I was thinking about multicams this morning. I had just finished editing my DaVinci Resolve Multicam webinar, so multicam editing was on my mind. I was pondering the differences between multicam in the three NLEs I know the best – Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve. It probably won’t surprise you that the answer is: “It depends…”
Your project is complete – except you need to burn captions into your video. This process is surprisingly easy in Apple Final Cut Pro – but darn hard to find. Here’s how to do it.
Sometimes, creating a custom effect can save you a lot of time – especially if you need to use it over and over. So, here’s an example of how to create a template in Motion, using a variety of useful Motion effects, that you can use directly in Apple Final Cut Pro. (I included both the movie and the Motion project.)
This was a fun project! I decided to compare how accurately Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve handle tracking shape masks used for color correction. I also included movies so you can judge the results for …
Guest post: Dr. Imed Bouchrika, PhD and BSc, is a Computer Science professor from the University of Southampton, UK, who specializes in eLearning, image processing, and biometrics. (Here are Larry’s rules for guest posts.) Implementing efficient export workflows can save …
Joel asks: “I want the logo to enlarge, eventually getting to the point where a single letter fills the screen, and at the same time, the logo area gradually becomes the concert video. How do I do this?” There are at least three ways. Here’s an illustrated approach to all three.
Droplets are great stand-alone mini-apps. Watch folders are fast Compressor automations. Both can speed your work by automating the process of doing the same thing over and over Here’s how they work and which to pick for your work.
Saturation and vibrance control the amount of color in an image. What’s the difference between them and which should you use? This tutorial shows how to use them for video.
Earlier this week, I wrote an article on how to move media stored in a Library out of that library. But, since writing it, I discovered a much faster way to do this – and one that works both ways. Here’s what you need to know.
Final Cut provides four interface workspaces, and supports an unlimited number more. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to access workspaces, how to customize them, then how to apply a Finder shortcut to make them instantly accessible.
There is a LOT you can do to customize the Viewer in Final Cut Pro. And it all starts with discovering what the View menu can do.
In this video tutorial, discover how to make the most of Browser settings, including better ways to organize files, create custom metadata, and create projects faster and more easily.
In this tutorial, see how to convert a Final Cut Pro library from one where all the media is stored in the Library to one where all the media is stored external to the library.
AI is causing seismic tremors of fear and loathing throughout the entire creative community. In this short snippet, Sam Bogoch, Founder/CEO of Axle AI, describes what media creators can do to protect their work. There are real threats and real opportunities – and the pace is only going to speed up.
AI is causing seismic tremors of fear and loathing throughout the entire creative community. In this short snippet, Sam Bogoch, Founder/CEO of Axle AI, explains to Larry Jordan whether it’s possible for AI to be trained without violating copyrights or stealing the creative work of others?
AI is causing seismic tremors of fear and loathing throughout the entire creative community. In this short snippet, Sam Bogoch, Founder/CEO of Axle AI, shares his thoughts with Larry Jordan on whether there are any applications where AI can enable us to get our work done, as opposed to replace us?
Artificial intelligence is causing seismic tremors of fear and loathing throughout the entire creative community. So this week I decided to find out what’s real, what’s hype, and what we can do about it by interviewing Sam Bogoch, Founder/CEO of Axle AI.
A question I get all the time is: “How do I import just a section of a clip? The original is really long and I don’t want to waste disk space.”
Regardless of the video editing software (NLE) you use, the answer is not initially encouraging: “You can’t. Here’s why.
Roles can now display different colors in an Apple Final Cut Pro 10.8 timeline. This new technique also provides a super-powerful, secret selection trick that can help organize complex projects, and apply effects. This is a trick worth knowing.
Looking for reputable video or audio plugins that “the pro’s use?” Recently Larry Jordan surveyed his audience to learn the answer to that question. Here are the results.
Not all slow motion looks the same. In this short video, Larry Jordan illustrates the four different ways to create slow motion – including the brand new Smooth Slo-mo in Final Cut Pro 10.8 – and the different looks each of these options create.
In this short video, Larry Jordan shows how to improve the look of your video using the new Color Adjustments effect in Apple Final Cut Pro 10.8.
HDR is quickly transforming from the video format of the future into the video format of today. In fact, every iPhone 12 or later can shoot HDR. In this short video, Larry Jordan shows how to setup and edit HDR media in two Final Cut Pro projects, one is HDR and the other is SDR.
