Contact Apple. It could be FCP 4 is so new or the person you spoke to didn't know about the exams. This has come up before here and I think it took several calls to the School to get the exam situation clarified.

thank you for your input. sorry i didn't get back sooner. i never got an update email unfortunately.

i actually just re-posted this type of question. i did this stupid little project last week. and the footage looked fine on camera and TV/monitor but when captured i lost a lot of quality and contrast and all that. used firewire on a dual 500 G4. it was almost unacceptable.

i dont understand how i could look fine on screen and totally different when captured.

so im looking for the highest possible quality capture device that i can afford. for some things i will be going to VHS. but for one of my big projects it will be on DVD. im just afraid that what i shoot and the way it looks on my monitor when the camera is just running into that isn't what im going to be capturing by using just firewire and FCP.

should i look for a software solution or hardware and what of each in particular.

then for hooking up my b-cast monitor i can just run that through a s-vid card or DV deck and itll work like i want it to? i have a dual monitor tower and want the b-cast monitor to just show me what would show up on the TV. so i dont need any other kind of card or equipment to use it in that way?

sorry for all the questions at once.

thank you again. J.

You can just hook up your monitor to your deck.

2- Are you capturing DV? If you are using the presets/defaults and not offline RT then it should be the highest quality possible (it's sort of like a digital transfer so there is no generation loss).

FCP doesn't always show what your footage actually looks like. Check on your broadcast monitor to see what your stuff looks like.

Studio Artist
 

Has anyone played with the program Studio Artist? I have been playing around with animating some street fair footage I shot. I can get good results on a single frame in Photoshop but the thought of doing 30 frames/second....

It looks like this software may apply the same filter to all frames in a QT movie so would be much faster.

All comments appreciated.

I have been using Studio Artist for a couple of years now, although I am far from what I would consider proficient. The possibilities with this thing are endless. Yes, I have taken a video clip and "painted" on it. The result can be as easily disappointing as it can be remarkable. There is quite a good tutorial that comes with it, in fact probably one of the best I've ever seen. If used sparingly and tastefully, Studio Artist can be a great tool.

thanks for the input. i need to definitely get a new b-cast monitor then.

just wondering what the solutions are for DV and capturing at the highest quality possible. i was under the impression that Dv is compressed then when you capture it essectially compresses it again in the machine automatically.

is this not the way it is?

any monitor suggestions?

or DV deck suggestions. do i need this to do anything other than have a VHS and or DV tape thing. i wont be doing any offline editing.

thanks for the input.

J.

G5 benchmarks
 

The first dual 2 GHz G5s are trickling down to the masses. Here are some real world benchmarks -

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/G5/Powermac_Dual_g5.html

I haven't seen any real world FCP benchmarks yet. Even the iMovie benchmarks used here are really 'real' world and are disappointing. Apparently no real performance gain versus a dual 1.25 G4 as iMovie does not seem to processor aware.

FCP 4 updates - available for manual downloading
 

FCP 4 updates are now available for downloading without going through the software update process -

http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/download/

Apple has a long history of exaggerating capabilities. The truth in their machines performance is usually smack dab between what they say it does and what naysayers say it does.

The main thing to note though, is with these new chips, along with the new chips slated for arrival soon for PCs are of a different type than what software companies have fully developed for. Give it a year or two and software companies will be releasing new versions, packs and patches that optimize their apps for these new platforms. THEN, we'll be seeing some wowy performance.

Way to soon to tell. Wait for the real testers. Also note that the machine was a stock setup, on 512mb ram. Barely enough to do video in my opinion.

Whats the latest QT to run with...
 

What is the latest version of QT I can run with 10.2.5 and FCP 3.0.4?

Should I go to 10.2.6 and QT 6.3?

My DVDSP2 should be coming today and I want to make sure I get the latest and greatest w/o goofin up the FCP.

You don't have a choice. DVDSP2 requires OS 10.2.6 and QT 6.3 I have no problem with FCP 3 and those versions of QT and OS. When you upgrade to 10.2.6 go to Apples site and download the combo version update. Mac Fixit is full of stories about problems that are resolved by using the combo update. But it's a big one, about 85mb.

After Effects
 

Good Morning,

I've been trying to find the system requirements for Adobe After Effects
5.0 but I can't seem to get them on the web. My question is as follows:
ss AF 5.0 compatible with Mac 9.2 or do I have to be running Mac OS 10.
Also, if there is anyone interested in selling a copy of After Effects that is
compatible with Mac OS 9.2 let me know. As always, thanks for eveyone's
help. Glen

G5 1.6 ghz--problems with ram, can't edit great
 

So, the two 128 mb chips are in slots 2 and 3 (four slots total, 1 and 2 are in one spot on the logic board, 3 and 4 are about 3 inches down from 1 and 2), so I put a 512 mb chip in slot one, no detection. I put it in slot four, no detection. My roommate goes to apple's support page--have to be paired up.

So I put one 128 mb chip in slot one, so there is a 128 mb chip in slots one and two. Mac didn't boot up at all (power went on, no chime...). Moved it back to the original configuration, booted up. So, since I have one 512 mb chip of ram, will it not detect anything until I buy another one and put it in?! Do you really have to load up ram in pairs?!?! DAMN!

And my burner's tray got stuck. One apple store girl said, not another G5! (I don't think she meant that problem, just another G5 with a friggin' problem..)

A little FYI and a question.

heath

stretching letterbox to anamorphic
 

I am having trouble stretching letterboxed footage from a Panasonic DVX100 to anamorphic, i.e 33.33% vertical stretch. I tried After Effects, but the results were disappointing.
I then tried using Photoshop on a still frame from the footage, and the result is spectacular. Obviously, either AfterEffects' stretching algorithm is useless, or I have done something wrong.
Could anyone help me please. What is the best way to stretch footage. I have AfterEffects 5.5 and Final Cut Pro 3