Here's an interesting phenomenon that I've resolved, but it's annoying nonetheless.

On my timeline I have three shots, A B C.
All of them have render files associated with them (say titles).
I render them and the sequence ABC plays fine.
Then I decide to trim 4 frames from the tail of each.
I re-render and hit play. A starts to play fine, but then it begins playing part of B, then begins playing the beginning of A again, then B again (all the while the playhead is moving along normally). When it gets to C it starts to play it normally, but then begins playing part of D (sorry, let's assume there's a D too.)

This is extremely frustrating because there is nothing wrong with the way your timeline is edited. But even if you just park the playhead over the end of A, you'll see part of B where it shouldn't be.

What's happened is the render files have been nudged out of place by the trimming and were not corrected during re-rendering.

The solution is to go into your render files folder and drag them all to the trash (and empty it), go back into your project and re-render the whole thing.

Seems like a bug in the program, not a RAM or processor problem.

Does anyone in the forum use Shake, and if so do they have any suggestions on the best way to get a good introduction to it?

yeah, check out the apple pro series training book on it

shake doesn't have an "apple interface" so thats why its kind of confusing at first but once you know the principles of how it works, its as easy as final cut

I'm surprised FCP didn't tell you to rerender after you made those trims. That is usually what happens. I can not replicate this on my system. Any time I make a change (trim, extend, change the order) of a rendered clip in my timeline, I always have to rerender.

Cheers
Stephen Schleicher
www.mindspring.com/~schleicher

What version of FCP are you using Jonathan? Anything else you can tell us about your system would be beneficial as well.

i have some still images that will be used in an fcp timeline and exported to dvd for playback on a big screen tv. in photoshop should i scaled down the size of the images to 720x480 or leave them at the 5000xwhatever size that they are in now?

thanks

Hi Jerry, this topic has been covered before. Try searching FCP and Photoshop to get some additional thoughts and tips. Here is a good tutorial (http://www.lafcpug.org/tutorials/basic_ps.html) from the good folks at LAFCPUG. While you're at their site you might want to browse through their numerous tutorials on FCP.

Hi all,

I'm trying to edit on FCP with another person watching who's not at my place. I'd like him to be able to see my desktop while I work. Is there a freeware program that let's you watch someone's desktop in real time? We don't need to be able to edit remotely or anything...just view each others desktop.

Thank you!!!

Murph

The are various variants of VNC out there. It lets other people see and control your desktop kind of like they were sitting in front of the computer. However, you will be seriously limited by bandwidth on broadband. Full motion video is not going to look very good through VNC (very low frame rate).

I believe there is a mac version of VNC... I vaguely remember using it.

Maybe an alternative is to hook up your Mac to a PC so the PC can use Windows Media Encoder (free). WME is good at compressing video and it will only have to compress video, not the entire Mac desktop.

You *might* be able to hook your Mac up to a PC with a firewire cable if you can set both sides to have no deck control.

A setup that would work is:
Mac with FCP set to show video out through firewire
Camcorder/deck, hook up to TV/monitor for you
Another analog output ultimately goes to FCP.
You can have another camcorder/deck or a video capture card to capture the analog signal for WME.


This way your friend can watch the stream of the video that your camcorder/deck sees. They however will not be able to see material in the viewer.

If you have iSight, that might work. Although, I have seen posts that indicate issues with using iSight and FC together with a video camera hooked up via firewire (possible bandwidth issues using two firewire devices at the same time). Would need to search for it to confirm.

cheers,
Peter

How important is FCP performance while your mirroring the FCP interface? Does the mirroring need to to be in full resolution, 30FPS, full color etc?

Anyone use this analog adapter to view external monitor when editing on FCP 4?
I know they're "talking to each other" at least in some way because I am able to use the converter to take VHS to FCP but can't get the signal out so that I can view my timeline on the monitor/TV.
Thanks in advance,
GM

Although I have read the PDF manuals of Peak DV 3, I can't seem to fully understand what the "Dual Mono" feature exactly does. Is it that it allows you to import an audio file that is mono (one track), turn it into two identical tracks and then exported as a stereo file?

My second question is this: I have an audio file which consists of two mono, 16-bit tracks and need to have those tracks separated. Is there a way to have this done in Peak DV? How?

Thank you.

