Just trying to finish this job-new to FCP from AVID w/ many thoughts

[Pol]

What can I say…. I’ve been working with FCP for 6 months now after 8 years on Avid. And my system is rocksolid. I had only 2 crashes (yes I count them)….my Avid wasn’t that stable.
Indeed your sequence settings and your media must be the same codec if you want to edit real-time. So if you capture in 8 bit, your sequence must be 8 bit to.
The save problem…..I had the same problem my first week. In FCP you can open different projects at the same time. You probably have 2 or more projects open, and only named 1 of them. Just close the unnamed project.
Good luck…. I was lucky to test the system for 2 weeks before actually do any work on FCP. Now I’m VERY happy. I’m not going back to Avid.

[Walter Biscardi]

[BeeLaster] “1. The timeline is so difficult to control! I understand that FCP’s magic happens when you have shortcuts at the ready, but as I’m new I’m a big mouser and the timeline is all over the place. I miss the AVID timeline.”

Go into Tools > Button Menu. You can drag the shortcuts to your timeline in the form of small buttons. This way you don’t even have to remember any shortcuts. Heck I’ve been cutting with FCP over 4 years and don’t know half the shortcuts. But I DO have a whole row of frequently used shortcuts sitting in my timeline window. They’re all color coded into groups depending on what they do.

FWIW I cut with a 9×12 WACOM tablet and find that there’s nothing faster than a tablet for cutting, no matter what NLE you’re running, especially if you have dual monitors.

[BeeLaster] “1a. The rendering! I have read that the Timeline settings must match clip settings exactly- I’ve done this- my clips are @23.98, my timeline is @23.98, yet I have to render every move. If I have missed something obvious here please tell me.”

If you have to render each and every clip as you insert them into the timeline, then something is wrong. The easiest way to ensure that all is correct is to simply use an FCP Preset rather than creating something yourself. You may have a mismatch in the codec or something.

[BeeLaster] “2. I’m doing all night sessions (it’s 3am right now) and FCP crashes at random at least once a session. Autosave is set to 10mins-occasionally when I manually save after a couple of moves, FCP asks me what I want to name the project! The one I am presently working in!”

I actually turn off Autosave as I find it gets in my way and can cause a crash if it pops up just as I’m doing some filtering or DVE type moves. My left hand is always on the keyboard and I just hit Apple+S all the time to save manually.

Repair Disk permissions and trash FCP Prefs if you’re getting that many crashes. My system might crash once per week, but since OS 10.3.8 came out, it’s been really rock solid.

[BeeLaster] “3. When I touch anything besides FCP (e.g, look at email), the timeline freezes and I have to restart. I’m told that I need more RAM to remedy this and my new Crucial should be here tomorrow. Then I’ll be up to 5.5 gigs.”

Better yet, use another computer for internet / mail. Both of my FCP systems are editing systems, not general purpose computers. I run all manner of graphics / animation / editing software on the systems, but no internet or mail. I have a client internet computer and two laptops with airport connections.

FCP only uses 2 GB RAM so if you have at least 3GB you should be able to run other apps with no issues.

[BeeLaster] “I’m not trying to start a flame war here. The nights are long, the project is tough (supervised edit sessions w/ a new director), & I’m wishing this was easier.”

Tough situation to be in no matter what NLE you’re using. Going from one platform to another for a large project is not fun. Just slow yourself down a little bit and don’t try to cut too fast. When I switched from Media 100 about 4 years ago I was much slower for about first month or so. After two months, I was definitely faster on FCP than M100.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

Members

[Walter Biscardi]

[walter biscardi] “They’re all color coded into groups depending on what they do.”

I should clarify that I color coded the buttons using the label tool, they are not color coded by default.

[walter biscardi] “FCP asks me what I want to name the project! The one I am presently working in!””

Missed that one before, you probably have an “Untitled Project” open in your Browser. Look at the Browser and if you see an “Untitled Project” tab, close that project.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Uwe Klimmeck]

Just saw in your signature that you have AVID xPress installed on the same machine.
Get rid of it or use it on another partition with its own OS.
AVID is changing things deep inside the OS and causing conflicts with FCP and other applications.
They don’t like each other.

