NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2003

[Glenn Chan]

You'll have to wait until it comes out. Final Cut Pro 4, which is what I'd run on the G5 (not Avid), is not stable yet. Previous versions (FCP3/OSX) were rock solid with some folks, while other people had common problems pop up and some people has systems that sometimes crashed. This is probably the same case with Avid, but I wouldn't know.

This machine looks like it's going to be hot though! It has impressive benchmarks, should be pretty quiet, and it should be a babe magnet :D

[Gordon Teifel]

Is FCE robust enough to edit the HD content? My camera is now ordered from NY. I'm grinding out the rest of the research on the details as an early adopter.
My hope is the dual 800 G4-1.5 Gig RAM- will be an easy match for the datarate and rendering.

[Curtis T. Stoeber]

I am not sure how that is possible. Maybe I am doing something right. I don't capture everything as one big clip, but I have had instances where I will use two scenes from one clip at different places in the timeline and apply different effects to them. Neither is effected by the other.

Are you applying the filters BEFORE putting the clip on the timeline (is that even possible)? If I had one big clip, I'd set the in and out points for the first scene in the BIN and then drag it to the timeline. Then I'd set new in and out points on the file in the BIN and drag it to the timeline as well. I now have two clips in the timeline that FCP sees as different, and I can apply different effects to them as if they are two seperate physical files.

[David Newman]

Final Cut Express (as compared to Pro) is DV only editor. Even the Pro version doesn't have support for direct transport stream decoding require by this camera. I imagine that under FCP it would be possible to convert the camera footage to uncompressed first then edit in that format. Other users are discussing this possibility.

[Jason Wood]

Would anyone happen to know if there is somewhere in Houston that offers Avid (Media Composer and Xpress), Final Cut Pro, and/or After Effects training?

thanks.

[Bud Kuenzli]

the question isn't understandable to me. even if you capture one long clip, when you open it and set in/out points and drag that to the timeline and apply a filter, you won't affect other clips on the timeline. can you be more specific?

[Stephen Birdsong]

I set in and out points, then drag the contents of my browser into my timeline (all seperate clips at this point). From there, I apply the filter to each individual clip. It seems that the color correction was getting layered. With fcp 3, you could layer color correction (dont ask me how its helpful). if you applied any color correction to a clip, and add an additional 3-way color corrector filter, when you try to make adjustments, it would not be responsive. you set your white, but it doesnt turn white. anyway, that is what i am experiencing here.

Stephen

[Joe Lloyd]

Anyone actually tried running soundtrack on an ibook? If not is there some other program where you can make a soundtrack and load the video in it that will run on an ibook?

Thanks in advance

[Jeff Donald]

Soundtrack requires a G4 processor, which iBooks lack. Sorry. There was another program that was reviewed highly (I've never tried it) called SonicFire, I believe.

[Bill Daniel]

thanks, jeff.
yes, i'm starting to realize what is required for uncompressed editing, and it is all out of my range. i guess i could get another $500-1000 into this project for an inproved signal, but i haven't found any options in the middle or low-end. is there any option that would allow my to work around 1:3? i'm working with a monochromatic image, so i'm a bit ahead of the game in avoiding gross pixalation.
i'm actually capturing my 16mm original frame-at-a-time with a jk optical printer that is wired to my mac to create quicktime sequences from the frame captures. (common sense would tell me to just take the footage down to the best xfer house i could afford, but i'm a hot rodder at heart and i want to do it myself!)

[Curtis T. Stoeber]

Final Cut Pro 4 has a filter called "time stretch" or "time bend" or something like that (it used to be a "Joe's Filter"). It is bizarre to say the least. Why would anyone use this? The only use I can see is immitating one of those super lame car/truck commercials with the "normal speed-->super duper fast zippy speed-->slow to normal speed" type of videography that they use over and over. Of course I don't see why anyone would use it like that unless they wanted to be the recipient of an incredibly violent beating, as that effect is bad and annoying.

Any other uses for this filter? Examples?

[Ken Tanaka]

The structure and tone of your question's introduction hardly invites constructive responses.

Like nearly all such specialty filters, application of this one requires taste and keen judgement. Suffice it to say that there are occasional situations that can benefit from intermediate speed changes to affect visual/emotional accent. One example might be a wedding shot where you might want to slow the a few seconds of footage just as the bride and her father approach the alter.

Of course nobody would do this if they thought they might be "...the recipient of an incredibly violent beating..."

[Boyd Ostroff]

Curtis, I don't really "get" your post either, but think I can offer an example. I haven't upgraded to FCP 4 yet, but this filter sounds a bit like one that Apple was giving away awhile back called (I think) "Joe's Time Bender". I thought it would be useful to pace a bit of computer animation to music. The particular squence was a "flyover" of a fantasy landscape done with Bryce 3d and I wanted to arrive at certain points to correspond with the music. I ended up accomplishing this with regular edits though.

But I may yet need something like this as I fine tune computer animated sequences, time lapse nature footage, and slow motion action to fit the score of an opera we're doing. Just because you can't see a creative use for a software tool doesn't mean others cannot. I seriously doubt that anyone will use all the tools and effects included with a program like FCP, nor should they.

[Ken Tanaka]

Boyd,
Just for the record, this filter does indeed appear to be the same as Joe's Time Bender. I have the full Joe's Filters set (a fabulous value, and Joe is a member here) and it seems to be the same.

[John Locke]

<<"normal speed-->super duper fast zippy speed-->slow to normal speed">>

Let the record show...I like it. Every time I see this type of effect, I get goose-pimply and wiggle my toes in delight.