-
Having Major Problems with Cross Dissolves in FCPX
Hi – I have just started using FCPX fairly recently, and have been working intensely on a project for the last couple of months, following tutorials and generally finding my way around the software quite well. So I feel I know the difference between my not understanding how something works and the software malfunctioning. This is currently the case with using, or trying to use, transitions of various kinds on the timeline. Things are not working at all as they should, to the extent that I am having to pretty much abandon using them. There are very strange and incredibly frustrating buggy things happening, that I would be surprised if no-one else has had the same issue. It really seems to be a software problem and quite a major one in my opinion. So, my question is, is anyone else experiencing major problems with transitions? I have also had some issues with the retiming editor, but have managed to work around it.
As this is version 1 of the software, I would expect there to be some bugs, but the transition issue is seriously affecting my ability to complete my project as desired, so I’d like to know that I’m not alone in finding this fault, or if I am, what on earth might be going on!.
-
16 Replies
-
Are you going to tell us specifically what is happening?
Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!Check out my Mormon.org profile.
-
“So, my question is, is anyone else experiencing major problems with transitions?”
No.
-
I second the “no.”
However, I’m doing some informal meetings in my studio with half a dozen guys learning X and one of them tonight was having trouble with dissolves. Specifically banding in gradients that looked like color depth issues.
When you cross dissolve two clips that are each pretty large in the first place, and you use the default bitstream compression presets, we could all see some banding happen in subtle gradients like blue skies.
The group solution was to get him to stop using the interior FCP-X export functions and go out to Compressor where he can reclaim control of stuff like setting the max bitrate export controls.
I also think a general rule is that with so many people using X (hundreds of thousands of seats downloaded = at this stage) If there’s not a lot of chatter from many sources having the same problem, it’s pretty good bet that it’s a settings or operation issue, rather than a flaw in the program.
Technically, since X dumped Quicktime in favor of AV Foundation and Core Video, most people appear to be seeing significant IMPROVEMENT in areas like transitions that QT used to regularly screw up.
So you shouldn’t have to settle for less than great quality if you can take the time to figure out how to set things up.
FWIW.
“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor
-
Thanks guys, I will get back here shortly with detailed explanation of what my problems are. My initial reaction is: strange, can it be my system? Am I doing something ‘wrong’…we shall see 🙂
-
[John Irvine] “As this is version 1 of the software, I would expect there to be some bugs, but the transition issue is seriously affecting my ability to complete my project as desired, so I’d like to know that I’m not alone in finding this fault, or if I am, what on earth might be going on!.
“I have no issues with transitions, perhaps someone could help if you actually tell us what the problem is?
“My Name is Steve and I’m an FCPX user”
-
I am in the UK, so just back from work…I will open a new project and attempt to recreate the problem so that I can give you all the details. This may take me a couple of hours. Thanks 🙂
-
Good evening gents, I am unable to post specific problems relating to my ‘transition’ issues at present.
I would rather wait until I can be sure it is not my system or my own errors that are causing the problems (too many strange things have been happening to accurately list them here at the moment). I trust that when and if I do post the details on here that your collective expertise will be made available to me as generously as it has been so far. Thanks, John 🙂 -
I don’t know if this was John’s issue, but I recently found that once I had placed cross dissolves and let them render through background rendering, I couldn’t modify their length or position without getting “ghosts” from the previous renders. Doing File>Delete Project Render Files and then re-rendering solved the problem.
-
The only issue I have had was at the end of the dissolve it would “pop” for one frame. I built some titles for a recent show with 3 dissolves and each one popped at the end. If “popped” isn’t the right word, I guess I mean it wasn’t smooth and was jumpy for a frame or two.
Otherwise a few odd things have happened, but I chalk it up to version 1.0 and my inexperience.
Hope this helps.
~Dylan
-
Well, I’m sure there are odd things that happen from time to time on the magnetic timeline, but I’m putting my main issue with dissolves down to inexperience. If I find a recurring issue with the software that doesn’t seem to be due to my quirky way of working, then I’ll post it here. Thanks for your input, guys. John 🙂
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up