** The Great Internerd FCP FAQ. (Please contribute) **

I was thinking the other day, as I answered the 'FCP can't see my camera anymore' question for the squillionth time, that I would like to take on the FAQ so that we can all link to standard answers at LAFCPUG.

I thought that maybe the best way to do this would be to ask here on the forum for people to contribute the top FAQ questions and answers, which I will then clean up and make into a single document for LAFCPUG.

Michael thinks this document will be a hundred pages long, but I think it couldn't possibly go more than ninety seven...

So, I'll get the ball rolling

1. Q. FCP can't see my camera/deck. It used to work fine, but now I can't capture.
A. This sometimes happens when you have upgraded to Tiger (OS 10.4) and/or QuickTime 7. To get it working again, you need to remove your old QuickTime receipts. Step by step instructions on how to do this can be found here : [docs.info.apple.com]

If I include your work, you will be credited, of course.
cheers
Jude

should we include anything about DVD content into FCP? i think that is the most frequently asked question ever! but it would be pretty much giving the recipe for copyright infringement...

Those of you that frequent this forum often and find yourself answering the same question over and over, you are the ones we want to contribute. If that answer is a recipe for copyright infringement then go ahead and add it. We might not use it, but go right ahead.

:-)

I have my stock answers which I dole out frequently. Copy/paste from my Stickies.

#30 - Deck recognition after Tiger Upgrade:

Shane's Stock Answer #30:

[discussions.apple.com]

The credit for this goes to Bob Sidebotham:

I was just walked through a repair procedure by an Apple Care person, and it fixed my camera recognition problems (I have a Canon XL1 and sometime after installing Tiger, then 10.4.1, various patches (including Quicktime 7.1) and the latest Desktop Video patch, I've been unable to use the camera with Final Cut Express, and attempts to capture would result in a FCE crash).

The workaround is to download Quicktime *manually*, after removing the "receipts" which indicate that it is loaded. Specifically, I was told to do the following:

1. Navigate to Library -> Receipts on your main drive (not from your personal folder).

2. Remove all files of the form QuickTime*.pkg, where "*" is a version number. E.g. QuickTime600.pkg, QuickTime650.pkg, Quicktime700.pkg and QuickTime701.pkg. This simply tells your system that those packages are not installed.

3. Go to [www.apple.com] and click on the "download Quicktime" link. DO NOT USE THE AUTOMATIC UPDATE UTILITY. Download QuickTimeInstallerX.dmg. Double click this file (probably on your desktop) and then invoke the installer by double clicking QuickTime701.pkg.

4. After your computer reboots, you should be able to restart FCP and see your camera.

Darn easy. But, I know what you mean. A FAQ would be nce for you folks without stock answers.

I know you have stock answers Shane, but I'm trying to get ones that we all can easily link and contribute to. I've just answered that question, but if you want to add any others in a similar format to the one I used, it would be much appreciated.

2. Q. My picture is freezing all the time. Video plays ok on the timeline, but when I try to play it in the canvas or on my external monitor, I only get sound and a frozen picture, or very jagged movement.
A. It's likely that you have zoomed in on your canvas or viewer. To fix this, go to the small button at the top middle of your canvas and viewer that has a percentage number in it. Click on this to change it to 'fit to view'.
Also, check that your View > External Video setting is set to 'All Frames' if you are using an external monitor.
Sometimes using View > Refresh A/V Devices can also help.

It seems to me the number-one FAQ in this forum is:

-----------------------
"My effects/titles look bad in Final Cut but look okay on tape. Why"
- You can't judge effects on the Canvas -- Final Cut Pro does not playback effects as a "what you see is what you get". Check effects on an external broadcast monitor.
-----------------------

We must've seen this one a dozen times last week!

A few more:

-----------------------
"I only see a frozen still image when I play a clip or a sequence on an external monitor."
- Check the display size of the Viewer and the Canvas, wherever you are playing back from. The display size is controlled an oval button (with a per centage on it) on top of the image area in both the Viewer and Canvas windows. This must be set to "Fit to Window" or lower.
-----------------------


-----------------------
"How do I get footage from a video DVD to use in editing?"
- (Copyright lecture first, then) Use MPEG Streamclip or DVDxDV.
-----------------------


-----------------------
"I don't get audio from a movie file I just imported into FCP. I can hear the audio if I play it in QuickTime Player, but there's no sound when I play the file in FCP. Why?"
- Open the clip in QuickTime Player and press APPLE-J. Check the Sound Track. If you see the words "Muxed Track", the audio has been "multiplexed" (or "muxed" with the video and the clip needs to be "demuxed" before it can be used for editing. Use MPEG Streamclip.
-----------------------


