A list of FCP X frustrations…

[Don Smith]

As for the Magnetic Timeline… While I still have a nit or two about it I myself I could never go back to 7 or any track-based NLE for that matter. Just couldn’t.

As for your audio clips connected to the wrong things I have a couple of suggestions…

I, and many others, will use the primary storyline for the ‘spine’ of the edit. If all is based on one or more audio clips then make those audio clips your primary storyline and connect relevant video to the audio it represents. That way, move the audio and the right video will always move with it and keep everything organized.

Or…

Know that there are ways to approach your issues… For one, holding the Option and Command keys while you click on a connected clip will move its connection point. When I’m in that position I’ll connect a connected clip to another spot, possibly a clip that won’t be changing, to get my edit done.

Also know that you can override a connection. The grave (gr-AH-ve) key will invoke a yellow circle with a connection icon in black. Looks like a 7th Cav patch to me. While the Override Connection key is enabled you can move a clip in the primary storyline without dragging along any clips connected to it. There’s a trick to keeping the Override Connection key in effect. Press the grave key (that’s the key to the left of the ONE key on the top row at the far left) and while holding it down press the Command key, then release the grave key first followed by the Command key. I call it a ‘rocking’ motion. With the 7th Cav patch visible hold the T key and click and drag within a clip in the primary story line and you’ll slip the video within that clip without influencing any connected clip.

Also, don’t forget the Position key – ‘P’. It sort of takes you back to acting like a track-based editor.

That’s all for today but I’ll leave you with my absolute dedication to FCPX. I sometimes have to deal with 7 and I just cringe over how it feels like a buggy whip. Just out of its time.

NewsVideo.com

[Quintus Lubbe]

Thanks, Don. I’ll give that a try. Think it takes some getting used to though and I’m not always sure that it is necessary to have clips above or below the primary storyline connected to clips in the primary. It would be great if you could choose when you wanted this functionality and when not. Glue some of the clips but not others.

[Trevor Asquerthian]

[Quintus Lubbe] “When I need to cut a montage and have to time music very specifically to the edit I often cut up a track to suit a certain duration. But I’ve found that when I cut up my track the second (third, fourth) part of the track is connected to a different clip in the primary storyline than the first. When I then start shifting clips around and adjusting clip durations, because the music is attached to different clips my track edit slips out of sync and I have to go back and adjust the music edit again.”

I asked a similar question here .

Mostly you need to put the music in a compound secondary storyline I think.

Whilst you can edit audio into the primary storyline, if you move it out to a secondary you can’t put it back into the primary.

[Quintus Lubbe] “I also keep fighting a battle between the skimmer and the needle in the timeline. The default seems to be that a cut is made where the skimmer head lies and because I’m doing a fine edit on the timeline using JKL and the arrow keys, which move the playhead needle, I keep having to undo cuts as they’re made where my mouse is lying on the timeline, i.e. The skimming needle.”

For this I think you need to get into turning skimming off and on in the timeline as you need it.

[Paul Figgiani]

Quintus,

Re. #4 – You mean something like this? …

… and then Collapse Audio? This works for me here. That crossfade is retained after I collapse.

-paul.

[Quintus Lubbe]

Hi, Paul

Yes that’s it! Didn’t realize it kept the xfade as visually it looks like it just disappears.

Thanks very much!

[Paul Figgiani]

[Quintus Lubbe] ” Re: A list of FCP X frustrations…
by Quintus Lubbe on Jan 24, 2014 at 2:03:13 pm

Hi, Paul

Yes that’s it! Didn’t realize it kept the xfade as visually it looks like it just disappears.

Thanks very much!”

Cool. Glad it worked out. And don’t forget in 10.1 you can now roll the audio of adjoining clips independent of their associated video.

-paul.

[Quintus Lubbe]

Hi, Trevor

[Trevor Asquerthian] “Mostly you need to put the music in a compound secondary storyline I think.”

I put this as a suggestion in my original post, but what if you then needed to edit the music in the compound clip. Wouldn’t that mean going back and forth between the compound clip and the original timeline. Eesh…

[Trevor Asquerthian] “For this I think you need to get into turning skimming off and on in the timeline as you need it.”

I hear you. I’ve spent the whole day hitting “s” only after making the cut, hitting “cmd z” and making the cut again!
Problem I find with using only the playback needle is that there’s no audio scrubbing. I tend to rely on audio scrubbing in the timeline quite a bit and am a bit lost without it otherwise I would turn skimming off in the timeline altogether.

Thanks for the suggestions though!

[Andy Neil]

1) You don’t need a compound or separate connected clips. Just put the song into a secondary storyline. It acts similar to the primary storyline allowing you to continue to make edits to the music (audio) without opening a separate timeline (as in the case with compound clips). There is only one connection point for the secondary storyline.

Also, as others have stated, holding the tilde (or grave key) will suspend connections to allow you to swap clips in the primary without moving connected clips.

2) Skimmer takes some time to get used to. What I tend to do (aside from turning it on an off) is get in the habit of moving the mouse out of the timeline to the middle bar section when switching to JKL editing. I just do it unconsciously these days so I don’t accidentally edit to the skimmer.

3) The list view clip view can be made longer by increasing the size of the event browser. This is much better with a 2 monitor set up, but I do what I can to get that strip as large as I can because I hate the the icon view too. A lot of times I just use JKL in the event browser if I have a longer clip as it seems a little easier. CMD+1 activates the event browser.

4) As others have said, it’s just visually hiding the edit, the fade still works. I would suggest that if this is something you do a lot, map the Expand All and Collapse All Clips shortcuts to your keyboard shortcuts. It’ll help you out (at least the Collapse All).

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Brett Sherman]

The way I work with music generally is I put it in a secondary storyline. I find it much better than the traditional way of editing music with FCP 7 because when you slide or adjust timing slightly it doesn’t screw up your video track. And if your video is just a second short to make it to a music edit it’s easy to add time to the video without altering your audio edits.

The one drawback is that an edit towards the beginning of a secondary storyline will change timing later on. In cases, where I want an exact section of music at an exact point, I’ll make a second secondary storyline so it stays locked to the video at that point.

With magnetic or non-magnetic there is always problem solving that goes on to get music to work with the edits whenever you make a change. I’d come down on the side of saying that magnetic makes it slightly easier. But it’s pretty much a wash.

[Paul Figgiani]

[Andy Neil] “Re: A list of FCP X frustrations…
by Andy Neil on Jan 24, 2014 at 3:11:43 pm

4) As others have said, it’s just visually hiding the edit, the fade still works. I would suggest that if this is something you do a lot, map the Expand All and Collapse All Clips shortcuts to your keyboard shortcuts. It’ll help you out (at least the Collapse All).

Andy”

Good tip, Andy. I use (⌃ ⌥ S) to expand all selected clips, or with no selection – what ever clip the played is parked over.

-paul.