SHARP Cut Pro 1-2 User Manual



Final Cut Pro

User’s Manual

Includes instructions for installing and using your software

K Apple Computer, Inc.

Under the copyright laws, this manual may not be copied, in whole or in part, without the written consent of Apple. Your rights to the software are governed by the accompanying software license agreement.

The Apple logo is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Use of the “keyboard” Apple logo (Option-Shift-K) for commercial purposes without the prior written consent of Apple may constitute trademark infringement and unfair competition in violation of federal and state laws.

Every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this manual is accurate. Apple Computer, Inc. is not responsible for printing or clerical errors.

Apple Computer, Inc. 1 Inﬁnite Loop Cupertino, CA 95014-2084 408-996-1010 http://www.apple.com

Apple, the Apple logo, AppleTalk, Final Cut, FireWire, Mac, Macintosh, MacPaint, Power Macintosh, QuickTake, and QuickTime are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.

Final Cut Pro and Finder are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Adobe is a trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc. Times is a registered trademark of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, available from Linotype Library GmbH.

Portions Copyright © 1991-1997 Compuware Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Portions Copyright © 1995-1996 DataPak Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved. EDL Translation Library Copyright © 1991-1999 Alba Editorial, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The VtrEngine videotape control engine is a product of Pipeline Digital, and is licensed to Apple Computer, Inc.

Other company and product names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective companies. Mention of third-party products is for informational purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation. Apple assumes no responsibility with regard to the performance or use of these products.

Contents

1Getting Started 17

Where to Find Information 17 System Requirements 18 Preparing to Install Final Cut Pro 18

Installing QuickTime Components 18 Installing Final Cut Pro 19 Hardware Setup and Conﬁguration 20

Connecting Video Devices to Your Computer 20

Controlling Video Devices With Your Computer 22

About Apple FireWire 22

Apple FireWire Basic 22

System Conﬁgurations 23

Ultra Wide SCSI Hard Disk Drive and PCI Card Speciﬁcations 24 Optimizing Performance 26 Troubleshooting 27

2 Final Cut Pro Tutorial 29

Getting the Tutorial Files and Starting the Program 29 The Final Cut Pro Workspace 30

Setting Up Your Environment 31 Editing in Final Cut Pro 31

Creating Your Own Project 31

Adding the Base Track for Your Sequence 35

Finishing the Rough Edit 38

Advanced Editing Techniques 39

Match-Frame Editing 42 Applying and Editing a Dissolve Transition 44 Audio Editing 48

Compositing and Special Effects 51

Opening and Saving a New Project 52 Previewing the Introduction’s Titles 52 Building the Background 52 Putting Dancers on the Background 54 Adding Circles Around the Dancers 59 Adding Titles for the Introduction 64 Copying a Title’s Attributes to Other Titles 68 Adding the Titles to the Introductory Sequence 69 Rendering the Sequence 70

Finishing a Project 70

Printing to Video 71 Exporting a Sequence for Multimedia or the Web 71 Moving Forward With a New Project 72

3 Understanding Final Cut Pro 73

4 Contents

The Working Environment 73

The Viewer 73 The Canvas 74 The Timeline 74 The Browser 75 The Tool Palette 76

Other Windows You Will Use 78

Log and Capture 78 Edit to Tape 79 Preferences 80 Sequence Settings 81 Project Properties 81 Item Properties 82 Trim Edit 82

Using Menus, Shortcuts, and Controls 83

Shortcut Menus 83

Keyboard Shortcuts 84

Tabbed Windows 84

Customizing the Screen Layout 86 Undoing Changes 87 Working With Timecode 87

Navigating by Entering New Timecodes 88

Moving to a New Time by Adding or Subtracting Frames 88

Moving to a New Time by Entering Numbers That Are Converted 89

Separators for Timecode Entry and Logging 89

Timecode Keyboard Shortcuts 90 Editing in Final Cut Pro 91

Editing With the Tool Palette Tools 92 Background Information and Concepts 92

4 Preferences and Presets 95

Setting General Preferences 96 Setting Device Control Preferences 99 Specifying Capture Preferences 101 Using Sequence Presets 106

Creating, Editing, and Deleting Presets 107 Setting Scratch Disk Preferences 110

5 Getting Media Into Final Cut Pro 113

Log and Capture Window 114 Changing Device Control, Capture, or Scratch Disk Preferences 117 Calibrating the Timecode Signal You Are Capturing 118 Calibrating Capture Settings With Bars and Tone From Tape 118 Capturing Video Without Device Control 120 Choosing a Logging Bin for Ofﬂine and Captured Clips 121 Capturing Video With Device Control 121 Troubleshooting Your Video Deck 123 Logging Ofﬂine Clips 124 Batch Capturing Clips 126