Greetings
Uwe

FC Studio / DLpro / SDconnect / Dual 2.7 / Dual 1.4 / Dual iPod / http://www.fcpmunich.com

[Frank Pledge]

i would say the the BIGGEST difference between avid & FCP on a basic just ‘sitting and editing’ point of view is the timeline. it really threw me when i switched over. the FCP timeline is EXTREMELY ‘sensitive’ for lack of a better word. forget better or worse, that’s the main differenece. i remember banging around the avid timline like a drunk pirate when i cut on avid, but in FCP you need to be more aware of what you’re clicking and touching and what HAS been clicked/activated in the timeline. Avid – if i recall – makes you switch ‘modes’ constantly while editing. this allows you to handle the timeline in a specific way at a specific time. meaning – you can’t ‘accidentally’ grab a clip on the timeline if you’re not in that mode.

FCP you are in all modes all the time. ‘switching’ modes is dependant on HOW you touch/click/interact with the timeline and or clip. it can be very tricky at first

IMO it’s simply a matter of getting used to and once you do it’s as fast or faster.

one thing i KNOW is a problem that plagues me still, is ‘forgeting’ that you have a clip selected and accidentally deleting it because the clip is somewhere else on the timeline out of view. it STILL happens to me every once in a rare while, and i need to go to the autosavevault and pull the clip(s) back from an old cut.

i would say that this may be where you should be most careful – generally speaking. it drove me nuts in the beginning.

in terms of render – your settings are absolutley ‘wrong’ as in not matching the media’s setting. that should be a super-simple fix as stated above.

goodluck!
fp

[Jerry Hofmann]

Here’s a tip on timeline navigational control.

Type shift + z with the Timeline window active. (Sequence fills the window) Type Z again and the Zoom tool becomes active… Draw a line across the top grey area of the timeline window over the area you want to zoom into. and it will fill the timeline window with just that area when you let go of the mouse. Type a to get back to the mouse pointer.

Then Shift z will again fill the window with the sequence again setting you up for another Z and draw and zoom…

Since you are working on a long project, I’d keep the sequences broken down into different smaller parts… That might help with the navigation…

Jerry

Apple Certified Trainer

Author: “Jerry Hofmann on Final Cut Pro 4” Click here

Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D

[Beelaster]

Wow. Thanks so much for all of the support-

I will print this thread and commit it to memory (or at least leave it in sight for the next few weeks).

Walter- thanks for the Button Menu tips. I’ll start early tonight and get that going..

Regarding the rendering/timeline settings- I can redig as we get closer to a picture lock and try an Easy Setup.

When I move this rig back to NYC, I’ll have a Ye Olde 9600 for email duties. Thanks for all of your detailed replies!

Uwe- I just rebuilt my hard drive and didn’t reinstall AXP. You’re right. On a system level (AVID QT settings, etc) they don’t cooperate.

Frank- you nailed it. the avid timeline feels like a chevy and the FCP timeline feels more like a bmw (at least I’ve heard haha).

Jerry-These are my new moves. I’m sure they will save time and keep the sweat at bay.

Thanks again! I’ll post a hello when this film goes to festival!

G5 dual 2.0/2gig/sonnet allegro FW800 PCI/3X250 LaCie FW800 extreme/AJA Io/Horita BSG-50/DSR-45/DSR-11/M-Audio Delta 1010LT/JVC Hi-Res Ref Monitor/stock 5200 video card/Prod Suite/Logic 7.1/Avid Xpress Pro

[Dave Jenkins]

We had a lot of trouble at first with the set ups. Use an easy set up it make life a lot easier.
Make sure the ONLY FW device plugged directly into your computer is the AJA IO. It doesn’t like to share. When capturing use the DV easy set up. After you finish capturing go back to the easy set up and use one of the AJA IO set ups. It doesn

[Scott Witthaus]

[Uwe Klimmeck] “AVID is changing things deep inside the OS and causing conflicts with FCP and other applications.
They don’t like each other.”

umm, not really. I have both installed on several platforms and all is well. Of course you can’t run them at the same time, but having them on the same system will not present any problems.

Bee –

I made the same switch about 2 years ago, and now FCP feels as comfortable as Avid. I have been doing a lot in FCP recently, and now back on Avid Xpress, and Avid is the software that feels old and clunky. yeah, the media management is not as automatic as Avid, but as long as you know this and are organized, the transition will be smoother. good luck.

Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
Greybox, LLC
Richmond, VA USA
http://www.greybox.cc

[Walter Biscardi]

[BeeLaster] “Thanks again! I’ll post a hello when this film goes to festival!”

Please do! I’m cutting my own indie film right now and it’s pretty fun stuff to do.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters