[Rory Keenan]

I’ll try off loading some of the media to other drives.

Incase that’s not the issue, can you think of any other cause?
The drives have been this full for a while now without this problem.
Could it be something in the Easy Set up, or in the video playback settings?

[Rory Keenan]

I downloaded the “Preference Manager” application and used it. It’s a cool app…..unfortunetly it didn’t solve this issue.

After deleting the preferences it still won’t export a “QuickTime Conversion”

Any other ideas?

[Rory Keenan]

Thanks Shane
I’m going to try this tomorrow when I’m at the office.

By “Delete your preferences” do you mean FinalCut user preferences….or other preferences?

I’ll try the download, but I’m curious if it’s possible to do it manually as well??

[Rory Keenan]

Thanks for the links to tutorials Stephen
Now I have a really bone-headed question.

I went to the link for those tutorials you suggested.
However the video tutorial won’t play.

I clicked on the icon that says: “Play the Video Tutorial Here”
A new page loads and there is a blank area where video should be (no play controls either)
Am I doing something really dumb?
Do I need to subscribe to something (or pay) to play the tutorials on Creative Cow?

I can’t believe I’m asking for help on watching a web video, but there it is.

Thanks for your patients guys.

[Rory Keenan]

Thanks so much for your help Mark.

I realize I’m asking for a “crash course”…..but even a “crash course” will take some time.
I’m prepared to spend a week doing tutorials and experimenting with the footage they shot.
I just need to know where to start…….and you guys have given me some places to start.
If I can’t get pretty close in a week, I’ll tell the director we need to hire one of you guys.

I’ll start in FCP today & tomorrow (using your suggestions).
If I hit a wall I’ll be back here bugging you guys.

If the footage is too problematic for FCP then I’ll go to another application.

Correct me if I’m wrong:
I get the impression that keying in Motion is a little easier than keylight.
Keylight is probably harder to learn but produces better results.
Do I have that right?

If the FCP keyer isn’t producing satisfactory results I’ll start tutorials on Motion or Keylight.

[Rory Keenan]

Great advice…….Thanks!

I’ve never used Keylight….. Is there a tutorial on-line?
I think I’ll start with the keyer in FCP.
If that doesn’t work I’ll try Keylight

[Rory Keenan]

Yes, they want the footage keyed out to overlay on a web page.

Is there any particular codec I should be working in that’s better for keying?
I think the footage was shot on a Panosonic P2, in 1080 at 29.97fps, I think it’s DVCproHD.
Should I transcode to another codec?

“Export to Prores 4444 or animation w/ alpha.
Compress to .SWF file with alpha for the web.”

How do I do this?
Correct me If I’m wrong: it sounds like I export in the FCP Export settings as Prores 4444.
Then I use compressor to save as an .SWF file with alpha for the web.
Do I have that right?

[Rory Keenan]

Thanks guy these tips are great.

“You may also find that before you key, you’ll want to do some tweaking around in the 3-way color corrector “

I saw this same tip on older posts about green-screen.
What am I correcting for in the 3-way color corrector?
Do I make the image slightly more magenta, adjust brightness levels…….what am I tweaking for?

“If the footage is at all problematical, other keyers become the go-to for this, and you can still invoke them thru FCP, if you have them installed. A lot of folks prefer to do their keying in Apple Motion, where they may have access to more keying tools.”

• What do you mean “Invoke them thru FCP?
• I’ve seen several suggestions for other keyers. Using Apple Motion sounds good because it means I won’t need to buy software for this project (I also have After Effects ). I’ve never used motion, know of any tutorials on keying in Motion? Any tips on starting it?

Within the Filters folder, what sub-folder is the “8-point garbage matte filter” located in”?

How do you use “multiple layers” or “multiple instances” of the keyer to key problem areas separately?
I’ve seen suggestions about that in older posts like this one:

“you don’t have to get everything in one pass: you can invoke multiple instances of the keyer and composite them in the FCP timeline so as to treat one troublesome part separate from the rest.”

Can anyone clarify how to do this (I think I may have problematic footage)

[Rory Keenan]

Thanks guy these tips are great.

“You may also find that before you key, you’ll want to do some tweaking around in the 3-way color corrector “

I saw this same tip on older posts about green-screen.
What am I correcting for in the 3-way color corrector?
Do I make the image slightly more magenta, adjust brightness levels…….what am I tweaking for?

“If the footage is at all problematical, other keyers become the go-to for this, and you can still invoke them thru FCP, if you have them installed. A lot of folks prefer to do their keying in Apple Motion, where they may have access to more keying tools.”

• What do you mean “Invoke them thru FCP?
• I’ve seen several suggestions for other keyers. Using Apple Motion sounds good because it means I won’t need to buy software for this project (I also have After Effects ). I’ve never used motion, know of any tutorials on keying in Motion? Any tips on starting it?

Within the Filters folder, what sub-folder is the “8-point garbage matte filter” located in”?

[Rory Keenan]

Thanks for the tip.

I looked at those books and they seem mostly about shooting on green screen.
The green screen footage I’ll be working with has already been shot.
I may pass those book suggestions on to the director if he shoots any more green screen.

I need a crash course in the Post-production of green screen footage.
Any suggestions?

Recommendations on software would be great (FCP 7…..Motion…..After Effects?)

Some tips on basic use of the software (specifically exporting with an alpha channel).

And any tutorial I could do on the software (either on-line tutorial or “classroom in a book” type tutorial)