RT Still Cache Error Message

Here's an error message I haven't seen in a while:

This is what you get when you load several hundred images into the timeline at once.

Still-Freeze Duration Bug

On a machine I still have Final Cut 6.0.6 installed I keep running into a bug with Still-Freeze Durations.

The duration Final Cut assigns an imported still image is determined by the Editing tab of the User Preferences (Option + Q).

However, for me in Final Cut Pro (and if I'm recalling correctly, versions after 5.0) the Still portion of Still/Freeze Duration doesn't exactly work.

In my experience when you import a still image FCP will set it's duration to exactly one second less than what's set in the Editing prefs. The Freeze duration will be correct however, meaning that if you have a clip loaded into the Viewer and hit Shift + N to make a freeze frame it'll be whatever the Editing tab's Still/Freeze Duration is set to.

But, if you say, drag a photo into the bin it'll be one second shorter.

On the left is the bin, on the right is the preference. For me, it's consistent.

What's Keyframed in the Wireframe?

Here's something you may not have noticed.

I think the keyframe indicator in the Motion tab of the Viewer is pretty horrible. It's buggy, has scaling problems and is generally trickier to use than it should be so here's a tiny bit of help.

When you set some keyframes, and you have Wireframe + Image on in the Canvas (toggle it with "w") relevant parts of the wireframe will turn green to indicate that they have a keyframe and that the playhead is currently on their keyframe.

In the above image you can see that among the green there are some white indicators, namely the "1" and the upper left and lower right handles. Here's what the Basic Motion tab looks like for this shot of clouds:

You can see that Scale, Center, Upper Right and Lower Left all have keyframes. Scale is the large X-like crossing lines, Center is the center handle and the upper right and lower left handles are right where they should be. If the "1" were green, that would mean that the playhead is on a Anchor Point keyframe.

Keep notes inside a Final Cut project (and save file)

Two days ago out of the blue I recieved a panicked call from a friend who needed something cut together fast. As in I would have about 3 hours to cut something together before it went live that would normally take about 5 hours. Needless to say I talked them into paring the project down to something managable and actually feasible.

While I worked on the project the client sent me some notes which I needed to keep while I moved from one location to another so I decided to find a way to have brief notes displayed in Final Cut while I edited that would be saved along with the project. Here's what I came up with:

1. Hit Control + X to open the basic Text Generator.
2. Type or paste in your notes.
3. Goto the Video Tab of the Text Generator and then drag the preview image (the one in the Viewer) to your footage bin; it'll turn into a Still.
4. Change it's name to something useful.
5. Save the project.

Now you'll have a text note that's saved along with the project file. You can edit it, rename it and even apply labels to it.