Looking for FCP workarounds

1/ Know of a good substitute for animatte in FCP. The 8 point matte isn't cutting it.

2/ How can I use an effect as an overlay in FCP. Ya know, add edits on the empty tracks above the cut, drop the effect on etc ...

3/ If you cannot stack effects in FCP than how can I apply more than one transition effect to an edit and how can I customize segment effects/filters into transition effects, ie: keyframe 0-100-0 etc.

4/ If I can stack effects how can I take a four layer efect, subclip it as a sequence and usethat sequence as source without it nesting itself once it hits the timeline?

5/ Anything resembling the paint tool? In order for me to blur a license plate etc I have to put a copy of the clip above the original, blur the clip and then crop. Very cumbersome. Also, if it is on the edge of the frame and you feather it it works it's way in from the roster. In the avid I would stretch the effect in the paint tool beyond the roster. Can't find a way to go beyond the roster with an effect in FCP.

Also, non related to effects ...

Has anyone found a workaround for the lack of transition corner display? How can I monitor my dissolve handles while trimming?

And does anyone know why I cannot get dual image play while trimming and why if I am dual roller trimming a clip on V2 and what is below is functioning as my B clip the right side of trim trim window is black? Any workaround for this, something in the settings?

Finally, I have to keep track of allot of footage counts from various archives. I usually decompose without handles, sort by tape, apple I for duration etc ... How do I do this in FCP?

Any help with these issues would be appreciated.

Thanks.

1. [homepage.mac.com]

2. FCP does not support adjustment layers, but you can nest if you want to apply a global filter on to a sequence. Just don't get too nest happy.

3. You can stack filters in FCP. You can use filters as transitions. You can make a favourite effect and save that.
[library.creativecow.net]

4. hold apple while you're dragging the sequence from the bin. Edit: read below.


5. Paint brushing is cumbersome in FCP, as FCP is mainly an offline editor. Use After Effects or Motion. In fact, I'd advice you to do the assemble in FCP, and send it to AE for effects and touch up. Here is a free script that lets you move projects from FCP to after effects easily.

[www.popcornisland.com]



www.strypesinpost.com

>I usually decompose without handles, sort by tape, apple I for duration etc ... How do I do this in
>FCP?

Media manager, copy, trim, and you can sort them out by tape in the browser, and there's a duration column in the browser.

[www.kenstone.net]



www.strypesinpost.com

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Are there any editors out there who have experience cutting effects heavy clip shows in Avid? If so have two quick questions.

im not an avid editor but i'll try to help out.
BTW, you have hit up against most of the areas where FCP is quite different to avid,
so there may not be the answers you'd like to hear.

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1/ Know of a good substitute for animatte in FCP. The 8 point matte isn't cutting it.

check out Motion.

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2/ How can I use an effect as an overlay in FCP. Ya know, add edits on the empty tracks above the cut, drop the effect on etc ...

FCP just doesn't work the same way.
Strypes mentioned nesting, but that might be what you're after.
it's relatively easy to copy / paste fx from one clip to another. of course if you then change your mind about the effect you hten have to change all the clips.

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3/ If you cannot stack effects in FCP than how can I apply more than one transition effect to an edit and how can I customize segment effects/filters into transition effects, ie: keyframe 0-100-0 etc.

while you CAN stack effects filters in a clip,
you CANT stack transitions

you can layer clips and keyframe filters to act as transitions.

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4/ If I can stack effects how can I take a four layer efect, subclip it as a sequence and usethat sequence as source without it nesting itself once it hits the timeline?

no answer

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5/ Anything resembling the paint tool? In order for me to blur a license plate etc I have to put a copy of the clip above the original, blur the clip and then crop. Very cumbersome. Also, if it is on the edge of the frame and you feather it it works it's way in from the roster. In the avid I would stretch the effect in the paint tool beyond the roster. Can't find a way to go beyond the roster with an effect in FCP.

there are some 3rd-party plugins for this.
Andy's Region Blur is free, i think
Joe's Filters have one, too.


Also, non related to effects ...

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Has anyone found a workaround for the lack of transition corner display? How can I monitor my dissolve handles while trimming?

you might have to get used to trimming in the timeline

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And does anyone know why I cannot get dual image play while trimming and why if I am dual roller trimming a clip on V2 and what is below is functioning as my B clip the right side of trim trim window is black? Any workaround for this, something in the settings?

very annoying, i agree.
you either re-shugffle your clips to be on the one track while you trim,
or get used to trimming in the timeline

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Finally, I have to keep track of allot of footage counts from various archives.
I usually decompose without handles, sort by tape, apple I for duration etc ... How do I do this in FCP?

as Strypes said, the Media Manager will do your "Decompose"
same concept (Or so i believe), but terminology is different.

for safety's sake it's recommended you use "COPY" mode, so as to preserve your original media in case of some mishap.
also be aware that clips without reel#s wont trim at all.

there are also 3rd-Party tools for tracking used footage via XML.
i should remember who makes them but check out:
Spherico FIlm Tools
Video Tool Shed
Intelligent Assistance



cheers,
nick

Thanks for all of the advice above. I will give it a go.

