Final Cut Pro Category: Digital Rebellion Blog

What to do if you lose your Pro App serial number

Thu, 03 Jul 08 00:24:11 -0600

Apple have a new AppleCare doc on their site asking a question that comes up quite often - what do you do if you lose your Final Cut Studio (or other Pro App) serial number?

You need to fax or email them proof of purchase giving details of the product purchased, the price paid, when it was purchased and the name and address of the reseller. I am emphasizing reseller here because the purchase must have been made from either Apple or an authorized reseller in order to qualify. If you bought it from eBay or from a friend, you're out of luck, unless they happen to be authorized.

This actually raises one more question - legal purchasers of Final Cut Studio are allowed to transfer their license to one other person as long as they remove all traces of FCS from their system, but most people sell their software and don't bother to fill in the transfer form. The article doesn't state whether the recipient of the transferred license would be eligible for this scheme, although I would imagine the answer is yes. Apple used to provide a way of offering feedback on AppleCare docs but unfortunately they no longer do this.

Hopefully we'll have another doc up soon answer another common question - what do you do if your disc gets lost, stolen or damaged?

[via LAFCPUG]

Final Cut Server 1.1 update

Fri, 27 Jun 08 01:03:02 -0600

Apple just released Final Cut Server 1.1. Here are the fixes:

QuickTime 7.5 and FCP 6.0.4 support - QT 7.5 is REQUIRED for this update. With Final Cut Pro 6.0.4, FCServer can now access the project file directly. It does not need to create a separate XML file in order to access the data. Remember to keep versions on your network synchronized - if you upgrade one machine to FCP 6.0.4 and FCServer 1.1, it is best to upgrade them all.

Updating Checked Out assets - You can now manually update Checked Out assets when not using Final Cut Pro (i.e. DVD Studio Pro, Motion, etc).

Edit Proxy Files - You must reanalyze your 1.0 proxies after installing 1.1.

Final Cut Pro file preferences - These are now respected when opening FCP projects.

Multi-byte character sets - Multi-byte languages such as Greek and Russian now display correctly.

See the Release Notes for more information.

I probably don't need to say this any more but it's always best to - NEVER update in the middle of a project, don't update if you don't need these fixes and always keep a clone for safety.

Pro Applications Update 2008-02 aka FCP 6.0.4

Fri, 27 Jun 08 00:48:44 -0600

Yesterday Apple released Pro Applications Update 2008-02 which contains Final Cut Pro 6.0.4 and Compressor 3.0.3. It is important to note that this is not a new version of Compressor. It was included in Pro Applications Update 2008-01 earlier this year but I guess it is compulsory for this update so they included it again.

Not a great deal of fixes:
Enhanced Final Cut Server support - If you have Final Cut Server 1.1, you can now access projects directly without converting them to XML first. It would be interesting to see if other applications can use this as well.

XDCAM 422 preset - Changed to include 24-bit audio as default

Capturing HDV clips - With QuickTime 7.5, HDV clips in Capture Now mode can capture beyond the end of the tape. This update now allows you to press Escape to stop it. I'd advise going to Final Cut Pro > System Settings and setting the Capture Now limit to the length of your tape. This stops your disk space being eaten up with blank data.

Usual warnings apply - NEVER update in the middle of the project, don't update if you don't need any of the features provided in this patch and always have a clone of your drive as a backup.

Release Notes

In a future patch I'd really like to see stability fixes for Compressor, Soundtrack Pro and working with Motion clips in an FCP timeline.

ATI announces Radeon HD 3870 Mac and PC Edition

Sun, 15 Jun 08 15:50:16 -0600

ATI announced the availability of the Radeon HD 3870 Mac and PC Edition a couple of days ago, shipping in late June for a recommended price of $219.

This must be welcome news for Mac Pro owners, as the current alternative, the NVIDIA 8800 GT suffers from underwhelming ProApp performance, despite the recent improvements in the 10.5.3 update.

Here is a specification comparison:

	Radeon HD 3870	8800 GT
Stream processors	320	112
Core clock	775 MHz	600 MHz
Memory	512 MB	512 MB
Memory interface	256-bit	256-bit
Memory bandwidth	70 GB/sec	57.6 GB/sec
Price	$219	$279

ATI also claims a performance boost in Motion of 30-180%. Barefeats found a 21-41% performance increase over the 8800 GT - for $60 less. It is also compatible with ALL Mac Pros and available from most ATI resellers (the 8800 GT Mac Edition is only available from the Apple Store). This looks to be well worth buying.

Using Frame Controls in Compressor

Wed, 04 Jun 08 15:44:33 -0600

Compressor has some very sophisticated technologies in the Frame Controls tab of the Inspector to enable it to perform high-quality resizing, retiming and deinterlacing of footage.

These are incredibly useful but it is very tempting to set everything to "best" when it is not at all necessary and causes a significant impact upon the processing time. So what this post aims to do is outline what each function does and when it should be used.

Firstly, if you are not resizing, retiming or deinterlacing footage, do not switch Frame Controls on at all.

Resizing controls
When an image is resized, new pixels need to be calculated. If you downsize an image, an area that was once 10 pixels could now be 2 pixels and vice versa if you are upsizing. Compressor goes through the resulting image and calculates what each pixel value should be based on the value at that point in the original image. These are not always integers. For example, a pixel at point (3,3) in the resulting image might correspond to point (2.8, 2.8) on the original. As there is no pixel at (2.8, 2.8), Compressor has to calculate a suitable value. The following options are different ways of calculating these pixel colors.

