Final Cut Studio, Avid, Adobe, and Video Streaming

When editing in Final Cut there are often instances where we need to edit into a space in the Timeline. If there is no audio, one option would be to close the gap and do an Insert edit. Another option would be to mark the space by hitting the X key, but that may require isolating specific tracks.

There are two other options you can include in your edit workflow.  First, after highlighting the space, mark the selection by using the Shift + A keys together. This will mark an In and Out point at the beginning and end of the space, and next you set a sync point in the Viewer before overwriting into the space. The other option is to right click in the space,  fill the space with a slug and perform a replace edit.

You can easily stabilize an image with Apple Motion using a tracking behavior.   Check out this Motion Tutorial on how to do this.



Continue reading for the full transcript of this Apple Motion tutorial.

You can use the Quick View Window in Final Cut Pro in order to preview effects or composite images in real time without having to render them constantly.  Depending on the computing power of your Mac, the clips in your sequence may become sluggish as you change motion parameters and add effects.  Quick View will play slowly through the clips and cache the frames to your computer's RAM within the specified range.  After caching the frames, it plays the clips in real time.  Doing this avoids having to create a render file, which can add up and take up serious space on your hard drive if you don't manage them.  We came across someone recently who had 1.5 TB of render files...ouch!

To use the Quick View Window, go to the Tools Menu > Quick View or you can use the keyboard shortcut Option 8.  The Quick View opens up a window called the Tool Bench; it is a free floating window that you can move around to wherever you want.  Notice the View pull-down menu gives you a choice as to which Final Cut Pro window you want to output to Quick View.  Adjust the range slider and click the play button.

You can also use this tool when you're zoomed in to an image to see how the final composition plays without changing the zoom level of the Canvas; and to preview filter changes on the fly, you can use the Quick View tab.  As you preview the effect, you can enable and disable individual filters in the Viewer Filters Tab to see which filters suit your clip and which do not.  You can even make changes to filter parameters as Quick View plays the clip.  This is really helpful in previewing filters that may require rendering or that don't play every frame in real time.

You can use Apple Motion to create animated text effects that follow a path.  Here's a quick tutorial on how to do this.  If you're new to Apple Motion, this tutorial is similar to creating a text path in Livetype.

Continue reading for a full transcript of this Apple Motion tutorial.

Here at GeniusDV, we're getting pumped for the upcoming NAB show in Las Vegas, April 10-15.  NAB is the biggest show for digital media professionals across the globe.  NAB hosts more than 85,000 audio, video, and film content professionals each year, with over 1500 exhibitors, and more than 500 conference and training sessions.  This is the event you don't want to miss.

You can register at the NAB show's website for exciting exhibits and education programs focusing on 3D, broadband, mobile, online video, workflow, editing, and more.  All of GeniusDV's team members will be attending this year, and we look forward to coming back and telling all of our subscribers about all the highlights!