[Doug Olin]

Have you tried using the mids color controls? I rarely use the black level controls in the 3 way CC because it does make the picture foggy very quickly. The mids may be your answer.

Doug Olin
Desert Vistas Multimedia
http://www.desertvistasmm.com

[Doug Olin]

Amvona.com is the source for my green screen. You can buy directly from them or buy the same items on Ebay for less money.

Doug Olin
Desert Vistas Multimedia
http://www.desertvistasmm.com

[Doug Olin]

I figured out that the clips with drop shadow applied were showing the ugly black line on the crop. Turn off the drop shadow and the line goes away. It shouldn’t happen but it does.

Doug Olin
Desert Vistas Multimedia
http://www.desertvistasmm.com

[Doug Olin]

There is also a tutorial on kenstone.net about exporting to IPod.

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/ipod_compressor_kenlon.html

Doug Olin
Desert Vistas Multimedia

[Doug Olin]

https://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/page_wrapper.cgi?forumid=202&page=https://www.creativecow.net/articles/rabinowitz_aharon/fractal_loops/index.html

You want the fractal loops feature to make a looping background. The tutorial above will teach you the basics. There are other tutorials that cover similar features if you perform a search.

Doug Olin
Desert Vistas Multimedia

[Doug Olin]

Boris Red transitions are still MIA. Some of the generators are also not present when I select Boris Red Generator. How long will it be until Apple fixes Boris Red as a plugin to FCP? I purchased Red to cover some of the things lacking in FCP but now I can’t use it as a plugin. It does work as a standalone but it isn’t a plugin currently. It’s more like a crash the application device.

Doug Olin
Desert Vistas Multimedia

[Doug Olin]

Try changing the in points on the timeline and tape to a new timecode. A few frames will suffice. This has worked for me in the past. FCP just refuses to edit on certain timecodes for some reason. Sometimes a restart of the computer will fix the problem but try shifting the in points first.

Doug Olin
Desert Vistas Multimedia

[Doug Olin]

While it might not be possible to create the seamlessly looping backgrounds in FCP, you can do it quite easily in AfterEffects using fractal noise as the basis. There are several excellent tutorials on the Cow showing how to create the loops. I’ve recently created several myself. You could also use the textures in LiveType as looping backgrounds. You can change the colors, speed, etc. to your liking and then render out a QT movie which will loop seamlessly. Combining the textures in LiveType can give you even more variations.

Doug Olin
Desert Vistas Multimedia

[Doug Olin]

Photoshop will allow you to add a drop shadow of whatever type you want. The only problem with that solution is that you need to go back to Photoshop to make any adjustments in the drop shadow for depth, softness, etc. Using Boris Red would allow you to interactively change the drop shadow while viewing the result. It’s not as good as being able to change the drop shadow in FCP but it seems to be better than creating the shadow in Photoshop.

BTW, did you ever get the dropped frames problem sorted out with Medea?

Doug Olin
Desert Vistas Multimedia

Doug Olin
Desert Vistas Multimedia

[Doug Olin]

Have you tried adding the drop shadow in Boris Red and then using that graphic and drop shadow combo? I don’t have the problem with drop shadows producing jumpy video but using Red might be a work around for your problem.

Doug Olin
Desert Vistas Multimedia