FCPX is Ready for prime time

[Charlie Austin]

[Chris Harlan] “The problem is consistency–the ability to instantly find, among the SFX, the three tracks of foley, as opposed to the other five tracks of SFX, as opposed to the dialog tracks, as opposed to the temp music score, etc. “

While I agree that the X timeline needs stronger organizational options, I actually find that – if you set your roles properly on import – doing what you say above is actually easier than with track layout. Just select the Role/Subrole in the index and it’s instantly visible in the timeline. I actually find it easier to pick out little clips than using tracks.

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~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~

[Chris Harlan]

[Jeremy Garchow] “You can label audio components with a title.

ALso, if you take the time to add Roles to the Audio Components, you can have a Role to select them all (or highlight them all).

Currently, this is a bit tricky in FCPX, but it can be done, and hopefully, will get better.
“

I’m not saying it can’t be done. Its just not as clear, and the question for anyone individually, is how important is that clarity vs. the value that the magnetic timeline brings. For me, in my work, once I can navigate using audio on a timeline, that particular stumbling block goes away. My guess is that, for something far more complicated, it would not.

[Chris Harlan]

[Charlie Austin] “Chris Harlan] “The problem is consistency–the ability to instantly find, among the SFX, the three tracks of foley, as opposed to the other five tracks of SFX, as opposed to the dialog tracks, as opposed to the temp music score, etc. ”

While I agree that the X timeline needs stronger organizational options, I actually find that – if you set your roles properly on import – doing what you say above is actually easier than with track layout. Just select the Role/Subrole in the index and it’s instantly visible in the timeline. I actually find it easier to pick out little clips than using tracks.”

I think the roles highlight thing is great. Its one of the things X has that nothing else does. Where it falls short for me, though, is the overall map of the timeline, seeing everything in relation with each other, being able to take in the visual complexity at a glance, and then to navigate by it. For me, its like looking at a score, and I can see things in the composition. And, this is undoubtedly a personal preference, but I like that there is a consistent geography that becomes part of muscle memory. Music is down, dialog is up, SFX are in between. I start heading in that direction before I’m even looking. As I think about it, that sense of location may be the reason that I will always continue to prefer tracks. That hadn’t occurred to me until just now. Funny the things we learn, being here.

[Jeremy Garchow]

I was editing the other day with another editor and director over my shoulder.

The other editor had never messed around with FCPX and he had, what I call, an internet bias.

The director was floored by the feature when I dragged a range, the audio scrubbed with it. This makes selections so much easier and faster. You can actually hear what you are selecting. He also loved how fast the editing was with top/tail and the magnetism.

At one point, i was moving around some scratch VO. I put a piece from the head of the timeline, towards the end, and I put it on top as it was easier to put it up there and keep it out of the mess of crap that was below the timeline which was other audio, music, and a bunch of deselected secondary storylines that were “saved” but disabled ideas that I may go back to. The VO I was looking to replace/modify was in the primary.

The editor asked if I had just put audio above the video. I said, yes, and if you look closely, I have video below the primary, too. he said, “Wow. It’s just a canvas, man.”

So, to each their own. Some see a canvas, some see a lack of a score.

[Charlie Austin]

[Chris Harlan] “For me, its like looking at a score, and I can see things in the composition. And, this is undoubtedly a personal preference, but I like that there is a consistent geography that becomes part of muscle memory. Music is down, dialog is up, SFX are in between. I start heading in that direction before I’m even looking. As I think about it, that sense of location may be the reason that I will always continue to prefer tracks.”