Dual mono is a single track, mono recording edited to two tracks (Dual). It is not stereo because it is only a mono recording. But it is placed on two separate channels so audio is heard out of the left and right speakers. If the tracks are mono they are separate, so I don't quite understand the second question.

Jeff, thank you for replying.

Let me try to rephrase my second question. I shot some footage with a pd150 and now am editing it on iMovie. Now, I recorded sound on both the left and the right channels. However, when I uploaded the footage on iMovie (v.2), both channels were imported on a single track because iMovie cannot import the two channels as separate tracks. So now I am wondering if I could import/open these single tracks on Peak DV and have it separated into two tracks, one for the left and one for the right channel. Am I making any sense?

Does anyone know a way to export a sound effect from imovie to fcp?

Thanks
Joe

Can't you do it via the Share (export) function?

Thanks Jeff, No, I had't thought of that. I gave it a try, but it seems that I've never opened a "mail" account on my mac. (I mostly use it just or the editing and only recently went online with it.) But once I get the mail account sorted you suggestion should work.

Thanks again
Joe

That wasn't what I had in mind Joe, let me be more specific. Go TO File>Share>Quicktime Tab>Expert Settings in Drop Down>Click Share Button>Pick a destination and select Sound to AIFF in Export Drop Down>Click Options Button>Set your audio settings to the bit depth and compression desired. Click OK and Click Save.

Hi all,

I've got some questions about education hardware and software from mac...

To start off - Yes, I am being pedantic, I do want to do the right thing - not just what I can get away with.

i called our apple help desk 133 MAC (Australia) and asked about restrictions on using education hardware software/hardware..
the answers i got concentrated on what i could get away with, rather what is actually right. not helpful.

It would seem, by my reading of the terms and conditions...

besides being a student, I must be "purchasing Product for your own personal, education and/or research use"

Q1) If I do PURCHASE the hardware/software for academic duties, and also use it for commercial projects (whether that be wesite design, financial spreadsheets for the business etc) is that infringing on the terms and conditions?

( i understand guilty mind, guilt act...but if i have no guilty mind, is the act of using it for commercial use AT ALL, an infringement?)

(on that note, I'd suspect that these limitations can't actually be enforced as its restraint of trade (in aus) but - if I'm going to buy something udner an agreement - i want to abide by it...)

Q2) what happens when I finish being a student - do the limitations change?

Q3) -Do the licenses that comes with mac software/hardware place additional restrictions on the user beyond the terms and conditions on the site (ie: I know microsoft software academic licenses (the ones I've read) state that the USER of the software must be a student/teach etc)


any advice on this area in general and experience y'all have in the area would be greatly appriciated..

I asked my Mac shop a few days ago a similar question. They said something about upgrading to full versions once you are no longer a student and want to start earning money from your software

Alan is right check out the Apple Pro book, as far what I have done
in Shake. I love it. To bad I never had time to finish the book and do more
Projects.

It's very powerful tool, what are you planning on doing and how high end?

Cause if it’s simply Compositing you might want to take a look in to Motion.
It's only 300 bucks.

Shaggy

I'm not sure the same restrictions apply in the US that apply in Australia and vice versa. The restrictions on the hardware in the US are limited to being a student or a family member of a student. The software license prohibits commercial (read make money) use and requires an upgrade to the full license when you're no longer a student.

Well I am currently learning After Effects and I already have Shake on my computer so I figure it would be a waste not to learn both of them. It just seems the resources for learning Shake are few in comparison to AE but from what I read Shake is pretty amazing.

The license is the only thing different as well. The EDU and non EDU versions are the same software.

I use one for monitoring. I feed it the firewire, then S-video and Audio go to a JVC-HR-S5901 VHS, then from there the video heads to an NTSC monitor (OK it's really a little 9" TV) and the audio to my main audio monitors.

When sending the video/audio OUT of the computer to the VHS/monitor, the "DV In" switch must be selected on the DA2.

When feeding VHS IN to the Computer, select "Analog in" and hold the switch till the light changes so that you get 16bit/48KHz audio.

I had the same problem recently, I think. I recorded two separate non-stereo audio tracks, a background and a dialog, then forgot to import them as separate tracks.
Peak DV does not provide this feature directly.

