The Clouds Are Rolling In!

Of course, the clouds I am referring to are those of the "cloud computing" nature. Everyone from Apple to Google has been clamoring to conquer the masses that are about to adopt cloud computing. Some will charge you and some will not while others, like DropBox, let you decide based on your needs. DropBox is an amazing app that runs on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android machines and/or just about any web browser. It allows you to keep all of your files organized, backed up and accessible from so many places you'll never be without that file you need again. And the coolest part is, IT'S FREE! Well, free up to 2 Gigs anyway. I think we're all gonna be able to throw away our thumb drives soon!  Don't take my word for it, watch their short demo video and you'll see the light.

As you'd expect, it keeps your files on a server that is accessible via a web browser connected to the internet. But what you might not expect is that it also works as a folder right on your desktop, laptop or smart phone and keeps all of those places perfectly synced at all times. You can run DropBox entirely from the finder as a regular folder and never interface with the website(after the initial setup of course) and as long as you have the DropBox app installed on the machine you are working on, you will have an exact copy of your DropBox folder everywhere you go. It's pretty darn handy!

It also gives you the ability to share folders within your DropBox folder with friends and family making it easy to share photos, music, video, etc, without having to worry about file size when emailing and all those other things that make sharing stuff by email so cumbersome. And fear not, they will not accidentally stumble upon your hidden collection of latex fetish videos or your development and marketing strategies for your new killer app, just the files or folders you give them permission to see.

And, if that's not enough, their iPhone and iPad apps, which are also free, give you file browsing ability that you just don't have natively with those units.  I've got a ton of pictures in my drop box that are huge files and I can scroll right through them just like in the photo app on the phone, without taking up any memory on my phone.  You can also view and organize pdf's, word docs and all sorts of other documents that are normally challenging to manage with the iPhone OS.

I've been using it for a couple of days now and the performance has been flawless so far. I can see the life changing potential already for sure.  So what are you waiting for my friends?  Go to DropBox.com and try it out for yourself.  I promise you'll thank me for it.  At least I know Gene will anyway.

Free Gradient Images to use with the Gradient Wipe!

Hey Gang, I did a little research and found a nice collection of free B&W gradient images for you to use with the gradient wipe as explained in my last tutorial.  You can download them by clicking here.  It appears they are made by some nice fellow named Harry, who gives a lot of stuff away and also has stuff for sale.  It's not the slickest website you'll ever see, but he does seem to have some good stuff there.  If you missed my Gradient Tutorial you can see it here.

FCP Tip #009: The Gradient Wipe Demystified

It was such a gorgeous day today that I couldn't bear to stay inside typing this tip. So, I present a video tutorial instead. Not sure if it was actually any faster to produce, but like many of the things I do, it seemed easier in theory. Enjoy your new found gradient wiping ability my friends. If anyone knows a good source to get gradient-wipe-ready images please post a comment for the folks that don't have the handy collection that I do. Please note, if you find yourself longing for higher quality video than this YouTube version you can see a  huge, crystal-clear flash version here.

UPDATE:  It has come to my attention that unless you have had Final Cut Pro since version 3.0, the FX Scripts DVE's will not be installed.  I've been upgrading all along so they have stayed for me, but apparently a lot of you don't have them available in your Transitions menu.  Sadly, they are no longer free but are available, along with a whole host of other handy effects at www.cgm-online.com.

FCP Tip # 008: Enable/Disable Clip

OK gang,(I guess that means you Gene) I'm fresh off of a much needed vacation and ready to get back into the sharing knowledge business.  Today's tip is all about turning individual clips on and off rather than turning entire video tracks on and off for the purpose of trying out alternate shots in an edit.  Believe me, this can save you oooodles of render time.

We've all seen the warning as we are about to turn off a video or audio track about how we're gonna lose all of our render files, yada, yada, yada.  We go ahead and turn off the track anyway and then end up re-rendering stuff that we've already rendered once we turn that track back on again.  In a long timeline with a lot of effects, this can really take a toll.  And sometimes the need to do this can happen dozens of times during an edit and I can't think of a worse use of time than re-rendering the same clip(s) over and over.

Want a better way to keep alternate clips around on the timeline without having to turn off entire tracks?  When I've got an alternate clip, or several, I leave them right in the timeline on a track above and just disable them in place by selecting the clip in the timeline and then hitting Control+B on the keyboard.  You can also do this by going to Modify>Clip Enable but in case you haven't noticed, I'm a big proponent of keyboard shortcuts and I  strongly recommend against using the slow painful menu system.  Although the function is labeled "Clip Enable", it actually works as a toggle-style on and off switch.  Meaning select it once to turn off, select again to turn on.  Working with the keyboard shortcut Control+B, you can turn your alternate clips on and off very quickly.  I'll often have a stack of 3, 4, 5 even 10 and turn them on one at a time to show the various options to a producer or director.  This can be done very fast with little to no render repercussions unlike turning off entire tracks.

I not only use this feature to keep alternate clips around, it is also a great way to A/B compare a color correction or any other video effect.  For instance, if I have a clip that has 3 or 4 effects on it and I want to see what it looked like originally, I can't uncheck all of the filters fast enough to get a true before and after view, but if I keep an unaffected version of the clip on the track above it and just turn it on and off with Control+B, it works instantly.  I find this particularly useful when I am trying to match someone else's color correction.  I open the "video scopes" window and watch the scopes as I turn the top clip on and off, eventually dialing in a matching color correction.

There you have it folks Control+B...for enaBle.