NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2003

Matt Stahley · January 27th, 2003, 08:09 PM

Just received this in the mail today. It has very short interviews but they are very interesting definitely worth the free price tag!

John Kaye · January 27th, 2003, 09:44 PM

I posted a link about photoshop before and Jeff was kind enough to send me a tutorial link about it. I'm trying to do the Main Titles and end titles for my Documentary.
The book "Final Cut Pro 3 And The ARt Of Filmmaking" says FCP can not handle more than 10 Layers. The Tutorial (a reprint from KenStone's page) says nothing about that. I have a photoshop file with 25 layers. The book says to create the pixel ratio at 720X540, rasterize the layers and then resize to 720X480. The tutorial says to change the height settings from 534 to 480 and leave width at 720 (something the book does not even mention.) One source says to save as .PSD. Another says to save as Targa!?
I transferred my photoshop layers into FCP and the titles were jagged and looked very amaturish. I hit the book and the tutorial again looking for solutions: the book says in order to avoid such problem I need to make sure the colors are set for NTSC monitor by changing the setting for each layer (the tutorial doe snot even mention that unless I missed it?. Maybe I did. I'm highly stressed out anyway :) So I did that and discovered that a rasterized .PSD file is not being accepted at FCP!. Whenever I try to Import the rastorized file it gives me an error message saying: not enough memory. I have 89.9 GB left on my hard drive and when I Import the regular (unrasterized) .psd file it gets imported fine into my Browser (with jagged edges around the titles.)
I am going NUTS. My deadline is this Friday to submit my documentary to 5 festivals. Can Anyone help? Or at least tell me what is wrong with what I am doing? Is there a way you can walk me through the process? I can call you anywhere in the States. Any help you can dispense is GREATLY appreciated. Please HELP.
Thanks :)

Vito Zarrillo · January 27th, 2003, 09:45 PM

Great. Thanks a lot Kirk for your help. I will go down to the Apple Store tomorrow and pick one up.

Take care,
Vito Zarrillo

Alex Taylor · January 27th, 2003, 10:05 PM

Most cameras don't come with firewire cables, but all firewire cards do. At least, they should!

Jeff Donald · January 28th, 2003, 06:38 AM

What version of FCP and Photoshop are you using? How much ram is on your computer? If you don't know, go to the Apple menu in the upper left corner, select about this Mac and it will show you.

Jeff

John Locke · January 28th, 2003, 08:42 AM

Dang, Jeff! Another thing we expats can't get. Wouldn't want to forward yours over here when you're done with it, would you?

John Locke · January 28th, 2003, 08:55 AM

The error message you're getting is most probably due to a lack of RAM rather than HD space. What do you have? 512 probably? If you can juice that up to 1 GB that would take care of your memory problem.

As for the number of layers, is it absolutely necessary to have that many layers? Are you animating all of them? If certain elements will appear simultaneously, just merge those layers together.

John Kaye · January 28th, 2003, 06:16 PM

It is a Sony Trinitron Model # CVM-1271 color receiver monitor BNC line in Composite. Trying to get from my FCP timeline tp the DV cam Firewire and then from Dv cam to Monitor via Rca cables. What Kind of a Video Capture card do I need for OSX That has Composite and S-Video in/out.

Jeff Donald · January 28th, 2003, 10:22 PM

You use the monitor hooked up to view the video footage being passed through your camera. You use the color controls in FCP to make adjustments. The monitor is used to evaluate your adjustments for accuracy. The images on a computer monitor will not match the images on a NTSC monitor. Why do you need an analog capture device?

John Kaye · January 29th, 2003, 12:12 AM

Well, o.k. What do I need to do? I was able to get the image from FCP onto the Monitor by using teh camera as a medium in between. But whenever I do that some cuts become renderless (red line above the cut) and when I disconnect the camera and start FCP again, the red line dissapears and I get my renders back.! Weird huh!
To simplify it, do you have any solution on how I can see FCP timeline playing on the NTSC monitor so I can judge the color correcion I do?

