Blog Archives

A quick explanation of what the two performance playback preference settings control in Final Cut Pro X.

Four light effects in Final Cut Pro X to add visual interest: vignette, spot, shadows, artifacts.

General Errors in Final Cut Pro 7 (and earlier) are often caused by either bad clips or bad render files. This article explains how to fix them.

The purpose of the Limiter filter in FCP X is to make soft audio louder while preventing the louder passages from distorting (which happens when audio levels exceed 0 dB). In fact, when used properly, the Limiter filter virtually guarantees that your audio won’t distort; as this article explains.

The best way to improve the quality of your picture is to improve the quality of your sound. However, what that means in real-life is moving files from your video editing software into audio editing software.

Final Cut Pro X provides a very easy way to match audio between clips. This is useful when you have recorded the same talent on different days using different mics.

Recently, I wrote about how to add video to a shape in Final Cut Pro 7 While adding video to shapes is reasonably easy in Final Cut Pro 7, it is almost impossible in FCP X. So, this week I decided to create a video tutorial on adding video to a shape in Final Cut Pro X.

Always check to see if Final Cut supports your camera before you buy it.

Is it possible to permanently link video and audio clips together? Larry teaches you how to create a Merged clip.

Are you getting the “render error: insufficient disk space” message? You just need to create more free space on your hard disk by deleting files you don’t need.

The easiest way to control editing audio or video to the Timeline is with the patch panel. However you can also use the Button List to search for shortcuts.

Stuttering, frozen display is one of the hallmarks of non-native video. FCP can edit it, but can’t play it smoothly.

Is it possible to carry custom Final Cut Pro keyboard shortcuts in a pen drive and install it on another machine? Here’s a technique to help you.

What is the best version of ProRes to use for HDV?

Which version of ProRes should you select in Log and Transfer for a Canon 7D? Which is better for the Canon 7D format?

Larry walks you through looping a DVD, along with reader feedback on how to make those loops seamless.

These two options are designed to solve problems when the clip, or image, you are editing into the Timeline does not match the sequence size.

I’ve become increasingly concerned as I talk with producers, editors, and vendors that we are rapidly moving into a tapeless environment without any realistically priced options for long-term media archiving.

Here are two techniques that make a big difference to me when I am working with effects: Remove Attributes and Paste Attributes.

Compressor automatically generates log DPX files. Is there a way to create linear DPX files?

Troubles with logging? Check the Reel column in the browser.

Larry answers some questions regarding the different codecs that Final Cut Express captures vs. Final Cut Pro, as well as fielding a question on audio waveforms.

Welcome to the latest edition of my monthly Final Cut Studio newsletter for December, 2011. This newsletter provides tutorials, tips and other information essential to the interested user of Final Cut Pro.

Here’s a quick effect to create a “pull quote” using the Motion tab in Final Cut Pro.

Apple rewrote both the Constant and Variable Speed change interface for FCP 7. In this technique learn how to create speed changes using FCP 7.

A clip collision generally occurs when you are trimming. Specifically, when you are ripple trimming.

This is a very fast way to edit multiple camera angles into the Timeline in FCP 7 – without using multi-clips.

When trying to sync audio to video using sub-frame slipping in the Viewer, a subscriber writes that Final Cut is setting a new In for his audio in the Sequence without actually slipping the Audio. This technique, which can be used in Final Cut Pro versions 4 through 7, explains how to adjust for this.

A subscriber recounts the difficulties, and the workaround that fixed them, he experienced with Buzz lines cropping up in a project.

A subscriber noticed that if there is a clip generator or any clip in a top track in the Timeline, the clip under the top track becomes invisible, making it impossible to edit using Playhead > Open Sync. He supplies three very helpful workarounds.

For those of you interested in a more technical look at the Broadcast Safe filter, Dennis Couzin, technical assistant to a video documentarian based in Germany, sent me the following article that he wrote.

I am not a fan of Capture Now, however, for some formats Capture Now is the best option. I like the workflow one subscriber suggests in this article.

In this article a subscriber would like to change the name of a clip in a sequence in the Timeline without having to change the original source file. We take a look at the options (making a clip independent, using subclips, etc).

Inevitably, adding too many FireWire devices will cause problems. In this article we discuss some things to think about to keep your system running smoothly and avoid, at all costs, the dreaded “beach ball” .

A subscriber, creating titles for a 16×9 movie that will go to SD DVD, writes in asking whether he keep his text in a 4×3 title safe grid. In response, we look at how Title Safe is defined.

In this article we examine Final Cut’s usage of multiple processors to enhance rendering speed, the possible alternatives, and more.

Creating markers for H.264 is exactly the same as creating markers for a DVD. In this article we examine the technique to do just that.

Growing out of a topic originally posted on our Facebook page, this article serves as a summary of our subscribers’ biggest challenges with the industry’s reliance on tapeless video.

Two excellent questions by an editor/subscriber, L. Blake Baldwin, involving why the Master Gain defaults to .51, and also when to use a +3dB audio transition instead of a dB audio transition. We examine and answer both.

In this article we give a quick examination of how to upsize an original 4:3 sequence into a 16:9 timeline.

In this article we discuss the limitations of using the keyboard to target audio track numbering above 9, and the keyboard shortcut for the lower track numbers is demonstrated.

A clever trick for working around Final Cut’s resetting of transitions is supplied by subscriber, Richard Day, using a temporarily set up dummy edit.

An editor’s interest in “cleaning up” some audio clips is a joy to answer, and very useful info to have.

Larry weighs in on the issue of selecting between the Animation codec and ProRes 4444, following a subscriber’s question regarding importing files into Final Cut.

In addressing a subscriber’s question we look at what makes 3D work, what’s required to best create the desired effect in Motion and what makes them difficult.

A subscriber and previous contributor returns with another great tip about operating the Compressor from the command line and advises to limit the number of your batches to a few hundred compressions.

Formats like HDV and XDCAM are compressed using MPEG-2 which is very hard to edit accurately. So, Final Cut Pro converts it invisibly in a process called “conforming”.

Here are a series of thoughts I jotted down during the presentations at DGA Digital Day, specifically during a long session devoted to 3D video.

In answering a subscriber’s questions regarding working with three different formats we examine issues like selecting the best codec to use, converting frame rates, and more.

In this article we examine how SmoothCam is processor-dependent, faster computers working this program more quickly, and recommend a couple of options to speed up the process without upgrading your system.