My Demagnetized FCPX with Tracks

[Andrew Kimery]

[David Lawrence] “I think it’s actually pretty simple. FCPX has engineering groupthink written all over it. It’s easy to imagine they convinced themselves that their new model was better, without understanding the limitations or getting any early feedback. By they time they started showing it around, it was probably too late to make any significant changes.”

I disagree to a degree. I think it has ‘Steve Jobs think’, not group think, written all over it. I think Steve had a vision of how editing should be and that’s the direction FCPX went in. I’ve read accounts from people that gave notes nearly a year before FCPX was launched and they were being ignored.

Years ago Randy Ubillios was working on a companion app, a logging type app, for FCP. He showed it to Jobs and Jobs said something like,”That’s what I want iMovie to look like” and that’s how iMovie ’08, which was universally hated, came to be. Two years later iMovie ’08 finally got back on track.

Maybe FCPX will follow the same course maybe not. Who knows.

-Andrew

2.9 GHz 8-core (4,1), FCP 7.0.3, 10.6.6
Blackmagic Multibridge Eclipse (7.9.5)

[David Lawrence]

[Andrew Kimery] “I disagree to a degree. I think it has ‘Steve Jobs think’, not group think, written all over it. I think Steve had a vision of how editing should be and that’s the direction FCPX went in. I’ve read accounts from people that gave notes nearly a year before FCPX was launched and they were being ignored.”

I think you’re exactly right about Steve Jobs. I would argue he was the leader of the group. 😉

_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~research
propaganda.com
publicmattersgroup.com
facebook.com/dlawrence
twitter.com/dhl

[Chris Harlan]

[David Lawrence] “[Andrew Kimery] “I disagree to a degree. I think it has ‘Steve Jobs think’, not group think, written all over it. I think Steve had a vision of how editing should be and that’s the direction FCPX went in. I’ve read accounts from people that gave notes nearly a year before FCPX was launched and they were being ignored.”

I think you’re exactly right about Steve Jobs. I would argue he was the leader of the group. 😉
“

It definitely has that one button mouse feel.

[Andy Neil]

[tony west] “I wanted to see more break downs of it pro and con.”

It has many pros and very few cons, but the cons make it unworkable for standard post production multicam workflows like the type that Mark Raudonis uses over at Bunim-Murray.

Pros:
Syncs easily and very accurately
Uses metadata creatively to create multiclips
Angle viewer is simple and elegant
Angle Editor is badass and multiclips are more editable than in any other NLE
Can sync stills, audio, different frame rates/sizes and codecs.

Cons:
Can’t easily drill down into the audio tracks for each angle
Can’t edit multitrack audio or assign multitrack audio.
Can’t separate audio from video in edited multiclip
Can’t “finalize” or otherwise separate an edited clip from it’s multiclip relationship.

Most of the cons are to do with audio or how an editor might need to manipulate audio after an mutlicam edit. Hopefully, these shortcomings are being addressed along with a general fix of how audio is handled in FCPX projects.

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Tony West]

Andy, awesome breakdown.

Thanks man

[Dave Gage]

Jim (and others),

Because this thread gets referenced so much, I’ve probably read through it 3-4 times, but I’m still missing what is likely a very obvious point…

What is the basic setup made of to achieve this? Are those gap clips in there that create the “tracks”? I’ve been with FCPX since v10.00, but somehow I’m not getting this.

(I know Steve made a short video tutorial on this. Is it posted anywhere?)

Thanks,
Dave

[Jim Giberti]

[Dave Gage] “What is the basic setup made of to achieve this? Are those gap clips in there that create the “tracks”? I’ve been with FCPX since v10.00, but somehow I’m not getting this.
“

Hey Dave, I can email you a project folder which is a template I made of it.
It’s a 6 Audio Track, 1 Video Track, 1 minute long empty project that you can quickly expand the time and tracks as you want.

Yes those are inserted 1 frame gap clips at the top and a 1 frame audio clip at 60 seconds that forces your edited audio clips into the empty “lane” below the primary and above the audio Secondaries unless you want them to go into those dedicated “tracks”.

Here’s the 3 steps to have everything line up and start at Zero when you’re done your edit:

-When done editing, select all Secondary Gaps at first frames and Delete.
-Reselect those Secondaries and nudge “.” one frame to the right.
-Select the Primary Place Holder at the first frame and Delete.

I’m sure you know this, but these are a few things to make sure you defeat magnetism when you want to:

-Use Trim Tool in Secondaries to trim adjacent clips without affecting timeline.
-Use P Tool in Secondaries to adjust clips individually without moving other clips.
-Use P Tool to create L and J cuts in Primary.
-Shift Delete to Lift clip while keeping other clips in place in either Primary or Secondaries.

Hope this helps.

Jim

[Dave Gage]

Jim,

[Jim Giberti] “I can email you a project folder which is a template I made of it.”

Yes, that would be great. You can send it to: webmaster3(at)harmonicalessons(dot)com

[Jim Giberti] “I’m sure you know this, but these are a few things to make sure you defeat magnetism when you want to:

-Use Trim Tool in Secondaries to trim adjacent clips without affecting timeline.
-Use P Tool in Secondaries to adjust clips individually without moving other clips.
-Use P Tool to create L and J cuts in Primary.
-Shift Delete to Lift clip while keeping other clips in place in either Primary or Secondaries.”

I’m primarily a musician and web guy and have been busy with non-video projects for about six weeks, so the reminder is helpful. The closest I’ve gotten to video in the last month or so is reading the two FCPX Cow forums. I’m actually fine with using the default magnetic scheme, but I find your workaround very cool and I’d like to play with it the next time I fire up the program.

Thanks,
Dave

[Tim Cromar]

Hello Jim
Just came upon your excellent post today while searching for a track-based fcpx alternative. Would it be possible to get a copy of your project template file please? to: tgc5264 [at] mac.com
Many thanks!
Tim