DC Metro Final Cut Pros

Testimonial:
Donna Perry Thomas commented on your link:

“Sean was my trainer at FMC Final Cut Pro class. Cool guy, great class, learned a lot – got me started on the road to great video editing.”

Come on out and meet Sean and get a free deep dive on Apple Motion!

Future Media Concepts’ trainers hold manufacturer certifications, have extensive teaching experience and an intimate knowledge of their discipline, obtained through years of practical application. In addition, many hold New York State Department of Education teaching licenses. When not in the classroom, they work as video and film editors, CD-ROM authors, animators, digital illustrators, web-site designers, programmers and consultants. The ability of their trainers to relate their real-life work experience to the class lessons, combined with the manufacturer-authorized curriculum and FMC small class size, makes each course at FMC an ideal learning situation.

Sean Casella is an Apple Certified Pro Apps Trainer, Digidesign Pro Tools HD Certified Expert and an Adobe Certified Instructor for After Effects, Premiere Pro and Encore DVD. His applications of expertise are DVD Studio Pro, Motion, Final Cut Pro, Soundtrack Pro and Pro Tools HD.

Sean has been working in the entertainment and training industries for over 15 years, and has a large list of high profile clients. He has produced many TV shows, DVD’s and Music projects worldwide. Sean was the Technical Editor for the Official Apple Certified Courseware for DVD Studio Pro versions 1- 3, published by Peachpit Press. Furthermore, for 8 years he served as the Lead Instructor for the International Academy of Design-Tampa, in the Digital Media Production Department.

Sean has taught many technical and certification conference sessions at the NAB Post|Production World, Post|Production New York, DigitalMediaDC and the DV Expo LA.

Sean holds an Associate’s Degree in Music and Video Business from The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Florida Metropolitan University.

Come on out and meet Sean and get a free deep dive on Apple Motion!

Courtesy of Ripple Training:

Final Cut Studio – What’s New

The wait is over. The new Final Cut Studio is here. With dozens of improvements and features, this version of Final Cut Studio is a must-have for any serious post production professional. With over 11 years of experience teaching Apple professional video applications, Ripple Training was Apple’s first choice to produce and deliver tutorial movies that explain in real-world, no-nonsense terms, what these improvements and features will mean to your everyday workflow.

Below you will find 19 tutorial movies (all free), that cover Final Cut Pro 7, Motion 4, Compressor 3.5, Soundtrack Pro 3 and Color 1.5. Each tutorial is produced by Apple-certified trainers who are industry leaders in their respective fields of expertise.

Final Cut Pro 7: Produced by Steve Martin and Brian Gary
Motion 4: Produced by Mark Spencer
Compressor 3.5: Produced by Brian Gary
Soundtrack Pro 3: Produced by Steve Martin
Color 1.5: Produced by Alexis Van Hurkman

QuickTime 7 or above required to watch these tutorials. A fast internet connection is also recommended.

The total running time for all 19 movies is 78 minutes (give or take a second or two). So go get a sandwich, kick back and enjoy the presentation. Thanks for watching.

P.S: Click on their button to be notified of additional videos when added…

DCFCPUG

Here’s what I like to think happened:  I posted a request for instructions on how to put together an animated heart-rate graphic in Motion on the Apple forums.  Producer/Editor Andy Neil responded with a step-by-step primer for Motion beginners.  I turned those steps into an illustrated tutorial (with Andy’s blessing).  Upon seeing my tutorial, Andy was inspired to put together a slightly more sophisticated video tutorial himself.

Here is what I think actually happened:  All of the above, except Andy had been working on his own tutorial for a while and was merely prodded to finalize it after I posted mine.

Here is what I hope didn’t happen:  Andy saw what a hack job I did, and felt compelled to post something more, uh, usable – to save poor FCP users, and his own reputation.

No matter how it happened, Andy’s tutorial is better in most every respect than mine.  First, it’s in video format, which is always nice.  Second, Andy has a better understanding of Motion and its capabilities, and presents those options clearly.  Third, his process gives you more control over the final graphic, which also looks better.

