Final Cut Pro 7: September 2010 Archives

The snapping feature in Final Cut Pro produces a sort-of magnetic property, for example when dragging clips from the browser down into the timeline, the clips automatically snap to other clips in the sequence.  The N key toggles snapping on & off as well as the snapping button above the timeline.  You can tell if the snapping is on by looking at the snapping button in the timeline button well; when the button is green, snapping is on.

The two most common fixes for issues with Final Cut Pro, are to throw away the plist file, or to throw away files from the Final Cut Pro User Data folder.  Both the plist file, and the Final Cut User Data folder are located at User>Library>Preferences. The files within the Final Cut Pro User Data folder that you need to delete, are the Prefs and Cache. If you have used the Final Cut Assistant to back up user settings, you could just throw away the entire Final Cut Pro User Data folder.  Now launch Final Cut Pro, and see if it is running properly.

There are a couple of ways to create a speed ramp effect using Final Cut Pro.  One way is to use the 'speed tool'.  This speed tool will allow you to ramp up / down the speed of a clip without changing it's duration.

When Installing Final Cut Studio there are a couple ways to save hard drive space, when doing the installation of the software. The most space can be saved by not installing the Audio Content. The next greatest savings of space is the Motion Content, and last of all, space can saved by not installing DVD Theme Elements. Final Cut Pro only takes 630mb of space when installed, and all of the Final Cut Studio applications together take up less than 2gb of space. 

In Final Cut Pro, sometimes it is easier to drag the handles of selected clips within the Canvas rather than within the Motion Tab and adjusting the parameters.  You have to make sure you are in Image+Wireframe mode to use the Wireframe handles. To toggle between Image, Image + Wireframe, & Wireframe, use the W key.

Knowing durations in Final Cut Pro is a common necessity.  From clips, to graphics, to transitions, we often need to know how long something is.  By highlighting something in the timeline and using the keyboard combination of CTRL+D, you will display the duration of the highlighted item.  To close the duration viewer, just hit return, whether you changed the duration or not.

Other ways to go about getting a duration, are to right-click and choose duration, perform a match frame to display the duration in the Viewer, or mark the item, and display the duration in the Canvas.  In most cases it will be most effective to use the keyboard combination.

You can use QuickTime 7.0 to import an image sequence so you can bring a stop motion animation into Final Cut Pro.  This is also a great method for importing .tiff sequences from Maya into FCP.

If you find these training tutorial useful, consider taking our Final Cut Pro training class.  We also offer a flat fee for Final Cut Pro onsite training.

Here you can access over 2 hours of some of the best Free Final Cut Pro tutorials available.  They are all original, and they are all free!  Trust us, there's no fluff or BS here.

You'll also so see free tutorials on Apple Motion, SoundTrack Pro, DVD Studio Pro, and Compressor.

Feel free to link to this page for reference.

Final Cut Pro Tutorials for effects
Camera Flash effect with freeze frame Part 1
Photo Flash Frame Effect Part 2
Camera Flash Freeze effect using Apple Motion Part 3
Pleasantville tutorial
Wind Blur tutorial
Blur Face in Final Cut Pro
Transport Beam tutorial
Light Zoom filter tutorial
Ken Burns effect
Creating a Moving Filmstrip
Creating customized wipes in Final Cut Pro
Creating a running timer or counter in Final Cut Pro
Luma Key Effect
Speed Ramp Effect with curves in Final Cut Pro
Play a clip backwards in Final Cut Pro
Alpha Wipe Transition Effect
Rotated Motion Path in Final Cut Pro

Final Cut Pro Tutorials for editing
Using the Add-Edit tool versus the Blade tool in Final Cut Pro
Re-formatting 4:3 Media for a 16:9 Hi Def Sequence in Final Cut Pro
Importing AVCHD - H264 Media into Final Cut Pro
Multi-camera Editing tutorial for Final Cut Pro
Learn to use modifier keys with Final Cut Pro
Exporting (WMV) Windows Media Files from Final Cut Pro
Trimming Clips in Final Cut Pro
Importing Image Sequences or using Stop Motion in Final Cut Pro
Using Media Manager in Final Cut Pro
Reformatting 4x3 Media for Hi def in Final Cut Pro

