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Can I do this?
Alright there’s a few things I do in Avid that I can’t seem to replicate in FCP. Before I go a little crazy – can you guys confirm that this stuff isn’t possible and perhaps suggest some other options?
Relinking Media
In Avid it’s not uncommon for me to relink clips or a sequence against other clips.Say the offline clip in my sequence is from Tape A003 and runs from 01:23:21:03 to 01:23:24:21 – if I have a clip on my system that is from that tape and runs 01:23:19:22 to 01:23:25:01 then Avid will relink that the clip in the sequence to that media.
This is especially practical in an online perspective when I’ve already captured a show and then I get a recut. I can simply relink that new sequence to my existing media and recapture anything it didn’t find.
In FCP I can relink if the clip name is the same (or if I can figure out what clip it should be) but if it doesn’t start and end on the same frame then the relink will not work.
Effect on Filler
In Avid if I wanted to apply an effect (say a colour effect, or a warp or something) to a whole section of the sequence I can add the effect to a blank track above the clips on the sequence and it applies to the video below it. I can’t see to emulate this on an FCP timeline.Sync Monitors
In Avid, when I am matching effects to an offline reference, I load the offline in the Source monitor, and sync-lock it with the Master. Then as I move through the timeline I can see what effects need to be added/adjusted to match the offline reference.That much I can do in FCP (the syncing) – however to edit or add an effect I have to load the clip from the timeline into the Source monitor, which then means I have to reload the offline, reset sync points and set the Sync lock again.
Can I edit the effects on a clip from the timeline without breaking the sync relationship between my sequence and the reference video? Something like the Effect Editor in Avid, or the ‘Effect’ property window in AE?
Crash Capture
This one really bothers me, because I am a huge proponent of accurate metadata.If I use ‘Capture Now’ in the capture tool, it does not see the Reel data on the captured clip, regardless of what I have in the log secion.
Those are my big questions at the moment.
My general comments are that Apple REALLY needs to do something about the basic input/output tool in FCP. When capturing I can’t see timecode, or any real information about what’s happening (no audio monitors, nothing). This is not so bad when capturing manually, but when doing batch capturing it’s totally unacceptable – I can’t see while in process what clip it’s capturing, what timecode it’s seeking or anything. It doesn’t even tell me until afterward that it skipped clips.
The same complaint applies to the output side of things – no feedback at all during edit to tape (which in a variety of situations for me aborts with ‘General Error’).
So, help me out here…
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9 Replies
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The short answer to your questions “You can’t”. The slightly longer one is you should file a feature request with Apple. Since 1999 the addition of new features real editors need and fixing the bugs real editors encounter happened pretty much only when many real editors pestered, bothered and nagged Apple for months.
You problem with editing effect breaking ganging would be fixed if all Viewers you can open in FCP were “blessed”, meaning you could open the reference clip in a new Viewer, set it to Gang, and at the same time set the old Viewer to open. Now all the additional Viewers in FCP are crippled and only the first one is full-featured. I’ve been asking for more “blessed” Viewers since FCP2.
I honestly don’t want to see an “avidism” like filler or effect on an empty track in FCP but I would like to see an easier way to un-nest items on the timeline and that would solve you problem with the same effect across multiple clips. That was requested by some editors too.
Below is Log&Capture feature request I filed a couple of years ago:
First of all get rid of that pseudo-overlay that pops up when you capture. It’s a shame. Simply make data entry fields non-editable like the Name field during capture. They still must be “live” though – during batch capture Current, Duration, In, Out et al must reflect the parameters of the clip being captured. During Capture Now In should reflect the starting TC and Duration should be calculated on the fly.
Add the equivalent of CHAR ON switch found on professional VTR’s to the Log And Capture window. Overlay incoming video with current TC, Cueing source material, Capturing… text in BIG BOLD TYPE so it’s clearly visible when you glance at the screen from across the room. That’s where an editor or assistant is often happen to be during long batches. Make “time data” and “time data & status” selectable. Make “On video”, “On black” and “Separate Window” options.
Allow Markers during capture. This must’ve been there from the beginning.
Enable Marker shortcuts during logging. Next Marker, Previous Marker, Edit Marker, Delete Marker must work in Log and Capture just like in the Viewer or Canvas.Enable editing from Log and Capture to the Timeline. F9, F10 should insert, overwrite into the sequence current clip in the L&C window as an offline clip. With modifier (Option?) they should perform edit and start capturing media.
Add Eject command. Both button and ejecting after all clips on a tape are captured.
As for relinking to the file of different length I see the value of such feature and if you start a petition I’d join. There used to be an annual Top 10 FCP feature requests poll here on the Cow and there is a dedicated FCP feature request forum on 2-pop too.
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If you look at the top of both the Viewer (Source) & Canvas (Record) windows, you’ll see 3 oval buttons. The middle one is for “ganging” If you set it to “Open”, anytime you stop the playhead it will automatically open whatever clip is on the lowest autoselected track in your timeline in the Viewer.
Also, your reel name & clip name should be recorded when you crash capture. You need to input them into the capture window first, before you clip the “Capture Now” button.
Arnie
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Yeah it’s some of the basic stuff that bothers me the most. I personally don’t like the method of having effect editor in the viewer, I’d much rather have it as a separate panel, it seems more flexible. I can’t think offhand if Avid can hold sync separately between multiple monitors, but I believe it can. If FCP could do that, it would be an adequate solution, as I could load my reference in a supplemental viewer, and gang that with the sequence viewer. However I’ve tried that and had no luck. It breaks sync when opening a clip into the source viewer to edit the effects.
