Using the Resize Tool, grab the edges of the image as if to resize it.
Hold shift to distort instead.
Still using the Resize Tool, click and drag an image as if to move it.
Hold shift to snap it to the x y axis.
Crop Tool
Using the Crop Tool, grab the corner pins of the image as if to crop x and y axis at the same time.
Hold shift to toggle a crop that maintains your aspect ratio.
Distort Tool
Using the Distort Tool, grab the corner pin as if to move the corner point.
Hold shift to keystone distort.
That’s all for this microtip. Feel free to leave comments if you feel there are any I’ve left out.
I’m pretty sure there are, as this was written in ten minutes.
These tips will be edited to reflect the additions and your contributions will be credited to you.
Mise en place (pronounced [miz ɑ̃n plas], literally “put in place”) is a French phrase defined by the Culinary Institute of America
as “everything in place”, as in set up. It is used in professional
kitchens to refer to the ingredients, such as cuts of meat, relishes,
sauces, par-cooked items, spices, freshly chopped vegetables, and other
components that a cook requires for the menu items that they expect to
prepare during their shift.
Similarly for editors, there is an element of mise en place as well.
I can’t confess to have the same as everyone else, in fact, I’m pretty sure you have a completely different way and methodology for placing your windows.
This particular configuration suits most of my needs and works very well for me.
This is what my Finder window placement is like.
The top right hand window is my ~TO BE CONVERTED folder. This contains files that need to be converted to FCP compatible formats.
All files are prepended with the project name and episode number and converted into ^TO BE IMPORTED.
The window in the center is my ^TO BE IMPORTED folder. This contains all files that are waiting to be imported into FCP projects.
When I import these files, I drag them into the lower left window, which is the Capture Scratch of the project.
After that, I then import the files into the project. Once the files are imported, I mark them grey.
This way, whenever I need to import new files into the project, I know which ones have already been imported.
My upper left window is my ^EXPORT folder. This contains all files that have been exported sorted into subfolders named by project title.
The lower right window is any other folder that I might need to transfer files to and from, like my internet download folder or project backup folder.
Obviously, if you don’t have to deal with conversions as much as I do, you can replace the ^TO BE CONVERTED folder with a music library or graphics folder.
If you ingest almost everything, then this will be of more use to you in the event of having to import items to your projects.
The reality is that writing a full length post with a variety of tips neatly woven together takes more time than I have to spare.
Thus, I’ll be blogging more bite sized nuggets surrounding a particular technique, hack or workflow. That way I update more often and get more useful information in the public sphere.
Some of these tips are old but too minor to fit into any of my other articles, or so ingrained as part of my workflow that I don’t quite realize it might not be as obvious to everyone. Either way, enjoy.
On occasion, I’m asked what my best work is. Other times, I’m asked which is the best project I’ve worked on.
The answers to these questions aren’t always the same.
Sometimes, when you’re working on a really polished product, where the footage is well shot, sound is recorded perfectly and the director is organized and clear with what he wants, all I do really is to not screw it up. That’s when a great team effort culminates in a good commercial, film or program.
On the other hand, sometimes a project arrives in your hands as a complete mess, and it’s through relentless searching through rushes, splicing individual words or syllables, finding the most obscure cutaways, making non-native speakers sound fluent, that you salvage a decent product from what could have been an unmitigated disaster.
When you put these two different project side by side, the difference in overall quality may be stark, even startling. But sometimes, your best and most inspired work comes from saving lost causes.
On a seperate but remotely related note, the proliferation of easy to use NLEs has heralded the rise of youtube/flash video mashups, some amusing, many crap.
We bought it to replace the Planex BLW-HPMM-G router we had and it is brilliant.
Firstly, the combination of Gigabit ethernet and Wireless Draft N mean our file transfers are going so much faster than they used to.
A 1 GB file that used to take me 2 or 3 minutes to transfer over the network is now copying over in less than a minute.
Of course, it helps that the MZK-W04G supports jumbo frames but the feature that gets me excited is the dual USB ports at the back to connect harddisks to serve as an NAS.
Essentially, if you want write support on Macs, Windows and Linux, you can partition the drives to ext2 and download the necessary drivers for all OSes to read the filesystem, should you choose to connect them directly to your computer. I don’t see any reason why it’d be necessary though because the transfer speeds over Gigabit are sufficient.
As a test, I ingested a 20 minute file encoding to DVCPRO50 PAL with 2 tracks of 24 bit 48kHZ audio with nary a frame dropped.
The wireless performance is also really impressive.
My director sits on the opposite side of the office about 80-100 metres away from the router.
The signal also has to pass 2 edit suites and a machine rack to get to him.
He experiences some signal degradation but still has no problems copying and transferring video files to and from my computer.
My decision to get this router was pretty simple.
I researched every single router I was considering by googling their product name and the following phrases.
Issues
Problems
Dropped
Basically, what I was looking for was any potential problems or widespread build issues.
The only results I got for the MZK-W04G were glowing forum posts and recommendations.
Add this one to the list.
Well done, Planex. Please expand your product line in Singapore, I’m especially interested in your 2.5″ Harddisk-Memory Card Reader Combo that has still failed to be available here.
EDIT:
Just to add to this, a few weeks after this post, a freelance editor who takes over me once in a while, got his iPhone added to the router permissions list.
The next day, as he came in, he asked me for the model number and make of the router. Apparently, while he was parking his car 3 floors down in our industrial building, which has 3 metre high floors, his iPhone prompted him to connect to the wireless network. Now that leaves me a little concerned about what those signals are doing to my brain chemistry, but a very impressive connection strength story nonetheless.
Marker tool is a great find, it allows you to transfer markers from clip level to sequence level with many options.
Been busy of late working on the Creative Cow print article, look out for it in 6 weeks or so on the Creative Cow magazine.
In the meantime, I’ll be updating with more tutorials and writing in the near future.
