Custom workspace in FCPX

[Oliver Peters]

Andrew,

Since you can resize the primary display and you can rearrange workspaces, here are two options. It is also possible to change which is primary through your system display preferences. So the left or right image can be reversed from what you see here, if your OS menu is on the left screen.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com

[Andrew Johnstone]

Sorry I have ignore this thread as I have been shooting and away on me hols…

The reason I am using FCPX is that I rough cut the film in my studio, then take it in to the client for a final cut with one of the in house film editors. This is a workflow I have used successfully for years with FCP7. FCPX leaves me cold. I posted a Q and some ‘statements’ on another thread yesterday about how I feel about the app.

After that I got stuck into my third project on FCPX. On this one I shot Sony Slog and I have about 2 hours worth of rushes so far , plus GoPor clips and some diary cam.

What i have learned about FCPX is that while it says it can handle any media, it actually can’t and it converts everything into ProRes for the edit. I have tried ‘leaving files in place’ but if the files are inside a Sony Card file format the app won;t have it and they have to be ingested. On my previous film I struggled with P2 files and I have a colleague who struggled with Canon log files. The net result was to use Edit Ready from Divergent to transcode everything and/or to ingest into the library. As a reult my library folder on this new project is over 400mb in size.

So there is no benefit in using FCPX over 7 in terms of data storage. What i can say is that once everything is in a format that FCXP likes, it is quick on it’s feet and colour grading Slog on the fly is very fast.

BUT…I still have significant issues with the app. Window layout droves me nuts but I have a solution now. The app still does not remember I have a dual screen though and each time I open it I have manually move things from my main display to the external monitor.

As for the other issues I have with the programme….I will not mention them here, but they are legion…

Thanks for all you helpe on the layout thing. And yes you cannot lay the edit windows out as you would like. WTF???!

Andy

Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com

[Joe Marler]

[Andrew Johnstone] “What i have learned about FCPX is that while it says it can handle any media, it actually can’t and it converts everything into ProRes for the edit. I have tried ‘leaving files in place’ but if the files are inside a Sony Card file format the app won;t have it and they have to be ingested. “

FCPX can handle Sony XAVC-S and many other formats without transcoding. What you’re describing is not conversion to ProRes but re-wrapping and copying to the library or designated media folder. I haven’t throughly tested XAVC-L or XAVC-I, but for XAVC-S, I imported 12 terabytes of documentary content using “leave files in place” without re-wrapping or transcoding. It worked fine.

The problem is you must copy the video files out of the card folder before doing the import. We do that anyway in the field during offloading. We also rename all the files, appending a globally unique serial number.

It is considered poor form to copy the media files out of the folder because of the risk some metadata files might be needed. For AVCHD this should never be done due to an I/O performance issue in FCPX. However with XAVC-S it works fine. For other formats, I don’t know.

[Michael Hancock]

[Joe Marler] “The problem is you must copy the video files out of the card folder before doing the import. “

You can also navigate to the MXF or .mp4 files (depending on the camera you have) at the finder level and drag them in, bypassing the Import window, which allows you to Leave Files in Place without having to break apart the folder structure. This works for a handful of cameras.

—————-
Michael Hancock
Editor

[Andrew Johnstone]

[Michael Hancock] ”
You can also navigate to the MXF or .mp4 files (depending on the camera you have) at the finder level and drag them in, bypassing the Import window, which allows you to Leave Files in Place without having to break apart the folder structure. This works for a handful of cameras.”

Yes, but I am not sure that this then brings in any/all meta data for the clips that are stored in the native file structure of whatever format you’re using. P2 saves audio files in its own little folder in the camera file and so the only way to get this into the system was to convert the rushes to ProRes.

The other clips that we had issues with were from JVC Enviro (11?? I think that is what it was called) handy cam that we have given to one of the contributors for use as a diary camera. Again the file structure meant that FCPX would not play with it, so again it had to be transcoded.

It is easier to work with the app once you have discovered that for all its whizz bang claims, it is not as clever as it thinks it is or as Apple would like it to be.

Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com

[Andrew Johnstone]

Thanks Oliver and thanks all for comments on this thread.

I have settled into a way of working with FCPX that works, but still leaves me tearing my hair out over certain issues with this app.

I have a working layout now that is fine, if inflexible. My 24″ studio monitor is running the edit windows and timeline (or whatever it is called now)

My Right hand screen (main iMac screen) is for all my bins. I find, because I can’t scrub through clips in the viewer window, the most useful layout is to have the clips as a list, with the long preview window at the top of the list.

My script is running on my laptop and I can swing my mic (on a pivoting arm thing) down to record guide VO. Doing this is a lot easier now as this weekend I rebuilt my studio desk, replacing my old desk with a built in 2m wide workstation, “custom designed by a master-craftsman” (errr….me!)

What drives me potty is that even though this workspace is saved on my system and I am the only person using this machine, FCPX does not re-open at the start if the day with the workspace laid out properly and I have to manually drag one of the windows on to the LH monitor and then drag it to size. Anyway, when I have completed this house keeping at the start of the day things work well.

Someone mentioned that FCPX does not transcode, but ‘re-wraps’ data and stuffs it in the library. I would say ‘semantics’ – the bottom line in that the app likes to deal with data in its favourite flavour and It’s ProRes. When you have everything ingested, it flies through the work in a way that Premier struggles as it is managing data on the fly. Premier requires a much more powerful machine. I can’t grade in Premier on my system (2013 iMac) but grading my S-Log Sony FS7 rushes in FCPX works fine. The machine stutters form time to time, but that is mainly because it is pulling data from my Gtech thunderbolt project drive.

