Layering limit in fcp

does anyone know the theoretical and real limits to how many video layers can reside in a 720p timeline? i'm not expecting anything smooth before i render. i just want to know at what point could i expect my quad g5 to choke or crash. 20 layers? 50? 99?

I thought the limit was 99 layers, but maybe that's just a nice round figure...
Patrick

Similar Messages

  • Does Motion have a 4K limit like FCP?

    I've heard rumored that Motion doesn't have a 4K limit. What might the actual limit be if this is the case. I'm trying to find a way to do some simple IMAX animation without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars.
    Ben

    Aha!! Mark. Fantabulous. So what kind of graphics card would I need to do 8K?
    I believe they have a tower in the studio, only 4 G's of RAM though, and I'm not sure how many processors ... but it's a fairly new model, last summer I think.
    I was thinking we'd have to do this in After Effects, which I'm not a fan of. It would be wonderful if we could do it with Motion.
    Ben

  • PSD Lower Thirds & FCP: Help!

    Hi all, I have a lower thirds graphic as a PSD Photoshop file.
    I am having difficulty incorporating the file into FCP. I have imported as layers into FCP but the formatting is all off. My project is 1920 x 1080 16:9. In Photoshop, I tried to save the document as a JPEG flattened. The background is not transparent. I used clipping paths and fooled around with background layer opacity but the background was always opaque on bringing into FCP.
    Does anyone have suggestions on making the bg transparent in PS and saving in that program for easy manipulation in FCP. Or properly formatting a PSD layered doc in FCP?
    Thanks!

    Here are the steps I follow when prepping a psd for FCP:
    Start out by making sure your pixel dimensions and aspect ratio are correct for your frame size.
    1. save a copy because you will be flattening some elements
    2. merge all background elements into the background
    3. flatten out all type, vector, masked, or effected (styles) layers using the following method for CS2+:
    -select the layer to flatten
    -make new layer
    -select both layers , make smart object & merge
    this will rasterize the type and effects in the layer.
    Now your file is ready to import to FCP. If you are pixel aspect ratio correction in photoshop, then the file should import correctly according to your easy setup, if you have been owrking in square pixerls in photoshop, then be sure to correctly identify the aspect ratio in the sequence setting for the sequence fcp creates when you import the psd - these will inherit the pixel aspect ratio setting for the sequence preset set in your easy setup, which is usually not square.
    Hope this helps. Really, you shouldn't have to bother with extracting alpha channels and keying out layers in FCP.

  • Motion seq in FCP

    i am having trouble bringing sequences over from motion to FCP. all my layers appear in FCP but when i cut it into my sequence in FCP the background element disappears. the motion seq looks fine in the viewer but loses its bkgd in the canvas.
    thanks for your help.
    sk

    Hi Mark,
    Intriguing. So I went into the seq. FCP had created to match the Motion project. I changed three clips. Now I come back to the .motn clip on the FCP timeline. No changes have appeared there, nor in Motion.
    So changing the clips in the FCP saved Motion seq. (in the Browser) did not seem to change the clips in the imbedded FCP.motn seq on the master timeline, nor the clips in Motion.
    Did I misunderstand your directions? Or am I missing a step somewhere?
    And I know I can change the clips in the Motion project itself, but how is this going to affect the FCP.motn sequence on the master FCP timeline?
    Ben

  • Sequence duration limit

    hi there,
    i am trying to create a sequence of 5 hours. everytime i try to add any clip past four hours, it says my sequence duration limit is 4 hours. how do i change this?
    thank you!

    FCP 5 ups that limit to (I think) 8 or 12 hours.
    Indeed. So long as your audio sampling rate is 48kHz or lower, the limit in FCP 5 is 12 hours.
    If you audio is a higher sample rate - 88.2 or 96kHz - then the limit is 6 hours.
    As for why it needed to be upped, for features (and feature length docs) compile edits can bump you past the (previous) 4 hour limit if you're working with boatloads of footage. Behind the Seen talks about how Walter Murch's compile edit was more than 4 hours and 30 minutes!

