DC Metro Final Cut Pros

DVD Studio Pro – Creating PAL Menus for DVD Studio Pro

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Because video uses rectangular pixels and the computer uses square pixels, we need to compensate for the differences between the two whenever we create something on the computer for display in video.

This is especially true for still images we bring into DVD Studio Pro to use as menu backgrounds or slides for a slide show.

When you create an image for PAL, use the following image sizes in Photoshop:

• 4 x 3 aspect ratio: 768 x 576 x 72 dpi
• 16 x 9 aspect ratio: 1024 x 576 x 72 dpi

Final Cut Pro – Creating Multiple Track Audio Output

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By default, Final Cut Pro creates a single stereo pair for audio out.

However, it will allow you to create up to 24 tracks of audio out using Sequence > Settings > Audio Outputs.

Once you’ve created the number of output tracks you need, you still need to assign each Final Cut audio track to an output.

To do this, Control+click between the A1 patch and the padlock icon on the left side of the Timeline. Then, from the pop-up menu, select the output channel you want to assign for that track.

Note: Final Cut does not allow you to assign the same track to more than one output. You can, however, assign multiple audio tracks to the same output.

Final Cut Pro – Creating Split Track Audio

Audio Output

If you need to create split track audio where, say, dialog is on the odd track and music is on the even track, Final Cut makes it easy – if you know where to look. Here’s how:

1. Open the Sequence you want to change.
2. Choose Sequence > Settings > Audio Output
3. From the pop-up menu, select the number of tracks you need to output.
4. Set each track to Dual Mono, which pans both tracks center, as opposed to the default setting of Stereo. (By the way, the gain reduction on each track of -3 dB is appropriate and should be left alone.)

This can be set as a preference or customized for each sequence. Preference settings are set in User Preferences > Audio Outputs. The process is the same.

[See tomorrow's tip for how to assign tracks to an output.]

Final Cut Pro – A Faster Way To Find Effects

Find Filters

Ever want to know if a clip in the Timeline has effects on it?

Press Option+T to toggle clip keyframes on. (It the button with green and blue stripes in the lower left corner of the Timeline.)

Any clip with a green line under it has a filter applied. Any clip with a blue line under it has a motion effect applied. For example, in the illustration on the right, the first clip has a filter effect, the second has a motion effect and the third has both a filter and motion effect.

Final Cut Pro – Reusing Effects

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Adam Lloyd Connell sent this tip in:

This is probably one that a lot of people know , but: In projects such as the one I’m working on now, with a repetitive transition effect, I am finding it so useful to drop the effect between clips (at the edit point), set its attributes, and then drag it off the sequence (FCP will keep it there) and copy it into a Bin in the Browser.

FCP retains the attributes of the effect in the Bin, ready for me to just drag it on the edit point of the next two clips. For example, in this project (multimedia education video) with lots of edge wipes from different angles, I have four edge wipes I have copied into the bin, each called, wide 90 degrees, 180 degrees. 270 degrees, and 360 degrees.

Larry adds: One of the problems I have when creating favorite effects is that all favorite effects are stored in the preference files, which means that they get lost when preferences get trashed.

Dragging an effect to the Browser (I create an Effects Bin to store them in) allows me to both save effects and quickly reuse them.

Macintosh OS – Using Cover Flow to Find Shots

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Adam Lloyd Connell sent this in:

I was just wondering, have you explored how useful the Cover Flow tool in leopard is for finding a missing shot?

In FCP 6, I am currently working on a long project with around 500 takes, and the cinematographer had only supplied one take of a particular cutaway to an object on a table. Trying to find that specific clip without the continuity notes easily at hand was a pain, and using FCP’s thumbnail view was slow.

However, opening folders with footage from the XDCAM, and selecting ‘Cover Flow mode,’ made it so easy to flash past all the hundreds of (quite large) thumbnails, and we found the shot in minutes. I’ve gotten into the habit of finding my missing shots in Finder this way.

Try it, next time you’re trying to find that elusive shot.

Final Cut Pro – Resetting Multiple Audio Outputs

Reset Audio Panel

This tip courtesy of Shane Ross.

Let’s say you have a source file with 8 tracks of audio, and you mapped a1 and a2 to A7 and A8 on the timeline, and a5 is next to A6… in other words, the track assignments are ALL over the place.

To get them back to the proper order takes like 15 clicks… TIME CONSUMING.

Well, if you simply RIGHT-CLICK (or Control+click) in the gray area below the audio tracks, there is an option to RESET PANEL … click that and everything pops back into order, and everything is connected.