I totally get that, it’s exactly how I look at a timeline in Legacy or Pr etc. I guess all I’m saying is that, using X as my main axe on a daily basis lately, I actually find it easier, in many ways, to “read” a timeline now. Roles, Clip index, clip skimming, clear waveforms and clip names, all come together in a way I wouldn’t have expected when i first got into it. I hope it’ll improve. some sort of vertical sorting order, and maybe user color coding (though I feel that’s less necessary now), will make this thing second to none in that regard. IMO of course. 😉

I guess it’s like reading anything. English (Fixed Tracks) makes perfect sense, and I can at least sound out other languages that use the same alphabet. Arabic, Hebrew or Chinese (FCP X) looks like total gibberish. But once you get familiar with what all the squiggles mean, it’s as easy to read as anything else.

That’s my tortured analogy of the day. You’re welcome. 😉

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~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~

[Chris Harlan]

[Jeremy Garchow] “The director was floored by the feature when I dragged a range, the audio scrubbed with it. This makes selections so much easier and faster. You can actually hear what you are selecting. He also loved how fast the editing was with top/tail and the magnetism.
“

Yes, another feature I am jealous of.

[Jeremy Garchow] “So, to each their own. Some see a canvas, some see a lack of a score.
“

We always come back to this somehow, don’t we? I wonder if this is actually one of the principal aesthetic dividing lines in X preference. I know it is for David Lawrence, and I’m pretty sure it is for me, but I wonder how true that holds up across the board?

[Charlie Austin]

[Chris Harlan] “We always come back to this somehow, don’t we? I wonder if this is actually one of the principal aesthetic dividing lines in X preference. I know it is for David Lawrence, and I’m pretty sure it is for me, but I wonder how true that holds up across the board?”

You may be on to something… Nice thread here, insults and esoteric theories. 🙂

How cool would it be to have a “sort” menu for the timeline. Want a “score”? Click a button and boom! it’s all split out. Turn it off if you don’t want it and use the canvas style “blob”. (my current preference). The exciting thing is that I think this is probably quite possible…

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~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~

[Chris Harlan]

[Charlie Austin] “How cool would it be to have a “sort” menu for the timeline. Want a “score”? Click a button and boom! it’s all split out. Turn it off if you don’t want it and use the canvas style “blob”. (my current preference). The exciting thing is that I think this is probably quite possible…
“

Oh, yes. I agree. That’s very doable. And would be terrific for me. I don’t need to see the core all the time, and would probably totally dig switching into canvas mode.

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Chris Harlan] “We always come back to this somehow, don’t we? I wonder if this is actually one of the principal aesthetic dividing lines in X preference. I know it is for David Lawrence, and I’m pretty sure it is for me, but I wonder how true that holds up across the board?”

For me, I find that if I go through and do the organization of the audio up front as much as I possibly can, i have to think about it less and less during the edit. Every time I add a clip to the timeline it is fairly organized. The only thing I have left to do is turn on and off channels that I need or don’t need, which is easy enough in FCPX.

This method is certainly not for everyone.

I do think that some more visual organization is needed. There is a need to put a clip in a stacking order and stay there, or, like you mention, simply bury the music track at the bottom of the timeline and stay there.

It is the hardest thing to get over when coming from a tracked system. I can understand why people might not like it, and yes, it might be a major stumbling block because it is so different.

[Charlie Austin]

[Chris Harlan] “I don’t need to see the core all the time, and would probably totally dig switching into canvas mode.”

One of the reasons I like the magnetic timeline, and this is totally subjective, is the fact that I can (mostly) see all my clips on screen while i’m cutting. Despite the fact that I’ve always been a huge proponent of an organized timeline – former mixer and all that – in actual day to day work in “score based” NLE’s, I was never much concerned with where a specific element went, just that it fit in the “window” I could see without needing to scroll the timeline up and down. I hate vertical scrolling when I’m cutting. And, since I generally have dozens of layered audio elements, clumping them all together with as little empty space as possible is my goal. I might have 48 or more tracks when it’s all split out for finishing, but when i’m cutting it’s all crammed into 24 so I can work with it. X does that for me. And I never have to split it out for a mix, I just let X2pro do it for me. It’s kinda awesome… 😉

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~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~