FCPX IN’s & OUT’s Confused with use of Keyword & Smart collections

[Jason Jenkins]

[Fred Jackson] ” whichever Keyword collection I open within a folder I only get the SAME 9 Keyword choices. so I am being limited to ONLY the same fixed Keywords. I am surely doing something wrong but am confused.”

In the Keyword Editor, you can type in whatever keywords you want.

[Fred Jackson] “Am I using an incorrect Folder structure too ?”

You can use whatever folder structure makes sense to you, but with keywords, I don’t see the point in using that many folders.

Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!

[Kevin Patrick]

I’m assuming the same 9 keywords you are referring to are the ones that come up in the keyword editor. They are the nine keywords that are assigned to the keyword shortcut keys CTL 1-9. FCP X automatically assigns the first 9 you create to the keyboard shortcuts. But, you can edit these anytime you want.

You can create as many keywords as you want. (not sure if there is actually a limit) Every time you create a new keyword (assign it to a clip) you will get a new keyword collection.

I personally don’t bother with the short cut keys, I typically have a lot more than 9 keywords. I simply highlight the clip (or portion of it) that I want to assign a keyword to and start typing it in the keyword editor. It auto fills for you, so just hit enter. Do that for as many keywords as you want to assign to each clip. (or portion of the clip)

I think you’re missing out on the advantages of keywords with the way you’re using folders. Keywords are a powerful way to organize your media. FCP X does a lot of work for you. Folders are more of a manual way of organizing your material.
Also, having a keyword for Night Parade and a folder for it is redundant.

Consider using keywords in place of your folders. For example, Magic Kingdom, Makeover, Parade & Park could be keywords, not folders. You can assign multiple keywords (even overlapping keywords) to your clips. Then when you are looking at all you clips (DisneyUSA Event) you can type Makeover in the search field and all your clips with those keywords will show up. Including Parade Etc, if in fact it’s a subset of Darcie, which is a subset of Makeover.

I suggest you try it out. Duplicate your current project and test it.

Also, check out this link. For a better explanation than mine on how to use keywords.

https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/fcp_x_keywords_douglas.html

[Fred Jackson]

Kevin, Jason, thanks for your assistance this makes more sense now and the Link to the Steve Douglas and Ken Stone article certainly consolidates the understanding. I have built a test Event and believe I am now getting somewhere (I think, I hope) .

Thanks both, this is much appreciated.

Fred

[Craig Seeman]

Personally I find folders helpful for visual organizing if one has multiple things one wants to see in one place while limiting the clutter of others.

Simply put, I might have an Audio folder which includes Keyword Collections: Sound FX, Music, Wild (non sync) sound.
I could close other folder groups, eg B-Roll which might contain Keyword Collections” Interior, Exterior, People). This would cut down on the visual clutter while I look at my Audio based Keyword Collections. This is not a “right” way or a “best” way, it is just one way, depending on the kind of organization an Event needs.

Keep in mind the importance of Smart Collections. Taking the B-Roll example, I might have:
Interior, Exterior, People, Day, Night. The latter three might actually be Smart Collections since People may also be part of Interior, Exterior, People, Day, Night in any and all combinations.

The above is actually one solution for those who ask for the ability to have open “multiple bins” (although there certainly may be a need for that too).

For example: If I need People, Exterior, Night, that becomes a Smart Collection. There’s no desire (for me) to have People, Exterior, Night open as separate Keyword Collections (bins). I just create the combination I need and I have all the shots in one Smart Collection.

As to having to type in the same keyword or using the key commands to tag clips, in the case of tagging whole clips that’s actually more work than necessary.

Once you create the first Keyword Collection, you can drag the clips you want in that Collection just as you would drag clips to a bin. In fact you can create a Keyword Collection without even tagging a single clip. Just right click in the Event list and create an empty Keyword Collection and drag the clips in.

Of course the best use (for me) of the key commands or typing in Keywords to tag clips is when you tagging ranges rather than the entire clip. In some ways this is like subclips only far more powerful because such ranges are immediately organized for you as part of the tagging process. Keep in mind you don’t even need to do typing or key commands there either. You can select a range and drag that into an already create Keyword Collection as well.

Simply put, once you create your Keyword Collections, you can drag and drop entire clips or ranges into the appropriate collection and skip all the typing.

BTW if you need to get back to a point where you see everything, your Event and see All Clips. Of course the upper left pull down in the Event Browser allows to see only clips not yet tagged, rejected clips, favorites. Once there, you can click on the bar which represents the given range and you have your in and out points too.

