FCP help - motion/keyframes

[diamond3]

Ok I hope I'm able to explain this clearly. So I've got a picture, i drag it to the timeline and it is a 6 second clip. I want to make the "Ken burns effect" and so I double click it to show up in the viewer. I click the motion tab, and at the 0 second spot, I adjust my zoom, and center point and then click the keyframe button next to each one. Now I need to change my ending position. I press the down arrow to go to the end of the clip, but it shows the screen black instead of the picture.

So thats my problem. I don't even know if its a problem or just something that is annoying and is how it works. I've been hitting the left arrow to go back a frame so i can see the picture in my canvas window. I adjust the pictures and set the keyframe but they aren't at the end of the clip.

Am I going about this the right way? Thanks

 

[P-Worm]

I think you're doing it right, although I'm not 100% sure I understand you correctly. When you press down, it takes you to the next edit which would be black if there is not clip after the clip you are working on. The next edit button works this way because it is much more helpful for editing to be able to see the first frame of the next clip rather than the last frame of the previous clip.

If youa are doing a lot of pictures, you can speed up the process by putting in all of the pictures that you are going to use, keyframing one picture, selecting the keyframed picture and edit->copy it. Then you can highlight all of the others and "paste attributes" (the keyboard short cut is option-V instead of cmd-V). You can select "Basic motion" from the pop up box and it will apply your keyframes for moving the pictures to every clip. Then you can just jump to the keyframes and reposition the pictures where you want them.

P-Worm

 

[-DH]

In the Viewer, use Shift i to go to the beginning of a clip and Shift o to go to the end of a clip.

-DH

 

[makkystyle]

Also, make sure the size of your image is not too big, i.e 2584x1936 (5Mp). FCP does not like anything larger than 2000 pixels and you are not going to see the res anyway. Reduce the photo to about 1500 pixels wide and you will still have plenty of room to do motion effects.

Another note, only use RGB, make sure it's not CMYK.

Not sure if either of these are the case, as I don't completely understand the problem, but they are common mistakes.

edit re-reading your post the down arrow will take you to the first frame of the next clip, this is why -DH suggested the keystrokes.

 

[diamond3]

Thanks for the help everyone. That shift + i and o is just what I needed.

Also, about image quality, Ive always wondered if it was better to reduce the size. For instance, in iMovie if you have picture with no motion, it has a weird look to it. The edges are pixelated if that explains it. However if you take that same picture and put motion to it, it looks clearer because the edges are more smooth. What do most of you do when you put pictures into a movie?

 

[-DH]

Thanks for the help everyone. That shift + i and o is just what I needed.

Also, about image quality, Ive always wondered if it was better to reduce the size. For instance, in iMovie if you have picture with no motion, it has a weird look to it. The edges are pixelated if that explains it. However if you take that same picture and put motion to it, it looks clearer because the edges are more smooth. What do most of you do when you put pictures into a movie?

I cannot speak for iMovie - never used it. But in FCP I routinely use photos about 3 times the resolution of my Sequence settings. This allows me enough resolution for pushing in to a small area of the photo over it's duration. Since few (if any) photos will have the same aspect ratio of TV, I add a bit of Edge Feathering to each image (Viewer window, Motion Tab, Crop controls). A setting of about 8 to 10 works nicely, especially if you add any rotation to the image.

Back to your first question though ... about the way FCP's playhead displays the frame. If you zoom in closely on the Timeline while paused, you'll notice a shaded area to the right of the playhead. The shaded area represents one frame. Since the playhead is at the left of the frame, you can see that is will display the frame in front of it. That explains why you see black when the playhead is positioned at the end of the last frame. When you move back one frame, you're actually seeing the last frame of the clip.

-DH

 

[diamond3]

Alright, thanks for the help and the explanation. I'm just starting to learn FCP but its been pretty straightforward thus far.

One more quick question for now while i'm at it. To add a transition, say i have to video clips side by side. It won't let me add say a cross dissolve transition because it doesnt have the media to work with. So I hit r,r, and then adjust each clip. Is there anyway to just add the transition and have it do that on its own or is there a better way of going about this?

 

[-DH]

Is there anyway to just add the transition and have it do that on its own or is there a better way of going about this?

Before you add a clip to the Timeline, you normally have it in the Viewer to set an IN and OUT point. Just make sure the IN and OUT points you set have enough handles to support the transition you want to add.

For example, if your default transition is a 30 frame cross dissolve, you need to make sure you have at least 15 frames of usable clip before your IN point and 15 frames after your OUT point. Then hit Shift F10 to add the clip to the Timeline with the transition (or Shift F9 to insert).

-DH

 

[Dave00]

For instance, in iMovie if you have picture with no motion, it has a weird look to it. The edges are pixelated if that explains it. However if you take that same picture and put motion to it, it looks clearer because the edges are more smooth. What do most of you do when you put pictures into a movie?

I always put motion on the pictures for exactly the reason you mention. If you want to have a relatively steady shot, just have the first frame only offset slightly from the last. The edges are jagged on still frames in iMovie, but the same thing happens when I have a CD with photos that I play in the DVD player, I think because of the relatively low resolution of TV's. I'm not sure why very slight movement removes the lines, although it's probably analagous to what happens with font smoothing - if you have text that is 1 bit deep, it looks jagged on the screen - but if you blur the edges of the characters, it looks smooth.

Dave