Moving To Final Cut Express

I have been using iMovie for a year or so and am considering Final Cut Express in its place but know nothing about Final Cut Express. Is there a document that gives a god overall comparison of iMovie and Final Cut Express. I have found that in some cases there is lots of time and cut and paste to accomplish some tasks and there are some tasks that I haven't determined if they can be done in iMovie. In particular I am wondering about the ability to edit clip content such as blurring image parts - faces, license plates, etc.
Your assistance is appreciated.
Andy

I am a newcomer to FCE too and migrated from iMovie 09, which I used for a number of projects. I had experienced quite some frustration with iMovie as I was getting a better videographer (and editor), so I decided to move on to FCE. One major setback for me was the lack of video stabilization feature in FCE. Going back to iMovie to correct clips is not really an option (tedious, quality loss, etc) so I invested in a third party utility (iStabilize), which is not integrated in FCE but is easier to use (and potentially better) than iMovie.
This being said, the capabilities of FCE are vastly superior to iMovie (can't tell about your specific requirements, but that seems to pertain to more advanced third party toolboxes). The learning curve is also a bit steep. I had to watch a few tutorials before I dared importing my first clips in FCE. I recommend the free tutorial from Izzy Video.
My 2 cts...

Similar Messages

  • Final Cut Express not opening, error says final FCE disks are missing.

    Hi there,
    Recently I got a WD Fire Wire 800 Hard drive for christmas so I could move all of my final cut projects over to the HD.
    When I moved my final cut express documents including all of the folders it now says this error.
    To preserve the integrity of the data used by final cut express, it is necessary to ensure the existence of the following paths;
    - My HDD Chris is missing
    Then it gives me the option to reset scratch disks, check again or quit.
    So I'm not sure what I do.
    Should I simply move back all the folders and documents that I moved to my hard drive (btw I tried this but it still gave the same error message). I have deleted final cut express 4.1 and re installed 4.0 to see if it works but it didn't and has the same error message.
    Any tips would be helpful.
    Chees, Chris.

    Tom Wolsky wrote:
    I can't even open FCE any more because I have moved everything onto the external hard drive including software 'everything'.
    You moved the software? You can't do that. That's fatal. The software must be on the system drive as it requires system resources. Move the application called Final Cut Express back into the top level of the Applications folder. Do it move it, rename it, or put it inside a folder.
    Do not assign the scratch disk to a folder anywhere. If you want the scratch disk to be on your external drive select the top level of the external drive. FCE will create the folders it needs in that location.
    Hi,
    When you say move the application final cut express into the application folder.
    Do you mean move my folder of final cut express that I moved onto my HDD?
    If so it's copying the 20GB folder as I speak. Hopefully fixes this frustrating problem..
    Cheers, Chris.

  • Final Cut Express moving videos off hard drive

    So I started capturing some footage on my laptop because I didn't have an external drive available. I finished the project, and now I'm back home with my external drive. My internal drive had 1.5 gigs free now, and I want to move all the footage I captured from FCE onto the external.
    I know iMovie has an option to export the project and all the files into a single file. Does FCE have an option like this, or do I need to go through finder to where it saved all the footage and move them like that? How can I do this without losing all the links and having to reconnect my media...
    hopefully this all makes sense, I've never really used FCE

    Hello Drew,
    FCE doesn't have that option. You will have to use the Finder to copy the folders/files to your external drive and yes you will have to Reconnect Media after moving the files.
    Be sure your external drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended and is connected via Firewire.
    In FCE, close your Project. Then in FCE preferences reset your scratch disk location to the new Final Cut Express Documents folder on your external drive. Then exit FCE.
    The default FCE scratch disk location is /Users/yourusername/Final Cut Express Documents. Normally your FCE project file and related material is in this folder. Under it you will find the following folders:
    Autosave Vault
    Capture Scratch
    Render Files
    Waveform Cache
    Thumbnail Cache
    and there may be an Audio Render Files folder too
    At this point you should be able to find a Final Cut Express Documents folder on your external drive; it should have automatically been created when you reset your FCE preferences earlier, along with an Autosave Vault and a Capture Scratch folder. Copy the files from your internal drive's Autosave Vault and Capture Scratch folders to the corresponding new folders on your external drive. Don't bother copying the render files or cache files - it will be better to re-render after you move your project. Also, if you have any other source media such as photos or music, copy them to a new folder on your external drive. Keep your FCE project file on your internal hard drive but do make a backup copy of it somewhere.
    After copying everything, verify & double check that you have good copies of your clips on your external drive because the next step is to delete the originals of your captured clips that are on your internal drive. Don't delete any folders, just the captured clips themselves ... and all the render files. This is necessary so that when you reopen your FCE project it will be forced to reconnect media and you can point it to the new location on your external drive. Otherwise it will just continue to use the clips that are on your internal drive.
    Then reopen your Project File that you left on your internal drive and reconnect media when prompted.

