[Enzo Tedeschi]

You can also convert using Quicktime.

There is a very simple workaround for getting DRM stuff into FCP, but I don’t know what the legalities are over there, so I will refrain from listing it here.

Legally no different to ripping something from CD?? Anyone?

[Enzo Tedeschi]

Turn on “Keyframe Overlays” for your sequence (in your sequence settings, or in the bunch of buttons in the bottom left on your timeline window, sound like you already have this on).

Hit “P” for your pen tool, and click anywhere on your audio level line (or your vision for that matter), and you can create keyframe “rubber bands”.

Enzo Tedeschi
____________________________
Editor
Sydney, Australia

[Enzo Tedeschi]

Personally, I think you’d be nuts to use 82 vision layers!!

A mask would be a good idea as you suggest as you would only ever need a couple of tracks at any given moment.

Alternatively, it might be a great time to start learning After Effects…! :o)

Enzo Tedeschi
____________________________
Editor
Sydney, Australia

[Enzo Tedeschi]

Steve,

What you want is the MASK tool. Look in your tool palette, and you’ll find a marquee selection tool and a pen tool. Use these to draw masks onto your layers.

Always good to check the manual or the in-app help.

Enzo Tedeschi
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Editor
Sydney, Australia

[Enzo Tedeschi]

Try this:

Create the scaling on your clip WITHOUT a matte. Get it how you want it, then nest that clip, and apply the matte to the nested clip.

By nesting the clip, you “bury” the keyframes, and FCP doesn’t see the scale as something that affects the matte.

Enzo Tedeschi
____________________________
Editor
Sydney, Australia

[Enzo Tedeschi]

Have you also tried the usuals… trashing prefs etc?

Maybe an AE reinstall… :o(

[Enzo Tedeschi]

This may be jumping the gun, but check that you are rendering “Entire Comp” in your render settings, and not “Work Area Only”. It sound like you may have a work area set to 23 secs in the comp. Alternatively, you can adjust the work area to be longer if indeed this is the issue.

Enzo Tedeschi
____________________________
Editor
Sydney, Australia

[Enzo Tedeschi]

You’re welcome. Let us know how you go.

Enzo Tedeschi
____________________________
Editor
Sydney, Australia

[Enzo Tedeschi]

Take your 40 mins of footage and put it in a sequence in FCP. Make sure your sequence tc matches your clip’s tc. You can change this by Selecting the sequence in the project window, and selecting Timecode from the Modify menu.

Go into your Effects > Video Filters > Video, and find the Timecode Reader, drop it onto your clip and voila! TC burnin.

Export your timeline as a DV codec quicktime movie, and this will perform your conversion. When you re-import the DV files into your project, you can reset the timecode of each clip to match the burnin (and hence the original file) via the same Modify > Timecode method mentioned above.

Hope this helps… Good Luck!

Enzo Tedeschi
____________________________
Editor
Sydney, Australia

[Enzo Tedeschi]

Did you re-digitise anything when originally feeding tapes in? eg tc break and a bombed capture that didn’t get saved?

Enzo Tedeschi
____________________________
Editor
Sydney, Australia