[Jeremy Garchow]

Toss those preferences, try this first as it’s really easy. FCP rescue (a free utility) will do it for you. you can find that here:

https://fcprescue.andersholck.com/

If that doesn’t work you might want to uninstall your black magic drivers, then open FCP once (without any blackmagic drivers installed), quit FCP, install your blackmagic drivers, open fcp and you should be good to go.

Jeremy

———–
G5 Dual 2Ghz <> 4GB RAM <> FCP 5.02 <> Kona 2

ATTO 42XS <> Huge Systems 1.25 TB 4105 Fibre

[Jeremy Garchow]

You can tell FCP to ‘always render in RGB’, but your footage will still be captured in YUV when using the dv codec, so it is kind of moot. They only way I know how to remedy this situation is the method we talked about (color correcting the afflicted footage) or digitizing to an rgb codec (such as aja’s 10 bit RGB codec) and tell fcp to render in rgb, but this will require not only capture hardware, a fast array of drives to handle the 10 bit bandwidth, but a dv deck that has an output such as SDI or analog component for capture (bypassing the firewire dv workflow). This still might not create a perfect looking image either.

Motion also works in RGB color space, but if you use motion inside of fcp in that you export directly from FCP to Motion and roundtrip back to FCP from Motion and let FCP render the video, you might stay within the YUV color space, but don’t quote me on that because I’m not sure which application is really doing the internal rendering at that point, Motion or FCP. I must admit this is getting a little beyond my scope of knowledge. If Motion is doing the processing then it will render the video in RGB, if FCP is doing the processing then there’s a chance you are staying YUV. My guess is that no matter where it’s rendering, it’s being sampled to RGB. The fix to this is to include the whole shot you are working with in Motion (or AE) and process that whole shot so the color shift happens to the whole clip and not just half of it. Does that make sense? That way the audience eye won’t perceive the color shift as easily.

As far as Motion’s slo mo controls, I have no idea on that either. I’m not sure if it’s even possible within Motion.

After playing with Twixtor I am a believer. It totally blows the doors off of FCP’s motion effects. It might take some time to tweak the settings, but it’s totally worth the wait. Also, the keyframable time remap allows a lot of flexibility within a shot. You can do a speed ramp up, then slow the footage way down to emphasize a certain motion then speed ramp back up. It’s a lot of fun and much easier to figure out than FCP’s or AE’s time remap, and it works right in FCP’s filter interface which is keeps things a little more simple and contained. Plus, the humor in the Twixtor makes for a good read, even if you hate reading manuals. It’s written to have fun and encourages you to play with the filter. Kudos to whoever write the manual.

I hope all of this helps and that you at least gain something out of this, if not a proper method of attack.

Cheers,

Jeremy

———–
G5 Dual 2Ghz <> 4GB RAM <> FCP 5.02 <> Kona 2

ATTO 42XS <> Huge Systems 1.25 TB 4105 Fibre

[Jeremy Garchow]

What you are seeing is the RGB (AE) to YUV (FCP) gamma shift that is inherent in most quicktime codecs going from Fcp to AE and back. You can use the 3 way cc, proc amp or gamma correction filters to adjust the levels back down to normal.

Twixtor works natively within FCP and renders YUV so you won’t see those gamma shifts. While you will be recompressing your dv footage when you render the final effect, it’ll keep it in the YUV color space at least.

Make sense?

Jeremy

———–
G5 Dual 2Ghz <> 4GB RAM <> FCP 5.02 <> Kona 2

ATTO 42XS <> Huge Systems 1.25 TB 4105 Fibre

[Jeremy Garchow]

Have a look at twixtor ( you can download a free demo). Motion effects/time remap are definitely not a strong point of FCP. Like you’ve found, AE will give you better results. SInce you are using an already lossy codec, recompressing it will give you pretty lossy results. Try rendering a straight DV movie out of AE and see what that gets you, it’ll save a recompression step from dv to animation to dv, this way you’re going dv to dv skipping the middle man.

That twixtor plug in works in AE too.