I think the power and flexibility of Keyword Collections, Smart Collections, Favorites are, in my opinion, a key feature that FCPX has over other NLEs. A clip can be in any number of collections as you need it. It’s a magnitude more powerful that “Bins” are in other NLEs. Some seem put off by all the typing but actually can be as “drag and droppy” as bins are but better.

[Andy Neil]

[Craig Seeman] “I might have an Audio folder which includes Keyword Collections: Sound FX, Music, Wild (non sync) sound.”

Exactly. That is the use to which I prefer using folders with collections. Folders create a structure which allows you to find the collection you want at a glance. You can use them however you keep organized, but I suggest starting with broad categories and working your way to more specificity. Craig’s example is a perfect illustration of that.

And though there are many ways to keyword a clip or range, this is what I use for a rule of thumb: Drag and drop into collections at the start of your project, selecting several clips at a time and dumping them into organizational bins. When you then get to the point of keywording portions of clips, I will often use the keyword editor as I find the shortcut keys easier than dragging a range. But really there’s no wrong way to do it. Whatever’s fastest for you.

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Craig Seeman]

[Andy Neil] “But really there’s no wrong way to do it. Whatever’s fastest for you.”

I agree. The odd thing is is that so many people think FCPX is “forcing” them into certain ways of doing things. As I see it it’s actually offering new flexible avenues to organization. Granted any interface and underlying functions may cause one to have to operate one way or another but within the “new way” there are many ways.

[Andy Neil] “Drag and drop into collections at the start of your project,”

Oh, there’s that funny new language thing. Am I starting an Event or a Project or maybe neither? Collections aren’t tied to Projects. I’m just being a little cheeky to show how challenging it can be to communicate what you’re doing and why in FCPX.

Somewhere a newbie might be reading this and say “Oh I’m supposed to start a new Project and then the Keyword Collections exist in that” when it might be better to say, “Start a new Event and then create Keyword Collections in that.” We’re all trying to learn the FCPX Esperanto. Sorry to go off on this tangent but I’d thought it’s noteworthy to point out how problematic discussing these things can be.

In fact this may well be relevant to why Fred made the interpretation about how and why to use Folders the way he did.

[Andy Neil]

[Craig Seeman] “Oh, there’s that funny new language thing. Am I starting an Event or a Project or maybe neither? Collections aren’t tied to Projects.”

True. Usually I have to self-edit as I write to convert standard NLE terminology into FCPX terminology. I did indeed meant “drag and drop whole clips into collections at the start of your event”.

It’s the one aspect of the new FCP that I really and truly hate. In my opinion, there was never a GOOD reason to change terminology around. I know WHY they did it…to have a base set of terms that spanned a number of their products (iphoto, imovie, FCPX), but that is FAR from a good reason. Everything doesn’t have to fit into the same box. /rant

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Jeremy Garchow]

A good way I am finding to use the power of Smart Collections is with slow motion 60p material.

Every SloMo clip that’s in the project @ 60p, I use the list view to sort by frame rate, choose all the 60p clips, and I have a custom naming scheme setup to name the clips 60p_”OriginalName”.mov (no quotes) and the rename all the clips with two clicks.

I then setup a smart collection to look for “60p_”

I then continue organizing putting them in different keyword collections. What this does is allow me to put ALL the SloMo clips in a smart collection for easier access to all of them, or I can grab them in their appropriately organized keyword collections. They are in two places at once and I can grab them depending on how I remember them (either by my chosen keyword collection, or just sift through all of them in the smart collection). If more come in from another day of shooting, I simply rename them with the naming preset in a few clicks, and they get added to the smart collection. This whole process is really fast and really easy, as is conforming the 60p to 24p right on the timeline.

I too, only use folders when necessary to group a few keywords together. The rest just live on the root level of the event.

Jeremy

[Andy Neil]

[Jeremy Garchow] “I have a custom naming scheme setup to name the clips 60p_”OriginalName”.mov”

I’m confused Jeremy. Why bother with the customized naming conventions? You can just create a smart collection that collects all your 59.94 fps material without needing to name it.

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Jeremy Garchow]

Not all 60p material is scheduled for SloMotion. I mark all the clips that should be scheduled as 60p, so they go into the “SlowMotion” smart collection.

It also differentiates the clips that are also in the regular keyword collections (as I mentioned, they are in two places, all grouped together in the Smart Collection, and then they are all spread out over various keyword collections). So, when I’m viewing clips in the regular keyword collections, I immediately know the 60p clips as they are named as such.

Keeps me organized, I’m pretty crazy about organization as we pass projects around.

It was also a greater example of how a smart collection MIGHT be used as the OP asked.