Video Transitions Stopped Working in Final Cut Express 4.0.1 on OS X 10.6.8

Question

A 40-60 hour project has hit a brick wall because FCE 4.0.1 will not create usable video transitions. (It was working a week ago & no new software or updates have been installed). Even a simple Cmnd+T generic transition doesn't work, except for one whose time code is always <00:00:00;01>. When I do the typical "tricks" to lengthen the duration of the transition (like right click, select duration, then type in a longer value), all I hear is a bump sound signifying an error of some kind. No error code is generated. The duration value remains unaltered.

I've deleted the plist. I did a complete uninstall from AppDelete; redid permissions; then reinstalled the app. Didn't change a thing.

Anybody got a clue how to restore this functionality?

2010 i7 2.66 GZ 17" w/ 8GB of RAM & an NVIDIA GeForce GE 330M.

Answer 1

You have to trim at least .5 seconds off the end of your clip. In other words, uncut clips = no transitions, so lengthening it as you had tried won't help.

Also, do you have handles enabled? See the referenced article below:

FCE Transitions/Troubleshooting

Answer 2

I have this problem and have never figured out exactly why it does this, but I have found that trimming off about 00:00:10 from the beginning of the clip to the right, then re-applying the transition works. If only trimming 10 frames off doesn't work, try a little more. I know, it's frustrating... :-)