Ratio for still grahics (photographs) in Final Cut Express HD

I was told to change the ratio of still photographs to 720 x 534, make a copy and then change the photo to 720 x 480 so the pictures won't look squeezed. What do I do with vertical pictures?

sequence - settings - frame size.
but if your sequence settings are different to your clip settings you will need to render everything. it is best to match sequence settings with your clip settings, edit footage, then change settings during export.
http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/qt_movies_fromfcp.html

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Problems with still frames blurring in Final Cut Express....

I have had problems with still frames blurring. I've discovered it's related to the green line above the time line on the sequence bar. I can't find the name of the bar but it's red if you need rendering. There are green lines and when the scrubber hits the line the frame goes blurry.
I'm guessing it's related to another previous attempt at adding motion to the still. My question, I think, is how to eliminate the green lines to the regular blue?
jb

If there are any colored bars above your video other than the normal grey/light blue then you need to render the sequence out by hitting Option-R.

Final Cut Express Tutorials

Before buying Final Cut Express I want to know how to use the program to see If it is worth it. I looked at it at the apple store and I was totally lost. Is there any free overlook at this application or any free tutorials. iMovie is fine for me until I want to use more than one camera angle and add cool titles, animations, and transitions.
Thanks

There is not nearly as much FCE learning material out there as there is for FCP. That being said, most of the the FCP relates directly to anything you will do in FCE and if you are just interested in the "look and feel" of non-linear editing at this level, anything Final Cut will probably help out.
Personally, while I was trying to get a handle on FCE I found the following resources invaluable:
Ken Stone's Final Cut Pro website has hundreds of free tutorials on all aspects of digital video;
http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/fcp_homepageindex.html
For a few dollars a month Lynda.com does about a good a job as anyone in explaining FCE. At least give the sample tutorials a look, they are free;
http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=371
While not all of us learn well from books, there are a few out there that by themselves or in concert with each other can answer most questions and guide a novice along. I have used all of these and can recommend same;
Final Cut Express For Dummies by Helmut Kobler
Final Cut Express HD 3.5 Editing Workshop, Third Edition by Tom Wolsky
Apple Pro Training Series: Final Cut Express HD by Diana Weynand
A couple of commercial houses that create training for FCE have websites offering free tutorials that can give you a feel for non-linear editing;
DV Creators have some free tutorials as well as offering "Final Cut Express Foundations" for $50.
http://dvcreators.net/
Ripple Training offers some on-line tutorials for FCE as well as FCP that are well worth taking a look at.
http://www.rippletraining.com/
Despite all of the above I would suggest that FCE is not for everyone. There is a certain investment in time, energy and some money to use this program, but for those willing to make the investment it can generate some very rewarding results.

Can I open .MXF files (from an HVX200) in Final Cut Express HD?

I've found plug-ins for Final Cut Pro that will open these files, but I haven't had luck with anything for the latest version of Final Cut Express HD.
Can anyone help??
Thanks!

Nice cam.
The late FCPro can but FCE can't AFAIK.
P2 stuff can't.
Al

Exporting out of Final Cut Express

I just wanted to know if someone could tell me the suitable frame rates, options etc for best results out of Final Cut Express to then go into idvd to create a dv pal dvd.... thank you, any help would be great.

You don't need to do anything special to go to iDVD.
Use File>Export>QuickTime Movie (not QuickTime Conversion.
Select the destination where the export is to go.
Include>Audio and Video.
Leave the Make Self Contained box unchecked. This creates a reference file (small and quick).
Hit the Save box.
Drag this exported Reference file to iDVD.
Al

Compatibility between FCP and Final Cut Express

I'm getting ready to edit a project and I was wondering if there are any compatibility issues with Final Cut Express and Final Cut Pro. I've never used Express put I assume I would be able to make cuts, simple effects and titles. Is this correct.
If I transfer project files from one platform to the other will i run into any issues?
Thanks for all and any help.

Final Cut Express is very similar to Pro. The limitations are primarily the limited range of video formats that FCE works with.
You can import a FCE project into FCP. It doesn't work the other way round.

Will final cut pro X 10.0.8 still be available for purchase after the new final cut pro release for mavericks/new macpro in december?

will final cut pro X 10.0.8 still be available for purchase after the new final cut pro release for mavericks/new macpro in december?

10.0.8 is no longer available, except in the trial version. The current sale version is 10.0.9. Apple has never sold older versions of their software, only the current version. That's not going to change in the near future.

Any suggestions for an animation program using photographs that can be incorporated into iMovie or Final Cut express?

