2 Compound Clip Questions

[Noah Kadner]

Performance is not really the point- they are used for streamlining visual organization on a timeline- like nesting. Anything that needs rendering will still need rendering within a Compound Clip.

Noah

FCPWORKS – FCPX Workflow
FCP eXchange – FCPX Workshops

[Andy Neil]

[Adam Berch] “Does a Compound Clip play better or smoother in a a timeline than a non-compounded clip?”

Neither. In the early days, edits within compound clips could cause the project file to balloon in size (even add edits) which in turn, could cause playback issues. These days however, I think they’ve fixed a lot of those performance issues. Compounds are used to combine elements for ease of use (like a multilayered sfx that you want to use in more than one place).

[Adam Berch] “If I make a Compound Clip from clips that have effects on them and I have not rendered them yet, and take that Compound Clip and Copy and Paste it onto another timeline, will that Compound Clip render all of the effects?”

No. Effects remain unrendered until you render them or allow background rendering to happen. Even effects inside compounds.

Andy

https://plus.google.com/u/0/107277729326633563425/videos

[Bret Williams]

I only use compounds for compositing and animation. Much like you would in After Effects. Generally try to avoid making a compound because things are then hidden and access to anything is only available by opening the compound out of context with the elements around it. I kinda wish they’d take a page from Avid where you have the additional option to open the nest right in your timeline. It would open up like key framing does.

[Jeff Kirkland]

I use compound clips a lot. Like Bret, I use them for compositing but I also use them as a way of making a quick snapshot of just a small part of a timeline and I always put music tracks, and sometimes temp graphics, inside a compound clip because then I just need to change the contents of the compound clip to globally replace the media in the project.

I think most issues happen when the nesting goes too deep. I try not to put compound clips inside compound clips if I can avoid it but you can probably go two or three levels deep without much of an issue. It’s more that it gets confusing than any performance problem.

Anyway, compound clips aren’t something to avoid – they are a really useful tool as long as you don’t overdo it.

Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer | Southern Creative Media | Melbourne Australia
http://www.southerncreative.com.au | G+: https://gplus.to/jeffkirkland | Twitter: @jeffkirkland