Fast (nearest pixel) - Compressor takes the value from the closest whole pixel in the original image. This is very fast but can result in significant visual artifacts and inaccuracies, particularly when resizing by a significant amount.

Suitable for: Minor size changes, situations where a fast encode is more important than a high quality one.

Better (linear filter) - This improves on the nearest pixel method by taking the values of four surrounding pixels and weighting them, increasing accuracy.

Suitable for: Most downconversions (e.g. 720p to NTSC).

Best (statistical prediction) - This uses more complex algorithms to maintain edge sharpness, at the expense of processing time.

Suitable for: Upconversions (e.g. NTSC to 1080p HD)

Anti-aliasing slider - This smooths rough edges but don't set it too high or you will visibly soften the image.

Suitable for: Smoothing jagged edges when upconverting footage (e.g. PAL to 720p HD)

Detail Level slider - This sharpens edges, increasing our perception of detail in the image. Use sparingly to avoid adding noticeable noise or jagged edges to the image.

Suitable for: Sharpening soft edges when upconverting footage.

Deinterlacing controls
To deinterlace, first select Progressive from the Output Fields drop-down menu. Use this instead of the Deinterlace filter in the Filters tab as it will provide greater output quality. Choose one of the following from the Deinterlace menu:

Fast (line averaging) - The two fields are blended into one frame. This, however, can result in strange motion artifacts because you are playing two fields at the same time that were originally offset in time.

Suitable for: Situations with very little motion.

Better (motion adaptive) - This method analyzes the fields and only deinterlaces areas that require deinterlacing.

Suitable for: Most situations except those with extremes of motion. In most cases you will not get any benefits from choosing higher settings than this if you are working in Standard Definition (e.g. NTSC, PAL).

Best (motion-compensated) - This uses optical flow technologies to track the motion of objects and analyzes multiple frames at once. This is incredibly processor intensive.

Suitable for: Situations with extremes of motion (e.g. sports).

Retiming controls

Fast (nearest frame) - If you slow down footage, Compressor will need to add extra frames. This option just duplicates the nearest existing frame. It is very speedy but it can result in very choppy / juddery motion. If you are speeding up footage however, the choppiness will probably not be noticeable.

Suitable for: Minor speed adjustments, fast motion

Good (frame blending) - This blends frames together to create "in-between" frames and is a lot smoother than the nearest frame method, at the cost of processing time. This is suitable for most applications unless you are performing extreme slow motion.

Suitable for: Most speed changes with the exception of extreme slow motion

Better (motion-compensated) - This uses complex algorithms to analyze a range of frames and interpolate (predict) what the in-between frames should look like based on their surrounding frames. It then creates these new frames from scratch. Obviously this is very processor-intensive.

Suitable for: Extreme speed changes or footage with large amounts of motion (sports for example)

Best (high quality motion-compensated) - Apple's documentation is a little unclear on what makes this particular option higher quality than the one below it. It could be that it analyzes more frames to produce the final result, it blends using a higher bit depth for greater accuracy, or it recreates every single frame instead of just the in-between ones for greater smoothness. Or maybe all of them.

Either way, this is incredibly processor intensive and should only be used if you cannot get good results with lower settings.

Suitable for: Extreme speed changes or significant frame rate increases (e.g. 23.98 to 59.94 fps)

Conclusion

So what does this tell us? It tells us that "Good" or "Better" should be adequate for most situations and it is not worth choosing "Best" unless your footage actually needs it. The best way of finding a happy medium is to start with everything on "Fast" and perform small test renders (10 seconds or so) for multiple areas of your movie. If you are not happy with the quality, go up to the next level and keep going until you reach a level of quality you are happy with.

PhotoJojo Final Cut Pro keyboard sleeves

Sat, 24 May 08 00:50:55 -0600

PhotoJojo is offering desktop and laptop keyboard sleeves for professional apps including Final Cut Pro and After Effects.

Applications
* Photoshop
* Aperture (1.5)
* Final Cut Pro/Express
* Pro Tools
* After Effects
* Logic Pro

Keyboards
* MacBook Pro
* Macbook (Black and White)
* Macbook Air
* Apple Thin Keyboard
* Apple Thin Wireless Keyboard
* Apple Classic Keyboard

They're rubber and are great at protecting your keyboard as well as being useful. Laptop sleeves are $30 and desktop sleeves are $40 and then $6 for shipping on top of that.

"The filter failed to render" error fix

Thu, 22 May 08 23:26:48 -0600

Just saw an interesting fix for the big red "The filter ____________ failed to render" message some people have been getting in Final Cut Pro.

I have 2 graphics cards: GeForce 7300 GT and ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT (in MacPro) running 3 displays. The 2600 runs my 2 main displays and the 7300 runs a the smaller one.

So I just unplugged the display on the 7300 and rebooted. My FCP project spans the 2 remaining displays.

Boom, the render error message is gone and the effect (Prism) renders fine.

I seem to get it randomly every now and again but this is a useful fix for those who were experiencing it on a permanent basis. Pity you need to lose a monitor though.