So on balance, speedy working (once you have done your ingesting and housekeeping) in FCPX is good. Where the system falls down is in the crappy way editing is implemented. All this guff about the magnetic timeline is just so much guff. Premier has a magnetic timeline that is so much better than FCPx because you can ignore it when you want to, there is still a ‘track tool’ that enables you to move everythign down the time line if you need to open up space (rather then the very clunky ‘insert gap’ tool in FCPX. Better yet, when you place a clip into the timeline in Premier the rest of the media stays where you want it to stay rather then hopping all over the place and requiring you to make adjustments. In FCPX I have yet to find out how to do a simple three point edit.

Premier maintains all the elegant simplicity of a classic NLE with simple tools like being able to add an audio fade between two clips by simply highlighting the edit, hitting ctrl+Click and selecting ‘apply default transition’ to the edit. The FCPX solution requires, detaching audio and applying a video transition (or one solution is ‘buy a plug in’…..agggggh! Third party/User created plugins…! Don’t get me started!) etc…Now try to relink the audio clip with the video clip…

The way FCPX keeps audio all pegged together is quite clever, but trying to pick up the fade handles on the ends of audio clips is really annoying and of course the is no Pen tool for quick key framing (Cmd+K on the highlighted clip with the playhead). Grrrrr!

I have managed to get to a point when I can cut a film on this system and I am over the major bumps in the road. That major bump was accepting the fact that it is not a clever as it thinks it is…

Andy

Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com

[Joe Marler]

[Andrew Johnstone] “I can’t scrub through clips in the viewer window, the most useful layout is to have the clips as a list, with the long preview window at the top of the list…

FCPX does not require you load one clip at a time into a source monitor to scrub. It uses a different conceptual model. The skimmer lets you rapidly scrub through any clip in the Event Browser. Normally there’s a single viewer which auto-switches between the timeline and Event Browser display, but you can toggle on/off separate displays with CTRL+CMD+3.

In the Event Browser, there are pros and cons to filmstrip mode vs. list mode. Unlike “hover scrub” in Premiere, the FCPX skimmer is extremely high performance and can display the skimmed clips in the viewer. You can use JKL to skim from one clip to the next in filmstrip mode, if View>Browser>Continuous Playback is enabled.

The overall concept is you rapidly skim through clips in the Event Browser, mark favorites, rejects, and keywords — based on *ranges*, not clips, then switch the filter to “Hide Rejected” with CTRL+H. After the prep work, you then (and only then) proceed to the timeline phase of editing. For more details, see “Warp Speed Keywording”: https://www.provideocoalition.com/warp-speed-key-wording-in-final-cut-pro-x/

[Andrew Johnstone] …when you place a clip into the timeline in Premier the rest of the media stays where you want it to stay rather then hopping all over the place and requiring you to make adjustments…

In FCPX you can easily do an overwrite edit by pressing D: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH12539?locale=en_US

[Andrew Johnstone] …In FCPX I have yet to find out how to do a simple three point edit…

I frequently do three-point edits in FCPX: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH12636?locale=en_US&viewlocale=en_US

[Andrew Johnstone] …add an audio fade between two clips…The FCPX solution requires, detaching audio and applying a video transition (or one solution is ‘buy a plug in’…..agggggh! Third party/User created plugins…! Don’t get me started!) etc…Now try to relink the audio clip with the video clip…

While FCPX could be improved in this area, you can easily do an audio-only cross fade without using a 3rd-party plugin: https://www.provideocoalition.com/day-7-28daysofquicktips-2018-apply-toggle-audio-fades-final-cut-pro-x/

Re detaching audio, this is often not necessary for things like a split edit:

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH12635?locale=en_US&viewlocale=en_US

You can also do dynamic trimming and apply audio-only cross fades without using the mouse, as shown in MacBreak Studio #434:

https://www.provideocoalition.com/mouseless-dynamic-trimming-in-final-cut-pro-x/

[Andrew Johnstone]

Just back from a really interesting session with one of the trainers for BBC.

I find my self hating FCPX less than I did a few short hours ago which is a good ting. The ‘range’ tool is a clever thing and being able to select audio roles for each track in a clip is very clever. So perhaps I’ll end up liking this app more than I thought I might (it seems quite a few do) but I stand by the point that forcing so many people to go through so much paint to learn to cut on this platform was probably not a great idea.

Andy

Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com

[Oliver Peters]

[Andrew Johnstone] “I find my self hating FCPX less than I did a few short hours ago which is a good ting.”

My feeling is that FCPX is relatively counter-intuitive for experienced editors. But with time it’s got a lot of good selling points. These are things a good trainer can definitely help with. However, there will still be quirky things that have never been fixed since day 1, but you’ll learn to live with those minor bugs. It’s a feature! ☺

Good luck.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com

[Ronny Courtens]

Hi Andrew,

I am quite familiar with the implementation of FCP X at BBC and I know many, many people who have gone through the same learning curve as you are going through now. But you are a very experienced editor and, in spite of your obvious bias against FCP X, I see that you are quite capable of finding your own ways to make the application work for you. Good!

I do notice there are still quite a few things that you completely misunderstand, simply because you haven’t worked with X long enough. Joe has already cleared out some of these, but I would warmly advise you to get some deeper training on how FCP X really works. There are many excellent courses online. The Beeb also has in-house FCP X training sessions on occasions, but I think that’s for internal editors only.

If you would be going to IBC in September, I will be very happy to schedule a meeting with you and give you a few hours of one-on-one advanced training for free, based on your personal workflows and questions. I have meetings there with lots of people from the BBC, you will be in good company (-: Just drop me an e-mail: ronnycourtens@mac.com

– Ronny