Visual QuickStart Guide [Electronic resources] : Final Cut Express HD for Mac OS X

Lisa Brenneis

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  • Working with Clips in the Viewer

    You can open clips from the Browser or from the Timeline. You can open single and multiple clips or clips you have viewed recently. You can also open clips from outside an open project.

    When you open an audio+video clip, it appears in a Viewer window with the Video tab selected.

    To open a clip in the Viewer:

    Do one of the following:

      Figure 8.12 ).

      Figure 8.12. Control-click the clip's icon and choose Open in Viewer from the shortcut menu.

  • Select the clip's icon and press Enter.

  • Drag the clip's icon from the Browser and drop it in the image area of the Viewer (Figure 8.13 ).

    Figure 8.13. Open a clip by dragging it from the Browser and dropping it in the image area of the Viewer

    • To open a clip in a new window:

    1.

    Select the clip in the Browser or Timeline.

    2.

    Choose View > Clip in New Window.

    Tips

    • It's common practice in Final Cut Express to load an entire sequence into the Viewer and edit it into another sequence, just as if it were a clip. To do this, select the sequence in the Browser; then choose View > Sequence or drag the sequence's icon from the Browser and drop it in the image area of the Viewer.

    • If loading a sequence into the Viewer causes the Canvas and Timeline to disappear, you have loaded a sequence that was currently open in the Timeline. The Timeline closes because FCE protocol dictates that you cannot edit a sequence into itself.

    To open multiple clips:

    1.

    Command-click to select multiple clips in the Browser.

    2.

    Drag the clips to the Viewer (Figure 8.14 ).

    Figure 8.14. Drag the clips to the Viewer and then drop them on the image area.

    The first clip opens in the Viewer, and the other selected clips are listed in the Recent Clips control (Figure 8.15 ).

    Figure 8.15. The first clip is opened in the Viewer; the rest are listed in the Recent Clips pop-up list.

    To open a recently viewed clip:

    • Select the clip name from the Recent Clips control's pop-up list (Figure 8.16 ).

      Figure 8.16. Select a clip from the Recent Clips control's pop-up list.

    Tip

    • You can load an entire Browser folder of clips into the Viewer in one move by dragging the folder from the Browser and dropping it in the image area of the Viewer. The clips in the folder will show up in the Recent Clips control (as long as your List Recent Clips preference is set high enough to cover the folder's item count).

    To open a clip from the Timeline or Canvas:

    • Double-click the clip in the Timeline (Figure 8.17 ).

      Figure 8.17. Double-click a sequence clip in the Timeline to open it in the Viewer.

      The clip opens in the Viewer. If you positioned the Timeline's playhead over a frame in the clip, the clip opens with the Viewer's playhead located at the same frame (Figure 8.18 ). The two lines of dots in the Scrubber indicate that you've opened a sequence clip.

      Figure 8.18. The clip opens with the Viewer's playhead located at the same frame. Two lines of dots in the Scrubber indicate that you've opened a sequence clip.

    To open an imported clip in its original application:

    1.

    Open the clip in the Viewer or Canvas window.

    2.

    Choose View > Clip in Editor (Figure 8.19 ).

    Figure 8.19. Choose View > Clip in Editor to open a clip in the application you used to create it.

    Clips created in an application other than Final Cut Express will open in that application (Figure 8.20 ). If the application used to create the clip is not installed on your computer, a dialog box opens that allows you to choose an application in which to edit the clip.

    Figure 8.20. This clip, captured in Final Cut Express, has opened in QuickTime Player, the application that was specified on the External Editors preference tab.

    Setting External Editors Preferences" in Chapter 3.

    To open a clip outside the current project:

    1.

    Choose File > Open.

    2.

    Locate the clip's media file on disk.

    3.

    Select the file and click Choose.

    To save changes in a clip outside the current project:

    1.

    In the Browser window, select a project in which to save your modified clip by clicking the tab of that project.

    This brings your selected project to the front of the Browser window (Figure 8.21 ).

    Figure 8.21. Click a project's tab to bring that project to the front of the Browser window.

    2.