Changing Duplicate Clip Names and Filenames 128 Importing a Batch List 128

Contents 5

Changing a Clip’s Source Timecode 129 Importing Media 130 Importing Still Images and Audio Files 130

Importing Layered Photoshop Files 131 Importing Audio Files From Audio CDs 132

6 Creating and Organizing Projects 133

Creating, Opening, Closing, and Saving Projects 133

Autosaving Projects 134

Customizing the Browser Display 134

Selecting Items in the Browser 136 Sorting Items in the Browser 136

Organizing Projects With the Browser 136

About the Browser Columns 137 Using Bins to Organize Clips 138 Modifying Clip Properties in the Browser 139 Renaming Clips, Sequences, and Bins 139 Searching for Items in the Browser 140

Changing the Properties of a Project 141

6 Contents

7Working With Clips and the Viewer 143

Using Clips in Sequences 143 Using the Viewer 144

The Video Tab 144 The Audio Tab 145 The Filters Tab 146

The Motion Tab 147 Opening Clips in the Viewer 147 Playing Clips and Locating Speciﬁc Frames 148 Marking In and Out Points 149 Creating Subclips 150 Adding and Editing Markers 151

Renaming Markers and Attaching Comments 152

Moving and Extending the Duration of Markers 152

Using Markers as Subclips 153

Viewing Clips 153

Opening Clips From the View Menu 153 Changing Magniﬁcation in the Viewer or Canvas 154 Viewing Title and Action Safe Boundaries 155 Viewing Overlays 156 Viewing With Different Backgrounds 156

Working With Audio 156

Understanding Audio Formats 157 Compressed Audio Formats 157 Tu r ning Off Audio Scrubbing 157 Using the Viewer to Display Audio Waveforms 157 Changing Your Computer’s Audio Level 158 Adjusting Audio Levels and Pan or Spread for a Clip 158 Synchronizing Audio and Video 159

Getting Information About the Properties of Clips 160

8 Creating Sequences and Editing 163

About Sequences 163 Working With the Timeline and Canvas 163 About Three-Point Editing 164 About Audio in Sequences 164

Mixing Audio in Real Time 165

How Tracks Are Composited to Create the Final Sequence 165 About Presets and Sequence Settings 166 Creating a New Sequence 166 Changing the Settings for an Existing Sequence 167 Creating Sequences Using Edit Decision Lists 168 Viewing a Sequence 168 Copying Sequences 169 Setting Up an Edit 169

Specifying the Target Tracks for Editing 169

Positioning the Playhead at a Speciﬁc Edit Point 170

Marking Edit Points 171 Performing Edits in the Canvas 171

The Canvas Edit Overlay 172

Contents 7

Editing in the Timeline 174 The Canvas Two-Up Display 175

Marking Split Edits 175

Setting the Edit Points to the Current Selection 176 Locating a Match Frame 176

9Working in the Timeline and Canvas 177

The Timeline Window 177

Elements in the Timeline Window 178 Colors of Items in the Timeline Window 180 Customizing the Timeline Track Display 181 Timeline Scaling and Scrolling 182

Scaling the Timeline Display 182 Positioning the Playhead in a Sequence 182 Working With Tracks in the Timeline 183

Selecting Track Contents in the Timeline 185 Working With Markers in the Timeline and Canvas 186 Selecting Items in the Timeline 187

Selecting Clips 188

Linked Selection 188

Selecting Items Between the In and Out Points 189 Moving Clips Into the Timeline 189 Moving Clips Within the Timeline 190 Snapping in the Timeline 190 Deleting Clips 191 Copying and Pasting Clips and Clip Attributes 192 Modifying Clips in a Sequence 193

Making Individual Clips Visible or Invisible 193

Using Ofﬂine Clips 193

Changing the Playback Speed of a Clip 194 Working With Keyframes in the Timeline 195

Displaying Keyframes in the Timeline 195

Modifying Keyframes in the Timeline 196

Adding and Adjusting the Values of Overlay Keyframes 196 Searching for Items in the Timeline 197

8 Contents

Finding and Closing Gaps 198 Making Still Frames From Clips in the Canvas 199 Correcting Clips That Are Out of Sync 199

