Apple Final Cut Express 4 - Manual (Page 982)

982 Part XI Project Management and Settings
Thumbnail Cache Settings
The thumbnail cache stores the clip thumbnails displayed in the Timeline and the
Browser. When you choose to display thumbnails, the thumbnail cache improves the
responsiveness of the Timeline and Browser. There are two settings you can modify:
 Disk
 RAM
Enter numbers in these fields to specify the sizes of the thumbnail caches. You may
want to have large thumbnail caches if you’re working with a large number of clips and
want to display thumbnails or if you are using the Browser’s large icon view.
If you often scrub thumbnails in the Browser’s large icon view, you can optimize their
playback quality by increasing the thumbnail RAM cache. To set a location for the
thumbnail cache, see Chapter 11, “
Connecting DV Video Equipment ,” on page 147.
Note: The thumbnail RAM cache uses part of the RAM available to other parts of
Final Cut Express, so it shouldn’t be made too large.
Playback Control Tab
Playback Control settings affect all sequences and projects currently open. These settings
also appear in the RT pop-up menu in the Timeline. Using these settings, you can balance
visual playback quality and maximize the available effects that can be played back in real
time. For more information, see Chapter 56, “
Using RT Extreme ,” on page 881.
External Editors Tab
Final Cut Express allows you to directly open clips’ media files in other applications. This
tab allows you to assign media file types, such as still images or audio, to external
applications for editing and processing outside Final Cut Express.
To open a clip in an external application:
1 Do one of the following:
 Control-click a clip in the Browser or Canvas, then choose Open in Editor from the
shortcut menu.
 Select a clip in the Browser or Timeline, then choose View > Clip in Editor.
Final Cut Express automatically opens the application associated with the type of
media file that you defined in the External Editors tab of the System Settings window.
2 Make the necessary revisions to the file, then save the changes in the external application.
When you return to Final Cut Express, the clip is automatically reconnected to the
updated media file.