In terms of trimming I still think Avid just has it going on a bit more than FCP. I actually do trim in the timeline jkl style and just use the trim window for a visual reference. I feel as if the FCP trim function wasn't really thought out. Especially with the lack of sync locks I miss the ability to trim something forward and have it automatically "break" the clips beneath creating a space as opposed to having to razor cut the whole timeline to trim one track forward. It still feels as if the designers of the software have not learned to think ahead in terms of keystrokes like an editor. But I am sure this will improve in time if the software designers actually start editing like the Avid designers. Also the slipping in FCP is unforgivable, not being able to hear my audio while slipping kind of defeats the purpose if I am blasting through trying to clean up my nat sound slipping out unwanted screams on red carpet footage. How do you know where to stop slipping audio if you can't hear it? Maybe I will write a letter to the FCP folks. I am not bashing FCP, I think it's just fine, but when I hear people saying that FCP is as sophisticated as Avid I am wondering how extensive their Avid knowledge really is because some things are just self evidently not as advanced if you truly understand the software

yep, i agree with you, and i'm predominantly an FCP editor.
i still have trace memories of avid (and lightworks) and find myself thinking "I wish FCP could do that"

for slipping audio, and general audio trimming, i use the VIEWER.

lets say you needed to slip out some screams, or a creaking camera track.
blade around the offending sound, then double click that clip into the viewer.
in the viewer you can easily SEE the audio, and can generally spot a good bit of fill.

holding SHIFT, grab either the in or out points and drag them to the new position.
holding shift will "lock" the in & out and treat them as a pair, so you are effectively slipping the content.
as you drag you can also be scrubbing, if you have scrubbing turned on.

often while still in the viewer i'll audition the new section of audio by hitting Shift + backslash (play in-out)

back in the timeline the clip should still be selected so now (FCP7) i just hit option apple T and both ends have transitions applied.
now THAT'S a good bit of thinking that's come across from avid to FCP.


as for trimming audio (or video) in the viewer,
while a timeline clip is open in the viewer, you can summon up the ripple or roll tools (r for roll rr for ripple) find a new in or out point, and hit in or out.
if there is nothing to stop the edit happening in the timeline, then bang, the clip will be trimmed.


cheers,
nick

Thanks Nick. I didn't know you could do all of that. I just started on FCP. I am thinking that I may need to actually read the manual

> Especially with the lack of sync locks I miss the ability to trim something forward and have it
> automatically "break" the clips beneath creating a space

Some philosophical differences between Avid and FCP editors are irreconcilable...that feature in Avid drives me crazy! I much prefer rippling when I specifically ask for it. The few times I used Avid on a project, I spent half my time wrestling against the software's "presumption" that I want to change clips that I didn't ask to be changed.

That's okay, though. Cross-pollination of the two philosophies tends to make both softwares better.


www.derekmok.com

Apologies, I was in a rush earlier today and didn't read that question properly.

>4/ If I can stack effects how can I take a four layer efect, subclip it as a sequence and usethat
>sequence as source without it nesting itself once it hits the timeline?

4. One thing you could do (aside from using the favourite effects tab), is to use the text generator to store your filter stack in a bin in the FCP browser.

Let's say I want to do a 10 frame horizontal blur and blow out and keep store it as a filter stack. So I'll hit control X for the text tool, change the duration to (let's say) 1 second, drag the directional blur and the brightness filter onto the clip. Then go into the filters tab, keyframe the filters. Then go back to the video tab and drag the text clip from the viewer into the browser. Then label the text clip in the browser.

When I want to use that particular keyframed effect on a clip, I go into that text clip in the browser, copy (command c), select my clip in the timeline, paste attributes (option v). Voila.

To adjust the keyframe position on the filters, hit option T, move the mouse cursor over to the green effects line on the clip. The mouse cursor will turn into a pair of vertical lines with arrows pointing left and right. Click and drag.



www.strypesinpost.com

One thing that can make your switching back and forth between AVID and FCP easier is to go into the keyboard shortcuts tool and change F9 and F10 to be "Insert sequence content" and "Overwrite sequence content" respectively. This will make the insert/overwrite actions work more like AVID and not nest your sequence content when you edit from sequence to sequence.

ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!

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Anything resembling the paint tool? In order for me to blur a license plate etc I have to put a copy of the clip above the original, blur the clip and then crop. Very cumbersome.

I'm not sure if you'll find this any less cumbersome, but this is a trick I use to blur faces, plates, etc. when I don't want to bother taking the clip into Motion.

1-Mark your V1 clip in the timeline (X).
2-Set your video source to V2.
3-In the viewer, click on the bottom right icon (looks like an A inside a film frame) and choose Matte Shape/Oval or rectangle (whichever you need).
4-Edit it into V2 on the timeline (F10).
5-Select the matte shape in the timeline, right-click and choose: Composite Mode/Screen.

Now you should have a white shape over your V1 clip.

6-Resize and position the shape in the controls for the matte shape so that it covers what you want. You can also adjust feathering as well. If animated, add keyframes and animate the shape over the course of the clip.
7-Once finished, select the V1 clip. Then hold down OPT and SHIFT while dragging up to place a copy of the V1 clip onto V3. OPTION creates the copy, SHIFT ensures that the clip doesn't move to the left or right while you're dragging.
8-Blur the top clip.
9-Right click the V3 clip and choose: Composite Mode/Travel Matte Luma.

It may seem like a lot of steps, but I find it to be very quick. Plus, I don't even bother copying the V1 clip and all that until I'm nearing output. Animating a white mask is simple enough to show what I'll be blurring.

The closest thing to the brush tool or animate effect in FCP is actually a function in Motion. But when I'm in the heat of editing, I try to stay as much as possible in FCP.

Andy

Blurring plates, pictures, logos...faces. I use Andy's REgion Blur. It is so friggin easy, it puts the Paint Tool to shame.

[web.mac.com]

SOrry about Trim mode...yeah, that's something FCP is lagging behind on.

And yes, you really need to learn how FCP does effects. I find I can do more effects in FCP, better effects, than Avid. Just takes a while to figure out how.


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