  • Joining and moving tracks in Final Cut Express

    Hi,
    I have a project where I am using up to four videos/photo images on the screen at one time. Obviously much of the problem is in the alignment of images as they do differ in size.
    The biggest problem is that I have cut the main piece of the video into clips with gaps.
    When I use garageband for podcasting there is an option to join clips together to form one track. Even if there are gaps inbetween clips. Does anyone know if this is possible in Final Cut Express? Also as I have problems in aligning overlays. Does anyone know how you can move a track in its above another in terms of it’s priority on the screen. ie. move v5 above v4 become v3. If I could do the former then this would merely be a case of copying and pasting but all my clips are separated in the tracks so it would help to be able to move the tracks.
    This may be staring me in the face but I guess these things are always easy when you know them.

    Thankyou both for the reply. I’l be honest and say that I was an imovie user who has picked up FCE over the last fortnight to do this project. If I did it again I’d prepare it totally different. I have nine tracks and each of them contains clips, separated by gaps and linked to audio. As there are overlays the gaps are important as I have the canvas screen split into four (each showing a different video or image. It’s all a bit tricky now but I really thought I’d be able to join up the clips as you can in imovie and garageband. I also expected to be able to move a track above another track as you can rearrange tracks in garageband even though it solves no real purpose. As track v1 shows above track v2 in the canvas it means I have a lot of fine editing to align the footage. If I did it all again I would prioritise what tracks will be most important before starting the project.
    It’s been a fun but time consuming learning curve. If you know the limitations of software you can work around them whilst planning but now it would be a case of doing much of it again.

  • Moving project between Final Cut Express and Final Cut Pro back and forth

    We are buying new Macs to our studio. One will be main editing suite with Final Cut Studio 2.
    Another Mac mini will have Final Cut Express.
    I do understand that you cannot open your FCE project in FCS, but can you do it the other way around, using the Mac Mini as "offline suite"?

    OK, so far, soo good. But can I open a FCP project in FCE?
    (Scenario: I start working in FCE, continue in FCP and return to FCE).
    I understand if some effects, etc won't show up in FCE.

  • Poor quality when exporting HD project directly from Final cut Express

    I am doing some HD projects in Final Cut Express HD. I filmed with the Sony HRD-HC1 in 1080i. I import into FCE using the 1080i 60 preset from Easy setup. I completed the project and it looks great from FCE full screen. I export as Quicktime (not Using Quicktime conversion), and I get a perfect looking output file using the Apple intermediate codec, 1440x1080. The problem is that the client needs to play back the video on windows machine using Quicktime. The windows Quicktime does not support the AIC apple intermediate codec, so I have to export to another format. I tried everything exporting from FCE, MP2, H.264, DivX, everyone option. They all look terrible. Blurry, especially parts that have quick motion. Really terrible. I called Apple support, no love. I then tried taking the AIC version of the file and used compressor. It took forever, but came up with am OK MP2 HD file. It still doesn't look that great, but it is way better. So, is their something broken with the FCE exports using Quicktime conversion? Anyone have similar experiences or workarounds? I don't want to use compressor as I don't have it on my Mac Book pro, I had to move it to another machine to do that.

    Being that the dimentions you suggested should be widescreen, I re-ran the conversion to your parameters, this time un-checking "Preserve aspsect ratio.. as letterbox" and this time it is widescreen. Not sure why, but it was putting the black bars on the left and right, not the top and bottom, scrunching to 4:3ish with that box checked. Strange.
    Anyway, the quality is the best H.264 I have seen exporting directly from FCE. It still blurs quite a bit on the fast moving video parts, my MP2 version from compressor still looks lots better. Seems like there is some problem with exporting HD from FCE. It just is not coming out sharp, like the Apple intermediate codec version you get with Export - -> Quicktime movie or if you wait for compressor to do the work rather than FCE. Does compressor use a different engine, or does it use the same QT and just take more time to do a better job in the export? Something just isn't right.

