New to FCP...

[machurdler]

I just got FCP 5.1 and I'm trying to understand it. Maybe I just need to tinker with it a little more. But is there any website that can give good tutorials and things for beginners?

Right now, I'm exporting a 3-minute video in compressor, and it's saying that it is going to take an hour and a half. Is that normal? It has three effects applied to one video file, no transitions, nothing except those three effects: tint, desaturate, and brightness/contrast.

The last program I used for video editing was Pinnacle Studio 10.7 for windows. Studio renders effects as it goes, can FCP do that quickly too?

 

[TheAnswer]

Did you work through the tutorial DVDs and read though the manuals that came in the box?

 

[huntercr]

I just got FCP 5.1 and I'm trying to understand it. Maybe I just need to tinker with it a little more. But is there any website that can give good tutorials and things for beginners?

Right now, I'm exporting a 3-minute video in compressor, and it's saying that it is going to take an hour and a half. Is that normal? It has three effects applied to one video file, no transitions, nothing except those three effects: tint, desaturate, and brightness/contrast.

The last program I used for video editing was Pinnacle Studio 10.7 for windows. Studio renders effects as it goes, can FCP do that quickly too?

As "the answer" said, I would definitely go through the tutorials. They are invaluable, as is the user manual.

What are your system specs? Why are you jumping to compressor so soon? Do you have things rendering the way you want them in FCP already?

 

[machurdler]

Ok... I got it all under control. My question now is just does it always take 1 hour to render something 3-minutes long in real-time? And does compressor take that long too?

 

[huntercr]

Ok... I got it all under control. My question now is just does it always take 1 hour to render something 3-minutes long in real-time? And does compressor take that long too?

Not with your machine at 2GHz, not usually, unless you are doing some majoir filters. The 3 filters you applied should render in realtime or faster. But we need to clarificy some things here. Are you saying it is taking 1 hour to render the video in FCP or in compressor?

Also, please answer these questions:

How much memory do you have? Your signature says 1GB, is that true?

Have you upgraded to the latest point revision? (I think FCP 5 is at 5.1.4 now.)

What is the source resoultion and file format?

If you're using standard NTSC DV source, the kinds of fitlers you're applying really ought to take minutes at the most to render.

 

[machurdler]

Not with your machine at 2GHz, not usually, unless you are doing some majoir filters. The 3 filters you applied should render in realtime or faster. But we need to clarificy some things here. Are you saying it is taking 1 hour to render the video in FCP or in compressor?

Also, please answer these questions:

How much memory do you have? Your signature says 1GB, is that true?

Have you upgraded to the latest point revision? (I think FCP 5 is at 5.1.4 now.)

What is the source resoultion and file format?

If you're using standard NTSC DV source, the kinds of fitlers you're applying really ought to take minutes at the most to render.

It's taking one hour in each....

Yes, I still have 1GB of RAM

I haven't upgraded because I cannot access the internet on my MacBook, and I am not the administrator, I have 5.1.

The file is an mp4 with dimensions of 853x480

Hmmm, I'll get on it again and try to figure out what is going on

 

[bigbossbmb]

ding ding ding

there is your problem... you should never edit mp4 video in FCP.

it should be in the DV codec* in order to match the sequence settings of the timeline. that is the reason you are getting absurd render times.



* or anything else, as long as you know what you are doing and can set FCP to deal with it.

 

[gvdv]

machurdler,
I've been looking at website tutorials in preparation for my switch to Mac in my upcoming purchase of a Mac Pro.

The ones that I have been impressed with (and you can take free introductory tutorials to see what the videos are like) are:
www.lynda.com
www.atomiclearning.com

The former charges a monthly fee at various levels, and the upper price levels allow downloading of the videos (if memory serves).

The latter charges an annual fee and does not allow downloading of videos.

All the best,

GVDV

 

[machurdler]

ding ding ding

there is your problem... you should never edit mp4 video in FCP.

it should be in the DV codec* in order to match the sequence settings of the timeline. that is the reason you are getting absurd render times.



* or anything else, as long as you know what you are doing and can set FCP to deal with it.

OH! Thank you! I got it now...

 

[Multimedia]

Why FCP 5.1 Instead of FCP 6?

I just got FCP 5.1

Curious why you didn't get FCP 6 in FCStudio 2? It's quite a rewrite from 5.1 and has been out more than a month now - announced at NAB mid April. If you just got 5.1 you might want to see if you can upgrade to FCS2 for less than the $495 standing upgrade offer from Studio 1. BTW as was mentioned above, your version should be 5.1.4 NOT 5.1.0 to be current and with all the bug fixes since more than a year ago.