Apple Final Cut Pro - X User Guide

Final Cut Pro X

User Guide

K Apple Inc.

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Chapter 1: What’s new in Final Cut Pro?

13 13 What’s new in Final Cut Pro 10.0.3? 14 What’s new in Final Cut Pro 10.0.1?

15 Chapter 2: Final Cut Pro basics 15 What is Final Cut Pro? 16 Final Cut Pro workow overview 18 Final Cut Pro interface overview 21 Media les and clips 22 Events and projects

24 Chapter 3: Import media 24 Importing overview 25 If it’s your rst import 25 Import from connected devices 25 Import from le-based devices 30 Import spanned clips 33 Import from iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch 34 Import from a digital still camera 35 Import from tape-based devices 37 If your device isn’t recognized 38 Import from other applications 38 Import from iMovie 39 Import from iPhoto and Aperture 40 Import from iTunes 40 Import from disks 40 Import from a hard disk 42 Access media on an archive or disk image 45 Organize les while importing 46 Import while recording 48 About memory cards and cables 49 Supported media formats

51 Chapter 4: Analyze media 51 Analyzing media overview 51 Video and still-image analysis options 53 Audio analysis options 53 Analyze your media 55 View analysis keywords on clips

57 Chapter 5: Organize your media 57 Events and clips overview 58 Organize Events 58 Create a new Event 58 Rename an Event 59 Merge or split Events 60 Copy or move clips between Events 60 Copy or move Events 62 Sort Events 63 Delete clips or Events 64 Organize clips 64 View and sort clips 68 Rename clips 70 Rate clips as Favorite or Rejected 72 Add keywords to clips 74 Add or edit clip notes 76 Organize clips by roles 76 Find clips in the Event Browser 79 Save searches as Smart Collections 81 Organize Keyword and Smart Collections

82 Chapter 6: Play back and skim media 82 Playback and skimming overview 83 Play back media 85 Skim media 87 Use the J, K, and L keys 88 Play back media in a loop 88 Play video full screen 89 View playback on a second display 90 View playback on an external video monitor 91 Playback and background rendering 91 Play your projects on other devices

4 Contents

92 Chapter 7: Create and manage projects 92 Create a new project 94 Preview and open a project 94 Modify a project’s name and properties 98 Organize projects in the Project Library 101 Save projects

102 Chapter 8: Edit your project 102 Editing overview 102 Select clips and ranges 102 About selections and lmstrips 103 Select one or more clips 105 Select a range 108 Add and remove clips 108 Adding clips overview 109 Drag clips to the Timeline 11 0 Append clips to your project 11 0 Insert clips in your project 113 Connect clips to add cutaway shots, titles, and synchronized sound eects 117 Overwrite parts of your project 11 8 Replace a clip in your project with another clip 121 Add and edit still images 12 2 Add clips using video-only or audio-only mode 12 3 Remove clips from your project 124 Solo, disable, and enable clips 12 6 Find a Timeline clip’s source clip 12 6 Arrange clips in the Timeline 134 Cut and trim clips 134 Trimming overview 134 Cut clips with the Blade tool 13 8 Extend or shorten a clip 145 Make roll edits with the Trim tool 147 Make slip edits with the Trim tool 151 Make slide edits with the Trim tool 154 Show detailed trimming feedback 15 5 View and navigate 15 5 Zoom and scroll in the Timeline 157 Adjust Timeline settings 15 9 Navigate within your project 161 Navigate using timecode 162 Use the Timeline Index to view, navigate, and search your project

Contents 5

166 Add and remove markers 166 Markers overview 167 Add and remove markers 168 Edit and move markers 170 Jump between markers 170 Correct excessive shake and rolling shutter issues

17 2 Chapter 9: Add and adjust audio 17 2 Audio overview 17 3 Add audio 17 3 Add music and sound 174 Record audio 17 5 Add and adjust audio eects 17 5 Add audio eects 17 7 Adjust audio eects 181 Adjust audio eects using keyframes 19 2 Adjust and enhance audio 19 2 Adjust volume 194 Enhance audio 19 7 Fade audio in or out 201 Pan audio 204 Congure audio channels 205 Match audio equalization settings 206 Preserve pitch when retiming clips 206 Audio tools and techniques 206 View and correct audio levels 208 About audio waveforms 208 View audio waveforms at the audio sample level 210 Ways to view audio clips 213 Solo and mute audio clips 214 Sync audio and video automatically 216 Use roles to organize clips and export audio les

