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FCPX Newbie Questions
I’m a long-time Vegas editor looking into potentially making the switch to a different platform. I’ve just installed the trial of FCPX and i have a few questions:
1. with the new magnetic timeline, how can one edit without changing the sync with, for example, a long music track. If I have some video sync’ed to cut in with the chorus of a song, then I want to go make changes to the edit prior to that, it seems that it will ripple everything after the new edit point and lose sync with all edits to the music after that point. I’m sure there must be a way around this very basic request. Can anyone please fill me in?
2. Is there any way to change the keyboard shortcuts so that ‘Enter’ is play/pause, and ‘Spacebar’ is play/stop (cursor returns to where it was)? This is just what I’m used to and I feel that it will be much faster as I tweak cuts/transitions ect. to not have to keep clicking on the timeline before the cut/transition every time I want to replay it.
3. Is there any way to move a marker other than cutting/pasting it into a different spot? I’m used to just being able to click and drag markers around. It seems silly to have to right click, cut, then paste it if all I want to do is move it 2 seconds later.
4. I appreciate the favorites and keyword region feature. But how can I shrink a favorite or keyword region? I can see that I can set new in/outs and expand the size of the region or keyword, but I don’t see a way to shrink it, other than (if my memory serves me) removing the favorite or keyword and making a new one.
5. What is the best way to log/sort bytes from a long interview? In Vegas I would watch the interview in the trimmer and create labeled regions around any good soundbyte, describing briefly what was said and adding a * or two at the front of a great byte. These labels would then be embedded and readable in the clips when they were added to the timeline so I could visually see what was said in each clip or at least be reminded of the content. Keywords can definitely help to sort bytes into categories for organization, but some bytes are difficult to categorize and I’d like to be more specific with each and leave myself some visible labels to jog my memory about what was said. If I have to open up some metadata for each byte clip on the timeline, that may be more time consuming that just watching it.
Thanks for any help!
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4 Replies
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It’d take a 300,page reply to answer all those questions and they’re covered pretty well in the various training videos that come up in a Google search.
But to get you started ….
Q1: In FCPX everything is connected to the primary storyline. What’s the primary storyline of a music video? The music. So the music track goes on the primary storyline and the rest of the footage is connected to it so there is no sync issue.
Q2: you can edit the keyboard shortcuts but I’d advise against it. Having come to FCPX from using many noes, including Vegas, it’s far better to learn the native way of doing things. It can get a little frustrating but it’s worth it in the end.
The rest you’ll get from watching a few training courses. I’d recommend something from Ripple Training but there are some comprehensive free ones out there.
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Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer & Cinematographer
Hobart, Tasmania | Twitter: @jeffkirkland -
Welcome to FCPX.
1) The typical workflow I’d follow is putting the music in the primary storyline. Then you add the video elements as connected clips. You can do this in sections by grouping a number of clips into secondary storylines which allow you to swap shots and make changes pretty quickly while still keeping a particular sections attached to a particular section of music.
2) You can assign keyboard shortcuts how you like in the keyboard editor (CMD+OPT+K).
3) Nope. Markers are designed to be pretty hard to move. You can always file a feature request in Provide Feedback in the Final Cut Pro menu.
4) Yes, you have to remove the favorite and re-favorite a smaller section. But this is quite easy. You can click on the green favorite bar in the browser or select the favorite icon beneath the clip in the browser and hit U to unfavorite the area. But you’ll already have an IN and OUT selected so you just have to adjust one side or the other and hit F to re-favorite.
5) Here’s what I do. Others might have different tactics. I use favorites to log bites. First thing I do is set up the browser columns so that Notes is the second field after name. Select a clip and watch it down. Select a range for a bite and hit F to favorite. I’ll mark favorites all the way through the interview. Then go back and twirl open the clip to see all the favorites. Select the first favorite. Hit play. Hit enter and you’ll be able to “name” the favorite which I use to type the first few words of the bite (while it’s playing). Then I hit tab to get to the Notes column and I type the last few words of the bite (or else a general note about what’s being talked about). You can add your asterisk here if you like. Best thing about this is I don’t even have to stop playback. And if you have looping on, it’ll loop the favorite until you’ve had a chance to label it. Then just hit the down arrow key to jump to the next favorite and go again. I can log an entire interview really quickly this way.
Hope this helps,
Andy
https://plus.google.com/u/0/107277729326633563425/videos
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[Andy Neil] “5) Here’s what I do. “
Andy,
thanks so much for taking the time to share this piece of your workflow. This will save me a ton of time and help me to decide if FCPX is for me. Thanks for answering the questions too! -
Jeff,
thanks for the tips/info.
Sounds like good advice to try to learn the native keystrokes. I’ll take something to calm my nerves and try to get used to them. 😉
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