record Audio Keyframes button Source pop-up menu Track Visibility area µ Track Strips area Master area To open the Audio Mixer Choose Tools > Audio Mixer (or press Option-6). Track Visibility Area In this area, you can choose which track strips are shown in the Audio Mixer.
The Track Visibility area includes the following controls: • Track Visibility control: Click the Track Visibility control for a track to show or hide that track’s track strip in the Audio Mixer. This doesn’t turn on or turn off the corresponding audio track in your edited sequence, nor does it mute the audio played back from that track. • Track name: Corresponds to the audio track name listed in the currently selected sequence in the Timeline.
Track Strips Area In a typical audio mixer, each channel has a corresponding channel strip with level and pan controls. In the Final Cut Pro Audio Mixer, each track in your sequence has a corresponding track strip with mute, solo, pan, and audio level controls. If a track’s Track Visibility control is deselected in the Track Visibility area, its track strip does not appear here. If an audio track is disabled in the Timeline, that track’s track strip controls are dimmed.
• Solo button: Click to mute all tracks that don’t have solo turned on. Use the solo button to listen to a track isolated from the others. For example, if you click the solo button on track A1, all other audio tracks are muted. If you turn on solo on A1 and A2, both A1 and A2 play back, and all other tracks are muted. Tip: Option-clicking a track’s solo button soloes all of the tracks. Option-clicking a solo button that is already selected deselects all of the tracks’ solo buttons.
Note: The meters in the Audio Mixer can actually display levels above 0 dBFS because Final Cut Pro mixes audio internally at 32-bit floating-point resolution—much higher than the 16- or 24-bit audio in typical media files. The high mixing resolution provides enormous headroom to prevent clipping when multiple audio tracks are mixed together. However, you should never output a signal that exceeds 0 dBFS on the Master audio meters.
The Master area includes the following controls: • Master mute button: Click this button to mute the entire sequence output. Like the individual track mute buttons, the Master mute button only affects playback, not output during Print to Video and Edit to Tape operations, or during export to audio or movie files. • Downmix control: When this control is selected, all output channels are mixed down to a single stereo pair of outputs. This is useful if you need to monitor a multichannel mix in stereo.
Note: Unlike hardware audio meters that light up only when an audio signal is playing, the Final Cut Pro audio meters display and hold the current level whenever the playhead in the Viewer, Timeline, or Canvas appears over an audio clip, whether playing or paused. View Buttons The View buttons allow you to organize the Audio Mixer into different subsets (or “banks”) of visible track strips.
µ Press Command-Shift-K. The Record Audio Keyframes button and the checkbox in the User Preferences window are the same control; they are just located in two different places for convenience. Important: If the Record Audio Keyframes button is missing from the Audio Mixer button bar, you can drag it to the button bar from the Button List. For more information about using the Button List, see Customizing the Interface.
When you first open the Audio Mixer, the default view is View 1, showing all audio tracks in your sequence. Any tracks you show or hide using the Track Visibility controls while View 1 is selected are remembered as View 1. View 1 showing only the first four audio track strips If you click the View 2 button and then show or hide audio track strips, that altered layout is remembered as View 2.
Organizing track strips this way is especially helpful if you organize your audio tracks according to their content. For example, you could set View 1 to display only the track strips for audio tracks in your program containing dialogue clips. View 2 could then show only the track strips for audio tracks containing music clips, View 3 could show track strips for tracks containing sound effects, and View 4 could show track strips for tracks containing ambience clips.
Using the Audio Mixer 56 You can use the faders and sliders in the Audio Mixer to quickly set audio levels and pan for clips, or you can record keyframes to create mixer automation over time. This chapter covers the following: • Making Basic Audio Adjustments with the Audio Mixer (p. 893) • Making Stereo Pan Adjustments with the Audio Mixer (p. 900) • About Mixer Automation and Keyframe Recording (p. 903) • Using a Control Surface with the Audio Mixer (p.
When Audio Mixer Controls Aren’t Available There are several instances when the controls of a given track’s track strip aren’t available. • If there is no clip on that track at the position of the playhead: The fader on that track’s track strip is set to indicate that there is complete silence at the gap in the track. It is not possible to adjust a given track’s fader if there is no clip at the current position of the playhead.
µ In the Timeline, click the Audio Controls button to display the mute and solo buttons for each track, then click the mute button for the audio track you want to silence. Mute button in the Timeline Audio Controls button µ To disable mute on all tracks at once Control-click the mute button of any track’s track strip in the Audio Mixer, then choose Reset All Mutes from the shortcut menu. µ To mute the master output In the Audio Mixer, click the Master mute button.
To solo one or more tracks Do one of the following: µ In the Audio Mixer, click the solo button in the track strip for the track you want to solo. All tracks without solo enabled are silenced. Solo button in the Audio Mixer µ In the Timeline, click the Audio Controls button to display the mute and solo buttons for each track, then click the solo button for the audio track you want to solo. All tracks without solo enabled are silenced.
Using Faders to Adjust Audio Levels Final Cut Pro stores audio level information in clips, not in tracks. When you adjust faders in the Audio Mixer, you affect only the clips currently beneath the playhead. This is the same as adjusting a clip’s audio level directly in the Timeline or Viewer. Changes made to faders in the Audio Mixer... ...affect only the audio clip items below the playhead in the Timeline.
Adjusting Levels in Mono Versus Stereo Clips Track faders in the Audio Mixer control each audio clip independently unless two clips are a stereo pair. • Mono or linked mono clips: Track faders can be adjusted independently. For example, if you’ve captured a clip that has two actors whose dialogue was recorded independently, one on the left channel and one on the right channel, you can control their levels separately. • Stereo pair clips: The faders of both audio tracks are locked together and move as one.
While you move the fader, the audio level field indicates the numeric value of the current level. When you release the fader, the audio clip’s audio level overlay in the Timeline changes to reflect the change you’ve made. Adjust the fader for the clip. Audio level field The audio level overlay in the Timeline changes to reflect the change you’ve made. To reset a fader to 0 dB Do one of the following: µ µ µ Control-click the fader, then choose Reset from the shortcut menu.
4 In the Audio Mixer, enter a new value in the audio level field below the fader you want to modify, then press Return. Valid values range from +12 dB to –167 dB. Numbers smaller than –167 dB are automatically changed to –∞ dB, or total silence. 5 Press Return. The fader moves to reflect the new value. Adjusting the Master Level of Your Sequence The Master fader raises or lowers the combined output level of all the tracks in your sequence at the same time.
Initially, you choose whether clip items are mono or stereo during capture, but you can change this when you edit in the Timeline. About Mono and Stereo Clip Items Clip items may be linked in the following ways: • Mono clip item: A mono clip item is a single audio clip item that contains one audio channel and is not linked to any other clip items. • Stereo pair clip items: Two clip items can be specially grouped together as a stereo pair.
• Stereo clip items and stereo audio output: Level and pan controls for both clip items are linked. You cannot independently adjust the left or right level. Changing the pan of one of the clip items inversely adjusts the pan of the other, resulting in a gradual swapping of the left and right audio signals. Timeline tracks Stereo clip To stereo bus Stereo clip To stereo bus ...both panning sliders move at the same time in opposite directions.
Dragging the slider to the left pans that clip’s audio increasingly to the left channel. Dragging it to the right pans that clip’s audio increasingly to the right channel. µ µ To reset a panning slider Hold down the Option key, then click the panning slider you want to reset. To reset all panning sliders in the Audio Mixer Control-click at the top of any track’s track strip, then choose Reset All Panners from the shortcut menu. Note: Stereo pan can also be modified in the audio tabs of the Viewer.
Note: Although the steps described above generally refer to using the controls in the Audio Mixer to automate your mix one track at a time, these steps can also apply to using a control surface. For more information about using a control surface, see Using a Control Surface with the Audio Mixer. Specifying Audio Keyframe Recording Resolution Before you start recording keyframes using the Audio Mixer, you must define the frequency with which Final Cut Pro records audio level and pan keyframes.
Note: Instead of using the mouse to adjust your faders, you can also use a supported control surface to adjust multiple faders and panning sliders simultaneously. Keyframe recording continues as long as the mouse button is held down, so it’s best to mix groups of short, consecutive clips in a track all at once. For example, suppose you’ve edited a dialogue sequence with multiple angles of coverage so that the dialogue spoken by a single character is broken up into six different clips on tracks A1 and A2.
To record audio level or pan keyframes 1 Click the Record Audio Keyframes button in the button bar at the top of the Audio Mixer to turn on keyframe recording. Tip: You can click the Record Audio Keyframes button to turn keyframe recording on or off during playback, if necessary. 2 In the Viewer or Timeline, move the playhead to the area of your sequence where you want to begin recording keyframes.
5 Hold down the mouse button to continue recording keyframes, and move the fader or panning slider to adjust the clip’s audio or pan levels in real time while playback continues. 6 When you’ve finished, release the mouse button to stop recording keyframes. The sequence continues to play, and the fader and pan controls return to the previously set levels. 7 If there are any other Audio Mixer controls you want to adjust at this time, repeat steps 4 through 6.
It’s a good idea to place In and Out points several seconds earlier and later than you need, to give yourself time to manipulate the controls before reaching the boundaries of the loop. Otherwise, you may overwrite keyframes you previously set when playback resets to the In point. 3 Choose View > Loop Playback to turn on looped playback. 4 To begin looped playback, choose Mark > Play > In to Out, or press Shift-Backslash (\).
If keyframe recording stops before the end of a clip, the audio or pan level of the remaining duration of that clip depends on whether or not there were already keyframes in the clip. • If there were no keyframes in the clip prior to recording keyframes: The audio level or pan overlay remains at the level of the last recorded keyframe for the remaining duration of that clip. Playback stopped here.
Using the Audio Mixer to Record over Previously Existing Automation You can use the Audio Mixer to make further changes to audio clips in your sequence that already have audio level and pan keyframes applied. How these changes are made depends on whether or not keyframe recording is turned on. • If the Record Audio Keyframes button is selected: Changes you make with the Audio Mixer during playback create a new set of keyframes, completely overwriting any previously existing keyframes.
To remove keyframes using the Remove Attributes command 1 Do one of the following: • Select one or more clips in the Timeline, then choose Edit > Remove Attributes. • Select one or more clips in the Timeline, Control-click one of the selected clips, then choose Remove Attributes from the shortcut menu. 2 In the Remove Attributes dialog, select Levels or Pan to delete keyframes from those overlays. Select one or both of these checkboxes to delete keyframes from overlays. 3 When you’ve finished, click OK.
To set up a MIDI control surface, you need the following: • An external MIDI interface with at least one input and output • Mac OS X MIDI driver software that corresponds to your MIDI interface (if necessary) • One or more supported control surfaces What Is MIDI? Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) is a standard protocol that allows electronic music devices and control surfaces to send and receive performance data.
Connecting a MIDI-Based Control Surface Once you have your MIDI interface connected to your computer, setting up a control surface is simple. To connect your control surface to your MIDI interface 1 Connect the MIDI output port of the control surface to a MIDI input port on the MIDI interface. MIDI connector 2 Connect a MIDI output port on your MIDI interface to the MIDI input port on your control surface. 3 Make sure the control surface is turned on.
• Shift Order Left and Shift Order Right buttons: These buttons allow you to move the selected control surface icon to rearrange its order. • Summary area: This area displays information about the currently selected control surface. Configuring a MIDI-Based Control Surface This section explains procedures for working with a MIDI-based control surface using the Mackie Control protocol. Important: For information about configuring Euphonix control surfaces, see Configuring Euphonix Control Surfaces.
To delete a control surface 1 Choose Tools > Control Surfaces. 2 Do one of the following: • Click a control surface icon, then press Command-Delete. • Drag a control surface icon outside of the Control Surface Configuration dialog, then release the mouse button. • Click a control surface icon, then click the Delete (-) button. 3 Click OK. How Audio Mixer Tracks Correspond to Control Surface Faders The track number assigned to a physical fader corresponds to the track strips visible in the Audio Mixer.
• Drag a control surface icon to a new position to the left or right. • Press the Left Arrow or Right Arrow key to select a control surface icon, then click the Shift Order Left or Shift Order Right button to move the control surface icon. 3 Click OK. The control surface faders are renumbered according to their new order in the control surface arrangement area.
Controlling the Audio Mixer with a Control Surface After you have connected a control surface and configured Final Cut Pro to work with it, you can use it to remotely control the faders, panning sliders, and buttons in the Audio Mixer, giving you control over multiple tracks simultaneously, as well as more fluid, tactile control over your audio mix. For more information about setting up a control surface, see Connecting a MIDI-Based Control Surface.
Adjusting pan, solo, and mute controls in the Audio Mixer also updates the control surface, and vice versa. If your sequence has more tracks than your control surface, you can switch to the next fader bank to control additional tracks. For more information about fader banks, see Working with Fader Banks. Using Control Surface Transport Controls You can remotely control playback in Final Cut Pro using the transport controls on your control surface.
Recording Audio Mixer Keyframes Using a Control Surface Recording audio mixer automation with a control surface is identical to recording keyframes by adjusting faders in the Audio Mixer. The only difference is that you can control multiple faders and pan knobs simultaneously with a control surface, whereas adjusting faders with the mouse allows you to control only one fader at a time. Using a control surface lets you perform more nuanced mixes, adjusting multiple tracks at once.
When you release the fader, it returns to its trajectory moving toward the –60 dB keyframe.
Mixing Audio in the Timeline and Viewer 57 You can control audio levels and pan in the Timeline and the Viewer as well as the Audio Mixer. You can make adjustments to multiple clips at once, as well as add keyframes to automate mixing levels over time. For more information about the Audio Mixer, see Overview of the Audio Mixer and Using the Audio Mixer. This chapter covers the following: • Adjusting Audio Levels in the Timeline (p. 921) • Changing Audio Levels in the Viewer (p.
You can also select the Clip Overlays control in the Timeline. To display audio waveforms in the Timeline 1 Open a sequence in the Timeline, then choose Sequence > Settings. 2 Click the Timeline Options tab, then select the Show Audio Waveforms checkbox. To avoid opening the Sequence Settings window, you can also press Command-Option-W while the Timeline is active.
2 Move the Pen tool to the point in your sequence where you want to set a keyframe, then click the overlay to set the keyframe. The keyframe appears as a small diamond at the point where you clicked. µ To adjust keyframes in the Timeline Place the Selection tool directly over a keyframe, so that it turns into a crosshair pointer. You can now adjust a single keyframe by dragging it up or down to change its level, or from side to side to move it forward and backward in time.
Keyboard Shortcuts for Changing Audio Keyframes Final Cut Pro provides commands for changing the gain of audio keyframes. These commands are not assigned as menu items. You can assign these commands to keys on the keyboard using the standard procedures for customizing your keyboard layout. These commands are also available as buttons that you can place in your button bar.
To delete audio level keyframes in the Timeline Do one of the following: µ µ Control-click the keyframe you want to delete, then choose Clear from the shortcut menu. µ With the Selection tool selected, hold down the Option key, then move the pointer to the keyframe you want to delete. When the pointer turns into the Delete Point tool, click to delete the keyframe. µ Select the Delete Point tool in the Tool palette (or press the P key twice).
Changing Audio Levels in the Viewer You can control the audio levels and placement of sound (pan) in a clip in the Viewer using the sliders at the top of the Audio tab, the number fields next to the sliders, or the overlays in the middle of the waveform display area. The detail displayed in the audio tabs of the Viewer is good for modifying keyframes recorded using the Audio Mixer. Drag the Level slider to change the audio level.
As you adjust the audio level and pan of clips in Final Cut Pro, your changes can be played back immediately. Final Cut Pro mixes the audio levels in real time, so you don’t need to render your audio as long as your computer can handle the number of tracks you’re working on. Real-time audio processing is covered in more detail in Real-Time Audio Mixing in Final Cut Pro.
The pointer turns into an Adjust Line Segment pointer. Adjust Line Segment pointer 2 Drag the overlay up or down to change the level of the clip. As you drag, a box displays the new audio level. Tip: Hold down the Command key while you drag to “gear down” the speed at which the level is adjusted. To adjust the audio level by using the Modify menu 1 Select one or more clips in the Timeline, or place the Canvas or Timeline playhead over the clip whose audio level you want to modify.
Panning Audio in the Timeline You can adjust the pan of one or more clips in the Timeline using the Audio item in the Modify menu, but you can’t make as many adjustments as you can in the Viewer. Using the menu, you can set a clip’s pan all the way to the left, all the way to the right, or in the center of the stereo output channels. Note: If you use this method to change the pan of a clip that’s a stereo pair, the pan setting for both audio channels changes simultaneously.
As with the Level slider, if there are no pan keyframes in the current clip, adjusting the Pan slider affects the pan of the entire clip. If there are pan keyframes, using this slider will do one of the following: • Adjust the pan of a keyframe at the current position of the playhead. • Add a new keyframe to the pan overlay and adjust it between the left and right output channels. Working with keyframes is explained in more detail in Adjusting Clip Audio Levels and Pan Using Keyframes.
• For a stereo pair: Enter a value between –1 and +1. A value of –1 is the original left and right stereo placement captured with your clip. A value of +1 reverses the left and right channels. Enter a value in this field. 2 Press Return to apply this value to your clip. To adjust pan by dragging the pan overlay 1 In the waveform display area of the Viewer, place the pointer over the pan overlay of your clip (the overlay looks like a purple line, or—for stereo items—two purple lines).
If you want to remove a clip’s attributes, including levels and pan, you can do so by using the Remove Attributes command. For more information, see Removing Attributes from a Clip. Adjusting Clip Audio Levels and Pan Using Keyframes Instead of setting the audio level or pan of an entire clip to the same level throughout a clip, you can mix your levels and stereo placement dynamically, raising and lowering the audio level or changing the stereo pan of a clip numerous times within the same clip.
Holding down the Option key and moving the pointer to an existing keyframe temporarily enables the Delete Point tool, so that you can quickly delete keyframes you don’t want. Using the Command Key to Gear Down Adjustment Speed In Final Cut Pro, items you drag onscreen normally move at the same speed at which you move your mouse across your work surface. When you’re dragging the audio level overlay, this usually works just fine.
• Pan Keyframe button: This button, to the right of the Pan slider, places a pan keyframe at the current playhead location on the pan overlay. These keyframe markers can be used in preparation for dynamically panning an audio clip’s output from one stereo channel to another. • Pan keyframe navigation buttons: These buttons, to the left and right of the Pan Keyframe button, allow you to move the playhead forward or backward from one keyframe on the pan overlay to the next.
µ Select the Selection tool (or press A), then hold down the Option key and position the pointer over the level overlay. The pointer turns into the Pen tool. Click a level overlay with the Pen tool to add a keyframe at that point. Pen tool The keyframe appears as a small diamond on the overlay. To set additional keyframes 1 Move the playhead to another point in the clip where you want to set a keyframe.
µ Move the playhead to the keyframe you want to adjust, type a new value in the appropriate field, and press the Return key. µ Move the pointer over the keyframe you want to modify. When the pointer becomes a crosshair pointer, drag the keyframe you want to modify. • Dragging an audio level keyframe up raises the audio level; dragging down lowers it. As you drag, a box shows you the current level of the keyframe.
As you drag, a box displays the timecode duration of the change you’re making. Keyframe being moved To delete a keyframe Do one of the following: µ Control-click the keyframe you want to delete, then choose Clear from the shortcut menu. µ Move the playhead to the position of the keyframe you want to delete, then click the Level Keyframe or Pan Keyframe button to delete the keyframe. µ Place the pointer over the keyframe you want to delete.
µ Hold down the Option key and position the pointer over an existing keyframe. The pointer turns into the Delete Point tool. Click an existing keyframe with the Delete Point tool to delete that keyframe. With the Delete Point tool, click the keyframe you want to delete. µ To delete all keyframes Click the Reset button. Reset button All keyframes (both audio level and pan) are deleted, and the audio level of your clip is reset to 0 dB.
In the example above, the section of the clip to the left of the keyframes has a level of –30 dB, and the rest of the clip to the right of the keyframes has a level of 0 dB. This is the simplest type of level change you can make. A more sophisticated change in levels—for example, introducing a slight boost in the level of a few notes in a music track—requires three keyframes.
There are long pauses between the narrator’s lines, during which you want the music to be the dominant audio track. So you set the overall level of your music to -4 dB, because that’s the level at which the audio sounds best between the narrator’s lines. When the narrator speaks, however, you want the level of the music to drop so it doesn’t compete with the narrator for attention.
Finally, you’ll want to move the outside pair of each group of four keyframes outward a bit, so the volume of the music doesn’t change too abruptly and startle the audience. Less-steep slopes between keyframes result in more gradual fades from one audio level to the next. Adjust the slope of the level change. Example: Setting Subframe Audio Keyframes to Eliminate Clicks Sometimes, when you find the perfect edit point for cutting a clip into your sequence, you’ll notice a pop or click in the audio.
3 Zoom in to the clip as far as possible. When you’ve zoomed in all the way, the playhead in the Viewer is the width of one video frame. 4 Hold down the Shift key as you drag the playhead to the exact place where the click occurs. 5 Click the Level Keyframe button and reposition the playhead to place two keyframes at the beginning of the click and two keyframes at the end of the click.
The two inner keyframes surround the problem samples, and the two outer keyframes are placed a few hundredths of a frame outside of these. The problem samples 6 Drag the part of the audio level overlay between the two inner keyframes down until the box indicates –60 dB. The overlay looks something like this. The unwanted noise should be gone, and the rest of your clip’s audio is not affected.
Changing pan over time is often done to achieve stereo effects such as making a car sound zoom from left to right, or putting a particular sound effect on one side or the other of a stereo image. If you want the car sound effect in your edited sequence to zoom from the left to the right to match the movement of an onscreen car, here are the steps you would take. To set up a dynamic stereo pan using keyframes 1 Open the car sound effect in the Viewer so you can see it in more detail.
3 Drag the Pan slider all the way to the left, so that the sound starts playing out of the left speaker. 4 Now, move the playhead to a position after the car sound effect has finished playing.
5 Drag the Pan slider all the way to the right, so that the sound ends playing out of the right speaker. Because you’ve already set a keyframe for this clip, dragging the Pan slider at another point in the clip automatically produces a new keyframe. When you play back the clip, you’ll hear the car sound move from left to right.
Using the Voice Over Tool 58 The Voice Over tool lets you record a single audio track directly into a sequence while you watch it. You can use the Voice Over tool to record narration, Foley effects, or any other single-channel audio source. This chapter covers the following: • About the Voice Over Tool (p. 947) • Setting Up Your Computer to Record Voiceover (p. 948) • RAM Requirements When Using the Voice Over Tool (p. 951) • Controls in the Voice Over Tool (p.
About Microphones and Room Noise The quality of your sound recording is dependent on the quality of the microphone and preamplifier used. A microphone converts (or transduces) sound to electricity, and the preamplifier (or preamp) boosts the tiny microphone level to line level for recording. Condenser microphones are much more sensitive than dynamic microphones and are usually best for voice recordings. Condenser microphones require power to operate, whereas dynamic microphones do not.
Stage 1: Installing or Connecting an Audio Interface An audio interface can be your computer’s built-in audio port, a PCI audio card, a USB audio device, or a DV camcorder connected via FireWire. Regardless of which audio interface you use, it must be compatible with Mac OS X. Once your recording device is connected, the Voice Over tool automatically detects it and adds it to the list of devices in the Source pop-up menu.
Note: When recording, the Voice Over tool works with the Sound Manager to record in mono mode. When you choose the audio interface input for a stereo input device, the Voice Over tool uses only the left input channel (channel 1) of a stereo input device when recording; the right channel is ignored. Recorded Voice Over clips, when placed on a track assigned to a mono output bus, appear and sound at the same level as the Voice Over recording meter displayed.
To show or hide the audio clip’s waveform in the Timeline, press Command-Option-W. 20-second point First frame of the ending beep that occurs two frames later 6 If there’s a difference, add this number of frames to the offset already selected, then choose this new number from the Offset pop-up menu. Alternatively, you can move the clip after recording it to compensate for latency.
Tip: If you want to organize the arrangement of windows, choose Window > Arrange > Color Correction. This places the Viewer, Canvas, and Tool Bench on the top part of the screen as windows of equal size, and the Browser and Timeline on the bottom part of the screen.
• Recording: Appears once you’ve started recording in the Timeline. While you’re recording, the status area is red. Fifteen seconds before the end of your recording, you are cued with a single audible beep. During the last 5 seconds of recording, the status area displays a countdown from 5 to 0, accompanied by five beeps, to let you know when the recording time is up. • Finishing: Appears once playback comes to the end of the defined area of the Timeline.
• Offset: This pop-up menu allows you to correct for audio signal latency (delay), which is inherent in all digital audio interfaces. Even though your voiceover performance may be perfect, latency can cause the recorded audio to be slightly offset from the video. Different digital audio capture devices have different amounts of latency. Typically, most USB capture devices have a latency of one frame; most DV camcorders have a latency of three frames.
Setting the Recording Duration You can define the recording duration by setting In and Out points or positioning the playhead. • If both In and Out points are set in the Timeline: They define the duration of the recording. (This is the easiest method.) • If no In point is set: The position of the playhead defines the In point, and recording continues to the Out point.
• If no Out point is set: The end of the sequence is used, defined by the end of the last clip in the Timeline. If Final Cut Pro doesn’t have enough available memory to record the duration specified, a message appears when you click the Record button in the Voice Over tab, prompting you to set a shorter recording duration. Important: Depending on the duration specified, the sync of audio recorded using the Voice Over tool may drift slightly in relation to your sequence’s other audio clips.
The following example shows a sequence with one video track and three audio tracks. A video montage is edited into track V1, with accompanying music edited into tracks A1 and A2. To record to track A3, you need to connect the a2 Source control to the track A3 Destination control. Before Connect the a2 Source control to the A3 Destination control. After The newly recorded audio clip is placed in track A3.
In the next example, all three audio tracks already have audio edited into them, and the a2 Source control is connected to track A3. After using the Voice Over tool, a new track A4 is created, and the new audio clip is placed there. Before After The newly recorded audio clip If another audio clip is already present in the audio track below the track connected to the a2 Source control, a new audio track is inserted below this track.
In the example below, tracks V1, A1, and A2 contain the video and audio for an interview clip. Tracks A3 and A4 contain a stereo music clip. Suppose you connect the a2 Source control to track A2. After using the Voice Over tool, a new audio clip is created and placed in track A3, and the music clip is moved to tracks A4 and A5.
Once you do this, several things happen before your clip is placed in the Timeline. • Any audio within the defined duration of your sequence that requires rendering is rendered. • The playhead moves back 5 seconds before the specified In point, and a 5-second pre-roll plays to prepare you for recording. The last 3 seconds of this pre-roll are indicated by beeps to give you a timing cue.
Recording Multiple Takes Each time you record a clip using the Voice Over tool, the a2 destination track automatically moves down one track. You can record multiple takes, one after the other, with the same specified duration in the Timeline. These new audio clips are placed beneath the one previously recorded. Recording multiple takes this way results in a stack of alternative takes, lined up at the same In point of the sequence.
About Audio Recorded with the Voice Over Tool Audio is recorded during the pre- and post-roll period each time you use the Voice Over tool, giving you extra audio for trimming at the head and tail. Each clip has a 5-second handle at the head and a 2-second handle at the end. By definition, handles do not appear in the sequence clip, but they are visible if you open the clip in the Viewer.
Using Audio Filters 59 Audio filters are used for a variety of purposes, from audio cleanup to special effects. Filter parameters can be copied, pasted, automated, and adjusted in real time. The goal of audio mixing and processing is to create a believable sonic environment that is not distracting. Audio filters can help to remove distracting frequencies, reduce loud sounds, and add ambience to a sonic space.
• Modifying and Removing Filters (p. 977) • Automating Audio Filter Parameters with Keyframes (p. 978) • Making Real-Time Audio Filter Adjustments (p. 982) • Saving a Filter or Transition as a Favorite (p. 984) • Installing Third-Party Audio Units Filters (p. 985) Overview of Audio Filters Filters in Final Cut Pro are always nondestructive, meaning they are applied to clips but not to the media files themselves.
Filters can be added to any audio clip in a project. You can add filters individually or in groups. When you add filters to a clip, they appear in the Filters tab of the Viewer when that clip is opened in the Viewer. How they appear depends on whether the audio clip in the Viewer is a stereo pair. • If the audio clip in the Viewer is a stereo pair: Every filter you add is applied to both channels equally, and only one set of controls appears.
• Enable/Disable checkbox: This allows you to enable or disable filters without removing them from the clip. You can use it to disable filters temporarily to preview a different filter. • Show/Hide Keyframes pop-up menu: This pop-up menu is in the Name bar, under the Nav column. Use this pop-up menu to turn on or off the display of keyframes that appear in blue at the top of the keyframe graph area. You can display keyframes for an individual parameter or keyframes for a combination of parameters.
Note: Different devices define these ranges differently; the following ranges are approximate. Low Frequencies Low frequencies range from approximately 20 Hz to 250 Hz. Audible bass frequencies start around 20 Hz, though many speakers cannot reproduce frequencies this low. This is an example of how audio meters can be deceiving, because the meters may show very high signals but the speakers are not capable of making sounds that low.
• Parametric Equalizer All of the Final Cut Pro EQ filters use a combination of three controls. For example, the Parametric Equalizer filter contains the following controls. • Frequency: This slider lets you select the audio frequency you want to boost or attenuate. The lowest available frequency varies from 10 Hz for the High Pass filter to 80 Hz for the 3 Band Equalizer. The highest available frequency for all EQ filters is 20,000 Hz.
Compressor/Limiter Filter An audio compressor reduces dynamic range by attenuating parts of a signal above a certain threshold. Compression is a very important tool because most listening environments (movie theaters, home stereos, and televisions) have to compete with a certain amount of ambient noise that must be overcome by the quietest sounds in your mix. The problem is that if you simply bring up the level of your audio mix to make the quiet sounds louder, the loud sounds get too loud and distort.
• Preserve Volume: This setting raises the level of the entire clip by a uniform amount to compensate for the attenuation of the clip caused by compression. Expander/Noise Gate Filter An expander increases the dynamic range of an audio signal by attenuating (reducing the gain of ) the signal when it drops below a certain level (the threshold).
Hum Remover The Hum Remover lets you get rid of “cycle hum” that may have been introduced into your audio recording by power lines crossing your cables or by a shorted ground wire in your setup. Hum from power sources generally sounds like a low buzzing and has a frequency that corresponds to the electrical power in your country (for example, countries in North America use 60 Hz AC power, whereas most countries in Europe use 50 Hz power).
Still, if you have a clip with a lot of pops, this filter may reduce these to an acceptable level. Echo and Reverberation Filters Two of the “effects” filters you’ll use most frequently are the Echo and Reverberation filters. You can use reverberation to add the reverberation effects of a particular acoustic space to a sound that was recorded in isolation.
• Type: This pop-up menu (Reverberation only) lets you specify the kind of acoustic environment the filter attempts to reproduce. Applying Filters to an Audio Clip Applying audio filters to clips in Final Cut Pro is easy. To apply an audio filter to a clip in a sequence Do one of the following: µ Select one or more clips in a sequence in the Timeline, choose Effects > Audio Filters, then choose a filter from the submenu. The filter is applied to all the clips you selected.
µ If a sequence clip is open in the Viewer, you can: • Choose a filter from the Audio Filters submenu of the Effects menu. The filter is applied to the clip in the Viewer. • Drag a filter from the Effects tab of the Browser directly to the Viewer. If you apply more than one filter to an audio clip, the filters are applied serially. In other words, the first audio filter is applied, and then the resulting audio signal is fed through the next audio filter, and so on.
2 Copy the clip. 3 Select one or more clips in the Timeline to apply the filter to. 4 Choose Edit > Paste Attributes (or press Option-V). 5 In the Paste Attributes dialog, select these options: • Scale Attribute Times: Shrinks or stretches the keyframes of your copied clip attributes to fit the duration of longer clips you may paste them into. • Audio Attributes: Determines which attributes of the audio clip are pasted.
The keyframe graph area can be divided into three parts for audio tracks in the Timeline. Keyframe editor Audio filters bar Speed indicator area Keyframe Editor Resize column allows you to change the height of the keyframe editor area. • Filters bar: If a clip has one or more audio filters applied, a green bar appears in this space for the duration of that clip.
µ To view the keyframe editor in the keyframe graph area Control-click the Clip Keyframes control, then choose Audio > Keyframe Editor from the shortcut menu. µ To view the speed indicators in the keyframe graph area Control-click the Clip Keyframes control, then choose Audio > Speed Indicators from the shortcut menu. For more information about customizing the keyframe graph area, see Customizing the Keyframe Graph Area in the Timeline.
µ To change the order of filters Drag a filter in the Filters tab to change its place in the list of filters applied to a clip. Note: To make it easier to drag the filter, click the disclosure triangle to the left of the filter’s name to hide the filter’s parameters. To remove a filter from a clip Do one of the following: µ With a clip open in the Viewer, select a filter in the Effects tab, then choose Edit > Clear (or press the Delete key).
To set a keyframe while playback is paused Do one of the following: µ Move the playhead in the keyframe graph area of the Viewer Filters tab to the time where you want to put a keyframe, then click the keyframe button for the parameter you want to set. Click here to create a keyframe for that parameter. µ With the Option key held down, position the pointer over the keyframe graph line for a parameter.
Note: You can only record keyframes in an audio filter parameter during playback if the Record Audio Keyframes button is selected in the Audio Mixer. 2 Begin playback of your sequence. 3 As your sequence plays, position the pointer over the relevant audio filter control in the Filters tab of the Viewer, and hold down the mouse button to begin adjusting that parameter.
µ To move a keyframe forward or backward in time Move the pointer over the keyframe you want to move. When the pointer becomes a crosshair pointer, drag the keyframe forward or backward along the keyframe graph line. As you drag, a box displays the timecode duration of the change you’re making. To delete a keyframe Do one of the following: µ Control-click the keyframe you want to delete, then choose Clear from the shortcut menu. µ Move the pointer over the keyframe you want to delete.
µ To delete all keyframes Click the filter’s Reset button to clear all keyframes from all parameters for that filter and restore the parameters to the default values. Reset button Making Real-Time Audio Filter Adjustments You may find it easier to make adjustments to an audio filter while the clip it’s applied to plays. This way, you can hear how the adjustment sounds as you modify the filter’s parameter.
To loop a section of a clip while making real-time filter adjustments 1 With your clip opened in the Viewer, set In and Out points in the keyframe graph area of the Filters tab. In and Out points in the keyframe graph area 2 In the keyframe graph ruler, move the playhead to the In point. 3 Choose View > Loop Playback to turn on looped playback. 4 To loop playback, choose Mark > Play > In to Out, or press Shift-Backslash (\).
4 Begin playback. 5 Position the pointer over the audio filter control you want to adjust, then hold down the mouse button to begin keyframe recording. 6 Hold down the mouse button to continue recording keyframes, and move the control you’ve selected to adjust the audio filter parameter in real time while playback continues. 7 When you’ve finished, release the mouse button to stop keyframe recording. The sequence continues to play, and the audio filter controls return to the previously set levels.
Installing Third-Party Audio Units Filters If you install third-party Audio Units filters, they will be available to all applications on your computer that are capable of using them, including Final Cut Pro. You only need to install them in one location. Before purchasing third-party Audio Units filters for use with Final Cut Pro, check with the third-party manufacturer to make sure the filters are compatible.
Exporting Audio for Mixing in Other Applications 60 If you plan to send your audio to an audio post-production facility for finishing, you can export audio tracks to standard audio formats such as AIFF or OMF. This chapter covers the following: • Ways You Can Finish Your Audio (p. 987) • Organizing Your Audio Clips for Multitrack Export (p. 988) • About Exporting Audio Tracks to Individual Audio Files (p. 990) • Preparing to Export Audio Tracks as Audio Files (p.
Another reason to use a post-production facility is to have your audio worked on in a room where acoustics have been specially designed for mixing. Additionally, excellent monitoring speakers and high-quality audio equipment allow your editor to hear everything that’s in the audio, so you can be confident that the frequencies and levels being adjusted in your audio are accurate.
You might put one actor’s voice in track A1, and another actor’s voice in track A2. Narration recorded with the Voice Over tool might go in track A3. Background ambience clips such as wind and rain might go in tracks A4 and A5. Sound effects could go in tracks A6, A7, and A8. Finally, four tracks for overlapping stereo music clips would be dedicated to tracks A9, A10, A11, and A12.
About Exporting Audio Tracks to Individual Audio Files If you have a lot of source audio in your sequence that wasn’t captured with timecode, or if you need to export your audio to a video system that doesn’t support OMF import, you can export each audio track to its own audio file. These files can then be imported into a multitrack audio application. The disadvantage of this method is that it doesn’t preserve your edit points because all of the audio clips in each track become one audio file.
• Stage 4: Removing Audio Filters and Deleting Level or Pan Keyframes Stage 1: Making a Duplicate of Your Sequence Because you may make significant alterations to your sequence, it’s better to duplicate the sequence and work on the copy. If you make any drastic errors, you can always return to your original sequence. Stage 2: Inserting Sync Beeps for Each Audio Track Insert a one-frame sync beep at the beginning and end of each audio track in your sequence.
4 Press I to mark an In point, press the Right Arrow key on the keyboard to move forward one frame, then press O to mark an Out point. In and Out points for the single-frame clip 5 Drag this clip from the Viewer to the first frame of your sequence in the Timeline. 6 Option-click the video portion of the one-frame clip to select that part only. Select the video only, then press Delete. 7 Press Delete to delete the video portion of this clip. Only the audio portion remains as your sync beep.
8 Cut the stereo beep and paste it 2 seconds beyond the beginning and end of each audio track you will export. This shows the sync beep at the beginning of an audio track. Stage 3: Arranging Audio Clips So They Don’t Overlap When you export audio files, there is no automatic way to include “handles,” or extra audio at the beginning and end of each audio clip.
Exporting Audio Tracks as Individual Audio Files When you export an audio track in your sequence, the new audio file becomes a continuous audio file the length of the sequence. All the clips in that track are merged into a single, continuous media file. To export a single audio track as an audio file 1 Option-click the Track Visibility control next to the audio track you want to export. If more than one track is enabled, the enabled tracks are mixed together during export.
6 In the Sound Settings dialog, choose the format, number of channels, sample rate, quality, and sample size (bit depth), then click OK. Choose Linear PCM. Choose Mono. Enter a sample rate or choose one from this pop-up menu. Choose the quality level you want. Choose a bit depth. Important: Avoid audio compression unless you are specifically required to use it for multimedia projects or the web. 7 When you’re ready to export, click Save.
In your sequence, you can assign as many tracks as you want to the same audio output channel. For example, you can assign tracks 1-4 to audio output channel 1 (mono). The resulting exported audio file for output channel 1 would contain a mix of audio from tracks 1-4. You can use audio output channels to group and mix multiple audio tracks together during export. For example, you could assign tracks 1-4 to output channel 1, tracks 5-8 to output channel 2, and tracks 9-10 to stereo output channels 3 and 4.
Each of the 12 audio tracks can be assigned to one of the three pairs of output channels. More than one track can be assigned to the same output channel, in which case the audio from those tracks is mixed to a single audio file during export. In this situation, using the Export Audio to AIFF(s) option creates three separate stereo AIFF files.
• Organize your audio clips by track: If you’re planning to export multiple stereo AIFF files, it’s a good idea to organize the audio clips you use in your edited sequence according to their content (dialogue, sound effects, and so on). This makes your project easier to mix, and your output assignments more logical. Exporting Audio to AIFF Files Follow these steps to export AIFF files for each audio output channel in your sequence.
Note: All audio that requires rendering is automatically rendered with a render quality of High, regardless of the render quality setting. Exporting Multichannel QuickTime Files The rules for audio grouping are the same when exporting a QuickTime movie as when exporting individual AIFF files: stereo output pairs are exported as a single stereo QuickTime audio track, and each mono output is exported as an individual mono QuickTime audio track.
Using OMF for audio export has several important advantages: • Exported OMF files preserve your audio clips and audio media files (with or without handles) embedded in a single file. This allows you to open up the audio from your sequence in another audio editing application and still have access to individual clips. • You can export as many tracks of audio as you have in your sequence. EDL export limits you to a maximum of four tracks of audio at a time.
To export audio from a sequence to an OMF file 1 Select a sequence in the Browser or open a sequence in the Timeline. 2 In the Timeline, make sure that each audio track you want to export is enabled (the Track Visibility control next to the track is green). Make sure just the audio tracks you want to export are enabled (green). Disabled tracks are not exported. 3 Choose File > Export > Audio to OMF. 4 In the OMF Audio Export dialog, choose the options you want, then click OK.
• Include Crossfade Transitions: Because some OMF importing tools do not handle cross fade transitions correctly, and many sound editors prefer to create cross fades themselves, you have the option to leave cross fades out when exporting your sequence as an OMF file. When this checkbox is deselected, extra source media is substituted for the duration of the cross fade being left out. How much extra source media is substituted depends on whether the cross fade was edited before, on, or after the edit point.
Copying Audio to Timecoded Tapes If you captured media files from sources without timecode—such as VHS tape, DAT tapes, reel-to-reel tape recorders, or imported audio CDs—the resulting EDL won’t be useful for recapturing because the EDL does not contain relevant timecode information that refers back to the original sources. The solution is to copy all of your audio without timecode to formats that support timecode. You should do this before you begin editing your movie.
Tips for Better Audio 61 Read through the sections in this chapter for tips on cutting dialogue, cutting music, and keeping your tracks organized. This chapter covers the following: • Learning to Describe Sound Accurately (p. 1005) • Efficiently Using the Frequency Spectrum (p. 1005) • Tips for Cutting Dialogue (p. 1006) • Tips for Cutting Music (p.
Tips for Cutting Dialogue Here are some tips and tricks for taking care of routine dialogue editing problems. Use cross fades to smooth out problem edits If you’re having trouble finding an edit point between two audio clips that sounds smooth, try using a transition instead of a straight cut. More information on audio transitions can be found in Refining Transitions Using the Transition Editor.
When you do this kind of edit, watch out for the beginnings and endings of words. Sometimes people run words together if they speak quickly. If you’re replacing a word in clip 1 with the same word from clip 2, make sure the sound that comes before the new word in clip 2 is the same as the sound that comes before the word it’s replacing in clip 1.
Each take is shot from a slightly different angle, and there’s one visual take that you like more than the others, even though the dialogue in it isn’t that great. In another take, the actor said the word “wow” really well. A third take has the best version of the line “That’s a big piece of pie!” If the actor was good and the pacing of each of these takes is roughly the same, it’s fairly easy to combine all three clips into one good take.
Use the natural beginnings and endings of music clips for your edits Instead of fading a piece of music in and out of a sequence at random points, try matching specific parts of the music with parts of the video clips in the sequence for a dramatic impact. Then, at the points where you need to start and end this music in your sequence, edit in the beginning and the ending from that track, lining them up to match the rhythm and melody of the part of the track that you’re using.
When you cut from a picture to music, don’t always cut on the beat Sometimes, lining up a video edit on a significant beat in the music can have fantastic results. Sometimes, however, it’s overused. Especially in music videos, remember to make some cuts that don’t match the beat of the music. Otherwise, your edits will be predictable, and ultimately tedious, to the viewer.
Working with Soundtrack Pro and Logic Pro 62 You can quickly process Final Cut Pro audio clips or mix your entire sequence directly in Soundtrack Pro. You can use Logic Pro to create music scores for your Final Cut Pro projects. This chapter covers the following: • Using Soundtrack Pro with Final Cut Pro (p. 1011) • Sending Individual Audio Clips from Final Cut Pro to Soundtrack Pro (p. 1012) • Creating Soundtrack Pro Multitrack Projects (p. 1017) • Initiating Soundtrack Pro Conform with Final Cut Pro (p.
• If you need a complete audio post-production solution for your movie, including sound editing, sweetening, and mixing: You can send multiple Final Cut Pro clips—or even an entire sequence—to a Soundtrack Pro multitrack project, where you can complete your final mix by adding additional tracks of sound effects, voiceover, and music. Both stereo and surround sound mixing are supported.
Sending Clips from Final Cut Pro to the Soundtrack Pro File Editor When you send an audio clip from Final Cut Pro to the Soundtrack Pro File Editor, a Soundtrack Pro audio file project is created with the file extension .stap. This file can be edited nondestructively. The Final Cut Pro clip is reconnected to the new Soundtrack Pro audio file project, so the original media file is not affected by what you do in the File Editor.
A Soundtrack Pro audio file project is created and opened in the Soundtrack Pro File Editor. The Final Cut Pro clip is reconnected to the new Soundtrack Pro audio file project instead of its original media file. 4 Modify the audio as needed. 5 Choose File > Save to save the project with the changes. A dialog appears allowing you to choose whether the Soundtrack Pro audio file project should include a copy of the original audio media file or simply refer to it.
5 Click OK. 6 A Soundtrack Pro audio file project is created for each clip selected in Final Cut Pro. Each Soundtrack Pro audio file project is then opened in a File Editor tab in Soundtrack Pro. Processing a Clip’s Media File with a Soundtrack Pro Script When you send a Final Cut Pro clip’s media to a Soundtrack Pro script, the following steps occur for each unique file: • With your consent, Final Cut Pro generates a Soundtrack Pro audio file project and replaces the clip’s media file with it.
4 Select one of the following options: • Yes: Creates a Soundtrack Pro audio file project for each clip and then prompts you for a location to save these project files. You can create a new folder by pressing Command-Shift-N. • No: This option edits the files destructively, making permanent changes to the original media files. • Cancel: Cancels the script operation. Soundtrack Pro opens and each clip is automatically opened, edited, saved, and closed in the File Editor.
To open a Final Cut Pro audio clip’s media file directly in the Soundtrack Pro File Editor 1 Control-click the audio clip in either the Final Cut Pro Browser or Timeline, then choose Open in Editor from the shortcut menu. The audio clip’s media file opens in the Soundtrack Pro File Editor. 2 In Soundtrack Pro, modify the audio as needed. 3 Choose File > Save to save the file with the changes. The Save dialog appears.
2 Do one of the following: • Choose File > Send To > Soundtrack Pro Multitrack Project. • Control-click the selection and choose Send To > Soundtrack Pro Multitrack Project. 3 In the dialog that appears, choose from the following options: • Open in Soundtrack Pro Multitrack Editor: Select this option to open the multitrack project in Soundtrack Pro after it is created. • Include Background Video: Select this option to render the video in your Final Cut Pro sequence.
Sending a Mixdown Back to Final Cut Pro Automatically When you create a Soundtrack Pro multitrack project from within Final Cut Pro, all of the sequence clip information is stored in the multitrack project. When you export a mixdown of the multitrack project in Soundtrack Pro, you can also choose to open a new copy of the Final Cut Pro sequence that looks just like the original sequence but has additional audio tracks that contain your mixdown.
In Final Cut Pro, the Import XML dialog appears. 6 Use the Destination pop-up menu to choose your original project, then click OK. A copy of your original sequence (with the name you specified in step 5) appears in the Browser. 7 Double-click the new sequence in the Browser to open it in the Timeline. The sequence opens with the mixdown audio correctly synchronized to your clips in the Timeline and the original audio tracks muted.
To make changes to a Soundtrack Pro multitrack project that was previously exported to Final Cut Pro as a mixdown clip 1 In your Final Cut Pro sequence, Control-click the existing mixdown clip, then choose Open in Editor from the shortcut menu. Note: Make sure that the Open in Editor command is set to open audio files in Soundtrack Pro. For details, see About the Open in Editor Command.
In Final Cut Pro, the Import XML dialog appears. 8 Use the Destination pop-up menu to choose your original project, then click OK. A copy of your original sequence (with the name you specified in step 7) appears in the Browser. 9 Double-click the new sequence in the Browser to open it in the Timeline. The sequence opens with the mixdown audio correctly synchronized to your clips in the Timeline and the original audio tracks muted.