217 Chapter 10: Add transitions, titles, eects, and generators 217 Transitions, titles, eects, and generators overview 218 Add and adjust transitions 218 Transitions overview 219 How transitions are created 220 Set the default duration for transitions 221 Add transitions to your project 224 Delete transitions from your project

6 Contents

224 Adjust transitions in the Timeline 227 Adjust transitions in the Transition inspector and Viewer 228 Adjust transitions with multiple images 229 Create specialized versions of transitions in Motion 229 Add and adjust titles 229 Titles overview 230 Add titles to your project 232 Adjust titles 234 Remove titles from your project 235 Find and replace text in your project 236 Adjust built-in eects 236 Built-in eects overview 236 Resize, move, and rotate clips 238 Trim clips 240 Crop clips 241 Pan and zoom clips 243 Skew a clip’s perspective 244 Work with built-in eects 250 Add and adjust clip eects 250 Clip eects overview 251 Add eects to your project 252 Adjust eects in Final Cut Pro 255 Change clip eect order 257 Turn o or remove an eect from a clip 257 Create specialized versions of the video eects in Motion 258 Add generators 258 Generators overview 259 Use a placeholder 260 Use a timecode counter 261 Use a shape 262 Use a background 263 Create specialized versions of the generators in Motion 264 Use onscreen controls 264 Onscreen controls overview 264 Show or hide onscreen controls 265 Onscreen control examples 270 Use the Video Animation Editor 270 Video animation overview 271 Adjust video eects using keyframes 281 Adjust eect curves using fade handles or keyframe animation

Contents 7

285 Chapter 11 : Advanced editing 285 Group clips with compound clips 285 Compound clips overview 286 Create and break apart compound clips 291 Manage compound clips 294 Add storylines 298 Fine-tune edits with the Precision Editor 302 Create split edits 308 Make three-point edits 308 Three-point editing overview 3 11 Three-point edit examples 317 Try out clips using auditions 317 Auditions overview 318 Create auditions to try out clips 320 Add and remove clips in auditions 322 Use auditions to try out clips in your project 326 Retime clips to create speed eects 326 Retiming clips overview 326 Change clip speed 332 Reverse or rewind clips 334 Create instant replays 335 Create freeze frames 336 Reset retimed clips to play at normal speeds 336 Edit with mixed-format media 339 Use roles to manage clips 339 Roles overview 340 View and reassign roles 344 Create custom roles and subroles 347 View clips by role in the Timeline 350 Use roles to export media stems 350 Use XML to transfer projects and Events 351 Edit with multicam clips 351 Multicam editing overview 352 Multicam editing workow 354 Import media for a multicam edit 354 Assign camera names and multicam angles 355 Create multicam clips in the Event Browser 361 Cut and switch angles in the Angle Viewer 371 Sync and adjust angles and clips in the Angle Editor 379 Edit multicam clips in the Timeline and the Inspector 381 Multicam editing tips and tricks

8 Contents

382 Chapter 12 : Keying and compositing 382 Keying 382 Keying overview 383 Use chroma keys 394 Use luma keys 401 Finalize the key 405 Compositing 405 Compositing overview 405 Use alpha channels 407 Use Compositing settings

409 Chapter 13 : Color correction 409 Color correction overview 410 Analyze and balance color automatically 410 Color balance overview 410 Analyze a clip for color balance 412 Balance a clip’s colors 412 Match color between clips automatically 414 Adjust color manually 414 Manual color correction overview 414 Color correct the whole image 417 Target a specic color using a color mask 419 Target specic areas using shape masks 422 Add shape masks to a color mask 423 Apply multiple color corrections 424 Add a transition between color corrections 425 Save and apply color correction presets 426 Turn iMovie adjustments on or o 426 Measure video levels 426 Video scopes overview 427 Use the video scopes 428 Waveform Monitor display options 431 Vectorscope display options 432 Histogram display options

434 Chapter 14: Share your project 434 Sharing projects overview 436 Share with other applications 436 Use the Media Browser to share your project with iLife and iWork 437 Play your project in iTunes, on mobile devices, or with Apple TV 438 Email your project 439 Publish your project to Podcast Producer