January 29th, 2003, 12:14 AM

I installed an Orange Micro FW/USB combo card into a Beige G3. I had no problems capturing or writing DV to my SONY TRV103. I haven't tried FCP.

John Kaye · January 29th, 2003, 12:26 AM

Well I spoke with Ken Stone (yup, I emailed him last night after being really desperate, and he was kind enough to give me his number to call him) and he explained to me that it was not the Ram or anything else but the fact that the Book that I bought, listed some wrong info about how to trasnfer photoshop files to FCP. Apparently, by adding an empty layer at the beg of the PSD file -as the book suggestes- will cause FCP to freak out and give the error message: not enough memory!. He told me to get rid of the empty layer and few other tips that exist on his tutorial at kenstone.net. I did just that this morning and it worked fine :)

Now, the only problem that I have is that the titles have jagged edge in FCP. They look SOLID when the playhead is placed on one frame. Not sure what his solution will be on this (he hasn't gotten back to me on this.) If you guys know of any solution don't hesitate to reply. Thanks to all of you and your kind replies :)

January 29th, 2003, 12:43 AM

As far as the 'file format' of miniDV, digital 8 and DVCAM, they are the same. I move freely between these three formats, going in and out of iMovie and FCP.

Jeff Donald · January 29th, 2003, 07:36 AM

I use a 1 pixel motion blur on the text, as suggested in Tom Wolsky's tutorial.

Jeff Donald · January 29th, 2003, 07:42 AM

In your A/V settings make sue your set to view external video, CMD + F12.

January 27th, 2003, 09:44 PM	#62
John Kaye Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: L.A. Posts: 57	Help Help Help I posted a link about photoshop before and Jeff was kind enough to send me a tutorial link about it. I'm trying to do the Main Titles and end titles for my Documentary. The book "Final Cut Pro 3 And The ARt Of Filmmaking" says FCP can not handle more than 10 Layers. The Tutorial (a reprint from KenStone's page) says nothing about that. I have a photoshop file with 25 layers. The book says to create the pixel ratio at 720X540, rasterize the layers and then resize to 720X480. The tutorial says to change the height settings from 534 to 480 and leave width at 720 (something the book does not even mention.) One source says to save as .PSD. Another says to save as Targa!? I transferred my photoshop layers into FCP and the titles were jagged and looked very amaturish. I hit the book and the tutorial again looking for solutions: the book says in order to avoid such problem I need to make sure the colors are set for NTSC monitor by changing the setting for each layer (the tutorial doe snot even mention that unless I missed it?. Maybe I did. I'm highly stressed out anyway :) So I did that and discovered that a rasterized .PSD file is not being accepted at FCP!. Whenever I try to Import the rastorized file it gives me an error message saying: not enough memory. I have 89.9 GB left on my hard drive and when I Import the regular (unrasterized) .psd file it gets imported fine into my Browser (with jagged edges around the titles.) I am going NUTS. My deadline is this Friday to submit my documentary to 5 festivals. Can Anyone help? Or at least tell me what is wrong with what I am doing? Is there a way you can walk me through the process? I can call you anywhere in the States. Any help you can dispense is GREATLY appreciated. Please HELP. Thanks :)

January 27th, 2003, 10:05 PM	#64
Alex Taylor Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 390	Most cameras don't come with firewire cables, but all firewire cards do. At least, they should! __________________ alextaylor.org

January 28th, 2003, 06:38 AM	#65
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	What version of FCP and Photoshop are you using? How much ram is on your computer? If you don't know, go to the Apple menu in the upper left corner, select about this Mac and it will show you. Jeff __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

January 28th, 2003, 08:42 AM	#66
John Locke Retired DV Info Net Almunus Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Austin, TX USA Posts: 2,882	Dang, Jeff! Another thing we expats can't get. Wouldn't want to forward yours over here when you're done with it, would you? __________________ John Locke SursumFilms.com

