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Excellent blog on FCP X workflow shortcomings
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I have really appreciated reading Oliver’s blog, as always, and not for one moment have I seen his story as a statement about any workflow shortcomings in FCPX. So I honestly don’t know where the OP is getting this idea.
Editors use a range of different tools because there is not one tool that does everything every single job requires. FCPX is great NLE, we start and finish 70% of all our work right inside the app. For jobs with intensive VFX and grading requirements we have established a seamless workflow around FCPX for editing and Smoke and Resolve for finishing. With this combination there is nothing we cannot achieve.
OTOH I’m looking forward to what Motion X will bring. Logic X is already very promising on the audio side, so we may see a brand-new integrated FCS suite coming around in the near future. Things are looking bright on the X-side, and if we ever would need to make a customized DVD again we still have DVDSP (-:
– Ronny
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Regarding DVDs, even Adobe has had to maintain support for Encore CS6 as a way to cover that need for some customers. Creative Cloud does not include an updated DVD/BD authoring application.
We live in a world of hybrid workflows to accommodate legacy, current and even future workflows. It’s pretty unrealistic to expect a single tool to serve all those needs, simply because of the sheer complexity from a programming standpoint. That being the case, it’s good that FCS continues to offer value.
Think of it as a giant “plug-in” for FCP X ! Or maybe the other way around.
😉
Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
Terrific post!
Reminds me of all the reasons why the FCS suite was and remains the best all-purpose toolbox around.
I can’t see being able to let go of it for a good while yet – it’s just way too useful for so many different situations.
Even if it’s not your primary editing tool.
I certainly didn’t read this as a post knocking FCP X – Oliver is one of its most loyal champions, as he is of anything that delivers useful functionality. He’s just honest about the gaps.
Simon Ubsdell
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
[Dan Stewart] “YOU JUST DON’T WANT TO CHANGE OLIVER”
Wow. Seems like you forgot the smiley face. No need to shout. Clearly you haven’t read anything I’ve written over the past two years. Considering the fact that I am currently one of a handful of editors doing an full-blown feature film using X, I see a lot of irony in your comment.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[Bill Davis] “Oliver’s basic criticism seems to be about “embedding name and ID changes into the media file, but rather into it’s own database.” Well, that’s kinda defines the entire POINT of the X workflow. Everything hovers around and relates to the database. Do you lose some capabilities with this approach? Sure. But you gain so vastly many more possibilities that the idea that I’d give up what X does so well – in favor of the things it doesn’t seems to me to miss the whole point of the X rebuild. Which just to remind everyone was NOT to keep doing things the same way in an industry that increasingly does NOT look the same as it used to.”
Your idealization of the FCPX database structure leads you to make some highly questionable points. There is nothing about the X database structure that prohibits it from embedding the info into both it’s own Dbase and the Quicktime file itself other than a lack of will to do so. It is not an “either or” idea, it could do both, in the future it might do both, at the moment it doesn’t and that is a limitation, not a feature. There is nothing about limitations like this that are inherently “future oriented,” they are just limitations. As a well known forum poster might put it, “Simple as that.”
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf -
[Herb Sevush] ” There is nothing about the X database structure that prohibits it from embedding the info into both it’s own Dbase and the Quicktime file itself other than a lack of will to do so.”
Probably true, but honestly, I always found FCP Classics ability to modify files kinda of buggy anyway. QTEdit, from digital rebellion is way more powerful and user friendly for this sort of task. That’s what I use these days. I honestly prefer an app designed for a specific task rather than the swiss army knife approach, but I understand why some prefer it all to be built in.
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~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~ -
[Charlie Austin] “Probably true, but honestly, I always found FCP Classics ability to modify files kinda of buggy anyway. QTEdit, from digital rebellion is way more powerful and user friendly for this sort of task.”
I’ve never had any issues changing tc or reel#s from within FCP, so I don’t know what buggines your referring to, and yes it’s a lot more convenient to do it within the NLE.
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf -
[Herb Sevush] “I’ve never had any issues changing tc or reel#s from within FCP, so I don’t know what buggines your referring to, and yes it’s a lot more convenient to do it within the NLE.”
Well, to be fair it may have to do with modifying master files on a shared drive, but I’ve had master files become unusably corrupted doing this in the old FCP. I’ve also had the modified reel names not “stick” for lack of a better term. As a result, I’ve never really trusted it, though it’s mostly worked fine with local files. QTEdit is pretty awesome, as it lets you do all sorts of metadata manipulation. Again, personal preference…
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~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~ -
[Bill Davis] “Timecode and Reel IDS.
(Just cut and paste the above comment here.)”Ok 🙂
[Bill Davis] “What this actually tells us again is that it’s not as easy to duplicate old workflows in X that people used in Legacy. And I have absolutely no quibble with that contention. He’s completely correct. It IS harder to re-create older workflows. Why? Because X does not “think” in terms of old workflows. It presents opportunities for NEW ones. The new ones are more tailored to new needs – and less tailored to older workflow needs. Which has been the FCP-X “brand” from day one.”
I’ll grant you that “reel” and “timecode” may be old words — but the ability to uniquely identify a specific frame within a uniquely identified and specific container is the basis for interchange. It is still 100% relevant today.
Axing tracks for the magnetic timeline is a nice example of creative destruction. Ignoring really important metadata (in the container format Apple themselves invented, no less) doesn’t strike me as a good example of clearing out the old to make way for the new.
(In fairness, while modifying TC in Premiere Pro is really straightforward, modifying reel (“Tape Name”) is a little more confusing because Premiere can show two reel metadata fields — one for the clip in the bin, and a separate one for the file on-disk. You can make the changes, but it’s easy to get tripped up.)
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
[Walter Soyka] “Ignoring really important metadata (in the container format Apple themselves invented, no less) doesn’t strike me as a good example of clearing out the old to make way for the new.”
Just to nit-pick… X doesn’t ignore the Reel Name (embedded in the QT TC track) anymore, you just can’t change it from within X. I could be mistaken, but now that I think of it I’m not sure you can do anything destructive to master files from within X…
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~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~
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