Final Cut Pro: Copying Filters

Thu, 22 May 08 13:10:55 -0600

I never realized until today just how many methods there were for copying filters from one clip to another in Final Cut Pro.

1. In the Filters tab for the clip, Ctrl-Click on the name of the filter and select Copy or press Cmd-C. Select the other clip, switch to its Filter tab and press Cmd-V.

2. In the Filters tab, drag the filter name and drop it onto the other clip(s).

3. Some tools like the 3-way Color Corrector give you a little "grab" icon within its interface that you can drag onto other clips.

4. Copy the entire clip, ctrl-click the second clip and select Paste Attributes. Deselect everything except Filters.

5. Use the copying commands in the Modify > Copy Filters menu or use the shortcut keys: Ctrl+Alt+2 = Copy from 2nd clip back, Ctrl+Alt+3 = Copy from 1st clip back, Ctrl+Alt+4 = Copy to 1st clip forwards and Ctrl+Alt+5 = Copy to 2nd clip forwards

6. Select all of the clips you want to apply the filter to (Edit > Find is useful for this) and drag them up to a higher track. With the items still selected, go to Sequence > Nest Items and make sure the settings in the dialog match your current timeline settings. Click Ok and then apply the filter to the nested sequence.

7. Go to Effects > Make Favorite Effect. You can then select the other clips and go to Effects > Favorites (under the Video heading) and select your filter to apply those settings to other effects. Alternatively, you can drag the filter (using one of the methods of grabbing it described above) to the Favorites bin in the Effects tab in the Browser (you can also give it a more descriptive name here).

That's 7 ways I can think of... can anyone think of any more?

How to fully remove Final Cut Server

Wed, 07 May 08 23:40:40 -0600

Apple has just released an Applecare document listing the files installed by Final Cut Server and detailing how to remove them. This follows on from the difficulties a lot of people had with removing it due to the large number of files it places in hidden system folders. This was further complicated by Apple not wanting fixes made public until they had a chance to address the issue themselves.

I will use this information to add support within FCS Remover shortly.

My Compressor issues solved

Wed, 16 Apr 08 14:29:19 -0600

I recently experienced the dreaded "Unable to submit to queue. Please restart your computer or verify your Compressor installation is correct" error message when submitting batches with Compressor. I noticed that it listed "No Value" under Cluster instead of "This Machine".

Going to Qmaster Preferences and clicking Start Sharing gave me a message saying that "qmasterd" was not running. This was the cause of the problem.

The first thing I did was look on Apple's support boards where I found many posts on the subject. Unfortunately most users found that they managed to solve their issues by removing and reinstalling Compressor or the entire Final Cut Studio. This is something I did not want to do.

I used the terminal command sudo qmasterprefs -reset (this seems to be equivalent to trashing prefs as far as I can gather) and then sudo qmasterprefs -restart to relaunch qmasterd. I then relaunched Compressor and everything worked as it should.

Except when I restarted my machine, at which point I was back to the same error messages again. I knew that a fix must be possible without a reinstall, and it was probably something simple. So I did some digging around and I discovered that the folder /Library/StartupItems/Qmaster had the wrong permissions. It was set to No Access for some bizarre reason, preventing OS X from seeing any files inside it. Note that this was not picked up by Disk Utility when doing a permission repair. So I set the owner back to system and clicked Apply to enclosed items to be 100% sure that the permissions would be correct for all files.

I restarted my machine and everything worked. Two restarts later and it still works.

I can't say it will work for everyone but try it if you are experiencing these symptoms.

Final Cut Pro 6.0.3 released

Fri, 11 Apr 08 00:39:02 -0600

Can you see an update in Software Update called "Pro Applications Update 2008-01"? Well, confusingly, that's actually Final Cut Pro 6.0.3 and Compressor 3.0.3. It also includes Apple HDV Codec 1.4 and Plugin Manager 1.7.3.

Release Notes

Final Cut Pro 6.0.3

This update contains the following:

XDCAM HD422 support
"Project is too new or unreadable" error fixed (yay)
Still images are now exported using their native aspect ratios
FCP now uses the aspect ratio of the clip when stacking multiple filters in a mixed-format timeline
When using XML import, FCP can now reconnect files that contain slashes (/) in their filenames
You can now place generator clips in FXScript filter clip wells, although read the release notes for the caveats

If this update is not appearing for you, you must have OS X 10.4.11 or OS X 10.5.2 installed.

Compressor 3.0.3

This update contains the following:

You can now create Apple TV movies with non-square pixel aspect ratios and there is now a Dolby AC-3 output for it as well

I was very disappointed that it did not fix any of the bugs with Compressor on Leopard.

Apple HDV Codec 1.4

This update contains the following:

4:2:2 support

Plugin Manager 1.7.3

This update contains the following:

This fixes FxPlug plugins on FCP 5.1.4 that were broken my previous Plugin Manager updates

As always, never update a system mid-project. Don't update if you are not affected by the changes listed above - if it ain't broke, definitely don't fix it in the world of FCP. If you do update, make sure to make a clone of your system first.

You can get the update here as well, but you will need to have your Final Cut Studio serial number handy.

How to run Color below its minimum requirements

Thu, 10 Apr 08 01:17:47 -0600

Color has some pretty stringent requirements. This tip will tell you how to run Color when you do not meet the minimum system requirements. Why would you want to do this? Well, maybe you have a slow machine and just want to grade a couple of simple shots or perhaps you would like to learn how to use the software before buying a new machine. Whatever the reason, here's how to do it.

Note that Apple doesn't set minimum requirements for the sake of it, and you may experience strange behavior from this tip. I wouldn't advise this for production use.

When you launch Color, it will tell you specifically what is wrong with your configuration. In this case, it is less than 128 MB of VRAM (graphics card memory).

1. Go to Applications, ctrl-click on Color and select Show Package Contents.

2. Browse to Contents/Resources.

3. Double-click minsys.plist to open it up in Property List Editor. Alternatively, you can open it in TextEdit. You might want to save a backup of this file before you change anything.

4. You will see several self-explanatory options here such as minimum QuickTime version and minimum system memory. Go to AELMinimumVRAM and change it from 128 to something lower. As I am running it on a system with 64 MB of VRAM, I will change it to 64. Just set it to something lower-than or equal-to what you currently have.

5. Save the file and open Color.

If your screen resolution is set too low, the Color interface will be tiny and unfortunately this is a side-effect of hacking the system requirements. Obviously they are there for a reason.

This tip applies to all programs in Final Cut Studio, not just Color.

Final Cut Server released

Tue, 08 Apr 08 09:45:20 -0600

It's Tuesday, which means more goodies from Apple. Apple today released their long-awaited and much-delayed Final Cut Server software, based on the Artbox software they bought from Proximity.

Final Cut Server is an asset management system that allows you to keep track of your media. It is especially useful for facilities with a large stock footage library or companies dealing with large amounts of footage, such as news rooms.

It is also useful for smaller facilities as well. I particularly like the versioning system which tracks changes made to a file, showing you who made the change and when, and offering you a way of reverting the changes if necessary.

One of my favorite features is the event system. You can ask Final Cut Server to watch a specific attribute such as a metadata field and perform an action when that is changed, such as uploading files to a server.

The server software is Mac-only but the client software is for both PC and Mac (this probably had something to do with the delays). Here are the system requirements:

Server software
* A Mac computer with a 1.8GHz or faster PowerPC G5, Intel Core Duo, Intel Core 2 Duo, or Intel Xeon processor (Intel Core Duo, Intel Core 2 Duo, or Intel Xeon processor recommended)
* 2GB of RAM (4GB recommended)
* AGP or PCI Express Quartz Extreme graphics card (Final Cut Server is not compatible with integrated Intel graphics processors)
* Mac OS X v10.5 or later
* QuickTime 7.4.1 or later
* A CD drive for installation
* 500MB of available disk space

Client software for Mac computers
* A Mac computer with a 1.25GHz or faster PowerPC G4, PowerPC G5, Intel Core Duo, Intel Core 2 Duo, or Intel Xeon processor
* 1GB of RAM
* AGP or PCI Express Quartz Extreme graphics card (Final Cut Server is not compatible with integrated Intel graphics processors)
* A display with 1024-by-768 resolution or higher
* Mac OS X v10.4.11 or later
* QuickTime 7.4.1 or later
* Java for Mac OS X v10.4 Release 6 or later
* Final Cut Pro 6.0.2 or later for Final Cut Pro integration
* 20MB of available disk space

Client software for Windows-based computers
* A PC with Windows XP (SP2) or Vista
* 1GB of RAM
* AGP or PCI Express Quartz Extreme graphics card (Final Cut Server is not compatible with integrated Intel graphics processors)
* A display with 1024-by-768 resolution or higher
* QuickTime 7.4.1 or later
* Java SE Runtime Environment (JRE) 6 Update 4 or later
* 20MB of available disk space

Important areas to note:
* The server software is Leopard-only.
* You must fit a separate graphics card to the machine as the on-board graphics will not suffice. Also note that the G5 servers do not even have on-board graphics. This also affects any machine that you connect to it as well, which rules out MacBooks and low-end PCs.

Final Cut Server is now available for $999 (10-client version) and $1999 (Unlimited version). Interestingly, the upgrade for the 10-client version is $999 which makes it cheaper by a dollar to upgrade the 10-client version than it is to buy the unlimited version outright.

Exporting chapter markers to DVD Studio Pro

Fri, 04 Apr 08 01:35:36 -0600

I am constantly seeing posts on Apple's support boards by people who can't get this to work. This seems to be a common problem so I'm going to give a step-by-step workflow followed by troubleshooting tips at the end.

1. In the Final Cut Pro timeline, navigate to the point you wish to place the marker, press M once to place a regular marker and then press M again to open up the Edit Marker dialog.

Make sure that you are adding the markers to the sequence itself and not to an individual clip. There are some rules though - Don't place one within 1 second of the beginning, don't place one within 1 second of the end and don't place them less than 1 second apart.

2. Click the button marked Add Chapter Marker and it will automatically insert some text into the box. Do not change this text; just click Ok.

Repeat for every marker.

3. Go to File > Export > QuickTime Movie. Do not export as QuickTime Conversion. Under the Markers drop-down, select DVD Studio Pro Markers.

Or Go to File > Export > Using Compressor. This will not display a dialog box but you will be able to see markers on the timeline in the Preview window.

