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Final Cut Pro Tutorial anywhere?

P

Philo86

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 26, 2006
21
0
I switched today from Ivideo to using Final Cut Pro (HD). But I'm very confused, I've been trying for hours a very very simple task, to just cut my video material to smaller clips :p . But I just can't find the buttons/options to do it with. :confused:

On top of that I probably need a lot of help with all the other stuff I'm about to edit. I've tried looking for tutorials everywhere, but they're all about advanced stuff. Any beginner guides around here?

I just need to get started, I think I can figure the most from there on...
 
First off, you need the razor blade tool (press the B button) to cut your clips apart. Secondly, I would recommend going through the tutorial provided, and if that doesn't help, pick up a set of these...

http://www.digitalmediatraining.com/products/fcp5/index.html

For $99, they'll pretty much teach you all you need to know using media they provide. THey address terminology as well as explain in common language the steps of Final Cut Pro. Very useful. Or you can do what I did and just play with the program ("what does this button do?"...undo, "I wonder what this does"...undo"
 
Okay, I just now realised the cutting has to be done on the canvas editing thingy and then afterwards it has to be rendered :eek:

Edit: Thanks, I'll try the razor blade tool right away.
 
Philo86 said:
Okay, I just now realised the cutting has to be done on the canvas editing thingy and then afterwards it has to be rendered :eek:
Click to expand...

The workflow pretty much works like this. Drag the clip you want to work with from your browser (top left) to you Viewer (top Middle...depending on layout). You I and O keys to select the in and out points, thus "cutting" the head and tail of your clip to the desired points. Then drag that clip either into the Timeline (bottom half of screen) or the Canvas (top right) and to an Insert or Overwrite edit.

You can also drag a clip directly from your browser into your timeline and use the razor blade to cut your video like a piece of film.
 
That explained a lot, thanks again. But what is the viewer used for if you can't edit anything in it?
 
Philo86 said:
That explained a lot, thanks again. But what is the viewer used for if you can't edit anything in it?
Click to expand...

The viewer is for creating edits using the in and out points. It acts as an intermediate workspace before your clip hits the timeline. It's also for setting parameters in the Motion tab, etc. Keep in mind, there are about a dozen differnet ways to perform one process in Final Cut Pro. It's very user friendly and open to different ways to work.
 
Btw, which way do you think is better for cutting. Cutting the actual pieces from the film you wanna use, or clearing out the stuff you don't use? It's the same result, but I don't know which one is faster...
 
Philo86 said:
Btw, which way do you think is better for cutting. Cutting the actual pieces from the film you wanna use, or clearing out the stuff you don't use? It's the same result, but I don't know which one is faster...
Click to expand...

If you're efficient, you'll only capture the stuff you need. THat's the route I would go, especially if you're limited on disk space.
 
Can someone tell me how to open the Fcp windows after they're closed. Cause I closed my browser window and can't find a way to open it again :eek:
 
There are some large, heavy manuals plus a tutorial that came w/your FCP purchase. Spending an afternoon during the tutorial and/or skimming over the relevant sections of the manual will get you up to speed much faster than repeatedly posting here and waiting for answers.


Lethal
 
Ok, the manual is just pretty heavy stuff as I'm Finnish and it's all in English :(
 
Philo86 said:
Ok, the manual is just pretty heavy stuff as I'm Finnish and it's all in English :(
Click to expand...

I can see where that might kinda suck.

When you close your browser you close your project, so to get it back you need to re-open your project.


Lethal
 
I have only one more question, then I'll be quiet :p When I create 3D titles the background automatically goes black when I put the title in to the timeline. Am I doing something wrong?
 
Philo86 said:
I have only one more question, then I'll be quiet :p When I create 3D titles the background automatically goes black when I put the title in to the timeline. Am I doing something wrong?
Click to expand...

Are you putting the title into the video track above your video or are you putting on the same video track as your video? For example, if your video is on V1 you'll want to put your titles on V2 or higher. If you put your title on V1 it will overwrite the video that was there.


Lethal
 
RPP said:
http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/fcp_homepage_index.html
http://www.creativecow.net/articles/finalcutpro.html
http://www.lafcpug.org/tutorials.html
http://www.mindspring.com/~schleicher/htm/tutorialsfcp.html
http://www.dvshop.ca/dvcafe/dv/fcutpro.html

A few tutorials I collected from another forum.
Click to expand...
I've been away lately so haven't had a chance to reply. Thanks a lot for the tutorials. I already made a few movies and Fcp is really easy to use now that I got the hang of things.
 
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