NLE Mac / Final Cut questions from 2004

Jeff Donald · January 21st, 2004, 12:39 PM

Most cameras are designed to white balance to white or a neutral shade of grey. Higher end cameras (and to some degree the DVX100) have the ability to use a curve to adjust the color responce.

Some of the squares in the Macbeth card have known RGB values that could be measured with a color picker tool. Then a curve would have to be applied to match those colors and the scenes rendered.

Nicholi Brossia · January 21st, 2004, 12:43 PM

Yeah, after a bit of research, it seems as though I would be better off just buying a cheap-o PC running Windows XP. Supposedly, and likely, Macs communicate just fine with XP. As long as I can move files back and forth, I can use the PC and Windows Media Encoder to crunch the video into .wmv files.
I know the two computers can be linked together via ethernet, but is it possible to use firewire? Would the PC mount on the Mac desktop? This isn't really a big deal, I'm just wondering.

Brandt Wilson · January 21st, 2004, 01:52 PM

So, are you saying to create a red, blue and green color/gamma curve based on a sample RGB value on the color card, then create a profile? I've done that in Photoshop. I wasn't aware it could be done in FCP

Jeff Donald · January 21st, 2004, 02:06 PM

You would need to do that in After Effects. Why do you want to use a Macbeth color checker and what issues are you having with color?

Brandt Wilson · January 21st, 2004, 06:57 PM

I'm looking at taking video from telecine sessions and performing an accurate color grade that will represent what the final release print will look like before I have it finalized. I want to be able to previsualize my final grade and make changes on the desktop before getting into the expensive color timing phase.

Joshua Kopple · January 22nd, 2004, 12:56 AM

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to add a third HD because I'm taking on a rather large project (35+ hours and counting) and want the room to maneuver.

Right now, I have the stock Apple 80 gig HD that came with my G4 and I added a 160 gig Western Digital Caviar (8meg cache, 7200 RPM).

The question, before I buy a 3rd HD, is: Is there any issue in getting a 3rd HD from another company or should I stick with Western Digital? (Not that WD isn't great; I've had zero problems so far. <knock on wood>) And though I seriously doubt it, is there any issue in jumping up to a 200/200+ HD (Western Digital or otherwise) on this G4?

And of course, any brands that I should stay away from in particular or hover to...in the past, I've heard recommendations of IBM, Seagate, WD. How about Maxtor, etc?

Thanks,

Joshua

Douglas Spotted Eagle · January 22nd, 2004, 03:00 AM

It won't matter at all. I'm using a variety of HD's on my system. I used to be a total Maxtor fan until they were bought and have had a lot of reported problems. But..looking at my portables and G4 system, I've got a mix of IBM, Maxtor, and WD, plus even a Seagate in there.

Dan Brown · January 22nd, 2004, 08:56 AM

Warning! Total Newbie question...

I just installed FCE2 (eMac 1GHz, 1GB, 80GB), my only experience is with iMovie.

I have about 45 minutes of tape shot at my son's 7th birthday party last week. I want to edit it into a coherent story and add some music, then burn a DVD.

I started to capture it clip-by-clip, but the camera whirr-click-buzz seems to eat a lot of time and put a lot of wear and tear on the hardware.

Should I just transfer the whole tape in one big chuck and then chop it up in FCE2, or is the clip-by-clip transfer the better way to go? How do you usually transfer whole tapes?

Also, i feel really overwhelmed by the complexity of FC, I assume it's not as huge as it seems at first? How long will it take to become reasonably competant with this software? I figure I can spend one hour per day learning it.

Thanks...

Patrick Grealy · January 22nd, 2004, 10:42 AM

Hang in there Dan.

Was in your situation 9 months ago. Now I would not go back to iMovie. (even though it is a great programme too.

Import your total footage. It is not worth wasting time and effort selecting clips here and there. (Having batch capture would have helped here but this is not FCP!)

My tip is

Create 2 video tracks
Drag the whole clip (45 Mins) to one of these and drag it over to the right of the time line to give you room to create say a 10 minute movie starting at zero.

Go to the section you want.
Use the blade tool (keyboard b or b+b to cut video and audio) to cut to create a clip
If the snapping to the nearest cut is on (and this annoys you), toggle this setting by pressing "n"
copy and paste (again use AppleC and Apple V)
Place in in the 1st track
Get next clip and repeat
Put this in the 2nd track with a small overlap of the first
You can adjust the boundary by dragging the edges (To get the arrow pointer back at any time, click A)
Repeat this process until you have your movie
The top track will always superimpose on the lower when you play back
Whilst doing this going back and forth, get used to using the z tool to zoom in ans Z+Z twice to soom out.
For transitions, open the transitions and drag to the clip edges you want.

Hope this helps.

