help!! my very first FCP crisis!!

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powerdog

Veteran
OK, I'm working through a tutorial (the Apple Pro Training Series book for FCP HD). I've marked in and out points for various clips, dragged them from the Browser to the Canvas, dropped them into the Edit Overlay section, and here's what I see in the Timeline:

No thumbnails next to the clip names, only gray squares with plus signs in them. The colored line at the top of the timeline is red. When I try to play the timeline, the canvas says "unrendered" against a dark blue background. I thought that was only for effects, but I'm just using plain clips with in and out points.

Stuck on page 74 of an 800 page book! Would appreciate any help!!!
 
Re: help!! my very first FCP crisis!!

I have the same book and spent 2 weeks going through it. It is a great book, although there are a couple of tricky spots.

In any case, first try zooming in on the timeline (option +) and you should start to see the thumbnails.

I'm not sure why you need to render the clips, based on your description, but rendering is certainly easy enough, just hit option R and everything will render. Now you can play your timeline.

Good luck to you, it is a lot of work, but worth the time.

BTW, while this forum is great, for FCP questions that aren't specific to the Panasonic, I think you will find the apple discussions forum on Final Cut Pro a lot more active.

Chris
 
Re: help!! my very first FCP crisis!!

Thanks!! Rendering worked, but I wonder why I needed it. There was also a finished project file (from the author), and that consisted of clips that showed a thumbnail with others that just had the gray box and plus sign. But there was no rendering need...they all played fine in the canvas. Could it be the prefs file or something like that?

BTW, I post here instead of the Apple board because you guys are so responsive! Sometimes I've waited weeks for answers about other things over there. :)
 
Re: help!! my very first FCP crisis!!

I just tried the same overwrite on my machine and I also get the red render bar. I'm not an expert so I'm not sure why rendering is neccesary, I just know that rendering works. :)

Chris
 
Re: help!! my very first FCP crisis!!

I can get in the habit of rendering all the time, but is there a downside to it? For example, does it prevent further edits to the clip?
 
Re: help!! my very first FCP crisis!!

My seventh version of the sequence is now working, without rendering. ??? The only thing that seems different is that I may not have clicked in the timeline after dropping each clip on the overlay area. It's when I click that the clip appears in timeline. Also, noticed that the line at top of timeline isn't red anymore...it's just gray. Hmmm...maybe I just got lucky.
 
Re: help!! my very first FCP crisis!!

If you need to render, something is different between your sequence settings and your clips. The fps is different (24 in 29.97 sequence, etc), the audio is different (44khz in 48 khz sequence) or aspect rartio is different. Check the settings of the clips and the sequence properties. Make sure they match. If they match as they should you should only havbe to render when adding effects or doing something special.
Rendering takes time and requires recompression when you export.

If you bring in an iMovie project (44khz audio) then it will require re-render of audio to get it to 48khz.
 
Re: help!! my very first FCP crisis!!

Scott,

I think you solved the puzzle! I'd originally set up FCP in anticipation of capturing video from a 100A (which hasn't arrived yet), but things started to work when I switched the settings back to regular NTSC.

However, there's a new puzzle to replace the old: no matter what, I can't get sequence tabs to close. I've tried the main menu, and I've tried control-clicking on the tab. Won't go away. Anyone else have this problem?
 
Re: help!! my very first FCP crisis!!

Scott is definitely right. When I did my quick test I realized I was set at 23.98fps because that is what i work in but the files i test with were 29fps.

As for the sequence tab not closing, I have never seen that. I just control-click on it and select close tab and it always works.

Chris
 
Re: help!! my very first FCP crisis!!

I am not sure what the grey boxes represent because I saw them in a project I was recently working on. What I did was close the project either right then and there or when I was done for the night and when I opened the project up the next time all those grey boxes weren't gray anymore. You could actually see a freeze frame of the clip.

I don't use those overlay options. I just set my IN and OUT's then I just drag that straight to the timeline and if I need to trim the clip I do it right there.

Make sure your sequence settings match. You shouldn't be getting RED render bars for clips your dragging to the timeline. You will get them for video filters, files you import into FCP, and effects. Now you can select to use effects in real time which you will not see the RED bar.

I think I have mine set to SAFE RT and I don't get the RED bars when I add effects. For some reason I thought it was Unlimited RT that allowed you to add effects without having to render them.
 
Re: help!! my very first FCP crisis!!

[quote author=powerdog link=board=FCP;num=1092760166;start=0#5 date=08/17/04 at 09:56:25]I can get in the habit of rendering all the time, but is there a downside to it? For example, does it prevent further edits to the clip?[/quote]

Nope. FCP is non-linear, non-destructive editing. Rendering just generates a final product from your timeline (likely to be one that your computer can't produce in realtime).
 
Re: help!! my very first FCP crisis!!

[quote author=DVX100Shooter link=board=FCP;num=1092760166;start=0#10 date=08/17/04 at 13:33:54]
I think I have mine set to SAFE RT and I don't get the RED bars when I add effects. For some reason I thought it was Unlimited RT that allowed you to add effects without having to render them.
[/quote]

I believe it depends on both your computer speed (FCP profiles your computer's performance to estimate this) and the particular effect. On my system, the color corrector is RT safe, for example, but color balancing is only available when I use unlimited RT.

Editing in OfflineRT (using low-res MJPEG video) allows you computer to handle a little more, on top of that.
 
Re: help!! my very first FCP crisis!!

All of yesterday's problems have resolved themselves, including the sequence tabs that wouldn't close. Don't know why, but I'm glad. :)
 
Re: help!! my very first FCP crisis!!

You either love macs or ....don't own one yet...

But either way, you have to love the qwirks that come with the system. Each of course has their own qwirk, and yours sounds pretty unique.

The grey boxes are because FC can't find your thumbnails. The System settings allows you to tell FC where to setup your scratch disks. One of those settings is for your thumbnails. Try this:
Open an old project. Watch as the timeline begins to build. You should see your clips in the timeline go from either white (before finding the capture clip) or grey with those grey boxes you describe. But then, quickly, they should change to the thumbnail saved.

So, at first when you saw gray boxes, FC couldn't find the saved thumbnails. After working on your sequence, FC eventually re-saved the images under your tumbnail cache scratch-disk. Therefore, the next time, they re-appeared. Note, you can also tell FC what imaget to use as it's thumbnail ;)

As for your tabs not closing...a qwirk. My system's qwirk? Well, sometimes the canvas doesn't want to follow the timeline (like turning off the external view). Just wierd, but you got-a-love dem macs.

-silverfish
 
Re: help!! my very first FCP crisis!!

Hey Powerdog,

How do you like the Aple pro training series? Is it worth it? What have you heard about Magnet Media's DMTS?
 
Re: help!! my very first FCP crisis!!

I usually don't like step-by-step training books, but I have to admit that I've learned a lot by going through this one. My only complaint is that she has you do things 3 or 4 different ways, only because they're available (like a series of steps that involves a command-key and another that involves a menu item). I wish it were just "do this OR that" (whichever you prefer). But I'm learning to ignore some of the needless repetition. Overall, tho, it's up to Apple's standards for documentation...about as good as it gets. I've just bought the advanced volume.
Sorry, haven't heard of DMTS.
 
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