• Changes and edits are made in parallel to both the Final Cut Pro sequence and the Soundtrack Pro multitrack project. • The changed Final Cut Pro sequence is sent to a second Soundtrack Pro multitrack project. • The old and new multitrack projects are conformed, or merged, into a third (”result”) project. To initiate the process to conform a Soundtrack Pro multitrack project to changes made to the source sequence in Final Cut Pro 1 Select a sequence in the Final Cut Pro Browser.
This initiates the conform process. 8 In the dialog that appears, select the current Soundtrack Pro audio mix in the list on the left and the updated project, just sent from Final Cut Pro, in the list on the right, then click Conform. Note: Only projects that have embedded Final Cut Pro clip metadata (projects sent from Final Cut Pro or opened via XML documents) appear in this dialog. The Conform tab displays various lists and information about the changes in each version of the project.
To import an XML file into Logic Pro 1 In Logic Pro, choose File > Import. 2 Locate the XML file, then click Choose. The sequence’s audio opens in Logic Pro. Exporting Final Cut Pro XML Files from Logic Pro You can export the current song’s audio as a Final Cut Pro XML Interchange Format file that you can then import into a Final Cut Pro project. To export the current song in Logic Pro as an XML file 1 In Logic Pro, choose File > Export > Song to Final Cut Pro/XML.
Using Video Filters 63 Once you have clips in a sequence, you can apply filters to process and modify the visual content of your clips. This chapter covers the following: • Different Ways to Use Filters (p. 1027) • Applying a Filter to a Clip (p. 1028) • Applying Multiple Filters to Clips (p. 1031) • Viewing and Adjusting a Filter’s Parameters (p. 1032) • Displaying Filters Bars in the Timeline (p. 1040) • Enabling and Rearranging Filters (p. 1041) • Copying and Pasting a Clip’s Filters (p.
• Create and manipulate transparency effects: Use filters like the Chroma Keyer or Garbage Matte to create and manipulate the alpha channel information of clips in your project. Key filters create alpha channels based on blue, green, white, or black areas in the image. Other filters, such as the Widescreen and Soft Edges filters, allow you to further manipulate the areas of transparency in a keyed clip, expanding, contracting, and feathering the area of transparency to fine-tune the effect.
To apply a filter to a clip in a sequence Do one of the following: µ Select one or more clips in the Timeline, choose Effects > Video Filters, then choose a filter from the submenus. List of video filters Different Blur filters Tip: If no clip is selected in the Timeline, the filter is applied to the clip beneath the playhead on the track with Auto Select turned on.
• Drag a filter from the Effects tab of the Browser directly into the Viewer. Drag the filter from the Browser... ...to the sequence clip in the Viewer. You can apply a filter to an entire clip or just part of a clip. To apply a filter to part of a clip in a sequence 1 Select the Range Selection tool in the Tool palette (or press the G key three times). Range Selection tool 2 In the Timeline, drag across the part of the clip to which you want to apply the filter.
The filter is applied to the selected part of the clip only. When you open this clip in the Viewer, filter Start and End points appear in the keyframe graph area of the Filters tab. Start and End points for the filter • Drag a filter from the Effects tab of the Browser to the selected portion of the clip. µ To reposition the filter Start and End points In the keyframe graph area, drag the Start or End point of the filter to the new time or location.
Once multiple filters are applied to a clip, you can change the order in which they take effect by dragging them up and down the list in the Filters tab. For more information, see Enabling and Rearranging Filters. To apply multiple filters to a clip in a sequence Do one of the following: µ µ Apply filters to a clip one at a time (described earlier).
To view the filters applied to a clip Do one of the following: µ µ µ Open a clip in the Viewer, then click the Filters tab. If a sequence clip is already open in the Viewer, click the Filters tab. In the video track of a clip in the Timeline, double-click the filters bar. The clip is opened in the Viewer with the Filters tab selected.
Controls in the Filters Tab of the Viewer There are various controls you can use to manipulate filters in Final Cut Pro. Although each filter has its own individual parameters and controls, all filters have some controls in common.
• Disclosure triangle: Click to show and hide all of the controls for a filter. • Parameter controls: Each filter has its own set of parameter controls. • Current Timecode field: This field displays the position of the playhead in the keyframe graph area. When you enter a new timecode value, the playhead moves to that time. • Keyframe button: Click to place a keyframe for the corresponding parameter at the playhead location in the keyframe graph, in preparation for creating a dynamic change in an effect.
• Keyframe graph ruler: The keyframe graph ruler corresponds to the duration of the clip or the location of a clip in a sequence: • If a clip is opened from the Browser: The keyframe graph ruler shows the duration of the clip itself. The playhead in the Viewer moves independently of the playhead in the Timeline or Canvas. • If a clip is opened from a sequence in the Timeline: The keyframe graph ruler shows the section of the Timeline that the clip is edited into.
Sliders By default, sliders show only whole integer values. Numeric value of the slider setting Typical slider µ To adjust the corresponding value to within two decimal places of precision Hold down the Shift key while dragging a slider. µ To gear down a slider, allowing you to make more precise changes to the parameter Hold down the Command key while dragging a slider.
Logarithmic sliders are useful for parameters that have a huge range of possible values, with a particular range at the top or at the bottom being more useful than the others. Point Control Point controls are used to specify locations in the Canvas. To define a new location with x and y coordinates 1 In the Filters tab of the Viewer, click the point control. Point control X and y coordinates 2 Move the pointer to the Canvas. The pointer changes to the crosshair pointer in the Canvas.
µ To gear down the dial’s movement for a more precise value Press the Command key while adjusting the control. µ To reset the dial to its previous setting while adjusting a parameter Drag the pointer all the way out of the effect parameter. Color Controls The color controls give you several ways to select a color value. Eyedropper Hue direction control Color picker Click the disclosure triangle to display the hue, saturation, and brightness controls.
Clip Well Some filters, such as the Bumpmap filter, contain a clip well that allows you to use video from any clip in your project as a parameter for the filter. Clip well µ To use a clip as a parameter in a filter Drag any clip from your project to the clip well in the Filters tab. Tip: Final Cut Pro generators can be dragged to clip wells the same as other clips. µ To clear a clip that’s currently attached to a clip well Control-click the clip well, then choose Clear from the shortcut menu.
To show or hide filters bars Do one of the following: µ µ µ Click the Clip Keyframes control in the Timeline. Choose Sequence > Settings, then click the Timeline Options tab. Select or deselect the Filters Bar checkbox in the Video column of the Clip Keyframes area. To open a clip in the Viewer using filters bars In the Timeline, double-click a green bar or keyframe to open that clip in the Viewer. The Filters tab is automatically opened.
Copying and Pasting a Clip’s Filters When you copy a clip from the Timeline, you also copy all of that clip’s settings, including filters applied to that clip. Instead of pasting duplicates of the clip you’ve copied, you can paste only that clip’s filters into other clips by using the Paste Attributes command in the Edit menu. Warning: Pasting attributes into clips that have different frame rates from the copied clip produces erratic results.
µ µ µ Select the filter, then choose Edit > Cut. Control-click a filter, then choose Cut from the shortcut menu. Select the filter in the Filters tab, then press Delete. To remove all of a clip’s video filters 1 Click the video filter category bar in the Filters tab. 2 Choose Edit > Clear (or press Delete).
Installing and Managing Video Effects 64 Final Cut Pro includes numerous video filters for a wide range of applications. You can also expand the capabilities of Final Cut Pro with third-party filters. This chapter covers the following: • Plug-in Formats Supported by Final Cut Pro (p. 1045) • Installing Video Filters (p. 1046) • Identifying and Organizing Video Effects (p. 1047) • Transferring Effects Between Systems (p. 1049) • Plug-in Restrictions and Troubleshooting (p.
About FxPlug FxPlug is an image-processing plug-in architecture developed by Apple. FxPlug makes it possible for any plug-in developer to develop hardware-accelerated effects using technologies such as OpenGL, CoreGraphics, and CoreImage. Processor-based effects are also supported. For more information about developing FxPlug plug-ins, go to http://developer.apple.com/appleapplications/fxplugsdk.html.
Installing FXScript Plug-ins FXScript plug-ins that you create yourself or purchase from a third party should be installed in one of the following folders: • /Library/Application Support/Final Cut Pro System Support/Plugins/ • /Users/username/Library/Preferences/Final Cut Pro User Data/Plugins/ FXScript plug-ins included with Final Cut Pro are stored within the application itself.
• Preferred: Shows whether an effect is preferred or not. You can turn this property on and off by clicking in the column next to the effect. You can also turn this property on or off for multiple effects by selecting them, Control-clicking in the Preferred column next to any of the selected effects, and then choosing Yes or No from the shortcut menu. • Description: Shows a brief description of the effect (if it contains one). FxPlug plug-ins contain descriptions, but FXScript plug-ins do not.
Transferring Effects Between Systems If you have a project that uses particular FxPlug plug-ins, you need to install those plug-ins on each machine where you want to open the project. If you open a project on a system that does not have the necessary FxPlug plug-ins installed, Final Cut Pro warns you that plug-ins are missing and displays the name of missing effects.
When you enable high-precision rendering in your sequence settings, some systems with older graphics cards may be able to play back clips with FxPlug plug-ins in real time but may not be able to render those clips. Keep in mind that a green render status bar indicates only the real-time playback status of a clip in the Timeline; it does not indicate whether or not it is possible to render that clip.
• If your computer has a graphics card with 128 MB or less of video RAM (VRAM), some FxPlug plug-ins installed with Motion are not available in Final Cut Pro.
Video Filters Available in Final Cut Pro 65 Final Cut Pro includes numerous video filters for a wide range of applications. This chapter covers the following: • About Final Cut Pro Video Filters (p. 1053) • Video Filters Installed with Final Cut Pro (p. 1054) About Final Cut Pro Video Filters Final Cut Pro comes with both FXScript plug-in filters and FxPlug plug-in filters.
To display only recommended filters 1 Click the Effects tab in the Browser to make it active. 2 Control-click the Name area in the Browser, then choose Only Show Recommended Effects from the shortcut menu. Some video filters appear in boldface in the Effects tab and in the Video Filters submenus. Video filters that appear in boldface don’t require a clip to be rendered for playback when applied. Video filters that are not boldface may require the clip to be rendered in order to play back.
Filter Result Channel Blur Gives you control over blurring each color channel of an image. The Channel Blur filter can be applied selectively to each of the different color channels of the image: red, green, blue, and alpha. Blurring individual channels allows you to create customized glow effects by retaining sharpness in selected channels while softening others.
Filter Result Soft Focus Creates an effect that’s similar to duplicating an image and compositing it against itself, and then blurring one of the overlapping images. The advantage of this filter is that you can do this all within a single filter. The Strength parameter controls how much of the blurred image is added back to the original image, while other sliders let you control the overall, horizontal, and vertical amount of blur.
Filter Result Arithmetic Performs an arithmetic operation, blending a specific color channel of your clip with another color. You can choose the operator used and the channel it’s applied to from pop-up menus. The Color controls allow you to specify the color with which the channel interacts. Channel Blur Allows you to apply varying amounts of blur to each of the color and alpha channels of your clip simultaneously. Sliders let you control how much blur is applied to each channel.
Filter Color Result Corrector1 A basic filter for performing simple color correction. While not as fully featured as the Color Corrector 3-way filter, it’s more likely to be supported by real-time hardware. Color Corrector 3-way1 Gives you more precise color control with separate adjustments to the color balance of the blacks, midtones, and whites of your image.
Filter Result Displace Distorts the clip by offsetting pixels using the red and green channels. You can adjust the horizontal offset using the red channel and the vertical offset using the green channel. Horizontal Scale and Vertical Scale sliders define the direction and amount of the offset; the Luma Scale slider and Repeat Edge checkbox define the appearance of the offset.
Filter Result Ripple Distorts the clip in a wave pattern, both horizontally and vertically. You can adjust both parameters independently using the Amplitude, Wave Length, Horizontal Speed, and Vertical Speed sliders. The Repeat Edges checkbox ensures that no black appears at the edges of the frame. Scrape Smears an image along an angle defined by the Rotation parameter. The Scrape effect starts at the center point and continues to the edge of the image. This filter causes rasterization in 3D groups.
Filter Result Bloom Simulates the effect of extremely overexposed highlights on film. Highlights above a certain threshold are blurred, brightened, and recomposited with the original. All unaffected regions of the image interact with the glow effect, but otherwise retain their detail. Dazzle Adds glowing star-shaped accents to the highlights in an image. This filter can be customized to create anything from subtle highlights to outrageous, colorful flashes of color. Gloom Creates a muted, dark glow.
Filter Result Color Reduce Reduces the full range of color in an image down to two, three, or four colors that you select. Depending on the number of substitute colors you choose in the Reduce To parameter, this filter breaks down the full range of colors in the image into a color range for each Match Color parameter that’s available. It then substitutes the selected Replace With color for each interpreted range of color.
Filter Proc Amp1 Result Simulates the controls available on a composite video processing amplifier (proc amp). This filter gives you excellent control over the black levels, white levels, chroma, and phase of your clip. The Setup slider lets you adjust the black level of your clip. The Video slider lets you adjust the white level. The Chroma slider allows you to cut or boost the levels of color in your clip, and the Phase Angle control lets you adjust the hue.
Filter Result Blue and Green Screen (FXScript version recommended) Keys the blue or green area of a clip and uses the selected color as a transparency mask for compositing foreground elements against a background scene. A View pop-up menu allows you to look at the source of the clip (with no key applied), the matte created by the filter, the final matted image, or a special composite of the source, matte, and final image for reference.
Filter Result Difference Matte Compares two clips and keys out areas that are similar. A View pop-up menu allows you to look at the source of the clip (with no key applied), the matte created by the filter, the final matted image, or a special composite of the source, matte, and final image for reference. The Difference Layer clip well allows you to specify another clip to compare the current image to for keying.
Matte Filters Matte filters can be used by themselves to mask out areas of a clip, or to create alpha channel information for a clip to make a transparent border so that the clip can be composited against other layers. Matte filters can also be used to make further adjustments to layers with key filters applied to them. For detailed information, see Using Mattes to Add or Modify Alpha Channels.
Filter Result Matte Choker (FXScript version recommended) Usually used in conjunction with a key filter to manipulate the edges of the key. The Edge Thin slider in the Matte Choker is often used instead of the Edge Thin slider in the key filter because it can produce a more realistic result. When you use the Matte Choker, moving the Edge Thin slider to the right gradually eats into marginally keyed areas of a filter, eliminating fringe and smoothing out the edges of your matte.
Filter Result Curl Curls the clip as if it were a piece of paper. You can adjust the direction, radius, and amount of curl. The Peel checkbox changes the effect between curling up in a roll and peeling up like a sticker. The Back clip well allows you to use a different clip as the back side of the curled image. Flop (FXScript version recommended) Allows you to flop a clip horizontally, vertically, or both.
Filter Result Bad TV Simulates poor analog television reception, adding attributes like exaggerated video field scan lines, static, and roll. This filter causes rasterization in 3D groups. Circle Screen Reduces an image to a high-contrast grayscale version of itself. It then screens it using a pattern of concentric circles, simulating a sort of etched screening technique. The image is represented by varying thicknesses in the circular pattern. This filter causes rasterization in 3D groups.
Filter Result Emboss Produces the illusion of raised edges where there is high contrast in the clip. The Direction Angle control allows you to specify the direction of the emboss effect. The Depth slider lets you raise or lower the apparent depth of the embossing. The Amount slider controls the blend between the original clip and the emboss effect. Extrude Gives an image simulated depth by creating a “front” and “back” side and then offsets them and extrudes the edges so they connect.
Filter Result Relief Uses the color values of an image or height map to calculate height vertices, creating the appearance of a 3D height map. This filter causes rasterization in 3D groups. Replicate Tiles the clip to create a duplicate video wall effect. You can adjust the number of tiles independently for the horizontal and vertical axes, up to 16 repetitions. If the horizontal and vertical repetitions are not the same, the repeated images appear distorted.
Filter Result Offset Treats an image as a tile, offsetting its horizontal and vertical origins but displaying the entire image nevertheless. This filter causes rasterization in 3D groups. Perspective Tile Endlessly tiles an image, mapping it onto a grid that can be positioned in simulated 3D space. Can create an endlessly repeating video wall stretching off into the distance. This filter causes rasterization in 3D groups.. Random Tile Tiles your image in an irregular pattern with circular panels.
Video Filters Video filters are generally used to solve specific problems with clips in your sequence, although there are design-oriented filters in this category as well. Filter Result Blink Flashes the clip on and off. You can adjust the frequency independently using the On Duration and Off Duration sliders, and the maximum dip in opacity using the Opacity slider. De-interlace Can be used to remove the upper (odd) or lower (even) field from an interlaced video clip.
Changing Motion Parameters 66 Every video and graphics clip in a project has a set of parameters that can be edited in the Motion tab of the Viewer. These parameters include Scale, Rotation, and Center. This chapter covers the following: • Creating Motion Effects in the Viewer (p. 1075) • Adjusting Parameters in the Motion Tab (p. 1076) • Using Cartesian Geometry to Position Clips (p. 1082) • Examples Using Motion Settings (p. 1084) • Creating Motion Effects in the Canvas (p.
Note: Audio parameters can be keyframed as well. For more information, see Automating Audio Filter Parameters with Keyframes. Adjusting Parameters in the Motion Tab Motion parameters are located in the Motion tab of the Viewer.
Drop Shadow and Motion Blur must be enabled before you can adjust their parameters. µ To enable the Drop Shadow or Motion Blur attribute Select the checkbox next to Drop Shadow or Motion Blur. Some parameters must be enabled to use them. Drop Shadow parameters Motion Blur parameters To adjust motion parameters Do one of the following: µ µ µ Drag the slider. Enter a new value in the number field, then press Return. Drag the corresponding overlay in the keyframe graph.
Controls in the Motion Tab The following section describes the attributes and related parameters in the Motion tab of the Viewer. Basic Motion parameters Distort attribute Keyboard Modifiers for Controls in the Motion Tab You can use the following keyboard modifiers when using slider controls: • To adjust the value by two decimal places of accuracy: Hold down the Shift key. • To slow down a slider’s movement and select a more precise value: Hold down the Command key.
Basic Motion Parameters The Basic Motion parameters allow you to add motion to a clip—changing the scale, rotating a clip, moving the center point, and setting an anchor point. Basic Motion parameters Distort attribute • Scale: Changes the overall size of a clip without changing its proportions. • Rotation: Rotates a clip around its center axis without changing its shape. Clips can be rotated plus or minus 24 rotations.
Distort Parameters Change a clip’s Distort parameters to alter the rectangular shape of a clip or to give it a different aspect ratio. • Upper Left, Upper Right, Lower Right, Lower Left: You can change the shape of a clip by moving each of four corner points independently of one another. The corner points defining the relative distortion of a clip are offset relative to the center of the clip.
Motion Blur allows you to create or exaggerate motion blur in ordinary video clips. For example, if you apply motion blur to a clip in which someone is standing still and waving an arm, the arm becomes blurred, while the rest of the image remains sharp. This happens even though the arm waving is not a keyframed motion effect. Motion Blur also lets you add motion blur to video clips that have none, such as computer animation that was rendered without it.
Using the Paste Attributes Command As you composite multiple clips together in Final Cut Pro, it’s important to take advantage of whatever shortcuts you can to eliminate steps and save time. The Paste Attributes command in the Edit menu (with the keyboard shortcut Option-V) is a valuable tool for selectively copying attributes from one clip to another without having to open clips in the Viewer. It also eliminates the need to repeat steps when applying identical effects to multiple clips.
µ To move a clip to the left Enter a negative value for the clip’s x coordinate. µ To move a clip down Enter a positive value for the clip’s y coordinate. µ To move a clip up Enter a negative value for the clip’s y coordinate. For example, suppose the center point of the clip on track V2 is –218, –119. This puts the clip 218 pixels to the left and 119 pixels up from the Canvas center point.
When you copy and paste these attributes to the clip on track V3, the clip appears in exactly the same place. However, if you change its x coordinate from negative 218 to positive 218, you put that clip’s center point 218 pixels to the right of the Canvas center point, which moves it to the other side.
Note: If you don’t use a background layer (such as a graphic, video clip, or Final Cut Pro generator clip), all layered clips appear against black by default. Initial background layer 2 Set the sequence In and Out points to be the duration of this background clip (choose Mark > Mark Clip, or press X).
3 From the Browser, open the first clip you want to arrange in the background of your composition, then edit it into the sequence using a superimpose edit. A new track is created above the current V1 video track, and your clip is inserted into it. 4 Double-click the sequence clip you’ve just edited into the Timeline (not the background clip) to open it in the Viewer, then click the Motion tab. Motion settings for this clip Dots in the scrubber bar indicate the clip is in a sequence.
5 Click the Basic Motion disclosure triangle to reveal the Basic Motion parameters, then drag the Scale slider to 38 (or enter “38” in the Scale number field, then press Return). As you drag the Scale slider to the left, the clip gets smaller in the Canvas. 6 Drag the Rotation Angle control (the dial) to the left so that it reads “–28.” A negative value rotates the clip to the left; a positive value rotates it to the right. The change is also reflected in the Canvas.
7 Select the point control for the Center parameter and move the pointer to the Canvas (the pointer changes to a crosshair), then click in the upper-left corner of the Canvas. Point control for the Center parameter The change is also reflected in the Canvas. The new coordinates of the clip’s center point appear in these number fields. Clicking in the Canvas with the crosshair moves the x and y values of that clip’s center point to the pixel you clicked.
8 In the Timeline, specify track V2 as the current destination track (click the V2 Destination control). Then, using a superimpose edit, edit in a second clip you want to place in the background. A second clip is placed in track V3 of the sequence, using the same In and Out points. Now, you want to copy all the motion settings from the first clip and selectively apply them to this second clip. 9 Select the clip in track V2 that you resized and repositioned, then choose Edit > Copy.
10 Select the Basic Motion checkbox, then click OK. This setting is the only attribute you want to copy. The two clips occupy the same position in the Canvas, but the clip on track V3 takes precedence and appears in the Canvas. The new clip in track V3 now has the same motion settings as the clip in track V2. Although you want to keep the size of this new clip the same, you want to position it in the right corner, as a mirror image of your original clip.
Note: The x and y coordinates of a clip in the Canvas are based on the offset between that clip’s center point and the center point of the Canvas. See Using Cartesian Geometry to Position Clips for more information. Now, you want to make this clip rotate to the right rather than to the left. 13 Delete the minus sign (–) from the Rotation number field, then press the Return key. The two clips are now on opposite sides, rotated differently.
16 Click the Basic Motion disclosure triangle to reveal the Basic Motion parameters, then adjust the Scale slider to 66, so that this clip is 66 percent of its original size. Set the Scale slider to 66. The foreground clip is now 66 percent of its original size. Now you need to move this clip down so it doesn’t obscure the clips in the background as much.
Viewing the title safe and action safe boundaries, you see that you’re within the area that is viewable on most television monitors. You can now see more of the clips in the background. Enter “37” here to move the clip down 37 pixels. Tip: Viewing title safe and action safe boundaries is especially important when creating work that will be broadcast on television. Televisions cut off the edge of the video frame to give the illusion that the picture takes up the entire TV screen.
3 Drag the Edge Feather slider to the right until it’s set to 64. A soft border appears around the clip in the Canvas. Next, you’ll apply the same amount of feathering to the other two background clips without opening the clips. 4 Select the foreground clip in track V4, then choose Edit > Copy. 5 Drag a box around the two background clips in tracks V3 and V2 to select both clips, then choose Edit > Paste Attributes.
7 Drag the Top and Bottom sliders in the Crop attribute to the right until they are set to 5. The resulting change to the clip is displayed in the Canvas. Adjust these sliders so the foreground clip is slightly cropped. Now, you’ll add a drop shadow to these three layers. 8 With the Motion tab of the foreground clip still open in the Viewer, select the checkbox next to Drop Shadow to enable the attribute, then click the Drop Shadow disclosure triangle.
10 In the Paste Attributes dialog, select the Drop Shadow checkbox, then click OK. Both selected clips now display a drop shadow. Finally, you want to darken the background layer, since it’s competing with the foreground layers. 11 Open the background clip on track V1, then click its Motion tab. Click the Opacity disclosure triangle, then set the opacity to 50 percent. The background clip now appears darker in the Canvas.
Creating Motion Effects in the Canvas Motion settings of sequence clips can also be manipulated directly in the Canvas. If you want to adjust a clip’s motion settings in the Canvas, the Canvas must be in one of the “wireframe” modes. When the Canvas is in Image+Wireframe or Wireframe mode, the currently selected clip has a turquoise border that shows its scale, position, rotation, distortion, and cropping, if any are applied.
Which View Should You Use? There are several view and background options you can specify that make it easier to work with composited layers in your sequence, specifically in the Canvas. For more information, see Canvas Basics. • Image+Wireframe: Use this option when adjusting motion effects directly in the Canvas. • Wireframe: This option is useful if you’re working on high-resolution clips and you want to make a lot of changes quickly, without having to wait for your image to update.
Manipulating Images in the Canvas When a clip is selected in the Timeline or Canvas (and you are in a wireframe mode), there are handles attached to the clip that allow you to perform different geometrical manipulations. A number at the center of the selected clip shows which track the clip is in. Shown below are the different handles on a selected clip in the Canvas.
Crop and Distort Tools The Crop and Distort tools can be used to manipulate images directly in the Canvas, instead of setting parameter values in a clip’s Motion tab. Distort tool Crop tool • Crop tool: Allows you to drag each of a clip’s four sides inward to crop just that side. You press the C key to select the Crop tool. • Distort tool: Lets you drag each of a clip’s corner points independently, in order to create perspective effects and other geometric distortion.
µ With the Canvas active, press Command-Equal Sign (=) to zoom in; press Command-Hyphen (-) to zoom out. The zoom increments are the same as those in the View pop-up menu. Magnification levels Tip: To reset the zoom level to the current size of the Canvas, make the Canvas active, then choose View > Level > Fit to Window (or press Shift-Z). This command also works in the Viewer. µ Choose a magnification level from the View pop-up menu in the Canvas.
• To scale the clip without constraining the proportions: Shift-drag a Scale/Distort handle. Shift-drag a Scale/Distort handle to scale in one direction or the other. To move a clip 1 Select a clip in the Timeline. 2 Select the Selection tool in the Tool palette, then drag the layer to a new position. You can move a clip partially or completely outside the Canvas. To rotate a clip 1 Select a clip in the Timeline.
• Continuous dragging increases the total number of rotations performed, if you’re creating keyframed movement. µ To scale and rotate a clip Command-drag a Scale/Distort handle. Command-drag a Scale/Distort handle to scale and rotate the clip. To distort the shape of a clip 1 Select a clip in the Timeline. 2 Select the Distort tool in the Tool palette, then drag a Scale/Distort handle. Drag a Scale/Distort handle with the Distort tool to distort the clip.
2 Select the Crop tool in the Tool palette, then do one of the following: • To crop a particular side: Drag in from the edge of the clip. Drag an edge with the Crop tool to crop that side of the clip. • To crop two sides at one time: Drag one of the corners of the wireframe. Drag a corner with the Crop tool to crop two sides at once. • To constrain the rectangle’s aspect ratio: Hold down the Shift key while dragging a corner. Shift-drag a corner with the Crop tool to maintain the aspect ratio.
Note: This example uses a sequence created for DV clips, with a frame size of 720 x 480. To use the Scale, Center, and Distort parameters to match perspective 1 Edit a shot of a building into track V1 of your sequence. The clip shown here is a locked-down shot of a building from a three-quarter angle (a locked-down shot is one where the camera does not move). 2 Import a graphics file (such as a PICT file) of a sign into your project, then open it in the Viewer.
3 In the Canvas or Timeline, position the playhead over the clip you just edited into track V1, then set the sequence In and Out points to be the duration of the building clip (choose Mark > Mark Clip, or press X). Position the playhead anywhere within the clip. Set the In and Out points for the duration of this clip. 4 Perform a superimpose edit to place the sign in track V2 for the duration of the shot. The sign is now on top of the building.
6 With the Selection tool selected, hold down the Shift key, then drag one of the corners of the sign graphic to change its scale to match that of the building. Scale down the size of the sign graphic. 7 With the Selection tool, drag the center point of the sign graphic to move it so that its position matches that of the wall. Move the graphic so it’s positioned entirely on the building’s side.
Adjusting Parameters for Keyframed Effects 67 Automated audio level adjustments, opacity changes between layers, shifting color values, and spinning video clips are examples of what’s possible when using keyframes to adjust clip parameters over time. This chapter covers the following: • Animating Motion Effects Using Keyframes (p. 1109) • Smoothing Keyframes with Bezier Handles (p. 1129) • Creating Keyframed Motion Paths in the Canvas (p. 1133) • About the Timeline Keyframe Graph Area (p.
• Audio levels • Pan settings • Speed Because you can add keyframes to filters and generators as well as motion settings, the information presented in this chapter can also be used to modify filters and generators (discussed in Using Video Filters and Using Generator Clips). How Keyframing Works You place keyframes at specific points in a clip or sequence to change parameter values at those points.
Adding additional keyframes increases the complexity of the effect, but the area in between each pair of keyframes in your clip is still smoothly interpolated. Determining the Number of Keyframes to Use The complexity of the changes in your effects depends on the number of keyframes that you add to a clip. You need at least two keyframes in a clip to make a dynamic change from one value in an effects parameter to another. A more sophisticated change requires three keyframes.
Using Three Keyframes With three keyframes, you can create more complex effects, such as a curved motion path. In the example below, the position of the clip starts at the location specified by the first keyframe, moves to the position specified by the second keyframe, and then continues on its journey until it reaches the position specified by the third keyframe. (For more information about creating motion paths in the Canvas, see Creating Keyframed Motion Paths in the Canvas.
Keyframing Controls in the Viewer You can use various controls for keyframing motion effects. Although motion effects, filters, and generator clips have their own individual settings and controls, they use the same controls for keyframing. Keyframe button Keyframe navigation buttons Reset button • Keyframe button: Click to place a keyframe for the corresponding parameter in the keyframe graph area at the current playhead location.
• Keyframe graph ruler: Corresponds to the duration of the clip or the location of a clip in a sequence: • If a clip is opened from the Browser: The keyframe graph ruler shows the duration of the clip itself. The playhead in the Viewer moves independently of the playhead in the Timeline or Canvas. • If a clip is opened from a sequence in the Timeline: The keyframe graph ruler shows the section of the Timeline that the clip is edited into.
Keyframing Tools in Final Cut Pro Three tools in the Tool palette allow you to add, modify, or remove keyframes on a parameter’s keyframe graph line in the keyframe graph area. Smooth Point tool Pen Delete tool Pen tool • Pen: Allows you to add keyframes to a parameter in the Motion tab or Timeline keyframe graph area by clicking in the keyframe graph area. (To select this tool, press the P key.) • Pen Delete: Lets you delete a keyframe from a parameter by clicking the keyframe itself.
Note: For some parameters, you must click the parameter’s disclosure triangle to view its keyframes in the keyframe graph area. To better adjust and view the keyframes you’re setting, you may want to zoom in to the keyframe graph area (see Zooming In to the Keyframe Graph Area). To set a keyframe 1 Open a clip in the Viewer, then click the Motion or Filters tab. 2 In the keyframe graph area, move the playhead to the location where you want to put a keyframe.
To set keyframes from the Viewer or Canvas Do one of the following: µ To add a keyframe to all of the selected clip’s motion settings at once, click the Add Motion Keyframe button in the Video tab of the Viewer or in the Canvas. Add Motion Keyframe button in the Canvas µ To set keyframes for a single parameter, Control-click the Add Motion Keyframe button, then choose a parameter from the shortcut menu. Choose a motion parameter from the shortcut menu.
To add more keyframes 1 Move the playhead to another point in the clip where you want to set a keyframe. 2 Do one of the following: • Adjust the appropriate parameter control. • Type a number in the appropriate number field. • Click a parameter’s keyframe button to add a keyframe with the current value of the parameter. • Hold down the Option key and click a parameter’s keyframe graph line where you want to add the keyframe.
µ To adjust a parameter value between two keyframes Move the pointer over the section of the parameter’s keyframe graph line between the two keyframes (the pointer turns into the Adjust Line Segment pointer), then drag that area up or down to modify it. Drag the area up or down to adjust a section. Note: The keyframes on either side of the adjusted section are changed simultaneously.
Note: This is also a good way to delete keyframes directly in the opacity and level overlays of a clip in the Timeline. µ To delete keyframes for all of an attribute’s parameters Click the Reset button for the appropriate attribute. Click the Reset button to delete all keyframes for an attribute. Moving Between Keyframes As you work with keyframes, you’ll need to move to different keyframes to check your motion effects.
2 When the pointer turns into a Resize pointer, drag to resize the parameter display height. Drag up to make the parameter display height shorter, or drag down to make it taller. Drag up to make the parameter display height shorter. Drag down to make the parameter display height taller. µ To adjust the width of the keyframe graph area Drag the lower-right corner of the Viewer to the right to adjust its width.
µ To zoom using the Zoom slider Drag the left or right thumb tab on the side of the Zoom slider. While zooming, the visible area of the keyframe graph stays centered. Hold down the Shift key while you drag one of the thumb tabs to zoom in to or out of your sequence from the selected end of the Zoom slider, while keeping the other thumb tab locked in place. This also moves the visible area of the keyframe graph in the direction you’re dragging as you zoom.
When the keyframe graph is zoomed in or out to the maximum level possible, the plus and minus signs on the zoom tools disappear. With a zoom tool selected, click in the keyframe graph area (Zoom In tool shown here). Note: To temporarily switch the tool, press Option while the Zoom In or Zoom Out tool is selected. Once you’ve zoomed in to the keyframe graph area, you can navigate to different parts of your clip using the Zoom slider.
To dynamically adjust opacity over time 1 Edit two clips of equal duration into your sequence, each in its own video track. Note: The clip you want to appear in front should be placed in track V2; the other clip should be placed in track V1. Layer the clips, with one clip in track V1 and the other superimposed in track V2. 2 Open the clip in track V2 in the Viewer, then click the Motion tab.
5 In the Current Timecode field of the Motion tab, enter “01:00:02:00” to move the playhead. Entering the new timecode value moves the playhead to this location. 6 Click the keyframe button for the Opacity parameter to create a keyframe at the new position of the playhead. Because it takes at least two keyframes to create a dynamic change to a parameter over time, you’ll need to add another keyframe. 7 Move the playhead to 01:00:03:00 on the keyframe graph ruler, then create another keyframe.
8 In the keyframe graph area, move the pointer to the left of the two keyframes on the Opacity keyframe graph line. When the pointer turns into the Adjust Line Segment pointer, drag down until the number field reads “0.” A segment at 50 percent opacity results in an even mix of both layers. A segment at 0 percent makes the top layer invisible for the duration of the segment. The increase from 0 percent to 50 percent causes the clip in track V2 in the Timeline to fade up over the clip in track V1.
The shape of the Opacity parameter’s keyframe graph line leaves the opacity of the top layer at 50 percent for 1 second, and then the topmost layer fades up to 100 percent, completely obscuring the clip on track V1. 12 To complete this sequence, fade the topmost layer out again by adding one last keyframe. Move the playhead to 01:00:06:00, add another keyframe, then change its opacity value to 0. Tip: You can also do the above steps using the opacity overlay in the Timeline.
3 Position the pointer over the opacity overlay (located directly on top of the clip on track V2). When the pointer turns into the Adjust Line Segment pointer, drag the entire overlay down so that the opacity value is 50 percent. A box displays the opacity value as you drag.
• To adjust a keyframe using the Selection tool: Position the pointer so that it’s directly over a keyframe. When the pointer turns into a crosshair, drag the keyframe up or down. With the Selection tool, drag a keyframe (or segment) to make adjustments. Smoothing Keyframes with Bezier Handles The keyframes of some motion settings and filter controls (but not audio levels) can be smoothed. When you smooth a keyframe, one or more Bezier handles are “attached” to the keyframe.
Understanding Bezier Handles and Curves When adjusting the Bezier handles that are attached to a smoothed clip, there are several kinds of curves you can create, which result in different velocity rates. • The steeper the curve of the Bezier handles in the parameter’s keyframe graph line (or overlay), the faster the rate of change. • The shallower the curve of the parameter’s keyframe graph line (or overlay), the slower the rate of change.
Two-Sided Bezier Handles Keyframes that are in between other keyframes have two-sided Bezier handles. These handles are normally locked together, so that the curve of a parameter’s keyframe graph line has a smooth transition into and out of the keyframe, with no sudden changes. Two-sided Bezier handles for the smoothed keyframe between a beginning and end keyframe By default, if you change one of these handles, there’s an equal change to both sides of the handle.
You cannot use Bezier handles to smooth these types of keyframes, because the keyframe graph line cannot display multiple parameter values (such as x and y) simultaneously. In the case of the Center or Anchor Point parameter, you can adjust these values on curves directly in the Canvas. • Two-dimensional keyframes: Parameters that contain a single value can be animated with two-dimensional keyframes in the keyframe graph area.
When you release both keys, the new relative length and angle of the two handles are locked. Hold down the Command and Shift keys to change the length and angle of a handle independently of the other handle. Creating Keyframed Motion Paths in the Canvas You can create motion for a clip by repositioning it and then setting keyframes to change the clip’s Center parameter value over time. By setting enough keyframes, you can eventually create the motion path you want.
For example, suppose you define a center keyframe for a video clip at the x and y coordinates of –160, 100. You then move the playhead 3 seconds later in your sequence and drag the clip by its center point to 160, –100. The result is a diagonal motion path moving from the lower-left corner of the Canvas to the upper-right corner, shown below. When your sequence plays, the clip moves along this path, with its anchor point following the motion path exactly.
Creating Motion Paths The simplest way to make changes to a clip’s motion path is by manipulating it directly in the Canvas while in Image+Wireframe mode. To create a motion path 1 Open the clip you want to animate in the Viewer, then click the Motion tab. 2 In the Canvas, choose a wireframe mode from the View pop-up menu. 3 In the Viewer, Canvas, or Timeline, move the playhead to the location where you want that clip’s motion to begin.
Adding, Moving, and Deleting Keyframes in Motion Paths You can edit a motion path directly in the Canvas by adding, dragging, or deleting keyframes. The playhead doesn’t need to be over a keyframe for you to move or delete it, nor does the playhead location prohibit you from adding additional keyframes to the motion path using the Pen tool.
Creating Curved Motion Paths Using Bezier Handles When you add a keyframe to a motion path, it’s a Bezier point (also known as a corner point) by default. You can change corner points into curves by using the Smooth Point tool to add Bezier handles to these points, smoothing the motion path that the anchor point of the clip follows. When you use Bezier handles to create curved motion paths in the Canvas, you won’t need to use as many keyframes to define complex motion paths.
µ To resize one side of a Bezier handle independently of the other Hold down the Shift key as you drag a Bezier handle. Release the Shift key to lock the relative length of the two handles back together using the new unequal lengths you set. Press Shift, then drag to resize one side differently than another. µ To change the angle between one side of a Bezier handle and the other Hold down the Command key as you drag a Bezier handle.
To remove Bezier handles from a keyframe in a motion path Do one of the following: µ Control-click a keyframe with Bezier handles in the Canvas, then choose Make Corner Point from the shortcut menu. µ Select the Smooth Point tool in the Tool palette (or press the P key three times), then click a keyframe with Bezier handles.
To vary the acceleration of this clip along its motion path, you must first add Bezier handles to the keyframes you want to adjust (see Creating Curved Motion Paths Using Bezier Handles). A velocity handle appears as a small purple dot between the keyframe and the end of the Bezier handle. You can then modify the velocity handle attached to each Bezier handle for these keyframes.
µ To slow down a clip’s motion at the beginning and speed it up as it nears the next keyframe Drag the velocity handle away from the selected keyframe. Drag away from the keyframe to slow down the motion of the clip at the beginning and then speed it up as it nears the next keyframe. µ To add Bezier handles to a keyframe and change the acceleration Control-click a keyframe, then choose an option from the shortcut menu, depending on the kind of acceleration you want.
To move selected motion paths 1 In the Canvas, do one of the following: • Choose View > Image+Wireframe. • Choose View > Wireframe. 2 Hold down the Command and Shift keys, select the clip in the Canvas, then drag the clip to move the motion path. Don’t click a keyframe or you’ll move the keyframe itself and not the entire motion path. The pointer changes to a hand while you are dragging.
When you apply a motion favorite to a clip in your sequence, it’s not like applying a filter. There is no special object (such as a filter) that is attached to your clip. Instead, applying a motion favorite applies all the motion effect keyframes in that favorite to the motion parameters of the clip. These keyframes can then be further modified at any time.
The keyframe graph area can be divided into four parts relating to motion, filter, and speed parameter settings applied to your clips. Video filters bar (the upper green bar) Video motion bar (the lower blue bar) Keyframe editor Speed indicator area • Filters bar: If a clip has one or more video or audio filters applied, a green bar appears in this space for the duration of that clip.
• Speed indicator area: Speed indicators show you the speed of clips in your sequence using tick marks. The spacing and color of these tick marks indicate the speed and playback direction of your clips. The speed indicators of clips in the Timeline update as you make variable speed adjustments to clips in your sequence, showing you exactly how you’re altering a clip’s timing.
• Hide All: Hides all keyframes associated with an attribute. µ To move a clip’s keyframe forward or backward in the Timeline Use the Selection tool to drag a keyframe on a motion bar to another position on that bar. µ To open a clip in the Viewer using a clip’s motion bar in the Timeline Double-click a blue bar to open that clip in the Viewer with the Motion tab selected.
2 Control-click in the keyframe editor area beneath the clip you want to work on, then choose the filter or motion parameter you want to display from the shortcut menu. µ To resize a track’s keyframe editor area Click in the Keyframe Editor Resize column and, with the Resize pointer, drag up or down. Drag the Resize pointer up or down in the Keyframe Editor Resize column.
Reusing Effect and Motion Parameters 68 If you frequently use a particular transition or filter with specific settings, you can save it as a favorite for easy access. This chapter covers the following: • Copying and Pasting Specific Clip Attributes (p. 1149) • Using Favorite Filters and Transitions (p.
About the Paste Attributes Dialog You select which attributes to paste by using the Paste Attributes dialog. The following options are available in the Paste Attributes dialog. Attributes from Master Shot • Scale Attribute Times: Repositions the keyframes of the copied clip’s attributes to fit the duration of longer or shorter clips you paste them into, maintaining the relative position of keyframes.
For example, suppose that two clips, Clip A and Clip B, both have a Gaussian Blur filter applied. Clip A has a Radius parameter value of 100, and Clip B has a Radius parameter value of 13. If you copy Clip A and then paste its filter attributes onto Clip B, Clip B now has two Gaussian Blur filters applied. The first filter has a Radius parameter value of 13 (Clip B’s original Blur filter), and the second filter has a Radius parameter value of 100 (the filter from Clip A).
4 Do one of the following: • Choose Edit > Paste Attributes (or press Option-V). • Control-click the clip or clips you’ve selected in the Timeline, then choose Paste Attributes from the shortcut menu. 5 In the Paste Attributes dialog, select the attributes you want to apply to the selected clip or clips.
µ To apply the most recently used video filter Choose Effects > Video Filters > Last - [Name of Filter]. µ To apply the most recently used video transition Choose Effects > Video Transitions > Last - [Name of Transition]. Applying Filters Across Multiple Tracks at Once When working with multiple layers of video or audio in the Timeline, if you want to apply a filter to a clip or region on one track, you may want the filter to apply to the clips below and above it as well.
Using Favorite Filters and Transitions Often you may find yourself using the same filter or transition several times in a sequence. Rather than manually reapplying the same filter or keyframed parameters over and over again to multiple clips, you can save a filter or effect as a favorite and then apply it to multiple clips instantly. You can also save animated motion parameters, called motion favorites, and apply them to clips whenever you need to do so.
Creating Favorite Filters and Transitions The steps for creating favorite filters and transitions are essentially the same. You can create a favorite by dragging a filter or transition from the Timeline or from the Effects tab into the Favorites bin in the Effects tab. Although the steps below mostly describe how to create favorite transitions, the same steps can be used to make favorite filters.
4 Make any adjustments to the keyframes or values of the filter parameters. 5 Select one or more filters in the filter list by doing one of the following: • Click the name bar of a filter. • Shift-click two filter name bars to select a range of filters. • Command-click multiple filter name bars to select specific filters in the filter list. • Click the filter category bar (for video filters or audio filters) to select all filters in that category.
3 Enter a new name, then press Return. Enter the new name for your favorite transition. To organize favorite transitions and filters into sub-bins 1 Click your project’s tab in the Browser. 2 Create a new bin and give it an appropriate name. For more information, see Organizing Footage in the Browser. 3 Drag the Effects tab out of the Browser so it appears in its own window. 4 Drag your new bin to the Favorites bin in the Effects window. 5 Drag any transitions or filters to the new bin.
Changing Clip Speed 69 You can adjust a clip’s speed parameters to create fast-motion or slow-motion effects. You can also add speed keyframes to change the speed of a clip over time. Final Cut Pro offers several methods of creating speed effects. You can create speed effects using the Change Speed and Change Speed Segment dialogs, the Speed tool in the Tool palette, the keyframe graph area of the Timeline, the Speed parameter in the Motion tab of the Viewer, and the fit to fill edit feature.
Constant Speed Changes on Entire Clips Applying a constant speed change to an entire clip alters the entire clip’s playback speed by the same percentage. For example, applying a speed setting of 25 percent to a clip makes the entire clip play in slow motion.
Variable Speed Changes Applying variable speed to a clip allows you to dynamically alter the speed of a clip over time, in forward or reverse motion. Variable speed allows you to create sophisticated effects in which subjects appear to smoothly shift across a variety of different speeds, with hard or gradual transitions between each change. To create variable speed effects, you create speed segments, essentially segments of a clip that begin and end with speed keyframes.
Note: The Change Speed dialog affects the speed for an entire clip. The Change Speed Segment dialog affects the speed for a single speed segment, a section of a clip between speed keyframes. Duration field Rate field Reverse checkbox Original field Start and End buttons Ripple Sequence checkbox Scale Attributes checkbox Frame Blending checkbox • Duration: Use the Duration field to enter a new duration for the selected clip. The clip speed (in the Rate field) will be adjusted accordingly.
• Start buttons: Use these buttons to affect the rate of change in speed at the beginning of a clip or speed segment. Linear From Start Curve Centered on Start Custom Curve From Start • Linear From Start button: Applies the default (constant) speed to the beginning of a clip or speed segment. • Curve From Start button: Applies a smooth change in speed to the beginning of a clip or speed segment.
• Curve to End button: Applies a smooth change in speed to the end of a clip or speed segment. This is a quick and simple way to add a Bezier handle to the keyframe at the end of a clip or speed segment in the Speed parameter of the Motion tab in the Viewer. • Curve Centered on End button: Applies a smooth change in speed starting at the end of the selected speed segment and continuing through the beginning of the next speed segment.
Applying Speed Effects with the Change Speed Dialog Follow the steps below to create speed effects with the Change Speed dialog or the Change Speed Segment dialog. The only difference between the Change Speed dialog and the Change Speed Segment dialog is that the Change Speed dialog affects entire clips, whereas the Change Speed Segment dialog affects only the section between two keyframes. Note: The Change Speed dialog is the quickest and easiest way to apply a constant speed change to an entire clip.
Note: If maintaining video and audio sync is a priority, select both the video and the (synced) audio and apply constant speed changes only. Applying variable speed settings to a video clip (including speed segments, the Curve buttons in the Change Speed dialogs, and the Curve options in the Change Speed shortcut menu) will break the link to audio items. Audio and video sync is lost when you apply variable speed changes.
