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The Basics of X
Thank you first for the answers to my last thread. That answered those questions perfectly.
I’m creating this just in case someone else runs into my situation, they might find the answers easily.
I’ve read horror stories about X. I’m told it’s nothing like earlier FCP.
I’m very basic in my editing. I drag clips to the timeline and cut as needed.
Occasionally I place one clip on top of another.
The audio of course I cut, paste and move a lot.
But, that’s basically how I edit. It’s not much more than if I took two pieces of film and spliced them.
Is accomplishing this much harder in X than it was before?
Is adding simple color corrections still as easy?
I never delved deep into FCP 6, what I do is fairly easy stuff. Will it take me long to figure X out for these simple things? When I first bought FCP 4 it took me a few hours to create my first little slide show (I didn’t have a camcorder at the time), so I’m fairly quick in picking stuff up. But, the horrors I’ve heard about X have me spooked.
Thanks Again: George
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7 Replies
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Get some tutorials (there are lots of good free ones on youtube etc) The horror stories are likely exaggerations. It’s *not* like the old FCP (or anything else really) but it’s not brain surgery either. If you can play with the newest version of iMovie, and understand that, then you will know the basic workflow of X. It can be as simple or as complicated as you like. 😉
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~ My FCPX Babbling blog ~
~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~ -
[George Snow] “My biggest problem at the moment is I have a movie which I have almost fully edited in FCP 6 and according to EVERYONE I’ve spoken to and read about, CAN NOT be transferred to my NEW IMAC and even if I get X I can’t just dump the 6 files into X. It’s impossible.”
George,
One question to ask yourself is why you are looking for new software.
If you are near the end of a project in FCP6, then installing a copy of FCP7 on your new machine (if you can find a copy) may be the best solution.
Though it is certainly important to be exploring options in terms of software, the middle (or end) of a project may not be the most opportune time.
Franz.
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George, you should download the demo and take it for a spin: https://www.apple.com/final-cut-pro/trial/
Jeremy
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I’m sure there are horror stories about any DAW, NLE, or any piece of software out there. In some cases the horror stories find their origin in user error, in other cases it’s the software.
Somehow I think if the NLE has the features you need it comes down to how the software connects with your mind and way of thinking. I’ve used premiere cs5, cs5,5 and have cs6. But since I started working on FCPX I’ve never touched premiere again, only for the warp stabilizer to fix my crappy holiday videos where i was too lame to carry a tripod.
FCPX does most things the way I expect them to work. At first I thought it would be hard to learn but most basic things work as they should(in my mind). But I’m not a pro editor, I didn’t have 20+ years doing things in a certain way that I had to forget because X is so different.
Once FCPX xml to logic works also with complicated timeslines I’ll be a very happy camper. By the way, I’ve got no experience with FCP6 or 7, nor do I have experience with premiere pro cc.
Like the others said, download the trial, and cut a few videos with it. Perhaps you’ll be happily surprised. 🙂
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After creating this post I went to the Apple Store and played with X. I checked it out on my own for about 15 minutes before the employee who was familiar with the program came over.
It is completely different in it’s appearance and accomplishing the basic tasks. But, it’s not so revolutionary different that it couldn’t be learned fairly quick. It would probably take me one sitting to learn everything I did in 6.
Some of the features look neat like the effects that show you what the effects look like before you choose them. The thumbnails would be great for finding CU,Med, Wide shots easity. All in all it’s the same(supposedly better) software with a new look.
With that said: I’m happy with FCP 6 for my work. I didn’t plan on spending $300 for software. So, I’m supposedly getting a return from Apple for the iMac. Customer service says they’ll take it back, returns say they won’t.
Thanks for all the responses.
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The best free online tutorial for FCP X just got updated for 10.1. I recommend this to everyone, who wants to learn the basics of Final Cut Pro X.
https://www.izzyvideo.com/final-cut-pro-x-tutorial/
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I’m not a professional editor by far, I mostly support some post production clients on Avid MC and FCP 7 and X.
But, if you look at how editors would organize their tracks on legacy systems, you’ll see that FCP X use of Roles and Auditions should help you to manage your effects and alternative clips efficiently and consistently. The magnetic timeline is more about avoiding unnecessary steps, where the program maintains the proper relationships between clips, so you don’t have to and you can just keep editing. It basically is computerizing what was previously a lot of manual work and memorizaition on the timeline. So if you use it effectively and take advantage of the metadata capabilities you should find it a more modern editor. But, it took Apple a few revisions to complete the essential features that most editors were looking for. I now feel comfortable recommending it as a full replacement for FCP 7 or MC.
Add Motion into the workflow, and there are some really amazing things you can do as was demonstrated recently in these forums. Recommend you view the thread on doing your own manual keying using Motion. Really got me excited and demonstrated how powerful the products can be when you leverage their newer features.
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