Contents 9

440 Burn your project to a disc or create a disk image 444 Share on the web 444 Publish your project to YouTube 445 Publish your project to Facebook 446 Publish your project to Vimeo 447 Publish your project to CNN iReport 448 Export your project 448 Export your project as media les 454 Export an image from your project 454 Export your project as an image sequence 455 Export your project for web streaming 456 Export your project using Compressor 459 Status of shared projects 459 Shared projects overview 461 Visit and announce shared projects 462 Remove shared projects 462 About Share Monitor

463 Chapter 15 : Manage media les 463 Media management overview 464 Where your media and project les are located 466 Manage your media les 466 View a clip’s information 467 Relink clips to media les 473 Transcode media les 476 View background tasks 477 Delete render les to free up disk space 478 Manage your Events and project les 478 Before you move or copy Events and projects 478 Consolidate a project’s media les 479 Back up projects, your Project Library, and Events 482 Edit your project on a dierent computer 487 Use SAN locations for Events and projects 488 Create and manage camera archives 492 Solutions to common media management issues 492 Alert icons 494 Common media management issues

10 Contents

496 Chapter 16: Preferences and metadata 496 Preferences and metadata overview 496 Final Cut Pro preferences 496 Change preference settings 497 Editing preferences 498 Playback preferences 500 Import preferences 502 Work with metadata 502 Display and change metadata 504 Modify metadata views 506 Batch rename clips

509 Chapter 17 : Keyboard shortcuts and gestures 509 Keyboard shortcuts and Multi-Touch gestures overview 509 Keyboard shortcuts 526 Multi-Touch gestures 526 Customize keyboard shortcuts 526 View keyboard shortcuts in the Command Editor 530 Modify keyboard shortcuts in the Command Editor 531 Export and import command sets in the Command Editor

532 Chapter 18: Glossary

Contents 11

What’s new in Final Cut Pro?

What’s new in Final Cut Pro 10.0.3?

Final Cut Pro 10.0.3 includes major new features and enhancements, detailed below.

Multicam editing

You can now use multicam clips to edit footage from multicamera shoots or other synchronized footage in real time. Working with multicam clips in Final Cut Pro is

a exible and uid process. While the active angle plays in the Viewer, you can also

view all angles playing simultaneously in the Angle Viewer and easily cut and switch between them. You can create multicam clips from diverse media sources and modify existing multicam clips during the editing process.

For more information, see “Multicam editing overview” on page 351.

A/V output

You can now connect your computer to an external video monitor for audio and video (A/V) output. In addition to showing you how video and audio look and sound on an

NTSC/PAL or HD broadcast monitor, this feature also allows you to test output with

more sophisticated devices such as vectorscopes and waveform monitors.

A/V output is available only with OS X Lion v10.7.2 or later and requires compatible

third-party video interface hardware and software. FireWire DV devices are not supported. For more information, contact the device manufacturer or go to the Final Cut Pro X Resources webpage at http://www.apple.com/nalcutpro/resources.

For more information, see “View playback on an external video monitor” on page 90.

Manual relinking of clips to media les

Now you can manually relink Event clips and project clips to media les. Manual relinking gives you more control over your post-production workow.

For more information, see “Relink clips to media les” on page 467.

Other notable features

Layered graphics les, such as Adobe Photoshop (PSD) les, can now be edited so Â

that each layer appears as a connected clip in the Timeline.

Advanced Keyer controls are now available. Â

Keyframing controls are improved in the Video and Audio Animation Editors. Â

What’s new in Final Cut Pro 10.0.1?

Final Cut Pro 10.0.1 includes a number of new features, enhancements, and changes.

The most signicant features are introduced below.

Roles

You can use the new roles metadata labels to organize clips in your Events and projects, control the appearance of the Timeline, and export separate video or

audio les (also known as media stems) for broadcast delivery, audio mixing, or

post-production. For example, you can export roles as media stems in a combined,

multitrack QuickTime le, or as separate audio or video les. During the export process

you can assign mono, stereo, or surround output for your audio channels.

For more information, see “Roles overview” on page 339 and “Export your project as media les” on page 448.

Storage area network (SAN) locations

You can now add network volumes as storage locations for Events and projects. When you remove SAN locations in Final Cut Pro, other users on the network can work with the Events and projects stored on those locations.

For more information, see “Use SAN locations for Events and projects” on page 487.

XML export and import

Final Cut Pro now supports XML import and export so that you can transfer your

project and Event information to and from systems and third-party applications that don’t recognize Final Cut Pro projects and Events.