  • Is it really true that Final Cut Express cannot import full HD footage?

    I have seen a comment on the Apple store website for Final Cut Express saying that FCE cannot import 1940 1080/ 60i/24p/30p frame rates, converting them to a degraded 1440 1080 14p instead!
    I have bought a Canon HF100 on Ebay, and it is shipping from Canada to Britain by surface mail, so I have a few weeks to sort out my editing software. I was planning to buy FCE, but when I saw that comment I was surprised to think Apple haven't got a leading edge program for editing HD footage, which is the coming thing. I have trawled through all the posts in this forum, but with my head spinning I am still not sure what FCE can do.
    So in desperation I am asking for a simple answer from someone: can I import the best quality footage I will shoot on this camera and retain that quality in FCE, or do I have to look for another program? And what would that program be? Please help me!

    Hi Ian, thanks for getting involved with my potential fiasco to help me out! I have just been on ebay and saw a british person selling a vixia camera, so I messaged him to ask about this issue, and this is what he has replied:
    "A good question! You are quite right, UK frame rates are 25p and 50i. This used to be an issue with analogue cameras with NTSC vs PAL, but with HD, it is no detriment at all, in fact it is an advantage. Firstly, it means you get more frames per second, so you get less blurring with fast moving objects and have more raw material to work with; secondly, HD TV's will automatically recognise the format and play the footage with no issue; finally, if you do need to output at 25p or 50i, any decent editing package will convert the frame rate. A quick bit of maths shows that a long GOP under 25/50 is 0.6s long, whereas under 30/60, it is only 0.5s. I import the clips into the PC, edit them, render into a single file, then use Nero 9 (the only software currently able to do this) to create an AVCHD folder back on the camera, so that the finished film can be played out in glorious full HD using the HDMI port. Hope this helps! "
    I'm not really clear on what he is saying with regards to showing the footage... can only play it via the camera? Means cannot burn DVD? Uploading to Facebook not an issue?
    He says editing software can convert the frame rate, so can that be done in FCE? What do you say, Tom?

  • HDV KGCore crash with Final Cut express 4 NEED HELP

    I recently purchased a cannon hv30 hdv camera. This is my first time using High Def footage and I am now working on my first project with it. I have used Final cut express with a hard drive camera for over a year now and have made many projects with little problems. After importing my footage in the 1080i60 easy setup setting (around 63 minutes of footage) I began to add it to the sequence. after adding the first part I added the next imported section of hdv footage. The program then froze for a few seconds and crashed. It did this everytime I added the same clip into the sequence. sometimes the error said that kcgore plugin could be related. I called an apple rep and after getting rid of all 3rd party programs and reinstalling TWICE it still crashes after I recaptured the footage while I am either editing the footage or jsut playing it back. NEED HELP

    Thanks I tried it again and it seems to be working but I crashed like once or twice when viewing the footage. But after starting it up again it is working fine it is jsut that the footage has these white flashes in it when playing back sometimes. I am not sure if it is going to crash again or not hopefully it is fixed. I was just using the hdv setting for 1080i60. Im not sure if it was pal or nstc I just used the basic hdv 1080i60 setting. also do you think I should upgrade my ram and memory? Would that help moving it up from a 1 gig to 2 or 4 when working wwith hd footage now?
    thanks again
    Message was edited by: Drewbie

  • Final Cut Express 4 HD quits while loading

    Hello All,
    I loaded a new copy of Final Cut Express 4 HD yesterday and it simply refuses to load. It installed successfully but once launched it displays the splash page for a few seconds and loads files then just stops and disappears. No error while loading is given but the following is a logged file of the problem which seems to be to do with Quick time and it trying to do two things at once with it ?
    12/26/10 7:39:00 AM [0x0-0x22022].com.apple.FinalCutExpress[299] objc[299]: Class ProMetadataQTMDStorage is implemented in both /Applications/Final Cut Express.app/Contents/MacOS/../Frameworks/MIO.framework/Versions/A/MIO and /Applications/Final Cut Express.app/Contents/MacOS/Plugins/QTM Reader.bundle/Contents/MacOS/QTM Reader. One of the two will be used. Which one is undefined.
    Does anybody know of this problem and how to fix it. I have latest QT 7.6.. have totally deleted FCE and re installed and updated the software but it still refuses to load when the application is launched.
    Any help greatly appreciated
    Thanks
    Andrew