10 Trimming Edits 201

Accessing Trimming Functions 201

Using Trimming Functions With Linked Selection and Snapping 201

Types of Trimming Operations 202

Selecting One or More Edit Points in the Timeline 203

Using the Trim Edit Window 204

Trimming in the Trim Edit Window 205 Slipping an Edit in the Trim Edit Window 206

Trimming Edits in the Timeline and Viewer 206

Performing a Ripple Edit 206 Performing a Roll Edit 207 Slipping a Clip 208 Sliding a Clip 209 Changing the Duration of a Clip 209

Understanding Error Messages When Trimming 210

11 Creating Transitions 211

Adding Transition Effects 211 Changing Transition Settings 212

Using the Transition Viewer to Change Settings and Edit Transitions 212

Trimming and Moving Transitions in the Viewer 214

Trimming or Performing Ripple and Roll Edits on Transitions 215 Modifying Audio Transitions 216

Saving Transition Settings by Creating a Favorite Transition 216 Previewing Transitions 217 Viewing a Transition in the Canvas 217 Rendering Transitions 217

12 Compositing and Special Effects 219

Locating and Applying Effects 219

Using the Viewer Effects Tabs 219 Setting Effects Parameters 220

Contents 9

Using Video Filters 220 Applying Filters From the Timeline or the Browser 221

Applying Filters to a Range of Clips 222 Changing Filters Over Time 222 Changing the Rendering Order of Filters 223 Saving Filter Settings by Creating a Favorite Filter 223 Using After Effects Third-Party Filters 223

Custom User Interfaces 224

Performance 224

Additional Filters 225 Using Generators 225 Editing Motion Properties 226

The Motion Properties 226

Changing the Position of a Clip in the Viewer or Canvas 227

Scaling a Clip in the Viewer or Canvas 228

Rotating a Clip 228

Distorting the Shape of a Clip 229

Cropping a Clip 230

Setting a Clip’s Opacity 230

Adding a Drop Shadow to a Clip 231

Adding Motion Blur to a Clip 231 Using Keyframes to Change Effects Over Time 232

Types of Keyframes 233

Working With Keyframes in the Viewer 233

Editing Keyframes in the Viewer 234 Creating a Motion Path 235

Editing a Motion Path 237

Creating Curves and Corners Along a Motion Path 237

Controlling Speed Along a Motion Path 237 Using Alpha Channels 239

Importing Transparent Images 239 Setting the Clip Composite Mode 239

10 Contents

13 Rendering 241

About Rendering 241

Rendering Versus Real-Time Playback 241 How Sequences Are Rendered 241 Setting a Sequence’s Render Qualities 242

Editing Render Quality Levels 242

Video Rendering 244

Audio Rendering 244

Using Nested Sequences 244

Using Nested Sequences to Render Transitions 245 Rendering Indicators 245 How to Avoid Rendering 246 Rendering 246 Specifying Storage Locations for Render Files 247 Using Cache Manager to Manage Rendered Files 247 Automatically Rendering Before Playing 248

14 Creating Final Output 249

Printing to Video 249 Editing to Tape 251

Edit to Tape Operations 252

The Difference Between Insert and Assemble Editing 253

Choosing Which Tracks to Record 253

Setting Up for Editing to Tape 254

Performing an Edit to Tape 254

Setting Mastering Options 255

Edit to Tape Device Settings 256 Preparing a Videotape With Black and Code 257 Working With Edit Decision Lists 257

Exporting an EDL 257

Setting EDL Export Options 258

Importing an Edit Decision List 259 Working With Batch Lists 260

Exporting a Batch List 260

Exporting FXScripts as Text 260 Exporting Sequences and Clips 261 Exporting Sequences and Clips in a Batch Operation 263

Contents 11

Batch Export Columns 264 Naming Options Dialog Box 266

15 Managing Complex Projects 267

Placing Sequences Within Other Sequences 267 Nesting Clips 268 Using the Sequence Trimmer 268 Relinking Ofﬂine Files 269 Moving a Project and Its Media 269 Managing Projects With Multiple Users 270

16 Building Effects With FXBuilder 271

What Is Scripting? 271 How Does FXBuilder Work? 272 Opening FXBuilder 272

Opening and Applying Scripts 272 The FXBuilder Tabs 273 Running a Script in FXBuilder 274 Applying a Script in the Timeline 274 Rendering 275

Modifying Scripts 275

How Is a Script Structured? 275

Exporting Scripts 277

Exporting Scripts as Text Files 277 Preventing Scripts From Being Modiﬁed or Viewed 278

