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Final Cut Pro – Displaying Audio or Video Clip Names

Show Names

Starting with Final Cut Pro 6.0.2, you can now turn off the display of audio or video clip names in the timeline. This can be useful when you are trying to set keyframes in the timeline.

The only problem is that this toggle is darn near impossible to find. Here’s where they hid it:

At the bottom of the timeline, just to the right of the small bar chart, is a tiny right-pointing arrow. Click it and check, or uncheck, the clip names you want to hide.

They can be turned back on by repeating this same process.

Cool.

Click here to download CrumplePop Photo2 (38MB)
Click here to download CrumplePop Freemeo (1MB)

Thanks for the tip, Jennifer (National Geographic)!

Rodney
DCFCPUG Leader

Final Cut Pro – Saving Filter Settings

TIp Jar

Here’s a great shortcut for saving a filter setting:

After you customize a filter exactly to your liking, you can always make a Favorite filter out of it. However, Favorites are deleted when you trash Final Cut Pro’s preferences. Sigh… not a good thing.

Instead, drag the filter name from the Filter tab in the Viewer and drop it into the project window in the Browser. If you want, you can create a bin called “Saved Filter Settings”.

While the filter won’t appear in your favorites menu, you can apply it to any clip by simply dragging it from the Browser onto a clip. Best of all, these filters are untouched when you trash preferences.

Final Cut Pro – Match Timecode from Window to Window

Timecode Drag

There are times when it’s useful to match a Timecode from one window to another: to match a duration, In Point, or Out Point, for example.

There are two solutions:

Select the timecode you want and copy (Cmd+C) the selected timecode from one Timecode data entry box and paste (Cmd+V) to another Timecode data entry box.

- OR -

Hold down the Option key and drag the timecode from one timecode data entry box to another.

Final Cut Pro – The Twirling Thingy of Color

Color Rotation in Keyframes

Nobody ever asks me what this twirly button does — which is a shame, because I actually know.

Between the color sampling eyedropper and the color chip is a weird curvy-arrow button that does absolutely nothing, until you start using keyframes to change the color of something — such as text.

This twirly thingy determines the direction of color rotation as you move from one keyframe to another. For instance, if the thingy points clockwise, the colors rotate from green to red to blue and back to green. If the thingy points counterclockwise, the colors rotate in the opposite direction, from green to blue to red and back to green.

Cool.

Final Cut Pro – Creating Burned-in Timecode of your Sequence

update

Need to output a sequence with burned-in timecode matching your sequence for clients or producers to review? Piece of cake. There are two timecode filters in Effects > Video filters > Video.

Timecode Reader reads the timecode of your source material and can be dropped on a clip in the viewer or timeline. However, it only shows the timecode of your source video.

Timecode Generator creates timecode from zero or a preset start time (for example, 01:00:00:00). The most useful way to use this is on the timeline. However, if you drop the timecode generator on a clip or range of clips, it automatically restarts timecode at the start of each clip.

Hmm… what to do, what to do.

You could nest the clips — but, I discovered a faster way that doesn’t involve nesting.

Go to the Generator menu in the lower-right corner of the Viewer > Video tab and select Slug. Edit the slug to the top track of your timeline and select it. Apply the Timecode Generator filter to the slug. Double-click the slug to load it into the Viewer and make whatever changes to the settings are necessary, for instance, here I changed the hour to start at 1.

(You can extend the length of the clip more than two minutes by typing the new value in the Duration timecode box in the top left of the Viewer.)

Then, and here’s the magic, with the slug still selected, apply Modify > Composite Modes > Screen.

Voila! Instant burned-in timecode — much faster than keying the clip. All you need to do now is render and output.

Extra credit: If you need a slug longer than about ten minutes, change the Still/Freeze Frame duration in “Final Cut Pro > User Preferences > Editing tab” prior to creating the slug.

If you have what it takes to deliver the quality editing skills to a high tempo news agency, please send me your resume and have your reel ready…  Opportunity knocks…

Rodney Mitchell
DCFCPUG Leader and Apple Ambassador

http://www.dcfcpug.org

Final Cut Pro – Extending a Duration

update

By default, all generated clips have a two-minute duration.

To get “generated” video – renders, still frames, slugs, mattes etc. – to have a duration longer than two minutes, just select the Viewer, press the TAB key (or click in the top left timecode box), and enter the desired duration.

Pressing Tab selects the duration dialog box in the top left corner, where you can type in whatever duration you choose.

Final Cut Pro – Setting the Default Transition

update

Here’s a fast way to set, or change, the default audio or video transition:

1. Click the Effects tab in the Browser

2. Twirl down Video Transitions

3. Find the transition you want to make your new default.

4. Change the length, if needed, by double-clicking in the Length column to the right of the transition name.

5. Control-click the name of the transition and select Set Default Transition.

This same procedure works for changing the default audio transition, except that audio transitions are stored in the Audio Transition folder, also in the Effects tab.

Final Cut Pro – Creating Moves on Still Images

TIp Jar

Looking for a quick way to create movement on still images (i.e. the “Ken Burns’ effect”)?

The solution turns out to be very simple. Make a separate folder in iPhoto called “image montage” (or whatever name suits your fancy) and select only the shots you want to move. Then, in iPhoto, choose “Ken Burns effect”, set a dissolve duration of one second or faster, then export it as a QuickTime movie (.mov). Import the file into FCP, edit it to the timeline and render.

Ta-DAH!, a really cool montage with Ken Burns effects.

When creating this effect in iPhoto, you may notice that the motion is randomly applied, in both direction and location on picture. Although you cannot control the type of motion, you CAN drag the picture to set where the movement will end. You are essentially setting the key focal point. This is a handy tip when iPhoto decides to pan down to a crotch rather than up to a face.

(Courtesy of Eric Cosh & John Kaplan)