[Todd Reid]

I second that!!!!
Well worth the money!

[Todd Reid]

I’m confused too.
I’m not exactly sure where the stairstepping is being introduced, that is why I sought the cow.
fcp forum thinks its the compressed codec, but I don’t want to use that as a crutch, since I’ve seen crystal clear keys with dv50 codec.

I was thinking it was QT. Maybe I’ll downgrade a version or 2 and see what results I get.
I was hoping someone else had run into this and could shed some light.
Unfortunately, like most people, we’re so busy, that we don’t have much time to troubleshoot.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[Todd Reid]

I would suggest limiting the number of daisy chained drives as much as possible.
If you absolutely need them, consider maybe a bigger drive to hold everything you need.
What type of drives? LaCie?
More RAM wouldn’t hurt.

This is a common issue and no need to fret. If not familar with the concepts below…
become familiar with them, they solve MANY problems that FCP encounters.

re-boot/repair permissions/trash fcp preferences

[Todd Reid]

so in your canvas window (after you’ve seen the alpha in the viewer) you seen only black (nothing) when you switch to view alpha?
Thats a head scratcher…
I guess do the basics (re-boot, repair permissions, re-check sequence settings)
I do not know of any setting that would cause your problem (doesn’t mean there isn’t one)

keep us posted as to what eventually fixes your issue

[Todd Reid]

Hey Walter,

…to juice or not to juice?

I’m curious as to why you use Juicer.
I’ve never had a problem just dragging DJ into FCP.
When I work on an avid, I’ve juiced (obviously),
but it takes a long time, and therefore, find the workflow a bit clunky.

What am I missing?
Is there any quality difference if you juice?

[Todd Reid]

I love sapphire, but the price is a bit steep, but worth every penny.
For chroma keying, I’ve been getting good results with zmatte, even at dvcpro50 codec.

[Todd Reid]

I’m not sure what your troubles are, but I CAN tell you that I have successfully used Digital Juice FS transitions on many occasions.
No need for Juicer with FCP.
When you get the clip into your FCP viewer, click on the drop down box and have it display the alpha channel only, to confirm that it is there.
If it is there then you know your problem is introduced when you go to the timeline, if not there, then you have an import issue.

Have you been successful with a Digital Juice lower third?
Or is it just the FS?
Try a few other FS, I guess its possible that you have some corruption on your DJ disc.
I know this is fairly obvious, but its all I got.

[Todd Reid]

I love my 30″ cinema!
I use a wacom and I find that I have plenty of room for FCP, After Effects and Soundtrack, individually of course.
When I took the leap a few years ago from my trusted AVID system, I thought I would miss the dual monitors, and I did until I got the 30″.
As mentioned previously though, its all in your personal preference.
One or two will be great if you are comfortable with the set up.

[Todd Reid]

the green check means that everything is within “legal” limits.
The yellow is telling you that you have some excess luma values.
On the screen the green lines mean that these sections are nearing “illegal” limits
and red lines mean that you might want to knock them down if you plan to broadcast your timeline.
You can toggle this on/off under overlay settings/show excess luma.
I’d suggest turning it on only when needed, since overlays can sometimes cause color shifting and dropped frame issues on some systems.

[Todd Reid]

not sure about their 2nd version, but the original Flip4mac worked great.
It’s $99, but it added .wmv functionality to FCP.
So you just export it natively from FCP.