Making a Favorite Effect From a Script 278 Installing Scripts 278 Building Scripts 278 About the FXScript Commands 279

Statements 279

12 Contents

Appendix A FXScript Reference 285

Scripting Parameters 285 Expressions in FXScript 285

Operators 286

Data Types 287 Functions 288 Geometry 289 Shapes 291 Transform 293 Blit 294 Process 296 Distort 300 Composite 303 Key 306 External 308 String 310 Text 311 Clip 312 Utility 312 Constants and Predeclared Variables 314

General 315 Color 315 Formatting 315 Shapes 316 Text 316 Key 316

Variables 317 Input 318 Deﬁnition 320 Assignment 321 Flow Control 322

Appendix B List of Audio and Video Effects 325

Audio Transitions 325 Audio Filters 326 Video Transitions 328

3D Simulation 328

Dissolve 328

Contents 13

Iris 329 Map 329 Page Peel 329 Slide 329 Stretch 330 Wipe 330

Video Filters 332

Blur 332 Border 332 Channel 332 Distort 333 Image Control 333 Key 334 Using a Color Key 334 Using a Luma Key 335 Matte 335 Perspective 336 Sharpen 337 Stylize 337

Video 337 Video Generators 338 Text 338

14 Contents

Appendix C Keyboard Shortcuts 339

General Controls 339 Application Windows 340 Select, Cut, Copy, and Paste 341 Navigation 342 Finding Items 343 Scrolling 344 Screen Layout and Display 344 Projects and Sequences 344 Browser 345 Timeline 345

Logging and Capturing 346 Playing Video 347 In and Out Points 347 Markers 348 Editing 349 Output 351 Compositing and Special Effects 351 Quick Navigation Keys and Modiﬁers 353 Tools and Modiﬁer Keys 354

Index 357

Contents 15

CHAPTER

Getting Started

‘Welcome to Apple Final Cut Pro, the all-in-one solution for professional digital video editing, compositing, and special effects. Final Cut Pro has been designed to work with professional broadcast equipment in post-production environments. In addition, the program has been thoughtfully designed to take advantage of leading-edge digital technologies, enabling you to be creative as well as productive. Final Cut Pro supports Digital Video (DV) as well as all QuickTime formats, including MJPEG and streaming video. Final Cut Pro includes powerful production management capabilities in an intuitive interface. There are also powerful, builtin effects generators as well as support for Adobe With Final Cut Pro you can produce broadcast-quality productions in a ﬂexible, easy-to-use environment.

In this chapter you will ﬁnd information resources and system requirements for Final Cut Pro. Installation instructions will step you through the installation process. You will also be given hardware setup and conﬁguration information to help you put together hardware components designed for use with Final Cut Pro. At the end of this chapter there are tips for optimizing and troubleshooting Final Cut Pro.

™

After Effects third-party plug-in ﬁlters.

Where to Find Information

m Final Cut Pro User’s Manual: This book documents all of the features of Final Cut Pro. It

contains installation instructions and informative material as well as an instructional tutorial that can be taken using the video and audio clips included on the Final Cut Pro CD-ROM disc. Appendixes contain a complete list of effects scripting commands, sample effects, keyboard shortcuts, and indexes.

m Help system: Online help is built into the application. You can search it for information

while using Final Cut Pro. To open the Help system, choose Context Sensitive Help from the Help menu or press the F1 key.

m Read Me ﬁle: You can ﬁnd late-breaking information in this ﬁle on the Final Cut Pro CD. m Updates: Look in the box for other essential information.

For general product information and updates, visit the Apple Final Cut Pro Web site at www.apple.com/ﬁnalcutpro

System Requirements

m A Power Macintosh G3/266 computer or faster (G3/300 or faster required for DV), or a

PowerBook G3/300 or faster

m Mac OS 8.6 or later m 128 MB of RAM m A CD-ROM drive m A 6 GB, A/V (Audio/Video rated) drive (16 GB recommended) m A true-color display m ATI built-in video support on G3 models (required for DV ) m An Apple FireWire or other QuickTime-compatible digital video card for capturing video

from an external source or exporting video to tape m The correct FireWire or device control cable and any additional cables you may need for

connecting your deck or camcorder to your computer

Preparing to Install Final Cut Pro

18 Chapter 1

Final Cut Pro requires certain software components to be installed on your hard disk. QuickTime is required by Final Cut Pro and has been included with this program. Be sure to install QuickTime before installing Final Cut Pro.

Installing QuickTime Components

Insert the Final Cut Pro CD into your CD-ROM drive.

