>  Links  >  Instructions  >  Capturing, Editing, and Compressing Digital Audio and Video  >  Final Cut Pro

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Instructional Technology Center

Final Cut Pro

I. Getting started with Final Cut Pro

  1. Find this icon on your desktop and click it   Final Cut Pro

  2. Before you start any new projects, you want to make sure any previous projects are closed
    • To do this go to:  File > Close Project, File > New Project
  3. Next you want to make sure your Settings and Preferences are correct

 

Number one rule: If all settings are correct and the feature you are trying to use still does not work, save your work, and restart final cut pro. Restarting solves most confusing issues with Final Cut Pro.

 

II.  Settings and Preferences

    A. Follow the pictures

 

 

 

 

 

  •  Go to:  Final Cut Pro > User Preferences
    - Make sure your User Preferences box looks like the following:

 

 

*  The rest of the tabs should be preset and ready to go

 

  • Go to:  Final Cut Pro > System Settings
    -Your screen should look like the following:

 

 

* Notice you can set additional scratch disks in the menu above. If you prefer to save to your own external hard drive, set your drive to the second scratch disk space, and check the boxes that you would like to be saved to your drive.

 

 

    B. Render Settings:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    C. Creating a Folder to Save In

Important:  If this is not done, you could easily misplace files or save in someone else’s folder.
       

        1. Go to:  File > Save Project As

        2. Type in the name of your project in: Save As

        3. Go to: Where and change it to:  PUBLIC-SAVE HERE





        4. Next go to:  New Folder and type a descriptive name
          Then click: Create. Type a name for your project in the "Save as" dialog box and click save.
          Make sure you remember where this is.

      III. Capture VHS footage to Computer (Using the Sony Media Converter Box)

        1. Make sure the following hardware is configured

          Media Converter -> ON -> ANALOG IN
          TV -> ON - > INPUT B
          Input Selector -> ON -> INPUT 1
          Video Cassette Recorder -> ON
          Digital Video Cassette Recorder -> OFF

        2. Insert VHS Cassette into Video Cassette Recorder

        3. Go to:  File > Log and Capture

          • Go to the Clip Settings and make sure Capture is set to Aud+Vid
               (unless you want just audio or just video)
          • Also make sure that Audio Format is set to Ch 1 + Ch 2 (unless you are capturing Mono audio, or you want to capture stereo to a single audio track).





        4. Go back to the Logging tab.

          • You should be able to play your video now and see video in the log and capture window. If not, save your work and restart Final Cut Pro, and try again.

          • If you like, give your Shot/Take a name, description, and comments. It is not required but can make your job easier when you have many shots.

          • When you are ready, click: Play on the VHS player and hit: Now under Capture. Don’t worry about capturing extra, you can edit it out later.



        5. The computer is now capturing the video from the VHS, press: ESC (escape) when you want to stop capturing.

          • Your new clip (and all clips) now appears in your Browser window (if this window is not active go to Window > Browser



        6. Save your work File > Save All

        7. Repeat this process for as many clips as you like

      IV.  Capture Mini DV footage to Computer

        1. Make sure the following hardware is configured (Not all DV stations have an input selector or a Media Converter.  If this is the case, ignore these settings and keep everything else as described here.)

          Media Converter -> OFF
          TV -> ON -> INPUT B
          Input Selector -> ON->INPUT 6
          Video Cassette Recorder -> OFF
           Digital Video Cassette Recorder -> ON

        2. Insert your DV tape

        3. Follow the same procedure used to capture from the VHS tape (from step 3), playing your DV tape instead of a VHS tape.

       

      V.  Editing

        A. Clip Options

        1. After capturing some clips, it is time to edit them. Double click a clip in your browser. Your screen will look something like this.



          * The most important right now is your viewer window:



          * Here you can decide exactly which portions of the clip you want to 
             keep.