-----------------------
"Why do I hear popping sounds on the sound in my timeline?"
- First check to see you're not using MP3 files, which don't play well in FCP. Convert them into AIFFs before importing them into FCP. Secondly, before you output your sequence to a movie file or to tape, you must perform an Audio Mixdown. This does *not* mix all your audio tracks to two tracks; it merely serves as an audio render.
-----------------------


-----------------------
"Why isn't FCP letting me apply video transitions?"
- Clips on both sides of a transition must have "handles" -- if you have two clips separated by a cut, side by side in the timeline, and want to apply a one-second dissolve between them, you will be changing the duration of one or both of the clips. For example, a one-second (30-frame) dissolve with its midpoint resting on the cut point will now need 15 frames extra on both clips in order to execute the dissolve. If a transition refuses to drop onto the cut, chances are you don't have enough left of one or both of the clips on either side. Change the cut point or shorten the transition.
-----------------------


-----------------------
"I import songs from a CD and it worked at first, but now the files are missing and won't play."
- If you import audio files directly from a CD, FCP does not create a file from it -- instead, it makes a "dependent" or "reference" clip to the CD. Once you eject the CD, FCP will lose track of where the audio is. You must convert CD tracks to AIFFs before importing into FCP. Use iTunes for this purpose.
-----------------------


-----------------------
"I'm capturing video, but all my files are coming up as 2GB, and I'm getting weird file names with a long string of numbers attached to them."
- Check the formatting of your Scratch Disk, the drive you're capturing to. It is likely that it's misformatted. You must format a drive to Mac OS Extended before you use it for capturing.
-----------------------

Beat me to that one, Jude!

Related to that, let me also affix:

-----------------------
"I have my Video Playback settings right, but I'm not getting picture in my external monitor."
- Check View - External Video. It must be set to "All Frames". The shortcut for toggling external video on/off is APPLE-F12. This function is *in addition* to the Video Playback device settings.
-----------------------


-----------------------
"My sound sync is fine if I just play the tape or watch my clips in QuickTime Player, but sync sounds off if I'm watching the clips in the FCP Viewer or timeline."
- If you're playing back to an external monitor, you must also listen to the sound with an external playback device. If you're watching the image on the Viewer or Canvas, then you must listen to the sound on the computer's Built-In Audio option under Audio/Video Settings, or by turning View - External Video off (at which point Built-In Audio will kick in). If you're watching external video, for example FireWire from the computer to a deck to a monitor/TV, then you must monitor sound from the deck or the monitor/TV.
-----------------------

FAQ is so last Thursday.

This is the place for a Wiki!

A common informational database that adds to and manages itself.

Koz

I'm all for it! The current LAFCPUG "FAQ" is a good effort with good information, but it doesn't really function as a true FAQ. An FAQ has to first make it easy to find your question; the answer then follows. The current FAQ reads more like a manual, which is not a bad thing, but it doesn't function as a way to search for a reference to the question that's on your mind. So having a list of these Frequent Questions, searchable so you can enter keywords to zero in on your question as it's posed in the FAQ (not everyone "asks" in the same way) is the way to go.

One of the other FCP forums (can't find it again for the life of me) had a little box on the main page with a link to the "Big 10 FAQs" and clicking it popped up a box with the 10 most frequent questions and their brief answers. It was beautiful, so easy to use that people might actually use it. Something like that would be nice, if it's possible. With a link to a more comprehensive FAQ list if the short list doesn't cover it. And within every brief answer there could be a link to a more detailed discussion among the tutorials if such existed. It's important to be brief and to the point with the initial answer; eyes glaze over when faced with a long explanation, and it becomes easier to just post a new question than to do research.

I would suggest we begin by assembling a list of the questions, making sure they cover what people will be asking; the answers themselves are pretty easy to come up with as a second step.

Scott

Q. When I play my footage in the viewer it plays fine but when I drag it to the timeline why does it have to be rendered to playback?
A. Create a new sequence and match the sequence settings to your clip settings before dragging a clip to the timeline.

What's with the green checkmark?

My Canvas is white!

I thought this was supposed to work like Avid!

bogie(What's and Avid?)san

Will FCS run on my new _______ ?

How do I get good slow motion?

I can't seem to make Media Manager work. Is this a bug?

Why and when do I need or want to de-interlace?

What does de-interlace mean, anyway?

FCP wont' see my camcorder/deck/FW device/drive. Nothing has changed on my system, it just suddenly stopped working. Really.

Transitions are only one-frame long. Is this a bug?

How do I get rid of echo I recorded in a big room?