4. Export the file.

5. Open up DVD Studio Pro and drag the exported file onto a track.

In the timeline, drag the edge of the horizontal scroll bar to decrease the size of the timeline and see everything at once. You should be able to see all of your chapter markers.

6. Go to Simulate and double-check that they work.

Troubleshooting

I think most problems are caused by not knowing the restrictions on chapter markers. This is from the FCP 6 manual:
* No chapter marker should appear closer than 1 second to the beginning or end of
your edited sequence.
* A chapter marker should be at least 1 second away from any other chapter marker.
* A maximum of 99 chapter markers can be placed within a single program.
* When you export from a sequence, only sequence markers are exported; markers in
clips are ignored.
* When you export a clip from the Browser, the clip's markers are exported.

Markers within nested sequences will not be exported.

You must select DVD Studio Pro Marker and not Chapter Marker under the QuickTime export options.

Don't put chapter and compression markers in the same marker!

I have had better luck with DVD Studio Pro Marker rather than All Markers in the QT export dialog.

Be aware that if you export a QT movie with markers and then import it into Compressor, you will lose your chapter markers if you do not have Compressor 3 (included with Final Cut Studio 2).

I have heard of people having success by trashing their preferences. We have a free utility that will automate it for you - Preference Manager.

Let me know if you can think of any more troubleshooting tips.

Does Application X work with Application Y?

Thu, 20 Mar 08 00:43:00 -0600

Does Shake work with Final Cut Pro 4.5?
Does Motion work with Final Cut Express?
Does Compressor work with iMovie?

These are very common questions and I get these questions so often that I'm going to type the reply here to save me time in the future. The answer is very simple. Some applications have workflows between each other, such as round-tripping from Final Cut Pro > Color > Final Cut Pro. Obviously such workflows would not be possible with the above-mentioned scenarios but at its core, each application has the ability to import and export media files and it is just the simple case of exporting a QuickTime from one to the other and back. The "Send To" option is doing exactly the same thing in some cases, just automatically.

Final Cut Server coming soon?

Mon, 17 Mar 08 04:25:13 -0600

Apple just mysteriously added a new category to their discussion forum named Artbox. Now, if you recall Artbox was originally developed by Proximity and was purchased by Apple two years ago and turned into Final Cut Server.

It was announced at NAB 2007 and slated for release in the summer of that year, but never came. It was then pushed back to January 2008 but still has not been released. I hope this is a sign that preparations are being made for its release.

The most plausible answer of course is that it's just a support section for existing Artbox users (rather late though, considering Apple purchased them in 2006), although I am not aware of Apple doing this for Final Touch users before the release of Color.

How to banish the Final Cut Pro registration screen forever

Sat, 15 Mar 08 16:26:47 -0600

Everyone hates it - the annoying "please register" screen that pops up every 5 or 6 launches of Final Cut Pro and Apple's other ProApps. Of course, the easiest way to get rid of it is to just register but that may not always be practical or advisable. Many companies do not connect their editing machines to the internet (quite rightly) and some of the tinfoil hat-wearers among us might not be keen on giving their personal data out to Apple.

Whatever the reason, here is a method of stopping the Final Cut Pro registration screen from appearing again without having to register.

1. Make sure all Final Cut Studio applications are closed.

2. Go to /Library/Application Support/ProApps and open the file Final Cut Studio System ID.

3. In Property List Editor, click the arrow next to Root and you will see some details about the unique ID that FCS has created for your machine. On this machine, I upgraded from Final Cut Studio 1 to Final Cut Studio 2, so I have two IDs listed under 100-1 and 100-6. If you look under fullKey1, it tells me that the original ID is marked 100-1 so the new one (FCS 2) must be 100-6.

Yours may differ a little but if one doesn't work, try the other.

Update: As noted by Steve in the comments, Property List Editor is only installed if you have the optional OS X developer tools installed - an issue I was not aware of when I wrote this article. However, it would be quite simple to open these files up in TextEdit or, as Steve recommends, PListEdit Pro (free trial available).

4. On the 100-6 option (or whatever yours says), double-click the data under the Value tab to select it and then copy it to the clipboard.

5. Go to /Library/Preferences and open com.apple.RegFinalCutStudio.plist.

6. Click the arrow next to Root and delete all of the entries in the list.

7. Now select Root and click New Child. Enter the name AECoreTechRegInfo, select Data as Class and paste the value you copied earlier into the Value column.

8. With the entry you just created still selected, click New Sibling up the top and type AECoreTechRegSent, keep the Class as String and enter a value of YES. Your final plist should look like this:

9. Save the file and enjoy a nag-free Final Cut Studio experience. It works for all applications in the Studio, not just FCP.

It is worth noting that this works for all of Apple's ProApps including Shake, Aperture and Logic. For Shake, use /Library/Application Support/ProApps/Shake System ID and /Library/Preferences/com.apple.RegShake.plist. The issue is especially annoying with Shake because if the registration screen appears, Shake will "forget" the project or file you wanted to open, so you have to open it again.

Also, if you do want to register but don't want to keep opening and closing the application until the registration dialog appears, just delete the com.apple.RegFinalCutStudio.plist file, launch FCP and it will appear immediately.

Major blog overhaul

Fri, 07 Mar 08 16:32:41 -0700

Just wanted to let everyone know that we've completed a major overhaul of this blog. It's now much faster to load and puts less of a strain on the server, which is something that was worrying me as its popularity increased.