3 Control-click the speed segment (a section between two speed keyframes) that you want to change. 4 In the resulting shortcut menu, choose Change Speed Segment. The Change Speed Segment dialog appears. 5 Use any of the controls in the Change Speed Segment dialog to create the speed effect you want. For detailed information on each of the controls, see About the Change Speed Dialogs. 6 Click OK. The speed effects are applied to the speed segment.
Frame Blending, Optical Flow, and Motion Blur Duplicating frames to create slow motion can result in a strobing, jittery effect. To minimize this, you can turn on frame blending in the Change Speed dialogs. When slow motion is created, frame blending uses the two frames that appear to either side of duplicate frames and creates new in-between frames that are a composite of both.
Dragging an edit point with the Speed tool slows down one clip while speeding up the adjacent clip. No clips move in the Timeline as a result; only the edit point between the two clips moves. This is a two-sided edit, meaning that two clips’ edit points are affected simultaneously: the first clip’s Out point and the next clip’s In point are both adjusted. However, no other clips in the sequence are affected.
In the example above, the clip on the left is being adjusted to nearly twice its original speed while the clip on the right is being slowed to 82% of its original speed. Additionally, the Canvas shows a two-up display with the Out point of the outgoing clip on the left and the In point of the incoming clip on the right (see also About the Two-Up Display in the Canvas). Note: Optionally, you can hold down the Shift key as you drag.
As you drag, the clip displays the adjusted speed as a percentage of its default (original) speed. Making Speed Changes in the Timeline You can apply variable speed effects to clips using keyframes in the Timeline. An effective way to create slow-motion and fast-motion effects is to use the keyframe graph area of the Timeline. You can apply and adjust keyframes with the Pen tool to create speed segments.
The keyframe graph area is displayed below each clip in the Timeline. You can use this keyframe graph area to view and edit keyframes for applied effects. Note: To have the keyframe graph area and speed indicator tick marks displayed by default in new sequences, choose Final Cut Pro > User Preferences > Timeline Options and select the Clip Keyframes checkbox and the Speed Indicators checkbox. 2 Move the pointer over the speed indicator tick marks in the keyframe graph area.
2 In the speed indicator area, drag a speed keyframe to the left or to the right. The tick marks in the speed indicator area update in real time as you drag the keyframe, showing you exactly how you’re altering a clip’s timing. The spacing and color of the tick marks indicate the speed and playback direction of your clips. Large spaces between tick marks indicate slow motion. Tightly spaced tick marks indicate fast motion. The red color indicates reverse motion.
3 Choose any of the following from the resulting shortcut menu. • Change Speed: Opens the Change Speed dialog. For more information, see Using the Change Speed Dialogs. • Remove Speed: Removes all clip speed changes and restores a clip to its original, default speed. • Change Speed Segment: Opens the Change Speed Segment dialog. For more information, see Using the Change Speed Dialogs. • Add Keyframe: Inserts a speed keyframe at the point where you clicked in the speed indicator area.
• If maintaining video and audio sync is a priority, select both the video and the (synced) audio and apply constant speed changes only. Applying variable speed settings to a video clip (including speed segments, the Curve buttons in the Change Speed dialogs, and the Curve options in the Change Speed shortcut menu) will break the link to audio items. Audio and video sync is lost when you apply variable speed changes.
• If maintaining video and audio sync is a priority, select both the video and the (synced) audio and apply constant speed changes only. Applying variable speed settings to a video clip (including speed segments, the Curve buttons in the Change Speed dialogs, and the Curve options in the Change Speed shortcut menu) will break the link to audio items. Audio and video sync is lost when you apply variable speed changes.
Timeline speed indicators show you the relative playback speed of clips in your sequence. For example, suppose you have a 10-second clip in your sequence. At normal, 100 percent speed, the Timeline speed indicators are evenly spaced, indicating that your clip is playing forward at a constant speed. At normal speed, the speed indicators are evenly spaced.
If you make a clip play backward by selecting the Reverse checkbox in the Change Speed dialogs, the speed indicators turn red to show that playback is going backward in time. Reverse-speed indicators are red. When you make variable speed changes, the duration of the affected clip stays the same. The Timeline speed indicators display all speed changes—fast-forward, slow motion, and reverse—happening within the clip.
Using the Speed Parameter in the Motion Tab While the various speed adjustment methods allow you to make speed adjustments to clips quickly, you can also make very precise adjustments to a clip’s speed using the keyframe graph in the Speed parameter in the Motion tab of the Viewer. In particular, editing the keyframe graph is the only way to customize keyframe velocity, easing the transition from one keyframe to another using smoothed keyframes with Bezier handles.
Note: This is true regardless of the In and Out points you set for the clip. Even if the clip has an In point at frame 100 and an Out point at frame 200, the y axis of the clip starts at frame 0 of the media file and goes to frame 299. When you choose a value for the keyframe on the y axis, you are choosing a frame from the clip’s original media file.
Speed and the Keyframe Graph The following illustrations show how changes to the keyframe graph affect the speed of a clip in the Timeline. In each graph, the vertical axis represents media time, where each tick mark up is a successive frame of your video clip. The horizontal axis represents the Timeline, where each tick mark represents the duration of one frame playing at the sequence frame rate.
Source time • Freeze frame (0 percent speed): So far, all these graphs have illustrated forward-playing clips, represented by a line that slopes upward. A freeze frame, represented by a flat line, may also be created with the keyframe graph. Freeze frame Sequence time se r ve Re ed e sp Source time • Reverse speed (less than 0 percent speed, or negative speed): When a clip plays in reverse, previous frames of the video clip are mapped to successive frames of the Timeline.
Making Speed Adjustments in the Speed Keyframe Graph Area You can add speed keyframes and make precise speed adjustments in the Speed keyframe graph area of the Motion tab. To add a speed keyframe in the Speed keyframe graph area 1 Open the clip in the Viewer. 2 Click the Motion tab. 3 In the Speed keyframe graph area, do one of the following: • Option-click anywhere along the line in the keyframe graph. • Select the Pen tool from the Tool palette and click anywhere along the line in the keyframe graph.
A fit to fill edit changes the speed of a clip in the Viewer so that its duration matches the duration between the sequence In and Out points. Because a fit to fill edit changes the speed of the edited clip, you may have to render it before it will play back. Also, any audio items associated with this clip will change pitch, moving either higher or lower. Fit to fill is the only edit type in Final Cut Pro that requires four edit points, instead of three.
4 Set In and Out points to define the portion of your source clip that you want to edit into your sequence to fill the duration set in step 1. Set In and Out points in the source clip. Set In and Out points in the sequence. 5 Do one of the following: • Drag the clip from the Viewer to the Fit to Fill section of the Edit Overlay in the Canvas. • Click the Fit to Fill button in the Canvas. • Press Shift-F11.
The material in the Viewer overwrites any material already between the sequence In and Out points you specified. The speed of the source clip changes to compensate for the difference in duration. Before a fit to fill edit After a fit to fill edit The speed of the clip changes to fit the specified area of the sequence. Using Speed Settings with Multiclips You can apply constant speed changes to an entire multiclip (including all its component camera angle clips).
The speed effects are applied to the multiclip. The Change Speed dialog adjusts both the video and any linked audio. Depending on the settings you chose, the clip may be extended or shortened in the Timeline, and those changes may be rippled throughout the sequence. Working with Multiclips and Speed Effects Keep the following restrictions in mind when you work with multiclips and speed effects: • Multiclips cannot be created from speed-modified clips. • Multiclips allow constant speed changes only.
Working with Freeze Frames and Still Images 70 You can use still images and photographs in your movie to previsualize scenes, create motion graphics, and provide visual continuity when no video is available. This chapter covers the following: • Using Still Images and Graphics in Your Sequences (p. 1189) • Creating Freeze Frames from a Video Clip (p. 1190) • Exporting Still Images (p. 1191) • Creating Graphics with the Correct Frame Size for Video (p.
You can also apply traditional camera stand (or motion camera) moves to a still image (as is often done in documentaries) by setting motion effect keyframes. You can add still images to your sequence during any phase of post-production. Creating Freeze Frames from a Video Clip Final Cut Pro makes it easy to create a freeze frame from a video clip. No additional media is created on your hard disk; freeze frames are simply clips that refer to a single frame of a media file.
About Sequence Freeze Frames Unlike a freeze frame of a clip, a sequence freeze frame will not update if you subsequently change the sequence the freeze frame was created from. However, the clip media referenced by the sequence freeze frame can still be updated and the freeze frame clip can be reconnected. For more information, see Reconnecting Freeze Frame Clips. Exporting Still Images You can easily export a still image of the current frame displayed in the Viewer or Canvas.
Creating Graphics with the Correct Frame Size for Video When you’re preparing to import graphics into Final Cut Pro, it’s important to be aware of the implications of frame size, sequence size, and pixel aspect ratio. Ultimately, the frame size of your output format determines the size of the graphic you create in your graphics application. Here are some examples: • If you are working with NTSC DV video, your graphic needs to have the same dimensions: 720 x 480.
Video Is Not 72 Dots per Inch There is a myth in video graphic design: Because some older computer displays used 72 pixels per inch, all video created on a computer must be at this resolution. This is not true or necessary. The dimensions of a video image are dependent only on the number of horizontal and vertical pixels used in the image. Pixel dimensions alone determine the resolution of a video image.
If the aspect ratio of your imported graphic doesn’t match that of your edited sequence, the graphic will not exactly fit the dimensions of the Canvas and will therefore appear letterboxed or pillarboxed. For more information about aspect ratios, see Video Formats. • If your graphic is taller than it is wide: There are gray borders to the right and left of the image in the Viewer and Canvas. The borders are not part of the image.
Note: There is no accepted standard for the exact aspect ratio of non-square SD video pixels. Different manufacturers may assume different pixel aspect ratios when designing their software. Fortunately, these differences tend to be very small, so in many cases you may not notice a difference between pixel aspect ratios of, say, 0.9 and 0.89.
Frame Size Chart for Creating Graphics Use the chart below to determine the frame size you need for creating graphics. For example, if you’re working in DV PAL (which has a frame size of 720 x 576), your graphic should have a frame size of 768 x 576 to look correct on an SD video monitor.
SD NTSC pixels are taller than computer pixels and SD PAL pixels are wider than computer pixels. As a result, a 720 x 480 pixel image looks different (taller) on an NTSC video monitor than it does on a computer display. For example, if you capture a clip of video with a globe in the picture, export a frame, and look at this frame in a graphics application, you’ll see something like this: NTSC square vs.
If you output graphic images with colors that go outside the “legal” range for video, the colors will appear oversaturated and may “bleed” into other parts of the image. This distortion can be easily avoided by controlling the palette of colors you use in your graphics program. As you create the graphics you’ll be outputting to video, resist the temptation to use the brightest and most saturated shades of color available in your paint program.
Using Alpha Channels Alpha channels are an implicit fourth channel in some graphics file formats that are used to reveal only certain parts of your still image. Alpha channels are useful when compositing a still image above another still or video clip in the Timeline. Make sure you save your still-image file with the alpha channel included if you want to use the still-image file for compositing. For more information about working with alpha channels, see Using Video and Graphics Clips with Alpha Channels.
If the frame size of your graphic doesn’t match the frame size of your edited sequence and you want to correct this, you can do so easily. To scale an image within a sequence to exactly fit the sequence dimensions 1 Select one or more clips in the sequence. Tip: You can also place the playhead over a clip in the Timeline without selecting any clips. 2 Choose Modify > Scale to Sequence.
Note: This setting only affects graphics imported after you change this setting. Previously imported graphics still retain the same In and Out points. To change a clip’s duration Do one of the following: µ Select a clip in the Browser, then choose Edit > Item Properties. Click the Timing tab, then enter a value in the Duration field. µ In the Browser, double-click in the Duration column for a clip, then enter a new duration. Enter a new duration in the Duration column for the image.
Important: To create moving graphics with acceptable quality, the horizontal and vertical dimensions of your still image must be greater than the frame size of the sequence that contains it. If you need to set the Scale parameter of your image over 100 percent to achieve a particular effect, your still image wasn’t created with high enough resolution. Follow these steps to learn how to create slow zooming and panning effects with a still image in Final Cut Pro.
If the final destination of your sequence will be SD video, then any scanned images, digital photographs, and HD video images with higher resolution work well. Still images from SD video aren’t recommended because you’d have to increase the size of the still image by scaling it up, which would degrade the image quality considerably and create artifacts in the picture. If you’re creating graphics for camera motion effects in an HD sequence, the image dimensions will have to be quite high.
Stage 4: Preparing the Viewer and Canvas Settings To see the image as it will appear within the frame during playback, you need to make a couple of adjustments. (Otherwise you may, for example, see the frame background where you didn’t mean to show it.) You also need to switch to the wireframe view to position the image visually. To prepare the Viewer and Canvas settings 1 In the Canvas, choose Image+Wireframe from the View pop-up menu. 2 Choose Fit All from the Zoom pop-up menu.
2 Move the position of the image in the Canvas to the starting position of the pan. Starting position Add Motion Keyframe button 3 Control-click the Add Motion Keyframe button in the Canvas, then choose Center from the shortcut menu. A keyframe appears in the Motion tab in the Viewer, next to the Center parameter. Center parameter keyframe 4 Move the playhead to the time when you want the pan to end. 5 Move the image in the Canvas to the ending position.
You don’t need to add a keyframe this time because, once a single keyframe has been added to a parameter, new keyframes are automatically added each time you move the clip to a new position. You should see a line in the Canvas indicating the interpolated motion path between the starting and ending keyframes. Ending keyframe 6 To see the effect, remove the wireframe in the Canvas by choosing Image from the View pop-up menu, move the playhead to the beginning of the clip, then play the sequence.
This causes the clip to start moving slowly and then ramp up to full speed. 4 Choose Mark > Next > Keyframe (or press Shift-K) to navigate to the ending keyframe of your motion path. 5 In the Canvas, Control-click the ending keyframe and choose Ease In/Ease Out from the shortcut menu. 6 Drag the velocity handle of the ending keyframe toward the keyframe. This causes the clip to decelerate as it approaches the ending keyframe of the motion path. Drag the velocity handle toward the ending keyframe.
Compositing and Layering 71 Compositing is the process of stacking and blending multiple video or graphics clips over one another in a sequence to create multilayer motion graphics and special effects shots. This chapter covers the following: • Introduction to Compositing and Layering (p. 1209) • Working with Composite Modes (p. 1214) • Composite Modes in Final Cut Pro (p. 1216) • Using Travel Mattes to Hide or Reveal Parts of a Clip (p. 1224) • Working with Layered Photoshop Files (p.
Methods of Compositing Once you’ve layered clips in the Timeline, you can adjust how each one blends with the layers below using the following methods: • Opacity levels: This adjusts the transparency of a clip. You can adjust the Opacity parameter to subtly blend two or more layers together, or you can animate this parameter over time to create fade-ins and fade-outs. For more information, see Adjusting Opacity Levels of Clips.
You can use a superimpose edit to quickly stack a source clip on top of any clips already edited into your sequence in the Timeline in preparation for compositing. If there isn’t an available track in your sequence, Final Cut Pro creates a new one for the source clip. For more information, see Three-Point Editing. When you layer clips, the clip in the topmost track in the Timeline is the one that appears during playback in the Canvas.
• Open the clip in the Viewer and specify the Opacity parameter’s value in the Motion tab. The Opacity parameter in the Motion tab and the opacity overlay displayed in the Timeline have identical settings. A change made to one is mirrored in the other. When you blend multiple clips together using the Opacity parameter, it’s important to be aware of the color range, the amount of movement, and the overall amount of contrast and texture in the images with which you’re working.
Note: The overlay appears as a black line if the clip is not selected and as a white line if the clip is selected. The pointer changes to the Adjust Line Segment pointer when it’s directly over the overlay. The actual percentage of opacity appears in this box. To adjust the opacity of a clip (with no keyframes) in the Motion tab 1 Double-click the sequence clip you want to adjust to open it in the Viewer, then click the Motion tab.
3 Adjust the opacity by doing one of the following: • Drag the Opacity slider to the right or left. • Click the arrows at the right and left of the Opacity slider. • Type a percentage in the number field. • Adjust the Opacity parameter’s keyframe graph line. The pointer changes to the Adjust Line Segment pointer; a box shows the percentage of opacity as you drag the keyframe graph line. The opacity overlay in the Timeline can also be keyframed, enabling you to dynamically change the opacity level over time.
Important: Final Cut Pro composite modes work in conjunction with a clip’s Opacity parameter. The composite mode you select determines how the color values of one clip interact with those in the clip beneath it. Additional changes made to a clip’s opacity can lighten or intensify this effect. Normal composite mode, with the opacity of the top clip at 50 percent Applying Composite Modes to Clips Applying different composite modes to layered clips in a sequence is easy.
To view or change a clip’s composite mode 1 Control-click a clip in the Timeline, then choose Composite Mode from the shortcut menu. All composite modes applied to a clip have a checkmark next to them. 2 If you want to change the clip’s composite mode, choose a new mode from the submenu. Composite Modes in Final Cut Pro The following section describes how composite modes affect two layers in a sequence.
About the Examples in This Section Most of the examples in this section combine the following two reference images to create a third composite image. The composite image illustrates how the color values from each image interact when using each composite mode. When examining the results, pay particular attention to the white and black areas of the colored squares, as well as the highlights and shadows in the monkey image. These show you how each composite mode treats the whites and blacks in an image.
The order of two clips affected by the Add composite mode does not matter. Suggested uses: The Add composite mode is useful for using one image to selectively add texture to another, based on its lighter areas such as highlights. You can also use Lighten and Screen to create variations of this effect. Subtract Subtract darkens all overlapping colors.
Difference The Difference composite mode is similar to the Subtract composite mode, except that areas of the image that would be severely darkened by the Subtract composite mode are colored differently. The order of two clips affected by the Difference composite mode does not matter. Multiply Multiply emphasizes the darkest parts of each overlapping image, except that midrange color values from both images are mixed together more evenly.
Screen Screen emphasizes the lightest parts of each overlapping image, except that the midrange color values of both images are mixed together more evenly. Blacks in either image allow the overlapping image to show through completely. Darker midrange values below a certain threshold allow more of the overlapping image to show. Whites from both images show through in the resulting image. The order of two clips affected by the Screen composite mode does not matter.
The visible result is that darker color values in the background image intensify overlapping areas in the foreground image, while lighter color values in the background image wash out overlapping areas in the foreground image. The order of two clips affected by the Overlay composite mode is important. Boxes clip on top Monkey clip on top Suggested uses: The Overlay composite mode is particularly useful for combining areas of vivid color in two images.
The order of two clips affected by the Hard Light composite mode is important. Boxes clip on top Monkey clip on top Soft Light The Soft Light composite mode is similar to the Overlay composite mode. Whites and blacks in the foreground image become translucent but interact with the color values of the background image. Whites and blacks in the background image, on the other hand, replace the overlapping areas in the foreground image.
Darken Darken emphasizes the darkest parts of each overlapping image. Whites in either image allow the overlapping image to show through completely. Lighter midrange color values become increasingly translucent in favor of the overlapping image, while darker midrange color values below a certain threshold remain solid, retaining more detail. The order of two clips affected by the Darken composite mode does not matter.
Travel Matte - Alpha When you apply the Travel Matte - Alpha composite mode to a selected clip, the alpha channel from the clip below is applied to the selected clip. Only two clips are required to use this composite mode, but in most situations, you will use three layers: • Foreground (top layer): This layer appears on top of the background layer, as seen through the alpha channel. Apply the Travel Matte - Alpha composite mode to this layer.
Because travel mattes use information in one layer to affect another, if the alpha channel, black, or white elements of that layer move, then the resulting matte also moves. This movement can be a result of: • Using a video or animation clip as your matte layer • Moving that layer around with keyframed motion parameters For more information, see Creating Keyframed Motion Paths in the Canvas.
Working with Layered Photoshop Files You can create multilayer graphics in Adobe Photoshop for use in a composited Final Cut Pro sequence. This allows you to create a complex arrangement of separate graphic elements and import them as a group, with their position and layer ordering intact. Once you import layered Photoshop files, they appear as a sequence, with each individual layer stacked. At this point, it’s easy to manipulate each layer individually to create sophisticated composites.
If you want to import a layered Photoshop file as a single clip, you must flatten the image in Photoshop and then import the file into Final Cut Pro. The sequence Final Cut Pro creates has the same number of layers as the imported file. The background layer becomes a clip in track V1, and each consecutive layer appears in the same order as the layers in the original Photoshop file. If you change the order of the video tracks, the layering order changes.
Changing the Frame Rate of Layered Photoshop Sequences When you import a layered Photoshop file, the resulting sequence has the frame rate of the current sequence preset. For example, if you choose a DV PAL Easy Setup and then import a layered Photoshop file, the resulting sequence has a frame rate of 25 fps.
Using Video and Graphics Clips with Alpha Channels Ordinary video clips have three channels of information for red, green, and blue. An alpha channel is an additional channel that defines areas of transparency in the clip or image. If you import a QuickTime movie or a still image from another application, or a file that’s been created by a 3D animation program, it may have an alpha channel in addition to its color channels.
For example: You have a title graphic that was created in Photoshop, so it has an alpha channel already set up. When you import it into Final Cut Pro, the alpha channel is recognized automatically. To create your title sequence, you edit the title graphic and a background image into your sequence, so that the background image is on track V1 and the title graphic is on track V2.
The Item Properties window appears. 2 Control-click the Alpha row in the Clip column, then choose the alpha channel type from the shortcut menu. • None/Ignore: If a clip has no alpha channel, or if you want to turn off the alpha channel of a clip so that it’s no longer used, you can use the None/Ignore setting.
2 Choose Modify > Alpha Type, then choose a new alpha channel type from the submenu. µ µ To change the alpha channel type of a clip in the Browser Control-click in the Alpha column in the Browser, then choose a new alpha channel type from the shortcut menu. To reverse a clip’s alpha channel Do one of the following: • Select a clip in the Timeline or open a clip in the Viewer, then choose Modify > Reverse Alpha.
There are several channel viewing options in the View menu and the View pop-up menu in the Viewer. • RGB: This is the default color option; it shows the three color channels that make up the actual video image. • Alpha: This option represents the alpha channel as black against white, where absolute black represents 100 percent transparency, levels of gray represent varying degrees of transparency, and absolute white represents nontransparent areas of the picture.
To choose an alpha channel display option Do one of the following: µ µ Choose View > Channels, then choose an option from the submenu. Choose an alpha channel display option from the View pop-up menu in the Viewer. Alpha channel display options Background display options Choosing a Background When working with clips that have an alpha channel, you can choose different backgrounds that make it easier to see which areas of your picture are transparent.
• Red • Green • Blue Note: Red, Green, and Blue backgrounds are available from the submenu only when choosing View > Background. To choose a background for viewing a clip Do one of the following: µ µ Choose View > Background, then choose a background from the submenu. Choose the background from the View pop-up menu in the Viewer. Superimposing Video When Preparing for EDL Export In an Edit Decision List (EDL), a Super or Key track is the equivalent of a single superimposed video track in Final Cut Pro.
Temporarily Disabling a Single Clip If, instead of disabling an entire track, you only want to disable a single clip temporarily, you can do so. While a single clip is disabled, it will not be: • Played back • Rendered • Output to tape with the rest of the sequence To disable one or more clips 1 Select the clip or clips using one of the selection tools. 2 Do one of the following: • Choose Modify > Clip Enable, so the menu item is no longer selected.
2 Select the clip that you want to solo. 3 Choose Sequence > Solo Selected Item(s) (or press Control-S). All clips in other tracks that overlap the selected clip are disabled. 4 Position the playhead and play the sequence. Overlapping clip items on other tracks are disabled. Clip item with solo enabled µ To reenable the disabled clips Choose Sequence > Solo Selected Item(s) again.
To turn clip enabling on or off for a clip (or other item) in the Timeline 1 Select the clip in the Timeline. 2 Choose Modify > Clip Enable. You can also use the Solo Clip command to disable the items in the tracks above and below a selected clip so that it’s isolated. In other words, you can exclude from playback any clips that overlap the solo clip. When you solo items in a rendered sequence, only the duration of the items that overlap the soloed items require rerendering.
Keying, Mattes, and Masks 72 You can isolate specific elements of clips from the background and combine those elements with other clips by using keying, mattes, and masks. This chapter covers the following: • Ways to Layer and Isolate Elements in Clips (p. 1239) • Using Keying to Isolate Foreground Elements (p. 1242) • Overview of Compositing Using the Chroma Keyer Filter (p. 1244) • Working with the Chroma Keyer Filter (p. 1247) • Using Mattes to Add or Modify Alpha Channels (p.
In Final Cut Pro, a matte is a customizable, polygonal shape used to make part of a clip transparent. By outlining part of an image with a matte, you can turn everything outside or inside the shape transparent. Final Cut Pro allows you to create four- and eight-point mattes.
What Are Masks and How Are They Used? A mask is an image that is used to create areas of transparency in another image. For example, the luma in one clip can be used to create transparency in another clip. You can also assign the alpha channel of one clip to a completely different clip. (For more information about alpha channels, see Alpha Channels and Key, Matte, and Mask Filters.
Using Keying to Isolate Foreground Elements There are two different methods used for keying: chroma keying and luma keying. Chroma keying is a method of keying on a particular hue of color. Although any color can be keyed on, the colors most frequently used for chroma keying are blue and green.
With a high-quality DV camera and good lighting, it’s possible to pull a reasonable key using DV clips, but you cannot expect the kind of subtleties around the edges of a keyed subject that you can get with uncompressed or minimally compressed footage. For example, while you may be able to preserve smoke, reflections, or wisps of hair when keying uncompressed footage, with equivalent DV footage this probably won’t be possible.
Using Video Scopes to Help Correctly Light Your Background Screen Because the Waveform Monitor shows you all variations in brightness in the video frame from the left to the right of the screen, you can use it to reveal hot spots in your background screen that may be difficult to see with the naked eye.
Use 4:1:1 Color Smoothing with NTSC or PAL DV-25 video sources. (The exception is PAL mini-DV/DVCAM, which uses 4:2:0 color sampling.) Use 4:2:2 Color Smoothing for DVCPRO50 and 8- and 10-bit uncompressed video. As you add additional key filters, make sure that the Color Smoothing filter remains the first one listed in the video section of the Filters tab. Stage 2: Applying the Chroma Keyer Filter Now you can apply the Chroma Keyer filter to the clip.
Stage 4: Readjusting the Chroma Keyer Filter’s Settings When keying, additional filters you add usually affect the overall results of previously applied filters, so after applying the Matte Choker, you’ll probably want to readjust the Chroma Keyer filter’s settings to take into account the effect the Matte Choker is having.
Stage 8: Performing Additional Adjustments to the Background Layer Finally, you should spend some time working on the appearance of the background layer. Editing a foreground clip in front of a background clip is just the beginning. There are numerous details you must now consider to make the shot look convincing. For example, the foreground and background of video you shoot in the field are seldom both in focus, so the shot may look more realistic if you put the background out of focus with a blur filter.
The visual controls appear in the Chroma Keyer tab. Copy Filter controls Visual interface of the Chroma Keyer Note: The visual controls also include several Copy Filter controls. For detailed information on these controls, see Working with the Copy Filter Controls. To use the standard numeric controls Do one of the following: µ In the Chroma Keyer tab, click the Numeric button. In the Chroma Keyer tab, click this button to use the standard numeric controls.
µ Click the Filters tab. Standard numeric interface of the Chroma Keyer Visual Controls in the Chroma Keyer Filter The following controls appear in the Chroma Keyer tab in the Viewer. Enable/Disable checkbox Reset button Color Range control Select Color eyedropper View Final/Matte/Source button Invert Selection button Luma control Sliders for further adjustments Saturation control • Enable/Disable checkbox: Make sure there’s a checkmark in this checkbox for the controls you want to use.
• Color Range control: Allows you to fine-tune the range of color that you want to key on. Top handles Color gradient Bottom handles • Top handles: Let you select a larger or smaller range of colors that are keyed, based on the original colors you selected with the Select Color eyedropper tool. These handles correspond to the Width control in the Key on Chroma area of the filter’s numeric controls.
Clicking this button and then Shift-clicking with the eyedropper in the Viewer or Canvas allows you to select another region of the background screen that wasn’t keyed out by your first use of this control. This broadens the range of colors to be keyed out and enlarges the keyed-out area. You can do this repeatedly to broaden the range of keyed-out color to include shadows or highlights on the background screen, if necessary.
Tip: If you edit the clip into track V2 of the Timeline, you’ll have room to insert another clip as the new composited background. 2 Apply the Chroma Keyer filter to the green-screen clip you just edited in. For more information, see Applying a Filter to a Clip. 3 In the Timeline, double-click the green-screen clip to open it in the Viewer; then, in the Viewer, click the Chroma Keyer tab. Note: In this example, you won’t use the numeric controls that appear in the Filters tab.
5 Click the Select Color eyedropper, and in the Canvas, Shift-click another region of the background you want to key out to enlarge the region of transparency. Before selecting another range of color with the eyedropper tool After selecting an additional range of color You can perform this step as many times as you need to. The goal is to eliminate as much of the background as you can without affecting the foreground subject.
Note: You should remove the majority of the green screen using the top handles, but stop at the point where there’s still some fringing around the areas of fine detail in the foreground subject. This is the point where you should start using the bottom handles to expand the keyed area more softly. It is not important, at this point, to completely eliminate this fringing, only to make sure that it’s soft and translucent, rather than pixelated and solid.
7 Depending on how the edges of your foreground subject look, you may want to make adjustments using the Edge Thin slider. The Edge Thin slider allows you to shrink the alpha channel created by the Chroma Keyer to begin to eliminate the light fringing that remains around the edges of the foreground subject. Before adjusting the Edge Thin slider After dragging the Edge Thin slider to the right 8 An optional step at this point is to use the Softening slider to blur the edges of the foreground subject.
9 If you still see light fringing at this point, or if you were forced to use settings so extreme in the Chroma Keyer that some of your foreground subject was eaten away around the edges, apply the Matte Choker filter. After you apply the Matte Choker filter, adjust the Matte Choker’s Edge Thin and Edge Feather sliders. This is the point where you should work to eliminate all the background fringing.
13 Finally, you’re ready to insert the background image. Make sure that the clip you’re editing into your sequence to use as the background image appears in a video track below the foreground clip being keyed. The background image now appears. The background image is placed below the foreground clip that was keyed.
Using Mattes to Add or Modify Alpha Channels You can use the matte filters to create a new alpha channel or add to or subtract from a clip’s existing alpha channel. Matte filters work equally well with clips that already have an alpha channel and with clips that have alpha channels created using a key filter, such as the Chroma Keyer.
3 Move the pointer to the Canvas (the pointer turns into a crosshair pointer), then click to change the location of the matte corner defined by Point 1. Before changing the location of the first point After changing the location of the first point 4 Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the Point 2, Point 3, and Point 4 point controls, until you’ve created a box that crops out everything outside the green screen surrounding the actor. 5 To round the four corners of the matte, adjust the Smooth slider, if necessary.
The Choke slider adjusts the overall size of the matte, without changing the shape; the Feather slider blurs the edges of the matte. The finished matte image The parameters of the Garbage Matte filters can be keyframed, in the same way as the parameters of any other filter. This can come in handy if you need to use one of the Garbage Matte filters to crop out the outside edge of a green screen in a shot where the camera is panning.
3 Move the playhead to the last frame of the clip, then readjust the Point 1, Point 2, Point 3, and Point 4 point controls to fit the new position of the green screen. Create keyframes for all four points. Click point controls to make an adjustable crosshair appear in the Viewer or Canvas. Keyframes are created automatically when you make these adjustments. The change of the matte’s shape and position is calculated for each frame in between the two sets of keyframes you’ve created.
• Mask Shape: Allows you to create an alpha channel in a clip that consists of a simple shape—a diamond, oval, rectangle, or round rectangle. The solid part of the clip that remains after applying the Mask Shape filter appears inside the shape that’s been created. The vertical and horizontal scale of the shape can be altered, as can the mask’s center. The Mask Shape filter can also be inverted to reveal areas of the clip outside the shape. • Soft Edges: Allows you to feather the edges of a clip.
Note: When using a clip’s luma to define transparency, white is used for 100 percent opacity, and black is used for 100 percent transparency. The clip now has a border that matches the Border.tif clip. You can further modify this new alpha channel, blurring it with the Mask Feather filter, for example. 6 Choose Effects > Video Filters > Matte > Mask Feather to apply the Mask Feather filter to the clip you want to blur. 7 Open this clip in the Viewer, then click the Filters tab.
Using Generator Clips 73 Final Cut Pro can generate several types of clips for you to use in your sequences, including bars and tone, placeholders, and backgrounds. This chapter covers the following: • What Is a Generator Clip? (p. 1265) • Different Ways to Use Generators in Your Sequence (p. 1265) • Creating Generator Clips and Adding Them to Sequences (p. 1266) • Video and Audio Generators Available in Final Cut Pro (p.
Some generators, such as the Slug, Matte, and Particle Noise generators, fill the entire frame size of your sequence. Others, like the text filters, are created with an alpha channel that allows your text to be quickly superimposed against an image, or against black. (See Creating Titles for information about text generators.) Generators can have filters and motion settings applied to them.
The generator clip appears in the Viewer. Click the Control tab in the Viewer to access the settings for the generator. Tip: To see the generator clip and its settings at the same time, you can create separate Viewer windows by “tearing away” either the Video tab or the Controls tab, or both. To adjust generator clip settings 1 Open a generator clip in the Viewer. 2 Click the Controls tab to view that generator’s parameters, and adjust the controls to suit your purposes.
The generator clip appears in the Canvas. 2 Double-click the generator clip in the Timeline. The generator clip appears in the Viewer. Note: The sprocket holes in the Viewer’s scrubber bar confirm that the generator clip is a sequence clip. 3 Click the Controls tab in the Viewer. The Controls tab displays the generator settings in the Viewer. Note: Some generators do not have a Controls tab or adjustable settings.
Color Bars, Tone, and Other Signal Generators You use color bar and signal generators for calibration and testing purposes. Each Bars and Tone generator uses the image dimensions and color space intended for a particular video system. For more information, see Measuring and Setting Video Levels. Generator Result Bars and Tone (HD 1080i60) Generates reference color bars and audio tone for 1080i60 video systems.
Generator Result Caustics The Caustics generator creates an animated, simulated water surface. You can use the Caustics generator to add light patterns to a project, or as the source object for an image map. The size, speed, refraction, brightness, and color of the Caustics pattern can be modified and animated using the generator controls. Cellular The Cellular generator creates an animated pattern that looks like cells moving under a microscope.
Generator Result Lens Flare The Lens Flare generator reproduces the look of a flare of light hitting a camera lens. By adjusting its controls, you can create the effect of a lens flare in a specific location and with different intensities and colors. You can customize the position, size, intensity, falloff speed, and color, streak, ring, and glow settings using the generator controls.
Generator Result Spirals The Spirals generator creates a repeating circular spiral pattern. You define the styling of the spiral using the Type pop-up menu, choosing Modern, which creates evenly spaced color swirls, or Classic, which creates color swirls that narrow as they move toward the center of the spiral. You can customize the position, color, scale, tightnesss, contrast, and rotation of the spiral using the generator controls.
Slug You use the Slug generator to create a solid black background. Generator Result Slug Generates a video clip consisting of a black image with an empty pair of audio tracks. Slug is used primarily as a placeholder in areas of your edit where you want to keep a gap between two clips. Text You can create a variety of text titles, credits, and other types of text labels using the text generators. Generator Result Text generators: Generates text for titles, credits, and so on.
Using the SmoothCam Filter 74 You can smooth the motion of handheld and shaky shots by applying the SmoothCam filter. This chapter covers the following: • About the SmoothCam Filter (p. 1275) • Working with the SmoothCam Filter (p. 1276) • Managing Media and Motion Analysis Data (p. 1286) • Improving SmoothCam Filter Results and Troubleshooting (p.
The processing queue is a background process, which means that you can continue to work in Final Cut Pro while your computer analyzes clips in the background. Background processing takes over some of your computer’s processing power, so Final Cut Pro automatically pauses the queue during playback, capture, and output. You can also manually pause the queue when performing processor-intensive operations.
About Motion Analysis States A clip’s motion must be analyzed before you can see the results of the SmoothCam filter. You can monitor the progress of motion analysis in several locations and even stop analysis if you need to free up computer processing power. A clip can have one of four analysis states: • Unanalyzed: The clip requires analysis but has not yet been analyzed for some reason. For more information, see Making Sure Clips Are Analyzed.
The Background Processes Window The Background Processes window displays the name, queue number, and progress of motion analysis for each clip in the processing queue. To display the Background processes window, choose Tools > Background Processes. Stop button Pause/Resume button Number of clips in the processing queue The SmoothCam Browser Column The SmoothCam clip property can be shown in a Browser column, displaying each clip’s motion analysis status.
To remove clips from the SmoothCam Analysis processing queue 1 Make sure the SmoothCam column is shown in the Browser. 2 Select one or more clips in the Browser. 3 Control-click in the SmoothCam column next to one of the selected clips, then choose Stop Analysis from the shortcut menu. Analysis for all selected clips is stopped. Analysis begins on the next clip in the queue. Note: Motion analysis is applied to media files, not clips.
• Analyze all clips in a sequence using the SmoothCam Browser column: Sequences have a SmoothCam property just as individual clips do. However, a sequence’s SmoothCam property controls motion analysis for all unanalyzed clips in the sequence. Control-click in the SmoothCam column next to the sequence whose clips you want to analyze, then choose Run Analysis from the shortcut menu. Any sequence clip that uses the SmoothCam filter and still needs analysis is analyzed.
Adjusting SmoothCam Filter Parameters You can adjust controls for the SmoothCam filter in the Filters tab in the Viewer, just as you would adjust parameters for any other filter. However, you cannot add keyframes to SmoothCam filter parameters.
• Scale Smooth: Forward or backward camera or lens movement (z axis) x x x z y Translation y Rotation y Scale Each parameter can be set to a value between 0.0 and 5.0. A value of 0.0 turns off the parameter, and a value of 5.0 applies the strongest possible transformation. The higher you set each parameter, the more camera motion is compensated for in that axis.
• Change your clip In and Out points to limit the SmoothCam filter to a portion of the clip without abrupt visual changes or severe camera movement. This reduces the amount of motion compensation that the SmoothCam filter needs to apply, so less scaling is required. For more information, see Setting Clip In and Out Points to Improve SmoothCam Rendering. • Reduce the Auto Scale parameter value to reduce scaling.
Setting Clip In and Out Points to Improve SmoothCam Rendering The results of the SmoothCam filter are determined by the media between a clip’s In and Out points, so abrupt visual changes in your clip’s media may cause poor SmoothCam filter results. You can avoid abrupt visual changes in a clip by setting clip In and Out points to a visually stable portion of media. An easy way to define a visually stable portion of media is to cut a single clip into smaller clips and remove segments with unwanted movement.
Using QuickTime Reference Movies to Limit Clip Analysis One way to limit which frames are analyzed is to create QuickTime reference movies that contain only the portion of the clip you want to analyze. To apply the SmoothCam filter to 20 seconds of a 15-minute clip 1 Open a clip in the Browser and set its In and Out points so the duration is 20 seconds. 2 Choose File > Export > QuickTime Movie. 3 In the Save dialog, enter a name for the QuickTime movie in the Save As field.
Managing Media and Motion Analysis Data If you use the Media Manager QuickTime export commands with sequences or clips using the SmoothCam filter, motion analysis data may not be retained. Using the Media Manager The Media Manager does not manage SmoothCam motion analysis files.
• You stopped the processing queue before the clip was analyzed. • The processing queue is paused, so the clip has not yet been analyzed. • You ran out of disk space before the motion analysis file could be written. Improving SmoothCam Filter Results The following kinds of footage can generate inaccurate motion analysis data, leading to improper motion compensation when the clip is rendered.
Creating Titles 75 Titles, including opening and closing credits and titles used in the lower part of the screen, are important elements in your project. This chapter covers the following: • How You Can Use Titles in Your Project (p. 1289) • Installing and Choosing Fonts (p. 1290) • Making Sure Titles Fit on TV Screens (p. 1290) • Text Generators Available in Final Cut Pro (p. 1291) • Creating and Adding a Title Clip (p. 1293) • Other Options for Creating and Adding Titles (p.
Installing and Choosing Fonts If there are special fonts you want to install to use in Final Cut Pro, you need to install the TrueType version of those fonts because Final Cut Pro text generators use TrueType fonts. (Most professionally created fonts come in both PostScript and TrueType versions.) For information on installing fonts, see Mac Help. DV was designed for real-world images that blend together, and it is not optimized for rigid lines of text.
Note: When working with video that has 16:9 aspect ratio, the Title Safe indicators and Action Safe indicators also show tick marks to indicate the limits of 4:3 aspect ratio Title Safe indicators and Action Safe indicators. Use these tick marks as guides when you want to ensure that your media will appear correctly when shown at 4:3 aspect ratio as well. To display the Title Safe indicators Do one of the following: µ µ Choose View > Show Title Safe, so a checkmark appears next to it.
Text generator Result Tips for making settings Lower 3rd Generates text in the lower third of the screen. This generator is often used to identify a person or location. • This generator provides two independent text lines placed in the lower third of the screen. It does not allow carriage returns. • The Tracking, Size, and Opacity parameters can be keyframed to create interesting effects.
Text generator Result Tips for making settings Typewriter Generates text that appears as if typed onto the screen, one character at a time. This generator allows carriage returns. • The Location slider moves the text element up and down in the frame, and the Indent slider moves it from side to side. • The Pause slider increases or decreases the amount of time it takes for each character to appear onscreen.
3 In the Text field, type the text that will appear in your movie. Enter title text in this field. Reset button Number field for the font size Slider for the font size, with arrows on either end 4 If you wish, specify additional settings. Note: Different text generators have different controls. • Text: Enter your title text in this field. • Font: Choose a font from the Font pop-up menu. • Size: Change the font size by entering a value or dragging the slider to the left or right.
• Origin: Origin refers to the center of the text. The Origin setting determines where the text appears within the screen. You can position the text by clicking the point control (a round button with crosshair) and then clicking a point in the Canvas or Viewer (the pointer becomes a crosshair pointer). Or, you can enter x and y coordinates in the Origin number fields.
3 Click the Video tab in the Viewer, then drag the title clip from the Viewer to the Canvas or Timeline.
Working with Motion and Shake 76 You can add Motion projects directly to sequences in Final Cut Pro and send Final Cut Pro sequence clips directly to a new Timeline in Motion. This chapter covers the following: • Using Motion with Final Cut Pro (p. 1297) • Using Shake with Final Cut Pro (p. 1302) Using Motion with Final Cut Pro Integration between Motion and Final Cut Pro allows you to do the following.
Importing a Motion project into Final Cut Pro creates a Motion clip (also called an embedded Motion project) that you can edit in the same way as any other clip in your project. A Motion clip refers to the imported Motion project stored on disk. Motion clips can play back in real time, although you may have to choose Unlimited RT mode to avoid rendering. For more information, see Unlimited RT.
Restrictions When Working with Motion Clips in Final Cut Pro When working with Motion projects in Final Cut Pro, keep the following restrictions and limitations in mind: • The audio in a Motion project is not imported into Final Cut Pro. • All video tracks in a Motion project appear as a single layer when imported into Final Cut Pro as a Motion clip. • The frame size and duration of the Motion clip are determined by the settings in the Motion project.
2 Choose File > Send To > Motion Project. 3 In the dialog that appears: a Choose a location and enter a name for the new Motion project. b If you want the new Motion project to immediately open in Motion, select Launch Motion. c If you used the Send To Motion Project command with sequence clips, you can select the Embed Motion Content option, which allows you to replace the selected sequence clips in Final Cut Pro with the Motion project you just created.
About the Embed Motion Content Option The Embed Motion Content option is available only when you send selected sequence clips to a new Motion project. This option imports the new Motion project back into Final Cut Pro and replaces your selected sequence clips. In effect, it converts your selection of sequence clips into a Motion clip in a single step. For more information about working with imported Motion projects, see Making Changes to a Motion Clip in Final Cut Pro.
Using Shake with Final Cut Pro Shake is a powerful visual effects application with features such as motion tracking, rotoscoping, and node-based compositing. Final Cut Pro can send a group of clips directly to Shake for further effects work. For example, you can use Final Cut Pro for basic editing, setting In and Out points, and placing clips on multiple video tracks. You can then send the edit information and the clip’s media to Shake, ready for further processing.
5 Select the Launch Shake checkbox if you want the newly created Shake script to open automatically so you can start working on it. Important: This requires Final Cut Pro and Shake to be installed on the same computer. 6 Click Export. When you click Export, several things happen: • If you selected sequence clips, a new sequence is created in your Final Cut Pro project that contains a copy of all your selected clips.
Important: Audio clips from the original QuickTime files are not imported into Shake. Video timing changes you make in Shake can cause audio sync problems if you import the finished Shake composite back into your original Final Cut Pro sequence.
Working with Master Templates 77 Master templates created in Motion allow you to quickly customize design elements such as titles and opening credits. This chapter covers the following: • About Motion Template Files and Master Templates (p. 1305) • Working with Master Templates (p. 1306) • Modifying Master Templates (p. 1311) • Converting a Template Clip to a Motion Project (p. 1313) • Installing Motion Template Files for Use in Final Cut Pro (p.
But that’s just the beginning. The real power of master templates becomes clear when you have lots of titles or graphics in your sequence that need the same motion graphics treatment. For example: You are working on a documentary that has dozens of lower third titles, each requiring the same animated text and background treatment. In this case, a graphic designer can create a single Motion template file for all of your lower third titles.
Stage 2: Adding Master Templates to a Sequence See Adding Master Templates to a Sequence for information on the different ways you can add master templates to your sequence. Stage 3: Customizing Template Clip Parameters in the Viewer See Customizing Template Clip Parameters in the Viewer for information on customizing a template clip after it has been added to your sequence. Previewing Master Templates You can preview the currently installed master templates in the Master Template Browser.
Adding Master Templates to a Sequence You can add master templates to your sequence from four different locations within Final Cut Pro. Try out the following methods to see which one works best for you. • Master Template Browser: Choose Sequence > Add Master Template to open the Master Template Browser. From this window, you can perform an overwrite, insert, or superimpose edit to edit a master template directly into your sequence.
7 To edit the selected master template into your sequence, click one of the following: • Overwrite: A template clip is added to your sequence with an overwrite edit. The template clip is placed at the current In point on the current destination video track. • Insert: A template clip is added to your sequence with an insert edit. The template clip is placed at the current In point on the current destination video track.
Tip: Holding down the Command and Option keys after you begin dragging a master template from the Viewer to the Timeline or Canvas causes the newly created template clip to open automatically in the Viewer with the Controls tab active. This allows you to immediately customize the template clip parameters after the clip is edited into your sequence. This shortcut also works for generator clips.
Modifying Master Templates There are two ways you can change the basic design of a template clip: • Master Template in Editor command: Allows you to change a template clip’s Motion template file by opening the file and editing it in Motion. All template clips that refer to the Motion template file in all of your projects and sequences are updated.
Updating a Single Template Clip If you want to modify only a single template clip without affecting others, Final Cut Pro can make a copy of the template clip’s Motion template file and automatically link the template clip to the copied template file. Because the template clip in the Timeline is now linked to the copied Motion template file, the template clip is no longer affected by changes you make to its original Motion template file.
• Link all template clips in a sequence that connect to a single master template to a newer master template. • Link all template clips in a project that connect to a single master template to a newer master template. To update a single template clip in your sequence to a newer master template 1 Open the new master template you want to use in the Viewer. For more information about adding master templates to a sequence, see Adding Master Templates to a Sequence.
For example: You have been using a template clip and a corresponding Motion template file for the opening title in your sequence. Now, you want to give the graphic designer full control over every aspect of the design, including the custom text and video. In this case, Final Cut Pro can make a new Motion project file based on the template file and your custom content. Then the designer can make updates to the project file in Motion.