Final Cut Pro / Boris 3D Tutorials
Creating 3D text using Boris Title 3D
Title Crawl effect with glow
Title 3D type on effect
Title 3D effect using the tracking parameter
Creating Glass text effect with Boris Title 3D

Apple Motion Tutorials
Cloning or Repairing an image using Apple Motion
Creating 3D extruded text in Apple Motion
Tracking a Mask in Apple Motion for Color Correction
Using Masks to re-fill a tequila bottle in Apple Motion
Creating a glowing title in Apple Motion
Human Torch effect in Apple Motion
3D reflection in water with Apple Motion
Creating Text on a Path with Apple Motion
Fogwriter effect with Apple Motion
Image stabilization with Apple Motion
Using Apple Motion Audio Behaviors
Using lights with Ken Burns effect
Creating Particles on a Path
Light Streak effect using Apple Motion
Wrapping text around an object in Apple Motion
Flying Stars using Character Map with Motion
Animated Masks and Tracking with Apple Motion (jump through fire)
Four Point tracking in Apple Motion (replacing television image)
Hold Out Matte using Final Cut Pro and Motion (glowing football player)
Exploding Text effect
3D lighting in Apple Motion
Sequencing Text effect in Apple Motion

Apple Color Tutorials
Creating the Pleasantville effect in Apple Color
Introduction to Color Interface
Using Tracking Data in Apple Color for Color Correction
Configuring Preferences in Apple Color
Using Secondary Color Correction to fix a bad shot in Apple Color

SoundTrack Pro Tutorials
Removing audio noise with FCP and SoundTrack Pro
Removing audio pops using SoundTrack Pro and Final Cut Pro
Time shift effect using SoundTrack Pro and Final Cut Pro

Compressor / DVD Studio Pro Tutorials
FCP to DVD Studio Pro workflow tutorial
Creating Droplets with Apple Compressor

Photoshop for Final Cut Pro Video Tutorials
Creating a glass bug with Photoshop
Using photoshop filters on video clip

You can create an unlimited number of 'customized' wipes using the Gradient wipe effect transition within Final Cut Pro. Check out this short video tutorial on how it's done!

Here is a short tutorial on how to use basic compositing techniques to create a 'glass title' using Final Cut Pro and Boris - Title 3D. 

You can downloading a free Final Cut Pro plugin to producer a counter from Too Much Too soon.

When it comes to User Preferences in Final Cut Pro, some editors might agree that one of the most important preferences is changing the number of Levels of Undo.  Levels of Undo is defaulted at only 10.  There's no reason to leave that default set at 10.  The maximum levels of undo is 99.  Every editor should always make sure to set it at a maximum of 99.  The Undo feature, or my favorite shortcut CMD+Z, is a great way to back out of a series of minor changes that maybe you decided not to use for a particular sequence.  To change the Levels of Undo, navigate to the Final Cut Pro User Preferences.



The Levels of Undo option will be at the top left of the dialog box that opens.  Set a new value (like 99), and click OK

May I suggest however, that if you did want to try out some radical changes to your sequence, save it first before making the changes and not have to rely so heavily on the undo button.  That way if you don't like the effects you can always revert back to what you had before by using the Revert function.

In Final Cut Pro you can customize the keyboard layout. Often editors will save their layouts by their own name. When another editor starts to use a particular Final Cut system they switch to their personal layout. If you don't have a layout, and want to reset Final Cut Pro to the default keyboard layout you can do so by following these steps:

In Final Cut Pro it is very likely that you will need to perform a split edit from time to time. Also referred to as J & L cuts due to the shape the edit takes in the timeline. A perfect example of a split cut is when you start to hear the audio of an incoming clip before while the video of the outgoing clip is finishing.

In Final Cut Pro it is frequent that we will use the function of pasting attributes to copy the values of attributes from one clip to another.  When there are multiple attribute values on one clip, it means the clip has been keyframed. When you paste attributes from a keyframed clip onto a clip of a different length, you must choose whether or not to scale attribute times.

Here is a great explanation about using modifier keys in Final Cut Pro

Learn the 'basics' in setting up a multi-camera edit for Final Cut Pro.