[Luke Renner]

You are not rude, nor do I wish to be rude by saying that what you suggest simply does not work… at least, not to create a creamy-smooth slow motion effect.

It is possible that the differences in media which you are using might be significant enough to make for a success on your end and a failure on mine.

What you suggest does not work. As a professional editor for 10 years, I am speaking after an enormous amount of testing. Clearly something is different between your edit bay and mine.

Sorry.
Luke

[Luke Renner]

All due respect, I have tried. When creating a slow motion effect with XDCAM HD footage (1440x1080i60), you have to nest the footage to get it to work.

Don’t know what to say!

Cheers!
Luke

[Luke Renner]

Not true Rafael.

Removing the field shift does not solve the problem.

I gave a thorough explanation of the work around in a previous part of this thread.

Stephen got us on the right track!

Thanks for caring enough to post though.

I appreciate it.

Luke

[Luke Renner]

Stephen,

BRILLIANT!

Let me say, this worked perfectly.

For those who wish to better understand the logic applied…

FCP is good enough to automatically apply a “shift field” filter any time you place an “upper field first” clip into a “lower field first” sequence (or visa versa). It is critical for FCP to do this, for obvious reasons (field order has to match).

Since an FCP motion effect (i.e. slow motion) happens on the source side of the clip… that it to say, to the clip itself… FCP does not treat it as a “filter”. That is why the clip’s motion is not listed in the clip’s “Filters” tab. Instead, it is always available in the clip’s “Motion” tab. Because of this, a slow motion effect does not behave according to the filter hierarchy (wherein filters are applied in the order they are listed in the clip’s “Filters” tab). Instead, FCP attempts to apply the motion effect (i.e. slow motion) AT THE SAME TIME as the “shift fields” filter. When you consider the amount of interpolation that must be done for FCP to achieve a smooth motion adjustment, it becomes easier to understand why FCP is unsure how to calculate a proper interpolation of motion while simultaneously trying to shift the fields down (or up). For FCP, these are two tasks that cannot be handled at the same time. Unfortunately, within the clip’s tabs, there is no way to force FCP to apply the “shift fields” filter FIRST and then generate the motion effect (Slow Motion) AFTERWARD.

For that reason, you must record the clip to your sequence at its normal speed (with the “shift fields” filter applied) and then NEST THE CLIP. From here, apply your motion effect (i.e. slow motion) to the nested clip. This effectively forces FCP to apply the “shift fields” filter FIRST and then to apply the motion adjustment LAST.

It works like a charm.

Thanks again Stephen for your insight and help.

Luke Renner

[Luke Renner]

Incidentally, I just tried going the other way (starting with an HD sequence 1440x1080i60) and the SD footage results in the same crappy jerkiness. Not good.