For more information, see “Use XML to transfer projects and Events” on page 350.

14 Chapter 1 What’s new in Final Cut Pro?

Final Cut Pro basics

What is Final Cut Pro?

Final Cut Pro X is a revolutionary application for creating, editing, and producing the

highest-quality video. Final Cut Pro combines high-performance digital editing and native support for virtually any video format with easy-to-use and time-saving features that let you focus on storytelling.

In Final Cut Pro, you can:

Edit everything from uncompressed standard-denition video to HDV, DVCPRO HD, Â and uncompressed high-denition video—as well as le-based formats such as AVC-Intra, AVCHD, and XDCAM HD.

Play back and skim resolution-independent media up to 4K resolution. You can also Â play your video full screen or on a second display.

Assemble clips with ease using the Magnetic Timeline, which uidly adjusts clips Â

around the clip you’re dragging to eliminate gaps, collisions, and sync problems.

Edit quickly with the complete set of professional editing and trimming tools. Â Fine-tune edits with the inline Precision Editor.

Have Final Cut Pro analyze your video and nondestructively x common problems Â

such as camera shake, excess hum, or loudness. You can also have Final Cut Pro detect the presence of people or the shot type, and automatically apply keywords such as One Person or Wide Shot.

Organize your media using Keyword Collections, which automatically group clips Â based on keywords, and Smart Collections, which automatically group clips based on criteria you specify.

Try out clips in your project using auditions—sets of alternate takes, eects, or text Â treatments—and then choose the best clip for the edit.

Create compound clips to group any combination of clips, and nest clips within Â other clips.

Use connected clips and storylines to add cutaway shots, superimposed titles, and Â

sound eects to your project. Connected clips and storylines always stay in sync.

Add special eects to video, audio, and photos, and adjust them using keyframes Â

and onscreen controls. You can also change clip speed to create fast-motion or

slow-motion eects.

Automatically balance and match color, or use the color correction tools to precisely Â control the look of any clip in your project.

Publish your project directly to websites such as YouTube and Facebook, or send Â your project to iTunes for syncing with Apple devices such as iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV.

FinalCutProworkowoverview

To give you an idea of the possibilities, the overall process for putting together a movie with Final Cut Pro is described below. You don’t have to do every step, and you might

do others that aren’t listed. The workow isn’t necessarily linear. You could, for example, go all the way through editing and adding eects, and then import more new media

for your project.

Import your media into Final Cut Pro

To use Final Cut Pro, you need to transfer your media (video, audio, and still images) from your recording device to your computer or an external disk. You can import media from many kinds of cameras and other devices, or from other applications such

as iMovie.

16 Chapter 2 Final Cut Pro basics

Organize your media

Final Cut Pro automatically organizes your imported media into Events. An Event is like a folder that contains all the media recorded on a certain date. In Final Cut Pro, your media appears as clips, which link to the media les stored on a disk. You can reorganize your clips by creating or renaming Events and moving clips between Events. For example, you could create an Event for all the media shot for a

specic client.

As you review your footage, you can easily rate clips as Favorite or Rejected. These

ratings make it easier to focus on your best footage. Final Cut Pro also oers other

useful organizing tools, such as Keyword Collections and Smart Collections.

Create a project and add clips to it

Your project is the movie you create using clips from your Events and from the Final Cut Promedia browsers. Start creating your movie by adding clips to the Timeline.

You make all your edits in the project; your original media les remain untouched (this

is known as nondestructive editing).

Arrange and edit your clips

Now your movie can really begin to take shape. To assemble a rough cut, rearrange

and trim clips in the Timeline. You can also try out dierent clips using auditions.

Use connected clips and storylines to add cutaway shots, titles, background music,

and sound eects to your project. Create compound clips to group any combination

of clips and nest clips within other clips. You can simplify a complicated project by creating a separate compound clip for each major section.

Add eects and transitions

Add special eects from the ample collection of video and audio eects in the Final Cut Pro media browsers. Give your movie titles and credits, and apply video or audio transitions. Adjust clip speed settings to create fast-motion or

slow-motion eects.

To further polish your project, you can ne-tune cuts and transitions with the Precision Editor, keyframe video and audio eects, correct color, and composite

motion graphics.

