Final Cut Pro X Training

IMPORTANT: To ensure media is compatible with those who are unable to upgrade to the latest version of Final Cut Pro X, you will need to update the disk image file for the 'Guns Vs Hoses' commercial.

To do that, download the commercial.zip file, and double click on it to mount the volume.

Then within Final Cut Pro X, navigate to the file menu and choose 'Upgrade Projects and Events'. You can delete the old volume.

Author Notes:

This lesson is essentially the same, as lecture 5 but it makes a subtle reference changes in Final Cut Pro 10.1. In Final Cut Pro 10.1, Events and Projects are now wrapped within something called a Library. Therefore, there is no longer a separate Project Library window. Projects now show up directly within Libraries, which is demonstrate in this video.

Author Notes:

The key part of this lesson is to understand relationship between the Event Library and the Event Browser.

You may find this video lesson to be a bit overkill in terms of how events and clips can be organized, but as long as you understand the concept of an Event, you should be good to move onto the next lesson.

Remember, the Event Library references clips on a hard drive.  The clips that it references will appear in the Event Browser window.

In the screenshot above, notice that the individual Events reference clips that are shown in the Event Library window.

If you are new to the software, I recommend that you keep the Event Library clean from unnecessary clutter. 

This is accomplished by using the Action pop-up menu to configure how you your events are sorted.

Within the Action Pop-up menu, I recommend that you check 'don't group events by date.'  This will make the Event Library easier to read.

Author Notes:

Within the Browser Window, the critical features to learn in this lesson are:

• The difference between flimstrip view and list view
• The shortcut to toggle audio scrubbing on/off is Shift S
• Master the shortcut keys for playing through clips (J, K, and L)

Shift S will disable audio scrubbing, but you will still see be able to hear the audio during playback.  I find it's best to work with the audio scrubbing turned off, and then toggle it back on when you need scrub audio.

A few extra notes regarding the J, K, and L keys.
- Pressing the 'K' key or the spacebar will stop playback.
- If you press the J or L keys multiple times, it will increase or decrease the playback speed.

The screenshow above shows the icons for changing the clip appearances within the Browser Window to either filmstrip view or list view.

Author Notes:

This video lesson should be fairly straight forward.  Make sure the appearance for the Event Browser is set to list view if you are following along.

The important concepts in this lesson are:

• Adding or hiding columns
• Adding customized content such as 'notes' to a column
• Sorting columns in ascending or descending order
• Resizing columns
• Re-arranging columns

The screenshot above shows the Event Browser configured in List View in order to see the columns.

Author Notes:

This lesson re-enforces the importance of Copying files to the Final Cut Pro Events folder.  If you leave this option unchecked, Final Cut Pro will reference the original location of your media files.

Author Notes:

Final Cut Pro X (10.1.2) adds the ability to consolidate media or ingest media into a folder that is separate from the library package. Watch this short 'update' tutorial on how to do this.



This functionality is important, because it allows easy access to your raw content if you need to send it off somewhere. A good example would be if you need to send your media to a colorist, or off to an After Effects artist.

Just make sure you store both the library package and the media folder for archival purposes. You will need both of them if you want your project to see the referenced media.

Author Notes:

It's important to take note that you can analyze media after the import process.  In most cases, I recommend that you leave these options unchecked during import.

After you have clips in your timeline, you'll notice the Viewer window will change to display the content from within the timeline if you skim through your clips in your project.

If you are running Final Cut Pro 10.0.6+ you can enable a second viewer window that's called the Event Viewer.

Author Notes:

It's very important that you master the concept of the Select tool vs the Position tool before continuing onto the next lesson.

The default tool is the Select tool.  The select tool allows you to re-arrange cilps within the timeline window.

To perform a rolling trim just park in the middle of an edit point and drag to the left or right.

Notice the two filmstrip icons to the left and right of the trim tool, indicating that this is a rolling trim.

If you double click on an edit point, that will take you into the precision editing mode.

The precision editor is nice, because it will show you the amount of media available for your incoming and outgoing clips.

To close the precision editor, double click on the edit point.

Author Notes:

Here's a review of the fundamental conepts in this lecture. 

- Selecting a clip and using the keyboard shortcut Control D will show you the duration of a clip within your timeline.

- Using the standard Replace function will change to duration of your project.

- Using Replace from Start, or Replace from End will not change the duration of your project.

Author Notes:

Here's a review of the fundamental conepts in this lecture. 

- Selecting a clip and using the keyboard shortcut Control D will show you the duration of a clip within your timeline.

- Using the standard Replace function will change to duration of your project.

- Using Replace from Start, or Replace from End will not change the duration of your project

- You can now drag a clip within the primary storyline without dragging any connected clips attached to it.  To do this, activate the position tool by pressing the 'P' Key.  Then hold down the 'tilde' key on your keyboard while you drag your clip.

Performing a slip edit is a very important editing concept.

