Andy Mees
Forum Replies Created
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I’ll bite on a few (mostly just agreeing I’m afraid)…
“1)Single click option- Instead of double clicking (or a single click + return key) to open a timelined clip in the viewer, why can’t it be just a single click like in Premiere or even imovie :)”
How about no clicks at all? In FCP, setting the Playhead Sync mode to Open will keep the clip under the playhead in the Viewer so that you’re only ever adjusting the same clip you see in the Canvas. It strikes me as quite a good way to work.
“3)Rate stretch tool-I know there is the fit to fill option which does essentially the same thing but takes about 10 times as long to do.”
A real no brainer missing feature. I don’t know anyone who truly likes the way FCP handles, or rather restricts the handling of speed / time remapping. An obvious improvement (to my mind) would be able to grab an in or out point, hold down a modifier (s, for speed?) and drag the clip instance longer or shorter while maintaining its source duration … or have that as the default action when dragging a clips in or out point whilst in the Time Remap tool.
“4)Clip usage info-what is a quick way to know which, of the thousands of clips in my bin, i have used, and how many times I have used them?”
A simple Find >> Used/Unused can handle this although there’s no “how many times” count (surely once is enough to know not to use it again!) I’m surprised that Apple have still not added smart bin functionality to FCP as that too seems like a no brainer. That way you could set up bins that always display clips that match a certain search criteria, such as Used or Unused.
“5)Convenient search option-Lets face it, Adobe has always had great search options in their clip browsers and effect pannels… where is final cuts? (Apple+F is not a convenient method)”
I don’t find FCP’s search at all inconvenient per se, but would wholeheartedly agree that its way past time FCP was rewritten to utilize the interface paradigms that have become common in all modern Mac apps, such as the search/sift field
“7)Limited timeline- How come FCP decides where to put the automatic In-Out points on still pictures/ Color Solids?… Right in the middle? If I want a color solid that goes my entire timeline, why do I have to open it in the viewer (by double clicking it haha) and lengthen its duration? Same goes with .psd files??? Limited durations?”
Yes, FCP handles stills, generators etc as virtual clips and as such they have to be assigned some initial duration. That’s why they act as they do. Again I would agree with you on this one. FCP should be able to manage these clips dynamically such that one can simply edit and or drag them longer or shorter than their arbitrarily assigned 2 minute duration.
“9)Audio or Video only- I know I know… I can disconnect the a1 from A1 and a2 from A2, but can’t there be an easier way to drag down video only? Or audio only?”
Yes, something that should be doable as a modifier action, but not a permanent toggle.
“10)Scroll Position- Lame how in FCP you have to type in your positioning in the motion effects tab. Seems like there should be arrow/scroll options…Like After Effects”
Dragging / Nudging directly in the Canvas would seem to be the better way to handle this but no reason not to add such interface controls in the Motion tab too
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Mark
You’ve tried multiple Mac’s, multiple cameras and decks (and multiple cables too I hope?) and nothing works … no camera or deck even recognized in System Profiler on any of the Macs? You got any proprietary or other software running on all your equipment that may be conflicting with your systems basic functioning? What specific combo of OS X and Quicktime are you using? Is it exactly the same on every Mac or are there variations?
Andy -
Perhaps this knowledgebase document is relevant to your situation
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT2678 -
If your shooting conditions allow it then as suggested recording direct to disc (with tape as backup) would be your simplest solution, but failing that, as this is just for classroom exercises rather than a an editing masterclass then I’d advocate the KISS principle – Keep It Simple, Stupid. If you go with one of these MPEG-2 cameras, and as you’ll be doing this a lot, then set yourself up a Compressor droplet to transcode to plain vanilla DV. Then just drag and drop to the source to the droplet and it should happily spit out a DV clip that your students can quickly and easily work with.
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Benjamin
You’ll generally not see many replies to threads such as these. This is mostly because the nature of the issue is one that you really have to “be there”, to see what really is or isn’t happening … 9 times out of 10 it’s simple user error (or maybe I’ve just had to look after a lot of simple users!) and sometimes its nothing more than dissatisfaction with the way the software is designed to work eg the no insert over a transition “issue”. But when there is an issue, if its not something that can replicated under controlled circumstances then there is no easy way to diagnose the problem. Yours sounds like the latter. That is doesn’t plague other users suggests you may have a settings issue, but that it is randomly “fixed” by restarting suggests otherwise. Perhaps a software conflict? As its device control related I’d be checking there first. Make sure that you have the audio mapping set correctly for the device you’re controlling. As unpleasant as it may be, have you tried a full clean reinstall of the OS and FCP yet?
Cheers
Andy -
Client is shooting 16:9, but wants to incorporate 4:3 footage into project.
Sue, is the client shooting HD or Anamorphic SD? If you’re just looking at blowing up a SD 4:3 image to fill an Anamorphic SD 16:9 frame then the result of doing that with a simpl resize in the tmeline, while not perfect, will be likely quite acceptable … but if you are looking at blowing up SD (4:3) to fill an HD 16:9 frame size then thats probably going to look pretty bad and you may want to explore other options. At the high end you’d be wanting to get the footage resized/uprezed at a post house with access to a Teranex or similar high quality hardware device. Alternatively, others have posted of their successes with software solutions such as Instant HD ( from Red Giant Software ).
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visible panty line apparently ….
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for all you hasty downloaders out there, the latest version is XDCAM Transfer V2.8.0
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> It makes more sense that dragging to the edit overlay should make the timeline active, rather than the keyboard.
Good call on the drag and drop to canvas for keeping the Viewer active Tom! …. and yes, its absolutely backwards :/
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Paul,
The Blackmagic Intensity card is your cheapest option (US$249) but at that price you’re getting severely limited I/O options …. HDMI in and HDMI out.
If you work tapeless or with a camera supporting HDMI output, and if you want to monitor from the timeline to an HDMI capable display, well then its a pretty darn good deal.
If you want or need additional analog I/O you can step up to the Intensity Pro (for US$349), but if you want/need higher grade professional digital audio and video I/O support then you’ll need to look beyond these lower cost solutions.
Good luck
Andy