2 Double-click the Final Cut Pro CD icon on your desktop.

3 Locate and open the QuickTime Installer folder and double-click the QuickTime Installer

icon.

4 Follow the onscreen instructions in the QuickTime Installer.

Important On the “Choose Installation Type” panel, choose Custom and click Continue.

Click the Select All button on the next screen and click Continue.

5 Complete the QuickTime installation process by restarting your computer.

6 Unlock QuickTime Pro by following the instructions on the update sheet in your box.

Installing Final Cut Pro

Installation places the Final Cut Pro application and its components on your hard disk. Installation of certain software components is determined by the type of capture hardware you will be using with Final Cut Pro. If you have not yet installed and conﬁgured the additional hardware you will be using with your computer, read the section “Hardware Setup and Conﬁguration” on page 20. If you already have a system conﬁgured with capture hardware and a camcorder or deck, proceed with the installation instructions in this section.

1 Insert the Final Cut Pro CD into your CD-ROM drive.

2 Double-click the Install Final Cut Pro icon.

3 Choose a destination disk from the pop-up list and click Select.

Note: Final Cut Pro can only be installed on a hard disk with Mac OS 8.5 or later.

4 Read the Software License Agreement and click Continue.

m Click Agree to continue with the installation. m Click Disagree to cancel the installation.

5 Specify the video capture hardware you will be using:

m Select Pinnacle Systems Targa Series if you will use a Targa video capture card. m Select DV (digital video) if you will use Apple FireWire and DV devices. When you select

DV, your default video frame size is set to 720 x 480. Note: Selecting DV will install FireWire extensions in your System Folder. These

extensions are optimized for Final Cut Pro. If you have existing FireWire extensions in your System Folder that you want to retain, move them out of the Extensions folder before you continue.

m Select None/Don’t Know if you will use hardware other than DV or Pinnacle Systems

Ta rga.

6 To specify a default video frame size (Pinnacle Systems Targa only):

m Select NTSC Standard for a 640 x 480 frame size. m Select NTSC (CCIR 601) for a 720 x 486 frame size.

7 To specify the type of video source connection:

m Select Composite to sample video over a single cable using a BNC or RCA connector. m Select S-Video to sample video over a single cable using a 4-pin S-video connector. m Select Component to sample video over three cables using Betacam (r-y, b-y, Y)

Component BNC or RCA connectors.

8 Click Start to install Final Cut Pro.

9 Restart your computer.

Getting Started 19

10 Open the Final Cut Pro application and enter your registration information and serial

number. The serial number can be found on the Final Cut Pro CD sleeve. Note: Final Cut Pro is conﬁgured to use a standard set of preferences and preset controls

based on answers given during installation. You may want to change these before you proceed any further. See Chapter 4, “Preferences and Presets,” on page 95, and “About Presets and Sequence Settings” on page 166.

Hardware Setup and Configuration

Final Cut Pro is designed to work with DV and Pinnacle Systems Targa Series hardware. If you are using DV equipment, use the FireWire cable included with this package to connect your camcorder or deck to your computer. DV devices with FireWire transmit device control data, timecode, video, and audio over a single FireWire cable.

If you are using Pinnacle Systems Targa equipment, device control and timecode signals are transmitted over one cable while video and audio data use another set of cables depending on the type of video source connection you choose. See your Targa manual for details.

You can also connect camcorders or decks that do not support device control to capture video clips and export edited sequences. To print to video or edit to tape, the card must have video out capabilities. To connect these devices, you need a QuickTime-compatible video capture card. Go to the Final Cut Pro Web site at www.apple.com/ﬁnalcutpro for a list of vendors and qualiﬁed products.

20 Chapter 1

Connecting Video Devices to Your Computer

Devices can be connected to your computer through a dedicated video capture card or FireWire connection. It is recommended that you connect and turn on the device before opening Final Cut Pro so the application can detect the device.

If you are connecting devices to your computer with video and audio cables:

m Connect the video and audio cables to the output jacks of your camcorder or deck. m Connect the other ends of the cables to the corresponding input jacks of your capture

hardware. m Connect an appropriate device control cable between your camcorder or deck and the

serial port of your computer.

If you are connecting a DV device to your computer with FireWire: m Use a 2-meter, 6-pin to 4-pin FireWire cable to connect the DV device to your computer.

4-pin 1394 (FireWire) connector 6-pin 1394 (FireWire) connector

m Plug the 6-pin connector into the computer’s FireWire port and the 4-pin connector into

the device’s DV port. (FireWire ports on external devices are sometimes labeled IEEE 1394 or DV IN/OUT.)