Select all, then copy from the stereodocument, create a new mono document, then paste. It gives you a dialog to adjust the pan at that point. Do this twice with 100% pan one time and -100% pan the second.
Hope that works.

Hi,

I was hoping someone might give us some advice about digitizing footage shot on a PAL DVX100A camera in 16:9 SQUEEZE mode. We have FCP 3. Is it possible to achieve this with this version, or do we need version 4?

Many thanks in advance.

Should not be a problem. Just use the anamorphic setting for capture and timeline.

Graeme

Is it possible to burn media with timecode?

When archiving media from FCP, is there a way to burn the timecode to dvd.

If you mean burn a timecode overlay, yes, this is supported in Final Cut Pro. It is an effect found under Effects > Video Filters > Video and in FCP 4.5 you have the option of Timecode Reader or Timecode Generator. Check the manual for definitions to determine which one you want.

If you mean you want a specific timecode embedded with the video file, this is supported with Apple's QuickTime 6.5 MPeg Encoder. It allows you to set the timecode for the first frame, and use NTSC Drop Frame or Non-Drop Frame standard. This is most often set to match the timecode of the original video, ensuring that any timecode-based lists you have, such as a chapter list, marker positioning file, or subtitle file, match the encoded video.

Hope this has helped.

Hi everyone,
I recently discovered that my schools' canon ZR70's can shoot 16:9 stretch. I imported the "stretched" footage into final cut express as NTSC-DV ANAMOPRPHIC.... I then edited the footage and exported it as a 4:3 MPEG-2 as well as a 16:9 MPEG-2 file. I imported both files into DVDSP2 (that may be a topic for another thread) and (after creating a DVD) I would like the footage to appear letterboxed on a 4:3 TV and true 16:9 on a widescreen. DVDSP2 has a number of different ways to show the images........"Letterboxed", "Pan & Scan" (I have no clue as to what the term pan & scan means). There is also the option of "Letterboxed-Pan & Scan". I apologize for asking what may be a very elementary question to most of you but: What is the proper procedure for achieving a letterboxed effect on a 4:3 TV and a true 16:9 on a widescreen TV? I don't own a widescreen TV but there are imacs with 20" widescreens available at school that I can view the footage on. Thanks in advance.
Doug

Hi Doug,

You might find the following thread helpful: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27748

I don't use DVDSP2, but I don't think you will need to do anything special if you edit your project as anamorphic 16:9 in FCE and create an anamorphic DVD. DVD players have a system menu option whereby you tell them what sort of TV they're connected to. This defaults to 4:3 unless the user changes it to 16:9. When you play an anamorphic 16:9 DVD on a 4:3 TV, the DVD player itself will provide the letterbox. On a widescreen TV the DVD will fill the screen at full resolution, provided the user has properly configured his DVD player.

Pan and Scan is the technique used to produce "full screen" versions of theatrical movies for 4:3 TV sets. The 4:3 frame is "panned" across the widescreen movie as needed in an attempt to get the important details into the picture. I'm not sure, but there may be some facility for doing this manually when creating a pan and scan DVD. However in most cases when you select this option it will just chop off the sides of the 16:9 image such that it fills a 4:3 screen.

Hi Boyd,
Thank you very much for all the information you've shared with me. Thanks also for defining the term "pan & scan".

I apologize for not being clear with my questions in my previous post.

I shoud've phrased the questions this way........If I want the finished DVD to play letterboxed on a 4:3 TV and full screen on a 16:9 TV:

1) Is the "NTSC DV-ANAMORPHIC" setting on FCExpress the correct way to import the stretch footage from the camera?

2) Should I export from FCExpress to MPEG-2 using the 4:3 or 16:9 format setting?

3) Should I build the DVD in DVDSP2 using the 4:3 or 16:9 format setting included in the DVDSP2 software?

Sorry for the confusion.

Thanks again Boyd.
Doug "the rookie" Fearman

Hi Boyd,
I went to the thread address you posted. I think I'll start to understand this eventually. Thank you for all of your help.
Sincerely,
Doug

Hello,
I've got a cam, a screenplay, some actors, a set, a G-5, some lights, and FCP. I've done quite a bit of imovie editing, but I am a total neophyte when it comes to FCP. The short I would like to shoot requires a simple green screen effect. The piece has a video screen in it, and I need to be able to control the content on that screen. I'm just geting started with teaching myself FCP and I want to know if a simple effect like this is possible without the purchase of additional software, because what I would like to do is shoot the short and learn FCP while cutting it.
Advice and insights would be most welcome.

