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Dragging images from Finder to Timeline?
Hi,
I have a question about what I think is a fundamental ‘don’t’ in the world of proper FCP workflow. I’ve looked around on the boards and couldn’t find anything. Maybe it’s just so basic that everybody knows the answer. Well, here goes nothing. 🙂
Why is it bad to drag images directly to an FCP sequence from Finder or another application?
Traditionally, I import files into the FCP browser and then drag them to the timeline as needed. However, for the feature I’m currently editing, I have over 1000 stills. In addition, the images are stored in lousy structures (lots of nested folders and machine-named files). I am using iView MediaPro to manage all the assets for this project. It’s ignores any folder structures and is a great tool for sorting and filtering.
It’s so tempting to just drag the images from iView into an open timeline in FCP.
So, I am unclear on how FCP internally manages images in this case. For example, do I increase my chances of corrupting the .fcp project file? Are there are other internal problems I don’t know about? What about applying effects – where is FCP tracking the reference if I don’t see the file in the Browser?
Thanks and sorry for any eye-rolling I may have caused :),
Tony
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3 Replies
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Well, you’re not the only one that picks up bad habits:-) I’m trying to do this less often, but when I was doing very quick-and-dirty edits of ephemeral things in my first days using FCP, on things I was sure would be exported and then erased from the NLE and forgotten by day’s end, I would do what you’re doing with clips and graphics files and audio. It’s a habit I picked up from my Discreet Logic Edit*6 days, where that system didn’t mind such behavior at all, and just made a back-up copy in the background so everything you brought in was always part of the project file no mater how you brought it in… but as usual, I digress….
Sure as shootin’, those “ephemeral” projects wind up not being so ephemeral after all; you end up getting a call to re-do or change something you thought you’d never see again, and THAT’s where this drag-to-import technique will come to bite you badly, a day or two later, when stuff is no longer where you think it was and many of your links are broken. Trying to archive the project becomes more work as well, and your brother editors will get mad at you if they have to jump in in your absence to work on the project and can;t find allt he resources, or have to re-create them.
So I think it’s like smoking: best way to stop is not to ever start. Get in the right habits from the outset and you reduce your deadline drama considerably.
I’m now in a 12-step FCP proper procedures re-training program:-P
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Hey Mark,
Thanks for the quick reply. Yeah, you make a great point. For the record, I haven’t actually gotten into this habit yet, this was sort of a ‘cry for help’ before I succumbed. 🙂 Even after years of editing the proper way, it just seems so much easier!
On further thought, I suppose the real issue is the way the images are stored in their folders…maybe I’ll revisit that.
Thanks again,
T
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But … what you can do is at the end of your session, highlight all the stills in your timeline and drag them back into the browser which will make new master clips and you will feel virtuous.
Matt.
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