Measuring and Setting Video Levels 78 Features such as the real-time video scopes and the Broadcast Safe filter help you precisely analyze and control video levels to maintain broadcast standards. Before you can effectively perform color correction, you need to understand the basics of what makes up the image of a video file. Video and graphics files can represent color information several ways.
The RGB color model is additive, which means the red, green, and blue channels combine to create all the available colors in the system. When all three primary color values are the same, the result is neutral, or grayscale. For example, if all three primary colors are 0 percent, the result is black. If all three primary colors are 100 percent (the maximum value), the result is white.
Color Difference Channels The color channels, CB and CR, are derived by subtracting Y from the R and B signals and are sometimes referred to generally as B-Y and R-Y, or color difference channels. Analog video systems such as Betacam SP use PB and PR channels, and digital video systems use CB and CR. Each color channel format performs the same function, but the underlying specifications are slightly different.
Blacks, Midtones, and Whites In the Final Cut Pro color correction filters, most of the controls that you use to correct your clips are divided into controls over blacks, midtones, and whites. These represent different overlapping ranges of luma values in your image. Blacks Blacks make up the minimum range of luma in your clip. If you looked on a smooth gradient from black to white, controls that affect the blacks will affect your picture in the leftmost three-fourths of the gradient, from black to gray.
Chroma Chroma describes the color values in your clips, ranging from the absence of color to the maximum levels of color that can be represented. Chroma has two properties, hue and saturation. Hue Hue describes the actual color itself, whether it’s red or green or yellow. Hue is measured as an angle on a color wheel. Red –13° 0° Magenta 29° Yellow –77° Blue 103° Green –151° Cyan 167° Saturation Saturation describes the intensity of a color, whether it’s a bright red or a pale red.
Measuring Video Levels with the Final Cut Pro Video Scopes The Final Cut Pro video scopes work similarly to the standard scopes that you’d find in any online or color correction suite. The scopes provide exact measurements of the luma and chroma levels of your clips, helping you to unambiguously spot all of the hue, saturation, and luma levels that differentiate one clip from another.
Layout Options in Video Scopes Tabs You can choose which scopes and which video source appear in each Video Scopes tab by using the following controls: • Layout: Use this pop-up menu to choose one of eight different combinations of single or multiple scopes for display in the Video Scopes tab. If you choose a single scope from the list, it takes up the entire space of the Video Scopes tab, making it easier to see.
Learning to Read the Waveform Monitor The Waveform Monitor shows you the relative levels of luma and chroma saturation in the clip currently being examined. These values are displayed from left to right, mirroring the relative distribution of these levels from the left to the right of the image in the frame. Spikes and dips in the displayed waveforms correspond to hot spots and dark areas in your picture. This dip in the waveform matches the position of the dog.
With the Waveform Monitor set to display saturation, you can compare the relative saturation levels of two clips by comparing the thickness of their displayed waveforms. Modifying the saturation of one clip to match that of another is simple; just adjust the Saturation control of one of the color correction filters in one of the clips to compensate.
Learning to Read the Vectorscope The Vectorscope shows you the distribution of color in your image on a circular scale. The color in your video is represented by a series of connected points that fall somewhere within this scale. The angle around the scale represents the hue displayed, with targets indicating the primary colors of red, green, and blue and the secondary colors of yellow, cyan, and magenta.
The color targets of the Vectorscope scale match the colors in the color balance controls of the Final Cut Pro color correction filters. If the hues of two shots you’re trying to match don’t match, the direction and distance of their offset on the Vectorscope scale give you an indication of which direction to move the color balance indicator to correct for this. The Vectorscope is also helpful for identifying and correcting the flesh tones of actors in a shot.
Learning to Read the Histogram The Histogram shows you the relative distribution of all luma values in the video frame at a glance, from black to super-white (assuming the video codec you’re using supports Y′CBCR processing). It’s really a bar graph of sorts, where the x axis represents a percentage of luma, from 0 to 110 percent. The height of the line at each step on the scale represents the number of pixels in the image at that percentage of luma, relative to all the other values.
The shape of the Histogram graph is also good for determining the amount of contrast in an image. A low-contrast image has few pixels in the extreme black and white ranges, so the Histogram shows a concentrated clump of values nearer to the center of the graph. By comparison, a high-contrast image has a wider distribution of values across the entire width of the Histogram and may have spikes at white and black.
The RGB Parade scope is useful for comparing the relative levels of red, green, and blue between two clips. If one clip has more blue than another, the difference shows up as an elevated blue waveform in the one, and a depressed blue waveform in the other. In the previous screen shot, the overall image contains quite a bit of blue. By comparison, the shot of the couple dancing below has substantially less blue and far higher levels of red, which can be seen immediately in the RGB Parade scope.
To change the display or scales brightness of a video scope 1 In the Video Scopes tab, click the Display Brightness or Scales Brightness button above the video scope readout. Scales Brightness button Display Brightness button Depending on the button you click, the Display Brightness or Scales Brightness slider appears. 2 Drag the slider to increase or decrease the brightness of the scope.
• Saturation: This option is available in the Waveform Monitor only. With saturation turned off, the waveforms display only the luma of the selected video signal and appear to be a series of lines or dots. This can be useful if you’re interested solely in the relative luma of different parts of the video frame. With saturation is turned on, these lines expand vertically to appear as a much thicker series of waveforms.
• All Lines Except Top & Bottom: Displays every line except the top nine and bottom nine lines, which are reserved for signals such as closed captioning. The word “most” appears in the lower-right corner of the Video Scopes tab. • Limited Lines (Fastest): This mode is always used during real-time playback. Accuracy is limited to 32 lines that are evenly distributed from the top to the bottom of the action safe area of standard definition video.
For this reason, as you are performing color correction on clips in your edited sequence, you need to make sure that the luma and chroma levels of your video stay within the parameters referred to as broadcast-legal, or acceptable for broadcast. It is easy to inadvertently push the levels of clips in your sequence too high, so it’s important to use Final Cut Pro scopes and range-checking options to make sure that the luma and chroma levels you set stay legal.
Displaying Excess Luma and Chroma Levels in the Viewer and Canvas The Final Cut Pro range-checking options (in the Range Check submenu of the View menu) allow you to turn on zebra striping in the Viewer and Canvas to immediately warn you of areas of your clip’s image that may stray outside the broadcast-legal range. Zebra stripes appear as animated diagonal “marching lines” that are superimposed over illegal areas in your picture or areas that are very near the broadcast-legal limits.
• Both: With this option turned on, red zebra stripes indicate both areas of the frame with luma above 100 percent and areas of the frame with illegal chroma values. If zebra stripes appear, a yellow exclamation point icon also appears, indicating that there are levels that are too hot. Tip: The Excess Chroma and Both options are especially useful when using one of the color correction filters. They warn you if you’re raising the chroma of a clip to levels that are unacceptable for broadcast.
Broadcast Safe Filter Controls The following section describes controls in the Broadcast Safe filter. Luma/Chroma Mode pop-up menu Custom Luminance Limiting controls Custom Saturation Limiting controls RGB Limiting controls Luma/Chroma Mode Pop-Up Menu • Luma/Chroma Mode Pop-Up Menu: Choose one of the presets in this pop-up menu to decide the maximum allowable chroma saturation. The normal setting of 120 should work in most situations; however, more conservative settings are available.
• Clamp Above: All luma values above this parameter value are clamped to the parameter value. The lower you set this value, the more clipping occurs at the top of the waveform. • Max. Output: Compresses the range of values between the Start (Threshold) and Clamp Above values so the maximum output value is the value set here. Setting this value higher than the Clamp Above value has no effect. Values below the Start (Threshold) value clip the signal.
The Max. RGB Output Level slider goes between 75 and 125; 100 is the default setting. If you want to reduce RGB levels, set the slider to a value below 100. If you want the filter to tolerate higher RGB levels, set the slider to a value above 100. For more detailed control, you can use the RGB Limit filter instead (see Using the RGB Limit Filter).
In the following diagram, the Clamp Above parameter removes details above a value of 100. Then, the Max. Output parameter compresses the clamped values between 90 and 100 to the range between 90 and 95. Start (Threshold) Clamp Above Max. Output 105 100 95 90 85 Start (Threshold) = 90 Clamp Above = 100 Max. Output = 95 In the following example, the Clamp Above parameter removes details above a value of 100. Then, the Max.
Motion parameters, transitions, and compositing modes can alter the results of the Broadcast Safe filter applied to individual clips. In these cases, it’s best to create a nested sequence and then apply the Broadcast Safe filter to the nested sequence. For more information about nested sequences, see Methods for Editing Clips from One Sequence to Another. This is also more efficient than applying the Broadcast Safe filter to every clip in your sequence.
RGB Limit Filter Controls The following section describes the controls in the RGB Limit filter. Minimum RGB Limiting controls Maximum RGB Limiting controls Maximum RGB Reduction controls Minimum RGB Limiting Controls • Enable: Select or deselect the checkbox to turn on or turn off RGB clamping below the Clamp Levels Below parameter value. • Clamp Levels Below: Set a value to define the minimum allowable RGB levels. RGB levels below this parameter value are clamped to this value.
The RGB Limit filter affects only RGB-equivalent values above the Clamp Levels Above parameter value and below the Clamp Levels Below parameter value. The filter applies up to three stages of level reduction at a time, as necessary: • Clamping: Levels above the Clamp Levels Above parameter value are clamped to the parameter value. Levels below the Clamp Levels Below parameter value are clamped to the parameter value.
How Digital Video Signals Are Measured in Final Cut Pro The Final Cut Pro Waveform Monitor displays Y′CBCR values as percentages instead of bit values because digital video can use 8 or 10 bits per luma sample. Using 8 bits provides up to 256 tones from black to white, although the actual range used in Y′CBCR video is 16 (black) to 235 (white). The remaining values, 236 through 254, provide additional headroom used to record super-white levels such as specular highlights on shiny objects.
Outputting Accurate Analog Black Levels Using DV FireWire Outputting analog video from Final Cut Pro requires a video interface with a digital-to-analog converter. Many third-party interfaces include analog outputs. Alternatively, you can use a DV deck or camcorder to convert a digital signal via FireWire to an analog signal for recording to tape. This is the same configuration you would use to monitor DV FireWire output from Final Cut Pro on a standard video monitor.
• The signal from the proc amp is connected to a video monitor and then to a waveform monitor, where you can measure to make sure the proc amp is adjusted for proper black levels. For NTSC signals in North America, you should adjust the proc amp so that the waveform monitor shows a black level of 7.5 IRE. For PAL and NTSC in Japan, the output signal should be 0 IRE.
The Waveform Monitor and Vectorscope appear below the Log and Capture window. On the left is the Waveform Monitor, which displays the brightness levels of the color bars within the video frame as a graph. Each “step” of the graph corresponds to one of the color bars. The goal is to adjust the brightness and contrast so that the levels of the bars match their ideal targets, shown in purple.
Different third-party video interfaces have different controls for adjusting the video signal being captured. • If your video interface uses Brightness and Contrast sliders: Make the following adjustments. • Adjust the Brightness slider so that all of the bars in the Waveform Monitor are set near the upper purple targets in the background. • Adjust the Contrast slider so that the tops of the bars and the bottoms in the Waveform Monitor are within the boundaries of the top and bottom targets.
Regardless of race, the hues of human flesh tones, when recorded to videotape and measured on a vectorscope, fall along a fairly narrow range (although the saturation and brightness vary). To adjust color on source tapes using flesh tones 1 Cue your tape to a section that has a well-lit facial closeup. 2 Check to see if there’s a spike on the Vectorscope near the Flesh Tone line. 3 Adjust this spike so that it falls approximately along the Flesh Tone line.
When Should You Use Color Bars? Analog devices always need to be calibrated and adjusted, even if only by minute degrees. This is because heat, age, noise, cable length, and many other factors subtly affect the voltage of an analog electronic video signal, which affects the brightness and color of the video image. Color bars provide a reference signal you can use to calibrate the output levels of an analog device.
To calibrate your monitor 1 Connect a color bar or test pattern generator to the monitor you’re using. Alternatively, you can use one of the built-in color bar generators in Final Cut Pro. Avoid using still-image graphics of color bars. 2 Turn on the monitor and wait at least 10 minutes for the monitor to reach a stable operating temperature. 3 Select the appropriate input on the video monitor so that the color bars are visible on the screen.
Note: The contrast control adjusts how much the RGB signals are scaled. When monitor brightness and contrast are properly adjusted, this strip should barely be visible above black. When adjusting the contrast, also watch the white square in the lower left. If the contrast is too high, the white square appears to “spill” into the surrounding squares. Adjust the contrast until the luma of the white square no longer spills into surrounding squares.
Note: NTSC and PAL video have brightness and contrast levels that are very different from those of RGB computer displays. Broadcast video viewed on a computer display often looks dull and dark, whereas the same video viewed on a broadcast monitor will be bright and clear. For this reason, the color bars above are shown for reference only and not to reflect what you should be seeing.
About Color Correction 79 In any post-production workflow, color correction is generally one of the last steps in finishing an edited program. Final Cut Pro color correction tools give you precise control over the look of every clip in your project by letting you adjust the color balance, black levels, midtone levels, and white levels of individual clips. This chapter covers the following: • Why Color Correct Your Footage? (p. 1353) • Color Correction Starts During Your Shoot (p.
• Balance all the shots in a scene to match: Most edited programs incorporate footage from a variety of sources, shot in multiple locations over the course of many days, weeks, or months of production. Even with the most skilled lighting and camera crews, differences in color and exposure are bound to occur, sometimes within clips meant to be combined into a single scene. When edited together, these changes in color and lighting can make individual shots stand out, so the editing appears to be uneven.
Color Correction Starts During Your Shoot It’s important to remember that the process of determining the overall look of your video begins when your scenes are lit and shot during production. To have the maximum amount of control over your clips in post-production, you need to start out with footage that has been exposed with your end goals in mind right from the beginning. Color correction in post-production is no substitute for good lighting.
Managing Color During Post-Production The way you manage color in your program depends on whether your source video was transferred from film or shot on tape. There are several ways to color correct a project. The one that works for you depends on how you’re finishing your program, as well as your project’s post-production budget.
After the second color correction pass, the color-corrected selects are reassembled to match the original edit, and the project is mastered to tape. Perform initial correction pass Edit Color correct shots in cut list Reassemble color-corrected clips Other Advantages of Telecine Transfers In addition to color correction, a colorist working with a telecine has many other options available, depending on what kinds of issues may have come up during the edit.
Once the edit has been locked and the final master tape created, the tape can be taken to an online suite capable of tape-to-tape color correction. The master tape is run through a color corrector, and the colorist uses the tape’s master timecode to set up color correction settings for every shot of every scene. Once this setup is complete, the entire tape is run through the color corrector and rerecorded to another tape.
Every video project consists of a series of scenes. Although scenes may differ in color and tone—one scene taking place at night, the next one happening in the midday sun—all the shots within a given scene should match. The goal is to make sure that the transitions from shot to shot within a scene are smooth. If one shot is brighter or redder than the one next to it, the result can be similar to a jump cut, distracting the viewer and making your project look unprofessional.
Stage 3: Adding Additional Color Correction as Necessary It’s important to remember that you don’t have to do everything with a single application of a color correction filter. For example, if you can’t get the colors in both the dimly lit areas and the highlights of your clip right with a single filter, focus only on the dimly lit area. You can then adjust the highlights with a second application of a color correction filter.
Color Correction Features 80 Final Cut Pro includes powerful color correction features that let you analyze clips in your project and perform color correction on them. This chapter covers the following: • Color Correction Features in Final Cut Pro (p. 1361) • Using Scopes Versus Looking at an External Monitor (p. 1362) • Window Layouts for Color Correction in Final Cut Pro (p.
• Frame Viewer windows: You can use Frame Viewer windows to compare the color of adjacent sequence clips in a single frame. See Comparing Two Frames in the Frame Viewer. Color Correction Filters The Color Corrector, Color Corrector 3-way, and RGB Balance filters are the main filters you use for matching color between shots and making aesthetic color changes.
The Importance of Using a Properly Calibrated Broadcast Monitor When using Final Cut Pro color correction filters to adjust the color, blacks, and whites of clips in your sequence, it is essential to always use a properly calibrated broadcast video monitor to view your adjustments as you’re making them. Only an NTSC or PAL broadcast monitor allows you to see the color and brightness of your video as it truly looks.
Comparing Two Frames in the Frame Viewer You can use the Frame Viewer to visually compare multiple frames from the same sequence. This is particularly useful when performing a color comparison of multiple clips in the same setting where the lighting attributes may have changed. The Frame Viewer is a tab in the Tool Bench window. In Final Cut Pro, you can open as many Frame Viewer tabs in as many Tool Bench windows as necessary.
µ To open the Frame Viewer tab Choose Tools > Frame Viewer (or press Option-7). Frame boundary indicator The Frame Viewer appears as a tab in the Tool Bench window. Indicates the timecode of the frame chosen in the Frame Viewer pop-up menu below.
• Current w/o Filters: Displays the same frame as the Current Frame option, without filters applied to the clip. If you have several layers composited together, composite modes are still calculated. However, all filters are turned off on all clips. • Next Edit: Displays the frame of the In point one edit forward. • 2nd Edit Forward: Displays the frame of the In point two edits forward. • In Point: Displays the frame corresponding to the currently defined In point of the sequence in the Timeline.
µ To turn off the split screen Choose None from the right Frame Viewer pop-up menu. The edit point represented by the green frame boundary indicators is shown. To adjust the split screen Do one of the following: µ Resize the split screen by dragging a green or blue frame boundary indicator to a new position. µ Move the split screen by clicking inside one of the Frame Viewer split-screen regions and dragging it to a different location.
Color Correction Filters 81 Final Cut Pro includes powerful color correction filters that you can use to grade and adjust your footage. This chapter covers the following: • The Final Cut Pro Color Correction Filters (p. 1369) • The Color Corrector Filter (p. 1371) • The Color Corrector 3-Way Filter (p. 1384) • The Desaturate Highlights and Desaturate Lows Filters (p. 1399) • RGB Balance Filter (p.
• Broadcast Safe and RGB Limit: The Broadcast Safe filter gives you a fast method for dealing with clips that have luma and chroma levels that exceed the broadcast limits for video. If you want to limit illegal RGB levels, you can use the RGB Limit controls in the Broadcast Safe filter or you can use the RGB Limit filter. For more information, see Using the Broadcast Safe Filter and Using the RGB Limit Filter.
For more information about adding, adjusting, and removing filters, see Using Video Filters. Using a Trackball with the Color Corrector Filters Additional keyboard shortcuts are available to make it easy to use a trackball to adjust the color balance controls in the Color Corrector and Color Corrector 3-way filters. These keyboard shortcuts work only while the mouse button (or trackball button) is pressed, and are designed to work with the drag lock button of your trackball.
• Visual button (appears when viewing the numeric controls): Click this button to view the visual controls for that filter in the color correction tab. • Keyframe controls: A set of three keyframe controls allows you to keyframe all of the settings in a color correction filter at once. To keyframe individual settings of a color correction filter, you need to use the filter’s numeric controls. There are two ways to keyframe color correction changes over time.
• Copy From 1st Clip Back: Copies the settings from the color correction filter of the same type that’s applied to the clip immediately behind the currently selected clip, and pastes those settings into the current color correction filter. The new values replace any values or keyframes that were already applied in the current filter. If the filter being copied from is keyframed, the values from the last keyframe are applied to the current clip.
Because the third shot in this sequence is another segment of the media used in the first shot, it needs the same color correction settings. Use the Copy To 2nd Clip Forward button to apply the same color correction filter with all its settings directly to the third shot in the sequence, skipping over the second shot. Once you’ve done that, the third shot displays a render bar, indicating that the filter has been applied. A render bar over the third clip indicates that the filter was applied.
Another way to use these controls is to select all the clips in the scene you’re working on and then apply the color correction filter to all of them. Once you’ve done that, it’s easy to use the Copy Filter controls to copy any color correction settings that you change from prior clips in the sequence to current ones, and vice versa. For clips with multiple filters, the Copy Filter controls operate by the following rules.
“Copy To” Rule If the current clip has multiple filters and you’re copying to a clip with multiple filters, Final Cut Pro copies the current filter’s settings to a filter with the same index number in the next clip as that of the current filter. For example, if the current clip has three filters, and the next clip has three filters, using the Copy To 1st Clip Forward button in the Color Corrector-2 tab copies that filter’s settings into the second color correction filter in the next clip.
The angle of distribution of red, green, and blue in all the color balance controls corresponds to the angles of those colors in the Vectorscope. The direction in which you move the color balance indicator within the color wheel is matched by the mix of colors moving in the same direction in the Vectorscope.
You use the controls in the Color Corrector tab to balance the whites and change hues displayed in a clip. Auto-Balance eyedropper Balance control Hue control Hue Reset button Balance Reset button The Color Corrector filter has one color balance control that lets you manipulate the whites in a clip, as well as a Hue control. You rarely use the Balance and Hue controls simultaneously in a single color correction operation.
• Balance Reset button: Click this button to reset the Balance control to its default settings and restore your clip to its original color mix. Holding down the Shift key while clicking this button also resets the level and saturation controls (described in one of the next sections) to their default settings. • Hue control: Rotate the Hue control to change the overall hue of the affected clip.
• Mids slider: Drag this slider to adjust the average distribution of values in between white and black in the affected clip. To move the slider in increments, click the small arrows to the right or left of the slider. You can use this slider to adjust the midtones of your image, increasing or decreasing the apparent contrast of your image without washing out the whites or blacks. For example, you could manipulate the Mids slider to bring out detail in shadowed areas of your clip.
Using Limit Effect Controls to Control a Match Hue Correction Color corrections made using the Match Hue controls affect a clip’s entire image, not just the particular subject you’re matching. The resulting change to the background of your clip may be inappropriate, even if the foreground subject is properly adjusted. In these cases, using the Limit Effect controls may allow you to restrict the correction to the areas where it’s needed, leaving the rest of the image alone.
Note: With a match color selected, the functionality of the Whites, Blacks, and Mids controls is unaffected. Only the functionality of the Auto-Balance eyedroppers is affected by the Match Hue controls. Limit Effect Controls in the Color Corrector Filter The Limit Effect controls are a group of controls in the Color Corrector filter that let you key a specific color and apply color correction to just the areas of the picture that you’ve keyed on.
• Bottom handles: Allow you to define the tolerance of your key. These handles correspond to the Chroma Softness control in the numeric filter controls. • Saturation (Sat) control: Allows you to adjust the degree and range of saturation that contributes to defining your key. The top and bottom handles work the same as those in the Color Range control. Drag left or right within the gradient to move all four handles simultaneously.
• Invert Selection button: Click this button to invert the key you’ve defined. For example, if you’ve set up a key based on the color of a green car and turned the desaturation all the way down so that the car is grayscale and the background is color, clicking the Invert Selection button makes the background turn grayscale, and the car appears in color.
• Keyframe controls: A set of three keyframe controls allows you to keyframe all of the settings in a color correction filter at once. To keyframe individual settings of a color correction filter, you need to use the filter’s numeric controls. There are two ways to keyframe color correction changes over time. Using a filter’s visual controls, you can place single keyframes that include the settings of every parameter of the color correction filter.
If the filter being copied from is keyframed, the values from the last keyframe are applied to the current clip. If the first clip behind the currently selected one has no color correction filter, this control is dimmed. • Drag Filter: Allows you to drag a copy of the current color correction filter, with all of its settings, and drop it onto another clip in your sequence. Click this button, then drag the filter to another clip.
Because the third shot in this sequence is another segment of the media used in the first shot, it needs the same color correction settings. Use the Copy To 2nd Clip Forward button to apply the same color correction filter with all its settings directly to the third shot in the sequence, skipping over the second shot. Once you’ve done that, the third shot displays a render bar, indicating that the filter has been applied. A render bar over the third clip indicates that the filter was applied.
Another way to use these controls is to select all the clips in the scene you’re working on and then apply the color correction filter to all of them. Once you’ve done that, it’s easy to use the Copy Filter controls to copy any color correction settings that you change from prior clips in the sequence to current ones, and vice versa. For clips with multiple filters, the Copy Filter controls operate by the following rules.
“Copy To” Rule If the current clip has multiple filters and you’re copying to a clip with multiple filters, Final Cut Pro copies the current filter’s settings to a filter with the same index number in the next clip as that of the current filter. For example, if the current clip has three filters, and the next clip has three filters, using the Copy To 1st Clip Forward button in the Color Corrector-2 tab copies that filter’s settings into the second color correction filter in the next clip.
Color balance controls are color wheels that allow you to change the mix of red, green, and blue that falls within the area of a specific range of luma in your clip. The color balance controls act like virtual trackballs; you can drag anywhere within a color wheel to move the color balance indicator. The Color Corrector 3-way filter has three color balance controls: one affects the blacks of a clip, the second affects the midtones, and the third affects the whites.
Unlike other controls in Final Cut Pro, a color balance control doesn’t “gear down” when you hold down the Command key while manipulating the color balance indicator (allowing you to make more subtle adjustments); rather, it “gears up” the control, causing the indicator to respond more quickly and resulting in greater changes.
• Mids Auto-Balance eyedropper: Clicking the Mids Auto-Balance eyedropper turns the pointer into an eyedropper when it’s moved into the Video tab of the Viewer or into the Canvas. Position the tip of the eyedropper in what is supposed to be an area of neutral gray, then click. The color value of the pixel you selected is analyzed, and the Mids control is automatically adjusted to turn that pixel into a neutral gray. Note: This neutral gray corresponds to the neutral gray chip on a production color chart.
Auto Level Controls in the Color Corrector 3-Way Filter Using the Auto Level controls and the Whites, Mids, and Blacks sliders to maximize the contrast of your image is usually the first step you take when color correcting a clip. Auto Black Level button Auto White Level button Auto Contrast button • Auto White Level button: Click this button to analyze your clip and find the maximum level of white in the frame.
Level and Saturation Controls in the Color Corrector 3-Way Filter The level sliders allow you to adjust the levels of the whites, midtones, and blacks in your clip to adjust the contrast of your image. The first step when color correcting one clip to match another is to adjust its overall luma levels to match those of the other. Only after doing this are you able to adjust the colors appropriately and achieve the results you want.
Note: Be very careful when raising the saturation of a clip using this slider. It is very easy to raise the saturation too high, resulting in saturation values that are illegal for broadcast. Never adjust the saturation of clips based on how they appear on your computer display.
The Match Hue controls work well as a starting point to help you quickly match the overall color balance of two shots; however, you’ll probably want to further adjust the end result by hand to achieve the exact effect you’re looking for.
For example, suppose you have a scene with people wearing different-colored shirts. After the shoot, you decide you want to change the color of one of the actor’s shirts that’s now yellow. Assuming there is nothing else in the picture with the same values of yellow, you can use the Limit Effect controls to selectively make this change. You can use the color value, saturation, and luma of your clip together or separately to perform a key using the Limit Effect controls.
• Luma control: Allows you to adjust the degree and range of luma that contributes to defining your key. The top and bottom handles work the same as those in the Color Range control. Drag left or right within the gradient to move all four handles simultaneously. • Edge Thin slider: Allows you to modify the keyed area by shrinking or expanding it.
Using Multiple Filters Together with the Limit Effect Controls You can use the Limit Effect controls to layer multiple color correction filters onto a single clip, selectively balancing specific areas of your picture based on their color, saturation, and luma levels. Color correction filters work serially, the same as any other filters.
Desaturate Highlights and Desaturate Lows Filter Controls The following section describes controls in the Desaturate Highlights and Desaturate Lows filters. Highlight Desaturation controls Lows Desaturation controls Highlight Desaturation Controls • Enable: Allows you to turn on or turn off the Highlight Desaturation controls. • Apply Above: Allows you to set the percentage of luma and above to desaturate. • Softness: Adjusts the transition between the affected and unaffected areas of the picture.
RBG Balance Filter Controls The following section describes controls in the RGB Balance filter. • Red Highlights: Allows you to adjust the values of the red highlights. • Red Midtones: Allows you to adjust the values of the red midtones. • Red Blacks: Allows you to adjust the values of the red blacks. • Green Highlights: Allows you to adjust the values of the green highlights. • Green Midtones: Allows you to adjust the values of the green midtones.
Color Correction Examples 82 This chapter provides examples of using Final Cut Pro color correction features to adjust clips. This chapter covers the following: • Example: Using the Color Corrector Filter (p. 1404) • Example: Using the Color Corrector 3-Way Filter (p. 1408) • Example: Color Correcting a Three-Shot Sequence for Continuity (p. 1416) • Example: Using the Color Corrector 3-Way Filter Match Hue Controls (p.
Example: Using the Color Corrector Filter The following example shows you how to use the Color Corrector filter to adjust a clip that’s incorrectly color balanced and underexposed. This example shows a simple use of color correction for a clip of a white cat on a white bedspread. The camera was incorrectly white-balanced during the shoot, and the shot is also underexposed. Using the Color Corrector filter, you can fix both these problems.
Now you’re ready to begin adjusting the image. Choose All so that all video scopes are available for you to use. 7 Click the Auto Contrast button to maximize the range from white to black in your clip. Auto Contrast button The Whites and Blacks sliders automatically adjust themselves to achieve the best numeric distribution based on the luma levels shown in the Histogram. This gives you a starting point from which to proceed.
Now it’s time to address the color. In the example, the white cat is tinted green because the video camera was white-balanced incorrectly. 9 To compensate for the green tint, click the Auto-Balance eyedropper. Click the eyedropper near the Balance control. Note: When this button is selected, your pointer turns into an eyedropper when you move it into the Canvas. 10 Click the eyedropper in an area of the picture that’s supposed to be pure white. Click in a white area of the image, such as the bedspread.
Because the picture was tinted into the blues, when you click the eyedropper in part of the white bedspread, the color balance indicator moves into a mixture of red and yellow to turn the whites of the image into true white. The color balance indicator moves to correct the whites. You can see the correction in the Canvas.
In general, using the Auto-Balance eyedropper will get you close to where you need to be quickly and easily. However, to achieve the look you really want, you need to make further adjustments to the Balance control by hand. 11 Click anywhere in the Balance color wheel and drag to move the color balance indicator relative to its previous position.
The following example shows you how to use the Color Corrector 3-way filter to adjust a clip that was both underexposed and shot with an incorrect white balance, giving it an orange tinge. To use the Color Corrector 3-Way filter 1 Move the playhead in the Timeline over the clip you want to work on so that you can see your changes output to video as you work.
6 From the Layout pop-up menu of the Video Scopes tab, choose All to make sure that all the scopes are available. Choose All so that all video scopes are available for you to use. You are now ready to begin adjusting the image. 7 Click the Auto Contrast button to maximize the range from white to black in your clip. The Blacks and Whites sliders automatically adjust themselves to achieve the best numeric distribution based on the luma levels shown in the Histogram.
Tip: One of the key differences between film and video is that video preserves much more information in the shadows of an underexposed image than film does. You might be surprised at how much detail you can bring out of the shadows of an underexposed video clip. On the other hand, video doesn’t preserve any information in overexposed highlights, whereas overexposed negative film does.
Because the clip was tinted toward the reds, when you click the eyedropper in the white piece of scenery outside the window, the Whites color balance indicator moves into a mixture of blue and cyan and turns the whites of the image into true white. The Whites color balance indicator moves to correct the whites. You can see the correction in the Canvas.
10 Click the Blacks Auto-Balance eyedropper. Click the eyedropper near the Blacks control. 11 Click the eyedropper in an area of the picture that’s supposed to be neutral black. Depending on the image, it may be more useful to pick a spot that’s a bit lighter than pure black so that you can see the tint that’s affecting that part of the image. Click the eyedropper in the black of the headrest.
After you’ve used the Auto-Balance eyedroppers to achieve a properly balanced image, it’s time to fine-tune the color balance. To really get the look you want, you need to adjust the various color balance controls by hand. When adjusting the color balance controls, you always want to start by first correcting the whites and then correcting the blacks. You’ve already performed these two steps using the Auto-Balance eyedroppers.
While making these adjustments, it’s a good idea to use the Flesh Tone line in the Vectorscope to show you how accurately the color of the actor’s face is represented. As you can see in the Vectorscope’s analysis of the “before” image, the cluster of colors about the Flesh Tone line was still a little off. Adjusting the Mids control corrected for this. Flesh Tone line Before After Because you’re not worrying about matching this image to any other shots right now, you can select whatever look you want.
In this example, the corrections applied so far have caused the image to be slightly oversaturated. This is especially apparent in the red third of the RGB Parade scope, in the Video Scopes tab. Before adjusting the saturation After adjusting the saturation, red levels are slightly reduced. Note: As always, be careful to make adjustments to saturation only while looking at a properly calibrated broadcast monitor.
To color correct a three-shot sequence 1 Apply the appropriate color correction filter to all the shots in the sequence. This makes it easy to use the Copy Filter controls to copy filter settings from one clip to another as you make your adjustments. 2 Choose Window > Arrange > Multiple Edits to select the Multiple Edits window layout. This is a useful layout for comparing multiple clips in a scene.
Note: Make sure that the playhead in the Timeline is over the first clip so that you can see your adjustments output to your broadcast monitor as you make your corrections. Move the playhead so it’s in the first clip. 5 Perform your color correction. In this case, you’ll want to add a mix of blue and cyan to cool down the shot of the woman on the balcony to match the tone of the shot around the corner. Adjust the Whites control to add more cyan.
7 In the Timeline, position the playhead over the second clip so that it opens in the Viewer. Move the playhead so it’s in the second clip. There are three approaches you can take to compare the colors of the first and second shots: • Hold down the Control key while pressing and releasing the Up Arrow key to flip back and forth between this clip and the first one to see the differences in color and luma levels in the Canvas.
As you compare adjacent clips in your sequence, remember to pay attention to the video scopes. With Final Cut Pro set to the Multiple Edits layout, you can select the Video Scopes tab in the far-right Tool Bench window. The Multiple Edits layout lets you easily compare clips. Note: The Video Scopes tab can be set to display the same choice of edit points as the Frame Viewer tab.
Using information from the Video Scopes tab, you can adjust the Whites and Mids sliders to make the two spikes of the Histogram match more closely, so you get comparable luma levels. Moving one invariably results in some movement in the other, but keep making your adjustments until the Histogram for the second shot approximates the Histogram for the first shot. 8 With this accomplished, focus on the RGB Parade scope. It shows that the second clip has far more blue and green than the first.
Example: Using the Color Corrector 3-Way Filter Match Hue Controls This example shows how to use the Match Hue controls of the Color Corrector 3-way filter to match the flesh tones of an actor in two different shots. In the first shot, the actor is outside, and the color of the shot is correctly balanced for daylight and has a cool blue look. In the second shot, the actor has walked inside, where the color is incorrectly balanced for tungsten, causing it to be excessively warm and emphasizing the reds.
As with any color correction, the first step is to adjust the contrast of clip 2 to match that of clip 1 as closely as possible. In this case, raising the midtones by dragging the Mids slider to the right brings out more detail in the actor’s face and matches the contrast of clip 1 more accurately. 4 Once the contrast has been adjusted the way you want it, click the Match Hue eyedropper. 5 Move the pointer into the Frame Viewer 2 tab where clip 1 is showing.
The Match Color indicator fills with this color to let you know it’s been selected, and either the Whites, Mids, or Blacks Auto-Balance eyedropper is highlighted to let you know which Auto-Balance eyedropper you should use in the next step. Highlighted eyedropper Match Color indicator When selecting a match color, the level of the color you select affects how well the match works.
7 With the Whites Auto-Balance eyedropper selected, move the pointer into the Canvas where clip 2 is displayed. When the pointer becomes an eyedropper, click a highlight in the actor’s face in clip 2 that matches, as closely as possible, the highlight you selected in clip 1. Note: For best results, it’s extremely important to select an area of color in the clip being corrected that accurately matches the level of the area of color you selected as the match color.
Example: Using the Limit Effect Controls to Isolate a Specific Color Against Grayscale This example shows you how to use the Limit Effect controls of the Color Corrector filter to create the effect of a red bicycle against a grayscale background. To use the Limit Effect controls to isolate a specific color 1 With the Color Corrector filter already applied, use the Limit Effect controls to isolate the reds of the bicycle, then move the Saturation slider all the way to the left.
2 Click the Invert Selection button to reverse the key created by the Limit Effect controls. Invert Selection button The bicycle remains red and the background turns into various shades of gray. Example: Using the Limit Effect Controls of the Color Corrector Filter to Change a Specific Color This example shows you how to use the Limit Effect controls of the Color Corrector filter to selectively change the color of a man’s pants from red to blue, without changing the color of anything else in the frame.
To use the Limit Effect controls to change a specific color 1 With the Color Corrector filter already applied, click the Select Color eyedropper. Click the Select Color eyedropper. 2 In the Canvas, click the eyedropper in the man’s red pants to select a primary key color. Try to pick a color value that lies somewhere between the brightest and darkest areas to which you’re trying to limit the effect. Click a color in the pants to get a good starting value of red.
You can also use the View Final/Matte/Source button (the key) to view the key itself as a grayscale image while you make changes. Adjusting the Limit Effect controls while viewing the color correction effect is more interactive. Rotate the Hue control toward the color you want the pants to be. The color of the affected area is changed by the rotation of the Hue control. 4 To fine-tune the effect, move the top two handles of the Color Range control outward to include more of the yellow area of the picture.
5 Move the top handles in the Luma control to select a primary luma range to affect, then adjust the bottom handles to adjust the tolerance. The key color range is increased. Widen the range of luma. 6 Finally, make similar adjustments to the Saturation control to further increase the range. You can even include the edges of the yellow shirt. The key color range is further increased. Widen the range of saturation.
Example: Using the Desaturate Highlights Filter In this example, the use of a color correction filter to bring color detail out of the blues of a diving clip has resulted in some unwanted reds in the bright highlights of the image. To eliminate these unwanted reds without losing the other colors of the diver and the background, you’ll use the Desaturate Highlights filter.
Color Correction with Color 83 To work on your project in a dedicated color correction environment, you can send your sequence to Color for professional-level color correction and grading. You can use the Send to Color command to send your footage to Color or export your sequence to the Final Cut Pro XML Interchange Format and import the XML file into Color. This chapter covers the following: • Using Color for Color Correction (p.
• Lastly, if you want to use Color to correct clips such as generators, still images, or imported Motion projects, you should export them as self-contained QuickTime files and use these to replace the original clips in your sequence. If you don’t need to work on them in Color, you can leave these clips alone. These effects clips will simply be ignored when you send the sequence to Color, and they will reappear when you send the project back to Final Cut Pro.
Using RT Extreme 84 RT Extreme is the real-time effects architecture that allows you to play back multiple video layers, video and audio filters, motion effects, and other effects in real time without needing to render them first. This chapter covers the following: • Introduction to Real-Time Processing (p. 1435) • Locations for Changing Real-Time Playback Settings (p. 1440) • About Real-Time Playback Options (p. 1442) • Still-Image Real-Time Playback (p. 1449) • Improving Real-Time Performance (p.
Being able to see your sequence play back in real time, regardless of the quality, is often more important than seeing full-quality video. By default, Final Cut Pro attempts to calculate video at full quality. However, it’s fairly easy to exceed your computer’s ability to calculate effects in real time and at full quality. To maintain your creative pace, avoid rendering, and maximize performance, Final Cut Pro provides several real-time playback modes, such as Safe RT and Unlimited RT.
Final Cut Pro analyzes a sequence to determine the processor workload required for playback. Different portions of a sequence may require different amounts of processing. Final Cut Pro breaks the sequence into segments and then indicates the processor workload for each segment with a colored status bar. For more information, see About Render Status Bars. Status bars in the Timeline indicate the workload for each segment; the upper bar is for video, and the lower bar is for audio.
What Are Dropped Frames? Dropped frames are frames that are unintentionally skipped during playback, either because the hard disk cannot keep up with the video data rate or because the computer processor cannot perform all of the applied effects in time. Some real-time playback modes allow dropped frames, while others require rendering to avoid dropped frames. Dropped frames during editing are usually tolerable. However, during output, dropped frames are almost always unacceptable.
About Render Status Bar Tooltips If you position the pointer over a render bar, a tooltip appears with information about the real-time or render status of that section of your sequence. A tooltip tells you the status of a particular section of your sequence. Effect Names That Appear in Boldface In both the Effects tab of the Browser and the Effects menu, video transitions and filters that can play back in real time appear in boldface. Real-time effects appear in boldface.
• The capabilities of the currently selected video effects accelerator card (if you are using one for real-time video processing) Note: The number of effects that appear in boldface may change depending on the current sequence settings and which real-time playback settings are selected.
RT Pop-Up Menu in the Timeline This menu only shows you real-time options available for the current sequence. For example, pull-down pattern options only appear in the RT pop-up menu under appropriate circumstances (such as a 23.98 fps sequence with external video set to output to a 29.97 fps format). RT pop-up menu Because the settings in the RT pop-up menu and the Playback Control tab are almost identical, it is often more convenient to access the RT pop-up menu directly from the Timeline.
µ To change a real-time playback setting in the RT pop-up menu Make sure a sequence is open in the Timeline, then choose an option from the RT pop-up menu. Settings in the RT pop-up menu Render Control Tab in Sequence Settings Several options that affect both rendering and real-time playback can be selected in the Render Control tab of the Sequence Settings window. These settings are adjusted per sequence.
Safe RT The Safe RT mode guarantees that effects are played back at the quality and frame rate you specify and that no frames are dropped during playback. If Final Cut Pro anticipates that your computer won’t be able to perform all the effects calculations in real time, the render status bar for that segment becomes red, which means you have to render before you can play back. Red render bars indicate rendering is required.
Red render bars in Safe RT mode become orange in Unlimited RT mode, indicating that Final Cut Pro may drop frames during these segments to achieve real-time playback. Orange status bars indicate Unlimited RT playback. Note: Segments that can play back without dropping frames still appear with colored render bars as they would in Safe RT mode. Unlimited RT mode uses the playback video quality and frame rate options you choose in the RT pop-up menu or the Playback Control tab.
• Clips with compositing modes applied can never play back in real time, so they are ignored and only clips on lower-numbered tracks are displayed. Of course, a clip on a lower-numbered track that has a compositing mode applied will also be ignored. • Transitions that cannot be played back in real time are disabled, so only the underlying clip media is displayed. The Play Base Layer Only option also affects audio playback. When playing over an unrendered portion of a sequence, no effects are played back.
Scrub High Quality When this option is selected, video displayed in the Canvas is shown at full quality when you scrub or when the video is stopped. If you deselect this option, the video quality during scrubbing is determined by the current Playback Video Quality setting (see Playback Video Quality). Deselecting this option allows you to improve responsiveness during scrubbing, especially when using processor-intensive codecs such as HDV, or options such as multiclip playback.
About Dynamic Real-Time Playback To maximize the number of effects you can see during real-time playback, you can choose to have Final Cut Pro automatically adjust the video quality, the frame rate, or both during playback. This is called dynamic real-time playback. Dynamic real-time playback continually adjusts video quality on a frame-by-frame basis.
The following three pull-down patterns are available when your sequence has a frame rate of 23.98 fps and you choose 29.97 fps external video output. • 2:3:2:3: This pattern is the most processor-intensive method of introducing pull-down but outputs NTSC video with the least noticeable temporal artifacts. For this reason, 2:3:2:3 pull-down is generally considered to have the most acceptable quality of motion. This pull-down pattern is also referred to as 3:2 pull-down.
Full Quality When this option is selected, video is always output to tape at the highest quality. Areas of your sequence that won’t play back at full resolution in real time must be rendered prior to output. Use Playback Settings Final Cut Pro uses the selected real-time effects playback settings when outputting your sequence to tape. If, as a result, your sequence will output at less than full quality, you are warned of this prior to output.
Improving Real-Time Performance If the processing demands of all applied effects exceed the capabilities of your system, you have several options to improve real-time performance: • Reduce the playback video quality and frame rate in the RT pop-up menu in the Timeline or in the Playback Control tab of the System Settings window. For more information, see Playback Video Quality and Playback Frame Rate. • Play your sequence using the Unlimited RT mode instead of the Safe RT mode.
• Graphics card speed and memory: Many video filters in Final Cut Pro use your computer’s graphics card to process effects, leaving the computer processor free to perform other tasks. A faster graphics card with more RAM allows more real-time playback. • Level 2 and Level 3 processor cache: The sizes of a computer processor’s level 2 and 3 caches affect its real-time playback capabilities. The larger these caches are, the more real-time performance is available.
Different filters and transitions affect real-time playback to varying degrees. If Final Cut Pro can’t mix all the tracks in a sequence in real time, you hear a series of beeps indicating that part or all of your sequence must be rendered before being output as a final mix. Tip: You can turn these beeps off by deselecting the Beep When Playing Unrendered Audio checkbox in the Playback Control tab of the System Settings window.
Improving Real-Time Audio Performance You can optimize real-time audio performance in the following ways: • Render video effects prior to mixing: Playing real-time video effects reduces the number of audio tracks that can be mixed in real time. While mixing the audio in your program, you can maximize real-time mixing performance by first rendering all video effects in your sequence, including all transitions, layered video, and filters.
2 In the Playback Video Quality section of the RT pop-up menu, choose High, so there’s a checkmark next to it. This option may force you to render your effects (sections of your sequence that need to be rendered are indicated by a red render bar in the Timeline). 3 In the Record To Tape section of the RT pop-up menu, choose Full Quality, so there’s a checkmark next to it. The following workflow is usually acceptable when you want to output a rough cut to tape to present it to other people.
µ To see a complete list of real-time codecs supported by your system Choose Final Cut Pro > System Settings, then click the Effect Handling tab. Using a Third-Party Video Effects Accelerator Card Instead of using RT Extreme, you may want to use a supported third-party video effects accelerator card. A video effects accelerator card is a video interface card that supports real-time effects processing and can take the place of the built-in RT Extreme effects architecture of Final Cut Pro.
• Other: If a video effects accelerator card is installed that is capable of real-time effects processing for a particular codec, it appears in this pop-up menu. Choose this option to have the video effects accelerator card handle real-time effects processing for a particular codec. Using RT Extreme for Video Output By default, Final Cut Pro renders video at full quality before you perform Edit to Tape and Print to Video operations.
Controls in the QuickView Tab This section describes the controls in the QuickView tab (which appears in the Tool Bench window). Resolution pop-up menu View pop-up menu QuickView window Playhead Play button Scrubber bar Range slider • Resolution pop-up menu: Choose Full, Half, or Quarter as your viewing resolution in the QuickView tab. This setting is for display purposes only and does not affect the resolution of your rendered program.
Playback in the QuickView Tab QuickView playback relies, in part, on the amount of memory allocated to Final Cut Pro. Based on this allocation, Final Cut Pro caches to RAM as much of the sequence between the In and Out points set in the Timeline as possible for accelerated playback. If an In point is set in the Timeline but no Out point is set, Final Cut Pro caches video from the In point through the duration specified by the Range slider for playback in the QuickView tab.
If neither an In nor an Out point is set in the Timeline, Final Cut Pro uses the position of the playhead, caching half of the duration specified by the Range slider before the position of the playhead, and half after the playhead, for playback in the QuickView tab. Video is cached to RAM as it’s played. Once the portion of the sequence that you’ve specified for QuickView playback has played all the way through, subsequent loops play much faster because they’re being played back directly from RAM.
Rendering and Video Processing Settings 85 When you apply more effects to a clip than your computer can process in real time, you need to render temporary media files to play your sequence in real time. This chapter covers the following: • What Is Rendering? (p. 1461) • About Render Status Bars in the Timeline (p. 1462) • About Item-Level Render Status Bars (p. 1465) • The Rendering Process (p. 1465) • About Changing Render and Video Processing Settings (p.
• High-quality final output. Real-time effects that play back at preview quality must ultimately be rendered for high-quality video output.