  • External hard drive does not register

    Hi guys, I'm having a ball sitting till 3am and not going anywhere with this film project.
    Yesterday I bought a Seagate 300G IDE 16M firewire/usb drive to use with FCP on a G5 OSX because the lab I share only gives 15G individual workspace.
    I want to digitise around 10 hours of mini dv rushes (yeah I know its a lot but can't be helped) which is about 90G, digitising clips of around 30min duration. i've partitioned the hd to two areas, and formatted it for Mac.
    So I plug the firewire in to link up the hd the orange icon comes on once. i put the tape into the deck. I log and press capture. It begins to capture/sometimes it stops right there/other times it captures for 20 min. Then the computer freezes. And I have to force quit and the clip is lost. And after I force quit I have to restart the computer and the orange icon/hd drive presence is gone; it never shows up again unless I go to another computer (i am editing in a shared Mac lab)and start again...it is the same with every computer (and they can't all be bad) and the hd is just a two days old and the problem comes up when i use Avid.
    So what's the deal?
    Yours,

    It may not be fast enough to play back media files
    without dropping frames I'm afraid... But if you
    could copy them from the drive that way to another
    drive... then reformat, and copy back.. worth a try I
    figure.
    Jerry
    Thanks again Jerry.
    don't mind drop outs in preview as long as media files are captured at best res.
    but when you say copy from "the drive" to another is this the internal drive you mean? or is this the external one, meaning after I dump it via usb i pass it on to yet another drive? reformat which drive? I'm jus a bit confused, sorry.
    also in utilities it says the drive was all okay and no repairs necessary...so maybe i should open the case up and see if the f/w port is stuffed because i've been jamming it too hard in my desperation? he he.
    anyhow. there's no clip duration limit on fcp is there?

  • Scene Detection in Final Cut Pro

    It would be really awesome if Apple could develop some sort of scene detection software for Final Cut Pro and Color. A lot of color correction work that we do in the DaVinci comes from edited programs off of tape. It would be nice to speed up the notching process to open up Color to people not using Final Cut Pro.

    yes that would be lovely, but it would require realtime playback to make it worthwhile. No, COLOR isn't a daVinci in that department. And besides, daVinci never detected dissolves or other subtle scene changes --and could generate spurious event boundaries with fast-moving objects or wildly varying contrast.
    I agree that it would be great especially since correcting a "baked" show is really a serious compromise to begin with. In this scenario, you're always going to be faced with keyframing transitions, the colour non-linearities associated with that, and likely a drop/non-drop issue if you use "Import as Cut List". See the release notes. Otherwise, hand-cut french fries-- and ALWAYS a better idea to do that in FCP before sending to COLOR. Trust me.
    Nope, bringing in the layered sequence from FCP, even if it has been translated via AutoDuck from some other edit package, is the method of choice.
    JPO

  • How can I make this effect to introduce somebody in my video?

    Hi,
    I like to know how I can make this effect to introduce somebody: www.hofleverancier.be
    You can see the effect on the 7nd second.
    Can anybody help me out?
    Thanks!
    Glenn.

    There are many ways.
    One of them would be:
    export the specific point were it starts to Quicktime Conversion > Still Image >OPPTIONS: Photoshop.
    Open this still in Photoshop. Cutout the man by using the magic lasso tool.
    So then 2 layers. Background and Foregrond (The man).
    Import this 2 layered PSD in FCP. Cut it right after the point you exported. On V1 the Background, On V2 the Man. Bring the background to Black and white. Set Keyframes for the SCALE on V2, in order to 'zoom in' on the person a little bit.
    And ad a title effect.
    Well, this is the short version. Try to play with it yourself. You can also do all the compositing in Motion, or After Effects.
    Rienk

