Make Opacity Controls easier to access in Viewer

this is a small one but would be exceeding handy none the less.

i nearly NEVER add "rotation" a clip. but i change opacity all the time. id like to see the opacity motion setting replace rotation up in the default open state of "basic motion".

> i nearly NEVER add "rotation" a clip. but i change opacity all the time.

Same here, but my request would be very different:

If Modify - Levels (CONTROL-APPLE-L) would work more consistently with video clips in the timeline, I'm willing to bet most people would stop going to the Motion tab to adjust Opacity. It's fast as the devil and works wonders on audio, but video clips react erratically to it.


www.derekmok.com

I think most people adjust opacity directly in the timeline surely?

> I think most people adjust opacity directly in the timeline surely?

That's what I mean. Using the mouse on that overlay isn't exact enough. For exact numbers you'd have to use the Motion tab. And what I don't get is that Modify - Levels is already supposed to work on video clips, but it doesn't work consistently. Opacity is such a simple set of controls that I don't get why it can't just have a workable timeline shortcut instead of mousing back and forth all the time.


www.derekmok.com

adjust opacity:

sounds interesting.
can i ask why you need more control than is available in the timeline?
is it because you want to set opacity at 50% exactly?
that's the main thinig i'd want

as it is, i seem to be able to hit 52% very easily,
but need to go to the motion tab for an acurate 50%

so i'd suggest the very simple fix of making 50% a "sticky" value in the timeline.

> can i ask why you need more control than is available in the timeline?

Not more control. Faster, easier control. Rather than having to fight the mouse in order to get to 50 per cent, as you say. And there are times when I do want to be at 58 per cent -- not 52, not 61, but 58. Modify - Levels should have been perfect for that.


www.derekmok.com

derekmok Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > I think most people adjust opacity directly in
> the timeline surely?
>
> That's what I mean. Using the mouse on that
> overlay isn't exact enough. For exact numbers
> you'd have to use the Motion tab.

Derek,
Just hold down the Command key when dragging the Opacity adjust line. The technique is called "gear down" and is all over the interface for trimming, slipping, sliding and many other places where more granular control is needed.

Kevin Monahan
Social Support Lead, DV Products
Adobe
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro Community Blog
Follow Me on Twitter!

> Just hold down the Command key when dragging the Opacity adjust line.

Nice, but still not as fast as "OPTION-L, -8, Enter" though!


www.derekmok.com

Quote

as it is, i seem to be able to hit 52% very easily,
but need to go to the motion tab for an acurate 50%

so i'd suggest the very simple fix of making 50% a "sticky" value in the timeline.

If you want more control over the opacity using the keyframe overlay just increase the track height either by clicking the icon bottom left, by shift+T or by dragging it up on the track lines in between track numbers.

I like with the sticky idea maybe with a shift key modifier to incremental (absolute) 25% values. Eg: 0, 25, 50, 75, 100



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

Well wha'd'ya know! I've never used the Modify > Levels shortcut for handling Opacity on video, only for handling Gain Adjust on audio ... and sure enough, I just tried it and it plum didn't work. How dumb is that? Thanks Derek. A quick play seems to suggest that it works only on clips on which you have already modified the audio at least once. Basically, if I drop a clip in the timeline, do nothing to it, and then try to use the Modify > Levels shortcut to change the opacity then nothing at all happens, but if I first tweak the opacity by any amount in the by dragging the clip overlay in the timeline first, then thereafter the Modify > Levels shortcut seems to work exactly as it should.

It chooses Audio on linked clips over the Opacity - simply make sure you only have video selected if you want the opacity to change using levels...



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

> It chooses Audio on linked clips over the Opacity - simply make sure you only have video selected
> if you want the opacity to change using levels...

No, Ben...that's not the inconsistency I talked about. I know that if both video and audio clips are selected, the command affects only audio. I always unlink all video and audio, and I always select the specific pieces I want. I'm talking about entering "-75" on a clip at 100 Opacity, and the result turns out to be "1". (Just tried it, and this is exactly what it does.) "+25" on a 0 Opacity clip had no effect at all.

"Absolute" works more consistently than "Relative", but "Relative" would have been so much more convenient. Plus it's the default mode when you first activate the shortcut.


www.derekmok.com

Actually it works exactly as it suggests - its your point of view and understanding of the tool that is inconsistent.

Relative means exactly that - relative to the current value of the opacity

So for example if you selected 50% Relative from a 100% clip then you would get 50%

If you then wanted that 50% clip half as opaque again (25% opacity) then you would enter 50% relative (thats 50 divided by 2)

If you had 10% opacity and then used 150% relative then you add half of the current value which would be 10+5 so making 15% opacity.

