Cutaway Cross Dissolove

[Gerry Fraiberg]

Is it possible to add a cross dissolve to a connected cutaway clip? I often do this in FCP7 by selecting the clip on Track 2 then adding the transition. The transition is then added to both the In and Out of the cutaway shot. Fade in, fade out. Simple.

In FCP X, clicking on the cutaway and selecting Add Cross Dissolve has no apparent effect.

Adding keyframes in the Inspector, and changing Opacity under Compositing is the only solution I could figure out. But that’s not a viable solution. Suggestions?

[T. Payton]

First make the clip a secondary storyline “command-g”. Then you can add transitions, etc.

Wierd aint it. I’m sure there is some reason for this and it came up in a meeting in Apple, but who knows what that reason is.

——
T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[Gerry Fraiberg]

Thanks! That did the trick. So, we can select the cutaway clip, type “Q” to connect it to the Storyline, then “Command-g” to make the clip a secondary storyline. Two keystrokes. Then “Command-t” to add Cross Dissolve. It appears it is possible to stack storylines for compositing, like tracks in FCP7.

My next question is how do we change the length of the dissolve without going into Preferences? In FCP 7, double clicking the transition brings it up in the Viewer, where the duration can be lengthened, say from one to two seconds.

I apologize for posting twice – nothing apparently happened the first time I clicked.

[Gerry Fraiberg]

I just figured out how to change the duration of the dissolve. Click on the transition and type “control-D” or right click on the transition and select “Change Duration”. The timecode in the dashboard changes to blue, indicating the current length. Just type the number for the time you want, eg: 2 for two seconds, and hit Enter. Done.

[Craig Seeman]

Basically a Secondary Storyline acts like a track so tracks aren’t really gone. They should make it easier to create. It might alleviate the “trackless” panic.

I’d like to see a preference setting that would allow Connected Clips to default to Secondary Storylines (tracks). I’d also like to see a “row” (track?) tool so one can easily grab a row or partial row of clips and make them a Secondary Storyline (rather than lassoing or command clicking).

While Secondary Storylines have most of the features tracks have (so far as I can tell) they’re missing one really good FCPX feature though. The Precision Editor only works in the Primary Storyline. If they implemented that in the Secondary Storylines that would be great.