Final Cut Pro 2 for FireWire DV Editing

Final Cut Pro 2 for FireWire DV Editing

by Charles Roberts
Released November 2012
Publisher(s): Focal Press
ISBN: 9781136116056

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Book description

Final Cut Pro 2 for FireWire DV Editing...the how and why of independent digital video editing.

This guide is a comprehensive introduction to Apple Computer's Final Cut Pro editing system, and the digital video format in general. It provides relevant information about the format's specifications, proper configuration of the basic editing system, and professional tips-all in clear, jargon-free terms.

Final Cut Pro 2 for FireWire DV Editing's workbook-approach explains how to setup your desktop studio, edit your digital video, and complete and distribute your project. It provides the information-and the encouragement-every digital video editor needs to complete projects of exceptional quality, from setup and capture to editing, effects work, and output to tape and the web.

Roberts' guide is the only Final Cut Pro handbook that provides a detailed, step-by-step format that follows the course of your project as it progresses, defining the drop-down menus and keyboard shortcuts as you'll need them, and answering questions as they arise. Additionally, Final Cut Pro 2 for FireWire DV Editing explains in detail the Apple Macintosh hardware, software, and Firewire DV equipment set up and specifications, so that you'll know what tools you may need--and what you likely won't so that you can most efficiently execute your project.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. Foreword
  7. Preface
  8. Acknowledgments
  9. Chapter 1 What Is Digital Video Anyway? 1 What Is Digital Video Anyway?
    1. How video works
      1. Analog video
      2. Generation loss and digital video
    2. Where does digital video originate?
      1. How light becomes numbers
      2. Sampling and compression
      3. Types of compression
    3. What about digital audio?
      1. How sound becomes audio
      2. Sampling and digital audio
    4. What are timecode and device control?
      1. Timecode: analog and DV
      2. Device control
    5. DV decks and cameras
      1. Using a DV camera for a deck
    6. DV formats: the many faces of DV
      1. MiniDV
      2. DVCAM
      3. DVCPRO
    7. Features to consider in purchasing a DV device
      1. Cassette size and DV format
      2. Analog video format compatibility
      3. Analog/digital conversion boxes
  10. Chapter 2 The Hardware and Software for Firewire DV Editing with Final Cut Pro
    1. What goes on inside a Macintosh
      1. What you need for Final Cut Pro: the basic Firewire setup
      2. Welcome to the Macintosh
      3. The four primary areas of the Apple Macintosh
    2. The processor and the motherboard of the Macintosh Minitower
    3. The Macintosh Operating Software (Mac OS)
      1. The desktop metaphor and the System Folder.
      2. The Control Panels
      3. The Extensions
      4. The Preferences
    4. Data storage: RAM and hard drives
      1. RAM
      2. Hard drives
      3. Types of drive by location: removable disk
      4. Types of drive by location: the internal drive
      5. Types of drive by location: the external drive
      6. Types of drive by standard: ATA, IDE, or EIDE
      7. Types of drive by standard: SCSI
      8. Types of drive by standard: Firewire
      9. Types of drive by standard: USB
    5. The Input and Output Buses
      1. The accelerated graphics port
      2. The peripheral component interconnect
      3. The ATA Bus
      4. The Firewire Bus
      5. The Universal Serial Bus
      6. Various other inputs and outputs
    6. Checking the pieces: the Apple System Profiler
    7. Installing Final Cut Pro software
  11. Chapter 3 The Initial Setup: Optimizing the Mac OS and Final Cut Pro
    1. The Control Panels
      1. The Energy Saver Control Panel
      2. The Memory Control Panel
      3. Final Cut Pro memory allocation
      4. Preferences and Audio/Video settings
      5. Why the settings are required
      6. Starting up Final Cut Pro
    2. The Preferences
      1. The General Preferences tab
      2. The User Mode tab: Cutting Station vs. Standard
      3. The Timeline Options tab