Thanks,
MG

Thanks Jeff, sorry I misunderstood. I'll give it a try and let you know how it works out.

Call me crazy, but I could have sworn that a few of my default cross dissolves have somehow switched to fade-in-fade-outs. Has this ever happened to anybody?

you can change what your default transition is... perhaps you did this by accident.

It's a simple enough thing to do, I'm sure, but I just can't figure it out.

How do you get one HD to act as scratch disk (where all of the capturing material goes) instead of the other HD?
And isn't the second HD supposed to kick in and take on incoming video, etc, when the first HD is full? The second HD is recognized by the computer/OSX, it's even recognized as a scratch disk, and yet, this isn't happening...

I'm really wanting to put a very large project on just one HD.
There is a page or two in the FCE manual about this, but...I don't get it!!!

Thank you for help!

Shawn

For FCP 4 HD:
Select System Settings from the Final Cut HD menu
Click Scratch Disks tab
In the Video Capture Column, uncheck the current disk
In the list of disks, check Set for the new scratch disk
Uncheck the Limit Capture Now To box

If it supports think the rollover operation, I'd expect it to go down the list from top to bottom. To add the 2nd drive as the capture rollover:
Click Set for the next disk (labelled <None Set>
specify the 2nd disk
Click Video Capture

While the 3 day course was $1299, I took the first day's class for only $300.

All I can say is that you guys who can run Motion are in for some fun fun fun! However, it's a RAM hogger and really needs a powerful video card! Our instructor had 2 gigs of RAM on a dual 2gHz G5 and depending on the particles and behaviors used, it brought the system down to as low as 5 frames per second. I wasn't sure what type of video card he had but I doubt he had more than 126 megs of RAM. He may have had only 64.

The Mac I had was a dual 1.8 gHz with 1gig of ram and 64 megs of video ram. It certainly affected our lessons coz Motion would sometimes just shut down.

Overall, this is going to be an excellent graphics tool that will compliment FCP and Photoshop. It's rather easy to use, IMO. I'm glad I took the one day course.

Sorry for the brief message with the lack of info. I'm still new to Macs and I'm supposed to be working. =8^)


PS - expect a lot of really over the top cable ads by next spring! 8^D

Upgraded to 4.5
lost all my fonts in the generator.
what to do?

Would you mind posting a brief overview of what you can do with Motion?

Thanks.

Check out this excellent article -- it should be required reading before you do your first project.

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/ambitious_fcp_4_x.html

I've been having this problem with luminance changes occuring in Final Cut Pro 3 when I import After Effects files with alpha channels.

Basically, I'm editing a talking heads piece with animated name slates on the bottom of the screen. I create the animated name slates in After Effects 5.5 and export as an animation file with alpha.

I bring in this exported file into final cut pro and overlay it on top of the edited footage. I then render the seqence and play it back on the monitor (SONY PVM 14M2U). When I hit the portions of the sequence with the alpha channel after effects overlay, the screen gets lighter. When it ends, the screen gets darker. Why is this luminance shift occuring? It doesn't happen on my computer monitor? The only thing I can think of is that it has something to do with the YUV/RGB difference but do not know how to solve it. I'm aware that After Effects works in the 0-255 RGB color space and that YUV is 35-235 equivalent. How do you resolve the 2? I've had to resort to overlaying transparent alpha over everything to prevent the luminance shift. I know it's probably not a good thing, but, I figured consistency was better than having all these luminance jumps throughout.

The footage that I am overlaying was captured through the Cinewave 3 Card from a SONY DSR-20 deck off DV CAM tapes.

I'm still using Final Cut Pro 3 with a G4 Dual 1.25 with Cinewave 3 card.

Any help would be appreciated and I'm sure somebody in this forum knows what to do.

Thanks...

Worked Great! Thanks again Jeff, you came through again!

WOW!!
My eMac will not handle that. Its only got like 384 mb ram!!!!

Is this after effects on the Mac as well or is this footage coming
from a PC? Since there is a gamma difference between PC's and
Mac's.