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Don’t mess with compound clips after 2am
Why I’m sharing my stupidity I don’t know. But late last night I duplicated a sequence and changed a bunch of animated graphics within compound clips to their spanish versions. Yup, I obliterated the english versions. Luckily only 5 graphics. I know better. I just don’t know better after 2am.
Perhaps a dialog box asking if I’d like to duplicate the compound clips and link to new parent clips would be a nice addition when you duplicate a sequence for versioning (or spanish)!
For those that don’t use compound clips much, don’t forget that even when you copy/paste or duplicate a project, the compounds still link to the same parent compound clip in the event. They don’t link to “nothing” like in 7 or even older versions of X. I should have selected each compound clip AFTER I duplicated the project, and BEFORE I edited them and selected Clip>Reference New Parent Clip. FCP X would’ve created a new compound in the event and linked to it instead. As well, f you have a compound inside a compound, you’ll have to do the same for those too if you plan on changing them. FCP X is exactly like AE in this regard.
I tend to forget in AE after 2am too. Both apps could use some little reminder or option when duplicating a sequence or comp.
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10 Replies
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Very useful reminder, Brett. Thanks!
FCP-X – it’s not just an NLE anymore – it’s a database too!
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The same thing has happened to me. Fortunately I was able to un-do back to my original edit. I have sent feedback to apple suggesting the same thing you mentioned of a reminder or other option to help during those late night sessions.
anickt
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[Nick Toth] “a reminder or other option to help during those late night sessions.”
I think after about 2AM, pretty much everything you do should cause an “are you sure you want to do this?” warning dialog to appear. 🙂
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~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~ -
[Charlie Austin] “I think after about 2AM, pretty much everything you do should cause an “are you sure you want to do this?” warning dialog to appear. 🙂
“I couldn’t agree more! Chasing away some embarrassing memories right now… Thank you for this this reminder, Bret.
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I think by default it should reference a new parent clip and have the option to make a global change. Or if not by default then at least by default between midnight and 9am.
Seriously how many times do you want to edit changes in a timeline you are not working on? I could see it coming in handy at times but more often not.
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV30/40, Sony Z7U, VX2000, PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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I had a similar post 2am mistake, like Nick I was able to undo the changes. Fortunately I still had the foresight to copy the elements from within the compound before undoing, to paste afterward, not losing any work.
I’d probably get more use from a before 2 PM “are you sure” warning, the way my schedule is. 🙂
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“I think after about 2AM, pretty much everything you do should cause an “are you sure you want to do this?” warning dialog to appear. :-)”
Yep, I’d still be single.
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Perhaps. But in Motion graphics (After Effects, Motion, etc.) you definitely want it to link to the same compound (composition). But generally in motion graphics everything you’re doing is focused on one singular output. Less reedits and versioning.
I liked how in FCP 1-7 (and FCP X until recently) compounds could work either way. For example, in legacy, if you dragged a nest (compound clip) from a bin and inserted it into multiple sequences, then you could always go back and edit the compound and it would update all the sequences. BUT, if you copied the sequence or duplicated the compound within the sequence it now lived on it’s own in the void, with no representation in the bin whatsoever. Changes to that compound did not affect the other instances. Most people wouldn’t ever drag the compound from the bin, so it only functioned this way if you knew what you were doing. It defaulted to the way most were wanting/expecting.
In previous X versions it was similar. You could create a compound IN the event and utilize it in multiple projects and they’d all be linked. But if you duplicated or sliced up the compound they were unlinked. The slicing part was the problem. Some like to slice up compounds like crazy for effects and such and their project sizes were getting huge since each slice duplicated the compound in memory.
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[Bret Williams] “In previous X versions it was similar. You could create a compound IN the event and utilize it in multiple projects and they’d all be linked. But if you duplicated or sliced up the compound they were unlinked”
That makes sense to me.
Easy enough to a have a pop up warning that an action will either apply or not apply to other instances. It would be really cool if it brought up a dialog box listing all uses of the compound and you could check the ones you wanted linked to the current change.
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV30/40, Sony Z7U, VX2000, PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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Absolutely – i couldn’t agree more.
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