[Nick Meyers]

the 4000 pixel limitation in FCP is (was?) in relation to SEQUENCES.

you cant create a sequence with a frame size larger than 4000 pixels.

there is no hard, coded-in frame-size limit on images you import.
i have had rollers that have gone way over 4000 pixels high,
and not had problems.

oh, and here’s a curio:
if you import a layered PSD file larger than 4000pixels,
it will come in as a sequence LARGER than 4000.
so that is a way to get around FCP’s limit.
seems like asking for trouble to me, though.

nick

[Nick Meyers]

6.0.0?
the first releases are always a bit buggy.
have you thought of upgrading?’

are you sure all 3 systems are the same?
6.0.0 on all of them?

are you using any 3rd party plugins on the machines?
are they identical on all machines?

nick

[Nick Meyers]

trash your prefs!

<https://www.lafcpug.org/Tutorials/basic_trash_prefs5.html>

nick

[Nick Meyers]

although serious gfx people have complained to me about the kerning in FCP.
is say the main thing here could be your choice of font.

i agree with Neil,
FCP is the simplest way to ad your subtitles.

i will add that there are a few special subtitle generators for FCP.
Text Up Pro from spherico film tools (who make Title Exchange Pro) is the most versatile, IMO.

here is a long-winded post i wrote a while back.
if you are up for it, it describes the subtitle workflow we used on a feature with some foreign language in it.

_________________

we had a large (not monster) amount of subtitling to do on our last film.
i reckon we developed a really good system, so i’ll pass on what i know.

for starters there are a few apps that you can use for the “spotting”.
Bel Nuit is one, Subbits is another.
there are also some transcription apps that you can also use for this.
HOWEVER…
i found all of them a bit harder to use that i wanted.
yes, it’s just a learning curve, but call me lazy, and call me cheap, i wanted to use the app i already had and knew, so we stuck with FCP.

—————————————————————————————————-

TOOLS
to make it work in FCP, we relied a lot on QuicKeys, a macro app.
this will repeat a programmed series of keystrokes, mouse clicks and menu commands.
there are others out there, most of them cheaper.
as i really only use the tip of the iceberg of what QK can do, i could probably get by with one of the others,
but i have QK, so that’s that!

TEXT UP PRO
this is Andreas’s subtitling generator for FCP.
it’s extremely versatile, with
– bottom justification (also top & middle) which is essential for coping with one and two line subs
– auto wrapping, which is a huge timesaver.
– also has your choice of outline, or box bg.
there are other subtitle generators for FCP, but i think Andreas’s is the most versatile.

TITLE EXCHANGE PRO
you may not need this just for MAKING your subtitles, but it sure can come in handy AFTER you’ve made them.
you can use TEP to re-format subtitles en-masse, so if you decide you really do want white instead of yellow, TEP can do that for you.

and just so you know, TEP can be used to help you make your subtitles.
it works like this:
add a marker where you want a subtitle, add the subtitle text to the marker text.
export an XML of your timeline and run it through TEP, and you get a new XML back.
open that in FCP and you get a timeline full of your subtitles.
copy & paste into your original timeline.
TEP will do an auto-format for the timing based on the number of characters.

the downside is you don’t really “see” your subtitles as you’re working on them.
we had a translator working with my assistant, and it was a lot easier if they could both see what they were doing on the spot, so that’s why we opted for the do-it-in FCP method.

—————————————————————————————————-

PROCESS.
start by making a generic subtitle using Text Up Pro. (we made one that was 3 second long.)
we put that in the timeline we were working on, before any talking, and COPIED IT.

the process was then spotting the start of the line with an in point,
and hitting a macro trigger.
this would go to the in point, paste the generator, open it in the viewer, and progress to the text entry field.
so one keystroke, and you’re ready to enter text. cool.

the next step was defining an outpoint for the subtitle.
probably with an out point on the timeline (cant remember exactly!)
then another QK macro extended / trimmed the subtitle to that point.

so that’s pretty much it for making the subtitles,
but we did a couple of thing AFTER that which i think are essential if you are subtitling RUSHES.
both were again QuicKeys macros.

macro1. would add a marker to the rushes clip where the subtitle started, add the subtitle text to the marker text, and extend the marker for the duration of the subtitle.

this is GREAT!
it means if you ever lose your text overlay, you can re-create it.
this means you are free to edit in a fast and intuitive way without having to be copy/pasting blocks of V1 and V2.

an important step is to delete all your original versions of these clips from the browser,
copy the ones in the timeline,
and paste them back into the browser.
so now the marked clips are you master clips.
you can match-frame from the timeline, and your viewer clip also has all the markers.
again, great for editing.

similarly, if your rushes are multicam, you need to do all this work before you make your multiclips, as multiclips wont remember any changes made to them, like adding markers.
i’m pretty sure we had a macro that copied all the markers (and text) from the A-cam clip to the B-cam clip

macro2 would copy the subtitle text into the text generator name.
(i copied this from Andreas’s TEP which has the subtitle text in the generator name)

this meant if i was looking for a certain phrase or term from the scene, i could do a timeline search for it.
so no scrabbling through a transcript (which we didn’t have anyway!)

furthermore our generic subtitle was labelled STL_, so the subtitle text was added after that.
this meant i could do a timeline search for ALL the subtitles if i wanted to, or a search for each subsequent subtitle.

