Blog Archives

This detailed analysis looks at how to create graphics on your computer that look “right” on FCP. It’s a detailed look at the difference between square and non-square pixels.

If you edit multiple cameras and spend time creating multiclips, you need to check into a new utility for Final Cut Pro called “PluralEyes.” This software vastly simplifies the process of syncing and building multiclips — especially when there are breaks in the timecode. This article shows you how to use it.

Creating keys on the computer is easy – and they look great. Where problems occur is when those specials effects are shot with interlaced video and displayed on an interlaced TV set or monitor. This article describes how to avoid suddenly discovering that all your effects look out of focus.

What’s the best way to position text in Final Cut Pro, and why does the position shift as you change justification? This short article explains the why and how.

There’s a right way and a wrong way to position text in Final Cut Pro to get the highest quality. This article explains what you need to know.

Not all video is, um, video. In many cases, we need to integrate PowerPoint or Keynote slides into our video projects. This article explains what you need to know to make this work successfully.

Sigh… There’s nothing quite like death by PowerPoint slides. Still, many times we need to incorporate them into our productions. Here’s what you need to know to help them look as good as they can. (Oh, and by the way, do EVERYTHING you can to reduce the text they contain!)

Judging by my email, handling still images is by far the most confusing part of editing video — especially because the computer creates images using square pixels and video uses rectangular pixels, in a variety of shapes. This article explains everything you need to know to create great looking still images for your next video project.

The Primatte RT keyer, which ships with both Motion and Final Cut Pro, is a nice keyer, but it has problems with hair and transparency. In this review/technique, I show you how to use the big brother to the RT filter: Primatte Keyer Pro 4 to key a model who has lots and lots of big, bouncy, hair!

Print to Video is your best choice when outputting to tape. However, some people find really ingenious ways to avoid it. This article describes what it is, along with a discussion of self-contained vs. reference QuickTime movies.

A good question regarding soundtrack transfer is submitted in this article and Larry explains the problem with how scripts process – or fail to process – clips

QMaster allows you to combine multiple computers into a render farm to make video compression run faster. It also allows you to combine multiple processors on one computer to compress video faster. One of these choices works MUCH better than the other. This article explains what you need to know.

Last month, I wrote about how to use QuickTime 7 to add audio to video. Since then, I’ve gotten several comments from people that own OS X 10.6 that they don’t have QuickTime 7 on their system.

A reader questions why the Quicktime quality of his sequences are soft when he exports them as a mov.

Ripping a DVD, which means to convert it into something that Final Cut Pro can edit, can be done a number of ways. However, not all of them yield the best quality. This article explains what you need to know to convert your DVD footage into something that can be edited, while still looking good.

Here’s a technique you can use to slightly modify a voice so that it is no longer recognizable, yet still understandable. This is useful for disguising speakers, or commercial effects.

RAIDs (Redundant Array of Independent Drives) are high-speed, big-storage products designed for video editing. However, they are often described using arcane terms like RAID 0, 1, 3, 5, and so on. This short article describes what those terms mean.

Lots has been written about the benefits – or lack thereof – in shooting 24 fps video. Here’s a quick look at a complex subject.

You have probably used Final Cut’s audio mixer to mix your audio tracks in real-time. Did you know you can do the same thing with audio filters? This technique shows you how.

Final Cut Pro is, most often, used for editing after the recording is complete. However, there are some situations where you need to record live and edit as soon as you can. This article talks about that and provides options to consider. There’s also some relevant reader feedback.

Tony asked an interesting question: what’s the difference between RED and DSLR cameras for shooting video. Good question. So I asked two experts: Philip Hodgetts and Noah Kadner. This article provides their answers.

Soundtrack Pro has the amazing ability to reduce the background noise in a clip – like air conditioners or other machine noise. In this tutorial, I’ll show you a step-by-step procedure you can use to reduce the noise in your audio. (Note: For a video tutorial of this process, click here.)

Nothing is more critical than making sure your reel numbers (or names) are correct before capturing video. This explains how to fix them when you forget.

Addressing the problem of digital media “evaporating” when a hard drive is powered down and stored on a shelf, with additional advice from Bob Gobeille, who originally provided the terminal script to fix this problem.

Sometimes, especially when merging clips, you get more audio tracks in a Final Cut Pro timeline than you want. This article describes a couple of different ways you can get rid of them.

It’s happened to all of us. We created an effect that looked great at the time, but now, after a night’s rest, we hate it. Here are two techniques you can use to remove all the filters from selected clips.

Final Cut creates render files for all transitions, effects, and audio mixes. This article explains what you need to know to keep these files under control and recover hard disk space at the end of a project.

Tracking and removing render files is easy — when you know how the Render Manager works. This tutorial shows you how.

Recently, I got an email from John Bertram, an editor in Toronto, on why metadata support is crucial to the next generation of Final Cut Pro.

I ran into an interesting problem over the weekend that I want to share with you because the solution is more complex than at first blush. Here’s the problem: I was asked to create a video for posting on line. The video had two components: me on camera talking, and screen shots, both of which were different sizes and formats. This article describes the process of creating a single, compressed file composed of multiple format video.

When you are working with multiple tracks of video, trimming clips on several tracks at once is essential. This article shows you how to trim multiple tracks quickly and accurately.

Steve Gagne sent in a question that sparked this tutorial. He was dissolving between chroma-key shots and in the middle of each dissolve, the foreground clip color-shifted to green. He thought this could be fixed using nests, but needed some help in figuring out how.

Confused about what size to create your images? This article explains what image size to use so they import correctly into Final Cut Pro HD.

In this article I discuss the criteria I use in judging which camera to buy, as well as factors that may not be that critical in making the decision.

In this article, various problems with playback are addressed and answered.

Larry diagnoses a subscriber’s problems with burning DVDs and makes recommendations (altering compression bit-rates, etc.) towards finding a solution.

When compressing an H.264 file, whether in QuickTime, Final Cut Pro, or Compressor, an option you may see is called “Frame Reordering.” This article explains, briefly, what it is and when you should use it.

Nothing drives us more nuts than having to wait for our systems to render transitions and effects. Reader Don Smith sent in this technique for reducing the time you spend waiting for Final Cut Pro to render.

JPEGs are highly compressed, which means they often show blockiness or other image artifacts. However, they tend to have smaller file sizes. TIFFs are uncompressed with great image quality. However, their file sizes tend to be lots bigger. All things being equal, I recommend using TIFFs.

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.

With the release of Final Cut Pro 7, we got a new export menu option – Send. In this article, I take a first look at the differences between Share, Send, and Export; and explain which one to 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.

The issue of converting to ProRes is addressed along with a walk-through of the pros and cons of the different version.

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.”

Apple released Final Cut Studio (3) on July 23, 2009. This is a quick look at the announcement and an exclusive interview with Richard Townhill, Director of Video Application Marketing for Apple, about the new software suite.

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.

“Interlacing” is a term that confuses many people. This article explains what it is, how to work with it, and how to remove it in both video and stills.

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.