JPEG and Dissolves

I want to put several hundred pictures into an FCP project, have them be about 5 seconds long, and have 1.5 to 2 second dissolves. Is there are way to do this in a batch fashion.

If I import jpeg files, it seems to be a 10 second clip. So the first question is how to get these to be shorter.

Then, how to do batch dissolves on all the clips.

I would appreciate your assistance.

Jeremy

First:

User Preferences > Editing tab > change "Still/Freeze Duration" to something suitable for your project (5 seconds).

Second:

Edit all your jpegs to your sequence with hard cuts between them. Then in your Effects tab, right click (ctl click) the Cross Dissolve transition and "Set Default Transition" (Cross Dissolve is the default transition by nature but you may have changed it...).

Now double click Cross Dissolve and change the duration to what you're looking for (1.5 or 2 seconds...sorry, you can't do both in this process).

Go back to your sequence and mark your in at the head of your first jpeg. Select all (cmd + a) and drag everything to the canvas and drop it in the red "Overwrite with Transition" box (to the right of the "Overwrite" box).

That should do it.

Thanks for the tip.

[ Select all (cmd + a) and drag everything to the canvas and drop it in the red "Overwrite with Transition" box (to the right of the "Overwrite" box).]

Chad's got the essentials, I'd only add a couple points:

1) You can just duplicate, rename, change the length of, and then set to Default a variation of the Cross Dissolve, rather than change the default 1-second dissolve. In the Effects bin (Command-5), select, then dupe (option-D) and then highlight the duped dissolve icon and right-click (control-click) for the shortcut menu "Set Default Transition" choice, and you are good to go.

2) Don't Select All unless you want your Audio tracks dissolved as well. Just grab groups of photo clips by hand and drag 'em to the Canvas. Multiple Dissolves only be done by mouse drag anyway, for now, and it's kind of fun.

3) Be sure to TARGET your destination track to the one your clips reside on, or this won't work. You can either mark an In, or just park the Playhead at the head of the group to be dissolved.

- Loren
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