-
10 Things Steve Martin wants in FCP X
-
[Bill Davis] “[Shane Ross] “Wow…some of those are so basic, and are not only in other professional NLEs…but were also already doable in FCP 7. So they stepped back on functionality. Guess they didn’t realize that professional editors needed those things? Some seem like huge oversights…like audio crossfades and markers. So basic
Shane
Little Frog Post”Shane,
If you want to take the “glass half empty” traditional approach, then absolutely. All of these are accurate. On the other hand, if you realize that Apple poured a fully functioning database, range based key wording, magnetism for assembly speed, a planetary class multi-cam system, the ability to work in one rez, then swap pointers to other resolutions nearly instantly with a click – and the hundreds of other large and small advancements that Randy U built into X after rethinking things he perviously created for Premier and FCP Legacy before X – then YEP, these things are “missing” in X.
And many of us barely miss them.”
Bill:
I agree with you on most of what you are saying but I respectfully have to disagree with you on a few points. Sometimes it is the small stuff that counts. Having the ability to adjust the opacity or audio level in the timeline is nice and I consider it a time saver. I am also in complete agreement with what Steve Martin says.
I do like FCP X and how much it has developed into something nice. I just don’t like seeing some of the basic functionality being done away with.
One area where FCP X has really excelled since 10.1.2 is media management. On the other hand, key framing and trimming is a weak point with FCP X, really want to see that addressed.
One thing that was not in the list, so this will be considered a “bonus”, if you will would be a storyboard edit. You could do a quick rough cut by simply arranging the clips in the order you wish and then drag them into the viewer (canvas in prior versions). Why this feature went missing is a mystery to me.
Just sharing my opinions and thoughts.
camera operator | editor | production assistant
Remember kids, tracks are you friends when you charge by the hour. Track Tetris, game on!
-
[Bill Davis] “If for the rest of time, I got NONE of the things on Steve’s list (valid as is surely is) back – I’d still fight tooth and nail anyone who wanted to take away the things that X does do for the speed and efficiency of my daily editing practice.
The “glass” in X might look half full to some. But I kinda see it as a glass that’s overflowed five or six times, and the fact that it’s not full to the brim right now simply allows Apple to add more juicy goodness from the pitcher later!
And so it goes.”
Hard to take you seriously when you make statements like this
-
The interesting thing to me is that FCP X is no longer “new” software- it is three years old. So those that say it just takes a while to add back basic features which were present in FCP 7…really?
-
[David Mathis] “key framing is a weak point with FCP X”
I posted this below in reply to herb about another thing – but feast your eyes and weep your tears on this baby.
also the text tool is insanely over-engineered? there are three kitchen sinks in there – but one interesting side effect is that –
if you’ve already set keyframes for position drift, you can effectively re-position the entire keyframe animation as a live selectable object from inside the title tool.super nice thing that. the equivalent of selecting all positional keyframes in AE. (Which you cannot do in ppro, first thing I tried).
basically though (bar roving keyframes), they went with full AE 5.5 style keyframing in that baby – tiny bit savage really…
https://vimeo.com/user1590967/videos http://www.ogallchoir.net promo producer/editor.grading/motion graphics
-
Thanks for posting. I have always felt key framing in AE is very nice, like having those jolly expressions, too, but do not feel like “renting” those tools.
-
hey come on – there is always good boundless yank optimism – recently ground into ryder cup dust under the mighty boot of Europe mind you.
Seriously – how good was that tho? Monstered them.
https://vimeo.com/user1590967/videos http://www.ogallchoir.net promo producer/editor.grading/motion graphics
-
Well, those tools weren’t in iMovie. And whether they actually ported the code from iMovie or started with the code from iMoive, the blatantly obvious fact was that their first aim was feature parity with iMove for compatibility, and then they began to add back in other standard pro nle features. But, along the way things get sidetracked.
Had Apple actually decided to write a new NLE from scratch, not taking into account compatibility with iMovie, things would’ve been different for sure.
-
I think Bill’s glass is full of Kool-Aid.
-
Me neither – but I’m on it for a year. it’s incredible how quickly it gums up the works – I cant send ppro stuff to anything but CC AE, and backstepping AE CC 14 projects to AE CS6 is a two step song and dance.
the only thing left right now on the dock is ppro. There are rumours they’re going to make a deadly serious argument for CC AE in the near future, but right now I’ve walled off everything but CC PPro. Which I do quite seriously like tbh.
https://vimeo.com/user1590967/videos http://www.ogallchoir.net promo producer/editor.grading/motion graphics
-
[Aindreas Gallagher] “the only thing left right now on the dock is ppro. There are rumours they’re going to make a deadly serious argument for CC AE in the near future, but right now I’ve walled off everything but CC PPro. Which I do quite seriously like tbh.”
I wonder if this is partly a response to Blackmagic Design acquiring Fusion by any chance. I mean, that software just looks powerful and from what I have been told the learning curve is not too steep. Flip side of coin, not something I would use for motion graphics work due to the nature of working with a node based structure.
Having the Dynamic Link feature is of huge benefit and is more powerful then the “Send To Motion” which has vanished into the night. Then, on the other hand, being able to cook from scratch, ready made transitions, generators, effects, and titles in Motion is pretty darned sweet. That is why I really enjoy working with Motion, plus a solid tool for a mere $50, not bad.
I am now eying Resolve as a possible alternative to FCP X as an NLE but there still is room for improvement. After all Rome was not built in a day.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up