So, please check out his tutorial and look for more as he builds his site.

What did I learn from the tutorial?

1. How to more effectively use the Paint Stroke Tool.  (I had relied on the Bezier Tool because I didn’t realize how easily you could smooth out the initial freehand drawing).
2. How to batch-move keyframes in the timeline.  (Awesome time-saver).
3. That prodding more skilled artisans is sometimes the best service I can provide.  Uh, you’re WELcome, FCP users.

Recently, I needed a basic animation of a heart-rate graphic.  You know, like on a hospital monitor.  I am more comfortable in Final Cut Pro than I am in Motion, so all I wanted was a looping animation that I could drop in FCP and composite as I saw fit.  A few Google searches and a quick post to the Apple Motion forum later, I found an easy process that met my humble needs.  (Thanks to editor/producer Andy Neil for his explanation!)

Here is the result:

And here’s how I made it:

STEP ONE:  Create a new project and set the timeline length to 3 seconds. That seemed like plenty of time for one heartbeat cycle (and some handles for trimming).  Your timing needs may vary.

STEP TWO:  Draw the heart-rate graphic using the Bezier Tool.

Some folks might prefer the Paint Stroke Tool. I have neither the hardware nor the skill to freehand this stuff.   I also experimented with the Line Tool but the various lines cannot be “Grouped” for purposes of the steps below, and I couldn’t figure out how to make one continuous piece using the Line Tool without grouping.  Here is the finished drawing using the Bezier Tool:

STEP THREE:  Set the playhead to the first frame, hit “Record” and make the adjustments detailed below (involving the timeline playhead and the First Point Offset and Last Point Offset sliders).

You can either hit the Record button on the canvas, or just press “A”.  Then do the following:

• a.  Set the Last Point Offset (“LPO”) slider to 0.
• b.  Move the timeline playhead to 1 second. This equated to Frame 24 in my project.
• c.  Set the LPO slider to 100.
  
• d.  Move the timeline playhead back to frame 16. The goal here is to find the right timing.  You can experiment with what’s best for you, but a good place to start is to halve the frame number at which you set your playhead above (in step b), then add a little.  For example, I set my playhead at 24 frames (1 second), so the half-way point is 12 frames.  I bumped that to frame 16.
• e.  Option-click the dash to the right of the First Point Offset (“FPO”) slider. This sets a keyframe at frame 16 (or whatever frame you choose in the previous step d) for the current value of the FPO – which is 0 at this point.
• f.  Move the timeline playhead forward 2x the number you chose in step d. In my case, I moved the playhead to frame 32 (16×2).  This put it well past the 1-second mark from above, which is an important aspect of getting the timing to work.
• g.  Set FPO slider to 100.

STEP FOUR: Stop recording and hit play.

That’s how I generated the animation at the top of the page.

NOW, the fun part begins with 2 simple questions:

1. How would you improve this process, which is meant to generate the basic heart-rate animation using Motion? and
   
2. What would you do next to spice up this simple animation in Motion?  (i.e. using particles, replicator, emitters, etc.)

DCFCPUG members: We have established a relationship with Larry Jordan’s group to bring our members a great source of training on FCP and donor to our user group meetings!  Let’s show our support !

Sign up quickly as these limited seats go quickly! 

Take advantage of this once a year opportunity when Larry Jordan comes to Washington D.C for his Final Cut Pro PowerUP series. We’ve established a special discount for our DCFCPUG members to save you money on this great seminar. See below for details:

• Succeeding in the New World of Tapeless and HD Video (4 hours)
• Integrating Adobe Products into a Final Cut Workflow (4 hours)
• Discover the Hidden Power in Final Cut Studio (8 hours)

Here is a quick tip on using the Extrude filter in 3D space in Motion – another in a series of tutorials from Contributing Member, Mike Greenberg of KonspiracyStudios.com:

VIDEO: Using Extrude Filter in Motion