January 28th, 2003, 08:55 AM	#67
John Locke Retired DV Info Net Almunus Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Austin, TX USA Posts: 2,882	The error message you're getting is most probably due to a lack of RAM rather than HD space. What do you have? 512 probably? If you can juice that up to 1 GB that would take care of your memory problem. As for the number of layers, is it absolutely necessary to have that many layers? Are you animating all of them? If certain elements will appear simultaneously, just merge those layers together. __________________ John Locke SursumFilms.com

January 27th, 2003, 08:09 PM	#61
Matt Stahley Major Player Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Waynesboro, PA Posts: 648	Just received this in the mail today. It has very short interviews but they are very interesting definitely worth the free price tag!

January 27th, 2003, 09:45 PM	#63
Vito Zarrillo New Boot Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: New York Posts: 21	Great. Thanks a lot Kirk for your help. I will go down to the Apple Store tomorrow and pick one up. Take care, Vito Zarrillo

January 28th, 2003, 06:16 PM	#68
John Kaye Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: L.A. Posts: 57	It is a Sony Trinitron Model # CVM-1271 color receiver monitor BNC line in Composite. Trying to get from my FCP timeline tp the DV cam Firewire and then from Dv cam to Monitor via Rca cables. What Kind of a Video Capture card do I need for OSX That has Composite and S-Video in/out.

January 28th, 2003, 10:22 PM	#69
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	You use the monitor hooked up to view the video footage being passed through your camera. You use the color controls in FCP to make adjustments. The monitor is used to evaluate your adjustments for accuracy. The images on a computer monitor will not match the images on a NTSC monitor. Why do you need an analog capture device? __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

January 29th, 2003, 12:12 AM	#70
John Kaye Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: L.A. Posts: 57	Well, o.k. What do I need to do? I was able to get the image from FCP onto the Monitor by using teh camera as a medium in between. But whenever I do that some cuts become renderless (red line above the cut) and when I disconnect the camera and start FCP again, the red line dissapears and I get my renders back.! Weird huh! To simplify it, do you have any solution on how I can see FCP timeline playing on the NTSC monitor so I can judge the color correcion I do?

January 29th, 2003, 12:14 AM	#71
Allen Irby Posts: n/a	I installed an Orange Micro FW/USB combo card into a Beige G3. I had no problems capturing or writing DV to my SONY TRV103. I haven't tried FCP.

January 29th, 2003, 12:26 AM	#72
John Kaye Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: L.A. Posts: 57	Well I spoke with Ken Stone (yup, I emailed him last night after being really desperate, and he was kind enough to give me his number to call him) and he explained to me that it was not the Ram or anything else but the fact that the Book that I bought, listed some wrong info about how to trasnfer photoshop files to FCP. Apparently, by adding an empty layer at the beg of the PSD file -as the book suggestes- will cause FCP to freak out and give the error message: not enough memory!. He told me to get rid of the empty layer and few other tips that exist on his tutorial at kenstone.net. I did just that this morning and it worked fine :) Now, the only problem that I have is that the titles have jagged edge in FCP. They look SOLID when the playhead is placed on one frame. Not sure what his solution will be on this (he hasn't gotten back to me on this.) If you guys know of any solution don't hesitate to reply. Thanks to all of you and your kind replies :)

January 29th, 2003, 12:43 AM	#73
Allen Irby Posts: n/a	As far as the 'file format' of miniDV, digital 8 and DVCAM, they are the same. I move freely between these three formats, going in and out of iMovie and FCP.

January 29th, 2003, 07:36 AM	#74
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	I use a 1 pixel motion blur on the text, as suggested in Tom Wolsky's tutorial. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

January 29th, 2003, 07:42 AM	#75
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	In your A/V settings make sue your set to view external video, CMD + F12. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors