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6 months in with FCPX… my feature requests (FWIW)…
Current FCPX: Amazing and frustrating. A big example of Apple’s “We know better than you and you’ll come around eventually”.
We REALLY need a function or separate app to import FCP6/7 projects. I have to keep a legacy machine running to export EDLs for X, and use a separate app? That’s still just a giant middle finger raised to the core users who have hundreds of legacy projects that do come back to life. We spent thousands on legacy software and it’s just dead? (I know, ranted about for years now).
Give us a way to round trip, even semi-manually. If I have a 5 minute clip and I’m using 9 seconds of it, and those 9 seconds need to go to AE – let me export the trim with my choice of head & tail times. Automatically replace and trim the full clip with the newly rendered clip in the edit after that export. I open the exported clip in AE, render, and manually replace on the FCPX timeline. The 3rd part solutions are inelegant.
Let me keep stuff on tracks when needed. I’m really hating cutting up music to fit an edit and having pieces fly up into spaces in my voiceover and effects tracks.
Give us back the viewer with timecode from 7. I should be able to double click a clip on the timeline and see where it came from in the clip, WITH TIMECODE for in & out points.
Give us back the canvas audio viewer from 7. I can’t do precise markers or trims on the timeline. In 7, I could be wicked precise. Now it’s a lot of hunt and peck.
Free up the windows so we can put them where we want across multiple screens.
Give us keyframable speed ramping with beziers. FCPX retiming often keeps me from needing AE, but it’s crude.
Let me use my finder structure to import. I may have a dozen folders in the finder sidebar to speed up my access to media. When I want to import, that’s all gone and I have to dig through everything.
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42 Replies
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Yeah, I second these sentiments. Basic editing things are so missing.
Warren Eig
O 310-470-0905email: info@babyboompictures.com
website: https://www.BabyBoomPictures.comFor Camera Accessories – Monitors and Batteries
website: https://www.EigRig.com -
Cue “you’re using it wrong” posts 🙂
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Hey, bring ’em – I’ve read solutions for keeping things on one track, but I can’t find a way to keep thing synched by using compound clips and so on. Or being able to edit a track in the timeline and seeing its relationship to other timeline elements vs. opening a compound clip. The magnetic timeline and the “main storyline” (or whatever) things are fine for many projects… but there are times I want to have, say, cameras A B and C stay on their own tracks vs. jumping up and down. I guess, since I have the full Adobe suite, I should just download Premiere and use it for some things. But my brain feels pretty full most days…
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Okay, here you go.
Over the last 5 years, I’ve seen dozens and dozens of editors like you make the same journey you’re making right now.
I’d describe them as very experienced editors who come to X with long, hard won experience in the industry.
They generally all make exactly the same observations you’re making – at the point you’ve reached in your progression.
And to a one, after more time – they all generally STOP doing what you’re doing – which is wasting their time trying to make X meet the conditions of their prior expectations, rather than to learn to work the way X was designed to work.
When they do that – everything changes. They stop fighting it and learn that suddenly what X is RIGHT NOW is making their editing faster and more enjoyably than they’ve ever experienced before. . Sure, they still have wants and preferences that X is not fully meeting. But almost to a one – they are TOTALLY unwilling to give up what they have – to regain what they used to think was the most important things about how their prior workflows operated.
You have ever right to complain and push back and fight how X works (or doesn’t work) and how that fits with how you currently think. But it doesn’t change the fact that I’ve seen guys just like you get frustrated after six months – go back to their other preferred NLEs for even MONTHS – and then after long projects, finally give in and come running back to X.
Because it’s an exceptional, modern super-efficient editing system after you actually stop fighting it and learn enough about how it actually works.
Yes, you WILL eventually come around to it. Or you won’t. But the difference isn’t actually the program. It’s the users attitude.
Just what you were looking for in a response, right? ; )
There you go.
Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery. -
It’s not about fighting or pushing back – all the requests are common sense and real. For instance, just this morning I’m attempting to import a FCP 7 job into X. Used 7toX and about 10 to 15% of the files are offline because FCPX doesn’t like them – even from a media managed folder and I have no way to override and say please use them anyway – so there’s red checkered throughout the timeline with nothing to do but cut them in manually from scratch. Is that user error? Am I pushing back against something I don’t understand?
The idea that FCPX and Apple are perfect and if you don’t like X you’re a stubborn moron is just idiotic.
It was at a Vegas premiere that I resolved to become an avid FCPX user.
Lance Bachelder
Writer, Editor, Director
Downtown Long Beach, California
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1680680/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 -
[Bill Davis] “Okay, here you go.
Over the last 5 years, I’ve seen dozens and dozens of editors like you make the same journey you’re making right now.
I’d describe them as very experienced editors who come to X with long, hard won experience in the industry.
They generally all make exactly the same observations you’re making – at the point you’ve reached in your progression.
And to a one, after more time – they all generally STOP doing what you’re doing – which is wasting their time trying to make X meet the conditions of their prior expectations, rather than to learn to work the way X was designed to work.
When they do that – everything changes. They stop fighting it and learn that suddenly what X is RIGHT NOW is making their editing faster and more enjoyably than they’ve ever experienced before. . Sure, they still have wants and preferences that X is not fully meeting. But almost to a one – they are TOTALLY unwilling to give up what they have – to regain what they used to think was the most important things about how their prior workflows operated.