Share your movie

When your project is nished, you can publish your movie right from Final Cut Pro to

the web, or send it to iTunes, iPhone, iPad, iPod, or Apple TV. You can also burn a disc to give to others.

Chapter 2 Final Cut Pro basics 17

Viewer: Play back

clips and projects.

Event Browser: Access all

the source media you import.

Magnetic Timeline: Edit your

movie in this area.

FinalCutProinterfaceoverview

The Final Cut Pro window has three main areas:

18 Chapter 2 Final Cut Pro basics

Event Browser: View and sort

the clips in the selected Event.

Event Library: Select an Event

to view its media on the right.

Organize media in the Event Library and Event Browser

All your imported media is available in the Event Library. (An Event is like a folder that

contains clips.)

When you select an Event in the Event Library, its clips appear in the Event Browser on

the right.

You can reorganize your media however you like at any time, and you can use the

Event Library and the Event Browser to manage, rate, sort, and add keywords to your imported media. For more information, see “Events and clips overview” on page 57.

Chapter 2 Final Cut Pro basics 19

Resolution-independent playback:

Play back video files up to 4K.

Full-screen playback:

Play your video full screen,

or on a second display.

Onscreen controls:

Adjust effects such as Transform, Crop, and Distort.

Play back clips and projects in the Viewer

The Viewer is where you play back your video, including clips and projects with up to 4K resolution. You can play back Events, projects, or individual clips in full-screen view or on a second display. For information about ways to play media, see “Play back media” on page 83.

You can also use onscreen controls, superimposed over the video in the Viewer, to

adjust settings for a wide array of eects and transitions.

20 Chapter 2 Final Cut Pro basics

Toolbar: Perform

common tasks by clicking a button.

Connected clips: Add titles and

cutaway shots. In the Magnetic Timeline, everything stays in sync.

Audio clips: Add music

and sound effects as connected clips.

Primary storyline: Add and

arrange clips to construct your movie.

Edit your project in the Magnetic Timeline

The bottom portion of the Final Cut Pro window contains the Timeline, where you create your movie by adding and arranging clips and making all your edits. The

Timeline in Final Cut Pro “magnetically” adjusts clips to t around clips that you drag into place. If you drag clips out of place, the surrounding clips close up to ll the space.

A Final Cut Pro project holds all of the information for your nal movie, including your

editing decisions and links to all the source clips and Events. For more information about editing your project, see “Adding clips overview” on page 108 and “Arrange clips in the Timeline” on page 126.

Medialesandclips

After you’ve imported media into Final Cut Pro, clips representing the source media

les appear in the Event Browser. A large Event may hold many clips.

Media les are the raw materials you use to create your project. A media le is a video, audio, still-image, or graphics le on your hard disk that contains footage transferred from a camcorder or recording device or originally created on your computer. Media les can contain multiple video and audio components. Because media les—

Chapter 2 Final Cut Pro basics 21

especially video les—tend to be quite large, projects that use a lot of footage require

one or more high-capacity hard disks.

Project 2

Toy1

Event clips

Media files on your hard disk

Project 3

Project 1

Toy1.mov

Toy1

Clips represent your media, but they are not the media les themselves. The clips in a project simply point to (link to) the source media les on your hard disk. When you modify a clip, you are not modifying the media le, just the clip’s information in the project. This is known as nondestructive editing, because all of the changes and eects you apply to clips in Final Cut Pro never aect the media itself. Trimmed or deleted

pieces of clips are removed from your project only, not from the source clips in your

Event Library or from the source media les on your hard disk.

Eventsandprojects

In Final Cut Pro X, you use Events to collect and organize media. Events are like folders

that contain unedited media imported from a camera or some other source.

You use projects to edit and construct movies and share them with your audience. A project is a record of the work you do in the Timeline and the editing decisions you make. When you add a clip from an Event to a particular project, you create a link between the source Event clip and the corresponding project clip (and, by extension,

22 Chapter 2 Final Cut Pro basics

between the Event and the project). However, neither the Event nor the source clip is

contained within the project. You can use that Event clip in other projects, and your project can use clips from other Events.

Project

Event

The illustration below shows the relationship between Events and projects:

Final Cut Pro X keeps track of the links between project clips and their source Event

clips, but projects and Events remain independent.