—————————————————————————————————-

so that’s our process.
making the subtitles seemed pretty fast, once the translator had figured out what the person was saying.
auto-duration is probably a bit of a timesaver, but not much, IMO

the real breakthrough for me was adding the markers to the rushes clips, and making them master clips.
i mentioned this to Andreas a while back, and i hope he can incorporate something like that into his next version of TEP.
he gets upset thinking about me sitting there watching my macros unfurl, when i could achieve the same ends with some XML know-how!

TEP does quite a few things, too, mainly around the re-formatting of text info.
it can take your final subtitles and turn them into an STL list for DVD Studio pro, for instance, so you have a subtitle track on your DVD.
and if you want to use one of the other subtitle apps, TEP can take the info from that and make FCP subtitles, too.

hope that helps,
nick

[Nick Meyers]

[Sutharsan Bala] “Is it then only to go to File-Export -> QT movie and NOT change any settings? (So that the settings will be the same as the timeline? – i.e 1920×1080 or something like that? (Full HD)). “

yes.

re the subtitles,
check out Spherico Filmtools’ title exchange.
it reads FCP text files from an XML file,
and can translate them into many different formats

<https://www.spherico.com/filmtools/TitleExchange/index.html>

cheers,
nick

[Nick Meyers]

broadly, there’s two ways to go about it.

one way is to use the MEDIA MANAGER to make a copy of all you media to a new location.

settings would be:
COPY mode
DONT delete unused
Base Media FIe Names on: Existing File Names

you would also request a new project.
that will be connected to that new media, and all should be great.

only downside of this is that ALL the copied media winds up in one single folder.
if you’re anything like me, or 99% of the editors i know,
you’ll have some sort of folder structure in place for where you put your media:
captures, music, VO, graphics etc, etc.

now, for lots of reasons, i DONT want that to be completely messed up.
one really good reason, especially in your case, is that if you ever try to reconnect to the ORIGINAL media,
you’ll have to go thru the same business you’re going thru now.

so the other way is basically what you have done.
manually copy your media folders to a new drive.

the real trick to a seamless transition is to use exactly the same file path on the new drive as you did on the old,
INCLUDING changing the name of the drive.
if you have every thing the same except the drive name is different,
FCP will need prompting, and that could lead to problems.

FWIW re reconnect warnings:
i have gotten those sometimes on audio files, like AIFFs, for no reason i could figure out.
(maybe they were 44.1khz, and they threw FCP off?)
anyway, they always connected fine, despite the warnings.

nick

[Nick Meyers]

there’s TWO steps to this process.

step1
in your sequence settings > audio outputs tab, choose dual mono.

step2,
back in the timeline,
right or control click on or near the lock icon (left hand side of timeline)
this is where you assign each track to an audio output.

there is NO visual indication of the assignment,
so double checking is a good idea.

cheers,
nick

[Nick Meyers]

yes, all FCP versions before 7 riple the timeline when you do a speed change.
if for some reason a ripple is impossible (audio or video on other tracks getting i hte way)
you get a warning saying there’s a trim conflict.

one solution is to move the clip up to a vacant, or new track.
lock all other tracks, (hold OPTION and click on that track’s lock icon to do this)
do the speed change
unlock al the tracks

another way that i use:

put an in point at the head of the clip.
copy the clip (Apple C)
move to the end of the timeline (hit the “End” key)
paste the clip (Apple V)
do the speed change.

bump the clip up one track (option + up arrow)
cut the clip (Apple X)
go back to the in-point (Shifti i)
and paste

because i bumped the clip up,
it pastes back onto the track above the original clip.

this sounds like a lot more work,
but i find it much faster than locking / unlocking tracks.

ANOTHER approach
match frame the clip into the viewer. (select the clip in the timeline, hit f)
do your speed change IN THE VIEWER,
edit the clip back into the timeline.

problem with this (since FCP5 perhaps?)
is that changing the speed on the match framed clip changes the speed of the BROWSER clip.
not a huge problem when you are aware of it.

nick

[Nick Meyers]

sort of, but not exactly, to be a bit pedantic

that project was ProRes 1920×1080 50i,
so a “PAL” frame rate

trashed prefs, and am now working in a more complex, more PAL project. (ProRes PAL 720×576 50i)

going OK, touch wood.

this project was started in FCP6.
all editing at this stage is via copy paste, timeline to timeline,
and moving clips around,
not cutting into timeline.

nick

[Nick Meyers]

yes, please!
now it’s happening to me, too…
BUT WORSE!

this started happening last night:

any time i moved or nudged a clip,
the sequence was re-named after that clip!

then today (same project):

i copied a still image in the browser,
pasted contents to a still image in a timeline,
and ALL THE CLIPS in the Timeline adopted the name of the browser still!

now that i look back in that project,
for some reason the copied still now has the name of another sequence altogether,
all other clips have the name of the still!

good thing this is a very minor project,
otherwise i’d be pretty annoyed!

nick