You have ever right to complain and push back and fight how X works (or doesn’t work) and how that fits with how you currently think. But it doesn’t change the fact that I’ve seen guys just like you get frustrated after six months – go back to their other preferred NLEs for even MONTHS – and then after long projects, finally give in and come running back to X.
Because it’s an exceptional, modern super-efficient editing system after you actually stop fighting it and learn enough about how it actually works.
Yes, you WILL eventually come around to it. Or you won’t. But the difference isn’t actually the program. It’s the users attitude.
Just what you were looking for in a response, right? ; )
There you go.”
Told ya!
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Lance.
I’d be pleased if, in the future, you’d respond to what I actually wrote – rather than how what I write makes you feel.
I never used the word moron.
I never used the word idiot.
I never used the word “perfect” to describe FCP X.I’ll specifically refer you to this line in my original post: “Sure, they still have wants and preferences that X is not fully meeting.”
I think that fully addresses the type of thing you’re pointing out.
You’re a writer. So I have a presumption that you understand the meaning of the words people use.
So please give me the courtesy of discussing what I’ve ACTUALLY written – rather than what you think it means.I’d appreciate it.
Thanks.
Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery. -
[Steve Connor] “Told ya!”
I”m here to please!
; )Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery. -
[Michael Carter] “We REALLY need a function or separate app to import FCP6/7 projects. I have to keep a legacy machine running to export EDLs for X, and use a separate app? “
I dunno.. 7toX is 10 bucks an works perfectly most of the time. Yes, it’ll sometimes get a little screwy but it’s not bad. Ever try to save and FCP 7 sequence to Pr? MC? NLE’s don’t like talking to each other very much. 😉
And EDL-X makes arguably the best most versatile eels ever. I’ve moved sequences from other NLE’s to X just to use it. The amount of info you can include in a 40 year old format is incredible. And it gets updated much faster than the old FCP 7 tool which, when it was broken (which happened a couple times) you just need to wait for the whole suite to update.
[Michael Carter] “Give us a way to round trip, even semi-manually. If I have a 5 minute clip and I’m using 9 seconds of it, and those 9 seconds need to go to AE – let me export the trim with my choice of head & tail times.”
Could you ever RT to AE “elegantly” in FCP 7? Xsend to Motion is quite amazing if you use Motion… Maybe adobe should support fcpxml instead of the crappy old FCP 6 XML format. Don’t hold your breath…
[Michael Carter] “Let me keep stuff on tracks when needed. I’m really hating cutting up music to fit an edit and having pieces fly up into spaces in my voiceover and effects tracks. “
Yeah, lots of people have been asking for a way to have Roles “stick” together for ages… Hopefully Apple is listening… I just use secondaries and it’s fine. I’ve used DAW’s since before ProTools existed, and most major NLE’s made in the last 20+ years and I actually prefer editing audio in X despite the fact that things move around. Just my prefs though, and it could definitely be better…
[Michael Carter] “I should be able to double click a clip on the timeline and see where it came from in the clip, WITH TIMECODE for in & out points.”
he I/O timecode for a selected clip will show in the Inspector, and if you really wanna see it in context without leaving the timeline just right click and open it. Different, but the same.
[Michael Carter] “Free up the windows so we can put them where we want across multiple screens.”
Yeah, being able to save window layouts would be great. here’s hoping…
[Michael Carter] “Give us keyframable speed ramping with beziers. FCPX retiming often keeps me from needing AE, but it’s crude.”
Yeah, I kinda like the simplicity, but I can see room for improvement.
[Michael Carter] “Let me use my finder structure to import. I may have a dozen folders in the finder sidebar to speed up my access to media. When I want to import, that’s all gone and I have to dig through everything.”
Are you importing media to the Library? I always leave media in place and just drag folders in from the finder. they get converts to KW collections and it’a all the same as my Finder organization. Works just like any other NLE in that regard.
All that said, there are a lot of things about X that could be improved.Hopefully the next version of X will do just that… Some people may think X is perfect, but I’d bet that people at Apple don’t 🙂
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~ My FCPX Babbling blog ~
~\”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.\”~
~I still need to play Track Tetris sometimes. An old game that you can never win~
~\”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented\”~ -
I don’t, to a great extent, disagree. There’s something about the overall editing experience that’s very cool with FCPX.
Pretty much everything I mentioned has workarounds, with a few caveats. There’s nothing that will replace the precision of editing audio in 7, other than “just spend more time on the edit”. I really really feel that not having something like the “canvas” view, where I can see the timecode range of the clip I’m using – that’s pretty glaring and iMovie-ish. it’s like someone at Apple is saying “now why would you want to know that?”
And the worst one for me is the jumping tracks. In complex edits, It’s a big visual organizing tool to me to have a sense of “this stuff is up here at this level” (and man, I’m a visual thinker… even my tools are sorted more by shape than use).
Overall, I was pretty amazed how quickly X became 2nd nature – a matter of days. I still don’t have a solid idea of why I can’t move chunks of things around (cut out a 5 second clip, select everything past it, deselect the big gap placeholder on the main track, but you can’t slide all that stuff to the left in one move. Have to do bits and pieces and realign everything). Getting used to that but it does make for creative profanity.
Would love to hear jumping tracks workarounds that keep everything on screen editable without ‘clicking in’ to subclip types of things.
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