    Drag from the image area in the Viewer to the project's tab in the Browser.

    Your clip is now inserted in that project, and your changes will be saved with that project (Figure 8.22 ).

    Figure 8.22. Drag a clip into a project in the Browser window. Clip changes will be saved with the project.

    FCE Protocol: Saving Clip Changes

    Say you have marked edit points and placed some other markers in a clip you opened outside of your project. To save the changes you made to that clip,

    you'll need to do the following:

    • Insert the modified clip into a project that's currently open.

      or

    • Export the clip.

    Remember that FCE will save the changes you make only if the clip has been placed in a project or exported as a new file. If you mark changes and close the Viewer window without taking the steps listed here ... bye-bye changes. There's no warning dialog box, so take care. One exception to this rule: Any modification of a clip's reel number will be written to the clip's media file immediately.

    To open a generator effect in the Viewer:

    1.

    Start in the Browser window with the Effects tab selected.

    2.

    Do one of the following:

    • Double-click the generator icon in the Browser (Figure 8.23 ) or Timeline.

      Figure 8.23. Double-click a generator icon to open the generator effect in the Viewer.

    • Select a generator icon and press Enter.

    Tip

    • You can select generator effects directly from the Generators pop-up menu in the Viewer window (Figure 8.24 ).

      Figure 8.24. Choose a generator effect from the Generators pop-up menu.

    Playing clips

    Figure 8.2 earlier in this chapter), or use one of the keyboard shortcuts that controls playback.

    Figure 8.25. FCE offers so many ways to play.

    For all the play operations described in this section, start with an open clip and the Viewer window active.

    To play a clip in the Viewer:

    1.

    Click the Play button (Figure 8.26 ); or press the spacebar; or press L.

    Figure 8.26. Click the Play button to start clip playback. Click Play again to stop playback.

    2.

    To stop playback, click the Play button; or press the spacebar; or press K.

    To play a clip in reverse:

    • Shift-click the Play button; or press Shift-spacebar; or press J.

    To play a clip between In and Out points:

    • Click the Play In to Out button (Figure 8.27 ); or press Shift-\ (backslash).

      Figure 8.27. Click the Play In to Out button to play the section of the clip between the In and Out points.

    To play a clip from the current playhead position to the Out point:

    • Command-click the Play button.

    To play a clip before and after the current playhead position:

    • Click the Play Around Current Frame button (Figure 8.28 ); or press the backslash (\) key.

      Figure 8.28. Click the Play Around Current Frame button to play a section of the clip before and after the current playhead position.

      The clip plays back the specified pre-roll duration before the playhead location, and it plays back the post-roll duration after the playhead location.

    Tip

    • You can set the duration of video playback using the pre-roll and post-roll settings on the General tab of FCE's User Preferences window.

    JKL Keys: The Way to Move

    JKL Keys, a swift and efficient system for controlling variable-speed playback from your keyboard, is an import from expensive, pro digital editing systems. Learn it, and you'll be whipping through your footage like the pros do. Here's how it works.

    The J, K, and L keys are in a row on your keyboard, and you use them to control playback speed and direction. The I and O keys, which you use for setting In and Out points, are located just above JKL. The comma (,) and period (.) keys, which you can use to trim edits, are located below JKL. The semicolon (;) and apostrophe (') keys control Previous and Next Edit. This arrangement makes editing easy because it places the most commonly used keyboard shortcuts under one hand. It's easy to see how editors get attached to this system.

    Here's the rundown on J, K, and L keyboard command functions:

    Press J to play in reverse. Tap J twice to double the reverse shuttle speed. Tap J three times for 4x reverse shuttle speed. Tap J four times for 8x reverse shuttle speed.

    Press K to stop or pause.

    Press L to play forward. Tap L twice to double the forward shuttle speed. Tap L three times for 4x forward shuttle speed. Tap L four times for 8x forward shuttle speed.

    Hold down K and tap J or L to get slow-motion shuttling in either direction. A single J or L tap, with K held down, steps you forward or backward one frame at a time.

    To play every frame:

    • Choose Mark > Play > Every Frame; or press Option-P.

