Hi I'm an art student currently taking my first Stop Motion art class and am using Final cut express for the first time in my life.

Aside from the basics I am practically clueless on pretty much all of the program. My professor has done a good job to mention how to do each thing, however, everytime I go on my own to begin trying things out I can never remember what to do specifically.

I want to take a clip I currently have, and stretch it out so it will run for my entire sequence, but at a slower pace.
How do I do that?

Thank you so much
Carolyn

Hey Carolyn, please don't make your posts quite so large and colourful...a bit hard to read.

To do a slow-motion on a clip in FCP, press APPLE-J and choose a lower per centage than 100%. You can also target the duration you want and let FCP do the math for you. I don't use Final Cut Express, but I imagine the commands will be similar.

To look up other features yourself, aside from reading the manual, there's a shortcut. Again, don't know if FCE has an equivalent, but in Final Cut Pro, you can press OPTION-H (Tools - Keyboard Layout - Customize), which will show you an interactive keyboard interface that shows you what the shortcuts are. More importantly, the window has a search engine built in so that if you search for "speed", it shows you what the command is.


www.derekmok.com

You can also tap the 'S' key 3 times quickly until you get to the 'Speed Tool' - then grab the end of the clip with the pointer and drag it out to the length you want.



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

Or you can use the fit to fill edit. Shift f11



www.strypesinpost.com

Quote
Ben said
You can also tap the 'S' key 3 times quickly until you get to the 'Speed Tool' - then grab the end of the clip with the pointer and drag it out to the length you want.

When was this introduced? Sounds like a slick tool, but I've never been aware of it.

Gosh...I don't remember when FCP didn't have the Speed tool. I never use it, though, since all my slow-mo decisions are based on how slow I want the clip, not how long I want it to last. Also, being an old-school editor, I rarely use any slow-mos that aren't in increments of 25 per cent.


www.derekmok.com

I've had FCP since ver 3 and never was aware of this, but that doesn't prove anything .

It just seems like a quicker way to do a fit-to-fill, and would be handy for that.

for much better looking slow mo - take the clip into Motion and use the optical flow function. In fact there's a web site that claims you'll get as good as if not better results than with Twixtor.

take a look at this tutorial
Optical Flow vs Twixtor

Andy's right - if you want decent looking slomo you'll have to decamp to another plugin or app like Motion or AE.

However for really quick speed adjustments SSS is a great tool. As to your question "when was it introduced" - I think Kevin Monahan mentioned that it appeared in FCP 7.



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

SSS used to be Time Remap...did they just change the name or add more functionality? (I never use it, so I don't know)


www.derekmok.com

>Andy's right - if you want decent looking slomo you'll have to decamp to another plugin or app like
>Motion or AE.

You could also try out Furnace Core from the Foundry.



www.strypesinpost.com