Bar color Render status Description Dark green Full Indicates a real-time effect that’s capable of playback and output to video at full quality with no rendering required. Green Preview The media does not need rendering and will play on the computer screen in real time, but not at full quality. Yellow Proxy The effect you see during real-time playback is an approximation (proxy) of the effect you’ve specified.
Audio Render Status Bars The color of the audio render bar above the Timeline ruler indicates whether the items below need to be rendered. Bar color Render status Description Dark gray None No rendering is required. Blue-gray Rendered Sections of a sequence have been rendered using the Mixdown command. Red Needs Render Sections of the Timeline contain audio items that cannot play in real time and require rendering. Sections of sequences needing to be rendered play audible beeps.
About Item-Level Render Status Bars An audio clip item in the Timeline may display an individual render bar within the clip item itself; this indicates that the audio clip requires resampling, or sample rate conversion, to match the current sequence audio settings. A green render bar indicates that an audio clip item is being resampled in real time, and a blue-gray render bar indicates that an audio clip item has been individually rendered so that real-time audio resampling is no longer necessary.
By default, render files are created at full quality, but you can speed up rendering by choosing lower-quality options in the Render Control tab and the Video Processing tab of the Sequence Settings window. For more information, see About Changing Render and Video Processing Settings. Order of Effects Rendering When you render effects in a sequence, they’re rendered in the following order: • The top video track (the highest-numbered track) is rendered first and then composited onto the track below.
Rendering Segments in a Sequence Final Cut Pro has three render submenus—Render Selection, Render All, and Render Only—that allow you to customize which segments of your sequences are rendered. Which render command you use depends on the scope of the rendering operation you want to perform.
If you’ve added a transition or an effect to a clip and want to render just that part of the sequence, use the Render Selection command. To render a section of a sequence 1 Do one of the following: • In the Timeline, select one or more clips or transitions. • In the Timeline or Canvas, set In and Out points for the area that you want to render.
Render All The commands in the Render All submenu render all the clips in a sequence corresponding to the selected render categories, regardless of what you have selected in the Timeline. Video and audio render categories that are enabled have a checkmark. • Both: Renders both the video and audio of the sequence. • Video: Renders all of the video items in the sequence. • Audio: Renders all of the audio items in the sequence.
Note: All frames that have already been rendered remain written to disk, even if rendering is canceled. Render Only The items in the Render Only submenu allow you to focus on rendering segments in a particular render status category, such as Preview or Proxy quality. Each item in this submenu operates either on a selected region of the Timeline or on the entire sequence, if no selection is made.
More About Audio Render Options Two of the audio render options create render files in very specific ways. • Item Level: Renders the audio items that need to be resampled to match the sample rate of the sequence, as well as audio items with filters applied, as item-level render files. Audio mixing is still done in real time, and mixing performance improves because audio resampling and audio effects no longer consume real-time processing resources.
Keeping Track of Rendering Progress The amount of rendering time depends on the type and number of effects that are applied. When you render, a status window appears and provides you with the following information. • Percentage of completion: The percentage of rendering that has been completed, based on the number of frames left to render. • Estimated Time: The estimated time remaining to render. This value appears above the progress bar, in seconds, minutes, hours, and so on.
The Viewer and Canvas both go black. A message appears at the top of both windows saying “The Caps Lock key is on; rendering is disabled.” Press the Caps Lock key again to turn on rendering. This message appears in the Viewer and Canvas when rendering is disabled. Automatic Rendering While You Are Away from Your Computer The Auto Render option allows you to take advantage of idle computer time when you’re not editing—such as during a coffee break or lunch—to render open sequences in the Timeline.
• If the Render RT Segments checkbox is selected, all sections of the Timeline with a green render bar are rendered. • If the Render pop-up menu is set to Open Sequences, the rendering steps above (except for saving the project) are performed for each open sequence. The project is automatically saved after each render.
Note: The Render Control tabs of the User Preferences and Sequence Settings windows have identical settings. Changes made to the Render Control tab of the User Preferences window only affect the default settings for new sequences, whereas changes to the Render Control tab of the Sequence Settings window affect individual sequences. These settings are also available in the Render Control tab of the User Preferences window.
• Codec: This pop-up menu affects rendering of native HDV and XDCAM HD sequences. Choose whether render files are created in the native codec of your sequence segments or using the Apple ProRes 422 codec. Because Final Cut Pro supports mixed-format sequences, you can play back the entire sequence, including the Apple ProRes 422 codec render files, in real time. For more information, see Professional Formats and Workflows, available in Final Cut Pro Help.
Changing Settings in the Video Processing Tab The Video Processing tab determines how clips’ media files are processed and rendered within your sequence. This affects color space conversions, maximum white level, bit depth, and the quality of motion parameter adjustments. Color space and bit depth settings Maximum RGB white level settings Motion filtering quality Rendering Y′CBCR Footage in the RGB Color Space When super-white Y′CBCR values are converted to RGB, any values above 235 are mapped to 255.
Compositing in Y′CBCR and RGB Color Spaces Many compositing operations in Final Cut Pro work the same way in Y′CBCR as they do in RGB. However, in some cases, slightly different results may occur. This is because the Y′CBCR and RGB color spaces are not identical, and some compositing operations that generate highly saturated colors may show different clamping behavior in Y′CBCR than they do in RGB.
Always Render in RGB If your sequence uses an RGB video codec such as Photo JPEG or Animation, this option is always selected. However, if your sequence uses a Y′CBCR codec, you can use this option to process your footage using the RGB color space instead.
About Bit Depth and 32-Bit Floating-Point Processing Final Cut Pro supports high-resolution video processing of Y′CBCR sequences by performing calculations in 32-bit floating-point number space. Compared to 8- and 10-bit integer calculations, 32-bit floating-point numbers have an extremely high level of precision, which helps to avoid rounding errors that can accumulate as you add more layers to a composite or add multiple filters to a clip.
Choosing White If you are creating video for broadcast, you need to make sure that any Y′CBCR levels in your sequence are reduced to 100 percent (8-bit 235, or “white”). In this case, choosing the White option from the “Process Maximum White as” pop-up menu maps RGB white (255) values from imported still images to 100 percent white (235) in the Y′CBCR color space. This means that your RGB graphics will have a maximum white level of 100 percent in Y′CBCR color space, which is the broadcast-legal limit.
Adjusting Gamma Final Cut Pro provides gamma control adjustments for RGB video and still-image formats. About Gamma Gamma is an implicit or explicit transfer function that maps input intensity to output intensity, usually in a nonlinear way. The most common example is a CRT monitor, where the brightness onscreen is less than expected based on the input voltage. If the input voltage ranges between 0 (black) and 1 (white), one would expect a voltage of 0.
Choosing Real-Time Playback Gamma Correction Options Whenever you watch your video on a computer display (such as video displayed in the Canvas, the Viewer, or via Digital Cinema Desktop Preview), Final Cut Pro applies gamma correction to the video to more closely approximate the way it would appear on a video monitor. Note: Gamma correction is not applied to external video outputs such as DV or third-party interfaces because this correction is inherently applied by external video monitors.
A Common Gamma Correction Scenario One of the most common situations that requires you to change the Gamma Level property of a clip is when you are rendering an RGB clip within a Y′CBCR sequence. Final Cut Pro uses QuickTime to import RGB media and always assumes that RGB media (except Apple ProRes 4444) has a gamma of 1.8. When Final Cut Pro renders these clips in a Y′CBCR sequence, the gamma is adjusted by a factor of 1.22 to match the 2.2 gamma compensation required for Y′CBCR.
• 2.2: Choose this option when importing media files created on a system whose display gamma was set to 2.2, or created by an application in which you specified a gamma value of 2.2. • Custom: Choose this option to enter any gamma value you wish in the Custom number field. Note: When you adjust the gamma of a clip within Final Cut Pro, the media file is not modified; only the clip in the project is affected.
Managing Your Render Files Rendering produces render files that are actual media files stored on your hard disk, the same as your captured media. Video and audio render files are saved to the disks you specify in the Scratch Disks tab of the System Settings window. For more information, see Choosing Settings and Preferences. When you’re working on multiple projects or a highly complex project, render files can accumulate very quickly. It’s important to manage your render files to maximize your disk space.
Using the Render Manager The Render Manager allows you to manage the render files associated with the sequences in your projects. Render files are created whenever you render transitions, effects, or multilayer composites in a sequence. They are stored in the scratch disk location specified in the Scratch Disks tab of the System Settings window. For more information, see Choosing Settings and Preferences. You use the Render Manager to delete unwanted render files to free up disk space.
The Render Manager dialog appears. All projects that refer to render files on the current render scratch disk are displayed. This includes all items in a sequence or project. Click the disclosure triangle next to a project to show all of its render files. Each entry shows the amount of disk space used on the render scratch disk. Displays the number of render files to be deleted and the disk space that will be made available. • Disclosure triangle: Click to show items within a project or sequence.
Important: Deleted render files cannot be restored with the Undo command. Preserving Render Files When you make changes to effects, composited media, and other edits that have already been rendered, the render file for the affected item is no longer valid.
• When you change the In and Out points of a clip with filters applied, you may need to rerender the adjusted areas. To avoid constantly rerendering, you can place a clip with its applied filters into a sequence and then edit that sequence into other sequences. This is sometimes called nesting a sequence. Because you modify the sequence In and Out points instead of the clip within the sequence, the render file for the clip is maintained.
Working with Mixed-Format Sequences 86 Final Cut Pro allows you to mix formats in the Timeline so you can combine and play back footage with different codecs, frame rates, and image dimensions in a single sequence. This chapter covers the following: • About Mixed-Format Sequences (p. 1491) • Determining Whether Clips in a Sequence Will Play Back in Real Time (p. 1492) • Conforming Sequence Settings to Match a Clip’s Settings (p. 1494) • Conforming Clips to Match Sequence Settings (p.
You can use mixed-format sequences to: • Combine standard definition (SD) and high definition (HD) footage in one sequence • Mix PAL and NTSC footage in a single sequence • Work with offline-quality and full-resolution footage together • Mix video with different aspect ratios, frame rates, or codecs in a single sequence.
• Your computer has enough processing power to handle the real-time playback of both the clip and sequence formats. For example, if you are using a portable computer, you won’t be able to play back uncompressed video. Formats That Support Real-Time Playback For a list of formats supported by Final Cut Pro real-time processing, see the Effect Handling tab in the System Settings window or check the list of Easy Setups included with Final Cut Pro.
Conforming Sequence Settings to Match a Clip’s Settings Although Final Cut Pro can play back mixed-format sequences, you should still try to match clip and sequence settings so that less rendering is required before output. The first time you add a clip to a sequence, Final Cut Pro can automatically conform your sequence video settings to match the settings of the clip.
A dialog appears asking if you want to conform your sequence settings to the clip settings. 4 Do one of the following: • Click Yes to conform the sequence settings to the clip settings. In this case, the image dimensions, frame rate, and codec of the sequence are changed to match those of the clip. • Click No to leave the sequence settings as they were when you created the sequence. In this case, your sequence now contains a clip whose settings do not match the sequence.
2 Select “Always scale clips to sequence size,” then click OK. 3 Edit one or more clips into your sequence. Each edited clip’s Scale and Aspect Ratio parameter settings are adjusted automatically so that the clip’s size matches the sequence dimensions. Manually Conforming Clips to Match Sequence Settings If a sequence clip does not have settings that match those of the sequence, you can manually conform the clip’s settings to match the sequence settings.
2 Choose Sequence > Settings, then click the Video Processing tab. 3 Choose Best from the Motion Filtering Quality pop-up menu. 4 Click OK. Tip: To decrease rendering time during your edit session, you can choose a lower-quality motion filtering option; just remember to set the quality to Best before you output your final sequence. Mixing 720 x 480 Footage and 720 x 486 Footage When you add a DV NTSC clip (720 x 480) to a Rec. 601 SD sequence (720 x 486), the DV clip is not scaled.
Issues When Working with Mixed Frame Rates When you add a clip to a sequence and the frame rates don’t match, Final Cut Pro places the clip as accurately as possible in the Timeline. However, because of the differences between some frame rates, there may be a one-frame shift on either the In or Out point of the clip. This is normal behavior caused by the limitations of mixed-frame-rate editing.
Note: A clip’s Field Dominance property can also be Not Set, which means that the clip’s media file is likely interlaced but Final Cut Pro couldn’t determine which field dominance to set when the clip was imported. You can also manually change the field dominance of a clip in the Browser or the Item Properties window, but you should usually do this only if the clip’s Field Dominance property is Not Set.
Mixing Footage with Different Codecs A codec, or compressor, is the algorithm used to compress video to a smaller size and then decode the video for playback. A sequence clip whose codec doesn’t match the sequence codec can be played back in real time as long as the following is true: • Final Cut Pro has real-time support for both the clip and sequence codecs. • Your computer has the processing power and disk speed to play back the clip codec in real time.
Adding Filters and Motion Effects to Mixed-Format Sequences You can add filters to nonmatching clips and adjust their motion parameters just as you would in a native sequence. With the exception of different real-time processing demands required by nonmatching clips, working with effects in a mixed-format sequence is essentially the same as working with native sequence clips.
If a film or video was shot to be exclusively viewed in a widescreen venue, this technique is usually the best approach for downconversion. However, this method makes poor use of the already lower resolution of an SD 4:3 frame, because many lines are not used at all. 1080 to 480 720 to 480 To letterbox a 16:9 clip within a 4:3 sequence 1 Create a sequence with a 4:3 aspect ratio. For example, choose the DV-NTSC or DV-PAL Easy Setup and then create a new sequence.
Cropping 16:9 Video to 4:3 If you keep both 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratios in mind during the shoot, making sure important action stays within the 4:3 center of the 16:9 frame, you can choose to crop your entire clip within a 4:3 frame. This method allows you to fill the whole 4:3 screen with some portion (usually the center) of your 16:9 image.
Pan and Scan The pan and scan method crops 16:9 clips within a 4:3 frame, but each clip can be uniquely cropped to focus on a particular portion of the frame. The pan and scan method does not necessarily refer to panning during the transfer, but rather the fact that each frame may be cropped differently. 16:9 to 4:3 pan and scan To crop and move a 16:9 clip within a 4:3 sequence 1 Follow the instructions for scaling a 16:9 clip within a 4:3 sequence in Cropping 16:9 Video to 4:3.
Creating Artificial Pans in 16:9 Footage In some complex scenes with multiple characters or centers of visual activity, an artificial camera move (a pan) can be introduced to recenter the widescreen action within the 4:3 frame. In Final Cut Pro, you can crop and even perform simple pans by animating the Center parameter in the Motion tab. However, unless the animation is convincing, this can be more of a distraction than anything else.
Upconverting SD Video Upconverting a 4:3 aspect ratio image to a 16:9 frame results in borders (or side panels) on the left and right sides of the 4:3 image. This type of frame is sometimes referred to as pillarboxed. If the aspect ratios of the original and destination formats match (for example, 720 x 480 anamorphic footage upconverted to 1920 x 1080), you can simply scale the original video to the destination size.
For more information, see Scaling Images and Video Clips to Match a Sequence. Upconverting 4:3 Anamorphic Video to 16:9 Video 4:3 anamorphic video is actually a 16:9 image squeezed into a 4:3 frame, so it can easily be scaled to fit an HD sequence. 480 anamorphic to 1080 480 anamorphic to 720 µ To edit 16:9 anamorphic footage into a 16:9 sequence Follow the instructions for scaling a 4:3 clip into a 16:9 sequence in Pillarboxing 4:3 Video in a 16:9 Frame.
For example, if your computer has sufficient power, you can: • Output an HD sequence via DV FireWire • View a DV or OfflineRT sequence via an SDI video output on a third-party video interface • Downconvert an HD sequence to an SD video output Some specific examples of supported real-time video output configurations include: • A DV NTSC sequence output to DV FireWire, where the sequence contains 1080i60 HDV and 720p30 DVCPRO HD clips • A 1080i60 HDV sequence output to DV FireWire, where the sequence contains
Working with Cinema Tools and Mixed-Format Sequences Mixed-format sequences are not recommended for use with Cinema Tools. Mixed-format sequence playback does not perform 3:2 pull-down removal, deinterlacing, or accurate timecode or keycode tracking of your clips. If you are editing film-based media in Final Cut Pro, you should use any of the suggested workflows described in the Cinema Tools User Manual, avialable in Cinema Tools Help.
Media Management 87 Successful editing requires effective media management. You should pick a media management strategy before you begin your project. This chapter covers the following: • What Is Media Management? (p. 1511) • Reasons to Use Media Management (p. 1512) • What You Need to Know to Manage Your Media (p. 1513) • Media Management Process in Final Cut Pro (p. 1513) • Strategies for Media Management (p.
• Logging clip information without media: You can modify clip properties such as log notes, comments, labels, and even In and Out points without the associated media files. This means you can organize your clips and sequences even though your current editing system may not have the media files. • Trading projects without media files: A Final Cut Pro project file contains clips and sequences, but not media files. Because a project file is so small, you can email or post your project file online.
What You Need to Know to Manage Your Media To effectively keep track of or manage your media, you must have a good understanding of the following: • The distinction between a clip and a media file, as well as the relationship between the two • The relationship between master and affiliate clips in a Final Cut Pro project • How timecode works, providing a bridge between footage on tape or film to media files on hard disk to clips in your project • How to effectively sort and search large amounts of data, suc
Stage 3: Recapturing Media Suppose you cleaned up your hard disk by having Final Cut Pro delete a lot of media files, but you realized that there were a few clips that you had intended to include in your sequence but hadn’t yet. At this point, these clips’ media files are offline (in this case, deleted from the hard disk). You can’t reconnect these clips to media files because the media files no longer exist. You need to capture the original footage to your hard disk again. Final Cut Pro can easily do this.
Clip Name Conventions Clips can get their names in several ways. If you log clips individually, a clip name is derived from a combination of the description, shot/take, scene, and angle properties of a clip. However, if you create clips by importing a batch list, EDL, or Final Cut Pro XML, you may name the clips independently of these other properties. In either case, choose a fairly concise but descriptive name.
Using Another Linear or Nonlinear System If you plan to do final color correction, effects, and broadcast specifications on a non–Final Cut Pro system, consider how you will deliver your sequence and media. You need to pick a project interchange format that the online editing system recognizes. For example, many Avid and ProTools systems recognize AAF and OMF files; other post-production tools recognize the Final Cut Pro XML Interchange Format; and linear tape-to-tape edit suites use EDL files.
Backing Up and Restoring Projects 88 Routine backups are a critical part of the editing process. If necessary, you can go back to earlier versions of a project. This chapter covers the following: • Backing Up and Restoring Projects (p. 1517) • Archiving Completed Projects (p. 1521) • About Updating Projects from Previous Versions of Final Cut Pro (p. 1522) • Choosing Project Update Options (p.
By default, autosave files are stored in the following location:/Users/username/Documents/Final Cut Pro Documents/Autosave Vault/. To turn on autosave 1 Choose Final Cut Pro > User Preferences, then click the General tab. 2 Select the Autosave Vault checkbox. 3 Enter the following options: • Save a copy every: The frequency (in minutes) that you want to autosave projects. • Keep at most: The number of copies of a project autosaved before Final Cut Pro deletes the oldest one.
Once autosave is selected, new autosaved versions of your project are created according to the time specified in the “Save a copy every N minutes” field. If no changes have been made to your project since the last autosave file was created, Final Cut Pro doesn’t autosave the project again until you make further changes. For example, if you have five projects open and make changes to only two of them, Final Cut Pro only creates autosave files for the two projects you changed.
The number of items in the pop-up menu for a project depends on the settings in the Autosave Vault options in the General tab of the User Preferences window and corresponds to the current number of autosave versions of the project in the Autosave Vault folder. Choose the project file you want to use. 4 When a message appears asking if you want to restore the file, click OK. The current project in the Browser is replaced with the autosaved version of the project you selected.
Archiving Completed Projects After living and breathing a project for months or years, it may be hard to imagine you’ll ever want to look at it or touch it again—but you never know for sure. You might get a surprise distribution offer, but with the caveat that you shorten the project by 5 minutes.
About Updating Projects from Previous Versions of Final Cut Pro Almost every version of Final Cut Pro has new features that require the project format to change. The current version of Final Cut Pro can open projects from any previous version. For more information, see Choosing Project Update Options.
Choosing Project Update Options If you open an older project file, most necessary updates happen automatically. However, Final Cut Pro asks you to choose how you want to handle updating for several improved features such as scaling quality and HD color fidelity. The table below shows what features were updated in specific versions of Final Cut Pro. All features that correspond to versions newer than your project must be updated.
• Updating Projects from Final Cut Pro 1.2.1 Updating Projects from Final Cut Pro 5 or Earlier Here are some things to keep in mind when updating projects created with Final Cut Pro 5 or earlier versions. Nonmatching Sequence Clip Aspect Ratios When you open projects created in Final Cut Pro 5 or earlier, Final Cut Pro deletes existing render files for a sequence when the following are true: • Your project contains a sequence whose clips have a different aspect ratio than the sequence aspect ratio.
Improved Color Accuracy When Rendering High Definition Sequences If you open an old project containing any rendered high definition sequences, or if you have any SD sequences containing HD source media, a dialog asks if you want to open the project and permanently delete the existing render files. If you want to preserve the existing render files, do not open the project in Final Cut Pro. Deleting the render files cannot be undone. Note: If your project only refers to SD footage (ITU-R BT.
• Remove existing render files: This deletes all render files on the scratch disk for the sequences in this project. If you keep existing render files, the rendered media may have color or intensity shifts. You should keep existing render files if the quality difference is not a problem for your projects or if you need to get a project done fast and don’t want to rerender files.
Elements of a Final Cut Pro Project 89 When you are organizing your project and media files, it can be helpful to have a detailed understanding of each element in a Final Cut Pro project, such as clip types and properties, bins, sequences, and so on. This chapter covers the following: • About Clips, Media Files, and Sequences (p. 1527) • About Icons and Project Elements in the Browser (p. 1531) • Clip Properties (p.
Types of Clips Different types of clips are distinguished by the type of media files they refer to. For example, an audio clip is simply a clip that represents an audio-only file on disk. However, some clips, such as subclips, are distinguished not by the type of media files they refer to, but how they refer to them. For example, the definition of a subclip is any clip that refers to less than the total length of a media file. It doesn’t matter whether a subclip is a video clip, audio clip, or merged clip.
Important: A merged clip is considered offline even if only one of its media files cannot be found. Reconnecting and recapturing merged clips may take several passes, one for each file. A multiclip allows you to sync multiple clips together as angles within a single clip. The main reason to use a multiclip is to sync multiple camera angles together so you can cut between them in real time in the Timeline. However, you can sync any footage you want together in a multiclip, not just different camera angles.
• In point • Out point • Duration • Description • Film Safe • Composite mode • Reverse Alpha • Thumbnail An independent clip is a sequence clip that has no master clip, so it doesn’t share properties with any other clips. You can make a sequence clip independent at any time, although you usually shouldn’t unless you have a specific reason to do so. Independent clips are not updated by a master clip, so you can’t manage your media as efficiently.
About Icons and Project Elements in the Browser Icons appear next to the name of each project element in the Browser. The following table explains what kind of Final Cut Pro project elements each icon represents. Icon Name Description Clip A clip represents a media file. A clip is created when a media file is captured or imported into Final Cut Pro. This icon is also used for merged clips (clips created by merging audio and video clip items together).
Icon Name Description Sequence A container for clips edited together in chronological order. Bin A container, similar to a folder, used to organize clips, sequences, and even other bins. Bin opened in its own window A bin that’s been opened as a window separate from its project. Locked bin The contents of a locked bin cannot be changed. In Final Cut Pro, the only locked bins are the ones in the Effects tab, which contain the installed effects.
Name of property Description Name Name of the clip. During logging, the name property is usually created automatically from a combination of the Description, Scene, Shot/Take, and Angle properties, which are entered in the Log and Capture window. You can change a clip’s name in the Browser or Item Properties window at any time.
Name of property Description Aux TC 1-2 Aux 1 and Aux 2 are additional timecode tracks that can be created in a QuickTime media file for any clip in your project. These properties can be useful for synchronizing clips to related media files without altering the source timecode of your files. For example, when synchronizing video clips captured from Digital Betacam with audio clips captured from DAT, the source timecode of each clip reflects timecode that was captured from each tape.
Name of property Description Description Displays descriptive text about a clip (from the Description field in the Logging tab of the Log and Capture window). This is typically entered when logging, but you can also add to it or change it in the Browser or Item Properties window. Duration Shows the duration between a clip’s In and Out points. Speed adjustments to a clip affect a clip’s duration. Field Dominance For interlaced video, controls whether field 1 or field 2 is played first.
Name of property Description Last Modified Indicates the date and time a clip’s media file was modified, or the last time a sequence was edited. In the case of clips, this information is read directly from the modification date property of the clip’s media file, so you can also see this information in the Finder by selecting the file and then choosing File > Get Info. Length Shows the total length of a clip, regardless of clip In and Out points.
Name of property Description Offline A checkmark indicates a clip is offline, meaning no media file exists in the location of the clip’s Source file path, or the clip’s Source file path is empty. A clip is offline if its media file can’t be located, or if media has not yet been captured for the clip (thus the clip does not yet have a file path to point to a media file on disk). Out Timecode of the Out point for a clip. The Out point specifies the end of a section of a clip or sequence used in editing.
Name of property Description Source Shows the file path of the clip’s media file on disk. For example: Scratch Disk:Capture Scratch:Dining:Interview Clip.mov. This property is the critical connection between a clip and its media file. If a media file changes location or name, or if its modification date changes, the clip will no longer be able to locate it based on its Source property’s file path, causing the clip to become offline.
Working with Master and Affiliate Clips 90 Master-affiliate clip relationships make it easy to manage multiple uses of media files in your project. This chapter covers the following: • About Using Master and Affiliate Clips (p. 1539) • Shared and Unique Clip Properties (p. 1540) • Working with Master Clips (p. 1543) • Working with Affiliate Clips (p. 1545) • Creating Independent Clips (p. 1546) • Changing Independent Clips to Affiliate Clips (p. 1547) • Modifying Master-Affiliate Clip Relationships (p.
To simplify media management, Final Cut Pro uses a single master clip to control multiple copies of a clip. The primary purpose of a master clip is to manage the relationship between multiple copies of a clip and a single media file. The first time you import or capture a media file, a master clip is created. Subsequently, each copy of the master clip that you create is called an affiliate clip.
For example, if you import a QuickTime movie file named Apple into Final Cut Pro, a master clip named Apple is created in your project. Each time you edit the master clip into a sequence, an affiliate clip is placed in the sequence and its name is also Apple. The affiliate clip doesn’t actually store a name, but instead refers to the Name property stored in the master clip. You can test this by changing the name of the master clip to Orange. The names of all of the affiliate clips update simultaneously.
Note: Several properties stored directly in a clip’s media file are also considered to be shared properties. For details, see Modifiable Media File Properties. Media File Properties Some clip properties are derived from the media file itself. Master clips refer to these properties directly from the media file. Final Cut Pro caches some of the media file information in clips in case the media file is disconnected.
Unique Clip Properties The following clip properties are unique to each affiliate clip and unique to the master clip as well. These properties are not shared. Most of these properties are properties for editing and trimming, such as In and Out points, so that each affiliate clip can have a unique duration in a sequence while still referring to the same media file via its master clip.
• Use the Duplicate as New Master Clip command: This allows you to duplicate a master clip in the Browser as a new, unrelated master clip. The new master clip is unaffiliated with the original master clip. Important: If you have several master clips that refer to exactly the same media, make sure you use only one of them for editing unless you have a reason to use a different one.
2 Choose Edit > Item Properties > Logging Info. If there’s a checkmark by the Master Clip property, the clip is a master clip. Creating a Master Clip by Duplicating a Master Clip You can intentionally duplicate a master clip to create a new, unrelated master clip, which will then have its own affiliate clips. However, you should do this sparingly because the main reason for a master clip is to have only one clip per project that represents a media file on disk.
• Drag a sequence clip to the Browser: Assuming the dragged clip is an affiliate clip and a master clip already exists in the new Browser, an affiliate clip is created. • Duplicate a clip: Whenever you copy or duplicate a clip in the Browser or in a sequence, an affiliate clip is created. (The exception to this is when you use the Duplicate as New Master Clip command.) An affiliate clip is created when you copy a clip in one of the following ways: • Drag a clip from the Browser or Viewer to the Canvas.
Important: Because breaking the master-affiliate clip relationship can lead to more complex media management, you should break the relationship only when absolutely necessary. µ To make a sequence clip independent In the Timeline, Control-click an affiliate clip, then choose Make Independent Clip from the shortcut menu. The affiliate clip is now an independent clip.
• If no preexisting master clip matches an independent clip in your project: A new master clip is created for each independent clip that doesn’t match a preexisting master clip. All newly created master clips are placed in a new folder named Master clips for [Project Name]. If independent clips affiliated with master clips have conflicting shared properties, you are warned.
Because this is actually one command whose behavior adjusts depending on the type of clip selected, there is only a single button, called Make/Break Master Clip, to access this command in the Button List and Keyboard Layout window. To determine the results of clicking the Make/Break Master Clip button, determine which kind of clip is selected and use the table above. Moving Clips Between Projects For certain workflows, you may need to create multiple projects and move clips between the projects.
Resolving Property Differences Between Matching Clips Suppose you are editing a project and you send a copy to an assistant editor to work on a particular sequence. While editing, the editor modifies the Master Comment 1 and Label properties of several clips in the sequence. When you get the project back, you drag the newer sequence into your project and Final Cut Pro determines the following: • The clips in the source (newer) sequence match master clips in the destination (original) project.
A fourth option, described below, allows you to apply the option you choose to all clips added to your project. Use Properties from the Clip You Are Adding This option replaces a master clip’s properties in the project with the newly added clip’s properties, and the two clips become affiliated. Use Properties from the Existing Clip in This Project This option ignores the added clip’s properties and leaves the destination master clip’s properties unchanged. The two clips become affiliated.
Using the Copy Master Clip Dialog The options in the Copy Master Clip dialog determine the relationship between new clips added to a project and existing clips. To use the Copy Master Clip Dialog 1 Create two Final Cut Pro projects (in this example the projects are called Source and Destination). 2 In the Source project, import a media file and name the resulting clip Test. 3 Select the clip and then choose Edit > Copy. 4 Click the Destination project tab, then choose Edit > Paste.
Offline and Online Editing 91 Final Cut Pro allows you to do offline editing with reduced-quality copies of your media files, and then reingest your footage at full quality for the final online edit. This chapter covers the following: • About Offline and Online Editing (p. 1553) • Offline/Online Editing Workflows (p. 1555) • Using the OfflineRT Format in Final Cut Pro (p. 1557) • Reingesting Media at Full Quality and Full Resolution (p. 1559) • Online Editing on Non–Final Cut Pro Editing Systems (p.
Edit Decision List or Other Project Interchange File When the edit is complete, you can export all of your edit decisions for use on another editing system. Older editing systems use a relatively simple text format called an EDL, while newer interchange formats, such as OMF, AAF, and the Final Cut Pro XML Interchange Format, describe many more details of your original sequence.
To transfer your sequence audio to an audio post-production application, you need to export two things. • Audio clip information: In and Out points, location in sequence, and audio levels. Some people may simply call this an audio Edit Decision List. The audio media itself is not included. • Audio media files: These are the actual media files referred to by clips in your sequence.
Important: It is important to understand the difference between clips and media files when performing this step. This option creates a new sequence with new sequence clips at full quality, but no new media files are created. Once you have a sequence with full-quality settings, you can reingest your media files at full quality. Also, the word offline in the Create Offline option actually refers to creating clips whose media files are offline, and doesn’t actually relate to the offline/online editing process.
• For more information about sending to Compressor, see the Compressor User Manual, available in Compressor Help. Using the OfflineRT Format in Final Cut Pro The OfflineRT format uses video settings optimized for offline-quality, low-resolution editing and maximum real-time effects in Final Cut Pro. Final Cut Pro includes two basic varieties of OfflineRT settings, one for standard definition and one for high definition formats.
About Offline Editing with Apple ProRes Many of the offline editing techniques described in this chapter also apply to other video codecs and formats. In particular, the Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy) and Apple ProRes 422 (LT) codecs provide high-quality video for offline edits of HD and digital cinema formats. For more information about the Apple ProRes format, see Professional Formats and Workflows, available in Final Cut Pro Help.
Capturing or Recompressing Media to an OfflineRT Format Once you’ve selected the appropriate Easy Setup, you can capture OfflineRT clips using your camcorder or deck. For more information about capturing, see Capturing Video from Tape. When your system is set up correctly, you can log and capture using device control as usual. During capturing, video is transcoded from its original format to the OfflineRT format and written to your scratch disk.
To create a duplicate of your sequence with online-quality settings 1 In the Browser, select your sequence. 2 Choose File > Media Manager. 3 Choose “Create offline” from the Media pop-up menu, then choose an online-quality sequence preset from the “Set sequences to” pop-up menu. Note: If you want to limit the amount of media your online-quality sequence references to media necessary for the sequence itself, make sure the “Delete unused media” checkbox is selected.
You can now transfer the project containing your new sequence to a Final Cut Pro system capable of reingesting and finishing your project at full quality and full resolution. The sequence clips are considered offline because they are not yet connected to full-resolution media. In this case, the term offline refers to the fact that the clips are disconnected from media files. For more information on using the Media Manager, see Overview of the Media Manager.
To retransfer media from file-based devices for your full-quality, full-resolution sequence 1 Choose File > Log and Transfer to open the Log and Transfer window. 2 Choose Preferences from the Action pop-up menu (the menu with the gear icon). 3 When the Import Preferences dialog appears, choose the setting in the “Transcode to” column corresponding to the format you want to use in your online-quality sequence.
Transferring your sequence to a non–Final Cut Pro system requires an intermediate project interchange format. Some examples of non–Final Cut Pro online editing systems include the following. • Tape-based linear editing suites: These are traditional online suites, complete with high-quality monitors, a waveform monitor and a vectorscope, several playback decks and a record deck, a video switcher with effects, and a computer-based edit controller.
4 From the “Set sequences to” pop-up menu, choose the sequence preset that matches the media on the editing system you are sending to. 5 Click OK. 6 Choose a destination and name for the new project file, then click OK. 7 Attach the new project to an email, or upload it to an accessible FTP or web server. Some network servers may not recognize the native Final Cut Pro file format. To ensure that the file is properly transferred, you can create and send a compressed zip archive of your project instead.
Even if you aren’t sure what settings the other person’s media files are set to, you can send the recipient your original project without using the Media Manager. When the recipient gets the project, he or she can perform the same “Create offline” media management operation explained above to create a project compatible with his or her local media files.
Reconnecting Clips and Offline Media 92 Whenever a clip’s media file is modified outside of Final Cut Pro, the connection between the clip and the media file breaks. You can easily reconnect clips and media files whenever you need to. This chapter covers the following: • Finding Your Media Files After Capture (p. 1567) • About the Connections Between Clips and Media Files (p. 1569) • Renaming Media Files and Clips (p. 1570) • How the Connection Between Clips and Media Files Can Be Broken (p.
• Audio Render Files Final Cut Pro uses the Capture Scratch folder to store captured media files. However, it is still one level deeper in the hierarchy than you may expect. Within the Capture Scratch folder, Final Cut Pro creates a folder named after the project that contains the currently selected capture bin.
and clips captured after the name change are stored here: /Volumes/Media/Capture Scratch/Hard to Trace Version 2/ This can make it difficult to manage your project, especially if you want to copy the project file and all of its corresponding media files to another system. To avoid these problems, it’s important to pay attention to where your media is stored during capture. If you want all of your media files to reside in one folder, you need to avoid changing the name of your project.
A clip connects to a media file via the clip’s Source property, which contains the location of the media file as a file path. If a clip cannot locate its media file, the media file is considered offline, and the clip is called an offline clip. An offline clip has a red slash through its icon in the Browser: These are offline clips.
Each media file corresponding to one of the selected clips is renamed to match the clip name. Each media file’s file extension is preserved in the filename. For example, if you have a media file named Music.aif that corresponds to a clip named Symphony, the media file is renamed Symphony.aif.
When you play back offline clips, a Media Offline message is displayed until these clips are either reconnected or recaptured. This type of message appears when you play an offline clip. Making Clips Offline You can deliberately make clips in your project offline. This breaks the connection between a clip in your project and its media file on disk by removing the file path in the clip’s Source property.
3 Select an option in the Make Offline dialog, then click OK. Click an option. • Leave Them on the Disk: Select this option to disconnect clips from their media files but leave the original media files on your disk. Clips are disconnected because the file path in each clip’s Source property is cleared, so the clips no longer have a file location to look for media files. • Move Them to the Trash: Select this option to disconnect clips from their media files and move the media files to the Trash.
Differences Between Missing and Offline Media Files Final Cut Pro considers any clip without a media file to be offline. However, the status of the clip’s Source property determines whether Final Cut Pro continues to search for a clip’s media file each time a project is opened.
About the Reconnect Files Dialog The Reconnect Files dialog has the following features: Click these buttons to filter which types of clips are displayed in the Files To Connect list. Choose a directory and select this checkbox to limit your media file search to a single directory. Click this to tell Final Cut Pro to search the specified locations for a clip’s media file. Click this to manually navigate to a clip’s media file. Click Connect to reconnect all clips listed in the Files Located area.
Search Locations Area This area allows you to choose which folders are searched when Final Cut Pro looks for media files. • Skip File: Click this button to remove the current clip highlighted in the Files to Reconnect list. When this clip is removed, the next clip in the list is highlighted for reconnection. • Search Single Location checkbox: When you select this option, only the directory path in the Search Single Location pop-up menu is searched, as well as any subfolders of that directory path.
Search Order and Speed in the Reconnect Files Dialog Final Cut Pro searches folders in the order they appear in the Search Folders pop-up menu. To make searching for media files efficient, Final Cut Pro searches designated folders before searching entire volumes. This way, if a media file is located in a specified search folder, Final Cut Pro never has to perform a more time-consuming search through an entire volume.
Using the Reconnect Files Dialog The Reconnect Files dialog has many options, depending on the types of clips you are reconnecting and the number of volumes and folders you want to search for missing media files. The task below suggests one possible workflow. To use the Reconnect Files dialog 1 Select the clips you want to reconnect.
• To specify that all folders in the Search Folders pop-up menu be searched: Deselect the Search Single Location option. 6 Do one of the following: • To have Final Cut Pro search for media files automatically: Click Search. • To manually navigate to the location of the media file: Click Locate. If you click Search, Final Cut Pro searches for the media file that corresponds to the clip highlighted in the Files To Connect area. When Final Cut Pro discovers a potential match, the Reconnect dialog appears.
• Search: Shows the path of the media file referenced to the current clip being reconnected. If more than one match is found, you can use this pop-up menu to choose which file you want. • Reconnect All Files in Relative Path: Select this checkbox if you want Final Cut Pro to automatically reconnect all remaining clips whose media files are located in this folder. When you are reconnecting a lot of clips, this can speed up the reconnection process considerably.
When Final Cut Pro Reconnects Your Clips In certain circumstances, Final Cut Pro checks to make sure all of the media files that correspond to clips in your project have not been modified, and that none of the media files are missing. Final Cut Pro checks for offline clips in the following situations: • When you open a project file: If Final Cut Pro detects missing media files that weren’t missing the last time you saved this project, the Offline Files window appears.
• Continue: Click this button to leave all specified clips offline. The file paths in the Source properties of all clips selected in the Forget Files list are cleared. Any unselected clips and render files continue to be considered “missing,” and Final Cut Pro warns you that these clips’ media files cannot be found each time you open the project.
Warning: Be cautious when you select this option, particularly in a shared environment (such as an Xsan environment) in which media drives are shared for collaborative editing. If you (or someone else) modifies media files in other applications, Final Cut Pro will not notify you when clips are reconnected. For example, if someone changes the duration of a media file in Soundtrack Pro, Final Cut Pro does not warn you that the clip duration has changed.
Overview of the Media Manager 93 The Media Manager helps you move, copy, delete, and process your project’s media files, automatically updating the connections between clips and media files. This chapter covers the following: • What Can You Do with the Media Manager? (p. 1585) • Selecting Items to Process with the Media Manager (p. 1587) • Settings and Options in the Media Manager Window (p. 1588) • How the Media Manager Processes Selected Items (p. 1595) • Limiting How Much Media Is Copied or Deleted (p.
• Delete unused portions of media from your hard disk: You can break your media files into smaller files by using the “Delete unused media from selected items” option. This option analyzes what portions of each media file are used by your current selection, and then creates new media files that contain only the necessary media. You can use this option with the Copy or Recompress option, so only a limited amount of new media is created.
Selecting Items to Process with the Media Manager Before you can use the Media Manager, you need to select which clips, bins, sequences, or clip items in sequences you want to process. The items you select (and the master-affiliate clip relationships of those items) determine which clips and media files are processed. Here are some examples of what you can select to process with the Media Manager: • One or more clips in the Browser: These may be master clips, affiliate clips, or a combination of both.
Settings and Options in the Media Manager Window The Media Manager has a number of options, many of which affect one another. Some options become unavailable for some operations, and in other cases, some options become permanently turned on. When certain options are dimmed, it’s usually to ensure that clips outside your selection don’t lose the media they need when you process your media files.
Summary Area The Summary area at the top of the Media Manager describes what operation is about to be performed and shows how much hard disk space the resulting media requires. Move the pointer over a bar to view the disk space for the specified items. • Original: This bar shows the total disk space used by the media files associated with your current selection. This bar may be segmented if the media referenced by the selected items is found on multiple disks.
Media Area This area is where you choose what you want to do to the media files on disk that are referenced by your selection—copy, move, recompress at a specified sequence preset, process only existing media, or create offline clips (creates a copy of clips or sequences with no associated media). You can also choose to include render files, delete unused media, and add handles. Choose what you want to do with the selected media. Specify additional options here.
• Use Existing: This option allows you to use the currently existing media that’s linked to the selected items. If you delete unused media using this option, the unused media is actually deleted from your original media files, with or without handles, as specified. Be extremely careful when choosing the “Use existing” option; the Media Manager deletes each media file as soon as it finishes processing it.
• When this option is deselected: The master clips in the new project are based only on the media used by the items you selected before opening the Media Manager window. Selecting this option allows you to retain not only the media for clips in your sequences, but also media defined by your original master clip In and Out points.
• Use Handles checkbox: This option modifies the “Delete unused media” option described above so that less media is deleted from a media file. Handles are additional footage at the beginning and end of a clip that you keep just in case you need a few extra frames for trimming, or you need extra footage beyond your planned In and Out points to create a transition, such as a dissolve, to another shot. This option is available only with the “Delete unused media” option.
• “Base media file names on” pop-up menu: This pop-up menu determines how clips are named when they’re segmented as a result of the “Delete unused media” option. The following media filenaming options are available: • Existing filenames: Filenames of clips created by the Media Manager are based on the source media files on disk. The first new media file created is named the same as the original media file, and additional media files are named with a numerical suffix.
Media Destination Area This area displays the location where media files are placed after copying, moving, or recompressing. Click the Browse button to choose a different location for the media files. This shows the location where moved or copied media files will be stored. Click here to select a location for storing media files.
For example: You originally captured a ten-minute clip and used four sections of this clip’s media file in your project; two of them overlap and the other two don’t. In this case, three media files are created, one from the two overlapping clips, and two more for the remaining two clips.
How Independent Clips Are Processed Even if you don’t maintain proper master-affiliate relationships in your project by using independent clips, the Media Manager carefully analyzes your media management operation before it begins processing. For example, suppose you have a sequence called Sequence A that contains several independent clips. Also suppose that there are several master clips in the Browser that reference the same media files as the independent sequence clips.
Limiting How Much Media Is Copied or Deleted When you select clips to process with the Media Manager, keep in mind that those items may be affiliated with other clips in your project. Specifically, a master clip, which refers to a media file on your scratch disk, may have many affiliate clips located in different sequences.
The resulting media file contains only the first ten seconds of the original media file, which is sufficient for re-creating Sequence A, but not for re-creating the original master clip or the clip in Sequence B. Clip in Sequence A Clip in Sequence B Before After Preserving Media for the Selected Item and Its Master Clip You can create a copy of sequence A along with enough media for the clip in Sequence A and enough media to preserve the media In and Out points marked in the master clip.
5 Select “Include master clips outside the selection.” This option preserves the media referred to by the master clip’s In and Out points, so the master clip is preserved as well as the clip in Sequence A. 6 Select “Include affiliate clips outside selection.” This option preserves the media referred to by all clips affiliated with the master clip, which means preserving the media referred to by the clip in Sequence B.
Examples of How to Use the Media Manager 94 The best way to learn about the Media Manager is to perform some of the common tasks described in this section. This chapter covers the following: • Media Manager Workflow (p. 1601) • Using the Media Manager (p. 1602) • Example: Removing Unused Media from a Sequence (p. 1605) • Example: Duplicating a Sequence and Its Corresponding Media Files (p. 1606) • Example: Duplicating a Portion of a Sequence and Its Media Files (p.
Stage 2: Choosing Options in the Media Manager Window Once you’ve selected items in your project, open the Media Manager window and choose options for processing your media. You can select whether clips, sequences, and so on are duplicated into a new project, and how media is processed (moved, copied, recompressed, deleted, and so on). Some options are unavailable, or permanently selected, depending on what other options are selected. You can also specify a destination for your new media files to be stored.
If one of the items you selected contains no media (for example, if an empty sequence is part of your selection), a message gives you the option to continue or stop. If you choose to continue, the items that don’t contain any media will be ignored. A message appears if your selection does not contain media. 3 In the Media Manager window, choose a method for processing media files from the Media pop-up menu.
10 If you are presented with requests for additional information, make the appropriate selections: • Additional Items Found dialog: When you use the Media Manager to do a potentially destructive operation, Final Cut Pro checks all currently opened projects to see if there are any other clips that reference the same media. If so, the Additional Items Found dialog appears. Decide what you want to do, then click a button.
Example: Removing Unused Media from a Sequence A common Media Manager operation is to remove parts of media files that are not used in the sequence. For example, in a 30-minute sequence, the sequence clips refer to 30 minutes of media files. However, the total media referred to by these clips’ master clips can be much more.
2 In the Media Manager, choose the following options, then click OK. Click here to retain only media used in the sequence. Choose “Use existing” from this pop-up menu. If you select the Use Handles checkbox, enter a duration here. Make sure this is not selected. Note: If the clips in your sequence are affiliated with clips in other sequences, and your master clips have no In or Out points set (or Out points set near their Media End points), there may not be very much media deleted.
2 In the Media Manager, choose the following options, then click OK. Specify these options to include only media used in the sequence. Choose Copy from this pop-up menu. Handles are optional. Make sure this option is selected. Example: Duplicating a Portion of a Sequence and Its Media Files The Media Manager lets you copy selected clip items in your sequence along with their media files.
To duplicate a portion of a sequence and its media files 1 In the Timeline, select the part of the sequence you want to duplicate. These clip items are selected in the sequence. 2 In the Media Manager, choose the following options, then click OK. Choose Copy from this pop-up menu. Optional Make sure this option is selected.
• When you’re working with a remote editor who already has the media files and you need to email the offline sequences without the media files. To copy several sequences with new settings, but without media files 1 In the Browser, select the sequences you want to copy. Select the sequences you want to copy. 2 In the Media Manager, choose the following options, then click OK. Make sure this checkbox is selected. Choose “Create offline” from this pop-up menu.
Note: Selecting “Include master clips outside selection” and “Include affiliate clips outside selection” creates master clips that preserve the most media for recapturing. During rough editing, you generally want to retain the largest possible media files, so it’s a good idea to keep these options selected. If you are creating sequences for final editing or capturing at high resolution, you may want to deselect these options.
2 In the Media Manager, choose the following options, then click OK. Choose Recompress from this pop-up menu. Choose the codec you want to use for recompressing (you can also create a new preset here). Click here to choose a location for the recompressed media files. If your portable computer is connected, you can copy files directly to it. Make sure these options are set properly.