———–
G5 Dual 2Ghz <> 4GB RAM <> FCP 5.02 <> Kona 2

ATTO 42XS <> Huge Systems 1.25 TB 4105 Fibre

[Jeremy Garchow]

Turn off the frame blending in FCP. Select your clip that you want changed in the timeline, hit apple j (to change speed), and enter the amount and make sure frame blending is off. Also, are you working in a progressive or interlaced timeline?

For what it’s worth, I was playing with Twixtor the other day, and while it took some playing to get what I wanted, the results were pretty sweet, and this was on really high motion footage shot off a cam truck following a motorcycle (shot 24p). It ain’t cheap, but it won’t break the bank either.

Whichever path you take, good luck

jeremy

———–
G5 Dual 2Ghz <> 4GB RAM <> FCP 5.02 <> Kona 2

ATTO 42XS <> Huge Systems 1.25 TB 4105 Fibre

[Jeremy Garchow]

There’s a number of factors to consider and they lie mostly in how the footage is to be shot which will then affect how you capture.

First, is the footage true 4:3, or is it anamorphic 4:3 (aka 16:9). This will affect if you need to click the anamorphic button on sequences and on logged clips.

Second, is the footage shot 24p Normal, or 24p advanced. If it is shot 24p Normal then you capture and edit just as you would any NTSC footage at 29.97 fps. You can also use your K2 or aja io top capture this footage at any codec you please via SDI or analog component.

If the footage is shot 24p Advanced, then you have to capture using firewire into the DV50 codec and remove the advanced pulldown on the fly. CUrrently, I do not know of a capture card that can remove the advanced pulldown on the fly, even though it’d be nice cuz that way you wouldn’t be locked to the dv50 codec, which for all intents and purposes is a nice codec, but can fall apart after a couple of generations. Your capture presets will still be set to 29.97 but you need to have the remove advanced pulldown feature checked. Your sequence presets will be set to 24p.

Hope this helps.

Jeremy

———–
G5 Dual 2Ghz <> 4GB RAM <> FCP 5.02 <> Kona 2

ATTO 42XS <> Huge Systems 1.25 TB 4105 Fibre

[Jeremy Garchow]

Use your Kona 2 control panel and set whatever output your are monitoring with to downconvert. For instance, if you are monitoring analog component, use the control panel to put a downconvert on the analog component output. Also, change the downconvert output option to ‘crop’. That way you’ll get a 4:3 center cut of your 1080i material. If you are working in SD only, then you should digitize the HD footage into and SD format, this will take up less space, require less rendering while editing, and generally move along a lot faster.

Jeremy

———–
G5 Dual 2Ghz <> 4GB RAM <> FCP 5.02 <> Kona 2

ATTO 42XS <> Huge Systems 1.25 TB 4105 Fibre

[Jeremy Garchow]

You can choose whatever software you want to make an MPEG2 (just not quicktime 7). Squeeze works pretty well, and there are some others out there (such as bit vice and compression master). Although, compressor works fine for me on a daily basis. What kind of file are you bringing in?

———–
G5 Dual 2Ghz <> 4GB RAM <> FCP 5.02 <> Kona 2

ATTO 42XS <> Huge Systems 1.25 TB 4105 Fibre

[Jeremy Garchow]

Okay, let’s back up a little. You are trying to have an MPEG2 file with embedded audio? FOr what would you need this for (if you don’t mind my asking)?

Yes, If you need to put together the video and audio then this program should do it for you. The processing is called multiplexing (or ‘muxing’ for short). The reverse process is called demultiplexing (or demuxing for short) which you separate the video and audio tracks from each other. If you are using DVD studio pro, it requires the files to be separate (demuxed) which is why compressor keeps the files separate. If you need the file to be multiplexed than mpeg streamclip should be ale to do it for you using the tow separate files from compressor.

make sense?

Jeremy

———–
G5 Dual 2Ghz <> 4GB RAM <> FCP 5.02 <> Kona 2

ATTO 42XS <> Huge Systems 1.25 TB 4105 Fibre

[Jeremy Garchow]

Compressor does not demux. Use this instead, it’s free:

https://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/mpegstreamclip.html

Jeremy

———–
G5 Dual 2Ghz <> 4GB RAM <> FCP 5.02 <> Kona 2

ATTO 42XS <> Huge Systems 1.25 TB 4105 Fibre