3. Inspectors
The Inspector pane houses the controls to adjust, enhance, and repair clips. It also contains details about a clip’s metadata beyond what is found in the Event Library or Event Browser. Depending on the clip’s media type, the Inspector pane displays a variety of inspectors, which are accessed as buttons across the top of the Inspector pane.
Video
The Video inspector is the most common inspector. The parameters displayed vary by media type and by whether the selected clip is in the Event Browser or the Timeline. Most parameters and parameter sets have these same controls.
Effects
When you apply a visual effect from the Effects Browser to a clip, the effect’s parameters appear here, if any are available. See Chapter 2 for more on applying effects from the Effects Browser. The number and type of parameters vary by effect.
• Effects are processed in the order in which they were applied. Drag the names of the effects to change their processing order.
• To remove an effect, select it’s name in the list and then press Delete.
• Some effects may also be keyframed in the Timeline. See Chapter 8.
Color
The Color panel allows you to enable or disable the automated color enhancement applied to a clip or use the Match Color feature to copy the “look” of another clip to the selected clip. This panel is also where you can perform primary and secondary color corrections.
Transform, Crop, and Distort
Although these parameters are available here, the Viewer provides onscreen controls for these effects. See Chapter 8.
Stabilization, Rolling Shutter, Spatial Conform, and Rate Conform
These features are based upon the analysis of the clips. Stabilization and Rolling Shutter analysis can be performed during import and then enabled or disabled after editing the clip into the Timeline. Spatial Conform can be set before or after editing into a project. Rate Conform is automatically applied, if necessary, once a clip is added to the Timeline.
Compositing
Compositing is used to blend a connected clip to a lower clip based upon a mathematical combination of each image’s pixel values and the simple transparency of those pixels.
Audio
The Audio inspector provides powerful control over the selected clip’s audio channels.
Volume and Pan
Final Cut Pro allows you to work in Stereo or Surround Sound space. The default setting for new projects is Surround Sound; however, stereo clips default to the Stereo panner.
Audio Analysis and Equalization
You can elect to have Final Cut Pro analyze and fix audio clips regarding issues with loudness, noise, and hum. This analysis can be performed at any time. See the “Audio Enhancements” section, later in this chapter, for more information. The Equalization controls for a clip can be adjusted at any time.
Channel Configuration
After a clip is imported, you can change how Final Cut Pro processes the clip’s channels.
Tip
You can keyframe individual channels of a multi-channel clip by selecting the clip in the Timeline and then choosing Open in Timeline.
Info
The Info inspector displays a wealth of information about a clip’s source media and how Final Cut Pro interacts with it as a clip.
When a compound clip is selected, you can modify the “project” settings for the clip. All of the options are available for compound clips that are in the Event Browser. Only the video options are available for Timeline-based compound clips.
Create or Edit Metadata Views
With so much metadata available, Final Cut Pro allows you to select metadata views. You can edit these views or create custom views and custom fields for your media management needs. Begin by selecting Edit Metadata View from the Metadata View pop-up menu.
Properties
This inspector appears for the project selected in the Project Library. You can access the project’s settings from here and view the shared (export) history.
Sharing
The Sharing inspector provides an export history for the selected project. The options available are dependent on the Share type, the availability of the shared file, and your access rights to the shared location.
Transition
The Transition inspector is used to modify the parameters of the selected Timeline transition. The number of available parameters varies between transitions.
Tip
Some parameters within transitions are keyframeable.
Title
The Title inspector controls the animation and look of an applied title. Typically, the text appearance is treated in the Text inspector, but that is not always the case.
The number and complexity of parameters varies. Most effects, transitions, and titles are created in Motion 5, which “publishes” specific parameters to Final Cut Pro. Although you can use Final Cut Pro without Motion, having Motion allows you to customize effects, transitions, and titles. For more on these and other parameters from Motion 5, see the book Apple Pro Training Series: Motion 5, by Mark Spencer (Peachpit, 2011).
Note
For a “start from scratch” approach, use the Custom Title option, which provides a plethora of parameters for modifying and keyframing.
Text
The Text inspector appears for text items that you type in the Viewer. Placeholders, as well as titles, utilize the Text inspector.
Note
When no individual text box is selected, these controls may affect all of the title’s text boxes.
Generators
The Generators inspector reveals more design elements than the generator thumbnails appear to represent. For example, the Stone generator has nine possible types to display. The Grunge generator has 15 textures. One of the most customizable options is the Placeholder generator. This inspector appears only for generators that were applied to the Timeline.
Color Board
The Color Board (Color Adjustment inspector) provides a manual method for applying color corrections to a clip. By default, the Color Board affects the entire image. When the Eyedropper or Mask Shape options are activated in the Color panel of the Video inspector, the Color Board is limited to those selections.
Access the Color Board either from the Enhancements pop-up menu in the Toolbar or from the Color panel of the Video inspector. The Color Board contains three panes.
Tip
Use the arrow keys to adjust a selected control.
The Saturation and Exposure panes have similar controls but use a different graph.
Audio Enhancements
Final Cut Pro includes powerful automated audio enhancements to identify and repair audio issues. You may start the analysis of audio files during ingest or any time after a clip is in an Event or Timeline. The Audio Enhancements inspector allows you to see and adjust the results from the analysis. The first indication of the analysis results appears in the Audio inspector.
Opening the Audio Enhancements inspector reveals the three audio issues that Final Cut Pro repairs: loudness (or softness), background noise, and hum.