    Hi Tom
    The Mac is about 8 months old now and running 10.6.5 (it updates automatically) and was running this version when I installed the software yesterday.
    I have updated all other software via the update facility but continually get this error log report. I've tried moving files out of the two directories the error log lists but FCE either refuses to do anything or just gives an error report as soon as its run if I move any of the files from the folders.
    I did have QT 7 and 10 installed so deleted them both and reloaded version 7 but still no joy.
    rgds
    Andrew

  • Final Cut Express Log and Transfer files not playing audio on another mac

    I recently purchased a new Mac Pro for video editing for work, and am having some issues with it. Previously i was working on a MacBook Pro running OS 10.4.11, on Final Cut Express 4.
    I used Log & Transfer to get the AVCHD videos from my Canon HF 11 onto my mac, and had no issues. Where my problems started was when I moved my video files to my new Mac Pro running OS 10.5.6. Now when I open those video files in either Quicktime or FCE, the VIDEO plays but _not the audio_. I thought maybe the video files were bad, but when I tried the original files on the new Mac, they still didn't work. I don't know if there's some codec that isn't on the new mac or if there's some other problem... I just know that my new amazing machine cannot play the files that my 3 year old one can. I'm not new to computers, but I'm not an Apple guru. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

    Well I can try trashing the files, but I can't log and transfer the files again, as it's months of footage that aren't on the camera anymore. But i did find something else out. The files that were recorded with the camera's built-in mic recording is fine and with sound, but the files that I used my wireless mic setup had no sound. I don't know why that is, because they worked fine on the MacBook Pro. I tried log and transferring a new clip on the Mac Pro wit;h footage using the wireless mic, and still no sound.

  • Audio De-Sync during Capture in Final Cut Express

    Hi, I use Final Cut Express HD and have recently come across an unusual problem. When capturing footage I find that around five minutes in or so the video freezes for a few moments. After the footage has been captured the audio now goes out of sync at the point the video froze, lasting for the remainder of the clip. I've tried different settings in the easy setup but the problem persists. I only got this new mac recently and the problem happened right after I installed it.
    The only changes I have made to the set up was that I moved the folder that all of the footage/renders etc. to another part of the mac, which cFinal cut made me reassign in it's menus. Could this be the cause?
    I do a lot of work in Final Cut and this is a large problem for me. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

    If you have been altering the Easy Setups a lot you may have corrupted the preferences.
    So trash them completely like this
    Misc1 Trash Prefs
    Then set the correct Easy Setup.
    If you are not sure which to use let us know exactly what video format you are using.

  • HT3835 Will final cut express 3.5 run on the newer mac os 10.8 or 10.9?

    I am going to be purchasing a MacBook Pro when the newest model is released. I am wondering if I can run my Final Cut Express 3.5 with the latest operating system.

    I've been using it with Lion and Mountain Lion and it is working well. It was updated to 3.5.1 via Software Update.
    However, you will have a problem with the installer as I got the "PPC applications are not supported" when I tried to install it in Lion after doing a fresh install (although FCE is a Universal application, the installer appears to be PPC). So, I followed the file locations in this article and moved every file from my Snow Leopard partition to the Lion partition into the same folder/location. Restarted and it has been working since.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TA38198?viewlocale=en_US

  • Final Cut Express 3 - Won't Open

    When clicking on the icon I get the splash screen and I see that it's going through my AU audio plug-ins. Then the program just doesn't open.
    *Is there a way to not have it look at my AU plug-ins?*
    I never do audio editing in FCExpress anyway.
    I have checked Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Final Cut Express Support/Plug-ins
    But I only see the Boris Calligraphy plug in there. There are no AU plugs there.
    It seems it gets through all my AU plugs and then when it gets to T-Racks AU plug that's when nothing opens and FCXpress just doesn't open.
    *Any suggestions how to have FCXpress ignore my AU plugs or how to just get it to open?*
    Thanks in advance.