  • New FCE 4.0 User - "Warning - Dropped Frames"

    Okay, so... I've captured some video that I'm trying to speed up significantly (1000%+). When I play it back I get a warning after 4-5 seconds of play that reads -
    "One or more frames were dropped during playback"
    Then it says to do one of the following:
    -Increase Disk Speed
    -Decrease # of RT Layers
    -Limit RT Bandwidth in User Preferences
    The dialogue also suggests I turn off "Unlimited RT" & lower the compression data rate. Sadly I'm not exactly sure what to do or what all this means. Is this even really a problem? What should I do?
    Also... I'm using a Sony DCR-TRV22 MiniDV Handycam. I have FCE set to DV-NTSC. I wasn't sure what the differences between that and the 32KHz variations were. Could someone explain?
    Thanks.

    The AUDIO can usually be recorded as either 12bit or 16bit.
    If it is 12bit you use the "DV-NTSC 32KHz" Easy Setup otherwise you might get sync problems.
    However, this is unlikely to cause dropped frames.
    Usually you are taking the computer to its limits. Try rendering your clip and it should playback OK.

  • Resizing still images

    Just curious, if I import lots of still images into FCP without resizing them in Photoshop, is this a bad thing? Is there any visual advantage to cropping or resizing them in Photoshop rather than just resizing in FCP?
    Thanks.

    >1. Why is the maximum set at 1920 x 1080? Aren't there resolutions larger than this? Like footage from the 4k cameras?
    This is why 4K is the limit in FCP...because Red is 4K. 
    But films are 2K...which is very close to 1920x1080.  VERY close.  Digital films projected in theatres...2K. Films shot on RED and projected...2K. No theatres have 4K projectors...cost prohibitive.

  • 8 hour record time

    I am being asked to videotape 3 days of teaching. 8 hours more or less each day. Then print to DVD, yikes. I think the best way would be to use a 100 gig FS-4 HDD recorder. They say it can take in 7.5 hours of video. That way there will be no tape swapping and no real time digitizing that will run up the editing budget. I am sure, and least hope and maybe could talk the guy into stopping for breaks for the class and the videographer every 2 hours. I cant imagine he would go 4 hours non stop, take lunch, the go another 4 hours. I have never put 4 hours on a FCP timeline. I have a MBP 17, an OWC 750 gig using eSata. I wonder if I could use "capture now" straight to the external HD. I just seem to feel more confident with the FS-4. I will be shooting in DV format on a Sony VX-2000. I will most likely burn to a DL DVD for the 1st time in iDVD. Anything I should be away of there or should I go DVDSP.
    I would appreciate any thoughts, thank you.

    First, I'd ask the teacher(s) to break every 75min., and shoot tape backup using 83 min. tapes. Should anything go wrong with Firestore or Capture now, you'll need the tape backup.
    If you use Capture now, you wouldn't have matching timecode to the recorded tapes. I'd consider the Firestore.
    We shoot longish events using Firestore (FS 100-160), with tape backup. We've made it a practice to make sure we have tape rolling 15-20 seconds prior to and following the Firestore start/stop. If you don't, you won't be able to match timecodes, due to not having pre-roll on tape, sufficient to match the 1st frames of Firestore recording.
    IIRC, your Firestore may not have the ability to 'create quicktime reference movie'...which stitches together all of the 2Gb clips (limits due to FAT formatted drive inside the Firestore) You should check on that with your FS-4. With the FS-100's, you would use this feature to create a single 'reference movie'...still need all the media captured, but don't have to deal with tons of short clips.
    For some reason, I'm thinking there may be a 4hr timeline limit in FCP, but I could be wrong.
    I've not worked with DL-DVD's, but would guess that they'd limit you to 4 hours max (in iDVD). Don't know about DVD-SP.
    I'd propose to the event coordinators, that I could provide multiple DVD's broken up into day parts...i.e. D1AM, D1PM, D2AM, D2PM...etc.
    Are you using 1 camera, or multiple cams? If they refuse to break for tape changes, you might set up a 2nd camera, for overlap recording.
    How are you acquiring audio?...in camera?, with what mics?, through a sound board?
    Ideally, you might acquire an additional camera to record capture now, with clean audio coming from your sound mixer (if there is one).
    Hope that helps.
    K