Chapter 2 Final Cut Pro basics 23

Import media

Importingoverview

Importing media into Final Cut Pro is the rst step toward making your movie. With

Final Cut Pro, you can:

Import from a le-based (tapeless) camera or device Â

Import from iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch Â

Import from a tape-based camcorder or device Â

Import from iMovie Â

Import from iPhoto and Aperture Â

Import from iTunes Â

Import from a hard disk Â

Import from a camera archive Â

During import, you assign your media to an Event. You can also transcode your media and analyze your media for a variety of issues, such as identifying shaky video, the presence of people and shot type, and problematic audio issues.

When you import clips (video, audio, or still images), Final Cut Pro assigns one of ve

default roles to the video and audio components of each clip: Video, Titles, Dialogue, Music, and Eects. For more information, see “View and reassign roles” on page 340.

If you want to quickly back up your media (instead of taking the time to import it), you can create an archive.

Ifit’syourrstimport

The rst time you open Final Cut Pro, it contains no media, no projects, and a single

Event. Buttons appear in the Event Browser to help you quickly import Events from

iMovie, media from your hard disk or a connected external storage device, or media

directly from a connected camera.

Import media into an empty Event

Do one of the following:

m To import Events from iMovie: Click the Import iMovie Events button and follow the

instructions for importing iMovie Events.

m To import media les: Click the Import Files button and follow the instructions for

importing media les.

m To import les from a connected camera or device: Click the Import From Camera button

and follow the instructions for importing les from a connected le-based camera or

device, from a tape-based camera or device, or from a camera archive.

Importfromconnecteddevices

Import from le-based devices

File-based camcorders and cameras can record video, audio, and still images. These

kinds of devices, which record to ash-based storage media, hard disk drives (HDD),

and so on, usually connect to your computer via a USB cable. Some devices have removable memory cards that you can insert into your computer instead.

Chapter 3 Importmedia 25

If your le-based device provides a clip-spanning feature, you can import all of the

media as one spanned clip.

To check whether your camera is compatible with Final Cut Pro, go to the Final Cut Pro X Supported Cameras webpage at http://help.apple.com/nalcutpro/cameras.

Import from a le-based camcorder, camera, or device

1 Do one of the following:

Connect your camcorder, camera, or device to your computer, using the cable that Â came with the device, and turn it on.

If you’re using a camcorder, set it to PC Connect mode. (The name of this transfer mode may be dierent on your device.) Your camcorder may automatically go into “connect” mode if you turn it on in playback mode while it’s connected to your computer. For more information, see the documentation that came with your camcorder.

Note: Connecting a DVD camcorder to your Mac can cause the DVD Player

application to open. If that happens, simply close DVD Player.

Remove the memory card from your camcorder or device and insert it into the card Â

slot on your Mac (if it has one) or into an external card reader.

For more information about memory cards, see “About memory cards and cables” on page 48.

2 In Final Cut Pro, do one of the following:

Choose File > Import from Camera (or press Command-I). Â

Click the Import from Camera button on the left end of the toolbar. Â

The Camera Import window appears, displaying all the media on your device.

If your media does not appear in the Camera Import window, try importing the media

as les.

3 If necessary, select your camcorder, camera, or device from the list of devices on

the left.

26 Chapter 3 Importmedia

Change the way clips appear

using these controls.

The media on the

device appears here.

Playback controls

The media on the device appears at the bottom of the Camera Import window. You can preview the media by either playing it using the playback controls or skimming it

by moving the pointer forward or backward over a lmstrip.

4 Do one of the following:

Chapter 3 Importmedia 27

Â To import all clips: Click Import All.

Â To import only some of the clips: Select each clip you want to import by Command-

clicking each thumbnail, and click Import Selected (the Import button changes its name).

Tip: ∏ To select several clips located together, you can drag around the clips to enclose

them with the selection rectangle.

Â To import a portion of one clip: Drag inside the clip to select the range that you want,

and click Import Selected.

Tip: ∏ You can also select a clip, press the Space bar to play the clip, and press either I to

set a start point or O to set an end point.

Camera icon

5 In the window that appears, choose how you want to organize the imported media in

your Event Library:

Â To add the imported clips to an existing Event: Select “Add to existing Event,” and

choose it from the pop-up menu.

Â To create a new Event: Select “Create new Event” and type a name (for example,

“Chris and Kim Wedding”) in the text eld; then choose the disk where you want to store the Event from the “Save to” pop-up menu.

To learn more about Events, see “Events and clips overview” on page 57.