My audio is really low. I only have the mic on the camera but the speaker is at the other end of the auditorium.What can I do?

I shot a concert with a friend's camera but the lighting was really bad. The singer in the spotlight is completely white. How can I fix this?

I shot a wedding for my friend using her Sony DVD camera. How do I make it look better? How do I put the clips into an HD timeline?

How do I make a HD DVD?

What are the differences between all of the HD formats and which one do you recommend I buy now?

How do I make text look like the Star Wars intro?

The new version of FCP was just announced but Apple won't give it to me for free. What's up with that?

bogiesan

ROTFLMAO!

Man...you must have had that pent up for a while!

I love the simple questions, like you pointed out:

"What are the differences between all of the HD formats and which one do you recommend I buy now? "

yeah, I can squeeze all that into a post.

<<<yeah, I can squeeze all that into a post.>>>

You're working too hard. See, I'm not kidding.

[software.newsforge.com]

Koz

Kozikowski wrote:

> FAQ is so last Thursday.
> This is the place for a Wiki! . . . A common informational database that adds to and manages itself.

this is what I created with &lt;[www.proapptips.com&gt]; a way for any user to add tips tricks and information

all of Shane's stock answers are there, Shane has been a HUGE help when I started up the site, and recently (before NAB) started doing video tutorials as well



David at Movies Rock in Toronto
[www.tofcpug.com]

I think the Wiki approach is great for "more of the story", a more in-depth discussion of the issues. But in order to get people to actually use the FAQ, the initial "search for my question" and get the basis of the answer needs to be very short and sweet.

Bogiesan is on the right track. Compile the questions, then prioritize by "most frequent with simplest answers". Actually, a wiki might be a great place for us all to work out the questions and the approach.

Scott

Jude -- thats a Great Idea--

Also as we all know a picture is worth a 1000 words--

Maybe could be linked to YouTube and show
short Video clips on how to do things that
are hard to put into words --Jay--

<<<I think the Wiki approach is great for "more of the story", a more in-depth discussion of the issues.>>>

But it doesn't have to be that way. The first layer could be the "get out of jail" card, the one or two sentence common problem entry, possibly even posted live here as a cut and paste form the wiki.

Then there is the reference to the actual wiki which has links to the other common causes and the videos.

We will always get the people who will resist the structured approach (the people who want us to personally email them the solution), but with everything in a structured wiki, most of the solutions are a cut and paste--or reference away.

The main reason I suggested wiki is not the structure of the work or the solutions, it's the ability for many people to change it. The Final Cut Export functions change with each edition and making one editor constantly try to keep up isn't going to work.


How do you get clips from a Movie DVD into Final Cut?

Koz

A Wiki is a great idea and - we dont want to take anything away from you David and your hard work, but it is important that lafcpug at least attempts a try at a FAQ. We attempted it before and its sort of died but maybe with a Wiki we can at least entice folks to take a stab at what everyone wants to happen, but just aren't making it happen.

This is a volunteer thing so we need to make it EASY and moron proof.

I just wish I could come up with some sort of inducement like cash, but...I'm poor and got kids.

Whatever the format(s) turn out to be, I want to reiterate my main concern about it, and then I'll shut up.

We're trying to snag the poster who comes in with one of the same set of questions we answer every day, i.e., "frequently asked". The thing that distinguishes this poster is that he apparently can't be bothered to look at a few days worth of posts before posting to see if the issue has been covered already. And my feeling is that if he clicks on the FAQ and sees a mountain of in-depth discussion of a wide range of topics, he will sigh and go back and post his SOQ (same old question), and nothing has been gained.

The interface that greets someone intrepid enough to open the FAQ should be free of info-bloat, just be a very bare-bones list of the kind of questions we recognize as frequently asked, with a brief, basic answer to each one with a link to the full-blown, everything you'd ever want to know wiki-type discussion.

It would be a shame to develop what could be a wonderful knowledge base but still scare off the people with the FAQs by forgetting to make the front end simple.

Scott

I agree with the bulk of Scott's points, but I'd also like to say that personally, I tend to skip FAQs on sites like Amazon because they aren't specific enough. And there will still be tons of amateur operators of FCP who won't understand the answer to a FAQ, or won't even go to that page.

I agree about trying to improve the FAQs, whatever the format is, but I think it's just a fact of life that people will ask redundant or repetitive questions. If somebody posts a question already addressed yesterday, point him/her to the link and move on. It's gonna happen.

<<I tend to skip FAQs on sites like Amazon because they aren't specific enough>>
Exactly. Something like FCP lends itself to very specific questions with very specific answers.

