FCP Tip #004: Syncing clips with the difference composite mode

If you need to "eye match" a clip and want to get it done quickly and without error, this is a great way to do it in Final Cut Pro, Vegas, Premiere, After Effects or any program that has a "difference" composite mode or transparency mode.  I thought it best to show you rather than explain because frankly, I'm already confused.  Here's a handy video that explains everything you need to know. I guarantee it will make a difference in your editing life.


By the way, that is my buddy Ray. At least he used to be my buddy. I just realized how unflattering that footage is. Apparently, not everything that happens in Vegas stays there. Sorry pal. I just can't bear to record this again. Hey maybe you'll go viral...i can just see those crazy nose scratching vegas guy mash up videos now.

FCP Tip #003: Remap your keyboard, change your life. (Dramatic much?)

One of the benefits of having worked on Avid, Final Cut Pro and Media 100 is that I've gotten exposure to different ways of doing things.  Avid got some things right, Media 100 kinda happened and FCP made some marked improvements to non linear editing, no one can deny that.(Although they certainly try in an effort to kill time while the beach ball is spinning.)

There are a few places where FCP's keyboard shortcuts don't work for me and here's how I fixed them.  The first set of keyboard shortcuts I decided to modify are the "go to in" and "go to out".  My editing style has me going to my in and out points hundreds of time per day and I think it's just absurd to have to hold down a modifyer key to go to these points. (Stock FCP setup is shift+I and shift+O).  It completely destroys my rhythm. (I edit like I'm playing a drum machine at times)  To fix this shortcoming, I have taken a page from the Avid keyboard layout and have re-mapped the Q and W buttons to "go to in" and "go to out" respectively.  If you've been on FCP for a while you might already be used to the default functions of those buttons, but I did this remap early on before I ever knew what Q and W did in FCP so it was a non-issue.  Plus, if you bounce back between Avid and FCP, like I do, it makes the first hour after crossing over much less painful. (A scented candle can be nice too)

The second life-improving re-map I did was to the X key.  I'm not sure what the heck it does in it's default setting, but I do know that it doesn't do what I'd like it to do.  I could never get it to really work like Avid's mark clip button, but I've found something that's pretty good.  I've remapped it with the "mark selection" function. You can search for it in the keyboard layout window, it's in there trust me.  "Mark selection" sets and in and out point around the in and out points of a selected clip in your sequence.  Very handy out of the gate, click on a clip, hit X and you've got an in and out to replace it or cut something into your timeline above or below it.  But wait, there's more.  If you select multiple clips, it will mark an in and out across the entire range of clips you've selected enabling you to fill all sorts of holes you'd otherwise have to painstakingly mark manually.  Oh, the places you will go with your X key my little one.  Try it out and let me know what you think.

FCP Tip #002: Nudging the position of a clip with arrow keys in Final Cut Pro

Here is the next tip in a long line of "things I wish I had known when I started using Final Cut Pro."  I'm finding even many veteran users haven't picked up on this one and it's so darn handy I need to share it with the world.  Nudging a clip in space in your canvas window without dragging it around with the mouse but by using the arrow keys like you would in After Effects.  It can be done and it's too easy, it's just not obvious unless you break out the manual occasionally.

OK, get ready to have your mind blown.  First, make sure "image + wireframe" is selected for your canvas window.  Second, click on the clip or graphic, or whatever, you want to move in the canvas window. You should see an indication that it is selected.   Now, while holding the option key, press any of the 4 directional arrow keys on your keyboard and you should see your clip moving around in space.  This is a much more precise way of positioning of clips/graphics than by using the mouse.  To Sum up, grab the clip, press option, then press an arrow key to move it.  Look at that, just like in After Effects, sort of.  Ok now get in your time machines and go fix those old projects.

FCP Tip #001: Overwrite with sequence content

With a global recession causing budgets to tighten up, faster turnaround times required for new methods of distribution, etc. an editor needs to pick up the slack by acquiring speed and knowledge. For speed, there is no substitute or shortcut for seat time to provide repetition and build muscle memory. But for knowledge, you can certainly speed things up by learning from people, as opposed to trial and error and/or hunting and pecking your way through a program. In this post, I will share some knowledge that many of you may find useful and is intended to save you some time and help you avoid some of those pesky Final Cut render file problems that come from nesting sequences.

First, let's be clear that nesting sequences is not necessarily a bad thing. There is just a time to nest and a time where you definitely don't want to, or need to, nest. Here's an example of a time where people may find themselves nesting unnecessarily. If you're like me, at some point you've made the realization that logging clips, giving them distinct names and descriptions, while helpful, can be a huge time waster in an edit and sometimes just plain overkill for a particular job that won't be around long enough to go back through all the carefully named clips in a bin. Because all of this data entry may not be worth the return on investment for many quick projects, I've taken to making “selects” sequences instead of logging clips into bins. I basically go through my raw footage and pear it down to just the stuff I like by editing clips from the raw footage into a sequence that I usually name “Selects” or something similar.

Then when I'm all done this style of “logging”, I'll load this selects sequence into my viewer window and use it like a clip marking ins and outs and overwriting to a new edit sequence. Here is where the trouble comes in. Most people will edit away using F10 to overwrite or drag those clips from the “selects” sequence (loaded into their viewer) into the edit sequence and what they end up with is a bunch of clips that are really nested chunks of the selects sequence rather than individual clips from the raw footage clips. Some people don't use this workflow because of this result and those who do tend to run into a multitude of potential problems such as; Match framing back to your raw footage from your timeline will not work, batch digitizing can be tricky and will likely require you to capture more than you really need if you ever delete your footage and need to recapture and the potential for the problem in Final Cut that I've taken to calling “sticky render files” where even though you make changes inside of a sequence, sometimes the sequence that contains a nest of the sequence you changed does not update properly because it did not force itself to re-render after the changes were made. So the old edit lingers until you disable and enable the updated section to force a new render.

How can I edit selected parts of a sequence into another sequence without getting a string of nested sequence clips? All that is required is a simple remap of your F9 and F10 keys. (There is a video tutorial of this process at www.davestiles.com if you prefer to watch over reading) Out of the box they are mapped to “insert” and “overwrite” respectively. In order to insert or overwrite the original clips from a sequence in your viewer rather than chunks of the sequence itself, we need to remap those keys with the operations named “insert sequence content” and “overwrite sequence content”. You can type “insert” or “overwrite” in the search window at the top right of the keyboard layout dialogue box to narrow down the choices to help find them. Drag the “insert sequence content” to the F9 key on the map and drag “overwrite sequence content” to the F10 key on the map. Save and close your keyboard layout. Now when you load a sequence into your viewer and F9 or F10 into the timeline you will get the original clips in your timeline, not chunks of sequence. You like that George?  Nice.