FCP X can’t do “pro” is officially vaporized.

[Chris Harlan]

So, if I’m following correctly, you’re saying that FCP is the Kenny G of the NLE world?

[Robin S. kurz]

So you didn’t get that actual point. That’s okay.

But yeah, there are in fact a LOT of people that want to able to do that, sorry to say. Be it e.g. for on-set dailies or actually editing, yes, with an external screen or not. In the latter case whether it’s a 2, 12, or even 17 inch whatever becomes completely irrelevant. Until recently my main machine was a MBP, too. Loved it and still love it as my secondary.

– RK

[Bill Davis]

David,
It wasn’t you.
Your opinions about X, in my estimation, have long been pretty irrelevant to me.
From the early days, it was obvious you were just interested in defending the status quo – arguing that what was so awful about X was that it wasn’t Legacy 8. And worse, you felt that made it unworthy of study or understanding.
Plenty here questioned it as strongly, but also showed that they examined it closely enough to understand what they were talking about. Others fell into “it’s crap” camp , but their posts were well, more interesting?
So you didn’t really come to mind as someone I needed to address when I wrote that.
Sorry.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.

[Bill Davis]

[Neil Goodman] “Great – a 12 inch laptop? Who wants to edit on that? “

Me on an airplane? Me when I have the X interface reduced to just the Event browser and I’m focused on doing prep like audio synchronization, multicam prep and/or keywording? Me when I pull into a parking lot of a wifi coffee shop to fix and upload an alt cut to a client on a deadline?

Basically, me?

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.

[Bill Davis]

Perhaps surprisingly correct, Chris. But in a universe where every other NLE is a traditional OomPah German beer hall band – playing to a crowd that demands that all bands play music the way it’s TRADITIONALLY been played.

[Steve Connor]

[Bill Davis] “Me on an airplane? Me when I have the X interface reduced to just the Event browser and I’m focused on doing prep like audio synchronization, multicam prep and/or keywording? Me when I pull into a parking lot of a wifi coffee shop to fix and upload an alt cut to a client on a deadline?
“

Out of all the NLEs the interface on FCPX is perfectly suited to use on a laptop, still waiting for the iPad version though 🙂

[Bill Davis]

Maybe this will help.
X is ALL about the flow of metadata.
It flows along a path. I think of it as “downhill” as a convenience.
Import to Event – what you change or add there joins the metadata pool and flows into the Project. And what you change or add there flows out via Share.
So “where” you do things matters.
A improperly trained Producer who is unskilled at Roles application – WILL cause problems. And these problems are no different from those an improperly trained sound mixer or camera operator can cause. Sometimes those problems are correctable but sometimes they cause things to have to be totally re-done! And that sucks. But the smart solution isn’t to change the program to be able to re-address and fix anything that can possibly go wrong – because that just causes the program to add complexity to try to address ALL the forms of upstream incompetence and the program bloat potential becomes huge. The smart solution is to TRAIN the producer (or whoever needs to assign roles at the proper place in the workflow) in how to do the job properly.
Period.
Just my 2 cents. YMMV

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.

[Mike Warmels]

Yes, what you say makes sense, of course.

However, it seems with FCPX’ sensibilities, the skilled path is a pretty narrow one. It seems all pretty straight forward and simple to get into. But when you get deeper into it, it isn’t as simple as FCPX makes it appear. It’s deceptive in that way, because FCPX accepts everything you feed it (be it MXF, MP4, Apple Pro Res, AVCD, MP3, 48Khz, 44 Khz) and seems to handle it all within one timeline. But it doesn’t handle everything as well as it accepts it. And that means everyone working on it (even producers or directors that make rough cuts) must be very very skilled. I.e. knowing ALL the pitfalls. And if you don’t, there’s serious trouble down the road.

Currently I’m having these issues with the synchronised audio. Where multiple audiotracks get compressed into one. Now I put it all together, checked and it looked fine. But… I forgot to double check them in the Inspector while editing with them. So an entire cut was made, without access to the separate audio tracks.

Now, I’ve tried to solve it, but I can’t get the synchronised tracks to work in the “synchronised clip” at all. So a) it’s incorrectible in the cut because FCPX made some error with it. and b) I can’t fix it either without putting every clip back by hand and by cutting and pasting from the synchronised clip opened in the timeline…

I’ve had similar issues with synchronised audio before. And eveytime I think I learned the pitfalls and new one present themselves. To me that doesn’t feel very “pro”. It’s a often buggy ride.

[Bill Davis]

Let me ask you Mike… Who trained you in X?
Did your employer provide it? Did you do the Ripple stuff? Or Lynda.com or Larry Jordan?
I honestly ask because it sounds like your team is having lots of trouble with a lot of blind alleys and dead ends. So I wonder who helped you guys make the switch?
Not to diss anyone in the training space at all, but really just to try to understand why a facility like yours and one like RTS can have such wildly different experiences with the same tool?

I know guys in operations large and small and few seem to have the grief you do with X

And knowing why might help us help more folks like you get over the hump.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.

[Mike Warmels]

Not one person in particular. Some Larry Jordan stuff, some trial by error stuff, I consult a lot of internet tutorials to see how to do things, I had some great advice from Creative Cow people and I sat a lot with FCPX editors finishing my cuts , where we also talked a lot about how to do things (better of clever).

Now, I am not in a big corporation. I just have a stand alone set on which I run AVID and FCPX (and in the past FCP7 for years).

But my client has a ten suite operation and I frequently work in another post-production facility that has another eight or so. There’s a bunch of editors that hasn’t worked on anything else but FCPX and they like it fine. But when I ask about the usual issues (the slowing down of FCPX in the course of the day, the sometime odd graphic displays (like waveforms in music that don’t match the sound at the end of the graph), or the audio synchronisation issues (that you helped me out with before), or the sometimes overlong relink media times), they all recognise that. But they don’t have issues with it.

I do… since I never had such weird issues on FCP7 and AVID.