Any suggestions for an animation program using photographs that can be incorporated into iMovie or Final Cut express?

The MTS files will always be grayed out. Do not drill down into the folder structure. Select the top level of the AVCHD folder structure. If this is a hard drive it may take a very long time to load. People have reported 20 minutes to half an hour.
Other possible problems, conflicts with other software like Perian. Also if there is mixed media on the drive; media in different formats can make the directory unreadable. What are the exact specifications of your media? What settings are you using in FCE?

I'm trying to make "Stop motion videos" in Final Cut EXPRESS by using 100's of still photos and setting them to music. They are coming out blurry if viewed larger than 4x6 in size

I'm trying to make "Stop motion videos" in Final Cut EXPRESS by using 100's of still photos and setting them to music. They are coming out blurry if viewed larger than 4x6 in size.
I don't understand why this is happening.

Quick follow up, since I was on my phone earlier and am back to a real keyboard.
To access Easy Setup, hit Control Q.
If you click on the blue discosure triangles, a dropdown menu with about a dozen different presets will be displayed. Select the one you want, (Here, I've selected 720P.)
Whatever you select for a preset will not be applied until you make a new sequence. (I don't like to have sequences with different properties in the same project so I prefer to make a new project if I change the Easy Setup.)
Because photo aspect ratios are different than video, I typically put a solid generator of some compatible color on the first track (v1) and put my photos on the track above (v2). Looks better, IMO, than black bars. There are other creative ways to display them. And of course, you could scale them up to fill the frame…but then you probably would have to re-position them.
Good luck.
Russ

HT5149 Hi, I still have problems reinstalling Final Cut Pro even though I followed these steps. Didn´t find "com.apple.motionapp.plist" to remove though, but the others I found. Reason why I have to reinstall is because I have repaired my Macbook Pro hard

Hi, I still have problems reinstalling Final Cut Pro even though I followed these steps.
Reason why I have to reinstall is because I have repaired my Macbook Pro hard drive at a Mac Authorized Repair.
Short history of repair and my Final Cut Pro installation:
1. Macbook Pro stopped working, sendt it for repair. Had the Final Cut Pro installed,
2. Desided to try a MiniMac and recovered my backup with Time Machine, got the Final Cut Pro working.
3. Got my Macbook Pro back from repair, did backup on this one as well. But this time only the files not the Applications.
4. Removed the files as mentioned in HT5149. Didn´t find "com.apple.motionapp.plist" to remove though, but the others I found.
5. When I try to install Final Cut Pro from App Store, it downloads the application as planned. But after download it won´t show in the Application folder nor in the downloads folder, nor will it start an installation prosess. If I pause the installation in App Store, I can see the Final Cut Pro icon in my Dock. (But, as mentioned, after installation it won´t show neither here or in the Applications folder).
Any suggestions on what I should try now?
Thanks for any reply, I´m in deep water here...

Sounds like there is a file you're not getting. Never do a removal manually. It's so time consuming and a pain. There's a very easy and fast way to do this, safely, properly.
Get the free "Final Cut Remover" app from Digital Rebellion (dot com), use this to remove FCP X.
Reboot the Mac.
Download from scratch.
If you're not seeing FCP X in your app folder, run Disk Utility to Repair all drives.
If that doesn't help, try running Disk Warrior from Altsoft to repair the directories on all drives.

Which camera to get for Final Cut Express 3.5HD/ upgrade to FCE 4?

Hello everyone!
I know this has been discussed frequently, but i am sort of looking for a costum made solution for me
Following situation: Macbook, 2.16Ghz, 2GB Ram, 320GB HDD @ 5400rpm.
I am running 10.5.3, have Final Cut Express 3.5 installed and am used to work in it,
mainly for editing video files not coming from a camcorder.
I have some experience in SD miniDV recording/editing though.
NOW I was thinking of getting a new camcorder in the 1500$ max range.
I want to edit video files, sometimes burn DVDs, at other times only to have them on the mac.
What i like about some of these new HD consumer models they can record AVCHD and mpeg2 SD in DVD quality. That should allow me to record in mpeg2 and have less hassle with importing/converting into Final Cut Express 3.5 if lower quality is fine (which it is as of now)
At the same time I could upgrade to Final Cut Express 4 and import the AVCHD files, but I still taken aback from how time and resource consuming it is. Plus it does not allow full HD 1920x1080 in FCE 4 does it?
So I was looking at the Sony HDR SR11 as a nice camcorder. Seen it live, seems decent.
On the other hand, is a camera which records in HDV a better solution for me?
I could keep Final Cut 3.5, no need to upgrade right?
Is it less hassle to transfer files to the mac and edit them?
I am very unsure which way to go right now...