The most important change is to the page URLs. Instead of having one central page, each post now has its own separate page. The old page will forward requests to the correct place but for improved speed and general ease-of-use, you are advised to update your bookmarks.

Also, I have noticed that a lot of people are using the category RSS feeds instead of the main feed. That means they are missing out on a lot of other posts. The old blog didn't make this clear so if you don't want to miss half of the posts on this forum, subscribe to the global feed listed above (if you can even read this, that is).

P.S. There might be a few teething problems over the next few days so please bear with us.

Using Pacifist to downgrade QuickTime

Fri, 15 Feb 08 10:00:27 -0700

Since I often need to use this information for reference, I am posting a guide here. As you may already be aware, certain versions of QuickTime can cause havoc with Final Cut Pro and other professional applications like After Effects. For example, many users of FCP 4.5 HD have been unable to capture long clips after installing QuickTime 7.3 and up.

Apple does not offer a means of uninstalling a rogue version of QuickTime so the solution is rather "hacky". It will solve the problem but for best results, you are recommended to perform a full Erase and Install to reinstall Mac OS X.

Also, don't perform this process unless it is absolutely necessary.

1. Download Pacifist.

2. Check which version of QuickTime works best with your software.

3. Download the version of QuickTime you wish to downgrade to.

4. Start up Pacifist and drag the QuickTime package onto the Pacifist logo in the main window.

5. A new window will pop up. Use the disclosure triangles to select the following two directories:
System/Library/Components
System/Library/QuickTime

It might be worth backing up the existing /System/Library/Components and /System/Library/QuickTime directories on your hard disk before performing this.

6. Now click Install up the top.

7. You will get this message, click Install and then type in your admin password:

8. It will spend a minute or so extracting and verifying files then this message will appear:

Click "Don't ask again for this installation" and then hit Replace.

9. When it finishes, restart your machine. If you go to QuickTime Player, it will still say the version number of the old version but if you open Final Cut Pro, it will now work as it did previously.

Full credit for this tip goes to Fred Turner.

Edit 2/17/08: Fixed a couple of errors.

How to restore the DVD Studio Pro welcome screen

Wed, 13 Feb 08 16:27:11 -0700

I saw this thread on Apple's discussion forum in which a user was asking how to get back DVD Studio Pro's welcome screen once you deselect "Show at startup". Unlike Motion, DVD Studio Pro has no option in its menu to restore it once again.

Here's how to do it:
1. Make sure DVD Studio Pro is closed.

2. Navigate to ~/Library/Preferences (~ refers to your user directory).

3. Double-click on com.dvdstudiopro.plist to open it in Property List Editor.

4. Click the arrow next to "Root" to expand the options and then click New Sibling at the top.

5. Type showFirstLaunchDialog exactly as shown here.

6. Set Class to Number.

7. Set Value to 2.

8. Click File > Save.

9. Fire up DVD Studio Pro and enjoy your restored welcome screen.

Hope this helps other people who were having this issue.

Essential tools: Perian

Thu, 07 Feb 08 10:21:13 -0700

Perian's icon is a swiss-army knife and that couldn't be a better description. It is a codec pack for QuickTime that allows you to play back a whole host of formats including AVI, DivX and 3ivX. These are PC formats that we editors get given from time to time and it is incredibly useful to have a free Mac component to view them with.

Some people have reported problems with it but I personally have experienced none so far.

The brand new version 1.1 (just came out today) features the following changes:
* Major performance improvements
* TrueAudio, MP1, and DTS audio support
* Slice-based multithreaded decoding for MPEG-1/2/H.264
* Apple H.264 now handles AVCHD/interlaced video
* Compatibility fixes for QuickTime 7.4 and Leopard
* Objective-C GC compatibility
* Fixed a crash in Toast
* Better subtitle rendering
* Subtitles play during MKV loading
* Snow support
* Miscellaneous bug fixes

Perian can be downloaded here for free.

ProKit 4.5 update

Tue, 05 Feb 08 16:38:50 -0700

Apple has just updated ProKit to version 4.5.

ProKit, as far as I am aware, contains only UI elements such as button images for professional applications such as Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Express, Logic Studio, etc. There is unlikely to be anything exciting in it I'm afraid.

Apple's release notes are, as always, rather vague:

This update improves reliability for Apple's professional applications and is recommended for all users of Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Express, Aperture, Logic Studio and Logic Express.

As always, don't update a working system unless you are experiencing a major problem that this update may fix. And when you do it, make sure to clone your drive with something like Carbon Copy Cloner first.

Update: Some people are reporting that Motion 3 instabilities with the Ozone plugin are a thing of the past with the new ProKit update.

Update 2: Others are reporting that the DVD Studio Pro menu that had disappeared is now back, while others are reporting that it causes their Logic 8 installation to crash.

I know people have been experiencing issues with Compressor windows not opening, so I would advise them to give this patch a go and see if it fixes it for them.

Recommended QuickTime and Mac OS configurations for Final Cut Pro

Fri, 25 Jan 08 08:15:29 -0700

As the recent QuickTime 7.3 and 7.4 updates show, it is important to choose your Mac OS and QuickTime configurations carefully to match your Final Cut Pro version.