The 10.8 update extended the number of ways we can organize timelines in Final Cut Pro to three. This tutorial shows you the options, their strengths and weaknesses and how to create them.
It is always good to know your audience. So, in July, 2024, I created a survey to learn more about the readers of my “Edit Smarter” weekly newsletter – and, more generally, the tools used by professional media creators. Here are key results.
How do lists sort in Apple Final Cut Pro? If you don’t understand the importance of column headers, you can get some confusing results. Here are the details.
Andy Wilson asked an interesting question recently. He wrote: “I shoot outdoors in sunlight in HDR on my iPhone 13 Pro Max (so nothing gets overexposed) and edit on a SDR timeline for publication to the web. I find that …
New effects features in the 10.8 update to Final Cut Pro, when combined with existing effects features, can make your post-production life faster and more consistent. These include renaming custom effects and building effects presets.
Regardless of which NLE you use for media editing, you’ve probably suffered through the hassle of relinking media. This tutorial explains what caused it, how to fix it, and how to prevent it in the future.
In this tutorial, I tested different export options to see which is the fastest way to create an H.264 or HEVC compressed file from a Final Cut Pro project. Several results surprised me.
This week, Apple released Final Cut Pro 10.8. While this significant upgrade contains multiple new features and lots of fixes, here are the key features and how to use them.
Apple Final Cut Pro 10.8 no longer supports DVD burning. However, Apple and Corel teamed up to provide a 50% discount to Roxio Toast for all FCP users. Here are the details.
This week, Apple released updates for Final Cut Pro (Mac & iPad), Compressor and Motion. Here are all the details of the June, 2024 updates.
As I was writing about using Auditions in Final Cut Pro to compare different audio clips, I started wondering whether we could use auditions to compare different visual effects. The answer is that we can, but the process is not intuitive. Here’s how this works.
Auditions are a little-understood feature in Apple Final Cut Pro which quickly allow instant comparisons between clips. While comparing video clips is probably the most common use, even more helpful is using Auditions to compare audio clips. Here’s how.
Understanding what video scopes tell us about our images is essential to creating great looking images; regardless of which video editing software you are using. In this article, I explain the basics of the waveform monitor and vectorscope, how to read them and how they affect color correction.
The TourBox Elite (and its sister TourBox Lite) are well-built control surfaces designed to make using creative applications faster and easier. The hardware will last for years. But their tutorials and “Getting Started” documentation need a lot of work.
There you are, immersed in creating your next epic – Ghost King Arising – when you are struck by a thought. “What, exactly, does a ghost king sound like?” Here are two audio effects in Apple Final Cut Pro – Alien and Spectral Gate – that you can use to answer that question.
Apple updated Final Cut Pro for both iPad and Mac last week. While it looks like the iPad version got all the love, there’s more to the story – beneath the surface.
Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how we shot interviews at the 2024 NAB Show. This includes gear, people and process.
This is a video interview with Simon Fearn, Chief Technology Office of Marquis. He explains Marquis Medway and how it is central to many news, production and live video acquisition workflows, their latest releases for NAB, and describes the trends they are watching in media this year.
Michael Cioni, founder of Strada, premieres Strada, an AI-assisted, cloud-based, subscription media search and management tool which enables video editors to do more – faster.
Here’s a list of the companies we are interviewing at the 2024 NAB Show along with links to watch them.
Last week, I asked readers to write about web services they found useful in video editing. Here are two reports on what works.
CommandPost is an indispensable tool for Final Cut Pro. One of its key features enables a scrolling timeline. However, this feature can conflict with the latest version of Final Cut. Here’s what you need to know.
In today’s world of digital video, the Broadcast Safe effect (or Video Limiter in Premiere) is gathering dust in a corner. But, there is a BIG benefit to using it when you have a lighting problem to solve, as this tutorial illustrates. This trick works for all the major NLEs.
The shift towards more complex projects requires reevaluating rendering solutions. Integrating cloud-based render farms into VFX workflows requires careful planning and execution. Here’s a detailed guide to ensure a successful transition.
In this short video, Larry Jordan shows how to create and motion track a shape mask to change the color of objects in a frame. He also shows how and why to use the Broadcast Safe effect.
Masks hide things – even in video. In this short tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to use shape masks and color masks to change the color of objects in a video.
In this short video, I show how to change the color of a single object in a frame. This is called a “secondary color correction.”
