How exactly has FCX improved or expedited your workflow?

[Charlie Austin]

Great thread. X isn’t without issues,but I think we’re all aware of those 😉 So… Leaving aside the oft discussed downsides to some of this stuff, the biggies for me compared to other NLE’s, in no particular order are:

1-Magnetism, no fixed tracks, and thus, no patching and Track Tetris. Being able to perform any combo of A/V, V only, A only Connect, Insert, Overwrite, or Append, with just 2 keystrokes and no thought to whether I’m about to accidentally overwrite an existing clip in the timeline is an enormous timesaver. Huge really.

2-Audio components. I generally work from Multichannel source material (split features) so for any particular edit decision, I may need sync DIA, FX, or just one or the other. In X , I don’t have to make that decision before I cut something in. Slap it in, and then easily Enable/Disable what I need. I can focus on the cut and worry about that stuff later. Also, being able to independently trim the multiple audio channels and video while they remain as a single clip is great. If I do need to split audio off, it’s still connected so it remains in sync unless I choose to connect it to something else.

3-Storylines. They are essentially FCPX’s “tracks”. As others mentioned, the ability to cut freely with connected clips and then commit to the primary is really the best of both worlds. FC7/Pr free form and MC Ripple mode, without selecting modes. And secondary story lines are great for things like Music where you may not want individual clips connected to the primary, as you’re music bed is fixed. Stick your MX in secondary storyline(s) connected to the first frame of the timeline and you’ve got your fixed in time “tracks”. Also great for situations where you’re maybe cutting an A or V clip into a bunch of tiny pieces and don’t want them to magnetically jump around. Creating story lines is just as easy as creating new tracks in other NLE’s and you end up with the essentially same, and in some ways more functionality.

4-Skimming in general, but Clip Skimming in particular. Huge timesaver. Got a stack of composited video and want to know what’s in layer 4 out of 8? One step, hover the cursor over it and you’ll see. Want to know what’s in the source 10 or 20 frames before or after the section of the clip you’ve cut in? When clip skimming, using the arrow keys will skim beyond the boundaries of what’s in the timeline. Want to make a cut on a timeline clip without having to select it? Skim an audio or video clip to the frame you’d like to cut and blade it, even if something else is selected. Want to zoom into a portion of the timeline but leave your playhead where it is and keep another clip selected?. Skim to the section you want and zoom in, your zoom will focus on wherever the skimmer is. Skimming in X is really an amazing time saver once you wrap your head around it. Nothing like it in any NLE.

5-Audio editing. The fact that audio clips in X can be moved in sample increments rather than being constrained to frames is freaking awesome.Yes, you can keyframe Audio in other NLE’s in subframe increments, but if you need to adjust it’s position, frames it is. Editing audio is a pleasure in X. And editing audio components while they ride with clip is a big timesaver as well. Selecting an audio range and changing its levels adds keyframes automatically, Huge timesaver. Short of a dedicated DAW, I can’t think of anything that’s better to edit audio in. And while there are no busses and faders etc yet, it’s trivially easy to get a good mix in X.

6-Compound clips. Yes, you can nest clips in other NLE’s, and yes, there are things about CC’s that need work. But using them judiciously can really speed up workflow. Got a section cut you’d like to save and reuse or easily move to another part of your timeline or another timeline? Create a CC containing it, name it and there you go. Got the perfect dialog cheat or composited pile of video? Make a CC and it’s now one, editable clip. Make a smart Collection looking for Compound clips and all your cheats, section, composites, whatever, all show up in one place for later use. which brings me to…

7-Keywords, KW Collections, Smart collections, range tagging etc. Gigantic timesaver. That’s been covered by, uh.. everyone though. 🙂

8, 9, 10 uh… I’m realizing I could just go on and on but… the main reason I think X speeds up my workflow is that all I have to think about is the cut. Like any other NLE, You do your best work when the software melts into the background letting you concentrate on the craft. And like any NLE, that happens by working with it a lot. But there are always things you need to do that take you out of the flow. I find, cutting in X, that there are simply way fewer “other” things that I need to pay attention to when I’m cutting. It is much better at getting out of my way, getting out of my head really, because it takes care of a lot of the basic stuff that every other NLE forces you to pay attention to. And honestly, If you’re familiar enough with any NLE those things become second nature.

For me though, in addition to it’s unique features, X removes a lot more of those “things”. It really is as deep as you want it to be, but once your muscle memory is trained, and the interface melts into the background, it just lets you edit. I’ve been doing this full time for close to 20 years (Yikes!), and X let’s me just cut, and not babysit the software, more than any NLE I’ve cut on.

Of course, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make we want to tear my hair out occasionally… it really is still a work in progress. But, I also can’t think of any other NLE that makes me smile as much as I do when I’m cutting in X. It’s fun. And *that* is a huge workflow expeditor. 🙂

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

[David Powell]

Well you can slow mo but you have no option for optical flow. You basically have to match frame to the multiclip, record the tc from the event browser, then go into the angle editor, type in the tc, copy the range of the original clip, paste it back on your timeline and add slomo. Same process if you want to stabilize. Quite the pita.

[John Godwin]

Can’t you just open the clip in the angle editor, copy the range you want, optical flow it on the timeline, and place that where you want it? Man, I used to edit reel to reel on quad machines with no controller and an inherent half second lag on edits. A few clip selections and mouse clicks are no big deal.

Best,
John

[Paul Neumann]

Pneumatic foot pedal?