Another example

40% Opacity then you use 200% Relative then you get 80% (40% original + an extra 100%)

If you know what exact opacity level you want - then use Absolute.

Quote

I'm talking about entering "-75" on a clip at 100 Opacity

You don't use plus or minus on the opacity tool because you cannot have a minus value of opacity.

The lowest number is 0 or fully transparent so by entering anything less that 0 you will simply stop at the lowest value...

Quote

+25" on a 0 Opacity clip had no effect at all.

Again you are imagining in Absolute and not Relative terms...

What is 25% more of nothing?

Nothing!


So, if you are at 0% then you need to use absolute.



The tool works - it just needs you to understand how it works.

I hope this helps!



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

Jesus! That means "Relative" is useless. It's utterly moronic to use geometric relative values rather than arithmetic relative values.

That's just idiotic design. It's only 0 to 100, so why not make it the same as audio? At 100 Opacity, entering "-75" should mean "100 units minus 75 units", ie. per centage points. Not "-75 times 100 Opacity". What other effects parameter uses "value entered multiplied by current value"? And then what if you're trying to lower the value 5 per centage points at a time? So I'd have to put "95" if the thing is already at 100, but "0.90909090909..." in order to get from 55 to 50?

Sorry, Ben, your explanation may be correct, but the logic is completely counter-intuitive. Andy's reaction was exactly the same as mine. By that same horrible logic, "Scale" in motion (also a per centage value) would be nearly unusable. Geometric increments make no sense.


www.derekmok.com

i don't see the problem.
it's relative.
i want it twice as loud as it is now: 200%
makes sense to me

Nope, Ben (and All) here's the inconsistency I'm seeing ....

Take a clip of format A and put it into a timeline of format B. Important: Do not change the sequence to match the source
Select the video ( turn off Linking if necessary )
Press Cmd Opt L and attempt to change the Opacity either Relatively or Absolutely ... it doesn't work (for me).

Now grab the Clip's Overlay line for opacity and nudge it (you don't even need to change the value off of 100%, you just need FCP to recognise you are playing with it)
Press Cmd Opt L and attempt to change the Opacity either Relatively or Absolutely ... now it works.

Ok. Undo all that and repeat the process, but this time when prompted (or otherwise) change the sequence to match the source format ... This time it works straight off the bat.

In my tests this is 100% repeatable. The function (Opacity Adjust) only works reliably if a) the clip in the timeline is in the timeline native codec, or b) the clips opacity has already been manually modified.


... As for the discrepancy with the relative opacity adjust control vs the relative gain adjust control, frankly that is a bit bizarre. The way it currently works is completely logical, sure, but I'm not sure that makes it necessarily better than the also completely logical method that Derek has described. It seems more likely that it an engineer suddenly had an idea and went with ... the trouble with eureka moments like that are that they are not always genius.

Quote

Sorry, Ben, your explanation may be correct

Not "may be" correct - it IS correct!

I hear ya D - it would definitely be better to have "Absolute" as the default more like Photoshop layers and maybe the option to use plus or minus modifiers on a value.

Relative is useful if you want a percentage of the current value. Rather than having to work out in your head the Absolute value from the current one.

Apple ought to implement a whole host of user defined defaults maybe with a "set default" button on menus where appropriate

I think this has been on the list of requests for a long time and by many people as it would undoubtably speed up workflow.

---

Hey Andy - I cannot replicate your issue with any material/timeline on my MacPro, G5 or MBP on FCP 6.0.5 - what version of FCP are you running?



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

FCP 6.0.5 OS X 10.5.6/10.5.7 (!)

just did it again to make sure i'm not going doolally:

opened FCP, created a new project using DV NTSC as sequence setup (ie the factory default setup)
imported a single XDCAM HD 35 Mb/s VBR 1080i50 clip
placed it on timeline and clicked "No" when asked to match sequence to clip
pressed Shift L to disable linking
selected the video element of the clip instance
pressed Cmd-Opt-L to open Opacity Adjust dialog
entered a value of 50 (%) and clicked OK ... result: nada


interesting : tried the same thing again but selected APR 1080i50 as the sequence setup and it works with this variation ... wonder if its frame size and/or frame rate specific?

ran a few more variations on the theme and it seems to be that (for me) its failing whenever the source frame size does not match the sequence frame size. can anyone see the same thing or is this just another reason for me to buy a new computer/tv/car/stereo/insert wanted item here.

AH HA I didn't test mixing frame sizes!

Yes Andy you are correct - if mixing the pixel dimensions on a timeline it doesn't work - just as you described...

This was true for HD on SD timeline and visa versa

It worked fine on different CODECs using the same frame size.

Ok so this is an official bug!



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

very good detective work, andy!

you should definitely submit these discoveries to apple as a bug.


nick