Final Cut Pro Crash Course
Table of Contents
- New project
- Import a file
- View the file
- Add to timeline
- The playhead
- Trim
- Selection and blade tools
- Slice the clip
- Removing the bad bit
- Introducing sound
- Import a sound clip
- Trimming audio
- Render and watch
- Exporting
- Export basic settings
New project
Let's start with a new project.
Import a file
This is your media browser. It displays the files that are in your project. Find the file(s) you need work with and drag it in your media browser to make it a part of the project
View the file
This is the viewer. It shows the media that you you select to view by double clicking on a file in the browser. Double click on the file that you have dragged in to see it.
Add to timeline
At the bottom there is the timeline window. Drag your file to the timeline and you will see it appear in the top right window called 'Canvas'. It displays the content of your sequence.
The playhead
You can scrub through your sequence by sliding the playhead along the top of the timeline window or by using the control wheel in the canvas window.
Trim
You can trim the start and the end of the clip by dragging its left and right edges. You can also move it around in the timeline.
Selection and blade tools
To the very right of the screen there is a tool palette. For the sake of this tutorial we are only going to cover the selection tool (shortcut - A) that we've been using so far and the blade tool (shortcut - B). The blade tool does exactly what you expect a blade to do - it cuts things. :) Select it.
Slice the clip
Let's say there's a bad piece in our video that we need to cut out. Make two cuts on the clip in the timeline and switch back to selection tool (shortcut - A)
Removing the bad bit
Now we need to select the cut out bit and hit delete. Notice if you pressed Backspace the gap is left. If you have a keyboard with only Backspace and no Delete button, you can hit Shift+Backspace and it will delete the clip and close the gap.
Introducing sound
Let's bring in some music or sounds. If you look closely at the timeline - there are two clips. The blue one on top is the video. The green one on the bottom is the sound of the video on top. Notice that it has the same name as your file so it's easy to find if you have many sound clips. To the very left of the timeline there are green buttons which if pressed disable the tracks. We want that audio to be gone so we click on the green speaker icon next to A1.
Import a sound clip
Find a sound track that you wand and drop it in the browser window. Double click on the file to see it the viewer.
Trimming audio
Scrub through the track to find a spot where you want the sound to start and click the "Mark In" button to set the starting point of the clip. Do the same with the Mark out button to set the end of the track.
Render and watch
Now you can drop the clip from the browser into your timeline in one of the empty sound tracks. You will notice the red lines going across the top of the timeline. It means that the video or audio is not rendered so it can't be previewed. Press Alt+R to render your preview and when it's done hit Space to play the clip that you have now.
Exporting
If you're done adjusting the clip you can export it now as a video file. To do that go to File > Export > Quick Time
Export basic settings
Now you can select the destination and export the video by clicking Save. Note that the setting dropdown menu 'Setting' is set to current settings. This means that the video won't compressed and will be exported in it's lossless format. You can compress it later using a different application or by choosing one of the options in the 'Setting' menu.