“Gang” emulation?

[Tom Wolsky]

So out of luck. Might be a way when the promised multicam functionality appears, but no way to know.

All the best,

Tom

Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP7,” “Basic Training for FCS” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 4 Editing Workshop”

[Simon Ubsdell]

Thanks, Tom. That’s what I thought, but I was wondering if anyone here could think of a cunning workaround.

You know how they say “it’s always the little things”? Well, in this case the lack of a gang feature means I won’t be able to use FCPX until it’s fixed. Seems absurd, I know, but it’s entirely true. I can’t even begin to think how you would eye-match edits without it.

I wish I didn’t need to be able to eye-match because it’s no fun at the best of times! Without Gang it’s a nightmare, and without a traditional Replace tool (FCPX’x “Replace” is no such thing and seriously mis-designed in my view) it’s an even worse nightmare.

Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com

[Misha Aranyshev]

I can live without Multicam but not without Gang and Replace.

[Simon Ubsdell]

Agreed.

Curiously Gang is about the only thing that I quite literally can’t do without (and I’d seriously hate having to do without Replace) and that’s not being some kind of prima donna – it’s a hardcore fact of life. For almost everything else, even the major stuff, there is some kind of fudge or workaround or third party solution, but not this.

To be honest – and no doubt it’s a failure of imagination on my part – I don’t see how I will be able to eye-match with FCPX now or in the future a) without these essential tools and b) without some kind of dual monitor arrangement that enables you to see your source clip and your timeline clip side by side. I know that sounds very antiquated in this brave new world …

As I say, I wish I never had to eye-match anything ever again – but I can’t see that happening 🙁

Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com

[Tom Wolsky]

You do have replace, but it is drag and drop with different options.

All the best,

Tom

Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP7,” “Basic Training for FCS” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 4 Editing Workshop”

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Tom Wolsky] “You do have replace, but it is drag and drop with different options.”

No, sadly, Tom, Replace in FCPX is not the same tool as the Replace we know from other NLEs. I have already commented on this below along with remarks about how it affects Audition but I’ll repeat it here:

First of all it doesn’t work using the sync reference from the source/record playback heads (to use antiquated terminology, sorry). Secondly, it is a ripple edit function (!) so that if your source clip is a different length from the destination it changes the length of your timeline. All this is a bit of a shame because it means that the nice Audition feature doesn’t work for me – I don’t want to have to go measuring the lengths of my source and record events all the time, that’s madness and undoes any advantage I get from Audition, to say the very least! OK, so Replace from Start and Replace from End don’t ripple, but the Replace and Add to Audition does.

Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com

[Tom Wolsky]

Yes, you use the replace from start or replace from end function to maintain the clip duration. I said there was a replace function but it worked differently.

All the best,

Tom

Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP7,” “Basic Training for FCS” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 4 Editing Workshop”

[Misha Aranyshev]

OK, let’s say “FCPX doesn’t have a Non-rippling Replace on Cue” and that’s really bad.

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Tom Wolsky] “Yes, you use the replace from start or replace from end function to maintain the clip duration. I said there was a replace function but it worked differently.”

That really isn’t replace as we have come to know it. As I was saying, I need replace for eye-matching – the classic replace mode enabled you to find a sync frame in both source and timeline anywhere inside the clip and perform the edit without having to go to the head frame on both clips (which is laborious in the extreme and without Gang as well pretty much unthinkable). I know it probably doesn’t sound like a big deal if you’ve never had to do this job – but trust me it really is.

I have to say Replace was one of the single most powerful tools in the box for many purposes besides this and it’s not there in FCPX.

Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Simon Ubsdell] “replace as we have come to know it”

Here’s the description of Replace Edit from the FCP7 manual, as I wasn’t very clear in my account of it:

A replace edit is a specialized form of overwrite edit. A replace edit places the frame at the current Viewer playhead position at the Canvas/Timeline playhead location in your sequence.

It’s the “sync edit” factor that is crucial to this tool and that’s what has been taken away in FCPX – at least until they rethink it 😉

Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com