<< I think it's just a fact of life that people will ask redundant or repetitive questions.>>
No question about that. We'll never catch them all.

<<...point him/her to the link and move on.>>
Better yet, point them to the FAQ link on that topic! Great way to educate people that it's there.

Scott

great idea Jude.

there are a lot of Qs that get Ad around here quite F

there are probably so many that the searchable FAQ is good,
but it ALSO needs to have something like a top ten,
with the MFAQs (Most Frequently Asked Questions)

and it also needs to be in a place where you almost have to step over it to get to post a Q
can you make stickies, Mike?
i think you've answered that one before, in the negative.
maybe a BIG RED "FAQ" just above the posts index?
or as the 1st option at the top, before "Forum List, and "New Topic"?

here's my vote for #1

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q: why do my stills/titles look bad/bump in FCP?

A: The canvas in FCP is a Low-Res Preview,
(especially with DV, which, being compressed, requires more processing power to preview)
furthermore, stills and titles will often preview in Real Time,
which will drop the preview quality even more.
There can be a noticeable quality shift as FCP hits these areas.
Render your stills/titles,
and only make quality judgements by viewing your work on an external monitor.

(add further tips on adding the "Flicker" filter...
maybe a link to Philip Hodgetts' article on getting good text with DV in FCP)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

cheers,
nick

I don't agree that we're trying to grab people before they can post a question.

I hate that.

I spent almost an hour on a Network Card Maker's web site looking for a place to post a question. They had all the right words; "Contact Us," "Help," "We Want To Hear From You," 'Assistance," etc. I figured out the whole web site was a really giant loop (didn't I pass this tree about a half-hour ago?) and there was *never* going to be a human to write to.

I stopped buying their products.

LAFCPUG stands out because when somebody posts, there is a rush of talented people trying to help. You can't get that rush from a FAQ.

But you can get the two sentence Lead Quote from the wiki and post that, in addition to the addresses and a short, ad-lib message telling them to come back if that didn't do it.

Koz

I could post a link in place of "Click HERE for instructions on how to register"

That might help. Also a link at top of

[www.lafcpug.org]

We tried this on the Avid.com Community forum, but people just skipped FAQs and asked the stupid repetitive questions anyway (I don't read FAQs either). Here's a few of my FAQ contributions off the top of my head (I think you all know the answers):

* Is there a codec that handles an Alpha Channel that I don't have to render EVERY TIME I bring it into a timeline?

* How do you uninstall FCP?

* Why do we have to pay for a "crossgrade"?

* My FCP won't launch. What's wrong?

* My Mountain Dew keeps falling off the retractable cup holder that pops out of the front of my G5. Will the Apple Store consider that an "in-warranty repair"?

* What's better...Mac or PC?

I have a few thousand more, but I have some work to do...more later.


- Joey



When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Great stuff y'all. Keep em coming.

I think at this stage just throw out any ideas you have and we'll see what comes of it. I'm sure that together we can come up with a brilliant delivery method that will be useful both to the people who need help and the people who give it.

It would be helpful to me though if you add answers if you have them, because otherwise I'll have to write them all, and that's going to end up being a lot of answers, some of which are not my specialty at all.

I've also started noting in other posts when I have added stuff to the FAQ general soup, by posting 'FAQ'd'.

Once this topic scrolls off, I will consolidate it in a new topic so people know what we have already covered.

By the way, my vote would be for short simple to find and understand answers to the top questions, with links to more indepth discussions, possibly on a dedicated Wiki, or even at other sites such as Ken Stone or Apple's kbase, or our own tutorials or forums discussions.

I was thinking of maybe an organisational hierachy like

Problems with sound
Problems with picture
Problems with capture
Problems with output
Problems with My Uncle Rubin, who refuses to leave the bathroom and must be played Mozart 23 hours out of every 27 hour cycle.

etcera etcetera etcetera

<<<and must be played Mozart 23 hours out of every 27 hour cycle.>>>

Or else?

Koz

Perhaps we can work together to identify the most common questions and when a new poster asks one, we simply say, go to here for your answer. If we are sure about the ease of accessing the whole answer to that one question, it may work to train new posters to look there first anyway.

More people are coming here with either "I'm in a panic situation" or Here's my list of 10 questions, that I need answered , NOW!

I find that I tend to wait for someone else to start answering if it's the 10 questions we have all answered last week and then there are those "half the necessary information" questions that we always end up answering - "we need more information ABOUT this or that".

It's real easy to throw out a question or scream -I Have A Problem With... when they figure out it's easier to ask a new question that try to look it up or even RTFM, first.

I guess our choices are either continuing to customize an answer for every post or force the obvious questions into a learning situation.