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A Question for Working Professional Editors Using FCPX.
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[Oliver Peters] “[Bill Davis] “You can also use Hodgetts Event Manager X or just move a project out of the Event Library via the finder. ”
Yes, I know. Essentially, what I’m asking for is that same functionality actually built into the application.”
Just my opinion (obviously) but given what I see of the interface and interaction, I expect this is coming but maybe not in the way you are thinking. I may be a separate function, possibly as part of the OS and its SAN control. The more I look FCPX and its development to more I think that some functions aren’t there yet because they will coincide with something else being developed. I can share some of my speculation but that might take this off topic.
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“I expect this is coming but maybe not in the way you are thinking.”
I take that as a given! ;-). In the Apple meetings, they were quite clear that the 4 bullet point features mentioned would not be the only enhancements. Clearly, I would expect that they do have some plans to address these concerns. Obviously adding dual viewers (to be defined) was likely in response to concerns and requests.
Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
Just to be clear, in the Project Library all the alternates are there.
If you’re loading them in to the timeline and using the arrow forward/back function, that’s awkward and probably unnecessary.
I just go to the Client folder in the Project Library and play the different sequence. If the client wants to go forward with one of them, that’s the one I load. -
[Oliver Peters] “Obviously adding dual viewers (to be defined) was likely in response to concerns and requests.”
But I think multicam laid the foundation for that. Sometimes I think what seems to be non linear progress for the end user, has to do with what they feel is the easiest road for the developer. As certain things develop they can get to forks in the road where certain direction can me made.
One thing that peeved me for example is that they continued an issue that I had with FCP7 and, given the lack of dual monitors, became and even bigger issue in X. You get the 2-up if you trim in the timeline using the mouse. You do not get it if you use the keyboard.
My own guess is that Dual Viewer will still not be the same as source/record or player/canvas. It will be contextual. My understanding is that Apple said (implied, i’m inferring?) that it would be “better” so I think that means “different.” One method might be using a modifier key. It might be like skimming in which the S key and enable/disable as needed.
I’d bet they’re going to bring back ganging as well since this is obviously implemented in multicam.
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[Oliver Peters] ” It’s volume-based, but the volumes are partitioned by room: Edit 1, 2, 3, 4. Plus they have FC Server, which has its own partition. As with most such installations, each room has read/write permission to its volume and read-only to the others.”
OK, so you’re good then, right? If you install FCPX, then each bay can use as many SAN Locations as they need in their bay. Also, since FCPX can reference .movs, the media can reside any any partition, just the Event/Project will be on any particular bay’s partition.
[Oliver Peters] “Ignoring FC Server in this discussion – a whole different problem – I’m looking at the best way to make the system work with X in a way that is viable for multiple editors and clients. Creating SAN partitions by client requires some administrator level interaction on a regular basis, which is something I’d like to avoid.”
It’s not a SAN partition, though, it’s a SAN Location, which is a folder. You can mount as many SAN Locations in FCPX as you want. Here’s a grab with four different SAN Locations. Our SAN is just a wad of storage, so everyone has access to everything, but we all like each other and communicate well:
This means that any SAN location can be mounted on any machine.
I know it is far from perfect, but I must say that doesn’t this capability surpass FCP7 in which you can get yourself in to a lot of trouble without a bunch of admin juju? There’s not much to do but add a Location, and it’s actually built in to X. I know that it’s not available for local storage, and maybe it should be, but EVM takes care of this pretty well for very cheap.
[Oliver Peters] ”
[Jeremy Garchow] “Reliability is still up for grabs. It remains kinda weird. Backup early and often.”My biggest concern. Much more of an issue for me than any missing features.”
Totally agree. Without reliability, you have nothing.
[Oliver Peters] “Hmm… MC 6 with a Kona or Decklink is pretty darn seamless. Switch projects with different formats and the cards automatically follow. No view settings to correct like in FCP 7. I like the versatility with FCP 7, but AV sync and latency has always been an issue, so I really welcome the tight integration Avid has done with these folks. I hope Adobe’s Mercury Transmit in CS6 will work as well.”
Yes, but you still can’t go from 23.98 to 29.97 like you can in FCP7, right? I use that feature all the time. Avid’s tape capture/accuracy is truly the gold standard. No argument there.
I hope Transmit delivers the goods as well, time will tell.
Jeremy
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[Aindreas Gallagher] “the things that freak me out as a goggling half observer are: incidents of project corruption, incidents of event corruption, autosave fails, project bloat, and a possibly incorrect approach to the database substructure itself. Some people on here really know what the FCPX database is made of, there were discussions, I don’t recall them being cut and dried.”
The Project and Event database files are CoreData-based and leverage SQLite (one of the persistent data stores that CoreData can address). So there is some OS-level stuff that could be to blame for the problems we’ve seen reported, or it could be app-level stuff incorrectly calling CoreData. Or both. Only the dev team could know.
One thing I find really interesting is that Lion added a new CoreData class (NSIncrementalStore) that looks like it could be used to point FCPX at shared Events and even shared Projects on a shared database like a SQL server.
Best,
Andy -
[Bill Davis] “I agree that if you’re in a “facility” environment, then the central storage mode is less useful in X than in other software.
“[Bill Davis] “Yes it’s currently best for individual and small group video creators. But the foundational structures are there to let it grow into much, much more.”
That’s not how Jeremy describes, fyi. Each folder on a SAN is its own event, if you choose to mount it. Once that folder becomes an event, no other editor can open it…unless they duplicate it first via finder.
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[Richard Herd] “That’s not how Jeremy describes, fyi. Each folder on a SAN is its own event, if you choose to mount it. Once that folder becomes an event, no other editor can open it…unless they duplicate it first via finder.”
True, but if comparing to FCP7, it’s the exact same workflow.
You can have multiple Events/Proejcts in each SAN Location.
You can have multiple SAN Locations open at the same time (on one machine).
If you need to open a Location on another machine, you simply release it from the current machine, and the other machine adds the Location. You don’t have to do anything in the Finder.
Media does not need to reside within the Event which means that you can have a pool of media that everyone pulls from (must be .mov at this time) so the only thing you are duplicating are the small reference files, and any render files, but this is true of any collaborative environment.
With a lot of aspects of FCPX, it could be better, but at least the foundation is there which in my opinion, speaks to future uses and capability.
Jeremy
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Event, Project etc.. fails?
Who having that? But if it does or not realty is it is all data on a computer so anything can fail.
if you are not prepared for that well I guess you haven’t that much experience right?I can’t complain about any speed issues but it would be nice to have a option to clear out the RAM.
ONe thing I hate about After Effects on Windows… yuk. -
[Craig Seeman] “My own guess is that Dual Viewer will still not be the same as source/record or player/canvas….
…..My understanding is that Apple said (implied, i’m inferring?) that it would be “better” so I think that means “different.”That’s basically what Apple said to me.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com
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