The Apple FireWire port on your Macintosh is a 6-pin port.

Warning Do not attempt to force the 4-pin connector into the computer’s 6-pin FireWire

port. 4-pin connectors and ports can be especially fragile. Before connecting a 4-pin connector to its corresponding port, be sure it is aligned properly by matching an indent on the connector to the indent in the port. Do not force the two together.

Both connectors snap into place when properly engaged.

Once you have connected a camcorder or deck to your computer, turn on the device. If you are using a camcorder, switch it to VCR mode (sometimes labeled VTR.) In VCR mode, the camcorder operates as a playback/record deck and uses the video and audio connectors or FireWire for input and output. In Camera mode, the camcorder acquires video and audio through the CCD sensor and built-in Mic, not through the input connectors or FireWire. Final Cut Pro cannot record to the camcorder while it is in Camera mode.

Getting Started 21

Controlling Video Devices With Your Computer

Final Cut Pro can control devices through a serial or FireWire cable. If your camcorder or deck supports one of the following device control protocols, Final Cut Pro can transmit and receive timecode and transport control data to and from the device. Search mechanisms within some decks can also be controlled by Final Cut Pro.

Note: If your computer does not have a serial port, but does have a USB port, you can use a third-party product such as the Keyspan USB Serial Adapter, which allows you to attach serial devices to the USB port.

The following device protocols are supported:

m Apple FireWire or Apple FireWire Basic m JVC RS-232 m Panasonic RS-232 or RS-422 m Sony RS-422 or RS-232 m Sony VISCA or LANC

Note: The Panasonic RS-422 and Sony RS-422 protocols require special cables. For more information about the various protocols and their cables, see the Final Cut Pro Read Me ﬁle in the Final Cut Pro application folder or visit the Final Cut Pro Web site at www.apple.com/ﬁnalcutpro

For full functionality of Final Cut Pro, your video device needs to support auto editing VTRs and protocols.

Note: An auto editing VTR is a device that can take In Point and Out Point timecode, along with an Edit mode, and perform the edit accurately, regardless of the state of the controlling device or its software.

22 Chapter 1

About Apple FireWire

Apple FireWire is designed to work with digital video camcorders and decks that have a FireWire port and use the DV format. With Final Cut Pro and a FireWire connection, you can control external DV devices and capture DV movie clips to your hard disk. You can then view, edit, and apply effects to the DV clips and render movies in the DV format. Final Cut Pro can also play the movies to your camcorder or deck through the FireWire connection where the output can then be recorded on tape.

Apple FireWire Basic

FireWire (IEEE 1394) is a serial bus currently supported by many professional and consumer level camcorders and decks. However, there is a wide range of functionality and adherence to the FireWire speciﬁcations among these devices. For this reason, two versions of the FireWire protocol (Apple FireWire and Apple FireWire Basic) are provided in Final Cut Pro’s Device Control preferences.

If your deck or camcorder uses FireWire, begin by using the Apple FireWire protocol. This is the default protocol if you selected DV during the installation setup. While all decks and camcorders support the most basic functions like returning timecode and accepting basic transport commands, other commands may not be supported. If you ﬁnd that the device does not accurately go to speciﬁed timecodes or fails to execute special commands, try the Apple FireWire Basic protocol.

To switch between FireWire protocols in Final Cut Pro:

m Choose Preferences from the Edit menu and click the Device Control tab. m Choose Apple FireWire or Apple FireWire Basic from the Protocol pop-up menu.

System Configurations

Final Cut Pro works best with the following hardware conﬁguration:

External

A/V HD

Computer

DV Camcorder

or Deck

FireWire

Video out

Stereo Audio Out

Component, S-Video,

or Composite

Video Signal Out

Monitor

External Speakers

NTSC Video Monitor

A basic conﬁguration includes a computer, a high-resolution monitor, and a video camcorder or deck. Your source footage will be sampled to the internal hard disk of the computer via FireWire or other video/audio connection. Footage can then be edited on the computer with Final Cut Pro and output back to tape through FireWire or other video/audio connection.

Getting Started 23

A recommended setup also includes an Ultra Wide A/V hard disk drive, an external set of speakers, and an NTSC or PAL monitor.

m An Ultra Wide A/V hard disk drive provides a dedicated, high-throughput storage medium

where video and audio can be recorded or rendered. The beneﬁt of using a dedicated

drive for your media is that the drive contains no operating system software or other

applications and ﬁles that can fragment the disk. Fragmentation can interfere with the

continuous data ﬂow of video and audio to and from the disk. You can add an internal

drive to your existing SCSI bus or you can install an Ultra Wide SCSI card to support an

external A/V drive. m External speakers allow you to hear audio output from your video camcorder or deck.