      4. The Labels tab
      5. The Scratch Disk Preferences tab: the issues for scratch disk assignment
    3. Scratch disk assignment: Follow the next steps precisely
    4. The audio/video settings
      1. Issues involved in the audio/video settings
      2. The Summary tab
      3. The Sequence Presets tab
      4. Using Duplicate for a settings preset
      5. The QuickTime Video Settings
      6. The QuickTime Audio Settings
      7. Return to the Sequence Presets tab
      8. Capture Presets tab
      9. The QuickTime Video Settings
      10. The QuickTime Audio Settings
      11. Device Control Presets
    5. Creating the Easy Setup: After this initial configuration
      1. Return to the Summary tab
      2. After the initial configuration—What you do and don’t have to do every time
      3. The checklist
  12. Chapter 4 Project Setup: Do It Right the First Time and Every Time
    1. Why we do it right every time
    2. The process
      1. Starting from the application alias
      2. Complete the necessary Preferences and Audio/Video Settings
      3. Creating a new project and saving it correctly
      4. Hiding Final Cut Pro/Showing the Desktop
    3. Backing up; Archiving your project
      1. How to do it
      2. Why we do it
      3. The reason for Sequential Folder Saving instead of Sequential File Saving
    4. The Windows of Final Cut Pro
      1. The Browser window
      2. The Viewer window
      3. The Canvas window
      4. The Audio Meters
      5. The Toolbar
      6. The Timeline
    5. Moving a clip around the windows
      1. The Color Bars and Tone Generator clip from the Effects tab
      2. Moving the clip from the Effects tab to the Project tab
      3. Creating a bin and using it as an organizing tool
      4. Moving the clip from the Bin to the Viewer
      5. Moving the clip from the Viewer Window to the Sequence
    6. What is Media and how do I get it into Final Cut Pro?
      1. What is Media?
      2. How do we get it inside Final Cut Pro?
    7. Log and Capture
      1. What is Log and Capture?
      2. Pre–Log and Capture techniques: The paper log and the Timecode Window burn
      3. Opening the Log and Capture window
      4. The Reel Name
      5. The Markers
      6. The Capture Buttons
    8. Logging and Capturing
      1. The Log and Capture Video Window
      2. Scratch Disk info
      3. Current frame timecode field
      4. The Tape transport controls and J-K-L support
      5. The Jog and Shuttle wheels
      6. Set the In and Out points for the logged clip
      7. The Clip Duration Timecode Field
      8. Capture using Capture Clip
    9. Logging and Capturing as a Batch Capture
      1. Logging offline clips for Batch Capture
      2. Using the Log Clip button
      3. The Batch Capture button and dialog box
      4. Capture selected or All Clips menu bar
      5. Capture Preset choice bar
    10. Capture Now
      1. Important information about Capture Now
      2. Capture Now and the relationship with DV timecode
      3. Special saving conventions
      4. The Capture Now process
    11. Importing media
      1. Importing audio CD tracks
      2. The audio CD format
      3. CD import part 1: from the CD
      4. CD import part 2: converting the sample rate
      5. Importing Photoshop image files
      6. Vector and bitmap graphics
    12. Organize your project for media
  13. Chapter 5 What Is Editing?
    1. What is editing?
    2. Working in the Viewer window
      1. The Viewer window
      2. Match Frame button
      3. Mark Clip button
      4. Add Keyframe button
      5. Add Marker button
      6. In and Out Point buttons
    3. Drag and Drop to the Sequence: Insert and Overwrite
    4. Drag and drop to the Canvas: Insert and Overwrite with a Transition
    5. More about transitions
      1. Drag-and-drop transitions
      2. Creating customized transition favorites
    6. Trimming those edits
    7. The easiest trimming technique
    8. More trimming precision: the Trim Edit window
      1. Calling up the Trim Edit Window
      2. The Track drop-down bar
      3. Navigating the clips in the Trim Edit window
      4. Previewing the trim before leaving the Trim Edit window
    9. The Timeline and the Toolbar, a deadly duo
      1. The Timeline tracks