    "How to get PC EXpress from needing to look at my AU plugs? I don't do audio editing or enhancement in Final Cut."
    I also work in audio and have many plugins that I do not use in FCE.
    Moving the component folder every time I use this program in inelegant at best.
    There really should be a preference that disables loading all plugins.
    Does anyone know of a key combination that would force FCE not to look for plugins when opening the program?

  • Lost Serial Number For Final Cut Express 3.5

    Okay, here's the story. A long time ago (Like a year), on the left side of the finder window where library, documents, applications, etc. is, for some reason I accidentally dragged out the library icon. About a month ago I took the library icon from in the finder window into the left side of the finder bar. When I logged out and logged back in, my whole account had been reset. I was able to recover all my data, because it did not delete the data, it had only moved it. But all my applications were reset, including Final Cut Express 3.5. I have not used it since today. Today I tried to open FCE, and it asked me for my serial number. Since all my applications were reset, FCE thought this was the first time it was being opened. To get to the point, I no longer have the serial number. I looked for the information so I could get a new serial number (Support page URL http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1861), but I could not find the information. If I can never find the information, I can never open the application again unless I buy a new copy. If anyone can help me in any way to fix this problem that would be VERY helpful. Thank you.

    If you have lost the serial number the only thing you can do is contact Apple with some kind of proof of purchase.

  • Final Cut Express malfunctions completely with older FCE projects

    Hello,
    I have a fairly major problem with FCE (computer and software specs below).  About 3 years ago I edited a documentary in 14 separate FCE projects and saved them with many backups.   I returned to editing this recently and was disturbed to see that none of the old projects will load properly and I tried a number of the back-up copies.  Here's a rundown of what happens --
    - Load a project in FCE, first a warning message "The file format of this project is from an earlier version.  Would you like to update this project file?"  The only way to proceed is by choosing "Yes".  There is a further warning about saving all of your old projects if you want to retain the 'older' version formats.
    - At this point there are a number of things that malfunction:
    1)  FCE has lost the connection to the source files.   This should not be an issue b/c I did not move or touch any source files.
    2)  Some projects are completely missing the timeline that was built (kind of important) as well as the canvas.
    3)  It appears that when I attempt to reconnect projects to source files the edit points have changed or the project is using the wrong source file.
    I'm guessing one possibility is that in the 3 years since I created the original projects I may have allowed Apple to do an update to FCE which caused FCE to become corrupted . . . I can't imagine an update would cause 3 year old versions of projects to fail so spectacularly though.
    In the last couple of months I have created and completed a couple of video projects with FCE without any problems.
    If you have knowledge about this particular problem, suggestions for solutions or other forums I would be most grateful.  I think it's possible that an uninstall and reinstall might do the trick, please feel free to weigh in on if/how this should be done so that I don't make things any worse.
    Thank you!
    -Rob
    Specs: 
    Hardware:  iMac 10.5.8, 2.4 GHz, 4 GB RAM -- Original specs
    Software:   Final Cut Express -- Original CD: 4.0  (Purchased from Apple)  Current Version is:  4.0.1 

    Hi Al,
    Thanks for writing and the suggestions, I appreciate it.   I've got a question and some comments about what I've already tried:
    When you say 'Trash the FCE Preferences', should I go to the Preferences panel in FCE and reset everything or are you recommending something more direct like going into the filesystem and completely erasing a FCE Preferences file or folder?
    Permissions for all the files are the same as before.  Source files were always read/write for 'user', and read-only for 'group' and 'others'.  
    All projects were saved in .FCE format so I can't open them in QuickTime.  I've noted that QT has likely changed so I may experiment with that a little bit.
    > 1. Have you moved any files with the Finder that FCE uses or changed names?
    I didn't move any source files or anything related to the projects.  I was very meticulous about this as I had to leave the project for some time and wanted to make sure everything was in place so I could re-commence without inconvenience.
    I have opened an old project and done a 'Save As' and re-opened.  The only problem is that the problems still remain -- disconnected source files, misplaced edit points -- all the problems that I had before are still there and the project is essentially unusable.
    I may have a follow-up question in another day or so, hopefully I can get things working.  I'll need a little time to try all of the options . . . I'm walking on eggshells with this one as I don't want to lose anything or make things worse than they are.
    Thanks again for your thoughts.
    Best Regards,
    Rob

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