Final Cut Pro X – Reflecting on Six Years

[Oliver Peters]

Thanks.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[James Sullivan]

I think you have described the state of FCPX very well. I wish they could make it more collaborative and open. One of my all time favorite things about the original final cut was the ability to render over a graphic I had created in AE and have it update in the timeline when I opened FCP Legacy back up again. I HATE how the new FCP handles tracking media and having some things live in a project while others do not. I have to recut in graphics every time I change something and just that process in itself is a chore. But if you are a single Creator posting to YouTube and all you need to do is top and tail a few takes from a canon powershot then life is peachy.

Handling multiple editors passing around Libraries on a SAN is a freaking nightmare I don’t want to ever be held accountable for.

I agree that FCPX and any other NLEs are tools and it is so great when they get out of the way and let us work but I think Apple (bless their hearts) have frustrated a lot of creative people who have been in the game since computers became a thing.

I hope they continue to improve FCPX, it has way more things that need to be tweaked that would make the day to day grind better. I wish we could talk to the team creating it more openly and for them to communicate when updates are coming. (submitting bug reports does not count as two way communication)

Apple is still the only game in town who can create an NLE from the silicon on up and I would love to see a return to some kind of modular hardware system that could let us control what we need when, and when we can afford it. A tiny screen on very pricey when maxed out laptop with ten thousand things daisychained together makes me grumpy and I hope to avoid that particular situation for as long as possible. (I.e. when my 17inch finally dies and funds are available)

I had a crazy thought the other day when I thought about what life would be like if Running MacOS on non apple blessed hardware. I want to do away with hackentoshing and just have MacOS compete with Windows head to head. Why can’t I have 128gbs of ram, 48cores of Intelness and five Nvidia cards and MacOS. My next computer is going to be a Windows machine at this point which forces me off of FCP and MacOS too things I am still in love with.

I feel like trying to be a cheerleader for America when the people running the country are no longer on my side. I still believe in Apple, I am just disappointed on how things are moving at the moment and fully recognize I represent a small minority of fussy post people that could break the will of any chipper genius bar newbie in seconds as they look around for their managers in panic.

On the flip side I think it is great that more people are becoming literate in producing videos and that is Apple’s fault as well.

onwards,
James

[Oliver Peters]

Thanks for the comments,

[James Sullivan] “One of my all time favorite things about the original final cut was the ability to render over a graphic I had created in AE and have it update in the timeline when I opened FCP Legacy back up again. I HATE how the new FCP handles tracking media and having some things live in a project while others do not.”

I think the fact that NOTHING can be changed about a file, otherwise it CANNOT be relinked is a huge impediment to many workflows. That was a big plus for “legacy”. It would baulk and then let you do it.

I ran into this just today. I was working with a split-track submaster exported from X as a source in another timeline/project. I realized two elements had been combined into one audio role, so I needed to go back and assign an extra audio role. Then re-export, which I allowed to replace the first file. Of course, now that submaster source clip was “missing” and X would not allow me to relink, because the attributes had changed (more audio channels the new file). So I imported and cut back over the other. Frustrating.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[David Lawrence]

[Oliver Peters] “I think the fact that NOTHING can be changed about a file, otherwise it CANNOT be relinked is a huge impediment to many workflows. That was a big plus for “legacy”. It would baulk and then let you do it.”

Yikes! Didn’t know about this. That could definitely be a deal killer for many workflows.

_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~research

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[Robin S. kurz]

[James Sullivan] “the ability to render over a graphic I had created in AE and have it update in the timeline when I opened FCP Legacy back up again.”

And it still does. Unless of course you changed the name, the location, length or the likes, which would cause the exact same problems in 7 just as well. If those criteria are met, there’s absolutely no reason why it shouldn’t work. But yes, X is far more stringent when those criteria AREN’T met. But that can just as well be considered a feature, it’s all a matter of perspective.

But a certain something tells me that that, too, will “soften up” soon. And actually be expanded. We’ll see. ????

[James Sullivan] “having some things live in a project while others do not.”

If that’s the case, then you told it to do that. Pretty simple. It’s not some random procedure. And you can consolidate everything into a single location, if needed, with the simple click of one little button.

[James Sullivan] “passing around Libraries on a SAN is a freaking nightmare”

Oddly we do that near every day and have quite the contrary take on the matter. It’s certainly not perfect (and also extremely hard to do, hence the reason why no one actually does it great in both practice AND price), but as of 10.3 it’s even become that much easier. It’s no ISIS, but still fast and easy. You just have to follow some very simple and basic rules, many of which you have to follow just as much with pretty much every other NLE. So you’d have to be much more specific for one to understand what it is you mean.

