Final Cut Pro 6 Essential Effects - Rendering

Course Website
http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=428


14. Rendering

Keep in mind: rendering only effects Final Cut during the editing process; the final output will be always high quality.

RT menu

tow bars: top one for video; the bottom one for audio

"Safe RT" is for highest quality (bar is in red)
"Unlimited RT" is for decreased quality (bar is in orange) - I like this better
"Play base layer only" is for rendering without effects

Always set the "Playback video quality" to Dynamic

Audio rendering setting: it can be changed according to the speed of the computer HD

For firewire 400 device - set it to 22 MB/s

For firewire 800 device - set it to 44 MB/s

Playing unrendered sequences

for video - 1. press Option P - 2. QuickView Window - 3. Sequence menu » Render Selection (Command R) (all color bars should be selected)


for audio

Auto Render is Cool

set to 10 or 15 min

Where to change render settings?

- before the project starts, use "User Preferences"
- after the project begins, use "Sequence Settings"

Delete Render Files

Render Manager

Keyboard shortcuts and conclusion

Final Cut Pro 6 Essential Editing Part 2

Course Website:

http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=430

10. Multiclip Editing - watch the movies for details


Dynamic RT and Unlimited RT

Safe RT (by default) means that the video quality is the highest during play-back. However, when working with multiclip, it should be set at Unlimited RT.Unlimited RT decreases the video play-back quality during editing (only); the final video quality is still high.

11. Using transitions

Apply a transition


Using the Effect menu

Effects Tab = Effects Menu

Option drag the effect to duplicate on the timeline

Creating favorite transition

creating favorite

copy Favorites from the Effects folder to the Project folder. This will keep Favorites from being trashed with the application preference file.

Change the default transition

or press Command + D

For Audio transitions, according to the instructor, "Cross Fade (+3dB)" should be the default. And 5 frame transition is the his best choice.

Apply multiple transitions at once

result on the timeline

Intro to rendering

Option + P = preview in the timeline without rendering

Shortcuts


12. Editing audio


two types: Dual-channel-mono (FCP default) & stereo
Speaking should normally be set at dual-mono

Waveforms

The red line controls volume level; the dark line controls left/right speaker output (called Pan).

or click on the red envelop button (outside of this image)

Split or combine audio pairs

Track overlay

FCP allows 99 tracks of video and 99 tracks of audio.

Split inserting video/audio

Trimming audio

Option + Command + W displays the waive form on the timeline.
Audio Scrubbing is for hearing audio while scrubbing the timeline.

Command + Option + T = adding transition

right-click on the red tag and choose "Move into Sync" can fix the broken connection.

1. use the roll tool or ripple tool
2. select/click the joints
3. just type numbers, such as 1 or -1 (go forward or backward 1 frame)

Link and unlink clips

underline means that they are linked

FCP allows up to 24 audio tracks linked to 1 video clip

Visibility Lights

When green visibility lights are off, FCP will delete all selected clips' renderings
and those clips don't export for the final product.

"Clip Enable" (command + B) toggles the clip's visibility.

Shortcuts

13. Mixing audio

Using the Audio Meter and Clip lights

The yellow bar in the Audio Meter means the Pick Hold Indicator showing how loud the sound is in the last two seconds.

The loudest scale on the meter is zero. If the sound goes over zero, the red lights will be turned on.

The red lights on the top should never be on. Otherwise, the final audio output is destroyed.

Setting Clip Audio Levels

The first two must to be obeyed. the rest three are for suggestions.

To adjust level/Gain and pan, use the preview window by double clicking on the audio track(s). The reset button is a circle with an "x" on the right side.

value: -6 to -4.5

Apply Normalization Gain function normalizes the entire audio gain.
This is good for uneven speech, etc.

Mixing Audio in Final Cut Pro

Modify»Level can control multiple audio tracks.

Demo working environment

Using the Audio Mixer

always leave the master fader alone!

to reset: Option + click on the slider

while arrow tool is selected, hold down the Option key, the pen tool will appear when the mouse is close to the pink audio gain line.

Keyframes can be edited by clicking and dragging

If I want to start at a low audio volume and go higher, set the audio level low at first by drag the slider to a low level while the Record Keyframe button is not selected, then select the Record Keyframe button and drag the slider to higher levels.

Demo work result

Finishing your mix

To copy only keyframes from one clip to the next (not the content):
this is also great for editing two mono sound tracks.
1. select and copy the clip
2. select the next clip
3. Edit»Paste Attributes
4. choose "Level," then "OK"

This only renders the audio "Mixdown."

its shows all audio peaks above zero by using labels. Great!
to remove labels, choose "clear"

Shortcuts

14. Capturing

need to refresh this chapter

1. always save and name the new project
2. ProRes 422 is good for HDV sequences - render-time drops down a lot.

settings for capturing HDV

Summary & Shortcuts



16. Importing

Importing files and folders
File » Import » files/folder

Converting compressed audio
FCP supports only uncompressed files: AIFF, WAVE, SD2
Use iTunes to convert MP3/MP4/AAC files to uncompressed files

Sizing graphics for video
Computer using square pixels; video using rectangular pixels

Don't use JPEG! - use TIFF or PNG

Shortcuts
Cmd + I = Importing files


17. Exporting

Exporting a still frame
a still frame can be exported either from the timeline or the viewer. see the 3 steps.



In Photoshop, 1) if the image has thin horizontal lines, do De-Interlace first (use default settings)
In Photoshop, 2) then, change img size from 720x480 to 640x480

Exporting a QuickTime movie

for highest quality and fastest speed, choose "QuickTime Movie"

For DVD or web, make a reference movie.
This file type is designed to be a temporary file to move from FCP to compression.
(thoughts: since I cannot find the linked rendered video file, I could however try creating a video(no audio) file first and then create a reference movie. The reference movie contains only audio info. This idea has not been tested yet.)

"Setting: Current Setting" has always the highest quality.

Exporting for Compressor
may get slightly higher quality than "QuickTime Movie," if the video contains a lot of motion.

Exporting for QuickTime conversion
This automatically down samples the videos to 8bit. So it does not provide the highest quality, nor the smallest file size, than "QuickTime Movie." It should only be a temporary solution, not for final output.
(listen to the video lesson again to refresh memory)

Exporting as AIFF and OMF
Exporting audio for Soundtrack Pro
Exporting with multichannel output
(learn the video lessons when I need)

Exporting Summary


18. Managing Media

Making files go offline
right-click on the clip or go to the Modify menu

Reconnecting files
right-click on the clip or go to the File menu

Changing timecode
1. clip timecode change

2. sequence timecode change

to move the clips on timeline: 1. select the clips; 2. just type the number of seconds (such as +130); 3. return(?)

Editing Item Properties
1. select one or multiple clips
2. Edit » Item Properties or Project Properties

Working with render files
learn the video lesson again when I need!
Sequence » Settings » Video Processing tab & Render Control tab
For HDV, use ProRes 422.

Render Manager

• under Tools menu
• use it only at the end of a project
• "Constant Frames" folder - leave it alone
  

Media Manager
(learn the video lesson when I need)

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