To perform a slip edit, make sure you select the trim tool from the list of editing tools.

Also, for detailed trimming feedback within the viewer window, make sure you check the preference for showing detailed trimming feedback.

Make sure you set the clip display option within the timeline to show larger waveforms when adjusting audio levels.

Also,  it's good practice to zoom into the timeline area that you are adjusting. 

That being said, you can also use the keyboard shortcut Command +/- to perform the same function.

Don't forget, you can use the audio-fade handles so your audio fades in and out.

Author Notes:

Final Cut Pro X does a good job of alerting you to audio problems.  Remember, you can access the audio EQ parameters by navigating to the audio inspector.

Also, don't forget there are a number of equalization presets that you can use.

Author Notes:

 It appears in Final Cut Pro X version 10.0.5,  you no longer need to worry about setting transitions to 'use available media'.  Please disregard that portion of the video of you are running Final Cut Pro 10.0.5.

Author Notes:

Within the inspector window, click on the Add Color Mask button to choose you the color you want to isolate.

Then, to isolate a specific color using a mask, make sure you click on the show correction slider within the inspector window.

Then use the color board to alter the color within the masked area.

 Author Notes:

The keyer effect is located within the effects browser window.  You will find it within the Keying category.

The Chroma Keyer effect always goes on top of green screen clip.  The green screen clip should be on the top layer.

Then, select the green screen clip, and press Command 4 to bring forward the inspector window. Within the inspector windows you will have various controls that you can adjust to clean up your key.

Author Notes:

This particular video lesson focuses on finding people within your available content. Using the find people feature will give you a quick overview of your cilp contents, which may save you time from having to sort through all your media.

The key thing to learn about this lesson, is that Final cut Pro X can also analyze clips for other things.  Don't worry, the steps are the same as 'finding people'.

When you Analyze media  Final Cut Pro X can check for the following things:

• Stablization and rolling shutter
• Color Balance
• Find People
• Audio Problems
• Silent Audio Channels

If you choose to perform an analysis of your clips, I recommend doing it after your media has been captured.

 Author Notes:

If you have one of the newer 'aluminum' keyboards, It's critical that you adjust your Mac OS X keyboard preferences, so your function keys work like real function keys.

Since the function keys also double for other functions, such as your ability to adjust the volume, and screen brightness, you'll need to hold down the FN key if to use them as standard function keys.

 Author Notes:

Please note:  The media for this lesson is located in Lecture 4.

If you plan on using the practice media for this lesson, you may want to import proxy media to provide for a better playback experience when working in multi-camera mode.

If you choose to do so, also make sure you also select 'use proxy media' from the playback preferences window.

 This bonus lesson uses media that you can download from Lecture 3.

 Author Notes:

They key fundamentals in this lecture are:

- How to read the video waveform display
- Using the color board
- Creating a color mask

Using color masks is an incredibly powerful feature within Final Cut Pro X.

Author Notes:

This video lesson may seem like it requires a lot of steps to accomplish something fairly simple.  Furthermore, there is a built in effect within Final Cut Pro X called Censor.  There are two limitations of using the Censor effect.  You are limited to using a circle, and you are limited to three 'censor' methods which are:

• Pixilate
• Blur
• Darken

If you master the steps in this video lesson, you'll be able to use any shape with any filter combination. I also find it much easier to keyframe shapes and objects using the standard transform effect tool, instead of using the filter parameters.

That being said, if you need just a simple circle that is pixilated or blurry, you may want to consider using the Censor effect.

The Censor effect is located in the effects library within the stylize category.

The Censor effect has effect has three methods that you can set, which are Pixelate, Blur, and Darken.  The default method is set to pixelate.

The screenshot above shows the censor effect filter applied to a clip.  Since you are working with a filter, you will need to keyframe the circle using the filter paramters.

Authors Notes:

This short video tutorial demonstrates how to use the Censor Filter effect. The censor effect is an easy way to blur or pixelate a person's face.

When using the Censor Effect, you are limited to using a circle for the masking component. If you need to use a shape other than a circle, review the Blurring a Person's face tutorial in Section 8.

Author Notes:

The key fundamentals of this lesson are:

• They keyboard shortcut Command B will break your cilp into two segments.
• The X key will select the segment you are parked over.
• Use the keyboard shortcut Shift H to create a hold frame.

Please note: In version 10.0.5, It is no longer necessary to change the preferences to use available media.

 Author Notes:

In order for the Ken Burns effect to look good, make sure the image that you are importing is larger than the resolution of your project. 

If you are working with an HD project, there are three primary sizes which are:

- 1920 x 1080,
- 1440 x 1080
- 1280 x 1080

Just make sure the resolution of your image exceeds the number of HD pixels so things look good when you zoom into your image.

Learn how to create and animated 3D text within Final Cut Pro X.

Author Notes: It is highly recommended that you purchase Apple Motion 5.X when working with Final Cut Pro X. It will provide additional functionality when working with 3D text.