        2. These are the mark in/out buttons. Press mark in where you want your clip to start and mark out where you want it to end. You can press the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard to advance to exactly the frame you want. You can also use the Jog/shuttle tools on your viewer window. Play around with the different functions to familiarize yourself.

        3. To resize the video footage or move it within the viewer, select the wireframe/image option.



        4. To move the footage from the viewer to your project timeline, select the image option.



        5. Then click on the screen and drag it over to the Sequence window and you will see some self explanatory options for how you want to put the clip into the project.



        6. If you insert or overwrite with a transition you can add transition effects such as dissolves between clips later. The clips are added to the timeline.

          Note: In most cases you will put the time marker in the Program window at the end of the last clip. Then, when you you drag over the colored ‘Insert’ choice in the Sequence window, the clip will be placed at to the right of the last clip in the Program window.

        B. Transitions

        1. To add a cross dissolve transition first put a single clip in the
                   timeline.



        2. If you already have a clip and just want to add a transition, position the play head at the end of the clip that you want to dissolve out, as in the previous diagram.

        3. Drag your second clip over the canvas and select overwrite with transition. A default 1 second cross dissolve is created.



        4. Position the play head before the transition and press the spacebar to see how it looks.

        5. Double click the transition and you can modify the effect properties. You can also change the type of transition by clicking Effects > Transitions, and choosing a transition.

        6. There are many other advanced editing capabilities within Final Cut Pro that are beyond the scope of this tutorial. Ask a supervisor for a manual for information on advanced features.

        C. Text

        1. To insert text into your sequence, you will first have to double click on one of the sequences in the timeline.  A new window will appear with the clip from the sequence on it.
        2. In the bottom right hand corner of your new window, you will see this icon 



        3. Click that and now Go to: Text > Text  (shown below)



        4. You will then see the follow window: (shown below on the left)


        5. Go to the Controls Tab.  Here you can type the text that you want to insert into your sequence, you can change the font size, color, font type etc.. (shown above on the right).

        6. Now you want to go back to the Video tab and adjust the length that this text will be shown, (by default, final cut pro sets it to 10 seconds), I want to change it to appear for just 1 second, so I will adjust it as follows: (shown below)

          Default 10 seconds:
          Changed to 1 second: 

        7. Now you want to insert this text into your timeline.  You may want to move your yellow cursor to the location on the timeline where you would like to insert your text.  After this, you click on the screen that your text is in, and move it slightly outside of the clip box to the left onto insert (shown below)



        8. Now your timeline will have the text you created in the beginning of your sequence (shown below).


      VI. Print and exporting your project

        A. Print footage from computer to VHS tape

        1. Make sure the following hardware is configured

          Media Converter-> ON -> DV IN
          TV -> ON -> INPUT A
          Input Selector -> ON -> INPUT 1
          Video Cassette Recorder -> ON
          Digital Video Cassette Recorder -> OFF

        2. Save your work

        3. Click Sequence > Render All > Both



        4. Choose your preferred options, such as the options listed below:



        5. Press OK. Wait for the video to finish writing, then press and hold record and play on the VHS deck, release, and press OK on the Print to Video dialog box. Wait for video to finish recording to VHS.

        B.  Print Footage from Computer to DV/ Mini DV

        1. Make sure the following hardware is configured. (Not all DV stations have an input selector or a Media Converter.  If this is the case, ignore these settings and keep everything else as described here.)

          Media Converter -> OFF
          TV -> ON -> INPUT B
          Input Selector -> ON -> INPUT 1
          Video Cassette Recorder -> OFF
          Digital Video Cassette Recorder -> ON -> PRESS INPUT SELECT TO CHOOSE DV IN

        2. Follow the exact same instructions as printing to VHS tape except press record on the DV Recorder instead of the VCR.

        C. Export footage to digital format (Quicktime)

        1. Sequence > Render All > Both





        2. Your Quicktime movie is now located in the folder you selected. You may copy it to the media of your choice.