Final Cut – The Basics
by Brenda Soto, emdt graduate
As promised last week, Final Cut Editing session (basics). I mentioned in the last week blog a lot of options for video editing, but a common tool for users is Final Cut (from Apple). Final Cut provides in one tool great quality editing and easy to use platform. We are going to start discussing the main view for Final Cut and then pass to each one of the windows and most used tool in final cut. Remember, this is a Basic lesson. An advanced lesson will be available in the future, but you can feel free to contact me if need more specific information.
Let’s start for each window. The window number 1 is the Browser. Here is where you need to place or import any image, graphic, sound, music, etc that you want to bring to Final Cut. Also here will be place any image that is capture from your Deck port or camera in the capture process. The Capture is made through the Log and Capture Screen that can be accessed pressing the Command 8 option or going to the File Menu and selecting the log and capture option. The sequences can be also accessed in this window looking for the sequence icon. You can place effect to the sequence such as transitions, filters, characters, text, etc by going to the Effect tab in the Browser window and making a simple drag and drop to the image in the sequence or timeline window that will be discussed in this blog.
Our second window to discuss is the Viewer. Here we can see the preview of the image or video that we select to use in the Browser window. We can make our Mark IN – Mark Out (start – end) of the clip or image that we want to use. In this page you can also control the volume of that specific clip with the Mono tabs. Filters can be added and manipulated in this window, through the Filter Tab. Motion tab is where you can enlarge or reduce your image, rotate, move, crop, etc. If you are sure about the clip that you select you can just simply drag and drop in the sequence or timeline (discussed later) or doing the same process with the Canvas (next window to discuss). When you drag and drop to the canvas you will see the options of:
Insert & Insert with Transition (yellow): Will insert the clip in the timeline depending on your cursor position. You can have to insert as direct cut or with transition (usually default fader). Be careful, if your cursor is over an image it will split the image in the timeline.
Overrite & Overrite with Transition (red): Will erase the image that you have right after your cursor in your timeline.
Replace, Fit to Fill and Superimpose will be discussed in a later blog.
In canvas Window you can basically see the final editing, the product that you will show. This can also be view as a Playback screen. What you see here, is what you see at the end. Works with the timeline window.
Timeline window is where you place the clips, audio, images,etc that you need in your final product, preferable in sequence order or how you want them to appear. If you need to make edits you can use the tools that we are going to discuss next. The track that have the blue color is for video. The tracks with green represents the audio tracks. Let’s see in a deeper look to each part of the timeline
Tools & Audio is where you can find all the main tools for editing your project. The audio meter show the dB of your final product. It is recommended to have it around -6dB to 0dB. If your audio meter show lower than that, probably will cause you problems when playing back in an external system. We are going to discuss just 5 tools from this selection. Remaining tools will be discussed in a future blog.
Adding Effects in Final Cut:
As mentioned before you can drag and drop the effect directly to your clip in your timeline from the effects tab in the browser window. If not you can select the clip that you want to add the effect or transition and go to the EFFECTS menu drop down and Select the different options based on your needs. If you want to add a Blur effect you can go to Effects -> Video Filters -> Quicktime -> blur. That will depend on the effects library that you have active in your system. If you need just a simple transition you have two options. Click between the images that you want to put a transition. Press Command T and this will create a default dissolve. If you want a different transition, go to Effects -> Vide Transitions -> Wipe -> Band Wipe. That will vary depending on the transition that you want and your library availability.
Render Sequence:
In final cut it is important that you render your edit, effects, graphics, etc. This will permit your video to be view when playing back and exporting. Options to render, well if you want to render just one image, select the image and press Command R. If you want to render all the sequence press OPTION R in your Mac (Alt R in PC). Also, you can go to the Sequence menu and select the render option that you prefer. Remember, if your video have a lot of filters that needs to be processed, your render can take long enough to let you get some coffee and rest. If you are interested in the topic of render, you can also found Render Farm interesting.
Exporting in Final Cut:
Once your video editing is done and you are ready to export you need to consider your delivery channel. For more information also you can visit our previous week blog. If your project is going to be transmitted in higher formats such as Television or large screens through DVD. I will recommend you to use Compressor since provides great options for this. In other hand, if you are going to export to present to internet or others, you can go through the Using Quicktime conversion and select your preferable format. You can find the export option from the File Menu. Important: to make the proper export your timeline window needs to be selected.
I hope this tutorial help you to know more in basics about Final Cut and the editing options this software provides. Stay in touch for future blogs with editing options, softwares and audio softwares. Brenda Soto
Sources:
Software:
http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/finalcutpro/
Render:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendering_(computer_graphics)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Render_farm
Patch:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patch_panel
Original post:
http://web.me.com/brendamsoto/MacBlog/Week_4/Entries/2010/5/29_Week_4:_Free_Topic:_Final_Cut_Basics____.html
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