I have been developing this list of optimal configurations for a while now. It is based on my own experiences and the recommendations of others. As such, it is somewhat subjective. If your own experiences differ, feel free to let me know and I will update the page.

Final Cut Pro Version	Mac OS Version	QuickTime Version
6.0.3	10.4.11 / 10.5.2	7.4.5
6.0.2	10.4.11 / 10.5.1	7.3.1
5.1.4	10.4.9	7.1.6
5.0.4	10.4.9	7.1.6
4.5	10.3.9	6.5
3.0.4	10.2.8 Update 2	6.2
3.0	10.2.8 Update 2	5.0.6
2.0.2	9.2.2	5.0.1
1.2.5	9.2.2	4.1.3
1.2.1	8.6	4.1.1
1.0.1	8.6	4.0.3
1.0	8.6	4b16

Using QuickTime 7.4 with Final Cut Pro 6

Wed, 23 Jan 08 11:46:57 -0700

I've seen a lot of questions about this lately. Some people have tried installing QuickTime 7.4 in order to fix problems they were experiencing with Final Cut Studio. There is no need to install QuickTime 7.4 on your Final Cut Pro machine as the 7.4 update does not offer any new features relevant to Final Cut. In fact, it causes a lot of incompatibilities with non-Apple software.

You should only install a QuickTime update when you are updating Final Cut Pro and the FCP update demands a later version of QuickTime. It is best not to do this in the middle of a project, and make sure you have a clone of your current system before you do so.

I understand that some people use their machines for multiple purposes and the temptation to install QuickTime 7.4 in order to get iTunes movie rentals must be great. I would advise people in this situation to at least wait for a 7.4.1 patch before upgrading. The bugs in the current release mean that such a patch is likely. Don't forget to clone your drive before you do it.

And don't install it at all unless you have the very latest version of Final Cut Pro (6.0.2) or it will break your Final Cut Pro installation.

A little update on Final Cut Pro's gamma quirks

Sat, 19 Jan 08 04:57:42 -0700

Last week I made a post about Final Cut Pro modifying the gamma of clips, causing some to be too dark and some to be washed out.

The washed out issue was the most serious because it only happened upon exporting the movie, and the image looked perfectly fine in FCP. The darkening issue was less severe because it only affected the user's perception of the image in FCP and if they were not performing color correction in FCP, they would be perfectly fine.

I was just going through User Preferences, trying to help someone who was having difficulty, when I noticed a new option that I had never seen before (I don't adjust user prefs very often). In the Editing tab, there is a section marked "Imported Still / RGB Video Gamma". You can choose from Source, 1.80, 2.20, 2.22 and Custom. My research indicates that this option has been there since 6.0.0 but Apple recently renamed it in 6.0.2 to clarify that it is for RGB footage only.

1.80 refers to the default gamma of RGB footage (eg. still images and special effects codecs such as Animation). This is also the default gamma of your Mac display. 2.20 refers to the default gamma of YUV footage (eg. NTSC, PAL, ProRes, etc). Camera footage falls into this category, as do a lot of the displays on Windows machines. Gamma 2.22 is also used by Windows PCs. I would advise leaving this option on Source, so that no gamma correction will be applied to the clip itself. The only correction that will occur will be when playing back in the FCP Canvas, and not upon exporting the movie.

This setting will fix the RGB gamma issue that caused images to be washed out upon export. This does not change Final Cut Pro's handling of YUV images.

Missing codecs in QuickTime 7.4

Fri, 18 Jan 08 00:50:28 -0700

[Time code]; has noticed that the new QuickTime 7.4 update offers you significantly fewer export options than its predecessor. At first glance, they appear to have been removed, but rest assured - they are still there and have just been hidden. To show them again, go to QuickTime in System Preferences, click on the Advanced tab and check the box marked "Show legacy encoders".

The reason for hiding them is probably to prevent end-user confusion and promote more modern formats.

Update: Apple now has a support document confirming this.

Is your Final Cut Pro sequence too dark or washed out?

Sat, 12 Jan 08 16:34:07 -0700

This seems to be a common question. Sometimes people will create a sequence in Shake (or similar) and export to Final Cut, only to find that the image is much darker in FCP. Others have a different problem - it displays fine in FCP but appears washed out when you export it.

Final Cut Pro tends to make assumptions when it comes to gamma. If you create YUV (e.g. DV PAL, NTSC) footage, it will assume that it was created with a gamma of 2.2, which it would have been if it had been shot in a camera. Final Cut therefore lowers the gamma in order to mimic what it would look like on a broadcast monitor, resulting in a darkening of the image.

Note that the image is only dark in Final Cut Pro and if you export it, it will export with the correct gamma. However, the mistake that some people make is to brighten the image in Final Cut, leading to it being too bright upon exporting.

Applications like Shake do not make any modifications to the display of the gamma so if it looks fine in Shake, it will look fine upon exporting, no matter what Final Cut Pro is showing on the screen. This is assuming your monitor is correctly calibrated, of course.

When you import RGB elements (such as the Apple Animation codec or still images) into a YUV sequence, the opposite problem occurs. Final Cut Pro will assume they were created with a gamma of 1.8. Final Cut will then increase the gamma to 2.2 (the gamma value that FCP assumes all YUV media is created at) to compensate for this.

