[Neil Patience]

What happens if you dont use Quicktime conversion but just export a Quicktime movie ? That should be fairly speedy as long as your timeline is not hours long.
Then use Compressor to create whichever flavour or Quicktime you need ?

If you are not sure about using Compressor you could download something like MPEG Streamclip which may suit and is a little simpler to use.

Hope that helps

Ah David gave same advice while I was writing this reply,
that the way to go for sure.

best wishes
Neil
http://www.patience.tv

[Neil Patience]

Yes you can import the HD file you already have made into Compressor.

Just drop it into the job area window and then drag your chosen settings.

In terms of settings its hard to give you exact instructions as the best codec to use will depend on what you need the file for.

The fact it says 7 hours kind of makes me guess you are making an H264 file, as they tend to take quite a time to transcode.

There are presets for H264, if thats what you need. (Remember that if you want to change a preset you must duplicate the setting first and you can then modify the copy setting.)
Make sure you are not accidently modifying the frame rate or the aspect ratio.
You seem to be creating a 720×576 anamorphic file. Thats fine, it should display at 1024×576 if everything has been set correctly.
(You could always try 1024×576 which will automatically look right)

Since its quite a long transcode I would just export a short section of your timeline, say 10 or 15 secs. Then transcode just that short HD section to SD.
That way you can check all is fine before going for the whole file.

Hope thats helpful.

best wishes
Neil
http://www.patience.tv

[Neil Patience]

Have to say agree with Simon, the lack of tactile feedback and the delay when trying to use the iPad Tangent control surface make it pretty useless. Was fun for 5 mins until you actually tried it.

Even the Wave, which is pretty good, doesnt feel anywhere near as nice as the CP series panels.

I have not fully investigated the colour board in FCPX but have had a good play around. As a basic Colour Corrector its not too bad. I dont really mind the “squareness” but find colour wheels more logical. It does seem to be primed for a touch interface though which as I said earlier is far from ideal.
Not sure how colour wheels on say a Tangent panel would even translate – representing colour as a circle relates to phase and vectors – Apple seem to have gone for the “Wendy Burger” school of grading with the square thing 🙂

All that said to tout it as a replacement for Color seems, to me at least, to be a huge leap of marketing hype rather than anything else.

For my money Color was the one App that really had Avid beat in terms of ability and functionality. Guess they just threw in that particular towel to Resolve and Baselight ?

best wishes
Neil
http://www.patience.tv

[Neil Patience]

Just to add to Michaels point if you are working with files that have already been transcoded to QuickTime then you do not use the Log and Transfer tool to import.
Simply use the import tool or just drag and drop the files straight into your project.

best wishes
Neil
http://www.patience.tv

[Neil Patience]

Hi Ashraf

Yes you can use the H4N to record directly, it also has the option to plug in 2 external microphones.

However the correct mic to use, or if you use the H4N alone will depend on the location you are recording in, the ambient noise in the location, the amount of people you need to record simultaneously and the type of shots you require, in fact there are many variables you have to consider.

If you just need to record ambient sound, or a general audio then you should be OK with the H4N as the mics are omnidirectional. The quality is good and you can get great results. Bear in mind that 90 degrees is as narrow as the zoom records in terms of the mic pattern so you are picking up audio from a wide area. (You can switch to 120 degree if you need a wider pattern.)

You may be OK with just the H4N if you are recording a single voice as long as you can position it close enough although if there is high background noise this may not be ideal.

For more directional mics you then might want to consider a lavalier or lapel mic if you are in a controlled interview situation. However clipping a mic on to a subject is not always suitable.

Otherwise a well positioned shotgun mic like a Rode NTG2 or NTG3 or Sennheiser 416 these would usually be on a boom pole especially if your subjects move and held out of shot. However sometimes you can position them on a mic stand if the source of the audio is from one point and does not move much.

Additionally I would use something like a Rode Video Mic on your 5DMkII or loop a feed from the H4N if cables/situation allows to the camera.

This will give you pretty reasonable quality on the camera audio which allows for better syncing with software like PluralEyes etc. If you just rely on the camera internal mic and there is high ambient noise you may find syncing the H4N and the camera audio a struggle.

Sorry there is no simple answer to your question but hopefully that helps you consider a few options.

best wishes
Neil
http://www.patience.tv

[Neil Patience]

If the audio is not critical then Cinema Tools will do a good job, without motion artifacts.

best wishes
Neil
http://www.patience.tv

[Neil Patience]

This is a well known issue. If you do anything else with FCP while log and transfer is happening it will trucate clips.

Basically set it going and walk away – dont touch anything else and all will be fine.

best wishes
Neil
http://www.patience.tv

[Neil Patience]

For a quick experiment I did a clean install of Lion onto a spare HD and then used the migration tool to get my applications across.
I opened an old FCP7 project, first issue was having to move Motion 5 as got error message saying FCP not compatible with Motion 5. This was solved by simply creating a folder and putting FCPX and Motion 5 into that folder.
(This does not happen under Snow Leopard despite the file structure in the Application folder looking identical without having to hide Motion 5 away.)
The project is all HD ProRes HQ footage and tried playing sequence that has 3 video layers, unrendered playing in realtime.
Initially I had problems with playback in that the timeline was very sluggish. No dropped frames just a pause after hitting play for a second or 2, or spinning beach ball for a second or so. However oddly this seemed to work itself out after a few minutes and now seems pretty much OK. (Raid storage easily quick enough and fine under Snow Leopard)
Ran though all basics and everything seems to work.
No way would I use it for anything other than testing hence spare HD and just a quick migrate of Apps but on the face of it seems to work.

best wishes
Neil
http://www.patience.tv

[Neil Patience]

I have made a soft diagonal wipe using Animatte before.
Its sort of complicated to describe but pretty easy to do.
I think what I did was add the incoming video to a new video layer and apply the Animatte effect just to the overlapping portion which was the duration of the required wipe.
Then draw a diagonal line from the required corner to corner in Animatte using the poly tool. Then to complete a triangle shape I drew outside the frame linking the start and end positions.
So I had drawn a right angle triangle with the horizontal and vertical line outside my frame and the diagonal across the middle.
Its important to make this triangle big enough to allow you to move it without your straight edges becoming visible.
Then feather the edge to give the required softness.
Then just key-frame the triangle you have made so that the diagonal starts in one corner and ends in the other. You might need to expand the triangle in size a bit as you do this to give the illusion of just the diagonal moving or the straight edges will become visible and you need to keep them outside the frame.

That’s it you should then have a soft edge diagonal wipe.

Probably another way of skinning this particular cat but that worked for me.

If my rambling explanation does not make sense let me know and I can email you a project with just that effect in.
(I have v5.51 though so not sure if that would give compatibility issue with 5.03.)

best wishes
Neil
http://www.patience.tv

[Neil Patience]

You can change the font size in the inspector window.
For example if you add a simple caption using the “middle” template from the title (T) tool this will give you a centred 2 line caption. Make sure you have the inspector visible which toggles on/off using option 4.
Assuming you have already placed it in your timeline simply double click it in the timeline and then use the title and text tabs at the top of the inspector to make all the adjustments you need.

best wishes
Neil
http://www.patience.tv