[Mathieu Ghekiere]

– Organising your footage in keyword collections is MUCH faster then with bins, if you have hundreds, maybe thousands of clips.

– The whole skimming, and ‘visual nature’ of X. You skim clips, you see thumbnails, you see the waveforms immediately on the clip, you can hear audio with pitch even if you go quickly, etc. … In the beginning I didn’t like the skimmer. Now I realize it’s a fundamental design decision of X, and once you learn how to use it effectively, it’s great and you can’t live without (except for doing some very specific things… then you just turn it off).
Premiere has Hover Scrub, but X has really been designed around a completely new nature of going trough clips and trough a timeline, it feels a lot more organic.
You find stuff quicker, you click less, etc. …

– Having first rate quality audio effects in the program itself makes our audio a lot more better and we finish things even more better then we used to with FCP7.

– A market of low-priced 3rd party templates and effects, in combination with how you quickly can make your own effects and templates in Motion, means we are having effects faster, and we use them more often then we did before.

– Having compound clips very easily available and being able to do changes there that ripple trough, saves us a lot of time if we have to make certain graphic adjustments to clips.

– Multicam clips don’t need to be the same format anymore. We don’t need to transcode things to the same format anymore before we go into Multicam-editing.

– Exporting times of a lot of stuff, especially stuff with a timecode generator on it, is a LOT quicker in X (although here working in Prores is essential to having access to fast render and export times)

– Having background exporting means we don’t sit around if we have to quickly push stuff out. We push export, and just start working immediately to the next video without having to wait.

– The magnetic timeline makes sure that if you have to adjust some things after an edit has been done already, it can go *much* quicker. You can just move stuff, and everything adjusts. I don’t have to select all tracks again, move them up, move them back, etc. …

I’m sure I could mention a lot more things, but those are the ones out of the top of my head. A lot of it is by really – BY EXPERIENCE – learning how to use X though. In some cases, if you try to use it like you used 7 for instance, it can prove to be slower. Once you learn some new things, which you learn by trying them out, often – but not always – it’s quicker in X.
This is especially true of the timeline, where you learn when to put media in the primary storyline, when to do it as a connected clip, when to use the Lift from Storyline commands, etc. …

[John Godwin]

No, these were the steam-powered models.

My point being that once in a while it seems like we just forget how fantastic it is to have all these tools at our fingertips, and instead worry about how many pinheads can dance on an angel. I’m pretty happy to be around and working when we can do things easily on a laptop that you couldn’t do for any amount of money 20 years ago, and when cameras no longer weigh 34 pounds and produce excellent images for almost no cost.

Sorry, don’t mean to get off topic, it just struck me strongly when reading this thread, and perspective is good.

Best,
John

[Chris Harlan]

[David Powell] “Another is Avid chokes on everything that is not dnx. “

I’m finding ProRes works extremely well. In fact, I see no difference in performance at all. Are you finding differently? Or are you working on Windows?

[David Powell]

I misstated that that there. Yes prores works very well. All of the compressed camera formats choke it even for making selects in the source monitor.

[Tony West]

[John Godwin] ” perspective is good.”

You can say that again John. It’s come a long way from back when I started.

I remember trying to get a loan for a betacam back in the 80’s and the banks all telling me no.

Now I own two cameras that are both way better than that one and I can tell the banks were to go : )

[James Ewart]

“I simply do not see a value in having B-roll in another track. To me it clutters the timeline, taking up valuable screen real estate with more video tracks, while should a change need to be made, it opens up increased likelihood of pieces getting out of line, simple fast trims can still restore the primary footage; basically I see no reason for there to be anything on the timeline that is completely hidden all that can do is lead to confusion further down the road. I will certainly use more than 1 video track if I need to, but keeping footage all in one track allows me to work better.”

Wow having B roll in v1 would be so claustrophobic for me. What do you do about audio under the B roll? Isn’t it simpler to have the associated picture in the timeline with its audio even if you can’t see it?

My perspective is that of an FCP 7 user since version 1.2. I never got my head round Media Composer and found Premiere to be an excellent tool but no better than FCP7. It too me quite a while to get my head round FCPX. I am still learning all the time

I still find the magnetic timeline annoying at times, especially when trimming the front end of a clip. Especially when cutting to music. I think I should be putting the music track into the primary storyline and this annoyance would probably go away. But I find it helpful more than I find it annoying now. Having the ability to “Override Connections” has been essential for me.

Auditions is an amazing tool even for docs although for drama I can see the benefits must be awesome. To be able to show somebody the options and different takes at the click of a button is super fast. Can you do this in MC? Or Premiere? It surely speeds things up but also makes the creative process and shot selection more flexible. Not just about speed. It helps you make the best choices.

I find myself using much fewer video layers with FCPX which has made me better organised and quicker.

Making the titles in the viewer rather than in a separate box is faster and more intuitive as is the real time preview of effects and filters.

Keyword Collections are a super fast way of logging and organising footage. Way faster than traditional bins. For organising and logging footage I can honestly say I could not go back to the old way. Too slow. It would be annoying.

Smart Collections are also a breakthrough. I only use them for compound clips at present but am sure they will have many more uses.

Th ability to skim through clips in the browser is also super fast. Not sure if MC or Premiere lets you do this but certainly way faster than FCP7.

To be able to log and edit immediately without having to wait for footage to be digitised is a massive time saver.

Oh yes and audi trimming for split edits is very smooth. I like the audio being next to the video although this took a while to get used to it’s a lot easier to see where everything is. The audio functionality is wonderful.