Because the Media Manager tries to preserve media referenced by clips in your project, it is necessary to delete the original master clip (which refers to the entire length of the media file) so only the subclip media will be preserved. 2 Rename your subclips with descriptive names. When the Media Manager creates new media files, they will be named after these subclip names. 3 Select all of the subclips that you created from the master clip you just deleted.
The Media Manager creates a new media file for each selected subclip and reconnects each subclip to the new media file. The original media file is deleted, so any subclips not selected become offline. Example: Consolidating Media Files into One Folder Sometimes the media files for a project are stored in several folders on one or more scratch disks.
3 Make sure the Browser window is active. In the Media Manager, choose the following options, then click OK. Choose Move from this pop-up menu. Handles are optional. Click Browse and select your destination folder. Make sure this is not selected. Files moved by the Media Manager are placed in a folder named after the project name, which is placed in a folder called Media. The clips in your project are reconnected to the media files in their new location.
If you want to reduce the required disk space, you can limit your selection to individual sequences and tell the Media Manager to copy only the parts of media files used by the sequences. In the example that follows, all the media is copied. To consolidate your project and media files for archiving 1 If you want to save your media files to a new folder on your hard disk, create that folder in the Finder. 2 In the Browser, select all items in the project.
3 Make sure the Browser window is still active. In the Media Manager, choose the following options, then click OK. (Optional) Click here so that the parts of media files that are not used by your clips and sequences are not included. Choose Copy from this pop-up menu. Handles are optional. Click Browse and select a folder to save your new media files. Make sure this option is selected. 4 In the dialog that appears, enter a project name, check that the destination folder is correct, then click OK.
Diagnostic Tools for Clips 95 If you need detailed information about a clip’s media file, you can use the diagnostic tools in Final Cut Pro to analyze your media. This chapter covers the following: • Different Tools for Diagnosing Clips (p. 1617) • About the Analyze Movie Command (p. 1618) • Finding and Marking Long Frames (p.
• Mark Audio Peaks: Clipping occurs in captured audio if any part of the recorded signal goes above 0 dBFS. Since 0 dBFS is the maximum digital level possible, all levels that would peak above this are set (clipped) to 0 dBFS, because there is no higher value possible. Excessive 0 dBFS peaks usually indicate that the audio was recorded at unsuitable levels. The Mark Audio Peaks command analyzes one or more clips and places markers to indicate 0 dBFS peaks that are detected.
2 Choose a QuickTime file on your disk that you want to analyze, then click Choose. Locate the file you want to analyze, then click Choose. To analyze a clip’s media file in your project 1 Do one of the following: • Select one or more video or audio clips in the Browser. • Open a video clip in the Viewer. 2 Choose Tools > Analyze Movie > Clip. A Movie Analysis window appears, showing video, audio, and timecode track information.
Information Reported by the Analyze Movie Command The Analyze Movie command provides the following information. File information Video track information Audio track information Timecode track information Information for All QuickTime Files • Filename: The name of your QuickTime file on disk. • Duration: The total duration of the file. • Average Data Rate: The average data rate of all tracks in the file.
• Sample: The sampling rate of the audio track in kilohertz (kHz). Information for Files with a Timecode Track • Track Name: The track name of the timecode track. (Some QuickTime files may have more than one timecode track.) • Timecode: The starting timecode value for this clip. • Reel: The reel name for this clip. Finding and Marking Long Frames Long frames are frames with nonstandard frame durations that can occur within a clip as a result of a problem during capture.
Markers are placed at each long frame. Long frame markers have an internal label, or tag, so that Final Cut Pro can distinguish them from other markers. If you selected a clip in the Browser, markers appear for the clip and are labeled “Long Frame N,” where N starts at 1 and increases, depending on how many long frames are detected. These markers also appear in the Viewer, when the clip is opened there. If you selected a clip in the Timeline, markers appear in the Timeline.
Importing and Exporting EDLs 96 Edit Decision Lists (EDLs) are useful for transferring edit information between editing systems. This chapter covers the following: • About EDLs (p. 1623) • Exporting EDLs (p. 1628) • Importing EDLs (p. 1635) • EDL Considerations Before Capturing (p. 1638) • EDL Considerations During Editing (p. 1641) • Transition Wipe Codes for EDL Export (p.
Learning to Read an EDL An EDL contains the same basic clip information as a Final Cut Pro sequence, but the presentation is very different. Because EDLs originated with linear, tape-to-tape editing systems, each event is described in terms of a source tape and a record (or master) tape. Note: This section describes components of an EDL using the CMX 3600 EDL format. Other formats may vary slightly.
Title and Sequence Timecode Format The first line of an EDL contains the title of the sequence. In NTSC sequences, the second line displays whether the sequence timecode is drop frame or non-drop frame. Event Number An event number uniquely identifies each event in the EDL. An EDL event requires two lines if more than one source is used. For example, a dissolve requires one line for the outgoing shot and a second line for the incoming shot.
A dissolve from a Final Cut Pro sequence is shown below in EDL format. 001002VC02:10:42:13 02:11:16:18 01:00:00:00 01:00:34:05 001002VD024 02:18:32:07 02:18:56:19 01:00:34:05 01:00:58:17 Transition Duration The duration of a transition (in frames) follows the transition type. For example, D 024 indicates a 24-frame dissolve. Source In and Out, Record In and Out In each line of an EDL, the first pair of timecode numbers are the source In and Out points.
Split edits, where the video and audio have separate In and Out points, require three lines. SPLIT: VIDEO DELAY= 00:00:02:00 004002AAC02:18:30:07 02:18:56:19 01:00:32:05 01:00:58:17 004002VC02:18:32:07 02:18:56:19 01:00:34:05 01:00:58:17 The first line indicates which track is delayed and by how much, the second line indicates the track (audio or video) that plays through the entire edit duration, and the third line contains the delayed track.
Limitations of EDLs Today’s nonlinear editing systems store much more information about clips and sequences than older tape-to-tape systems. When you export a sequence as an EDL, only the most basic edit information is retained. To assure that your sequence is exported accurately, it’s a good idea to keep the sequence simple. An EDL can represent only a single sequence, not an entire project.
For more information, see Settings and Options in the EDL Import Dialog. 4 Choose a location and enter a name for the file, then click Save. Note: If you selected the B-Reel Edits option from the “Reel conflicts” section, another dialog may appear where you can choose a location and enter a name for a second EDL for the B-Reel list. If your sequence exceeds the maximum number of events for the format you specified, Final Cut Pro creates additional EDL files.
Note: Changing the EDL title does not change the filename of the exported EDL. Format Pop-Up Menu This menu allows you to choose which format your EDL is exported to. There are several EDL file formats, each named after a particular manufacturer and model of a linear, tape-to-tape editing system.
This option is useful for exporting separate EDLs, one at a time, for each video track above V1. When this option is deselected, Final Cut Pro includes keying (K) events. Video track V1 is treated as the background layer and track V2 as the foreground layer of the key effect. The following event refers to the first text generator clip in the sequence shown above.
Reel Conflicts If you create a transition between two clips from the same reel in your sequence, Final Cut Pro considers this to be a reel conflict, because the resulting EDL event would be impossible to perform in a tape-based editing system. This is because in a linear editing suite, a transition requires two video sources, but you can’t put the same tape in two decks at the same time.
Pre-Read Edits Some high-end digital video decks can actually perform transitions by using the master tape as one of the sources. A digital VTR with the ability to pre-read video off the tape before recording is required. Pre-read is a technical feature that allows a deck to read the signal off tape, send it to a device for processing, and then record the processed signal back onto the same tape in the same location.
• Comments pop-up menu: Choose one of the comments columns in the Browser (Master Comments 1–4 or Comments A–B) to include in the EDL. This is a useful way for offline editors to provide notes about shots to the online editor. • Filters: Includes names of video and audio filters applied to a clip. • Video Levels: Opacity levels of each clip, if they are not 100%. Opacity keyframes are also included, displayed by clip timecode and percentage level. Bezier curve information is ignored.
To open an Edit Decision List 1 Choose File > Open. 2 Locate the EDL file, select it, then click Open. Importing EDLs Importing EDLs into Final Cut Pro is becoming less common as more full-featured project interchange formats are supported. However, if you are reediting a project from an older, linear editing system, or you are having trouble exchanging sequence information using other project interchange formats, you can use an EDL to transfer basic edit information into Final Cut Pro.
2 Specify your import options, then click OK. Specify the options you want. 3 Locate and select the EDL, then click Open. When you import an EDL, a sequence is created in your current project tab, along with a bin that contains master clips for the clips in the sequence. Note: When you import a Sony 5000 EDL, the title of the created sequence is “Untitled.” Problems Importing EDL Files If you’re having a problem importing an EDL file, check the format of the text file.
• Handle Size: Specify the number of additional frames you want to capture on either side of each clip. You should always add handles when recapturing media from an imported EDL because it gives you more flexibility for trimming edit points, adding dissolves, and so on. Note: You cannot set handles when you choose Reconnect because the media files are already on your disk and are not being captured.
Note: You need all the original source tapes associated with the EDL before starting the capture process. Clips from your imported EDL remain offline until you recapture them. EDL Considerations Before Capturing Before capturing your media files, make sure you: • Calibrate the timecode via your device control connection. • Label your source tapes with unique reel names. Read the following sections for additional information that you should consider before capturing your media files.
System Reel name length Reel name characters Sony 9100 6 characters Uppercase alphabetical characters; numbers; underscore (_) When you export an EDL, Final Cut Pro automatically changes reel names that aren’t compatible with the selected EDL format. Unique Reel Names for Each Tape and Timecode Breaks Every tape that you capture from should have a unique reel name written on the label.
If you entered the wrong reel name when you logged a clip, you can change the reel name in the Browser or in the Item Properties window. To change a clip’s reel name in the Browser 1 Select a clip, then Control-click in the Reel column. All reel names used in the current project appear as choices in the menu. Note: To change the reel name for several clips at once, select multiple clips in the Browser. 2 Choose the correct reel name from the shortcut menu.
EDL Considerations During Editing While you edit, keep the following guidelines in mind to ensure successful EDL export: • Limit the number of edits in your sequence. • Only use transitions in track V1. • Join through edits wherever they appear. • Limit the number of audio tracks you use. • Don’t rely on audio mix levels. • Avoid nested sequences and nonstandard video transitions. • Be careful when using still frames and speed settings. For details, see the following sections.
Join Through Edits A through edit is defined as two adjacent clips from the same continuous piece of a media file. The timecode numbers of the first clip’s Out point and the second clip’s In point are one frame apart. Unless you have a specific reason for keeping these two clips separate, you should join the through edit to create a single clip. This reduces the number of events in your EDL and simplifies the process of re-creating your edit with another editing system.
Don’t Rely on Audio Mix Levels Mixed audio levels, represented by audio overlays in the Timeline, can be exported as notes in the EDL for the online editor to use as reference. However, most editing systems can’t translate these notes into an automated mix. Avoid Nested Sequences Nested sequences, or sequences within a sequence, should not be used if you are exporting an EDL. To prevent confusion, you can create a duplicate of your edited sequence and simplify sections where there are nested sequences.
Transition Wipe Codes for EDL Export In an EDL, each type of wipe transition shape has a unique code. This code is used to tell a video switcher which shape to use for any given edit. Since many of the transitions in Final Cut Pro have no equivalent in a given EDL format, all nonstandard transitions are automatically mapped to the closest approximate SMPTE standard wipe pattern during the EDL export process.
Final Cut Pro transition EDL wipe number equivalent Spin Slide 1 Split Slide 3 Swap Slide 2 Cross Stretch 1 Squeeze 3 Squeeze and Stretch 3 Stretch 3 Band Wipe 23 Center Wipe 4 Checker Wipe 23 Checkerboard Wipe 1 Clock Wipe 13 Edge Wipe 2 Gradient Wipe 0 Inset Wipe 4–11 Jaws Wipe 120 Random Edge Wipe 1 V Wipe 115 Venetian Blind Wipe 123 Chapter 96 Importing and Exporting EDLs 1645
Using Final Cut Pro XML and QuickTime Metadata 97 Using the Final Cut Pro XML Interchange Format, you can generate Final Cut Pro project files on any platform, using any software you want. You can also add, store, and modify metadata directly in your QuickTime media files. This chapter covers the following: • What Is the Final Cut Pro XML Interchange Format? (p. 1647) • About XML (p. 1648) • Overview of the Final Cut Pro XML Interchange Format (p. 1651) • Exporting XML in Final Cut Pro (p.
About XML XML, or eXtensible Markup Language, is a markup language. Markup languages clarify the content in a document by tagging the elements of the document. A well-known markup language is HTML, the standard language for writing webpages. The benefit of working with XML is that it is an open standard. The structure and rules for working with XML documents are well documented by the World Wide Web Consortium (http://www.w3c.org).
Most markup languages have a limited set of tags and rules about how the elements can be ordered hierarchically. For example, an HTML document can have a
element (this is a paragraph element) but if you added a element, it would not be recognized by HTML-aware applications unless the entire HTML standard were altered. XML was designed to be extensible—you can define any tags and hierarchical rules that fit the data you are working with.
Whitespace Whitespace in a document includes multiple spaces, tab characters, carriage returns, newline characters, and so on. An XML parser reads and processes XML tags in a document, but ignores extra whitespace.
Overview of the Final Cut Pro XML Interchange Format The Final Cut Pro XML Interchange Format was designed to describe every element in a Final Cut Pro project in a human-readable, XML-based format. Final Cut Pro can import and export this format, opening a world of possibilities limited only by your ability to generate and process XML documents. Because Final Cut Pro supports XML, you are no longer limited to creating clips, bins, and sequences within Final Cut Pro.
TRUE 30 An explanation of the sample code above follows. Every Final Cut Pro XML file requires the first three elements: • element: This defines the document as an XML file. The example above shows an element with two attributes: version and encoding. • element: Every XML document requires a Document Type Definition, or DTD. The DTD for the Final Cut Pro XML Interchange File Format is called xmeml.
Note: This example assumes you are using TextEdit, the built-in text editing application that comes with Mac OS X. TextEdit is located in the Applications folder on your hard disk. 2 If a new window doesn’t already exist, choose File > New (or press Command-N). 3 Type or copy and paste sample XML code into the new TextEdit window. Errors in XML code will result in errors during import. Make sure you type carefully and check your work. 4 Choose Format > Make Plain Text (or press Command-Shift-T).
Important: If your workflow involves exporting and importing XML files, do not customize column names in Final Cut Pro. Doing so may result in the loss of some XML metadata. To export a Final Cut Pro element as an XML file 1 In Final Cut Pro, select the clips, bins, or sequences you want to export as XML. 2 Choose File > Export > XML. The Export XML dialog appears. A summary of the selected elements to be exported is shown next to the Source field.
The XML import options are described in detail in the Final Cut Pro XML developer documentation. For more information, visit the Apple Applications page at the Apple Developer Connection website at http://developer.apple.com/appleapplications. 4 Click OK. The Importing XML Data progress bar appears as Final Cut Pro processes the XML and generates clips, bins, or sequences from the XML file.
Remote Previewing with iChat 98 As you collaborate with post-production colleagues or clients, you can use the Final Cut Pro iChat Theater Preview feature to screen parts of your work to remote viewers. After setting up an iChat video session, you can use the Canvas or Viewer window to stream clips and sequences to other iChat users for viewing. You use the standard playback and navigation controls to play and review clips or sequences and the iChat users see them in their iChat window.
• To hold a video chat session in which you and your iChat buddy can chat and see each other, both computers must have a video camera, such as the Apple iSight, attached or built in to the computer. If the host or remote computer doesn’t have a video camera, you can still use Final Cut Pro to send video by inviting the remote viewer to a one-way video chat session, but you will not be able to see or chat with the remote viewer as you can during a video chat session with cameras.
Note: Your iChat window may look slightly different from the illustrations shown here, depending on the version of Mac OS X that you are using on your computer. As you host a video chat session using iChat Theater Preview, you can play clips or sequences in the Timeline in the Canvas window. You can also open specific clips in the Viewer and play them for the remote viewer. You can switch between displaying video from the Viewer or Canvas by clicking the window you want to make active.
For optimal playback performance during an iChat video session: • Ensure that you’re using a stable network connection with sufficient bit rate for video iChat sessions. Refer to iChat Help for more information about setting up video chat sessions. • Ensure that both the host and client computers have sufficient CPU and GPU processing power. • On the host computer, set Final Cut Pro to use Unlimited RT mode and render segments that require rendering for optimal playback.
Once you’ve established a video iChat session, you’re ready to use Final Cut Pro to broadcast your video to remote viewers. Note: You can actually choose any of the commands in the iChat Theater Preview menu to initiate an iChat Theater Preview session. When both computers have cameras connected, you can also begin by first starting a video chat session using standard iChat procedures. You open iChat and send a video chat invitation to an iChat buddy and, when you’re ready, switch to using Final Cut Pro.
When you’ve completed reviewing your clips and sequences, you stop the iChat Theater Preview session. Final Cut Pro stops streaming video from the Viewer or Canvas window, but does not stop the video chat session. µ To stop the iChat Theater Preview session Choose View > iChat Theater Preview > Stop Sharing. When the host has paused an iChat Theater Preview session and the video chat session continues, remember that the host audio is still being sent to the remote iChat user.
Working with Film and Cinema Tools 99 You can use Final Cut Pro with Cinema Tools to edit film and 24 fps-based projects. This chapter covers the following: • An Overview of the Film Editing Process (p. 1663) • About Using Cinema Tools with Final Cut Pro (p. 1666) • Creating a New Final Cut Pro Project (p. 1667) • Importing a Telecine Log to Create a Cinema Tools Database (p. 1667) • Batch Capturing Video from Tape (p. 1669) • Removing 3:2 Pull-Down or Conforming 25 fps PAL to 24 fps (p.
The following information provides an overview of the film editing process, identifying the parts played by Final Cut Pro and Cinema Tools. About the Telecine Process During a telecine session, sections of film rolls are transferred to videotape or directly to a hard disk. A computer file, known as a telecine log, keeps track of which film frames are transferred to video.
About Burned-in Timecode on Video Most telecine facilities offer the ability to permanently superimpose, or burn in, edge code and timecode numbers over your video transfer from film. This is useful whether or not you have a telecine log file: • If you have a telecine log file: The burned-in numbers make it easy to verify that the entries in the database are correct. Additionally, in cases where the video has had a 3:2 pull-down applied, letters are added after the key number to indicate the frame type.
About the Cinema Tools Database A Cinema Tools database is the heart of any Final Cut Pro film editing project. The database is similar to a spreadsheet in which each row represents a single clip shot on film and transferred to video. Each row contains columns such as name, edge code start, edge code end, timecode start, timecode end, film roll number, video reel number, scene number, take number, camera information, and so on.
Creating a New Final Cut Pro Project In almost all cases, you will edit your film project using a 24 fps (or 23.98 fps in most NTSC-based workflows) editing timebase. An exception is film projects shot at 24 or 25 fps and edited at PAL’s 25 fps rate. To create a new project in Final Cut Pro 1 Choose File > New Project. A new project is created with the default name of Untitled Project 1. 2 Choose File > Save Project As. A dialog appears where you can name the project and select a location to save it to.
The Import a Cinema Tools Telecine Log dialog appears. Select the telecine log file to import. Choose a camera letter to append to the imported takes (if needed). Lists the currently selected database. Choose to either create a new database or import the file into an existing database. 2 Use the top half of the dialog to select the telecine log file to import.
5 Click Open to import the selected telecine log file into the selected Cinema Tools database. Batch Capturing Video from Tape Once you have imported the telecine log file, you have offline clips in the Browser that you need to capture. You can use standard Final Cut Pro capture methods for capturing the clips; however, there are some special considerations you should be aware of.
Standard Reverse Telecine The telecine process adds duplicate video fields to make 24 fps film footage fit within 29.97 fps video. The film-to-NTSC video case is particularly complex: the film is slowed from 24 to 23.98 fps during the telecine process to match the discrepancy between 30 and 29.97 fps. Simultaneously, film frames are repeated in a 3:2 pattern, resulting in duplicate video fields.
Conforming 25 fps Video to 24 fps In countries that use PAL video, film is sped up by four percent (from 24 to 25 fps) and then transferred to PAL video. You can capture and edit the PAL footage and then deliver a 25 fps EDL (instead of a traditional cut list) to the negative cutter, who matches the 25 fps timecode back to the original film edge codes.
Creating 24 @ 25 Sequences and Easy Setups To properly edit 24 @ 25 clips, you need to create a sequence with an editing timebase of 24 fps and set the timecode rate of this sequence to the special 24 @ 25 option. This option displays 25 fps timecode in your sequence as though you were editing PAL video, but the sequence plays back at 24 fps. There are two sequence presets designed for 24 fps PAL video: • DV PAL 48 kHz - 24 @ 25: This preset uses a 24 fps editing timebase and 25 fps timecode.
You can select clips that are already connected to the database and need their information updated or clips that are not yet connected to the database. 2 Choose Tools > Synchronize with Cinema Tools. A dialog appears allowing you to configure the synchronization process. The Database field shows the currently selected database. 3 Select the “Add new records” checkbox if you want the database to automatically have new records added for selected clips that are not already in the database.
Cinema Tools first checks the database for existing records without connected clips and attempts to match the records with clip names (based on scene and take entries). If matches are found, Cinema Tools connects the clips to the matching records. If no matching records are found, new records are added to the database for each clip, with any applicable information added to each record.
To see film-related information in the Item Properties window 1 Select the clip in the Browser. 2 Do one of the following: • Choose Edit > Item Properties > Film. • Control-click the clip, then choose Item Properties > Film from the shortcut menu. • Press Command-9 to open the Item Properties window, then click the Film tab. Note: Comments added to a record in Cinema Tools or a record in a telecine log file appear in the Take Note row.
The Project Properties dialog appears. 3 Choose Feet+Frame from the Time Display pop-up menu. 4 Choose the film standard from the Default Film Standard pop-up menu. The film standard defines how many frames are in a foot. You can also individually control the timecode display of the Timeline, Viewer, and Canvas.
To open a clip in Cinema Tools from Final Cut Pro 1 Select a clip or a group of clips in the Browser. 2 Choose View > Open in Cinema Tools. The clip opens in a Cinema Tools Clip window. If you selected multiple clips, each opens in its own Clip window. Any changes you make, such as to a camera roll number, are added to the clip’s database record. After you have finished making the changes, you can synchronize the clips in Final Cut Pro with the modified Cinema Tools database.
How Cinema Tools Relates Final Cut Pro Sequence Clips to Database Records When you are creating a film list from Final Cut Pro, Cinema Tools has two methods to relate each clip to records in a database. • Clip name matching: The first thing Cinema Tools tries to do is match the clip name used in a Final Cut Pro sequence to a clip name in the corresponding Cinema Tools database. If a match is found, the clip in the database is used to supply information to the film list.
The Export Film Lists dialog appears. • To export an XML-format film list file: Choose File > Export > Cinema Tools XML Film Lists. The Export XML Film Lists dialog appears. 3 Configure the settings in the export dialog, then click OK. If you expect to make changes to this Final Cut Pro sequence and want to export a change list later, make sure to select “Save a Cinema Tools program file.” You’ll need that program file to export a change list that compares this sequence to another version.
Important: Give the program file a name that clearly identifies the sequence and the version, so that you can easily locate it later when you need to export a change list that compares this sequence to a newer version. 5 In the next dialog that appears, enter a filename for the film list, choose a location, and click Save. 6 In the dialog that appears, select the database file that Cinema Tools should use to produce the lists that you have selected.
3 In the Export Change List dialog that appears, configure the settings, then click OK. These lists provide information about the entire sequence. These lists provide information about the changes. When you select film lists in the Settings section of the Export Change List dialog, the change list file will include (in addition to the selected change list options) the same content you would get if you were exporting those lists from the Export Film Lists or Export XML Film Lists dialog.
A change list file is generated, containing all the lists you selected in the Export Change List dialog. Exporting an Audio EDL Cinema Tools can export an audio EDL as long as its database contains accurate sound information (an audio timecode number that corresponds to the first video frame of the clip and the audio reel number) in each record.
4 In the dialog that now appears, select the Cinema Tools database file to use, then click Choose. Once you select the database, Cinema Tools starts matching events in the sequence to records in the database in the following ways: • For each edit involving a track turned on in the Export Audio EDL dialog, Cinema Tools searches the database to see if that edit’s video clip is connected to any database records.
Preparing to Output to Tape 100 Tape is still the most common means of acquisition, output, and transfer for professional projects. Final Cut Pro allows you to output sequences or clips to tape at any phase of your project. This chapter covers the following: • Choosing a Videotape Format and Equipment for Output (p. 1685) • Output Requirements (p. 1686) • Methods for Output to Tape in Final Cut Pro (p. 1687) • Setting Up Your Editing System to Output to Tape (p.
For example, if you are outputting to Digital Betacam, you should be editing with a video codec that supports uncompressed video and is compatible with your third-party video interface. When you output to tape, the video interface converts the uncompressed video codec to a standard SDI signal, which enters the VTR via an SDI input and is recorded to a Digital Betacam tape.
Requirements for Full-Resolution Betacam SP Output Full-resolution Betacam SP output requires the following: • Media files captured with a high-resolution, uncompressed codec • Sequence settings that match your clips’ capture settings • A third-party video interface with component analog outputs (YUV) and professional analog audio output • A serial port adapter for connecting 9-pin device control to the output VTR • A Betacam SP deck (Output to analog tape is becoming less common, but still necessary in man
Print to Video In most cases, the Print to Video command doesn’t use device control, so it is useful when your deck can’t be controlled remotely (such as a VHS deck). You can’t specify timecode In and Out points for recording on the tape, so you can’t use this method for output to a precise location on your tape. You also can’t choose which audio or video tracks are recorded on tape—they are all recorded.
Setting Up Your Editing System to Output to Tape Before you output to tape, you need to set up your video devices and Final Cut Pro settings and preferences. Some steps are only relevant to particular methods.
If none of your Easy Setups matches your video and audio configuration, you can choose the correct settings in the A/V Devices tab of the Audio/Video Settings window. For example, if you are outputting via FireWire, choose an available FireWire output such as Apple FireWire NTSC or PAL in the Video pop-up menu in the Playback Output section of the A/V Devices tab. This setting sends video out from the appropriate video output, whether it’s the FireWire port or a third-party video interface.
Stage 5: Selecting Edit to Tape and Print to Video Preferences If you like, turn on two preferences relating to tape and playback operations. • Abort ETT/PTV on dropped frames: If you select this option, a message appears when any frames are dropped during playback when outputting, and Final Cut Pro immediately stops the operation. You can choose to redo the entire output, or you can attempt a match frame edit to output the remaining video from where the dropped frame occurred.
3 In the Edit to Tape window, click the Black and Code button. Click this button to black your tape. 4 If your video equipment supports timecode generation, make sure your deck is set to accept an external timecode signal. Note: Timecode is sent via an RS-422 serial port. This is not supported for DV FireWire. 5 Enter the starting timecode in the dialog, then click OK. This defines the starting timecode number that appears on your tape.
Stage 8: Calibrating Your Timecode You must calibrate the timecode signal of your device before editing. This is particularly important when you are using RS-422 device control, because video and timecode information are coming into Final Cut Pro via independent connections. For more information, see Calibrating Timecode Capture with Serial Device Control.
Assemble and Insert Editing Using Edit to Tape 101 The Edit to Tape window provides precision control over output to tape. Both assemble and insert editing modes are supported, and remote control of your video device is required. This chapter covers the following: • Overview of Tape Editing Methods (p. 1695) • About the Edit to Tape Window (p. 1698) • Using the Edit to Tape Window (p.
• Assemble edits: Assemble edits use a pre-roll time before the edit In point to let the VTR motor get up to speed and continue recording a consistent signal once the edit begins. The result is a smooth edit at the In point. All tracks on the tape, including video, audio, timecode, and control tracks, are replaced.
Important: DV devices do not support insert editing because the tracks are too narrow to be precisely replaced. DVCAM and DVCPRO formats support insert editing because they use wider tracks. About Tracks on Videotape Most professional videotape formats have one video track, two or more audio tracks, a timecode track, and a control track.
For details about the capabilities of your video equipment, check the documentation that came with it. For more information about equipment requirements for output to tape, see Output Requirements. About the Edit to Tape Window In most window layouts in Final Cut Pro, the Edit to Tape window appears in the same location as the Canvas. The Edit to Tape window has three tabs: • Video: This tab allows you to set tape In and Out points, specify tracks for insert editing, and perform the edit to tape.
Video Tab The Video tab allows you to control and record onto the tape in your camcorder or deck. You can cue the tape and set In and Out points using the transport controls. Edit buttons and track selection controls allow you to determine exactly how your edit to tape is performed.
• Black and Code: Automatically records a black signal on a videotape, with silent audio and continuous control and timecode tracks, from the beginning to the end of the videotape. • Timecode Duration: Displays the duration between the In and Out points set on the tape. • Current Timecode: Displays the current timecode position of the tape. If you enter a timecode, the tape will move to that position. • Edit Overlay: Appears when you drag a clip or sequence to the Edit to Tape window.
Destination Track Controls These controls allow you to specify which tracks on tape are edited to when performing an insert edit. In addition to video and timecode, up to 16 audio tracks can be output to supported video and audio decks. Click here to enable or disable timecode. Choose your audio tracks from this pop-up menu. Click here to enable or disable video.
Sixteen audio channel indicators in the Audio Insert pop-up menu indicate which audio tracks are record-enabled on your VTR. The color of an audio channel indicator indicates its state. • Yellow: The audio track is record-enabled on the connected VTR. • Gray: The audio track is record-disabled on the connected VTR. Transport Controls Transport controls let you navigate through the videotape.
• Fast Forward: Moves the videotape forward. You can also press the L key repeatedly to go through a range of speeds. Mastering Settings Tab You can add leader and trailer elements during both the Edit to Tape and Print to Video operations. µ µ To add leader or trailer elements when editing to tape Choose Mastering mode and specify settings in the Mastering Settings tab of the Edit to Tape window.
Leader Elements You can set the following leader element options: • Color Bars: Adds color bars and a 1 kilohertz (kHz) reference tone, preset to –12 decibels (dB). Color bars at the beginning of your tape allow the recipients to calibrate their equipment to match the color levels and values that your system used when outputting your program. The reference tone lets the recipients properly adjust audio levels during playback.
Media Elements and Options These are options for the clip or sequence you are outputting to tape. • Print: You can choose to output the entire clip or sequence or just the part specified between the In and Out points. • Loop: Repeats the selected media for the specified number of times. A value of 1 plays the selected media once; a value of 2 plays the selected media twice, and so on. • Black: Adds black after each loop of your sequence or clip.
• Choose a File button: Click this button to locate and select the closed captioning data file using the Open dialog. Adding Standard Leader and Trailer Elements If you’re outputting your clip or sequence for delivery to a post-production house, tape duplication facility, or television station, there are accepted conventions for how leader elements are placed on tape. Here is one common way to lay out elements, although some facilities have different standards.
• Capture/Input: This pop-up menu is exclusively used when you show video in the Edit to Tape window during the preview of an insert edit. This allows you to see what the edit will look like on tape, including the video before the tape In point and video after the tape Out point, without actually committing the edit to tape. During the pre-roll and post-roll of the preview, you see video from tape displayed in Final Cut Pro. Between the tape In and Out points, you see the video output from Final Cut Pro.
In most layouts, the Edit to Tape window appears on top of the Canvas. 2 Choose Editing or Mastering mode from the pop-up menu in the top center of the window. For more information about the Editing and Mastering modes, see Video Tab. Choose a mode from this pop-up menu. 3 Select a clip or sequence in the Browser. 4 If you haven’t already done so, set In and Out points for your clip or sequence in the Viewer, if you don’t want to output the entire clip or sequence.
• Drag the clip or sequence to the Assemble Edit button. Drag the clip or sequence here to do an assemble edit. Or click the Assemble Edit button. Transitions and effects that require rendering, along with any added elements, are rendered automatically prior to output. A dialog shows you the rendering progress of your sequence or clip. You can also choose to output unrendered real-time effects at a lower quality, saving time by avoiding rendering.
To perform an insert edit 1 Choose File > Edit to Tape. The preview option is disabled if you are using DV equipment. In most layouts, the Edit to Tape window appears on top of the Canvas. 2 Choose Editing or Mastering mode from the pop-up menu in the top center of the window. For more information about the Editing and Mastering modes, see Video Tab. 3 Select a clip or sequence in the Browser.
5 Set In and Out points on your tape where you want your clip or sequence recorded. • If you’re in Mastering mode: Use the transport controls in the Edit to Tape window to cue the tape where you want to start your initial edit. Then press I or click the Mark In button to set the In point. (You don’t set an Out point in this mode, because you may include trailer elements that extend the edit duration.
When performing an insert edit, you can selectively record-enable the video, audio, and timecode tracks on tape. Destination tracks that are disabled in the Edit to Tape window are not overwritten on the destination tape. Click here to enable or disable timecode. Choose your audio tracks from this pop-up menu. Click here to enable or disable video.
9 To edit your sequence or clip to tape, drag it from the Browser or Viewer to the Insert section of the Edit Overlay in the Edit to Tape window or click the Insert Edit button. Drag the clip or sequence here to do an insert edit. Or click the Insert Edit button. Transitions and effects that require rendering, along with any leader and trailer elements, are rendered automatically prior to output. A dialog shows you the rendering progress of your sequence or clip.
You can record-enable individual audio channels in the Edit to Tape window by choosing channels from the Audio Insert pop-up menu. Audio Insert pop-up menu When you start the output process, Final Cut Pro sends a channel insert message that tells the deck which channels you chose from the Audio Insert pop-up menu. However, different decks expect audio channel information to be in different places within the message, potentially leading to unexpected enabling or disabling of channels.
• 4 channels: Many professional digital video decks today (Digital Betacam, DVCPRO 50, HDCAM) support at least four channels of audio insert editing. • 8 channels: Some newer digital video decks (D5-HD, IMX) support eight channels of audio insert editing. • 8 channels (legacy): Several older audio-only decks such as the Tascam DA-98 support eight-channel insert editing, but they communicate differently than newer digital video decks. If you are using a Tascam DA-98 or similar device, try this option.
Printing to Video and Output from the Timeline 102 You can output your sequence to videotape using the Print to Video command, or simply record from the Timeline. This chapter covers the following: • Different Ways You Can Output Video from the Timeline (p. 1717) • Printing to Video (p. 1718) • Recording from the Timeline (p. 1720) • Outputting to VHS Tape (p.
Printing to Video Unlike the Edit to Tape command, the Print to Video command doesn’t allow you to set In or Out points on your tape. Instead, you manually press record whenever you want to begin recording on tape. This is considered a crash record. You can automatically add leader and trailer elements, such as color bars and tone, a countdown, a slate, and a black trailer, to your movie.
To print to videotape 1 Select the sequence or clip in the Browser, or open your sequence and make the Canvas or Timeline active. 2 To output part of a sequence or clip to video, set In and Out points to designate the part you want to record to videotape. For more information, see Setting Edit Points for Clips and Sequences. Set In and Out points, if you wish. 3 Choose File > Print to Video. 4 Select elements you want to print along with your sequence or clip.
To insert closed caption data in the output video, select the “Insert closed captioning data from file” checkbox and click the Open button to locate the closed caption data file. In the event that the timecode in the closed caption data file does not match the timecode in your video, select the “Offset closed captioning data start by media in time” checkbox. This option will reset the closed caption data to start its commands at the beginning of video playback.
To record directly from the Timeline 1 If you want to add elements before or after your program (such as showing black), add them directly to the Timeline. Many of these elements are available from the Generator pop-up menu. For more information, see Using Generator Clips. 2 If necessary, render any unrendered effects by doing one of the following: • Choose Sequence > Render All > Both. • Choose Sequence > Render Selection > Both. • Press Command-R.
When looping is turned on, your sequence will loop endlessly without stopping. There may be a slight pause after each loop. If you need a smooth loop, use the Print to Video command with looping turned on instead. 5 Press Record on your camcorder or deck to start recording, then wait a few seconds. This allows your camcorder or deck to reach a smooth recording speed. Otherwise, you could end up with unwanted video artifacts at the beginning of your tape.
One way to output to VHS is to simply output to whatever tape format corresponds to your sequence and then make a dub from that tape to a VHS tape. The other option is to output your digital signal to an interface that supports composite video output, such as the AJA Io. In this scenario, the digital signal is output from the computer to the video interface, which then converts the signal to composite analog video. The composite analog signal can then be recorded on a VHS tape.
Learning About QuickTime 103 Final Cut Pro uses QuickTime technology as a foundation for media file storage and as an import and export method for opening multiple video, audio, and graphics file formats. This chapter covers the following: • What Is QuickTime? (p. 1725) • The QuickTime Suite of Software Applications (p. 1726) • The QuickTime Movie File Format (p. 1726) • Formats Supported by QuickTime (p. 1729) • How Do You Export the Files You Need? (p.
There are various resources for learning more about QuickTime technology and architecture. For general information about QuickTime, go to http://www.apple.com/quicktime. For information about QuickTime that is geared toward Apple developers, go to http://developer.apple.com/quicktime. The QuickTime Suite of Software Applications When someone mentions QuickTime, people often think of the free media player developed by Apple. However, QuickTime is much more than that.
How Is Information Stored in a QuickTime Movie? QuickTime movie files store media data in separate tracks. You create a QuickTime movie file by adding tracks that point to the media you want to use. The media may be embedded in the file itself or in a reference movie in another file. This track architecture is powerful and flexible, allowing you to store and synchronize multiple pieces of video and audio media in a single file. There are many types of tracks allowed in a QuickTime movie file.
The QuickTime framework supports codecs that are commonly used today as well as codecs that were once popular. When you go to export a QuickTime movie file, the long list of available codecs demonstrates how extensive QuickTime codec support is. At the same time, this list can be potentially daunting. Look for the codec you need and ignore the rest.
• DV: There are several DV codecs available for NTSC, PAL, and other varieties such as DVCPRO HD. A DV camcorder uses a DV codec to turn full-resolution image data into compressed media, which is then stored on tape. The raw data stream from tape can be captured to your hard disk in a file format called a DV stream.
MPEG-4 MPEG-4 is an open standard video format intended for cross-platform, Internet, and multimedia delivery of video and audio content. QuickTime Movie This is a general-purpose media format that can contain multiple video, audio, text, and other tracks. This is the native file format used by Final Cut Pro for capturing and export.
Apple M-JPEG There are two Apple M-JPEG codecs, M-JPEG A and M-JPEG B. These are variable data rate codecs similar to the ones used by video capture cards. If you need to deliver more heavily compressed material to keep files small, consider these codecs. M-JPEG is a “lossy” codec (meaning visual information is permanently removed from the video frames) and will result in artifacts in your video. The severity of these artifacts depends on the data rate you choose.
• Photo JPEG: An extremely popular file format because it can create highly compressed yet good-looking graphics files. You can choose grayscale or color as well as the amount of compression. • Photoshop (PSD): You can import files created or saved in the Photoshop format, along with multilayered Photoshop files. (For more information, see Compositing and Layering.) • PICS: A file format used on Mac OS computers for animation sequences. The format is no longer used, in favor of QuickTime.
• uLaw: File format developed by Sun that provides logarithmic encoding for a larger dynamic range than normal 8-bit samples. Approximately equivalent to 12-bit samples, but suffers from more noise than linear encodings. • WAVE: The format for storing sound in files developed jointly by Microsoft and IBM. For a complete list of all QuickTime-compatible file formats, see the documentation that came with QuickTime Pro or visit Apple’s QuickTime website at http://www.apple.com/quicktime.
If you want to export your movie in a format that is not natively supported by Final Cut Pro, such as a QuickTime movie file with a video codec used for the web, you should use the Export Using QuickTime Conversion command instead. If you are exporting with the same settings as your sequence, or if you want to convert to some other video format commonly supported by Final Cut Pro, you should use the Export QuickTime Movie command.
Using Share 104 The Share feature is an easy, “one-click” way to send your work to clients, friends, and other audiences without any advanced knowledge of transcoding, delivery file formats, or FTP protocols. From the Share window in Final Cut Pro, you can quickly create and deliver output media files in iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, MobileMe, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, AVCHD disc, and YouTube formats without having to open any additional applications.
For complete instructions on using each of the default Share output types, see Working with Share Output Types. Individual outputs in the Share window include the following controls. Output Type Filename field Action checkbox (present only for some output types) Add Output and Remove Output buttons Show Info button • Destination Folder pop-up menu: Use this pop-up menu to navigate to your chosen destination folder or open the mounted volume for the output media files.
• Filename field: Share automatically enters a filename in this field for the output media file. The first part of the filename is based on the Final Cut Pro Browser clip or sequence name. (In the case of multiple sources, this part of the filename will be [Source].) Share also automatically appends an output type identifier (such as “iPod” or “YouTube”) at the end of the filename. In most cases, you can manually edit any portion of the filename by double-clicking it.
These settings are accessed in an action drawer, which appears to the right of the Share window when you select the action checkbox for an output type. µ To open the action drawer for an output Select the action checkbox for the output you want to modify. The action drawer opens. Apple TV, iPhone, and iPod Action Drawers The action drawers for Apple TV, iPhone, and iPod are identical and consist of a single pop-up menu.
For more information on how to create an output media file suitable for iPhone playback and automatically add the file to the iTunes library, see Using Share to Create iPhone Output. • Add to Playlist pop-up menu: Use the Add to Playlist pop-up menu to add the output media file to a particular playlist in your iTunes media library. Note: The first time you use Share, this pop-up menu is empty.
For more information on how to create Blu-ray video and audio files and automatically burn them to a Blu-ray disc or an AVCHD disc, see Using Share to Create Blu-ray Output. • Output Device pop-up menu: Use this pop-up menu to choose the device to format to. The pop-up menu displays a list of your system’s suitable output devices, including optical drives and the computer’s hard disk. Choose Hard Drive (Blu-ray) to create a disk image (.
• Use Chapter Marker Text as Subtitles checkbox: Select this checkbox to have marker text appear as subtitles. This is particularly useful if you are using the “Combine sources into one source” and the “Add chapter markers at the beginning of each source” features in the Multiple Sources dialog. This allows you to line up a series of clips or scenes and identify each item with a marker text subtitle. For more information, see About the Multiple Sources Dialog.
For more information on how to create MPEG-2 (.m2v) video and Dolby Digital Professional (.ac3) audio files and automatically burn them to a standard definition DVD disc, see Using Share to Create DVD Output. • Output Device pop-up menu: Use this pop-up menu to choose the device to format to. The pop-up menu displays a list of your system’s suitable output devices, including optical drives and the computer’s hard disk. Choose Hard Drive to create a disk image (.
MobileMe Action Drawer Use this drawer to enter information about movies you want to publish to a MobileMe Gallery on the web. For more information on how to create video files suitable for viewing in a MobileMe Gallery and automatically upload the files to a MobileMe account, see Using Share to Create MobileMe Output. When you choose the MobileMe output type, the Share feature creates three output media files for each source media file: Mobile, Medium, and Large.
• “Viewable by” pop-up menu: Use this pop-up menu to control viewing access to the the movie you are publishing. • Everyone: Choose this option to make the movie freely available on the web. • Only me: Choose this option to limit access to only those who know your MobileMe member name and password. • Edit Names and Passwords: Choose this option to open the Names and Passwords dialog, in which you create names and passwords to restrict viewing of your published movies.
Important: You must complete all fields for successful uploading via Share. • Username field: Use this field to enter a YouTube user name. • Password field: Use this field to enter a YouTube password. • Title field: Use this field to enter the name of the movie you are publishing. • Description field: Use this field to enter a description of the movie you are publishing. • Tags field: Use this field to enter keywords that describe your movie.
For more information on how to create a QuickTime movie using the H.264 codec set to very high quality, original frame size, and a low data rate and automatically open the file with another application, such as QuickTime Player, see Using Share to Create QuickTime H.264 Output. This movie would be suitable for playback on a desktop computer. • Open With pop-up menu: Use this pop-up menu to either confirm or choose the application that will open the output media file.
The Share window opens. 3 Use the Destination Folder pop-up menu or the Choose button to navigate to your chosen destination folder for the output media file. 4 Choose an output type in the Output Type pop-up menu. 5 Confirm the output filename in the Filename field. You can double-click the filename to edit it. 6 Optionally, select the action checkbox for the output to activate any post-transcoding actions. The action drawer opens.
• Media between a clip’s or a sequence’s In and Out points Share always respects any In and Out points. For information about group selections, see Types of Group Selections. Using Share with Chapter Markers Share supports chapter markers for all output formats and devices. You can add chapter markers to sequences and clips in Final Cut Pro and all output media files will include the corresponding chapter markers.
The Share window opens with a single output representing the group selection you made in step 1. 4 Use the Destination Folder pop-up menu or the Choose button to navigate to your chosen destination folder for the output media files. 5 Choose an output type for the group of output media files in the Output Type pop-up menu. For more information, see Working with Share Output Types. 6 Optionally, use the Filename Template to edit the formula for the names of the output media files.
• A group of sequences and/or Browser clips as a single source • One or more bins in the Browser, each containing any combination of multiple clips or sequences Group selections have the following restrictions: • If a group selection has items with varying frame sizes, the frame size of the first item in the selection is applied to all items in the group.
• Source Number: Chapter marker names are Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, and so on. • Chapter Number: Chapter marker names are Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, and so on. If the individual sources contain previously entered chapter markers, they are inserted between the automatically generated chapter markers in the following fashion: Chapter 1, , , Chapter 4, , Chapter 6, and so on.
The Share window opens with a single output representing the group selection you made in step 1. 6 Use the Destination Folder pop-up menu or the Choose button to navigate to your chosen destination folder for the output media files. 7 Choose an output type in the Output Type pop-up menu. 8 Confirm the output filename in the Filename field. Optionally, you can double-click the filename to edit it. 9 Optionally, click the Show Info button to see detailed information about the output media file.
2 Use the Output Type pop-up menu in the output you just created to assign a specific output type. µ To remove an output from the Share window In the Share window, click the Remove Output (–) button on the right side of the output you want to remove. Remove button Using Share with Compressor Compressor, the professional transcoding application included in Final Cut Studio, provides high performance and maximum control over the media conversion and encoding workflows.
There are two ways you can use the Share feature with Compressor: • Use the Send to Compressor feature to open the Share export session in Compressor. • Use the Other output type to access preexisting Compressor settings. Sending Outputs to Compressor You can tap the advanced transcoding features in Compressor by sending one or more Share outputs to Compressor. Clicking the Send to Compressor button opens a batch in Compressor based on all the current Share window outputs (and their applied settings).
See Types of Group Selections for more information on the possible types of selections. 2 Choose File > Share. The Share window opens. 3 Use the Destination Folder pop-up menu or the Choose button to navigate to your chosen destination folder for the output media files. 4 In the Output Type pop-up menu, choose Apple TV. 5 Confirm the output filename in the Filename field. You can double-click the filename to edit it.
Use the Add to Playlist pop-up menu to add the output media file to a particular playlist in your iTunes media library. Note: The first time you use Share, this pop-up menu is empty. To populate this menu with playlists from your iTunes library, choose Refresh from the Add to Playlist pop-up menu. 7 Do one of the following: • Click Export. The Transcoding Progress window appears and the output media file is processed. Click the Cancel button in this window if you want to stop the export process.
The action drawer opens. If you do not select the Create Blu-ray Disc checkbox, Share writes the output media files to the specified destination without creating a disc image. 7 Optionally, enter information in the action drawer. For more information about these items, see Blu-ray Action Drawer. 8 Do one of the following: • Click Export. The Transcoding Progress window appears and the output media file is processed.
