Final Cut Pro HD | H•O•T Hands-On Training [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

NOTE | How to Open Lesson Files

The lesson and media files you installed in the Introduction chapter are used throughout this book.

There are two ways to open lesson files.

Method 1

Method 2

You can select whichever of these two methods is most convenient for you to use.

After you've opened a lesson file, you can easily find it again by choosing File > Open Recent from within Final Cut and selecting the file you want to reopen.

If you want to go back to the original project before you started making changes (or go back to the last time you saved the project), choose File > Revert. Click OK to agree to losing all changes.

1.

Open Chapter 02 Lesson.

If you already have the file open, choose File > Revert (and click Yes to agree to lose all changes) to reopen the project to the condition it was in the last time it was saved.

This is the Browser. (Notice that the window is labeled at the top in its title bar.) The Browser acts like a database tracking all the elements of your project. It contains 52 columns of information (called metadata, or data about data) on each of the items loaded into it. Thirty-six columns are initially visible in the Browser, the other 16 are hidden, but accessible if you know where to look.

On the left side of the Browser are icons that indicate the form of each element stored in the Browser.

The seven Browser icons indicate the following:

A video clip, which can be video-only or video and audio (see Chapter 3," Gather Your Media")

A subclip, which is a special form of a normal clip (see Chapter 6," Trim Your Story")

An offline clip (see Chapter 3," Gather Your Media")

A bin (or storage folder) (see Chapter 4," Build Your Story")

An audio clip with audio only (such as a sound effect or music file) (see Chapter 7," AudioThe Secret to a Great Picture")

Chapter 9," Text, Titles and Graphics")

Timeline sequence (see Chapter 4," Build Your Story")

2.

For now, grab the window sizing tab in the lower-right corner of the Browser and drag it down and to the right to make the Browser bigger.

Notice, as you do so, all the additional columns of information that appear. Scroll around them using the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the Browser.

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3.

Reorder the columns in the Browser by clicking a column header and dragging it to a new location. In this case, use the horizontal scroll bars and scroll right until you find the Reel column, about two-thirds across the Browser.

4.

Click and drag the Reel column to the right, until it is next to the Name column.

5.

Click the column header to alphabetically sort a column. (Notice the downward-pointing arrow.) To do a reverse sort, click the header again. (Notice that the arrow direction now points up.)

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6.

It is often useful to sort on two columns at once. To do this, click the first column header (the primary sort), then hold the Shift key and click the second column (the secondary sort). For instance, click first on the Reel column to sort all clips by reel name, then Shift+click the Name column to sort clips alphabetically by reel.

To switch from sorting on two columns to sorting using only one column, click any column head that isn't one of the sorting columns. For instance, if you are primarily sorting on Reel, and secondarily on Name, clicking the Name header will toggle between ascending and descending sorts by clip name. Clicking the Duration column header (or any header that isn't the Reel or Name column) will re-sort the Browser by only that column.

7.

Bins in the Browser are used just like folders in the Finder; to help you organize, store, and locate clips. There are three ways to create a new bin in the Browser:

Choose File > New > Bin.

Ctrl+click in the light-gray area of the Name column and choose New Bin from the shortcut menu.

Click in the Browser to make it active, then press Cmd+B.

8.

Change the name of any bin or clip by double-clicking it, then typing in a new name.

9.

You can also use labels to help organize your bins and clips. To apply a label, Ctrl+click a clip in the Browser, drag down the resulting shortcut menu to the bottom, choose Label, then slide across and select one of the five label choices. (There's also a label column in the Browser that you can use, but this is faster.) Notice how, when you label a clip, it changes color. You'll learn later in this chapter how you can change the text of a label.

10.

If you are done exploring for the moment, choose File > Close Project and don't save changes. Otherwise, leave Final Cut open to take a look around the Viewer.