Blog Archives

Preference settings have changed in FCP 5. This article shows you how to optimize your setting to get the most from your editing system.

Apple changed the algorythms FCP uses for scaling and rotation for FCP 5. This explains what the changes are, how to use them and how to convert to the new settings.

With FCP 5’s support for HDV, you need to change the size of images you import. Here are new scan numbers you should use.

As you know, most versions of Final Cut Pro are tied to work best with certain versions of QuickTime. However, as time passes, it gets harder and harder to remember all the different permutations. Here’s a quick link to a website that has the answers.

When I was writing my first book on Final Cut Pro a few years ago, I developed a nine-step editing workflow that answered the question: “What should I be doing right now?” However, over the years, I’ve learned more and Apple has released new software, so this nine-step process has become a bit outdated. Today I want to revisit and update it. Especially for editors that are new, or just getting back into the industry, my hope is that in following these steps, you’ll have a better way to keep track of what you should be doing “right now.”

Video is hard enough to understand. Throw in fields, frames, field order, and interlacing and it’s enough to make you cry. In this article, I explain what you need to know to successfully navigate around the land mines.

By default, Final Cut only displays one field of video – this makes images much easier to view while editing. But, sometimes, you need to see both fields. This very, very short article explains exactly what you need to know.

This technique describes an interesting effect combining a traveling matte and a pond ripple filter which allows you to color an effect as it moves across the screen.

Over the last few versions, Apple has added new options in Final Cut Pro that make finding clips a lot easier. In this Technique, I want to show you what some of them are. Whether you are looking for clips in the Viewer, the Browser, or the Timeline, here are some very cool, and little known, techniques.

A quick technique to use when you need to find a specific clip.

Here’s a secret technique that allows you to add the default transition to any number of selected clips in the timeline — all at the same time!

The world of HD is awash in incompatible formats. Worse, it has eight different frame rates. And selecting the wrong frame rate in After Effects can make your video uneditable in Final Cut Pro. This article explains what you need to know.

Three of the most powerful keyboard shortcuts in Final Cut Pro are blocked because OS X uses the same three keys differently. This article shows you how to remap the OS shortcuts to release the power in Final Cut.

How do you capture the screens from a game. There are a number of screen capture utilities on the market. This article explains which works best on the Mac for capturing a game.

I discovered this technique to be very useful when I want to make a shot-by-shot comparison between an existing movie and a sequence.

This tutorial shows you how to create a glowing lantern effect in Final Cut Pro using the Light-rays Glow filter and some video generators. It isn’t fine art, but this will show you how to create some amazing effects, easily, on your own system.Easy, I thought… use Light Rays.

Looking for different ways to add some excitement to your transitions? This article explains a little understood transition in Final Cut that provides some truly exciting, and unusual, transitions.

Have you ever wondered what that thin green line means at the top of some of your audio clips? Well, this short article let’s you in on the secret.

Handles are critical for transitions and trimming. In this article, discover what handles are and why they are necessary.

HDV uses rectangular pixels to represent its image. Each pixel is short and fat, which means it only needs 1440 pixels to represent an entire line of HD video. However, the computer (and some other video formats) use square pixels to represent the image. So, when you export from HDV to a QuickTime movie, Final Cut converts the pixels from rectangles to squares.

By definition, all DVDs are only standard-def (SD). If you need high-def, you need to create Blu-ray Discs, which are not the same thing. But what if you want to take HD material and put it on a DVD? You need to convert it. And this article, describes how.

If you’d rather use Preview as your default Final Cut Help Viewer, this article tells you where to find your help files and how to change them.

Probably no subject generates more email than questions about the best way to prepare still for both HD and SD. In this article, David Scott provides this step-by-step approach to making your stills look great. (Note: For a video tutorial on this subject, CLICK HERE)

Here is a very slick technique to find audio in your sequence that’s distorting. It won’t fix it — but it will find it; and much, much faster than real-time.

One of the most complex steps in video editing is getting your computer-based images to look good in video. This article explains how video images are different from computer images and what you need to do to make them look great.

Final Cut Pro allows you to import text into a text clip, which allows you to write your text in one place, then display it in Final Cut. The problem is, that importing doesn’t always work properly. This article describes the problem and provides a solution.

Not everyone needs HD. However, HD can make reframing a lot easier — especially when it is integrated into an SD timeline. This article provides an example of how this is done.

Here’s a technique you can use to create multiple keyframes in multiple clips at the same time with a single mouse click. Then, I’ll show you how to get more control over the keyframes you set.

The bigger a project gets, the more critical it is to get it organized. In this article, two readers suggest ways you can use to get your projects under control.

As we move more and more into a tapeless workflow, I realized that new editors may not know how to record a project back to video-tape; a process called “lay-back”. So, this brief article tells you what you need know, as well as how to structure your sequence for tape.

Sometimes, you need to change the color of part of an image (like a car or sculpture), but not all of it. Or you want everything black and white, except one thing. This article shows you how.

It drives me nuts! The Link Selection tool is right there in the Timeline. But using it is likely to slip your audio and video out of sync. There’s a better way, and this article explains it.

Final Cut allows you to connect an unrelated audio clip with a video clip, using either Link or Merge. This article describes how and how to select the right one.

When you press the backslash key, Final Cut loops around the current position of the Playhead. This article explains how to change the amount of time plays during this loop.

I got burned by this when I was prepping my most recent webinar for posting. My audio slowly slipped out of sync. I hate when that happens. What I discovered is that the Soundtrack Pro sample rate preference setting overrides the sample rate of the Final Cut Pro project, resulting in a slow sync drift that will drive you nuts. This article explains what you need to know to fix it.

In researching my up-coming seminar series, I was studying LiveType and discovered two ideas which I want to share with you.

Michael Murray wrote in with a question about how to export a Final Cut Pro HD sequence for use in LiveType; which led me to think about one of the truly time-saving features of FCP HD — round-tripping.

This technique is very useful when you need to find the video that goes with the audio, or the audio that goes with the video.

Sometimes, simply color-balancing is not enough, you need to make the same object or person look the same between two different shots. This article explains how.

Here are three quick ways to determine the duration of a clip or a gap.

Sometimes, in spite of all your best efforts, you need to use Media Manager to delete media you no longer need. This article walks you through every step to help you avoid disaster.

Just because the ProAps are no longer top-of-mind at Apple does not mean they are dead. Or dying. They just aren’t the darlings they used to be. And many of us are feeling the lack of love.

The latest versions of Final Cut Pro, Motion, and DVD Studio Pro were announced, along with a brand new application: Soundtrack Pro 2. This article gives you a behind-the-scenes look at what’s new.

Gary Freedline sent me a long screed decrying missing features in Final Cut Pro. However, in reading it, I realized that many of them are already there if you know where to look. This article points the way.

The way a monitor wall works is that you send it a full-screen feed for each camera or image you want it to display. It will then composite them into a single display. This gives you the highest image quality and the ability to zoom one of the images full-screen.

Final Cut Server is out, but what does it really do? In this article, we take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of the product. Server has a lot of power, but it isn’t for everyone — this article helps you decide for yourself.

Frame offset was invented to allow you to compensate for the delays between your computer and an external device, like a deck. Here is how it works and why you should care.

Apple, on April 18, 2004, announced the latest version of Final Cut. Larry attended the event and files this report, then updated it in June with more information direct from Apple.

QuickTime does not always properly display 16:9 video. This means that iDVD may not accurately compress your video in the correct image aspect ratio. This article explains what you need to do to fix this problem.

There are two categories of edits inside Final Cut Pro — Insert and Overwrite. This article describes what they are, when to use them and faster ways to get them done.