There are two new effects in Apple Final Cut Pro which have a variety of uses: Callout & Picture-in-Picture. Here’s what they do, how they work and the differences between them.
In Apple Final Cut Pro, when you only apply one effect to a clip, you get exactly the results you expect. However, when you add multiple effects to a single clip, the order in which those effects are “stacked” in the Video Inspector directly affects the results you get. Let me illustrate this.
Sometimes, we just can’t do what we want to do. Here’s the problem: We want to scale a clip smaller, then blur it so both the clip and its edges are blurred. However, unless you know the secret trick, Apple Final Cut Pro won’t let you do this. Here’s the secret.
Auditions are a little-understood feature in Final Cut Pro that can simplify and speed-up selecting the best B-roll clip or graphic. Here’s how to create and use them to speed picking the right sound effect or music clip for your project.
Creating favorites of titles and clips to share between projects is easy in DaVinci Resolve 20. Except… the entire process is hidden by default. Here’s how to create favorites for your own projects.
Chroma-keys, also called green-screen keys, are a staple of video production. They allow us to replace one background with another, without damaging the foreground image. Here’s how to create one- or two-color keys on the Cut or Edit page of Resolve 20.
While you probably wouldn’t pick an NLE based upon its export speeds, performance tests are always interesting. This time, I compared render and export speeds ad storage bandwidth between Apple Final Cut Pro 11, Adobe Premiere Pro 2025, and DaVinci Resolve 20.
A couple of months ago, as I was editing dozens of interviews to post to the web, I discovered an odd quirk about batch exports in Resolve that was not what I expected. In fact, it cost me time. Here’s what you need to know to reduce your stress.
Andy Marken shares an inside look at how AI can help live event/sports/music productions handle the “final mile” of upscaling content and prepping it for live distribution in real-time. This is a preview of new product expected to be showcased at IBC 2025.
Yesterday, BorisFX announced it has acquired three high-end audio tools – Sequoia, Samplitude, and Music Studio – from MAGIX. Larry Jordan interviews Boris Yamnitsky, President of BorisFX, to learn more.
CAUTION: I’ve spent time working with subtitles recently. I grew increasingly puzzled because all the subtitles created by DaVinci Resolve 20 were in a bold font. The problem was the SRT file. Here’s how to fix it.
For something that’s supposed to be fast and accurate, adding captions to video could not be more cumbersome – regardless of which NLE you use. None of them do a great job and all of them will require FAR more time to get it right than you expect. Here are the details.
Scott writes: “I’m desperately trying to embed CEA-608 captions into a .MXF for broadcast television using Final Cut Pro. Everything says I should be able to but neither Compressor nor FCP let me select captions to embed. What am I missing?” Here’s what you need to know.
Unlike project files in Premiere and Final Cut, DaVinci Resolve tracks files using a master database. Here’s how to move the main database from an old to new drive, without losing your work.
Magic Mask 2 is a powerful tool for creating masks in DaVinci Resolve 20. But did you know you can also use it to separate the foreground from the background? In this short tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates how to create a mask, then use it to remove the background. It only takes a few seconds – once you know how it works.
Reducing background noise has always been a problem. However, AI tools in DaVinci Resolve 20 make this a lot easier. Here, Larry Jordan explains the differences between AI Voice Isolation, in the free version, with AI Dialogue Leveler and AI Dialogue Separator, in the Studio Version.
I’ve known since RAW-format media was introduced that we could go from RAW to video, but not video to RAW. In this short tutorial, Larry Jordan explains why.
I made a mistake in this week’s webinar – Apple Final Cut Pro 11 Power Tips – when I said that ProRes did not support Log video. (I corrected this in the edited final version.) It does. WHAT IS LOG …
The new Magnetic Mask in Final Cut Pro 11 is a powerful tool to separate the foreground from background – without a green screen key – so you can alter the look of each layer independently. In this short video, Larry Jordan illustrates how to create a mask that includes multiple subjects.
There are two principal ways to create moves on stills for a video: the “Ken Burns Effect,” and keyframes. Both have benefits, both have weaknesses and both are used every day. Watch as Larry Jordan shows how to use each technique to create effective moves on a still image.
