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

1.

To get started, open Board Feet v2, if it isn't open already.

In looking at this sequence again, I realized it would look better if the clip MCU to camera moved up to be shot number three in the sequence. Also, the first shot, Track red sun, needs to be deleted and replaced with Gray sky red sun.

There are several ways to move clips, but one of the easiest is to create multiple tracks and shuffle clips around until you are happy.

2.

There are at least four ways to create new tracks in a sequence. Here's the first: choose Sequence > Insert Tracks.

3.

From the dialog that appears, indicate how many tracks you want to add. In this case, add one video track and click OK. A new video track appears in the sequence, labeled V2.

The benefit to using this approach is you can easily add any number of audio and/or video tracks at the same time.

4.

Here's a second, and faster, approach. Ctrl+click in the gray area above the video tracks, and below the timecode bar, and choose Add Track from the shortcut menu to add a new video track. Or, Ctrl+click below the audio tracks and above the zoom bar at the bottom, and choose Add Track from the shortcut menu to add a new audio track. Either way, a new track appears in the Timeline.

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5.

This technique, though, is my favorite. Simply drag a clip, in this case MCU to camera, where you want the track to appear, and Final Cut creates a track to hold the clip. (I use this technique a lot!)

6.

However you decide to create an additional video (or audio) track, move the clip MCU to camera, onto V2 and slide it back so it starts at the same time as the current third clip in the sequence, Blue sky.

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7.

Now, click Blue sky to select it. Then, hold down the Shift key and click White coat jump MS to select the range of clips that needs to move to make room for the new clip.

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8.

Grab all the selected clips and drag them right until they fill the hole on the far right of the Timeline. Deselect them.

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9.

Grab the MCU to camera clip on V2 and drag it down into its new position. Or, as I prefer to do, hold the Option key and press the down arrow to move a clip down a track. (Oh, yes. Option+up arrow moves a clip up a track. And using the Option+up/down arrow technique is the fourth way to create a new track.)

However, there's a much easier way to move clips. Apple calls it a swap edit. I prefer to call it a move edit, because nothing actually "swaps."

10.

File > Revert this sequence to go back to the beginning.

11.

Click MCU to camera to select it. Then, grab it with the mouse and start dragging it, still on V1, toward its new position. Notice the cursor looks like a downwardpointing arrow.

12.

While still dragging the clip (and this is important), hold down the Option key. Notice the cursor has changed shape to a curved downwardpointing arrow.

13.

Drag the clip into place, then, in this order, let go of the mouse, then let go of the Option key.

Everything reshuffles. The clip is in its new position, all other clips move down, and the gap left by the clip you moved is filled. All at the same time.

(If you have snapping turned on, it is easier to align the clip by its edit points. If snapping is off, it is easier to drop the clip into the middle of another clip. If you don't know what snapping is, you'll learn about it in the next chapter.)

This technique works in both directions. Try it until you are comfortable with it. I also use this a lot, too.

There's one more technique still to cover for moving clips: copy and paste. Apple has received a lot of complaints about how this worksmainly because they change it with each iteration of the program. It worked one way in FCP 4.0.x. Then, it changed with FCP 4.1.x. And it changed, again, in FCP HD.

Sigh. Here's how it works…at least, for now.

14.

Select the clip Gray sky red sun at the end of the Timeline. You are going to move it to the front of the sequence.

15.

Choose Edit > Cut, or press Cmd+X, to cut it to the clipboard and remove it from the Timeline.

16.

Press the Home key to move the playhead to the beginning of the sequence. Then, press Cmd+V (or choose Edit > Paste). The clip appears at the location of the playhead as an Overwrite edit.

Hmmm…this Overwrite edit chops into the second shot. Bad idea. Undo this edit (Cmd+Z or Edit > Undo).

17.

With the playhead still at the start of the sequence, choose Edit > Paste Insert, or press Shift+V.

Now the clip appears at the playhead as an Insert edit, pushing everything else down. Much better.

18.

Click Track red sun to select it and press Shift+Delete to remove the clip and the gap.

19.

And that wraps up this exercise. Save your work. Quit Final Cut if you want to stop. Otherwise, leave everything open for the next exercise.

NOTE | Copy, Paste, and Auto Select

That copy/paste example didn't seem particularly painful, but using copy/paste used to be much worse. Here's the logic behind how Final Cut currently does a copy/paste.

The Auto Select buttons determine if a track is "selected," or active. If the button is lit (dark), as it is for V1, the track is active. If the button is off (hollow center), as it is for V2, the track is inactive.

There isn't enough room to discuss all the different ways that Auto Select affects Final Cut behavior; at last count it was well over 12, but in the case of copy/paste, it works like this:

If you copy a clip on any track, it will paste to the same track, at the location of the playhead, unless you click an Auto Select button after moving a clip to the clipboard. In that case, FCP will paste the clip to the lowest numbered track whose Auto Select button is lit.

See? Simple.

If all your video is on one track, this won't be a problem. However, if you start doing multitrack composites, you'll need to pay attention to the Auto Select buttons.