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Photoshop CS6 Beta released, with magnetic timeline!
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[Franz Bieberkopf] “This is sort of where I fail in understanding the two models – can’t one say that the “absolute time” model essentially relates all clips back to the start time? Or to restate: in what way is the “absolute time” model not dependent on the first frame of the sequence?”
Have you read David Lawrence’s excellent article The Magnetic Timeline — Thoughts on Apple’s New Paradigm [link]?
Basically, with FCP7’s absolute time, time is defined by an external clock which clips are cut against, and which is unaffected by operations on clips in the edit.
With FCPX’s relative time, the primary storyline drives the clock, and everything is relative to that. Change the primary storyline, you actually change the clock.
It’s a question of frame of reference. With FCP7, since the frame of reference is external, it remains fixed during editorial operations. With FCPX, since the frame of reference is based on the material you’re working with, your frame of reference itself changes during the edit.
An admittedly poor analogy that tries to make this a little more concrete: with FCP7, you are standing on the shore, observing a boat on a river, but independent of both. With FCPX, you’re floating in the river along with the boat as you observe them both, governed by the same forces that are changing the things you’re observing.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
Hey Bill guess what Photoshop CS6 let’s you do with video? Export a specific range using in and outs or specific frame range! Even Photoshop has this feature! Why would anyone ever need to export a specific area of their timeline? crazy….
Lance Bachelder
Writer, Editor, Director
Irvine, California -
[Joseph W. Bourke] “I think you have it backwards, Daniel – the executives that are out of touch seem to be at Apple. Check out labs.adobe.com some time – they listen to their users, and they actually give us what they’re working on to see whether it works. With Adobe, it’s Design, Test, Ship – with Apple it’s Design, Ship, Test.”
OK Joseph, you’ve inspired my analogy of the day.
I wasn’t looking for a new girlfriend, just the opposite, I was really happy with the way things were going – especially knowing that we were always working to make a better relationship.
Then I woke up one day and she dressed and acted completely different than she had in our ten year relationship…just so she could sleep with all the young guys with Macbooks. To make things worse, she tried to convince me that this change was best for both of us.
So here’s this cute Adobe. I’ve known her since I was a kid (I produced some of the earliest non-linear projects on PP1.0), but I’ve never thought of her “in that way”.
She may not be as sexy or fully compatible as my honey Seven was, but she’s so faithful, and she cares about me and listens to me, I’ll never have to worry about her dumping me for the young guy with the tight pants and tats.
In the movies, I always end up with Adobe.
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So what does that make Avid? An old trucker lady? She doesn’t look pretty, but she’s got her AZ license so everyone still calls her up for work ? 😉
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[Walter Soyka] ”
An admittedly poor analogy that tries to make this a little more concrete: with FCP7, you are standing on the shore, observing a boat on a river, but independent of both. With FCPX, you’re floating in the river along with the boat as you observe them both, governed by the same forces that are changing the things you’re observing.”Feels like you really should be invoking Einstein here – but maybe that would be to complicate a bit 😉
Simon Ubsdell
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
[Simon Ubsdell] “Feels like you really should be invoking Einstein here – but maybe that would be to complicate a bit ;-)”
The 10.0.3 beachballs are a feature. They prevent you from editing faster than the speed of light, which would of course cause your footage to start playing backwards.
Interestingly, superluminal playback doesn’t require transcoding to optimized media in order to play H.264 media smoothly in reverse.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
[Walter Soyka] “The 10.0.3 beachballs are a feature. They prevent you from editing faster than the speed of light, which would of course cause your footage to start playing backwards.”
🙂
OK, so now I’m beginning to understand it just a fraction. As Bill Davis has so often pointed out, FCPX is a whole lot deeper than any of us can begin to imagine.
Simon Ubsdell
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
[Walter Soyka] “Have you read David Lawrence’s excellent article”
Indeed I have – those original posts were what motivated me to join the forum.
[Walter Soyka] “Basically, … [etc. etc.]”
Yeah, not doing much to help me. The thing is I completely grasp the mechanics of it (and the dependencies model), just not why people see such a difference between the absolute and relative aspects (with respect to the timeline). But I think your previous response hit it when you said that from an output point of view it looks the same, and perhaps the model in my head relies on the “output point of view” and so sees no difference.
Franz.
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[Franz Bieberkopf] “The thing is I completely grasp the mechanics of it (and the dependencies model), just not why people see such a difference between the absolute and relative aspects (with respect to the timeline). But I think your previous response hit it when you said that from an output point of view it looks the same, and perhaps the model in my head relies on the “output point of view” and so sees no difference.”
For most, I think the difference is entirely in the feel of the timeline manipulations.
In FCP7, every edit behaves the same. In FCPX, edits work differently depending on whether they are primary or not. In FCP7, you have to think about the ramifications of your selections and operations; in FCPX, you have to think about the ramifications of your object model assignments.
If the length of your program isn’t fixed, you may never even think about absolute time, so this may not make a difference at all. For some programs like 0:30 spots or episodic TV which must have defined act lengths, cutting in absolute time instead of relative time may be easier to understand intuitively. This is not to say it can’t be done in FCPX — it just feels a lot different.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
[Walter Soyka] “For some programs like 0:30 spots or episodic TV which must have defined act lengths, cutting in absolute time instead of relative time may be easier to understand intuitively. This is not to say it can’t be done in FCPX — it just feels a lot different.”
I think that once again, Walter nails it.
And if you don’t have the time or patience to dig into that “feels a lot different” thing – then X will likely frustrate you until you spend the time to get to the point where it’s functions are as natural as what you used before it.
Experienced editors who judge it purely in relation to their traditional toolset – and when it fails to perform like they expect, simply write it off as “not right” are missing a lot of the story here, IMO.
This is a new direction for an editing tool. Not a “tune up” of the traditional direction in one.
If you don’t need a new tool. No problem. That’s your call. Use a more traditional one.
But if you’re open to some new thinking as to where editing might be going. There’s only one product out there that lets you explore something very different right now.
Maybe it won’t transform how you edit. That’s fine.
But it has transformed how I do. And I simply have no interest in going back to the tools I used to have.
The don’t satisfy me any more. I’ve changed my thinking and resonate with the new processes a whole lot better.
That old thing about old dogs and new tricks? Totally and completely wrong.
Really.
“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
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