Regards P

Paul St. Denis · January 22nd, 2004, 11:11 AM

I have a DV project which is taking longer than I would like to render on dual 2 gig G5.
In the middle of the project I decided that I would try offlineRT, so I exported the clips as offlineRT NTSC and converted the timeline to photoJPEG then I reconnected the DV NTSC media to the exported offlineRT media.
Due to the 320x240 frame size of offlineRT the each of these clips appear to need resizing to 720x480, this seems cumbersome. Do I resize all of the clips then shrink them down again after I recoonect the original DV footage?
I am sure that I am doing something wrong here, can anyone point out what it is?

Joshua Kopple · January 22nd, 2004, 12:57 PM

Do you guys all do a quick format of your media drive at the end of one project before starting another? Any advantage or disadvantage to doing it?

And is there any harm to not partitioning your drives (maybe because they're too big - 160gb or 200+gb)?

Joshua

Glenn Chan · January 22nd, 2004, 03:37 PM

Promax recommends IBM drives since they were the most reliable in their experience with thousands of drives. Seagate and WD come #2, and they don't like Maxtor. Generally IBM, Seagate, and WD are fine. Seagates are slightly slower but they are the quietest.

If you want to RAID later then get 2 drives of the same model. Otherwise I'd just get the largest WD/IBM drive you can afford. IBM sold their drive division to Hitachi, so they're Hitachi now.

Glenn Chan · January 22nd, 2004, 03:41 PM

You don't need to partition your drives. It *may* help in reducing fragmentation since fragmentation stays on one partition only, and you can selectively clean up that partition by defragging it or deleting everything on it.

Fragmentation really isn't a problem if you keep only large files on a drive. Some people just quick format their drives when they're done a project so they don't have to worry about fragmentation.

Boyd Ostroff · January 22nd, 2004, 03:49 PM

That's what I do personally, just format the drive and start all over again!

Joshua Kopple · January 22nd, 2004, 07:23 PM

Thanks for any input guys. I just went out and bought the WD 250GB 8mb cache HD at Best Buy. $259 + $90 rebates and I had 80 bucks on a gift card. So in the end, it worked out alright for me.

That and I already have the WD 160gb so it just felt right. WD's done alright by me so far. <knocking on wood some more>

January 21st, 2004, 12:39 PM	#106
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	Most cameras are designed to white balance to white or a neutral shade of grey. Higher end cameras (and to some degree the DVX100) have the ability to use a curve to adjust the color responce. Some of the squares in the Macbeth card have known RGB values that could be measured with a color picker tool. Then a curve would have to be applied to match those colors and the scenes rendered. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

January 21st, 2004, 12:43 PM	#107
Nicholi Brossia Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Oklahoma City, OK Posts: 389	Yeah, after a bit of research, it seems as though I would be better off just buying a cheap-o PC running Windows XP. Supposedly, and likely, Macs communicate just fine with XP. As long as I can move files back and forth, I can use the PC and Windows Media Encoder to crunch the video into .wmv files. I know the two computers can be linked together via ethernet, but is it possible to use firewire? Would the PC mount on the Mac desktop? This isn't really a big deal, I'm just wondering. __________________ Nicholi Brossia

January 21st, 2004, 02:06 PM	#109
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	You would need to do that in After Effects. Why do you want to use a Macbeth color checker and what issues are you having with color? __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

January 22nd, 2004, 12:56 AM	#111
Joshua Kopple Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 29	Adding a 3rd HD - Mixing Brands An Issue? Hey everyone, I'm looking to add a third HD because I'm taking on a rather large project (35+ hours and counting) and want the room to maneuver. Right now, I have the stock Apple 80 gig HD that came with my G4 and I added a 160 gig Western Digital Caviar (8meg cache, 7200 RPM). The question, before I buy a 3rd HD, is: Is there any issue in getting a 3rd HD from another company or should I stick with Western Digital? (Not that WD isn't great; I've had zero problems so far. <knock on wood>) And though I seriously doubt it, is there any issue in jumping up to a 200/200+ HD (Western Digital or otherwise) on this G4? And of course, any brands that I should stay away from in particular or hover to...in the past, I've heard recommendations of IBM, Seagate, WD. How about Maxtor, etc? Thanks, Joshua

January 22nd, 2004, 03:00 AM	#112
Douglas Spotted Eagle VASST Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Stockton, UT Posts: 5,648	It won't matter at all. I'm using a variety of HD's on my system. I used to be a total Maxtor fan until they were bought and have had a lot of reported problems. But..looking at my portables and G4 system, I've got a mix of IBM, Maxtor, and WD, plus even a Seagate in there. __________________ Douglas Spotted Eagle/Spot Author, producer, composer Certified Sony Vegas Trainer http://www.vasst.com

January 21st, 2004, 01:52 PM	#108
Brandt Wilson Major Player Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 220	So, are you saying to create a red, blue and green color/gamma curve based on a sample RGB value on the color card, then create a profile? I've done that in Photoshop. I wasn't aware it could be done in FCP

January 21st, 2004, 06:57 PM	#110
Brandt Wilson Major Player Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 220	I'm looking at taking video from telecine sessions and performing an accurate color grade that will represent what the final release print will look like before I have it finalized. I want to be able to previsualize my final grade and make changes on the desktop before getting into the expensive color timing phase.