[James Sullivan] “have frustrated a lot of creative people”

And have helped, amazed and empowered a lot of others. I’d even venture to say a lot more than the other way around. And that’s actually by not just looking within my own little box.

[James Sullivan] “it has way more things that need to be tweaked that would make the day to day grind better.”

For example? Again, being specific is much more helpful for others to follow what it is you’re getting at.

[James Sullivan] “with ten thousand things daisychained together”

As opposed to what? Everything hooked up to 10 different ports? Or what is the situation with your 17″ exactly? I for one just know that I am absolutely thrilled that I now have all of TWO cables coming from my ’16 MBP as opposed to SIX with the ’12 one. Can’t see how that could be considered a BAD situation, sorry. As far as I’m concerned the USB-C move was a brilliant one that will only get that much better going forward once the various single-port USB-C PC laptops (oh gee, surprise surprise) that have been announced hit the market. Shall we wager how much complaining there will be about them?

[James Sullivan] “My next computer is going to be a Windows machine at this point which forces me off of FCP and MacOS too things I am still in love with. “

Such is life. Though I’d really be curious what it is you think you need 128GB of RAM, 48 cores and FIVE Nvidia cards for… especially right after complaining that the MBP is “pricey”. What exactly do you figure that configuration would cost you even as a PC?

[James Sullivan] “and fully recognize I represent a small minority of fussy post people”

You said it, not me. ???? And that may actually explain a lot to you about the current state of affairs as well, if you think about it for a moment.

[James Sullivan] “it is great that more people are becoming literate in producing videos “

My (previous) point exactly. ????

– RK

____________________________________________________
Deutsch? Hier gibt es ein umfassendes FCP X Training für dich!

[Brett Sherman]

[Robin S. Kurz] “And it still does. Unless of course you changed the name, the location, length or the likes, which would cause the exact same problems in 7 just as well. If those criteria are met, there’s absolutely no reason why it shouldn’t work.”

I do this ALL THE TIME! Works fine. If you want to keep working in FCP X while rendering in AE, just add a “2” or something to the render file. Then when it’s done, quit FCP X, rename it to the original filename. Reopen FCP X. Done and done.

That being said it would be nice if there was a “Replace Media File” function, so you could force a file replacement. It could refuse to do it if the length is different.

————————–
Brett Sherman
One Man Band (If it\’s video related I\’ll do it!)
I work for an institution that probably does not want to be associated with my babblings here.

[Tony West]

[Oliver Peters] “the fact that NOTHING can be changed about a file, otherwise it CANNOT be relinked “

Oliver, I’m not sure if I’m understanding this statement correctly, but I often will select a photo in the timeline, open the original file in the finder with a keyboard shortcut, drag the file into photoshop, make corrections and save, and jump back into X. Not only do I not have to relink the file but my changes have already updated in the timeline.

I do this because I don’t want to waste time correcting a lot of photos that I’m not going to use in the project.

So I’m changing the file drastically in that case with no problem.

[Oliver Peters]

[Tony West] “open the original file in the finder with a keyboard shortcut, drag the file into photoshop, make corrections and save, and jump back into X”

In your example, you aren’t changing file attributes. You are changing image contents. In the example I cited, I re-exported a split-track submaster with one additional audio channel. This is a change in file attributes. That was enough to break the relinking. Same would be true if the file length changed.

FCPX will allow some differences, but the options are very stringent without the ability to manually override it like FCP7 used to let you do. Plus, I’m not sure whether or not FCPX handles media linking to still images/graphics/photos in a different manner than movie files.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Tony West]

[Oliver Peters] “In your example, you aren’t changing file attributes. “

Yes, I am. I just wanted you to clarify that statement because before

you said “that NOTHING can be changed about a file”

[Mark Dobson]

Great article Oliver.

Always a well considered unsanctimonious voice on this forum.

I’ve been using it from day one and in the intervening period have cut everything our company has produced on it. That’s broadcast quality, educational, training and corporate work. The fact that I’m still using it must say something. I depend on it to make my living.

But yes, even on 10minute productions, on a top end iMac, things get sticky. I still get the spinning wheel, I still get the broken cmd z undo fault, these are what might be called unforced errors. Sometimes I even have to do a force shutdown on my machine.

But despite these problems I have enough faith in the software to continue using it on time sensitive jobs. I know it will deliver eventually. When things are running smoothly I love FCPX and the fact that I can, together with occasional trips to Motion, produce all the supporting graphic components within the application.

But whether I’d recommend FCPX to someone else is another question.