As for the ‘Avidism’ of effects on filler… It was very counter intuitive when I first started using it (I’d only used Premiere and FCP when I first started learning Avid) but I’ve since found it very practical and often a lot easier than nesting (or collapsing in Avid) to apply the effect.
The capturing situation is a joke. Of all the NLEs I’ve used FCP has the worst capture interface. It hasn’t changed since I first used FCP about 8 years ago (when I didn’t know to expect any better).
I assume the FCP developers have a few copies of Avid Xpress and Media Composer at their disposal – they really should look closer at some of the basics of those products.
As for the relinking – The reason that this is impossible in FCP, as far as I can determine, is that FCP has no real media management to speak of. It’s come from roots where things like tape numbers and timecode were unimportant, or not even there. While the metadata is supported now, it’s not given any level of priority. Media in FCP is still managed in a very simple way.
As futile as it might be to call for, I really think FCP needs to re-evaluate how it manages and tracks media. It should maintain some sort of media database and value meta information (timecode and reel primarily) more highly in determinations of media relationships.
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In my circumstance I have a sequence from Avid imported with Automatic Duck – so it brings trough various effect information with differing levels of accuracy. Part of the process I have to go through is going down the timeline and visually matching the parameters of the effects that haven’t translated accurately.
To do this I take a clip of the offline (exported from offline, or captured from a reference layback) and load it in the source viewer. I then gang the sequence and source viewers together and move along the timeline comparing the versions (in Avid this is made even easier by being able to hit ‘Esc’ to switch monitor focus and switch the output on the client monitor easily to compare).
When I find a clip that needs changing, I double click on the effect in the timeline to edit it, which brings it up in the source viewer. When I do that I lose the reference clip, and also the gang sync relationship.
I can load the reference in a separate viewer, but I can’t gang it to the sequence monitor without the source viewer also becoming ganged, which then breaks sync when I edit the effects in there.
As for the capturing – I will have to check the exact the circumstances, but in my experience it wasn’t recording the reel number (regardless of what was in the log window).
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[Dylan Reeve] “(in Avid this is made even easier by being able to hit ‘Esc’ to switch monitor focus and switch the output on the client monitor easily to compare”
Q toggles between Viewer and Canvas. The output to the video monitor switches along.
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[Dylan Reeve] “I personally don’t like the method of having effect editor in the viewer, I’d much rather have it as a separate panel, it seems more flexible.”
I personally don’t want to see FCP interface turning into a loose collection of poorly integrated modules like Avid interface has become over the years. The effects tab in FCP can be torn apart from the Viewer and either left floating or docked to the timeline. What’s really needed is making it stay there you put it until you drag it back. The feature is there, it’s just not finished.
[Dylan Reeve] “As for the relinking – The reason that this is impossible in FCP, as far as I can determine, is that FCP has no real media management to speak of. It’s come from roots where things like tape numbers and timecode were unimportant, or not even there. While the metadata is supported now, it’s not given any level of priority. Media in FCP is still managed in a very simple way. “
That didn’t stop FCP team from building conform changes into Soundtrack Pro. TC and Reel metadata stored both in the FCP project and in the QT file itself. QT metadata available to the apps via relatively clean and modern API. That’s good enough ground to build a robust MM on.
Again, feedback Apple was getting about media management in FCP all these years was “Fix the damn Media Mangler!” randomly popping up on the forums. It wasn’t “Make FCP able to reconnect based on Reel and TC metadata instead of file name and length” with a few dozens names signed below.
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Thanks for the tips everyone. When you learn FCP in the heat of battle, you don’t get all the detail that you would if you had the time to slog through a book or a tutorial. These tips help to fill in the missing know-how.
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[Michael Aranyshev] “personally don’t want to see FCP interface turning into a loose collection of poorly integrated modules like Avid interface has become over the years. The effects tab in FCP can be torn apart from the Viewer and either left floating or docked to the timeline. What’s really needed is making it stay there you put it until you drag it back. The feature is there, it’s just not finished.”
I don’t find the Avid interface to be particularly poorly integrated… But that’s neither here nor there I guess.
It did occur to me that the effects tab could be torn free, but I assume it still won’t apply to a clip until it’s loaded in the Viewer? In which case it won’t make a lot of difference in my situation.
[Michael Aranyshev] “Again, feedback Apple was getting about media management in FCP all these years was “Fix the damn Media Mangler!” randomly popping up on the forums. It wasn’t “Make FCP able to reconnect based on Reel and TC metadata instead of file name and length” with a few dozens names signed below.”
Yeah… I suppose so. To me that sort of thing just seems like fundamental media management functionality. I still find the overall paradigm of media in FCP to be hugely clunky. Avid’s system, while it seems pretty difficult at first blush is actually really really solid. I think there is room for a middle ground for FCP.
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[Dylan Reeve] “don’t find the Avid interface to be particularly poorly integrated… But that’s neither here nor there I guess. “
A separate application just for importing an EDL that defaults to CMX340 and doesn’t tell you what it defaults to, doesn’t ask you to choose EDL format on import, doesn’t warn you that you’re importing the wrong format and hides the format setting in the last line of the last menu? OK, it’s been a few years since I used it so they might’ve changed it.
[Dylan Reeve] “It did occur to me that the effects tab could be torn free, but I assume it still won’t apply to a clip until it’s loaded in the Viewer?”
Correct. Sync set to Open will load the current clip from timeline in the Viewer. The problem is as soon as you go to the next clip the effect tab snaps back to the Viewer.
[Dylan Reeve] ” To me that sort of thing just seems like fundamental media management functionality. I still find the overall paradigm of media in FCP to be hugely clunky. “
“Clunky” was the right word back in QT 4 times. With current version of QT reconnect based on TC and Reel info is possible. You just have to ask for it very loud.
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