[Michael Buday]

It depends on what AVID you came from and what you’re expecting to achieve in realtime in FCP. If you’ve used Avid’s HD Adrenaline, you already know that NOTHING is performed in realtime (other then CUTS that is), and EFX processing can take a VERY, VERY long time depending on your bit depth (8bit vs. 10bit), resolution (1080 vs. 720) and the particular DNX codec you’re using. I did a show a couple of months ago and it took almost SIX HOURS to render a 45 minute show with almost no EFX, but with a fair amount of primary color correction.

I have not yet run my FCP system in HD (though I have the video hardware and RAID to support it), but I expect that the performance issues will be somewhat similar. From what I’ve heard, the HD hardware I’m using (Decklink HD 4:22 Single Link) doesn’t really do alot of EFX in realtime. FCP really relies on the CPU to its almost all of its processing, and in the “real” the HD domain (1080i, 10bit, uncompressed), it’s probably very slow going for many of the EFX you want to use.

I’ve worked on a few realtime HD systems (Avid DS, Sony XPRI), and there’s nothing like realtime processing, but you pay for it. If I could afford to buy an Avid Symphony Nitris (which does a lot in realtime), I would. I looked at Premiere Pro with the Matrox Axio card (which does a tremendous amount of HD in realtime), but I’m not a Premiere still has way too many quirks and rumors are that Matrox isn’t the healthiest company out there – so who knows where they’ll be in one or two years?

I expect that I’ll be able to make FCP work just fine when my first HD project starts next January, but I also expect that I’ll have to be very, VERY patient!

All the best,

Michael Buday

[Michael Buday]

Thanks Rob. I’m new to the Mac platform after being on Windows for SO many years, so just hearing how to lock a file is really helpful.

I usually do something similar to your mehtod of creating a “template” when starting new projects, which of course is very helpful. My main reason for asking about modifiers during boot-up is for those times when you know you want to open a certain project, but you don’t want to load the last sequences that were open when you closed that project. This is really useful if you have a project with a corrupt sequence that attempts to load each time you open the project.

Anyway, after being forced to cut my current show on FCP, I’m learning a lot and liking much of what I’ve found so far.

All the best,

Michael Buday

[Michael Buday]

I’m assuming that the OMF export to Protools contains the SAME master TC as your sequence within FCP, right?

If so, then black your tape with the same TC as your sequence (remember to give yourself a couple of minutes at the head if your sequence doesn’t include BARS/TONE, SLATE, etc.), then insert or assemble edit during your print to tape, making sure you line up the beginning of your sequence with the indentical TC on the tape.

All the best,

Michael Buday

[Michael Buday]

Need some more info, like – what video or film format was the “film” acquired on? Was it shot anamorphic? What is the delivery format? Video? Film? DVD?

All the best,

Michael Buday

[Michael Buday]

Make sure the sample rate of your digitzied audio matches the sample rate of your sequence. If they’re different, FCP will often produce crackles and pops as you descibe.

All the best,

Michael Buday

[Michael Buday]

“it seems that everyone is having problems with that deck”

I’ve used this deck many times via RS-422, ethernet and Firewire, and they all work fine, but RS-422 control is limited to capturing from SDI or analog only – you cannot capture via Firewire while under RS-422 control.

If you’re attempting to capture via Firewire under RS-422, I would change your setup to capture via the SDI port using whatever codec you need for your project within FCP.

All the best,

Michael Buday

[Michael Buday]

This is a long shot, but:

Make sure the CPU side panel is properly seated. Even better, remove the panel and make sure the clear plastic shroud behind is properly seated. If it’s not, the G5 will think the cover is off and run the fans at full whack.

All the best,

Michael Buday

[Michael Buday]

Thanks for all your suggestions. The “toggle clip keyframes” helped a bit. I’m just a little surprised that after all this time on the market, especially with the number of editors using FCP – what I would consider basic “global” effects keyframe handling is completely absent. The kind of effects I’m doing for this particular show are pretty basic, but being able to finesse even simple effects seemlessly is the mark of a well designed effects engine.

I agree that I can send the secion back and forth to After Effects, etc., but this is really basic stuff.

One more question though:

Is there anyway to turn the “auto-keyframe” function? (where FCP adds a keyframe to an effect if it detects any change to the selected parameter). It can be really annoying when you don’t need it!

All the best,

Michael Buday

[Michael Buday]

You could copy the clip then select past attributs on another clip.

Thanks, but that doesn’t address the problem. I don’t need to copy keyframes to another clip, I need to change two or more keyframes globally in an absolute or relative amount – either in time space or in relation to the attribute values (scale, rotation, hue, etc.) of those particular keyframes.

All the best,

Michael Buday

[Michael Buday]

I was afraid you were going to say that. Being new to FCP, this limitation makes doing even simple EFX work a real pain in the butt!

Thanks.