[Mark Raudonis]

We deal with this issue every day since we work in the classic “off-line to on-line” workflow. One thing we’ve noticed is that if you open up the motion tab on the “bonkers” shot, you will often see that an extra mysterious keyframe has been added, sending the speed change into uncharted territory. Frequently, simply removing that one “Bad” keyframe will restore everything back to your original intention. Without seeing your actual media, I can’t tell you exactly which keyframe is bad, but if you compare your off-line motion tab to your on-line tab you should be able to spot the culprit.

In the meantime, FCP 5 should be on the streets fairly soon. Let’s hope that this was fixed!

Good luck.

Mark

[Mark Raudonis]

Paul,

We have an installation with over 45 FCP systems networked together with x_San. There are three on-line rooms doing upres and color correction. Everyday we output more than an hour’s worth of longform, primetime reality TV. Do we have frame accuracy issues? Yes. But I’ll tell you why.

There are two issues here. The accuracy of the lay off, and the accuracy of the “upres”. First, the “upres”.

FCP has the ability to “dial in” your configuration… meaning you can test the accuracy and set frame offsets for your specific combination of deck and controller device. If you do that, you can expect reliable, accurate results. If you don’t you can expect to see an inaccuracy of a few frames either way. Honestly, we’ve never calibrated anything. (40 rooms, decks moving around, yikes!) We just run with the defaults and double check the upres against a QT movie of the offline.We usually find a frame or two slippage in about 40% of the shots. We double check the master anyway, so when we digitize we include ten frame handles and that gives us enough room to slip it around.

Now, the “lay off” or “insert edit accuracy”.

With three on-line rooms doing this everyday of the week, it does occasionally pop up. We output to digibeta. If you read the Sony manual, you will see that they do not guarantee that their “TC Window” is 100% frame accurate. (I believe their tolerance is + or – 1 frame) So, if you’re checking accuracy based on the “window burn”, that can often lead you to believe that you’re a frame off. Other than that, we’ve been OK.

Conclusion: Don’t fear the frame slippage. Take the time to calibrate your system, use RS-422 rather than firewire, use higher quality decks and you’ll be OK. For the record, we’ve had our share of frame slippage on Symphonies as well. There’s well documented threads on that topic over on the Avid-L.

Mark

[Mark Raudonis]

do a google search for stock footage companies. What do you mean by “Royalty free”? Unless it’s public domain you’re gonna pay for it. Even if it’s public domain, you’re going to pay for search fees, dubs etc. Fees are based on your intended usage… world wide rights in perpetuity is going to be expensive. It goes down from there.

Any of the trade magazines like “Post” or “Millimeter” or “Studio” or “Videography” run oodles and oodles of ads for stock footage companies. Check them out.

Mark

[Mark Raudonis]

David,

We have seen this kind of “wonkiness” on starting points as well.

Couple of things. If you read the manual that comes with the Digibeta deck, you will find that Sony does NOT guarantee that the Time Code window is 100% accurate to the actual code. Note that I said “the Window”, not the timecode. So, if you’re judging accuracy by what the visual window reads, that may account for this one frame discrepancy. Are you using dropframe or non drop frame for both your sequence and your master tape? I’m assuming that this is NOT a drop frame timecode issue.

We haven’t experience the “drift” issue that you’ve described. Once it starts accurately, it stays accurate.

mark

[Mark Raudonis]

Try compressing the file using stuffit. For some reason this process “protects” the file in transit and proves to be more reliable.

Mark

[Mark Raudonis]

This article by Kevin is probably the best, most detailed and honest description of chroma keying on FCP that I’ve ever read!!!

We create tons of chroma keys for interviews ( 15% of a 30 minute show). After trying many of the techniques described in the article, we came to the conclusion that we needed something with more horsepower than the built in FCP solution. We now use the “ulitmatte” plug ins. They’re expensive, but very, very good. They also take a lot of rendering time. But, for us, everything described in the article now takes place with just one click! I’m not kidding. One eyedropper on the green and that key is very, very clean. Perhaps a bit of touch up, but it’s practically a one click solution. In HD, little frizzy hairs are easily visible. Never could get that with FCP.

Mark

[Mark Raudonis]

Steve,

The barrier to entry for this service has come down so low that just about anybody can now do it themselves. You may not get the fancy “note tracking” features, but it’s now a piece of cake to set up a website to host streaming video. .Mac is virtually free and gives you enough storage space for many spots.

If you’ve already got a company website, you’re almost there. Speak with a webmaster for details.

I remember the AVID Online review. Like all avid products it was “premium priced”, making using it an expensive proposition. We’re now doing it ourselves. We’ve set up a “password protected” area on our website and regularly post 1-2 hours a day worth of shows for appproval by network execs, out of town production teams, and so on. If you’ve got DSL or better connection, it works like a charm. The best thing about it is once you’ve set it up… it’s free!

Mark

[Mark Raudonis]

Jared,

We’re just dipping our toe into the water on this, but so far it looks very promising. We’re currently working with two editors off-site and use this to transfer files, projects, etc. I’m hearing nothing but good things from the assistants who are using it.

mark

[Mark Raudonis]

I would highly recommend Diana Weynand’s book, “Final Cut Pro for Avid Editors”. It’s published by Peach Pit Press, (I think).

This is exactly what you want, using screen grabs of an AVID, and showing you the comparable feature in FCP. By the way, we used Diana to train 45 diehard AVID editors on our new FCP-X-san system. I can’t imagine having done this kind of transformation without her help.

Mark

[Mark Raudonis]

Another vote here for NOT trying to mimic an AVID keyboard.

We recently “retrained” 45 former AVID editors onto FCP. Those who chose to “learn” something new rather than “adapt” what they already knew did much better in the long run. Think of it this way… if you jump off the deep end of the pool, you’re definitely gonna learn how to swim. Get the FCP colored keyboard and kiss your AVID goodbye.

Mark