Capture in iMovie, edit in FCP?

[alaibubu]

I just got FCP and just learning to use it. I find that I prefer to capture using iMovie because I think it is quicker and I don't know if I can edit FCP captured files with iMovie. Also for simple movies with no special effects, it is just faster and easier to work with iMovie.

My questions:
1) Will iMovie captured files be giving me any difficulties if I use them in FCP or am I better off just capturing it with FCP?

2) The only way I know to import iMovie projects in FCP is through"Files>open project". Is that the only way?

 

[marioman38]

I believe you can just drag and drop the captured .dv files in to the FCP Timeline.

 

[trudd]

I've been using this method for some time now (probably out of pure laziness of wanting to log and capture).

One thing I have noticed, though, is that I have to render the audio after dragging it to the timeline. Playback in the viewer is also not smooth - the video jumps and skips around. Is this the case in footage that is captured in FCP?

 

[trudd]

Does anyone know what rate audio is imported to iMovie? If it was 48khz, would it need to be rendered by FCP?

 

[FF_productions]

I'd rather try capturing in FCP and reduce the hassle of trying to import what iMovie captures.

It's a simple process to me, just go to log and capture, press the play button and press capture now and it will begin capture, then press escape when finished.

 

[puckhead193]

can't you open the imovie project in final cut also

 

[FF_productions]

can't you open the imovie project in final cut also

I think you can do that in Final Cut Express not Final Cut Pro.

 

[trudd]

I'd rather try capturing in FCP and reduce the hassle of trying to import what iMovie captures.

It's a simple process to me, just go to log and capture, press the play button and press capture now and it will begin capture, then press escape when finished.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't it then only capture the footage as one DV file? That is, unless you go through and set your in and out points and do a batch capture of course.

 

[bimmzy]

I just got FCP and just learning to use it. I find that I prefer to capture using iMovie because I think it is quicker and I don't know if I can edit FCP captured files with iMovie. Also for simple movies with no special effects, it is just faster and easier to work with iMovie.

My questions:
1) Will iMovie captured files be giving me any difficulties if I use them in FCP or am I better off just capturing it with FCP?

2) The only way I know to import iMovie projects in FCP is through"Files>open project". Is that the only way?

First things first.

The capture tool in final cut pro is a nightmare.
It was the main reason why I stayed away for such a long time from what is essentially a fantastic application for editing.
Shame on apple for not changing it and for keeping it cumbersome, counterintuitive, and way too computer geeky. As a video editor by trade I'm completely with you on this one

To answer your questions: FCP imports any QuickTime file. That will include DV files as these are managed inside a Mac using QT. As to importing the project from iMovie, sadly no it wont.

My advise to though, is to try and get to grips with FCP's Capture tool. If you want to do it "iMovie stylie", then start your tape running and hit capture now, this should kind of do the same thing that you're used to in iMovie.

 

[trudd]

If you want to do it "iMovie stylie", then start your tape running and hit capture now, this should kind of do the same thing that you're used to in iMovie.

Not that I'm trying to prolong the tandem use of iMovie and FCP, but ...

will using capture now split the clips up like in iMovie? I would try it myself but I'm away from home at the moment (and all my gear, consequently).

 

[FF_productions]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't it then only capture the footage as one DV file? That is, unless you go through and set your in and out points and do a batch capture of course.

Yeah it will only make several clips only if you batch capture. Final Cut Pro gives you a lot of control over EVERYTHING.

 

[eXan]

iMovie is so slow compared to FCP! Editing something small in it is a pain. Thats why I never use it since I got FCP.

Yes, I was also confused at the begining about capturing in FCP, but after I figured it out, it was pretty easy.

FCP can open iMovie projects, but iMovie cant open FCP projects (Obviously)

Also, if you want to capture in iMovie, then edit in FCP, make sure you have identical timeline settings in both apps.

 

[bimmzy]

Not that I'm trying to prolong the tandem use of iMovie and FCP, but ...

will using capture now split the clips up like in iMovie? I would try it myself but I'm away from home at the moment (and all my gear, consequently).

In effect yes.
FCP will do that for you. the difference is that it does it after the digitize not during. So you need to tell it to extract the "sub clips" form the master clip you have recorded using capture now.

Using "DV Start/Stop Detection" which is in the menu "mark" > dv start/stop detection.

Make sure you have the manual with you, but its pretty straight forward.

 

[alaibubu]

iMovie is so slow compared to FCP! Editing something small in it is a pain. Thats why I never use it since I got FCP.

Yes, I was also confused at the begining about capturing in FCP, but after I figured it out, it was pretty easy.

FCP can open iMovie projects, but iMovie cant open FCP projects (Obviously)

Also, if you want to capture in iMovie, then edit in FCP, make sure you have identical timeline settings in both apps.

How do you set the timeline so it will be identical?

 

[killmoms]

First things first.

The capture tool in final cut pro is a nightmare.
It was the main reason why I stayed away for such a long time from what is essentially a fantastic application for editing.
Shame on apple for not changing it and for keeping it cumbersome, counterintuitive, and way too computer geeky. As a video editor by trade I'm completely with you on this one

...Log & Capture is the greatest thing ever. Well, the process anyway. There are some things I wish they'd make more flexible in terms of auto-naming, but still. If you're editing something that takes up more than one DV tape worth of footage, Log & Capture is indispensible. How can you not like it?

 

[notjustjay]

I've done this for editing in FCE (version 1.0... I don't have the horsepower to run my copy of FCE HD... money spent for nothing, doh!).

I did it for two reasons: FCE capturing is clunky (at least in version 1) and it doesn't split the scenes into individual clip files like iMovie does. I didn't think it was a big deal, until the day I captured a 5-gig clip file in FCE only to use a few segments of it, running only about a minute long. For that minute of footage I had to carry around a huge clip file in order to keep the project around. This prevented me from making a nice neat backup of the project on a DVD-R.

My workflow is:

Capture a tape into iMovie. Let it split the scenes into separate files. Using iMovie's clip browser, go through and delete the useless clips, the junk takes, and footage I will not use. Split and crop clips as needed. Empty the trash, to remove the wasted space from my disk.

Open the directory where iMovie keeps the clip files, and drag them into my FCE bin for editing.

Yes, this forces you to render your audio in FCE and affects your real-time preview. I believe this is caused by one application using "Type 1" DV format while the other one uses "Type 2". (The two types differ in how they encode the audio -- one uses a separate audio track, the other interleaves the audio with the video data. I think.) FCE has to transcode between formats when working with files imported by iMovie.

 

[bimmzy]

...Log & Capture is the greatest thing ever. Well, the process anyway. There are some things I wish they'd make more flexible in terms of auto-naming, but still. If you're editing something that takes up more than one DV tape worth of footage, Log & Capture is indispensible. How can you not like it?

Firstly. Time. I just don’t get enough of it.

Secondly. Storage, I get piles of it.

Thirdly. Practicality.

In the 15 years I've been cutting using non linier (that's so far back that Mac's used 64K technology then), I've learnt that however good the directors or producers think they are, every take has a floor in it.
So I keep every take and inter-cut where necessary. No need to log, then capture… just pile it all in I say.

Whatever is shot on location, ends up in the computer!