    Tip

    • If you've applied complex effects to a clip, use the Play Every Frame command to preview the clip without rendering it first. Playback is slower than normal, but you'll get a rough idea.

    To loop playback in all playback modes:

    1.

    Choose View > Loop Playback (Figure 8.29 ).

    Figure 8.29. Choose View > Loop Playback to loop clip playback. Choose View > Loop Playback again to toggle looping off.

    2.

    Choose View > Loop Playback again to turn off looping.

    Tip

    • You can toggle looped playback on and off from your keyboard by pressing Control-L.

    Other ways to move: Jogging, scrubbing, and shuttling

    While editing, you may find yourself spending more time playing your material at fast and slow speeds than at normal speed. Use the following tools for high- and low-speed navigation:

    • To scrub through a clip, drag the playhead along the Scrubber bar above the transport controls (Figure 8.30 ).

      Figure 8.30. Drag the playhead across the Scrubber to scrub through a clip.

    • To jump the playhead to a location within the clip, click in the Scrubber bar.

    • To move the playhead frame by frame, use the arrow keys.

    • To jump the playhead in one-second increments, press Shift as you use the arrow keys.

    • To jog one frame at a time, drag the Jog control (Figure 8.31 ). You can drag off the control area if you continue to hold down the mouse button.

      Figure 8.31. Drag the Jog control to step through a clip one frame at a time.

    • To play a clip at various speeds, drag the Shuttle control (Figure 8.32 ). Drag farther from the center to increase the playback speed. Drag right to play forward; drag left to play in reverse.

      Figure 8.32. Drag the Shuttle control to play a clip in either direction at a range of speeds from slow to fast.

    FCE Protocol: Entering Timecode Numbers

    Final Cut Express uses the standard timecode format of Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames and employs a number of convenient shortcuts for timecode navigation.

    For example, typing 01241315 sets the timecode to 01:24:13:15. You don't need to include the colons when you type.

    You need to type only the numbers that change. Numbers that don't change, such as the hour or minute, don't need to be entered. Let's look at some examples.

    Example 1

    1. Start at timecode location 01:24:13:15.

    2. To jump to timecode 01:24:18:25, type 1825 (for 18 seconds, 25 frames) and press Enter.

    The playhead jumps to timecode location 01:24:18:25. The hour and minute don't change for the new timecode location, so you don't need to reenter the hour or minute.

    Example 2

    The same idea applies to a new timecode minutes away from your current location.

    1. Again start at timecode location 01:24:13:15.

    2. To jump to timecode 01:27:18:25, type 271825 (for 27 minutes, 18 seconds, 25 frames) and press Enter.

    The playhead jumps to timecode location 01:27:18:25.

    Entering Durations

    Say you want to move 12 seconds, 27 frames back in your clip. You don't need to calculate the new timecode number yourself.

    Type -1227, and your clip jumps back 12 seconds and 27 frames. You can enter the timecode value preceded by a plus (+) or minus (-) sign, and FCE will change the current time by that amount.

    You can jump to a new location using the plus (+) and minus (-) keys in two ways: using time (Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames) or using the total number of frames, which Final Cut Express converts into time plus frames. Here are some examples using time:

    • Typing -3723 jumps back 37 seconds and 23 frames.

    • Typing +161408 moves ahead 16 minutes, 14 seconds, and 8 frames.

    In the Frames position in the timecode, any two-digit value between 30 and 99 is converted to the correct number of seconds (30 frames = 1 second). Here are some examples using the frame count:

    • Entering -69 frames jumps back 69 frames, which is 2 seconds and 9 frames.

    • Entering +36 frames jumps ahead 36 frames, which is 1 second and 6 frames.

    One More Shortcut

    There's one other keyboard shortcut: You can substitute a period (.) for zeros in a timecode value. Each period replaces a pair of zeros in a timecode number. Here's an example:

    • To jump to timecode location 00:07:00:00, type 8.. (7 and two periods). The periods insert 00 in the Frames and Seconds fields.

    • Type 11... to move to 11:00:00:00.

    Sure beats typing all those colons, huh?