Many camcorders come with a built-in speaker, but external speakers will provide you

with higher quality audio output.

Audio is output through the camcorder or deck

m when playing back video with audio in the Viewer, Canvas, or Timeline

m when printing or editing video to tape

Note: When playing video in the Canvas, audio output through the external speakers will

be slightly out of sync with the video. Audio from the external speakers will, however, be

in sync with video displayed on an NTSC or PAL monitor. m An NTSC or PAL monitor is highly recommended for previewing video output from your

hard disk if you intend to output to videotape or broadcast on television. Final Cut Pro

outputs video to the NTSC or PAL monitor through the camcorder or deck. Many video

camcorders have built-in LCD displays that can also be used for this purpose. An NTSC or

PAL monitor can also be used to view the playback from your video device when you are

searching for edit points. Connect the NTSC or PAL monitor to your video deck or

camcorder using the Component, S-Video, or Composite output jacks.

24 Chapter 1

Ultra Wide SCSI Hard Disk Drive and PCI Card Specifications

Digital video and audio demands high data throughput to and from the hard disk drive. For the best performance when working with digital media, use a high-capacity, Ultra Wide SCSI drive. Depending on your system conﬁguration, you may be able to add an internal drive if you have an existing Ultra Wide SCSI bus. If you do not have an internal Ultra Wide SCSI bus, install an Ultra Wide SCSI card in one of your computer’s PCI slots. Refer to the Final Cut Pro Web site at www.apple.com/ﬁnalcutpro for a list of vendors and qualiﬁed products.

About the Internal Ultra Wide SCSI Bus

If your computer came with an Ultra Wide SCSI card, all devices on the same SCSI bus must have unique ID numbers. However, devices on different SCSI buses may use the same SCSI ID number. (For example, you can have a removable media drive with ID number 3 connected to the computer’s built-in regular SCSI bus and a hard disk with ID number 3 connected to the Ultra Wide SCSI bus.)

Important Hard disks installed in your computer at the factory and the SCSI card have

reserved certain SCSI ID numbers on the Ultra Wide SCSI bus. Other ID numbers are available for assignment to SCSI devices that are added later, as described in the following table.

Ultra Wide SCSI ID Number Device

0Factory-installed hard disk drive (terminated)

1 through 6 Available

7SCSI PCI card (terminated)

8 through 15 Available

If your computer came with two or more Ultra Wide SCSI hard disk drives, use the System Profiler program (available in the Apple menu) to find out the SCSI ID numbers of your drives.

Getting Started 25

If you want to install an internal SCSI-3 drive, use the internal ribbon cable with the 68-pin connector to connect the device to the Ultra Wide SCSI bus.

68-pin connector

Warning Do not connect any SCSI devices to the external 68-pin SCSI-3 connector or to

the internal 50-pin SCSI-2 connector on the PCI card that supports the internal hard disk.

Connecting even one external SCSI device to the external 68-pin connector extends the

overall cable length of the SCSI bus beyond the limit for which error-free operation can be

guaranteed; the combined length of the internal cable and the external cable reduces the

reliability of all the devices connected to the Ultra Wide SCSI bus. Connecting a device to

the internal 50-pin SCSI-2 connector will cause your Ultra Wide SCSI devices to transfer

data at the slower, SCSI-2 rate.

26 Chapter 1

Optimizing Performance

These tips will help you to get the best from Final Cut Pro: m When a project is ﬁnished and archived, delete all ﬁles from the disk you used to create

the project. Defragment the drive with a disk-optimizing utility. This helps prepare the

disk for the next project you work on.

m Make sure that windows displaying video are not obscured or overlapped. m Don’t place windows so that they overlap monitors. m Defragment disk drives regularly, especially those used for capturing. m Store your project ﬁles on your startup disk. Store your media and rendered ﬁles on

another disk.

m Tu rn off virtual memory in the Memory control panel. (This is required.) m Keep your disk cache as small as possible. m Tu rn off all applications and processes that run in the background, such as networking

(which you can turn off by making AppleTalk inactive using the Chooser).

m Attempting to open clips or media over a network will cause poor performance in Final

Cut Pro. Copy ﬁles from the network to your local disk before importing them.

m Do not set Final Cut Pro’s memory allocation to an amount higher than the currently

available RAM.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter problems after installing Final Cut Pro and conﬁguring your hardware, the following tips may help.