      2. The target track selection area
      3. Timeline customization controls
      4. The time scale bar
      5. The Zoom Control meter
      6. Playhead Timecode Field
      7. Track Height switch
      8. The Clip Overlays button
      9. Clip Keyframes
      10. Toggle Snapping button
      11. Toggle Linking button
      12. Sync issues with linking and unlinking clips
    10. The Toolbar
      1. The General Selection tool
      2. Hidden toolsets
      3. The Selection toolset
      4. The Track Selection toolset
      5. Ripple and Roll Edit toolset
      6. The Slip and Slide toolset
      7. Storyboarding rough cut technique
      8. The Slide tool
      9. Monitoring the Slip and Slide tools in the Canvas Window
      10. The Razorblade toolset
      11. The Zoom toolset
    11. Master clips and subclips
      1. The Final Cut Pro Subclip
      2. Another subclip technique
      3. Creating thumbnails in the List view
      4. The Crop/Distort and Pen toolsets
  14. Chapter 6 Compositing and Special Effects
    1. What exactly is compositing?
    2. Compositing layers
      1. Setting up a sequence for compositing layers
      2. Keyframing in the sequence timeline
      3. Keyframe interpolation
      4. Composite modes
    3. Mattes, masks, and stencils
    4. Travel Matte-Luma
      1. Using the Text Generator as a matte
      2. Arranging and refining the clip using the wireframe and the Control tab
      3. Setting the Travel Matte-Luma
    5. The Travel Matte-Alpha
      1. What is an alpha channel?
      2. Adding a drop shadow to the text for accentuation
      3. Viewing the alpha channel
      4. Setting the Travel Matte-Alpha
    6. Special effects: motion effects
      1. Motion for clips
      2. The clip motion attributes
      3. Pan and Scan for large images
      4. Rotation
      5. Center
      6. Anchor Point
      7. Crop Settings
      8. Distort
      9. Opacity
      10. Drop Shadow
      11. Motion Blur
      12. Making the motion
      13. Preparing the project for the motion settings exercise
      14. Setting Scale keyframes
      15. Setting Rotation keyframes
      16. Setting the Center parameter
      17. Looking at the initial motion
      18. Setting the Anchor Point keyframes
      19. Setting the Distort attribute
      20. Setting the Opacity attribute
      21. Setting the Drop Shadow attribute
      22. Applying nonlinear interpolation techniques
      23. Adjusting the motion path using Ease In/Ease Out
      24. Adjusting the other attributes and parameters using smooth curves
      25. Applying motion blur
    7. Speed and duration
    8. Effects filters
      1. What are effects filters?
      2. Applying a color effect; the invert filter
      3. Applying an effects filter matte; the garbage matte
    9. Nesting
  15. Chapter 7 Getting Your Project out of Final Cut Pro
    1. Getting your project out of Final Cut Pro
    2. Output to Firewire part 1: Print to Video
      1. Preparing for Firewire output
      2. Customizing your Print to Video
      3. Color Bars and Audio Test Tone
      4. Slate
      5. Countdown
      6. Media
      7. Trailer
      8. Duration Calculator
      9. Print to Tape
    3. Out to Firewire part 2: Edit to Tape
      1. What is Edit to Tape?
      2. Setting up Edit to Tape
      3. The Video tab
      4. Mastering Settings tab
      5. Device Settings
    4. Committing the Edit to Tape
    5. Exporting
      1. Export for distribution: Optimizing the QuickTime movie
      2. Choosing the File format
      3. Choosing and setting the compression
      4. Quality or Spatial Compression
      5. Keyframe Every or Temporal Compression
      6. Other Factors; Frame size, audio, etc
    6. Export for loss-less transfer: The Final Cut Pro reference movie option
      1. What is a reference movie and why use it?
      2. Create the range of frames for export
      3. The export Final Cut Pro Movie dialog box
      4. Exporting for metadata: Batch Lists and EDLs
      5. The batch list
      6. The EDL
  16. Epilogue
  17. Index

Product information

  • Title: Final Cut Pro 2 for FireWire DV Editing
  • Author(s): Charles Roberts
  • Release date: November 2012
  • Publisher(s): Focal Press
  • ISBN: 9781136116056