Todd Beabout
Forum Replies Created
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Open it in PS on a Mac, then re-save. It should then open with layers in FCP. Remember to flatten each layer if you have applied FX or styles to them in PS or it won’t translate over.
Good luck!
-Todd Beabout
Vazda Studios -
AVI does not play well on Macs. FCP is QuickTime based, and an AVI is not. The best option would be to try to get the footage out of the PC in some form other than AVI (You can’t usually go wrong with a image sequence if QuickTime output is not an option).
Unfortunately for you, that error message was basically correct when it said:
[Suika Suki] “It is highly recommended that you either recapture the media”
That’s what I’d do.
-Todd Beabout
Vazda Studios -
Use Backspace for “clear” and Delete for, well ripple deleting.
-Todd Beabout
Vazda Studios -
Your footage is probably anamorphic. You will have to switch your broadcast monitor into 16:9 mode.
-Todd Beabout
Vazda Studios -
On the occasion that FCP will render the motion blur, and with settings different than the default, the “look” of the motion blur has somewhat increased in version 5. (The settings I use are 100/16+ samples.) The only reason/time that I use this, though, is when I’m in a crunch and I need to fly a graphic on in say… 4 frames or so. Throwing the motion blur on that, if it renders (i.e. no drop-shadow on it), will look better than without doing it, and be quicker than jumping into AE or combustion. But for anything “important” I use FCP basically for cuts, and then jump into combustion for any compositing or motion graphics.
I’m expecting a lot from Apple at NAB this year. Hopefully they have heard some of these complaints about things that should be fixed at the core of this application. I mean, the feature set is terrific. Let’s get the bugs worked out and the functionality up to spec.
-Todd Beabout
Vazda Studios -
Yeah, the problem seems to be only with 10-bit and YUV combination. Which is of course the default highest quality setting. Thought about just going to 8-bit and see if that helps, but all my footage is already 10-bit so…
At least I know others have the same problems.
-Todd Beabout
Vazda Studios -
OK. Try this:
Select your sequence in FCP in your Browser and right-click. Select Export>Using Compressor. Now, in Compressor click the setting button in your “Batch” window. Scroll up to “Web Download (QuickTime 6 compatible) and select “MPEG-1”. This is the file type that I was saying is compatible with many different video programs cross-platform. If you do an .mp4 there are still many who will not be able to view it, especially at a government facility.
Now, up in the “Inspector” tab you should be able to find a slider that controls bitrate. By lowering this you will lower your final file size, at the cost of quality.
If you do this kind of thing a lot you might want to look into a program like Sorenson Squeeze. It gets :30 TV spots down to about 1.5 MB each (@ 15fps 320×240) which is easily e-mailed to clients. Give it a try, or Cleaner by Discreet, although that program is less desirable IMHO.
Good luck!
-Todd Beabout
Vazda Studios -
Now, you actually can do this, but not with the “Basic 3D” filter, and ironically not in the keyframe editor. If you set keyframes for your position/center in the “Motion” tab, you can then right click the position points in your Canvas and select “Ease In/Ease Out”, which will give you curves on your motion path. You can affect the actual path with a bezier, or you can adjust how close the little dots are together to adjust speed coming in and leaving the position keyframe. Closer the dots are together, slower your graphic is moving.
While technically FCP can do this, again it is extraordinarily frustrating to try to use in any real-world situation. But if you must, you can. To apply this to multiple clips you can use the Copy/Paste Attributes>Basic Motion function. But that will only work if all the graphics need to be in the same position, as you probably know.
Hope this helps…
-Todd Beabout
Vazda Studios -
You can add bezier curves to the keyframes in your viewer. Right-click the keyframe and select “Smooth”. You then get a curve that you can work with. You might want to maximize the viewer to work with them.
That being said…
I have never really gotten the “curves” to work well for me in FCP. Even if they do what they are supposed to, the “keyframe editor” part of FCP leaves much to be desired. I understand using it for pre-viz, with the actual work being done in AE, but you will probably find it very “clunky” to use. Just my $.02
-Todd Beabout
Vazda Studios -
Go with MPEG-1 from compressor. It will play in QuickTime, Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, VLC, you name it. You pretty much can’t go wrong with that.
I found the flip4mac to NOT give me acceptable quality. The wmv’s it creates are terrible IMO. Sorenson Squeeze works well, but I believe we run it off a networked PC. Don’t believe the Mac version does wmv.
But unless they request a wmv, try the .mpg.
-Todd Beabout
Vazda Studios