The image is now considered YUV, so when it plays back, Final Cut will lower the gamma again to compensate, as it does with all YUV footage. The RGB elements will be displayed on the screen at their correct gamma but when you export the sequence, the boosted gamma will be used and the exported sequence will be too bright.

The solution is to convert the files to YUV before adding them to your Final Cut Pro project. For footage, convert to Uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2 or Uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2 to ensure that no data will be lost in the conversion process. If the file sizes for this are too large, try a high quality lossy codec such as Apple ProRes.

For images, the easiest method is to convert them to a single-frame QuickTime file with a YUV codec such as DV NTSC. It is better to perform this task with Compressor rather than QuickTime.

How to trash preferences

Tue, 25 Dec 07 17:06:48 -0700

If an application in Mac OS X fails to load or exhibits strange behavior, a common way of fixing the problem is to trash preferences. But what does this mean?

Application preferences such as window layouts and sizes, user-selected options, etc, are all stored in a preferences file ending in .plist. There is a different file for each application. When you delete this file ("trash" it) and fire up the relevant application, the app will notice that the file is missing and create a new one with default preferences. This can solve many issues.

Below is a table of common professional applications and where their preference files are located (note that ~ refers to the current user's Home folder):

Application	Folder	Filename
Final Cut Pro	~/Library/Preferences	com.apple.FinalCutPro.plist
Compressor	~/Library/Preferences	com.apple.compressor.Compressor.plist com.apple.Compressor.CompressorSharedService.plist
DVD Studio Pro	~/Library/Preferences	com.apple.dvdstudiopro.plist
LiveType	~/Library/Preferences	com.apple.LiveType.plist
Motion	~/Library/Preferences	com.apple.motion.plist
Shake	~/Library/Preferences	com.apple.shake.plist
Soundtrack Pro	~/Library/Preferences	com.apple.soundtrackpro.plist
Apple Color	~/Library/Preferences	com.apple.color.plist
Adobe Photoshop	~/Library/Preferences	com.adobe.Photoshop.plist
Maya 7	~/Library/Preferences	com.alias.Maya.7.0.plist
Maya 8	~/Library/Preferences	com.alias.Maya.8.0.plist
Vue 5 Infinite	~/Library/Preferences	com.e-onsoftware.vue5infinite.plist
Vue 6 Infinite	~/Library/Preferences	com.e-onsoftware.vue6infinite.plist
Boujou	/Library/Preferences	com.boujou.plist

Additional Final Cut Pro settings are stored in the ~/Library/Preferences/Final Cut Pro User Data directory. You need to trash "Final Cut Pro 6.0 Preferences" (and any previous versions), "Final Cut Pro Obj Cache" and "Final Cut Pro Prof Cache".

After deleting the files, empty the trash and fire up the application again.

Update 4/4/08:
We now have an application called Preference Manager for trashing, backing up and restoring preferences.

Capture HDV to ProRes via Firewire in Final Cut Pro 6.0.2

Mon, 24 Dec 07 14:43:07 -0700

Chris Poisson over at Creative COW has discovered that the recently released 6.0.2 update to Final Cut now allows you to capture from HDV directly to Apple's ProRes codec via Firewire.

This provides a means of getting rid of the awful HDV codec in one step, resulting in dramatically decreased render times, improved rendering quality of footage, and more latitude in color correction due to the 4:2:2 color space (as opposed to 4:2:0). Capturing to ProRes used to require a fast Intel Mac with an accelerated capture card, or AJA's Io HD. With the new update, you can now capture on a G5 Power Mac without any additional hardware, which very much levels the playing field.

As Chris explains, however, it is not quite a perfect solution just yet. It would appear that Apple has made some compromises (half raster import for example) in order to improve capture speed on slower machines. The preview window will also be considerably behind the actual footage being captured, making it difficult to monitor on-screen (an external broadcast monitor is always recommended, if you can afford it). But if you can live with these minor setbacks, you can capture to ProRes for a fraction of the previous hardware cost.

Before you rush to upgrade though, be aware that some people have been experiencing issues with the latest patch. As always, I would recommend not installing it in the middle of a production, and have a clone or backup of your working system before you upgrade.

Final Cut Pro and Quicktime 7.3 issues

Sun, 23 Dec 07 02:48:35 -0700

A lot of people have been experiencing issues with the latest QuickTime version. The most common issue seems to be captures stopping after 10 minutes or so, leaving behind a ridiculously large file. Other people are finding incompatibilities in third party applications that use QuickTime.

The issue seems to stem from the fact that Software Update recommends the update because it is compatible with your operating system BUT it is not compatible with less-than-current versions of Final Cut Pro. So if you have version 4 or 5, you're out of luck, and it appears to be these users that are experiencing the issues.

What a lot of people don't realize is that Final Cut Pro depends heavily on QuickTime and so any QT updates will directly affect FCP. QuickTime is not just a "feature" of the operating system. It is also worth noting that the latest version of Final Cut, 6.0.2, requires QuickTime 7.3 and will not run well without it.

This is why you should never update a machine in the middle of a production. If you are not in the middle of a production, you should wait to see if other users have issues before installing the update. It is also best to have a cloned version of your hard disk so that you can get up and running again as quickly as possible. For the latter, I would recommend Carbon Copy Cloner.

I made a post the other day about downgrading from FCP 6.0.2 to 6.0.1.