Using Share to Burn Dual-Layer Discs When you burn a disc using Share, the data rate in the output media file is calculated automatically based on the capacity of the disc media, the type of disc format (DVD or Blu-ray Disc), and the duration of the source media file. • If you initiate a Share export session before inserting blank DVD or Blu-ray Disc media into your disc-burning device, the Share feature assumes single-layer media and adjusts the data rate accordingly.
4 In the Output Type pop-up menu, choose DVD. 5 Confirm the output filename in the Filename field. You can double-click the filename to edit it. 6 Optionally, you can select the Create DVD checkbox to have Share prompt you to insert blank DVD media and then automatically burn the program to the DVD media. The action drawer opens. If you do not select the Create DVD checkbox, Share writes the output media files to the specified destination without creating a disc image.
8 Do one of the following: • Click Export. The Transcoding Progress window appears and the output media file is processed. Click the Cancel button in this window if you want to stop the export process • Click Send to Compressor. Compressor opens with a new batch containing the outputs from the Share window. For more information, see Sending Outputs to Compressor. Important: For information about using Share to burn dual-layer discs, see Using Share to Burn Dual-Layer Discs.
You can double-click the filename to edit it. 6 Optionally, you can select the Add to iTunes Library checkbox to have Share automatically add the output media file to an iTunes playlist. The action drawer opens. Use the Add to Playlist pop-up menu to add the output media file to a particular playlist in your iTunes media library. Note: The first time you use Share, this pop-up menu is empty. To populate this menu with playlists from your iTunes library, choose Refresh from the Add to Playlist pop-up menu.
The Share window opens. 3 Use the Destination Folder pop-up menu or the Choose button to navigate to your chosen destination folder for the output media files. 4 In the Output Type pop-up menu, choose iPod. 5 Confirm the output filename in the Filename field. You can double-click the filename to edit it. 6 Optionally, you can select the Add to iTunes Library checkbox to have Share automatically add the output media file to an iTunes playlist. The action drawer opens.
Note: The first time you use Share, this pop-up menu is empty. To populate this menu with playlists from your iTunes library, choose Refresh from the Add to Playlist pop-up menu. 7 Do one of the following: • Click Export. The Transcoding Progress window appears and the output media file is processed. Click the Cancel button in this window if you want to stop the export process. • Click Send to Compressor. Compressor opens with a new batch containing the outputs from the Share window.
Note: When you choose the MobileMe output type, the Share feature creates three output media files for each source media file: Mobile, Medium, and Large. If you publish to MobileMe, the MobileMe Gallery automatically plays the most appropriate version for any viewer’s device and connection speed.
Using Share to Create YouTube Output Use this output to create a video file suitable for viewing on YouTube and upload the file to a YouTube account. To publish an output media file on YouTube 1 In Final Cut Pro, select one or more Browser clips, sequences, or both. See Types of Group Selections for more information on the possible types of selections. 2 Choose File > Share. The Share window opens.
The action drawer opens. 7 To automatically upload the output media file to a YouTube account, enter the account information in the appropriate fields. For information about the fields in the YouTube Action drawer, see YouTube Action Drawer. Note: All fields are required in the YouTube Action drawer. 8 Do one of the following: • Click Export. The Transcoding Progress window appears and the output media file is processed. Click the Cancel button in this window if you want to stop the export process.
3 Use the Destination Folder pop-up menu or the Choose button to navigate to your chosen destination folder for the output media files. 4 In the Output Type pop-up menu, choose Apple ProRes 422. 5 Confirm the output filename in the Filename field. You can double-click the filename to edit it. 6 Optionally, you can select the Open with QuickTime Player checkbox to have Share automatically open the output media file in QuickTime Player when the export session is complete. The action drawer opens.
7 Optionally, use the “Open with” pop-up menu to either confirm QuickTime Player or choose a different application to open the output media file. 8 Do one of the following: • Click Export. The Transcoding Progress window appears and the output media file is processed. Click the Cancel button in this window if you want to stop the export process. • Click Send to Compressor. Compressor opens with a new batch containing the outputs from the Share window. For more information, see Sending Outputs to Compressor.
4 In the Output Type pop-up menu, choose Apple ProRes with Alpha. 5 Confirm the output filename in the Filename field. You can double-click the filename to edit it. 6 Optionally, you can select the Open with QuickTime Player checkbox to have Share automatically open the output media file in QuickTime Player when the export session is complete. The action drawer opens. QuickTime Player is the default application.
8 Do one of the following: • Click Export. The Transcoding Progress window appears and the output media file is processed. Click the Cancel button in this window if you want to stop the export process. • Click Send to Compressor. Compressor opens with a new batch containing the outputs from the Share window. For more information, see Sending Outputs to Compressor. Using Share to Create QuickTime H.264 Output Use this output to create a QuickTime movie using the H.
You can double-click the filename to edit it. 6 Optionally, you can select the Open with QuickTime Player checkbox to have Share automatically open the output media file in QuickTime Player when the export session is complete. The action drawer opens. QuickTime Player is the default application. 7 Optionally, use the “Open with” pop-up menu to either confirm QuickTime Player or choose a different application to open the output media file. 8 Do one of the following: • Click Export.
See Types of Group Selections for more information on the possible types of selections. 2 Choose File > Share. The Share window opens. 3 Use the Destination Folder pop-up menu or the Choose button to navigate to your chosen destination folder for the output media files. 4 In the Output Type pop-up menu, choose Other. The Settings table opens, containing both Apple settings and any available custom settings. 5 Do either of the following: • Select a setting or settings group from the Settings table.
Using Batch Monitor with Share The Batch Monitor application lets you view or adjust the status of any Share export session after it has been submitted for processing. For more information about Batch Monitor, see the Batch Monitor User Manual, available in Batch Monitor Help or Compressor Help.
Exporting QuickTime Movies 105 You can export your sequence to a QuickTime movie using any of the available sequence presets. Markers can also be included for use in other applications such as DVD Studio Pro and Soundtrack Pro. This chapter covers the following: • About the Export QuickTime Movie Command (p. 1775) • Choosing the Type of QuickTime Movie to Export (p. 1776) • Exporting a QuickTime Movie File (p. 1777) • Exporting QuickTime Movies with Markers (p.
Choosing the Type of QuickTime Movie to Export You can create two kinds of QuickTime movies with the Export QuickTime Movie command—a self-contained movie or a reference movie. • Self-contained movie: A self-contained movie contains the video and audio media—all of the data used to create your movie is within a single file. This single file can be safely and easily copied to another computer without worrying that you need other files to play it back.
Exporting a Self-Contained Movie Without Recompressing the Media If you choose to export a self-contained movie, you have the option to not recompress the media in your clip or sequence. If you deselect the Recompress All Frames option and choose Current Settings from the Setting pop-up menu, Final Cut Pro simply copies frames from existing media files into the new file with no recompression. This is a convenient way to export your media without subjecting it to recompression artifacts.
3 Click the Render Control tab and select the appropriate rendering options for the output quality you want. For more information on these settings, see Render Control Tab. 4 Click OK to apply the changes you made to the sequence settings. 5 In the Timeline, do one of the following: • Set In and Out points to define which portion of your sequence you want export. • Clear In and Out points to export the entire sequence. 6 Choose File > Export > QuickTime Movie.
9 Choose Audio and Video, Audio Only, or Video Only from the Include pop-up menu. Important: An audio track in a QuickTime movie file takes up disk space even if it is empty. If your QuickTime movie doesn’t need an audio track, choose Video Only. All audio that requires rendering is automatically rendered with a render quality of High, regardless of the render quality setting.
Exporting QuickTime Movies with Markers Final Cut Pro can export the following marker types for use in other Final Cut Studio applications: • Chapter markers: Chapter markers allow easy access to index points throughout a DVD, QuickTime movie, or podcast. QuickTime Player can interpret any text track containing time stamps as a chapter track.
• All Markers: The All Markers option exports each type of marker in your clip or sequence to a separate QuickTime text track. Final Cut Studio applications can then use the markers they need.
Exporting Using QuickTime Conversion 106 When you need to export video, audio, or still-image files for use in other applications, you can use the Export Using QuickTime Conversion command to export file formats supported by QuickTime. This chapter covers the following: • About the Export Using QuickTime Conversion Command (p. 1783) • Types of File Formats You Can Export with QuickTime (p. 1784) • About Color Space Conversion (p. 1785) • Exporting a QuickTime Movie File for Web Distribution (p.
Types of File Formats You Can Export with QuickTime With the Export Using QuickTime Conversion command, you can choose to export almost any file format that QuickTime supports, along with a wide variety of codecs and custom parameters that each format supports. Because there are so many file formats and specific settings, this chapter does not provide an exhaustive description of every file format and its associated settings.
• uLaw: This is an audio format developed for Sun computers. • System 7 Sound: This is a sound format used on older Mac computers. About Color Space Conversion When you use the Export Using QuickTime Conversion command, super-white values in Y′CBCR footage are clipped. To avoid clipping, you can use the Export QuickTime Movie command instead. For more information, see Determining Processing Color Space During QuickTime Movie Export.
The preset compression settings use the H.264 codec and target a range of download and streaming speeds. Choose a preset compression setting... ...or choose custom video and audio settings by clicking here. 8 To customize video, audio, and Internet streaming settings, click Options. Click here to include video in your exported QuickTime file. Click here to include audio in your exported QuickTime file. Click here if your program is to be streamed on the Internet.
A dialog shows you the progress of the export. To cancel your export, press Esc or click Cancel. Note: Whenever you use the Export Using QuickTime Conversion command, all audio that requires rendering is automatically rendered with a render quality of High, regardless of the render quality setting.
Standard Video Compression Settings The Standard Video Compression Settings dialog appears when you click Settings in the Video area of the Movie Settings dialog. Depending on the codec you choose from the Compression Type pop-up menu, various options may be available, as explained below. Standard Video Compression Setting Dialog • Compression Type: Select a codec from this pop-up menu to compress the video.
• Key Frames: Key frames are available if your selected codec uses temporal compression. Most video frames in close proximity have a high percentage of visual redundancy. Compression key frames reduce data rate by only storing complete images at regular intervals or when abrupt visual shifts occur. The remaining frames only store information about the change, or delta, between themselves and the key frame.
• Restrict to N kbits/sec: When available, you can use this field to set the number of kilobytes per second (KB/sec.) required to deliver your media file. This setting is useful if you have a specific bit rate (such as a DSL connection) or amount of space (on a DVD or CD ROM). You should choose a data rate that is appropriate for your delivery medium and set it as high as possible within your data limitations.
Filter Settings These options are available when you click Filter in the Video area of the Movie Settings dialog. QuickTime filters apply to your entire exported clip or sequence. This is different from applying a filter within Final Cut Pro, where a filter is applied only to selected clips or parts of a clip. Click a disclosure triangle to see more filters. Adjust settings for the filter in this area. Select a filter in this list.
Depending on the option you choose, width and height fields may also appear. The following options are available in the Dimensions pop-up menu: • Current: The current dimensions of your clip or sequence in the Viewer or Canvas, respectively. You should avoid this option in most cases because it’s difficult to set precise dimensions by scaling the Viewer or Canvas window. This option disables the “Preserve aspect ratio using” pop-up menu.
Important: These options do not take into account the effect of pixel aspect ratio when determining what aspect ratio to preserve. For example, if you are exporting a DVCPRO HD sequence (960 x 720), these options preserve the aspect ratio of the pixel dimensions, which is 4:3 (960720), not 16:9 as you would expect. For best results, always nest sequences with nonsquare pixels into a sequence format with square pixels.
• Fit within dimensions: Changes the shortest dimension of the exported movie (usually the height) so that the source sequence or clip fits within the exported movie dimensions when scaled. For example, if your sequence dimensions are 1280 x 720 (16:9) and the exported movie dimensions are 320 x 240 (4:3), the exported movie dimensions are changed to 320 x 180 (16:9) and the exported sequence is scaled to these dimensions.
Important: If there is no audio in your clip or sequence, deselect the Sound checkbox in the Movie Settings dialog. Otherwise, blank audio tracks are created in your QuickTime movie file, which require additional space. • Format: To reduce file size and download bandwidth, choose a codec to compress the audio tracks. If you’re outputting full-resolution audio, choose Linear PCM. • Channels: Select Mono, Stereo (L R), or 2 Discrete Channels.
• Linear PCM Settings: These options are only available when you choose Linear PCM from the Format pop-up menu. • Sample size: Choose a bit depth for your audio samples. For most situations, 16-bit audio is the minimum bit depth you should choose, but sometimes 8-bit audio is useful when creating small, low-quality movies for the web. If you choose 32-bit, you have the option of using integer or floating-point values. You can also choose 64-bit, but only if the Floating Point checkbox is selected.
If you choose Hinted Streaming, click Settings to specify additional export settings. • Make Movie Self-Contained: Select this checkbox to export a QuickTime movie with all video, audio, and render material contained in one file. Leave this checkbox unselected to export a reference movie, which is a small movie that contains pointers to audio and render files located elsewhere. For more information, see Choosing the Type of QuickTime Movie to Export.
4 In the Properties window, select the main movie track (not the video or sound tracks). 5 Click Presentation, then choose an aperture mode from the “Conform aperture to” popup menu. Classic Aperture Mode In this mode, content appears as it did in QuickTime 7 and earlier. The video track dimensions are respected. For example, a DV NTSC track appears as 720 x 480.
In this mode, the video track is cropped to the Clean aperture mode and scaled according to the track’s pixel aspect ratio. For example, a 4:3 DV NTSC track appears as 640 x 480; a 16:9 DV NTSC track appears as 853 x 480. Clean: pixel aspect ratio correction applied and edges cropped Production Aperture Mode Content may appear differently than in QuickTime 7. The video track is not cropped to the Clean aperture mode, but it is scaled according to the pixel aspect ratio.
Encoded Pixels Aperture Mode Content typically appears the same as in Classic aperture mode. The video track is not cropped to the Clean aperture mode and is not scaled according to the pixel aspect ratio. The encoded dimensions of the image description are displayed. This option is typically used to preview rendering (where you want all pixels) in a professional application. A DV NTSC (4:3 or 16:9) track appears as 720 x 480.
6 To customize settings, click Options. • DV Format: Choose a DV format, such as DVCPRO 50, here. • Video Format: Choose the video standard, scan mode, and aspect ratio for the exported file. • Audio Format: Choose your options. • Locked: Conforms the audio tracks to the “locked audio” standard, in which the audio and video sample clocks are synchronized. • Rate: Choose a sample rate for the exported file from this pop-up menu. DVCPRO and DVCPRO 50 always use locked audio with a sample rate of 48 kHz.
Each setting in this list is a predefined group of codecs and settings. If your needs are more specific, skip ahead to step 6. 6 To customize settings, click Options. 7 Select the Video and Sound checkboxes to include both video and audio in your exported file. To include video in the exported file, make sure this is selected. Click here to adjust the compression settings used for the video track. Click here to adjust the compression settings used for the audio track.
The video compression settings here are similar to the QuickTime movie file compression settings, although fewer codecs are supported. For more details, see Exporting QuickTime Movies. 9 Click Settings in the Audio area to adjust the compression settings used for the audio tracks. The audio compression settings here are similar to the QuickTime movie sound settings, although different codecs and settings are supported. 10 When you’re ready to export, click Save.
Exporting Sequences for DVD 107 Making a DVD of your movie is a great way to show and distribute it. Video DVDs contain high-quality media and can be played in most set-top DVD players, as well as most computers with DVD playback capability. This chapter covers the following: • The DVD Creation Process (p. 1805) • Adding Chapter and Compression Markers to Your Sequence (p. 1810) • About DVD Authoring Applications (p. 1813) • Exporting a QuickTime Movie for DVD Use (p.
Stage 2: Encoding Your Video and Audio to DVD-Video Compliant Formats Video DVDs require that all video and audio conform to DVD MPEG-2 specifications. Both iDVD and DVD Studio Pro automatically convert any media files that are not compliant. This means that you can export a standard QuickTime movie from Final Cut Pro and import it into your DVD authoring application, and all encoding and conversions are handled for you automatically.
• Add compression and chapter markers in Final Cut Pro to help control the encoding quality and make creating chapter selection menus easier. MPEG encoders, such as Compressor, can use these markers to customize the MPEG encoding process, directing the encoder to concentrate on those areas of the video that are the hardest to encode. See About MPEG-2 Video Compression and Adding Chapter and Compression Markers to Your Sequence for more information.
Starting with DVCPRO HD or Uncompressed Sources Because the DVCPRO HD format and uncompressed HD video result in large file sizes, files in these formats must be further compressed before you store them on a DVD. DVD Studio Pro supports two formats for use in HD projects: HD MPEG-2 and H.264.
The ability of Final Cut Pro to natively edit HDV sources makes this workflow an attractive way to create DVD projects using HD assets. About MPEG-2 Video Compression MPEG-2 is an internationally accepted compression standard developed by the Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG). MPEG-2 allows you to create broadcast-quality video files and was designed to support high-resolution, high-bit-rate video.
Important: When you create DVDs, your audio must have either a 48 kHz or 96 kHz sample rate. If you use the 44.1 kHz sample rate found on standard audio CDs, DVD Studio Pro and iDVD will convert your audio to the correct sample rate. Additionally, DVDs do not support MP3-encoded audio. DVD Studio Pro and iDVD will convert any MP3 audio to DVD-compliant uncompressed audio.
• Edit/Cut markers: Also known as automatic compression markers—these markers are automatically generated by Final Cut Pro at each cut or transition point in a sequence. During compression, Compressor uses these markers to generate MPEG I-frames at these points, improving compression quality. When you export a QuickTime movie, you have an option to export various kinds of markers, including compression and chapter markers.
More About Compression and Edit/Cut Markers Compression markers identify areas of abrupt visual changes in video, such as a cut from a dark room to a bright, grassy plain. There are two kinds of compression markers: • Compression markers: Also known as manual compression markers. These are markers you can manually add to a sequence to ensure a particular section of video is encoded using I-frames where you think they are necessary. • Edit/cut markers: Also known as automatic compression markers.
About DVD Authoring Applications Whether you intend to use iDVD or DVD Studio Pro will affect how you export your movies from Final Cut Pro. When you are using DVD Studio Pro, Compressor can become an important part of the process. Using iDVD iDVD only imports standard QuickTime movies as video sources. This means that if you intend to use iDVD as your DVD authoring application, you only need to export a QuickTime movie from Final Cut Pro.
In most cases, you will leave the Setting pop-up menu at Current Settings and include both audio and video. If you have created any markers, choose DVD Studio Pro Markers from the Markers pop-up menu. iDVD and DVD Studio Pro can use either self-contained or reference movies, allowing you to decide whether to make the movie self-contained based on other requirements (disk space and so on). 3 When you’re ready, click Save.
Using Compressor with Final Cut Pro 108 Compressor is a high-quality MPEG and QuickTime video encoder you can use to create a variety of formats for DVD or web distribution. This chapter covers the following: • About Compressor (p. 1815) • The Two Ways to Use Compressor with Final Cut Pro (p. 1816) • Using Compressor as a Standalone Application (p. 1817) • Sending from Final Cut Pro to Compressor (p. 1819) • About Color Space Conversion in Compressor (p.
Previewing Video Output Compressor includes a Preview window with a split screen so you can compare your source video with the result of the effects and filters you apply to the job. The Preview window also contains a timeline that allows you to set In and Out points for encoding. You can also use the timeline to view and edit chapter, compression, and edit/cut markers.
Using Compressor as a Standalone Application You can use Compressor as a standalone encoding application to submit QuickTime movie files at any time, regardless of whether Final Cut Pro is opened. When Should You Use Compressor as a Standalone Application? If you want to continue using Final Cut Pro while Compressor is encoding, you can export your Final Cut Pro clips and sequences to QuickTime movies and then submit them to Compressor.
To open Compressor 1 In the Finder, choose Go > Applications. The frontmost Finder window displays the Applications folder on your computer. 2 Navigate to the Compressor application in the Applications folder, then double-click the Compressor icon. To submit a QuickTime movie to Compressor for encoding 1 Choose Job > New Job With File (or press Command-I). 2 Select a media file, then click Open. An encoding job for the selected media file appears in the Batch window.
Sending from Final Cut Pro to Compressor You can export a Browser clip or sequence directly from Final Cut Pro to Compressor by using the Send to Compressor command. Exporting media from Final Cut Pro to Compressor works nearly the same as using Compressor as a standalone application. The main difference is that Final Cut Pro renders media directly to Compressor during the encoding process, so you don’t need to create an intermediate QuickTime movie.
About Color Space Conversion in Compressor When you use the Send to Compressor command, super-white values in Y′CBCR footage are preserved. Also, standard definition and high definition footage are processed in their appropriate color spaces (ITU-R BT.601 and ITU-R BT.709, respectively).
Exporting Still Images and Image Sequences 109 At many points during your project, you may need to export still images of your video for graphics, posters, the press, email, or the web. This chapter covers the following: • Determining the Image Format for Still-Image Export (p. 1821) • Exporting a Single Still Image (p. 1822) • Exporting Image Sequences (p. 1823) Determining the Image Format for Still-Image Export Final Cut Pro uses the built-in QuickTime technology in Mac OS X to export still images.
Exporting a Single Still Image Exporting a still image from Final Cut Pro is easy. First you create the still image, and then you export it to the graphics file format you need. To export a still image 1 In the Canvas or Viewer, position the playhead at the frame you want to export. Move the playhead to the frame you want to export. 2 Choose File > Export > Using QuickTime Conversion. 3 Choose a location and enter a name for the file. 4 Choose Still Image from the Format pop-up menu.
Custom settings allow you to choose any graphics file format supported by QuickTime. You can also make particular adjustments to the compression method or color depth. In most cases, the default values are fine, but if you need particular settings, you can adjust the settings here. Each graphics file format has a unique set of adjustable parameters. Choose a format. This setting is not relevant when exporting still images. Click here to set additional options, if available.
6 Choose a setting from the Use pop-up menu. Choose an export setting from the pop-up menu. If none of the options you need are listed in the Use pop-up menu, see step 7. 7 To select custom settings, click Options. 8 In the Export Image Sequence Settings dialog, choose your settings, then click OK. Choose a format type from this pop-up menu. Enter a frame rate, or choose an option from the pop-up menu. Click here to set additional options, if available.
Each file of the image sequence is named in the form of “Filename 001.ext,” where “Filename” is the name you gave, the number (001) is the number of the frame, and “.ext” is the filename extension indicating the format. A file is saved for each frame of video.
Batch Exporting Clips and Sequences 110 You can set up Final Cut Pro to export multiple clips and sequences at one time using the Batch Export command. This chapter covers the following: • Overview of the Batch Exporting Process (p. 1827) • Selecting Items in the Browser to Batch Export (p. 1827) • Selecting Batch Export Settings (p. 1829) • Doing a Batch Export (p. 1834) • Opening Batch Exported Files in the Viewer (p. 1835) • Redoing Batch Exports (p.
To place clips, sequences, and bins in the Export Queue 1 In the Browser, select clips, bins, and sequences you want to export. You can select items from more than one open project. Select the items you want to export. 2 Choose File > Batch Export. The Export Queue window appears with the selected items. A bin named Batch N is automatically created with your selections, where N is the bin’s number. A bin is automatically created with the selected items. Items waiting to be exported have a Queued status.
3 To change the name of a bin in the Export Queue, click the bin’s name once to select it, wait a moment, then click the name a second time. Type a new name. If you want, enter a new name for the bin. 4 To create a new bin, choose File > New > Bin (or press Command-B). Each bin in the Export Queue has its own export settings. You may want to reorganize items into different bins to keep items with the same settings in the same bin.
You can specify export settings for a bin by selecting a bin and clicking the Settings button or by selecting options in individual columns in the Export Queue window. • To use the Settings button: See Choosing Export Settings with the Settings Button. This is convenient because you can select all settings from one main window. • To choose settings from columns in the Export Queue window: See Selecting Batch Export Settings from Columns. This is useful when you want to change just a few settings.
3 Choose a QuickTime-compatible file format from the Format pop-up menu. Choose a format here. These are the same file format choices available when using the Export Using QuickTime Conversion command and the Export QuickTime Movie command. Tip: If you choose the QuickTime Movie file format, the settings available are the same as when you use the Export QuickTime Movie command.
6 Click Set Naming Options, choose the type of file extensions you want, then click OK. Select or deselect checkboxes to specify file extensions for the exported files. To add a custom extension, enter it here. • Strip Existing Extension: Specifies whether an existing extension is removed from the base filename when the export filename is created. This is useful if you’re adding your own extension. • Add Custom Extension: Type a custom extension to be applied to the filename.
9 Select the Use Item In/Out checkbox to export only the media between the current In and Out points. If this is not selected, all of the media in the clip or the entire sequence is exported. 10 Click OK. After you specify your settings, you’re ready to export. For more information, see Doing a Batch Export. Selecting Batch Export Settings from Columns The columns in the Export Queue window display details about each bin. You can change export settings directly from these columns.
• Settings: Displays the preset settings chosen for this export bin from the Settings pop-up menu in the Batch Export window. You can Control-click to choose preset settings here and choose options from the shortcut menu. • Use In/Out: Make sure there is a checkmark in this column to export the sequence or clip using the current In and Out points. If there is no checkmark in this column, all of the media in the clip or the entire sequence is exported.
If you want to export all items in the Export Queue, deselect all items. Select the bin you want to export. Then click Export. 2 Click Export. A dialog shows you the progress of the export. To cancel your export, press Esc or click Cancel. To reexport these items, see Redoing Batch Exports. Once items have been exported, the message in the Status column for each exported item changes to Done. To view exported items, see Opening Batch Exported Files in the Viewer.
The status of the selected item must be Done. Select an item to view. Then click View Exported. Each item appears in a separate Viewer window. To add batch exported items to your project 1 In the Export Queue window, select an item that has been successfully batch exported, then click View Exported. The item appears in a new Viewer window. 2 Drag the item from the new Viewer window to the Browser. A clip connected to the batch exported media file is created in the Browser.
µ To change the status of items in the Export Queue Control-click in the Status column of the item you want to change, then choose a status from the shortcut menu. About Color Space Conversion During Batch Exporting Color space conversion may occur when you use the Batch Export window, depending on which export option you choose.
Choosing Settings and Preferences 111 Final Cut Pro has numerous settings and preferences that allow you to customize your system for particular video formats and editing styles. This chapter covers the following: • Changing User Preferences (p. 1839) • Changing System Settings (p. 1851) Changing User Preferences A preference modifies how a particular Final Cut Pro feature behaves.
The User Preferences window is divided into several tabs. Note: The Timeline Options, Render Control, and Audio Outputs tabs contain the default preferences used when you create new sequences. • General tab: Settings in this tab control a variety of features, such as warning dialogs during capture, the number of Undo levels allowed, and the Autosave and Auto Render features. • Editing tab: This tab contains preferences useful while editing, such as trimming and audio keyframing controls.
General Tab This tab contains fundamental preferences relating to application launch, creation of new projects and sequences, and automatically scheduled events such as Autosave and Auto Render. The General tab is open by default. About Audio Playback Quality Sample rate conversion occurs when you use clips with audio sample rates that differ from the sample rate in your sequence’s settings. If the sample rate of your media files matches the sample rate of the sequence, this pop-up menu has no effect.
Real-Time Audio and Video Options • Real-time Audio Mixing: Enter a number in this field to specify how many audio tracks can be mixed in real time. The default is 8 tracks, and the maximum is 99. The maximum number of tracks that can be mixed without having to be rendered is affected by your computer’s processing capabilities, the number and types of filters used in your sequence, the data transfer rate of your hard disk, and the amount of memory available to Final Cut Pro.
Interface Options • Show Tooltips: Select this option to automatically display descriptions of interface elements and their corresponding keyboard shortcuts, called tooltips. Tooltips appear in small yellow boxes when you move the pointer over a control and pause briefly (without clicking the control). When you move the pointer away from the control, the tooltip disappears.
• Report dropped frames during playback: If you select this option, a message appears if any frames are dropped during playback from the Viewer, Canvas, and Timeline, or when outputting using Edit to Tape or Print to Video. When Final Cut Pro drops frames, it is usually because there is a hardware or setup problem, such as scratch disks that are too slow compared to the media data rate. For information on what you can do if Final Cut Pro reports dropped frames, see Problems During Playback.
For more information, see Rendering and Video Processing Settings. Editing Tab The preferences in this tab affect editing behaviors in Final Cut Pro. Default Timing Options • Still/Freeze Duration: This value determines the duration for imported graphics and freeze frames you create in Final Cut Pro (when you choose Modify > Make Freeze Frame in the Canvas or Viewer). The default duration is 10 seconds.
For more information, see Viewer Basics. The setting is also applicable in the Trim Edit window; see Trimming Clips Using the Trim Edit Window. Dupe Detection Options • Handle Size: This preference adds frames to the beginning and end of the clip regions that are used for comparison, to determine whether or not to display duplicate frames indicators.
When the handle size setting is set to ten frames, five additional frames on either side of the duplicate frames are displayed. Ten duplicate frames Five additional frames beyond the duplicate frames are shown here... ...and here. • Threshold: This allows you to set a minimum number of frames that must be duplicated before a duplicate frames indicator appears. By default, this is set to 0 so that all instances of duplicated frames are indicated.
The example below shows a sequence that contains two instances of clip A, where ten of the frames from Clip A are used twice. The same ten frames from the same media file are used here... ...and here. When the handle threshold is less than or equal to ten, the duplicate frames are displayed. When handle threshold is greater than ten, the duplicate frames are not indicated.
Trim Edit Window Options • Dynamic Trimming: Select Dynamic Trimming to allow edit points in the Trim Edit window to automatically follow the position of the playhead. For more information, see Timeline Basics. The setting is also applicable for trimming; see Learning About Trimming Clips. • Trim with Sequence Audio: When this option is selected, you hear all sequence audio tracks while using the J, K, and L keys on either side of the Trim Edit window.
• Peaks Only: Records only a minimum number of keyframes necessary to approximate the levels you recorded when moving a channel strip’s fader or panning slider. Keyframes recorded using the Peaks Only option reflect only the highest and lowest levels that were recorded. This is primarily useful when you want to record a minimum number of keyframes to edit later in the Timeline or Viewer.
Render Control Tab This tab is used to set default render options for new sequences. You can choose the default frame rate and resolution settings used when you render items in new sequences, and decide what kinds of effects are displayed (such as filters and speed settings). Once a sequence is created, you can change its render control options by choosing Sequence > Settings and clicking the Render Control tab. For more information, see Rendering and Video Processing Settings.
The System Settings window is divided into several tabs: • Scratch Disks tab: For details, see Scratch Disks Tab. • Search Folders tab: For details, see Search Folders Tab. • Memory & Cache tab: For details, see Memory & Cache Tab. • Playback Control tab: For details, see Playback Control Tab. • External Editors tab: For details, see External Editors Tab. • Effect Handling tab: For details, see Effect Handling Tab.
The specified disk is listed next to the Set button, along with the amount of available disk space. About Waveform Cache Files A waveform cache file contains a waveform overview for audio in your project. About Thumbnail Cache Files Thumbnail cache files store small representative images of your clips that appear in the Browser and Timeline. The amount of space that the cache files use is determined by the Thumbnail Cache setting in the Memory & Cache tab of the System Settings window.
2 Do one of the following: • Click the last Set button to add a new search folder. • Click Set next to an existing search folder to replace it. The Choose a Folder dialog appears. 3 Navigate to the search folder you want to use in the Choose a Folder dialog, then click Choose. 4 Click OK. The current list of search folders appears in the Search Folders pop-up menu in the Reconnect Files dialog. For more information, see Reconnecting Clips and Offline Media.
Memory Usage Settings Use these fields to decide how much of the RAM in your computer is available for Final Cut Pro to use. Your computer’s available RAM is defined as the amount of RAM not used by Mac OS X and other currently open applications. By limiting the amount of RAM Final Cut Pro uses, you can maintain the performance of Final Cut Pro by preventing Mac OS X from using virtual memory unnecessarily. This is especially important when multiple applications are open at the same time.
Playback Control Tab Playback Control settings affect all sequences and projects currently open. These settings also appear in the RT pop-up menu in the Timeline. Using these settings, you can balance visual playback quality and maximize the available effects that can be played back in real time. For more information, see Using RT Extreme. External Editors Tab Final Cut Pro allows you to directly open clips’ media files in other applications.
In some cases, a clip’s Creator property determines what application will open it, such as Motion clips. However, for generic media types such as audio and video, you can assign any application you want. For example, you could set Peak DV as your audio file editor so you could quickly make permanent changes directly to the source audio files on disk (such as using a noise reduction filter available in that application to clean up a particularly noisy clip).
Audio/Video Settings and Easy Setups 112 Audio/Video settings allow you to customize your Final Cut Pro system to work with particular video formats and equipment. You can also choose Easy Setups to quickly set up your system with a single click. This chapter covers the following: • The Audio/Video Settings Window (p. 1859) • Choosing Easy Setups (p. 1861) • Changing Audio/Video Presets (p. 1863) • Creating and Modifying Easy Setups (p. 1868) • Installing and Restoring Easy Setups (p.
There are several kinds of presets, each accessible from the corresponding tab in the Audio/Video Settings window: • Capture presets: These determine the dimensions, frame rate, codec, and interfaces used when capturing media files to disk. This group of settings is used during capture and usually matches the format of your source tapes. Different capture presets allow you to quickly set up Final Cut Pro to capture a wide range of video formats. For details, see Capture Settings and Presets.
Viewing a Summary of the Current Presets The Summary tab of the Audio/Video Settings window shows the currently selected capture, sequence, and device control presets, as well as settings in the A/V Devices tab. You can check this tab to see how your editing system is currently set up, make quick changes to your editing system configuration by choosing a different preset, or create an Easy Setup containing a custom combination of presets.
You choose Easy Setups from the Use pop-up menu in the Easy Setup dialog. The list of options in the Use pop-up menu can be long because of the large number of Easy Setups included with Final Cut Pro. You can reduce the number of Easy Setups displayed in this pop-up menu by using the Format and Rate pop-up menus. Choose a format and a frame rate to reduce the number of Easy Setups shown in the Use pop-up menu.
Note: If your VTR is not currently connected, you may see a warning because Final Cut Pro does not detect the external video or audio device that the A/V device settings expect. If you see this warning, make sure your device is connected and turned on, then click Check Again. If you want to troubleshoot the connection to the device later, you can ignore the warning by clicking Continue. For more information about Easy Setups, see Creating and Modifying Easy Setups.
If you’re unsure which preset to choose, you can view a preset’s settings. For more information, see Viewing Settings in a Preset. If none of the existing presets matches your needs, you can create a custom preset. For more information, see Creating a New Preset. When you choose a different preset, the current Easy Setup changes to Custom Setup in the Use pop-up menu.
If you click in the far left column, you may change the current preset. A checkmark appears next to the current preset. Summary of settings for the highlighted preset This icon indicates a preset is locked. Select the preset whose settings you want to view. Note: The presets you see may differ from those shown here. A lock icon to the right of a preset indicates that it cannot be edited or deleted. These are presets that came with Final Cut Pro.
3 Click a preset you want to use as a starting point for creating a new preset, then click Duplicate. Click the preset you want to duplicate so it’s highlighted. Then click Duplicate. 4 In the Preset Editor window, enter a name and description for the new preset, select the settings you need, then click OK. The information you enter here becomes the summary.
Editing a Preset You can edit any preset that is not locked. To edit a preset 1 Choose Final Cut Pro > Audio/Video Settings, then click the tab for the type of preset you want to edit. 2 Click the preset you want to modify, then click Edit. Click the preset you want to edit. Then click Edit. If the preset is locked, a message appears saying a copy will be made for editing. 3 In the Preset Editor window, modify settings as needed, then click OK.
3 Select the preset you want to delete, then click Delete. Click the appropriate preset tab. Click the preset you want to delete. Then click Delete. • If the preset has a checkmark next to it designating it as the current preset: You cannot delete it. You need to select another preset as the current preset. To do this, click the left column next to the preset you want to make the current one. • If a preset has a lock icon in the right column: It is locked and cannot be deleted.
To create a custom Easy Setup 1 Choose Final Cut Pro > Audio/Video Settings. 2 In the Summary tab, choose the presets you want. For more information, see Choosing Individual Presets. If you want to create a custom preset, see Creating a New Preset. 3 Choose video and audio playback settings. For more information, see External Video Monitoring. 4 Click Create Easy Setup.
3 Locate the custom Easy Setup file you want to delete. Files are located by default at /Library/Application Support/Final Cut Pro System Support/Custom Settings/. 4 Drag the Easy Setup file to the Trash. To make an Easy Setup unavailable 1 Quit Final Cut Pro. 2 Drag the Easy Setup file you want to make unavailable out of the following folder: /Library/Application Support/Final Cut Pro System Support/Custom Settings/. You can leave this file on your hard disk for future use or you can drag it to the Trash.
c Change the description to “Use this preset when controlling your Betacam SP deck using RS-422 serial device control.” d Choose Sony RS-422 from the Protocol pop-up menu. e In the Audio Mapping pop-up menu, choose the number of audio channels your deck accepts when recording. f Choose LTC + VITC from the Time Source pop-up menu. g Click OK.
Installing and Restoring Easy Setups Final Cut Pro places several Easy Setup files on your hard disk during installation. If you move any of these Easy Setups from their original location, you can restore them by moving them back to the correct folder. If you deleted these Easy Setups, you can reinstall them by reinstalling the Final Cut Pro software from the Final Cut Pro installation disc. Some third-party video interfaces may include Easy Setups that support the interface codecs.
Capture Settings and Presets 113 A capture preset is a group of settings that determine how media is captured from an external media device (such as a VTR) to a hard disk. This chapter covers the following: • About Capture Preset Settings (p. 1873) • Creating a Preset to Capture Audio Only (p. 1879) About Capture Preset Settings Capture settings include frame size, aspect ratio, an anamorphic option, and QuickTime video and audio settings. Final Cut Pro captures media to QuickTime media files.
General Settings for Capture Presets The Capture Preset Editor has the following options. • Name: The name of the capture preset appears in the Audio/Video Settings window in two places: the Capture Preset pop-up menu in the Summary tab, and the list of presets in the Capture Presets tab. • Description: This is a brief description, or summary, of what the preset is to be used for. • Frame Size: These are the horizontal and vertical pixel dimensions of the video frame you are capturing.
Choose from the following options. • Digitizer: Choose the video interface you want to use for capture. If you’re using FireWire but don’t have a FireWire device attached, this is set to [Missing] DV Video. • Input: Choose the video input you want to use on the video interface. Many third-party interfaces have multiple video inputs, including analog composite, S-Video, component YUV (also called Y′CBCR), or SDI.
• Advanced: Click this button to set additional QuickTime video settings, if necessary for your video hardware. For detailed information, see Advanced QuickTime Video Settings for Capture Presets. Advanced QuickTime Video Settings for Capture Presets The QuickTime Video Settings in the Capture Preset Editor and Sequence Preset Editor are a subset of all the possible QuickTime Video settings. In most cases, these settings should be sufficient.
• Frames per second: Choose a value to specify the number of frames captured per second. This value is the same as the FPS field in the QuickTime Video Settings section of the Preset Editor window. • Key frame every N frames: Even though QuickTime supports temporal compression using keyframes and in-between frames, you should not select this option when capturing. • Limit data rate to N KBytes/sec.: Some codecs allow you to enter a target data rate for your compressed QuickTime file.
QuickTime Audio Settings for Capture Presets Final Cut Pro uses the built-in QuickTime architecture of Mac OS X to capture incoming audio. • Device: Choose the audio interface you want to use during capture. Audio interface choices may include: • None (If you choose None, the Input and Format pop-up menus are not available. If you’re using FireWire but don’t have a FireWire device attached, this option is set to “[Missing] DV Audio”.
About Capturing Multiple Audio Channels from DV Devices DV video devices can record up to four tracks of audio, depending on the sample rate and bit depth chosen on the camcorder. You can choose which two audio channels to capture from the Input pop-up menu. For more information, see Capturing Audio from Tape.
3 In the Capture Preset Editor, adjust the following settings, then click OK. Enter a name and appropriate description for your audio capture preset. Choose None, unless you are genlocking your audio to your video interface. Choose an audio device from this pop-up menu. Choose an audio configuration from this pop-up menu. Choose an input from the selected audio device.
Device Control Settings and Presets 114 A device control preset communicates transport commands and timecode between Final Cut Pro and supported camcorders and VTRs. This chapter covers the following: • About Device Control Presets (p. 1881) • Device Control Protocols Supported by Final Cut Pro (p. 1885) • Using FireWire Device Control (p. 1886) • Using Serial Device Control (p. 1887) • Using a Non-Controllable Device (p. 1890) • Troubleshooting Your Device Control Setup (p.
2 Click the preset you want to modify, then click Edit. Settings in the Device Control Preset Editor The following section describes the settings in the Device Control Preset Editor. • Name: Enter a name for the preset. This name will appear in the list of available device control presets, available in several places in the application, such as the Log and Capture window and whenever you create an Easy Setup. • Description: Enter a brief description, or summary, of what the preset is to be used for.
• Audio Mapping: This pop-up menu determines how many audio tracks are available in the Audio Insert pop-up menu in the Edit to Tape window. You should choose a track mapping that corresponds to the number of tracks available on your audio or video deck. The options available depend on the device control protocol you’ve selected. • If you’re using FireWire: When you’re using one of the FireWire device control presets, the Audio Mapping pop-up menu is not available.
• Default Timecode: This option affects the timecode mode (drop frame or non-drop frame) of fields in the Log and Capture window when no device is connected, or before a tape begins playing. Once a tape is playing, Final Cut Pro determines the timecode mode from the tape, not this pop-up menu. The timecode mode chosen here is useful when you log clips without a tape in your VTR.
Enter a number to compensate for delays between the start of playback and the start of recording on your deck when editing to tape. This is normally set to 0. Enter a positive number to start playback before recording begins; enter a negative number to start playback after recording begins. Note: If the first frame is duplicated over several frames when you’re editing to tape, enter the number of duplicated frames in this field to eliminate the problem.
The following is a list of the device control protocols you can use in Final Cut Pro. Not all protocols are compatible with all features. See the documentation that came with your camcorder or deck for more information on the device control specification it uses, or visit the Final Cut Pro website at http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/finalcutpro. • Apple FireWire or Apple FireWire Basic • DVCPRO HD FireWire • HDV 1080i50 FireWire • HDV FireWire NTSC • Sony RS-422 • Sony RS-232: (SVO-2100) 9.
For more information about changing the FireWire protocol that Final Cut Pro uses, see Editing a Preset and About Device Control Presets. After you connect a camcorder or deck to your computer, switch it to VCR mode. You can record to a camcorder from Final Cut Pro in Camera mode, but to do so, you need to turn off device control in Final Cut Pro, which limits your control during output. Using Serial Device Control Nearly all professional VTRs support serial device control.
Calibrating Timecode Capture with Serial Device Control Unless you are capturing a DV video format via FireWire, the timecode and video signals are sent separately from the video deck to the computer. Because the signals are separate, they can possibly arrive at different times, which causes the wrong timecode number to be recorded with captured video frames.
2 Capture a clip of video from a tape with LTC (Longitudinal TimeCode) or VITC (Vertical Interval TimeCode) timecode on it. For more information, see Capturing Video from Tape. 3 Compare the timecode value recorded in the captured media file (in the Current Timecode field) with the burned-in timecode on the video frame. Current Timecode field Burned-in timecode If both timecode values match, then there is no offset, so no adjustment is necessary.
Enter a negative number if the clip’s timecode track has higher numbers than the burned-in timecode. For example, if the clip’s Media Start timecode is 01:00:00:04, and the first video frame has a burned-in timecode number of 01:00:00:00, enter –4 in the Capture Offset field. After entering the timecode offset, it’s a good idea to capture a few more clips and compare the timecode track numbers with the burned-in timecode to determine if the timecode offset you entered is correct.
For more information, see Using Serial Device Control and Choosing Individual Presets. Important: If you’re capturing your video and audio using FireWire, you should also capture timecode via FireWire (in other words, via DV device control). FireWire is the most convenient and accurate way for capturing timecode from a DV device.
Sequence Settings and Presets 115 Settings for sequences are found in several windows throughout Final Cut Pro. These settings are used when new sequences are created. This chapter covers the following: • What Are Sequence Settings? (p. 1893) • About Sequence Settings and Presets (p. 1893) • Timeline Display, Render, and Audio Output Options (p. 1899) • Changing Sequence Settings (p. 1903) What Are Sequence Settings? A sequence preset is a group of settings that is used when you create a new sequence.
Note: Default Timeline, render control, and audio outputs options are available in the User Preferences window, or after a sequence has been created by choosing Sequence > Settings. To view or edit a sequence preset 1 Choose Final Cut Pro > Audio/Video Settings, then click the Sequence Presets tab. 2 Click the preset you want to modify, then click Edit.
General Tab for Sequences The following is a list of General tab settings. Settings in the General tab • Name: Enter a name for the preset. This name appears in the Audio/Video Settings window in two places: the Sequence Preset pop-up menu in the Summary tab, and the list of presets in the Sequence Presets tab. • Description: Enter a brief description, or summary, of what the preset is to be used for. • Frame Size: Choose the horizontal and vertical image dimensions from the Aspect Ratio pop-up menu.
• Anamorphic 16:9: Select this checkbox only if you’re editing standard definition anamorphic 16:9 media. This setting only affects the way video is displayed on your monitor and does not actually rescale your media. For more information on anamorphic 16:9 video, see Working with Anamorphic 16:9 Media. • Field Dominance: Choose the field dominance of your captured video. Most video is Upper (Odd) or Lower (Even) depending on the video capture interface you’re using.
QuickTime Video Settings for Sequences Final Cut Pro uses the built-in QuickTime architecture of Mac OS X to decompress, render, and output video from your sequence. Since capturing is also handled by QuickTime, QuickTime video settings are explained in more detail in QuickTime Video Settings for Capture Presets. Settings in the General tab • Compressor: Choose a codec that matches the format of your media files. Any media file in your sequence that doesn’t use the codec specified here must be rendered.
4 In the Depth pop-up menu, choose one of the following. • Millions of Colors: Choose this option if your footage does not have an alpha channel or you wish to discard it. • Millions of Colors+: Choose this option if your footage contains an alpha channel and you wish to preserve it. QuickTime Audio Settings for Sequences Final Cut Pro uses the built-in QuickTime architecture of Mac OS X for playback and export of your sequence audio. When you export your sequence, these audio settings are used by default.
• Depth: Choose the bit depth used for each sample. • 8-bit: This bit depth is useful for highly compressed movies created for the web. Unless you have a specific need for 8-bit audio, you should avoid this option because the quality is fairly low. • 16-bit: This is the bit depth of DV, DVCAM, and DVCPRO, as well as of music CDs. If all of your original audio media is 16-bit, and you aren’t routing multiple audio tracks to the same audio output, choose this option.
Timeline Options Tab New sequences are created using the settings in the Timeline Options tab of the User Preferences window. Once a sequence is created, you can change Timeline display options in several places. For more information about Timeline display settings, see Timeline Basics. Render Control Tab New sequences are created with the settings in the Render Control tab of the User Preferences window.
Render Settings • Frame Rate: You can use this pop-up menu to reduce the frame rate of rendered segments of a sequence, dramatically speeding up rendering but lowering playback quality. For example, if you’re editing at 29.97 fps, and you choose 50 percent in the Frame Rate pop-up menu, rendered effects in your sequence play back at 15 frames per second. • Resolution: Choose a percentage from this pop-up menu to reduce the resolution of rendered effects, speeding up rendering but lowering playback quality.
Note: When you move a Final Cut Pro project file to another system along with its sequences, those sequences retain the audio output setting with which they were originally created, regardless of the number of audio output channels available on that system. Settings in the Audio Outputs tab • Outputs pop-up menu: This pop-up menu allows you to specify the number of audio outputs available on your external audio interface. This menu defaults to two output channels for simple stereo output.