My camcorder or deck is not recognized.

m Make sure your device control cable or FireWire cable is properly connected. m Verify that the camcorder is set to VCR mode. m Tu rn on the device and restart Final Cut Pro. m Make sure the appropriate protocol for your device is selected in the Device Control tab

in the Preferences window. See “Setting Device Control Preferences” on page 99 for more details.

Video is not visible on an external NTSC or PAL monitor.

m Make sure your cables are properly connected. m Verify that the camcorder is set to VCR mode. m Make sure the appropriate hardware setting is selected in the “View External Video Using”

pop-up menu in the General preferences tab. See “Setting General Preferences” on page 96 for more details.

m Choose Rendered Frames from the “View External Video Using” pop-up menu in the

General preferences tab to view rendered frames before they are output to NTSC or PAL video.

m Choose “All frames” or “Single frames” from the External Video submenu in the View

menu.

I noticed dropped frames on my NTSC or PAL monitor during DV playback from the Timeline.

m Reduce the Canvas or Viewer view size to 50%. m Tu rn off “Mirror on desktop during Playback” in the General preferences tab. m Disable View As Sq. Pixels in the View pop-up menu. m Reduce monitor bit depth from millions to 16-bit (thousands).

Getting Started 27

Video does not play through to the computer screen.

m Make sure your cables are properly connected. m Check your QuickTime video settings in the Capture preferences tab. For details on

QuickTime source and compression settings, see “Specifying Capture Preferences” on

page 101.

I am experiencing poor playback and stuttering video when trying to edit.

m Make sure you are not editing with media using keyframe compression such as Sorenson

or Cinepak. m Recompress the media with Final Cut Pro or Media Cleaner without keyframes.

I don’t hear audio on my computer’s speakers when playing video from my camcorder or deck.

m Make sure your audio cables are properly connected. m Check your QuickTime audio settings in the Capture preferences tab. For details on audio

sample and source settings, see “Specifying Capture Preferences” on page 101.

I don’t hear audio through my camcorder speakers.

m Make sure your cables are properly connected. m If you are scrubbing audio in the Viewer’s Audio tab, increase the volume of your

computer’s audio output.

I can’t control certain functions of my camcorder or deck.

m Make sure your device control cable is properly connected. m Make sure the appropriate protocol for your device is selected in the Device Control tab

in the Preferences window. See “Setting Device Control Preferences” on page 99 for more

details. m If you are using a device with FireWire, try switching the device control protocol from

Apple FireWire to Apple FireWire Basic.

28 Chapter 1

CHAPTER

2 Final Cut Pro Tutorial

This tutorial is designed to give you a hands-on introduction to Final Cut Pro. Working through the step-by-step procedures in the tutorial, you will create a short video using a variety of the editing, effects, and compositing features of the application. You will

m create a Final Cut Pro project and sequence m play clips and mark edit points m perform several types of edits m add special effects to your sequence m render and play the sequence you’ve put together m output your ﬁnal sequence to videotape or a QuickTime ﬁle for use on the World Wide Web

or in multimedia

The tutorial should take about one hour to complete.

Getting the Tutorial Files and Starting the Program

If you haven’t installed Final Cut Pro, follow the instructions in Chapter 1, “Getting Started,” on page 17. Next, consult the Read Me ﬁle installed with the program for the location of the tutorial ﬁles on the Final Cut Pro CD-ROM disc. Then copy the necessary ﬁles from the CD and open the project you will use for the tutorial.

Note: The tutorial ﬁles require about 90 megabytes (MB) of free space on your hard disk.

1 If necessary, clear 90 MB of space on your hard disk.

2 Copy the Tutorial folder from the Final Cut Pro CD to your hard disk.

3 Double-click the Final Cut Pro icon to start the program.

The Final Cut Pro Workspace

In Final Cut Pro, you work in four main windows: the Viewer, Canvas, Timeline, and Browser. These windows open the ﬁrst time you start the program. In addition, the Tool palette opens with the program.

Viewer Canvas

30 Chapter 2

Browser Timeline

Tool palette

Each of the four main windows has multiple functions. Functions are grouped by tabs within the windows. You can drag tabs out of their parent windows to customize the workspace for your individual needs. (When you drag a tab, its content opens in a new window.)

Note: In some instances, the windows on your screen may look slightly different from the pictures in this tutorial.

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