  • Share to Vimeo Stops with OS 10.8.2 Update from Oct. 4th

    The Share to Vimeo compression/upload function has mysteriously stopped working on my FCP X. Select an edited Project, click Share, click Vimeo, enter a valid account and password, select publish, and the Share Monitor pops up, but the track does not appear, compression does not initialize and ergo there's nothing to upload. It just sits. The Vimeo Share function has been used hundreds of times successfully for our Vimeo account. The only thing software change this week has been the Apple OS 10.8.2 supplemental update from October 4th. Could that have caused this bug? Should I re-install FCP X? The work around, of course, is to manually send to compressor.
    MacBook Pro with Retina, 16G ram, on OS 10.8.2 running FCP 10.0.5

    No. All of my FCPX contens -- all Events and Projects -- are kept on external RAID drives, so only the mast FCP X program is on the MacBook Pro Retina resident drive. FYI, the Share to Vimeo function was a little buggy, but appears to have been solved in the latest FCP X update. Previously, there was a size limit that FCP X placed on any Share to Vimeo where there is no size limit on our Vimeo Pro account. 

  • Motion bkgd in FC

    i am having trouble bringing sequences over from motion to FCP. all my layers appear in FCP but when i cut it into my sequence in FCP the background element disappears. the motion seq looks fine in the viewer but loses its bkgd in the canvas.
    as always, thanks for your help.
    sk

    hi adam,
    yea i was working with a color bkgd, but sometimes it is not showing up in FCP. it looks ok in the viewer but does not transfer to the canvas. i'm not sure about the transparency setting, is that in the FCP preferences?????
    thanks...................s

  • Share to Vimeo?

    I have selected a project, and procede through all required steps to share on Vimeo (where I have a paid account) in the final window, I click "publish" and nothing happens -no progress bar. I know it can take time to upload to Vimeo, but after 12 hrs the video is stil not "published". When I return to the "share" pull down menu to try the entire process again, the first window (vimeo) that pops up is the "publish" window. (using iMovie 9.0.4)

    No. All of my FCPX contens -- all Events and Projects -- are kept on external RAID drives, so only the mast FCP X program is on the MacBook Pro Retina resident drive. FYI, the Share to Vimeo function was a little buggy, but appears to have been solved in the latest FCP X update. Previously, there was a size limit that FCP X placed on any Share to Vimeo where there is no size limit on our Vimeo Pro account. 

  • Cloning someone

    New to the board--
    What is the best way to duplicate someone in a single shot using Final Cut Pro HD? I am talking about like in films such as "Secret Window" where Johnny Depp encounters himself several times and talks to himself as well.
    I appreciate any help provided,
    Paul

    A really good and easy way to do this is (yes, locked down camera... moving the camera is another tutorial!!):
    Lock the camera down and light the scene. Light it WITH the talent in.
    Turn on the camera and set it. TURN ALL AUTO SETTINGS OFF leave it all manual. Put sandbags on the tripod if you have to also.
    Take a few seconds or more of the scene without any talent.
    Add the talent to the scene for the first person.
    Add the talent to the scene fo rthe second person.
    REMEMBER - Don't turn off the camera or change ANYTHING!
    Now work the three layers together in FCP. Crop where you need to and keep the "plate" on the bottom layer just incase.
    If you get to a spot where you need them to cross paths then you'll need to use a difference matte to key out the people and have them move in layers.
    Very easy to do. You'll find a great difference matte in After Effects.
    CaptM

Maybe you are looking for