Changing Sequence Settings You can change individual settings for a sequence, such as image height or codec, or you can change all the settings at once by loading a sequence preset (which is simply a set of predefined sequence settings). To view and change individual settings for a sequence 1 Select a sequence in the Browser or in the Timeline. 2 Do one of the following: • Choose Sequence > Settings, or press Command-0 (zero). • Control-click the sequence’s icon, then choose Settings from the shortcut menu.
4 Choose a new preset from the pop-up menu in the Select Sequence Preset dialog, then click OK. Important: Final Cut Pro does not allow you to change the editing timebase of a sequence once it contains clips. If you load a sequence preset with a different editing timebase, the editing timebase remains unchanged.
A Appendix Final Cut Pro Keyboard Shortcuts Keyboard shortcuts let you perform commands in Final Cut Pro using the keyboard instead of by pointing and clicking. This appendix shows the default keyboard shortcuts in Final Cut Pro, grouped by function. Using the Keyboard Layout window, you can change these keyboard shortcuts to suit your needs. For more information, see Ways to Customize Keyboard Shortcuts. This appendix covers the following: • General Interface Commands (p.
Keyboard shortcut Function Create a new sequence. N Save the project. S option S Undo the last command. Z shift Z A Cut the selected item (and paste it to the Clipboard). X Paste the cut or copied item as an insert edit. V Paste the cut or copied item as an overwrite edit. V option D control M option Q Duplicate the selected item. Print to video. Open the User Preferences window. Make the Viewer window active. 1 Make the Canvas window active. 2 Make the Timeline window active.
Keyboard shortcut control U shift U option U option H option 4 option 6 option 7 option 8 option 9 option 0 Function Switch the window layout to the Standard layout. Switch the window layout to Custom Layout 1. Switch the window layout to Custom Layout 2. Open the Keyboard Layout window. Show the audio meters. Open the Audio Mixer. Open the Frame Viewer. Open the QuickView tab. Open the Video Scopes tab. Open the Voice Over tool.
Keyboard shortcut Function Zoom out. option control option Z Show overlays. Show timecode overlays. Show match frame. F Mark clip. (Set In and Out points at the beginning and end of the clip.) X control W K Add a motion keyframe. Mark the In point. I Mark the Out point. O Go to the previous edit. ; Go to the previous edit. Play from the In point to the Out point. shift Play forward from the playhead position. space Play around the current frame.
Keyboard shortcut Function Nudge right. (Reposition the clip in wireframe view.) option Nudge up. (Reposition the clip in wireframe view.) option Navigation Commands Keyboard shortcut Function Enter a timecode value and press Return. Navigate to a timecode value. Rewind. (Play in reverse at 100 percent speed.) J Press J repeatedly. Rewind faster. (Play in reverse at greater than 100 percent speed.) Stop playback. K Play forward at 100 percent speed. L Press L repeatedly. Fast-forward.
Keyboard shortcut Function Go to the previous keyframe. (Move the playhead to the previous keyframe.) option K control L option \ shift space shift P option A Select In to Out. (Select all clip items between the sequence In and Out points.) option return Open in editor. (Open the selected clip’s media file in another application.) Loop playback. Play every frame of a clip. Play in reverse at 100 percent speed. Play to the Out point.
Keyboard shortcut option Function Zoom in. = Zoom out. option option control V T shift F7 shift F8 option I option X option O shift F6 L X Add an audio transition to the selected edit point. Add an edit point at the playhead position. Add a video transition to the selected edit point. Clear audio destination 1. (Disconnect the a1 Source control.) Clear audio destination 2. (Disconnect the a2 Source control.) Clear the In point. Clear the In and Out points. Clear the Out point.
Keyboard shortcut shift Function Lock all video tracks. F4 option I option O Mark the audio In point. Mark the audio Out point. Mark the In point. I Mark the Out point. O shift A control A control I control O control D Mark the In and Out points using the boundaries of the selected clip item(s). Mark the In point at the marker immediately before the sequence playhead position, and mark the Out point at the marker immediately after the playhead position. Mark the video In point.
Keyboard shortcut shift Function Ripple cut. (Remove the selected clip and move subsequent clips earlier in the Timeline to fill the gap.) X Ripple delete. (Delete the selected clip and move subsequent clips earlier in the Timeline to fill the gap.) delete option Select In to Out. (Select all items between the In and Out points.) A Select the nearest edit point. V Open the Sequence Settings window. 0 shift F option L option Reveal the master clip of the selected clip.
Keyboard shortcut option O shift F11 shift F9 Function Clear the Out point. Perform a fit to fill edit. Insert clip with transition. option I option O control I control O Mark the audio Out point. Mark the video In point. Mark the video Out point. Nudge down. option Nudge left. option Nudge right. option Nudge up. option shift Mark the audio In point. F10 Overwrite with transition. Superimpose clip.
Keyboard shortcut Function Create a new bin. B shift N Create a new project. Create a new sequence. N Open selected bins (list view only). option Open the selected bin in a new tab. enter Select the next item (list view only). Select the previous item (list view only). Open the Sequence Settings window. 0 Open the Effects tab. 5 Open the Favorites bin in a new tab. 6 shift B shift H option return shift return Show standard columns (list view only). Switch the Browser view.
Keyboard shortcut Function Move the playhead to the previous marker. shift Add a red marker. shift 1 shift 2 shift 3 shift 4 shift 5 shift 6 shift 7 shift 8 shift option 1 shift option 2 shift option 3 shift option 4 shift option 5 shift option 6 shift option 7 shift option 8 Add an orange marker. Add a yellow marker. Add a green marker. Add a turquoise marker. Add a blue marker. Add a purple marker. Add a pink marker.
Keyboard shortcut Function Switch video to angle 2. 2 Switch video to angle 3. 3 Switch video to angle 4. 4 Switch video to angle 5. 5 Switch video to angle 6. 6 Switch video to angle 7. 7 Switch video to angle 8. 8 Switch video to angle 9. 9 Switch video to angle 10. 0 Switch video to the previous angle. clear Switch video to the next angle. = Cut Video Commands Keyboard shortcut 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Function Cut video to angle 1. Cut video to angle 2. Cut video to angle 3.
Keyboard shortcut clear = Function Cut video to the previous angle. Cut video to the next angle. Switch Audio Commands Keyboard shortcut option 1 option 2 option 3 option 4 option 5 option 6 option 7 option 8 option 9 option 0 option clear option = Function Switch audio to angle 1. Switch audio to angle 2. Switch audio to angle 3. Switch audio to angle 4. Switch audio to angle 5. Switch audio to angle 6. Switch audio to angle 7. Switch audio to angle 8. Switch audio to angle 9.
Keyboard shortcut shift 6 shift 7 shift 8 shift 9 shift 0 shift clear shift + Function Switch video with effects to angle 6. Switch video with effects to angle 7. Switch video with effects to angle 8. Switch video with effects to angle 9. Switch video with effects to angle 10. Switch video with effects to the previous angle. Switch video with effects to the next angle. Trim Edit Commands Use the following keyboard shortcuts to control functions in the Trim Edit window.
Keyboard shortcut Function Stop playback. K Play forward. L 7 Open the Trim Edit window. Cycle through different types of trim edit selections. U Ingest Commands Use the following keyboard shortcuts to control ingest operations. Note: In addition to the ingest commands listed in the following sections, you can use the J, K, and L keys to play back media in the Log and Capture window and the Log and Transfer window. See Navigation Commands for more information.
Keyboard shortcut Function Stop capturing. esc Log and Transfer Commands Keyboard shortcut shift Function 8 Add a volume (folder). I option Open the Log and Transfer window. E Eject the selected volume (folder). Motion Tab Commands Use the following keyboard shortcuts to control functions in the Motion tab of the Viewer. Keyboard shortcut option K shift K control K Function Go to the previous keyframe. Go to the next keyframe. Add a keyframe. Select the next field.
Keyboard shortcut Function T option Add the default video transition to the selected item. T shift control 5 shift control 2 control D control F option C Add the first motion path favorite to the selected item. Add the first video filter favorite to the selected item. Open the Duration dialog for the selected item. Create a motion path favorite from the selected item. Nest items. (Convert the selected section of clips to a nested sequence.) Open the Change Speed dialog.
Tool Tool + Command key Tool + Shift key Tool + Option key Tool name To select tool Range Selection G+G+G Select Track Forward T All Forward Link On/Off Select Track Backward T+T All Backward Link On/Off Select Track T+T+T Select All Tracks Forward T+T+T+T Track Forward Link On/Off Select All Tracks Backward T+T+T+T+ T Track Backward Link On/Off Roll R Select Additional Ripple Tool Link On/Off Ripple R+R Select Additional Roll Tool Link On/Off Slip S Gear Down Select C
Tool 1924 Tool name To select tool Tool + Command key Tool + Shift key Tool + Option key Pen on Point P Gear Down Move Point Delete Point Pen on Line Segment P Gear Down Adjust Line Segment Delete Point P+P Delete on Point P+P Gear Down Delete on Line Segment P+P Gear Down Smooth Point P+P+P Appendix A Final Cut Pro Keyboard Shortcuts Pen Pen Adjust Line Segment Pen
B Appendix Solving Problems If you run into problems while working with Final Cut Pro, there are several resources you can use to find a solution. This appendix covers the following: • Resources for Solving Problems (p. 1925) • Solutions to Common Problems (p. 1925) • Contacting AppleCare Support (p.
Your camcorder or deck is not recognized • Make sure your device control cable or FireWire cable is properly connected and plugged in all the way. • Verify that the camcorder is set to VCR mode. • Make sure the appropriate protocol for your device is selected in the device control preset. (See Viewing a Summary of the Current Presets.) • Quit Final Cut Pro, shut down your computer, turn your camcorder or deck off and on, then restart your computer.
The audio is not in sync with the video, or you’re experiencing dropped frames in your video Many audio sync issues stem from dropped frames on capture or output. Nearly all dropped frames are caused by either incorrectly configured hardware or incorrect preference settings.
If you’re editing a long project where some clips are captured, others are deleted, and then more are captured, and so on, even the cleanest storage volume may become fragmented. You can diagnose this with a hard disk utility. Should your capture disks be seriously fragmented to the point of impeding performance, you can try the following three options: • Quit Final Cut Pro, back up your project file, and delete all the clips from the affected volumes.
An error message appears during capture reporting a break in the timecode • When capturing clips for your program from source tapes that were shot in the field, or from old source tapes that have been played to the point of wearing the media, timecode breaks may appear, disrupting the computer’s ability to read a continuous stream of timecode.
Note: You’ll see the same fuzzy effect with DV clips that are exported into other applications as well. As long as the clip is compressed with DV, slower computers will lower the resolution during playback, but the source media on disk still contains all of the information, at the highest quality.
• Make sure the Preview option is selected in the Clip Settings tab of the Log and Capture window, and that the appropriate audio output is selected in the Sound pane of Mac OS X System Preferences. • Check your QuickTime audio settings in the Capture Presets tab of the Audio/Video Settings window. For details on audio sample and source settings, see Capture Settings and Presets.
• The version of Final Cut Pro you have installed, including updates if applicable. To find the version of Final Cut Pro on your computer, choose Final Cut Pro > About Final Cut Pro. • The model of computer you are using. • How much RAM is installed in your computer, and how much is available to Final Cut Pro. To find out how much RAM is installed, choose Apple menu > About This Mac.
C Appendix Video Formats This appendix provides a basic introduction to the characteristics of video formats and video formats supported by Final Cut Pro. For more detailed information about Final Cut Pro support for advanced video formats, including those used with high definition and ultra high definition footage, see Professional Formats and Workflows, available in Final Cut Pro Help. This appendix covers the following: • An Overview of Video Format Characteristics (p. 1933) • Storage Medium (p.
Video formats can be characterized by the following factors: • The medium used to store the video information: This is primarily videotape, but can also be optical disc, solid-state memory, or a hard disk. For more information, see Storage Medium. • The size of the media and the shape of the shell: For example, videotape may be 1", 1/2", 3/4", or 8 mm. Many video formats have different shell sizes for portable and studio use, such as mini-DV (portable) and the larger DV cassettes for studio decks.
• Compressor (or codec): A video compressor attempts to reduce the amount of digital data required to store each frame without compromising the quality of the image. For more information, see Video Compression. Storage Medium Video—especially digital video—can be stored on more than just videotape. The characteristics of the storage medium determine playback and recording capabilities.
• Sony XDCAM, XDCAM HD (optical disc), XDCAM EX (SxS memory card) • Sony Video Disk Unit devices (hard disk) Video Standards For the last 50 years, there have been two major signal types recorded on videotape: NTSC and PAL. With the emergence of new high definition (HD) video formats, NTSC and PAL formats are now referred to as standard definition (SD) video formats.
Standard Frame size Frame rates (fps) Scanning method 1080p 1920 x 1080 23.98, 29.97 24, 30 25 Progressive 1080i 1920 x 1080 25 (50i), 29.97 (59.94i), 30 (60i) Interlaced 1 720p footage recorded at 24, 30, and 60 fps is rare. The 29.97 fps rates are more common because they are compatible with NTSC equipment. There are an increasing number of HD tape and file-based formats available.
The luma signal is derived by combining R, G, and B signals in proportions similar to the way human vision perceives those three colors. Therefore, the luma signal approximates the way the human eye sees brightness in color images. Humans are most sensitive to the green portion of the visible spectrum, and therefore the luma channel mostly consists of the green channel.
Aspect Ratio of the Video Frame The ratio of horizontal to vertical dimensions of a film or video frame is called the aspect ratio. Aspect ratio is independent of absolute image size or resolution. Standard definition 1.33:1 (4 x 3) High definition 1.78:1 (16 x 9) Standard cinema 1.85:1 Widescreen cinema 2.40:1 Aspect ratios can be expressed as absolute dimensions (4 x 3), a ratio (4:3), a fraction (4/3), or as the decimal equivalent of a ratio (1.33:1, or simply 1.33).
Aspect ratio Medium 2.40 (also referred to as 2.35 and 2.39) Widescreen (anamorphic) film projection Footage with different aspect ratios can be combined using a variety of techniques, as described in the following sections. Letterboxing Letterboxing preserves the aspect ratio of widescreen movies on a narrower screen. The movie is scaled until it fits within the width of the screen, resulting in blacks bars at the top and bottom of the frame. 1.78 letterbox 2.40 letterbox 2.40 letterbox 1.
Anamorphic Anamorphic techniques use special lenses or electronics to squeeze a widescreen image to fit in a narrower aspect ratio. During projection or playback, the squeezed image is stretched back to its original widescreen aspect ratio. 1.78 anamorphic 2.40 anamorphic 2.40 letterbox in 1.78 anamorphic 1.33 frame 1.33 frame 1.33 frame Anamorphic video can also be letterboxed. For example, 16:9 anamorphic DVDs may contain letterboxed 2.40 aspect ratio footage.
Pixels per Line In digital video formats, each line is sampled a number of times. In an attempt to create a single digital VTR that could digitize and record both NTSC and PAL signals, the ITU-R BT.601 specification uses 720 samples per line for both NTSC and PAL video. Therefore, a digital NTSC video frame is 720 pixels x 486 lines, and a PAL video frame is 720 pixels x 576 lines. HD video with 1080 lines uses 1920 pixels per line (1920 x 1080).
720 x 486 Versus 720 x 480 One issue that comes up during post-production is the subtle difference between NTSC SD formats that use 486 lines per frame (such as Digital Betacam, D-1, and D-5) and formats that use 480 lines per frame (such as DV, DVCPRO, and DVD). Why is there this subtle difference? The reason is simple: 480 is divisible by 16, and 486 isn’t.
Some video formats use rectangular pixels to reduce the amount of information stored on tape. For example, DVCPRO HD effectively records 1280 pixels per line (when using the 720p format), but to save space on tape, the intensity of every 1.33 pixels is averaged together (a process known as subsampling) and only 960 pixels are recorded. These pixels are not representing a square area, but a wider, rectangular portion of each video line.
About Interlaced Scanning Frame rates lower than 40 fps can cause noticeable flicker. When NTSC and PAL were invented, faster frame rates were not practical to implement. Interlaced scanning was devised to create a perceived frame rate of 60 fps (NTSC) or 50 fps (PAL). Interlaced video scans the display twice, using two fields, to complete a single frame. A single field contains only the odd lines (1, 3, 5, 7, and so on) or the even lines (2, 4, 6, 8, and so on) of the frame.
• Many HD video cameras can record progressive frames. • Video destined for computer-only use, such as web video, should always be made progressive. About Field Dominance Field dominance is an issue when recording and playing back interlaced video material. With progressive video, there is only one way to play back a video frame: start at line 1 and scan until the end of the last line. With interlaced video, the video player must know whether to scan the odd lines first, or the even lines.
Color recording method Video formats Composite 1", 3/4" U-matic, 1/2", VHS, D-2, D-3 Y/C (S-Video) Hi-8, S-VHS Y′CBCR (component) Betacam SP, Digital Betacam, DVD, DV, D-1, D-5 RGB Computer graphics and digital cinema acquisition. Although video originates in and is displayed in this format, it is rare for tape formats (Y′CBCR is used instead). Today, almost all digital video formats are Y′CBCR (component).
Sample ratio Description 4:4:4:4 Full sample rate for each color channel, plus a fourth alpha channel at the full sample rate. 4:2:2 The color channels are subsampled so that the color resolution is halved. For example, the first pixel in a line contains Y′, CB, and CR samples. The next pixel contains only a Y′ sample. This pattern repeats. Most professional video formats use 4:2:2 color subsampling. 4:2:2:4 4:2:2 sample rate for each color channel, plus an alpha channel at the full sample rate.
Video signal bit depth is usually described per channel. For example, DV and DVCPRO HD use 8 bits per color component (in other words, 8 bits for Y′, 8 bits for CB, and 8 bits for CR). Other formats, such as D-5, use 10 bits per component. This provides 1024 possible gradations instead of 256, which means much more subtle variations in intensity can be recorded. In fact, 8-bit Y′CBCR video does not use all 256 codes to represent picture information. Black is stored as code 16 and white is code 235.
Some simple methods of data compression are: • Throw away pixels at regular intervals: This essentially scales the image, or makes it more blocky. • Average several pixel values together (subsampling): This involves taking several adjacent pixel values and averaging them together, resulting in a single rectangular pixel that approximates the value of several. For more information, see Pixel Aspect Ratio.
Lossy Codecs Most video codecs are necessarily lossy, because it is usually impractical to store and transmit uncompressed video signals. Even though most codecs lose some information in the video signal, the goal is to make this information loss visually imperceptible. When codec algorithms are developed, they are fine-tuned based on analyses of human vision and perception.
Interframe Compression Instead of storing complete frames, temporal compression stores only what has changed from one frame to the next, which dramatically reduces the amount of data that needs to be stored while still achieving high-quality images.
GOP Length Longer GOP lengths encode video more efficiently by reducing the number of I-frames but are less desirable during short-duration effects such as fast transitions or quick camera pans. MPEG video may be classified as long-GOP or short-GOP. The term long-GOP refers to the fact that several P- and B-frames are used between I-frame intervals. At the other end of the spectrum, short-GOP MPEG is synonymous with I-frame–only MPEG.
The same GOP pattern can produce different results when used with an open or closed GOP. For example, a closed GOP would start an IBBP pattern with an I-frame, whereas an open GOP with the same pattern might start with a B-frame. In this example, starting with a B-frame is a little more efficient because starting with an I-frame means that an extra P-frame must be added to the end (a GOP cannot end with a B-frame).
MPEG-1 supports three layers of audio compression, called MPEG-1 Layers 1, 2, and 3. MPEG-1 Layer 2 audio is used in some formats such as HDV and DVD, but MPEG-1 Layer 3 (also known as MP3) is by far the most common. In fact, MP3 audio compression has become so popular that it is usually used independently of video. MPEG-1 elementary stream files often have extensions such as .m1v and .m1a, for video and audio, respectively.
Compared to MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, MPEG-4 video compression (known as MPEG-4 Part 2) provides superior quality at low bit rates. However, MPEG-4 supports high-resolution video as well. For example, Sony HDCAM SR uses a form of MPEG-4 compression. MPEG-4 Part 3 defines and enhances AAC audio originally defined in MPEG-2 Part 7. Most applications today use the terms AAC audio and MPEG-4 audio interchangeably. MPEG-4 Part 10, or H.
Color sample ratio Compression ratio Recorded bit rate Panasonic 4:1:1 (NTSC and PAL) 5:1 25 Mbps DVCPRO 50 Panasonic 4:2:2 3.3:1 50 Mbps DVCPRO HD Panasonic 4:2:2 10:1 100 Mbps Digital format Maker DVCPRO (D-7) 24p Video Formats that capture complete (progressive) video frames at 24 frames per second have received a lot of attention lately. This is because 24p video uses the same frame rate as film, and it scans images progressively.
Format Manufacturer Color sample ratio D-5 HD Panasonic 4:2:2 8-bit 10-bit 235 Mbps D-6 Philips, Toshiba 4:2:2 10-bit 1.
Format Typical data rate Uncompressed 8-bit 1080i 29.97 fps HD video 124 MB/sec. Uncompressed 10-bit 1080i 29.97 fps HD video 166 MB/sec. Note: For information on data rates in Apple ProRes variants and in digital cinema formats such as REDCODE, see Professional Formats and Workflows, available in Final Cut Pro Help.
D Appendix Frame Rate and Timecode This appendix explains the concepts behind frame rate, frame rate limits, and timecode and compares various timecode formats. This appendix covers the following: • What Is Frame Rate? (p. 1961) • Understanding Flicker and Perceived Frame Rate (p. 1962) • How Many Frames per Second Is Best? (p. 1963) • Choosing a Frame Rate (p. 1964) • What Is Timecode? (p. 1966) • About Drop Frame and Non-Drop Frame Timecode (p. 1966) • Timecode on Tape (p.
Early television systems selected frame rates based on local electrical standards to avoid electrical interference with the picture. NTSC in North America uses 30 fps (now adjusted to 29.97 fps for color NTSC) based on 60 Hz electrical power. PAL, used primarily in Europe, uses 25 fps based on 50 Hz electrical mains. Because film cameras are relatively simple compared to video cameras, they allow shooting and playing back with a wide range of frame rates (although the standard projection speed is 24 fps).
Early television systems used a different approach for the same result: increased flicker without increasing the necessary electronic bandwidth. Interlaced scanning fills a television frame with only half the video lines of a frame (this is known as a field), and then fills in the remaining lines (the other field). A field effectively fills the television screen with an image, even though it is only half-resolution, and it does so in half the time it would take to draw the full frame.
Stop-motion photography, traditional drawn animation, and computer rendering take a similar approach. The point here is that the rate of creating a frame does not necessarily correspond to the rate of playback. This is one of the most exciting propositions of motion pictures and their ability to manipulate time: you can create images at whatever rate suits you and play them back at a totally different speed.
Frame rate Media Description 23.98 (23.976) fps Film; high definition video with NTSC compatibility; NTSC This is 24 fps slowed down by 99.9% (1000/1001) to easily transfer film to NTSC video. Many high definition video formats (and some SD formats) can record at this speed, and it is usually preferred over true 24 fps because of NTSC compatibility. 25 fps PAL; high definition video The European video standard. Film is sometimes shot at 25 fps when destined for editing or distribution on PAL video.
What Is Timecode? Timecode is a signal recorded with your video that uniquely identifies every frame of your tape using a time stamp in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames. Timecode uses the following format: SMPTE timecode 01:32:15:28 Hours Minutes Seconds Frames Timecode was invented in the late 1960s so that computer video editing systems could automatically find specific frames on tape and record editing decisions that could then be performed over and over again.
You can think of drop frame timecode as being like leap years on the calendar. In the case of leap years, an extra day is added every 4 years except when the year is divisible by 400. This compensates for the fact that the way days are measured and the way years are measured do not align exactly. Even though the difference is slight, an unacceptable error accumulates over time unless regular adjustments are made to the count.
Error between timecode number and real time Timecode labels (30 fps) Time passed (29.97 fps) 1800 1800/30 of a second = 60 seconds = 1 minute =1800/29.97 of a second = 60.06 seconds = 1.001 minutes 0.001 minutes 0.06 seconds 1.8 frames 18,000 = 18,000/30 of a second = 600 seconds = 10 minutes = 18,000/29.97 of second = 600.6 seconds = 10.01 minutes 0.01 minutes 0.6 seconds 17.9 frames 108,000 = 108,000/30 of a second = 3600 seconds = 1 hour =108,000/29.97 of a second = 3603.6 seconds = 1.
Timecode on Tape There are several kinds of timecode recorded on videotape, each stored in a different part of the video signal. LTC is stored as an audio signal, whereas VITC is stored in a line of each video frame. • LTC (longitudinal timecode): Is typically recorded as an audio signal on a dedicated timecode track. You can add or change LTC on your original tapes even after they’ve been recorded because it’s recorded on its own independent track.
Comparison of Various Timecode Formats This table compares 24 fps, 25 fps, 30 fps non-drop frame (NDF), and 30 fps drop frame (DF) timecode. Standard 35 mm and 16 mm feet and frame counts are also shown. Note how the drop frame timecode numbers jump by 2 frames starting between frame count 1799 and 1800.
Frame count 24 frames per 1:00 25 frames per 1:00 30 frames per 1:00 (NDF) 30 frames per 1:00 (DF) 16 frames per foot (35 mm) 40 frames per foot (16 mm) 1798 00:01:14:22 00:01:11:23 00:00:59:28 00:00:59:28 0112+06 0285+22 1799 00:01:14:23 00:01:11:24 00:00:59:29 00:00:59:29 0112+07 0285+23 1800 00:01:15:00 00:01:12:00 00:01:00:00 00:01:00:02 0112+08 0287+20 1801 00:01:15:01 00:01:12:01 00:01:00:01 00:01:00:03 0112+09 0287+21 1802 00:01:15:02 00:01:12:02 00:01:00:02 00:
Frame count 24 frames per 1:00 25 frames per 1:00 30 frames per 1:00 (NDF) 30 frames per 1:00 (DF) 16 frames per foot (35 mm) 40 frames per foot (16 mm) 1831 00:01:16:07 00:01:13:06 00:01:01:01 00:01:01:03 0114+07 0290+07 1832 00:01:16:08 00:01:13:07 00:01:01:02 00:01:01:04 0114+08 0290+08 1833 00:01:16:09 00:01:13:08 00:01:01:03 00:01:01:05 0114+09 0290+09 1834 00:01:16:10 00:01:13:09 00:01:01:04 00:01:01:06 0114+10 0290+10 1835 00:01:16:11 00:01:13:10 00:01:01:0
E Appendix Working with 24p Video This appendix provides information about working with 24p video. This appendix covers the following: • What Is 24p Video? (p. 1973) • Telecine, Pull-Down, and Reverse Telecine (p. 1974) • Film, 24p Video, and Cinema Tools (p. 1982) • Working with 24p NTSC Video (p. 1982) • Using an AG-DVX100 NTSC Camcorder with Advanced Pull-Down (p. 1983) What Is 24p Video? The term 24p refers to 24 fps progressive-scan video.
24 Versus 23.98 fps Although the term 24p implies 24 frames per second, the value 24 is usually inaccurate, because most people working within NTSC standards actually shoot at a frame rate of 23.976 fps (commonly referred to as 23.98 fps). On the other hand, 24 fps footage transferred to PAL, as well as most film, is recorded at exactly 24 fps.
Pull-down removal typically requires manual identification of the A frame in the pattern, which you can identify visually by moving frame by frame through your footage until you recognize the pull-down pattern. A B A A B B Field Field Field 1 2 1 Field 2 C B C C D D D D Field Field Field Field Field Field 1 2 1 2 1 2 3:2 Pull-Down Before (23.
If you edit 3:2 pull-down footage without removing the pull-down first, you need to be particularly careful to match the five-frame pull-down cadence at every edit. Edits with broken cadence, such as a repeating or out-of-order frame (for example, A, B, A, B, C, D) can confuse reverse telecine operations. In general, you should avoid editing 29.97 fps pull-down footage. Instead, remove the pull-down of your footage first, edit at 23.98 fps, then reinsert pull-down during output.
To remove advanced pull-down, video frame 3 in the five-frame pattern is simply discarded during capture or ignored during playback. A B A A B B Field Field Field 1 2 1 Field 2 C B C C D C D D Field Field Field Field Field Field 1 2 1 2 1 2 2:3:3:2 Pull-Down Before (23.98 fps) A B C D A B C D A B C D A B C D A B C D A B C D A A B B B C C C DD A A B B B C C C DD A A B B B C C C D D A A B B B C C CD D A A B B B C C C DD A A B B B C C C DD After (29.
Another feature that makes advanced pull-down removal more efficient is the insertion of “flags” in the video signal that can be used by software to automatically detect which frames must be removed. This makes advanced pull-down an automatic process compared to the manual cadence identification usually required to remove 3:2 pull-down. Despite its efficiencies, the advanced pull-down pattern is not as aesthetically pleasing as 3:2 pull-down. If you plan to finish your project at 23.
720p DVCPRO HD Duplicate Frames 720p DVCPRO HD camcorders can record 24 fps footage within a 60 fps signal by duplicating frames. The duplicate frames are usually flagged within the DVCPRO HD video signal so applications like Final Cut Pro can automatically remove them. You can also remove duplicate frames using a frame rate converter (such as the DVCPRO HD Frame Rate Converter in Final Cut Pro).
Note: 720p footage is almost always 23.98 fps, but true 24 fps recording is also possible on particular camcorders. A A A B B B C B C C D D D D Duplicate Frame Insertion Before (23.98 fps) A B C D A B C D A B C D A B C D A B C D A B C D A A B B B C C DDD A A B B B C C D DD A A B B B C C DD D A A B B B C C DD D A A B B B C CDDD A A B B B C CDDD After (29.97 fps) One second Duplicate Frame Removal Before (29.
Progressive Segmented Frame Recording Sony CineAlta cameras can record 23.98 or true 24 fps Progressive segmented Frame (PsF) footage on HDCAM or HDCAM SR tape. The camera records at 48 fields per second while each progressive frame is placed on two fields, resulting in 24 fps.
24 @ 25 Repeat This method simply repeats every 24th frame once to fit 24 fps footage into 25 fps. This causes a noticeable stutter every second but requires less processing than the 24 @ 25 pull-down pattern because no special interlacing is required. This pull-down pattern is analogous to the NTSC 2:2:2:4 pull-down pattern in the sense that it requires the least amount of processing power but results in the most noticeable stutter.
Note: Even though the 2:3:2:3 pull-down pattern of a film-to-tape transfer is emulated by this process, there are many other factors that contribute to a “film look,” such as exposure, resolution, color, depth of field, and so on. Most camcorders use a pull-down method referred to as advanced pull-down, which has a 2:3:3:2 pattern instead of the traditional telecine 2:3:2:3 pull-down pattern.
If you have already captured your video at 29.97 fps, you can remove duplicate fields from your media file after capture. µ To remove 2:3:3:2 advanced pull-down from your media files after capture Select the 29.97 fps clips in the Browser, then choose Tools > Remove Advanced Pulldown. Your media files remain the same size, but they are set to play back at 23.98 fps. If no advanced pull-down flags are detected, the media file remains at 29.97 fps. Stage 3: Editing at 23.
F Appendix Working with Anamorphic 16:9 Media This appendix covers working with anamorphic 16:9 media and specifying sequence settings and output procedures for anamorphic video. This appendix covers the following: • About Anamorphic 16:9 Media (p. 1985) • Recording Anamorphic Video (p. 1986) • Capturing Anamorphic Media (p. 1987) • Changing Clip Properties for Anamorphic Media (p. 1988) • Viewing and Editing Anamorphic Media (p. 1989) • Specifying Sequence Settings for Anamorphic Media (p.
• To create SD footage whose aspect ratio is compatible with 16:9 HD footage or film Displaying 16:9 Anamorphic Video By default, 16:9 anamorphic video displayed on an SD monitor appears horizontally squeezed—meaning images look tall and thin. Many computer applications, monitors, and DVD players are capable of “unsqueezing” 16:9 anamorphic video so that the image appears as intended.
• Using an anamorphic lens: An anamorphic lens is a wide-angle lens that optically distorts the 16:9 image to fit into a 4:3 frame before sending it to your camcorder’s CCD. Because this is done optically, the result is clean and clear and takes advantage of the full resolution of the DV frame. This method is recommended by some for users looking for the best possible quality. If you use an anamorphic lens, the camera does not need to be in a special mode when recording.
Tip: If you forget to select the Anamorphic 16:9 option before you capture anamorphic media, you can turn on the Anamorphic property for clips in the Browser or the Item Properties window. Changing Clip Properties for Anamorphic Media If you’ve captured anamorphic media but didn’t use a capture preset that had the Anamorphic option turned on, you can change the Anamorphic clip property in the Item Properties window or in the Browser.
Viewing and Editing Anamorphic Media Final Cut Pro has the ability to display 16:9 anamorphic footage at the correct aspect ratio while you edit. Generators and transitions such as the oval and star iris are also correctly shaped, and all motion effects automatically take the 16:9 aspect ratio into account. When you edit anamorphic 16:9 media, the following apply: • All non-16:9 media added to a 16:9 sequence is scaled and distorted to match the sequence.
3 Select the Anamorphic 16:9 checkbox, then click OK. Select this checkbox to turn on the Anamorphic option. Outputting Anamorphic Video to Tape When outputting an edited sequence to tape using anamorphic video, you have two choices, depending on what kind of equipment you want to play back from.
Unlike output to standard definition tape, which may require letterboxing to fit in a 4:3 aspect ratio, there is no need to letterbox media files because they can have any dimensions you want (in this case, 16:9). Calculating the Dimensions for an Exported 16:9 QuickTime Movie The dimensions of your exported movie depend on several factors, including any file size limitations and height or width constraints.
9 Make sure the “Preserve aspect ratio using” checkbox is unselected, then click OK. 10 In the Movie Settings window, choose audio settings, then click OK. 11 Enter a filename, choose a location to save your file, then click OK to export your movie. 12 When the movie has finished exporting, double-click the movie in the Finder to open it in QuickTime Player and verify that its aspect ratio is 16:9. For more information, see Exporting Using QuickTime Conversion.
G Appendix Using Multi-Touch Gestures with Final Cut Pro If your computer has a Multi-Touch trackpad, you can use Multi-Touch gestures when working with Final Cut Pro. This appendix lists the Multi-Touch gestures that you can use. Final Cut Pro supports using Multi-Touch gestures in the Timeline, Viewer, and Canvas windows. The gesture takes effect in the window beneath the pointer. This appendix covers the following: • Using Multi-Touch Gestures in the Timeline (p.
• Swipe (three-finger): Swipe up to move the playhead to the beginning of the clip or sequence. Swipe down to move the playhead to the end of the clip or sequence. Swipe left or right to move the playhead to the previous or next edit point. • Pinch: Pinch closed to zoom out of the window. Pinch open to zoom in to the window. • Rotate: Rotate left or right to scrub the playhead left or right. For more information about Multi-Touch gestures, see the documentation that came with your computer.
Glossary Glossary 2:2:2:4 pull-down An efficient but low-quality pull-down method, primarily useful for previewing the output of real-time effects on an NTSC monitor. See also pull-down insertion, pull-down pattern. 2:3:2:3 pull-down The most commonly supported pull-down pattern for NTSC devices. This option is ideal for recording to an NTSC device such as a standard definition television, an MPEG-2 encoding device, or a high-end finishing system. See also pull-down insertion, pull-down pattern.
24 @ 25 repeat A pull-down pattern used in Final Cut Pro when 24 fps media is sent to a 25 fps video output. In this pattern, 24 progressive frames are played, and the 25th frame is the 24th frame repeated. 24-bit resolution A bit depth used for high-quality audio playback. 32-bit floating point resolution An extremely high-resolution bit depth used for lossless computation of audio or video data. 35 mm A standard motion picture film format.
alpha channel An image channel in addition to the R, G, and B color channels that is used to store transparency information for compositing. Alpha channels are often 8-bit, but some applications support 16-bit alpha channels. In Final Cut Pro, black represents 100 percent transparency, and white represents 100 percent opacity. Only certain formats, such as Targa, TIFF, PICT, and the QuickTime Animation codec, support alpha channels. ambience A type of sound.
attenuate To lower an audio signal’s level. audio channel indicator An icon in the Edit to Tape window that indicates which audio tracks are being output. audio clip A media clip containing audio tracks. audio meter A meter that lets you monitor audio output levels from your computer. You use the audio meters in Final Cut Pro when you capture, mix, and output your program. Audio Mixer A tab in the Tool Bench window.
batch list A tab-delimited text file that contains information about offline clips that you want to capture and use in your project. Batch lists can be exported from or imported into your Final Cut Pro project file. After you import a batch capture list into Final Cut Pro, your project contains a series of offline clips, one for each entry in the batch capture list. You then need to recapture or reconnect the clips to their media.
broadcast Refers to signals intended for delivery on television, as well as network delivery to a wide audience. Broadcasters may have strict guidelines for the signal quality of programs for broadcast. Broadcast quality is a phrase often used when referring to these guidelines. broadcast legal Broadcast facilities have limits on the maximum values of luma and chroma that are allowable for broadcast. If a video exceeds these limits, distortion can appear, resulting in unacceptable transmission quality.
channels When used to describe video, can refer to color channels or alpha channels. Color and transparency information for video and graphics clips is divided into individual channels. Each individual color channel represents one of the three individual primary colors that are combined to represent the final image. Each channel has a bit depth; most graphics and video files have 8 bits per channel, meaning that there are 256 levels of color or transparency for each channel.
color depth The possible range of colors that can be used in a movie or image. There are generally four choices with computer graphics—8-bit (grayscale), 16-bit, and 24-bit (millions of colors). Higher color depths provide a wider range of colors but require more space for a given image size. Broadcast video is generally 24-bit, with 8 bits of color information per channel. See also channels. colorist A professional who performs color correction.
cutaway shot A shot that is related to the current subject and occurs in the same time frame. For example, an interviewer’s reaction to what is being said in an interview is a cutaway shot. Often, a cutaway shot is used to eliminate an unwanted visual section of another shot. The audio usually remains continuous, helping to make the cutaway less noticeable. D1 A standard definition digital videotape recorder format that records an 8-bit, uncompressed component video signal with 4:2:2 color sampling.
destination track The track a particular source item is edited into in the Timeline, as defined by the Source and Destination controls in the Timeline patch panel. destination track controls Source and Destination controls in Timeline tracks that allow you to specify which tracks source clip items are edited into in the Timeline. device control Technology that allows Final Cut Pro to control an external hardware device, such as a video deck or camera.
downmixing The process used to combine multiple audio channels into a single stereo (or dual mono) pair. Also referred to as mixing down. drop frame timecode NTSC timecode that skips ahead in time by two frame numbers each minute, except every tenth minute, so that the timecode agrees with the actual elapsed clock time. (Timecode numbers are skipped, but actual video frames are not skipped.) This skipping corrects for NTSC’s actual frame rate of 29.97 fps.
DVCPRO HD A high definition video format that records an 8-bit, compressed component video signal with 4:2:2 color sampling. Both 720p and 1080i are supported. Includes up to eight tracks of audio with 16-bit, 48 kHz audio sampling. Recorded using 1/4-inch tape. The total data rate is 115 Mbps. DVD A disc that is the size of a CD but that uses higher-density storage methods to significantly increase its capacity.
favorite A customized effect that is used frequently. You can create favorites from most of the effects in Final Cut Pro. field Half of an interlaced video frame, consisting of the odd or the even scan lines. Alternating video fields are drawn every 1/60 of a second in NTSC video to create the perceived 30 fps video. There are two fields for every frame, an upper field and a lower field. filters Effects you can apply to video or audio clip items.
frequency The number of times a sound or signal vibrates each second, measured in cycles per second, or hertz (Hz). Audio recordings are made up of a vast collection of waveforms, using many different frequencies of sound. Each frequency in a recording is associated with an audio pitch. For example, the note generated by each key of a piano has a specific frequency. gain The amount an audio or video signal is boosted. In video, this increases the white level; in audio, this increases the volume.
headroom The available range in decibels (dB) that falls in between the reference level that is used to denote the average loudness of a mix and 0 dBFS. If you mix your project with the reference level set to –12 dBFS, you have 12 dB of headroom available before the signal is clipped. If the audio in a sequence has a wide dynamic range, you set the reference level low enough to create enough headroom so that no part of the signal goes above 0 dBFS. Hi-8 An analog videotape format.
IRE (Institute of Radio Engineers) Also refers to an analog video signal unit of measurement for luma, established by the Institute of Radio Engineers. ITU Abbreviation for International Telecommunications Union. J-cut See split edit. jog To move forward or backward through video or audio one frame at a time. jog control A control at the bottom of the Viewer, Canvas, and Log and Capture window that allows you to move forward or backward through audio or video as slowly as one frame at a time.
linear editing A video editing style in which a program is edited together by copying shots from the original source tapes to a master tape, one by one. Because the assembly is linear, any changes in duration made to an earlier point of the tape require reassembling the movie from that point forward. See also nonlinear editing. link To connect video and audio clip items in the Timeline so that when one item is selected, moved, or trimmed, all other items linked to it are affected.
looping A playback mode in which clips and sequences go back to the beginning whenever the playhead reaches the end of the media. The Loop Playback command is in the View menu. LTC Stands for longitudinal timecode. A method of writing timecode to a dedicated timecode or audio track of an audio or video recorder. Compare with VITC. luma A value describing the brightness of a video image. A luma channel is a grayscale image showing the range of brightness across the whole clip.
matte Sometimes referred to as a holdout matte. An effect that uses information in one layer of video to affect another layer. Mattes are useful when you want to use one clip to selectively hide or reveal part of another; for example, to reveal parts of a video layer by a round spotlight shape. Matte filters can be used by themselves to mask out areas of a clip or to create alpha channel information for a clip in order to make a transparent border around the clip that can be composited against other layers.
nested sequence A sequence that is edited into another sequence. NLE Short for nonlinear editor. See also nonlinear editing. noise floor The background noise generated by audio equipment during recording, which inadvertently becomes a part of the recording. non-drop frame timecode Timecode in which frames are numbered sequentially and no frames are dropped from the count. When discussing NTSC video, the video frame rate is actually 29.
outgoing clip The clip a transition segues from. For example, if Clip A dissolves to Clip B, Clip A is the outgoing clip. out-of-sync indicator In the Timeline, the symbol that appears at the beginning of a clip when a video item moves out of sync with its linked audio items, or vice versa. Out point The edit point that specifies the last frame of a clip for use in a sequence. output Sending video or audio signals out of your Final Cut Pro editing system to display on a monitor or record on tape.
phase (1) In audio, the timing relationship between two identical, or similar, audio signals. (2) In video, the timing relationship between the composite video chroma signal and the chroma subcarrier signal that determines the hue. PICT A still-image file format developed by Apple. PICT files can contain both vector images and bitmapped images, as well as text and an alpha channel. PICT is a common image format on Mac OS X computers. pixel One dot in a video or still image.
pull-down pattern A method of inserting frames and fields into a video stream to output 23.98 or 24 fps video to an NTSC or PAL device. See also 2:2:2:4 pull-down, 2:3:2:3 pull-down, 2:3:3:2 pull-down, 24 @ 25 pull-down, 24 @ 25 repeat. QuickTime Cross-platform multimedia technology from Apple. Widely used for editing, compositing, CD-ROM, web video, import and export, and more. QuickTime Streaming The streaming media addition to the QuickTime architecture.
reel Identifies the source tape from which a clip was captured or the volume (folder) from which file-based media was transferred. You specify a clip’s reel name or number in the Logging tab of the Log and Capture window or in the Logging area of the Log and Transfer window. A reel name or number is typically entered when logging, but you can also change it in the Browser or the Item Properties window.
ripple edit An edit in which the start and end times of a range of clips on a track are adjusted when the duration of an earlier clip is altered. roll edit An edit that affects two clips that share an edit point. For example, if Clip A cuts to Clip B, a roll edit simultaneously adjusts the Out point of Clip A and the In point of Clip B by the same amount. The overall duration of the sequence stays the same. room tone The low level of background noise that exists in any recording.
scratch disk The disk or disk space you allocate in Final Cut Pro for digital video ingest and editing, as well as for the storage of a project’s render files. script A set of instructions that performs a specific function, similar to programming. FXScript allows you to create custom scripts for use in Final Cut Pro. You can use FXscript to create custom filters, transitions, and generators. scrub To move through a clip or sequence with the aid of the playhead.
shuttle To drag the slider on the shuttle control to the right to fast-forward and to the left to rewind. Playback speed varies depending on the distance of the slider from the center of the control. shuttle control The slider control located at the bottom of the Viewer and the Canvas. This control is useful for continuous playback at different speeds, in fast and slow motion. It also shifts the pitch of audio as it plays at varying speeds.
SOT (sound on tape) Audio recorded on analog or digital video formats (audio and video). sound bite Typically a short excerpt from an interview clip, as used on news shows. sound effects Specific audio material, such as the sound of a door closing or a dog barking, from effects libraries or from clips you recorded. Sound effects can be used to replace sounds in the location audio of a program, or to add sound that wasn’t originally recorded.
splits A method of delivering an audio mix of programs destined for foreign language distribution, typically using a multitrack audio recorder. Separate mixes for dialogue, music, and sound effects are recorded to separate pairs of audio tracks to make redubbing the dialogue and remixing it back together easier. static region An area in a sequence in the Timeline that you lock so that it is visible even when you scroll to see other tracks. It can contain audio tracks, video tracks, or both.
S-Video A high-quality video signal for high-end consumer video equipment. The image looks sharper and has better color than composite video because S-Video sends the color and brightness information separately, keeping the signals cleaner. Most low-cost analog-to-digital video interfaces use S-Video as their highest-quality video signal. Also known as Y/C. swap edit See shuffle edit.
thumb tabs (1) Small tabs between the audio and video scroll bars in the Timeline that define separate groups of audio or video tracks with their own scroll bars. For example, if you have more audio tracks than video tracks, you can use the thumb tabs between your audio and video scroll bars to allocate more space to your audio tracks. (2) Small tabs on either side of the Zoom slider that you drag to zoom in to or out of a sequence in the Timeline.
tracks Layers in the Timeline that contain audio or video clip items in a sequence. Also refers to the separate audio and video tracks on tape or within media files. Final Cut Pro allows up to 99 video and 99 audio tracks to be used in a single sequence. track strips In the Audio Mixer, each audio track in the currently selected sequence is represented by a track strip, complete with solo and mute buttons, a stereo panning slider, and a level fader.
VDU Abbreviation for Video Disk Unit. This is a FireWire disk recorder that uses a hard disk drive as its recording media. The drive attaches directly to professional-quality DVCAM camcorders through FireWire and is capable of recording up to 3 hours of video/audio signals in parallel with tape recording. Vectorscope A window in Final Cut Pro that graphically displays the color components of a video signal, precisely showing the range of colors in a video signal and measuring their intensity and hue.
VITC Stands for vertical interval timecode. Timecode that is written into the video signal on the source tapes as they’re being recorded. You can view this timecode as a series of changing, flickering white dots and line segments in one of the scan lines above the active picture on a monitor in underscan or pulse-cross mode. When viewed normally, the line containing the timecode is off the top of the screen.
wipe A transition in which a geometric or grayscale gradient is used to transition between two clips. wipe pattern One of several standard SMPTE wipe transitions recognized by EDLs. Because the EDL format continues to reflect the simplicity of older systems, many Final Cut Pro transitions have no equivalent in a given EDL format. Therefore, during the EDL export process, these new transitions are automatically mapped to the closest approximate SMPTE standard wipe pattern.
zoom level The level at which the Viewer, Canvas, or Timeline is magnified. You can adjust the level of precision of your editing by setting the zoom level. For example, by zooming in on the Timeline, you can make changes to a clip’s individual frames. Conversely, you can zoom all the way out to see the entire project and work on very large sections at once. Zoom slider The slider control that appears at the bottom of the Timeline.