6 If you want to organize your media, transcode your media, analyze the video, or

analyze the audio, select the relevant checkboxes.

If you don’t set Final Cut Pro to analyze your media during the import process, you can analyze it later (if necessary) in the Event Browser.

7 Click Import.

Final Cut Pro imports your media in the background. If you selected any options in the

previous step, Final Cut Pro transcodes and optimizes the les after the import process

is complete. You can view the progress of the background tasks in the Background Tasks window.

8 To begin working with your clips, close the Camera Import window so you can access

the Event Browser.

You can create an archive from your le-based camera or device, recording everything

on the tape from beginning to end and saving the captured clips as an archive. For more information, see “Create and manage camera archives” on page 488.

Reimport a clip

Two situations warrant reimporting a clip:

Â If the clip was not completely imported: If you cancel or quit Final Cut Pro before an

import is nished, a Camera icon appears on the bottom-left corner of the clip.

This icon indicates that Final Cut Pro is using the media on the camera for playback

(instead of using the QuickTime le that was created during import).

28 Chapter 3 Importmedia

To play a clip with a Camera icon, Final Cut Pro locates the media on either a connected camera or in a connected, available camera archive. (See “Access media on an archive or disk image” on page 42 for more information.) If Final Cut Pro can’t

locate the media in one of those locations, the clip will go oine and display the Missing Camera alert icon.

Â If the clip’s source media le is not available: If a clip’s source media le is moved or

deleted, or the volume it is located on is disconnected from the computer, a Missing

File icon is displayed on the clip. To restore the clip, you can reimport it.

See “Alert icons” on page 492 for more information about alert icons.

When you reimport a clip, Final Cut Pro automatically connects to the necessary camera or camera archive. There is no need to manually mount a camera archive before reimporting.

1 Do one of the following:

Connect the camera that contains the clip to your computer, and turn it on. Â This will bring the clip online, but the clip will still display the Camera icon in the lower-left corner.

Insert the memory card that contains the clip in your computer or connected Â card reader.

See “About memory cards and cables” on page 48 for more information.

Make sure the camera archive that contains the clip is located in one of the Â

Final Cut Pro camera archives.

See “Create and manage camera archives” on page 488 for more information.

2 In Final Cut Pro, do one of the following:

Â To reimport one clip: Select the clip in the Event Browser.

Â To reimport all clips in an Event: Select the Event the clip belongs to in the Event

Browser sidebar.

3 Choose File > Import > Reimport from Camera/Archive.

The clip or clips are reimported.

Chapter 3 Importmedia 29

Import spanned clips

Some le-based camcorders or devices that have more than one memory card slot can

record one shot over multiple memory cards. The resulting shot is called a spanned clip.

A good way to import a spanned clip into Final Cut Pro is to attach your camera or card reader to your local system and create a camera archive for each memory card. You can store the camera archives on your local system or on an external storage device until you are ready to import the spanned clip. (Even if you are importing the spanned clip immediately, it’s useful to make the camera archive so you have a backup of the footage that makes up the spanned clip.) Then, when you’re ready to import, you can mount all of the camera archives and import the spanned clip.

Create a camera archive for each memory card

1 Connect your camcorder or camera to your computer and turn it on, or connect your

card reader and memory card to your computer. If you’ll be saving the camera archives to an external storage device, connect that as well.

2 In Final Cut Pro, do one of the following:

Choose File > Import from Camera (or press Command-I). Â

Click the Import from Camera button on the left end of the toolbar. Â

The Camera Import window appears.

3 Select a memory card to archive from the list of cameras on the left.

4 Click the Create Archive button at the bottom-left corner of the window.

5 In the “Create Camera Archive as” eld, type a name for the archive.

6 Choose a location to save the archive from the Destination pop-up menu, and click OK.

Note: It is recommended that you save your archive to a disk or partition dierent from the one where you store the media les used with Final Cut Pro.

7 Repeat steps 3-6 to create camera archives for each of the memory cards that contain

a portion of the spanned clip.

The camera archives appear in the Camera Archives list in the Camera Import window.

See “Create and manage camera archives” on page 488 for more information about creating camera archives.

30 Chapter 3 Importmedia

+ 525 hidden pages

Apple Final Cut Pro - X User Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

What’s new in Final Cut Pro 10.0.3?

What’s new in Final Cut Pro 10.0.1?

What is Final Cut Pro?

Import spanned clips