FCPX Image Stabilization & Motion 5 Keying
Tutorial using Image Stabilization and Rolling shutter correction in Final Cut Pro X. We take a quick look at keying using Motion 5. We also check out some tips when using compound clips.
Footage captured with a Canon 7D and a Sigma 10mm fisheye with a Blackbird Stabilizer.
Doing IS is really simple. If your analyze options are disable, We’ll start off by click Analyze and Stabilize.
Then Stabilize.
In the inspector, we can see all the parameters for this clips. Before the renderer get sot far, let’s turn on Rolling Shutter correction to fix some of the jello in the video.
We can click on the show link to reveal more options for fine tuning the edit.
While it renders in the background, we can click on the task window to show it’s status. If you’re trying out different edits, you can pause the render until satisfied.
Ok now let’s check the difference. Holding option while dragging, we can duplicate the clip and turnoff IS and Rolling shutter on one of them.
We can see it does a great job with the default setting.
Let’s take a look at a couple more examples:
Controlling stabilizers is tough, as you can see in this shot, theres a bit of side to side movement.
Here we have the same clip with IS applied. Final cut cleaned up the scene quite nicely, even though we’re using a fish eye, distortion is handled pretty good.
Here we have a shaky handheld shot. Again, IS applied on the other side.
Here we have a shot fixed using rolling shutter.
Another handheld shot. IS applied makes it look like a crane shot. Quick tip when going handheld – always walk with bent knees to absorb your steps. IS can’t fix everything. You can really see the scene jump with each step.
This clip really puts the solver to the test by trying a super shaky clip. It tried.
Walking up stairs took a couple of tries, as you can see by the side to side shake.
IS did a pretty decent job in pulling this clip together.
Here we did some 360 turns with the blackbird. IS fixes a lot of the wobbling and shakes. Again with a fisheye, minimal distortion.
Another straight walk test with the blackbird. No problem handling these easy shots.
Last shot is a handheld. Again remember to walk correctly when trying to correct these shots. Maybe even try using a high shutter speed to help eliminate blurs in the steps.
Okay, now let’s switch gears and look at keying footage in Motion 5
Once you set your in & outs, we can apply the key filter found in the usual spots, and drag it on top of the clip.
Click on the sample color button to activate and draw multiply areas to grab samples from.
Use the Refine edge tools to further clean up the key, by adjust the handle of the tool.
Final Cut X has a similar keyed, but lacks the additional features Motion 5 offers. Advanced options like Matte tools and Light wrap are only in Motion.
We’ll export a ProRes 4444, we’ll select the duration to the in & out points and
render with color + alpha with premultiply alpha disabled.
Alright, now lets look at some tricks in using Compound Clips in Final Cut.
Problem I ran into when building this scene was the flash transition between the clips in the back not inheriting the crops applied to the compound clip.
To fix, we go inside the first level of the compound clip. Select the clips that switch between each other and compound those again.
Select the crop tool and re-crop the new compound clip. You can hold command while dragging to disable snapping when adjusting crops.
Scrub through to check the cut works. To jump back to the timeline, click on the back arrow near the cookie crumb. Now we can preview the edit with the comp.