January 22nd, 2004, 08:56 AM	#113
Dan Brown Major Player Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Fort Worth, Texas Posts: 235	FCE2 Capturing Technique Warning! Total Newbie question... I just installed FCE2 (eMac 1GHz, 1GB, 80GB), my only experience is with iMovie. I have about 45 minutes of tape shot at my son's 7th birthday party last week. I want to edit it into a coherent story and add some music, then burn a DVD. I started to capture it clip-by-clip, but the camera whirr-click-buzz seems to eat a lot of time and put a lot of wear and tear on the hardware. Should I just transfer the whole tape in one big chuck and then chop it up in FCE2, or is the clip-by-clip transfer the better way to go? How do you usually transfer whole tapes? Also, i feel really overwhelmed by the complexity of FC, I assume it's not as huge as it seems at first? How long will it take to become reasonably competant with this software? I figure I can spend one hour per day learning it. Thanks... __________________ dB

January 22nd, 2004, 10:42 AM	#114
Patrick Grealy Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Dublin, Ireland Posts: 90	Hang in there Dan. Was in your situation 9 months ago. Now I would not go back to iMovie. (even though it is a great programme too. Import your total footage. It is not worth wasting time and effort selecting clips here and there. (Having batch capture would have helped here but this is not FCP!) My tip is Create 2 video tracks Drag the whole clip (45 Mins) to one of these and drag it over to the right of the time line to give you room to create say a 10 minute movie starting at zero. Go to the section you want. Use the blade tool (keyboard b or b+b to cut video and audio) to cut to create a clip If the snapping to the nearest cut is on (and this annoys you), toggle this setting by pressing "n" copy and paste (again use AppleC and Apple V) Place in in the 1st track Get next clip and repeat Put this in the 2nd track with a small overlap of the first You can adjust the boundary by dragging the edges (To get the arrow pointer back at any time, click A) Repeat this process until you have your movie The top track will always superimpose on the lower when you play back Whilst doing this going back and forth, get used to using the z tool to zoom in ans Z+Z twice to soom out. For transitions, open the transitions and drag to the clip edges you want. Hope this helps. Regards P __________________ Sony PDX10 by 2, DRS-11, Dual G5, FCX, DVDSP and Logic Plat. www.VarsityMusicVideo.com

January 22nd, 2004, 11:11 AM	#115
Paul St. Denis Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Stony Brook NY Posts: 169	Frame size for offlineRT I have a DV project which is taking longer than I would like to render on dual 2 gig G5. In the middle of the project I decided that I would try offlineRT, so I exported the clips as offlineRT NTSC and converted the timeline to photoJPEG then I reconnected the DV NTSC media to the exported offlineRT media. Due to the 320x240 frame size of offlineRT the each of these clips appear to need resizing to 720x480, this seems cumbersome. Do I resize all of the clips then shrink them down again after I recoonect the original DV footage? I am sure that I am doing something wrong here, can anyone point out what it is?

January 22nd, 2004, 12:57 PM	#116
Joshua Kopple Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 29	Formatting Media Drive between projects? What do you do? Do you guys all do a quick format of your media drive at the end of one project before starting another? Any advantage or disadvantage to doing it? And is there any harm to not partitioning your drives (maybe because they're too big - 160gb or 200+gb)? Joshua

January 22nd, 2004, 03:37 PM	#117
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	Promax recommends IBM drives since they were the most reliable in their experience with thousands of drives. Seagate and WD come #2, and they don't like Maxtor. Generally IBM, Seagate, and WD are fine. Seagates are slightly slower but they are the quietest. If you want to RAID later then get 2 drives of the same model. Otherwise I'd just get the largest WD/IBM drive you can afford. IBM sold their drive division to Hitachi, so they're Hitachi now.

January 22nd, 2004, 03:41 PM	#118
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	You don't need to partition your drives. It may help in reducing fragmentation since fragmentation stays on one partition only, and you can selectively clean up that partition by defragging it or deleting everything on it. Fragmentation really isn't a problem if you keep only large files on a drive. Some people just quick format their drives when they're done a project so they don't have to worry about fragmentation.

January 22nd, 2004, 03:49 PM	#119
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,787	That's what I do personally, just format the drive and start all over again!

January 22nd, 2004, 07:23 PM	#120
Joshua Kopple Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 29	Western Digital Caviar 250gb Thanks for any input guys. I just went out and bought the WD 250GB 8mb cache HD at Best Buy. $259 + $90 rebates and I had 80 bucks on a gift card. So in the end, it worked out alright for me. That and I already have the WD 160gb so it just felt right. WD's done alright by me so far. <knocking on wood some more>