Hi Flore
This a huge debate. There are very few advantages to the new AVCHD camera's and the vgery long list of negative aspects of AVCHD camera's outweighs any usefulness of them. They are designed for Grandad to pick up and shoot good quality pictures and not for editing.
I have posted below the wiki address for AVCHD, please read the page. It is very important you do read it. It explains in depth about AVCHD.
I feel the is no real place for the hard drive based AVCHD camera. There is a place for a mini-dv tape based camera.
Life will be very hard if you go the Hard-drive camera route. Stay with tape.
Tape is cheap, hardy and easy to move around. Hard drives not so!!!
Take some time to read the following wikipedia page...PLEASE READ THIS PAGE!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD
You will see that AVCHD is not all the bee's knee's.
I personally hope it dies an extremly painful agonising drawnout death.
AVCHD has no place in the professional domain.
Justin... Durban.. South Africa

What are the best data and bit rate setting for uploading from final cut express to Youtube?

Can anyone suggest the best data rate and bit rate presets for uploading footage from final cut express 4 to Youtube? What settings will provide the best resolution, quality, and match the current youtube requirements?
Thank you in advance for your help,
Susan Kayne

It depends on whether you are using aspect ratios of 4:3 or 16:9.
Below is some simple guidance that will provide good quality with reasonably small file sizes.
The first part is for 4:3 video:-
1. File>Export Using QT Conversion.
2. The "Format" window should say, "QT Movie".
3. In "Use" select "LAN/Intranet" from the dropdown menu.
4. Click "Save" and when it has finished encoding, upload it to YouTube.
If you are making 16:9 video (Standard or High Definition) do steps 1 to 3 above.
Then when you have selected "LAN/Intranet" press the "Options" button and in the new
window that opens press the "Size" button and change the "640x480" to "853x480"
To do this you will have to click on the 640x480 and a dropdown menu appears.
Select "Custom" from the bottom of the menu and in the window that opens
you will see 2 boxes.
Put 853 in the first box and 480 in the second.
Click OK.
Then Save it.

Projecting still images using final cut express

Maybe someone can answer this tricky question. We need to project a FCE movie that has photoshop still images imported into it, but these photoshop images (which appear normal on the computer screen), are distorted in the projection. They look squashed horizontally. In fact the still image that we made with photoshop and imported into final cut needs to be projected on a wall to match a four foot tall section of the wall, so we need get the size exact. That is the reason why we cannot have any distortion.
We have read that still images imported into final cut should be 720 by 480 pixels to avoid distortion, but that produces an even more squashed image, and this in pixels, that determined the size of the image, so how would we determined the size without affecting the pixels? The distance between the projector and the wall is already fixed and we cannot move it. Does anyone know how to maintain the original proportions of a still image imported into FCE for projection? Thank so much.

Hi, thanks you for your quick answer. We used photoshop elements 4.0 (for Mac) and Final Cut Express HD 3.5.1 (Mac). The still image that we bring into FE is a mask, it has a transparency so I guessed is layered. When we bring it into FE appears as sequence so we open it into a timeline and bring it back to the browser so it can be used as a still image. The movie is projected as DVD on the wall.

Final Cut Express - Aspect Ratio

Where do I set the aspect ratio in Final Cut Express? I find that often I import 4:3 clips, and FCE wants me to work with them in a 16:9 Sequence, so I get letter boxing. Sometimes, FCE seems smart enough and says "hey should I fix this", but sometimes it doesn't, and I can't figure out how to tell it what aspect ratio my project is in.

Yeah, it took me a while to realize what to do about this. If you have your bowser window in column view, you scroll it to the right and find the check box column for anamorphic.

How doI Import HD clips from HTC Desire HD for use in Final Cut Express?

Before anyone says it I know it's dead easy with and iPhone but how difficult is it to import video from the HTC Desire HD to use with Final Cut Express? I am looking at purchasing this phone and would be interested in people's thoughts.

Hi Tom,
Pleased to make your acquaintance, having recently used your FCE4 editing workshop as a bible I'd like to thank you for making an understandable read! Re my comments: This was early days with the application and I have a lot of work to catch up on before I get to work with it properly. In a test I set it up using the 720p25 apple intermediate codec and it needed rendering. the phone uses 3gp to record. I haven't gone into any detail with it yet, still busy trying to migrate from windows mid project from adobe premiere before even attempting to provide any focus to my camera on my phone. I will report back when I get there if anyone is interested!

Ratio for still grahics (photographs) in Final Cut Express HD

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