Precision Editor

[Chris Stevens]

I find I’m using it more & more. Mainly for seeing how much & where the additional footage is either side of a transition. Don’t tend to use it for normal trimming though.

Chris Stevens – Waterline Media. Marine Production Company.
FCPX,Motion,AE, Resolve

[Craig Seeman]

I like being able to see the handles (not always needed though) but I much prefer a two up that works when using the keyboard.

[Craig Alan]

If I’m only concerned with one side of the edit, reveal in browser does the job. I’m often only concerned with where I want to trim each clip. I’ll use cross dissolves to soften any feeling of a jump cut. I do like old school more stagnant shots than what is in fashion right now.

Have to admit that my mind doesn’t easily imagine the final result of a roll edit looking at the frozen timeline even while looking at two up display – until I play it back with “shift-?” It’s like i don’t see the effect that playback speed will have. Maybe I should practice that since it could be a time saver.

I’ll often look at the Precision Editor just to get a glimpse of both handles and then close it and use the two up and the browser selection. Followed by playing around playhead. So all and all I like the feature but don’t use it to full advantage.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Oliver Peters]

What improvements should be made to it? What about split edits (L & J-cuts) with the PE?

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Brett Sherman]

[Oliver Peters] “What improvements should be made to it? What about split edits (L & J-cuts) with the PE?”

I never thought about that. I might actually use it if I could do L & J cuts without expanding and collapsing the audio.

[Craig Alan]

Yeah about the only way to be able to use wider shots and reaction shots with dialog is to integrate J & L edits.

How could this be improved with the precision editor? What features would you add?

In some ways this is done really well in FCP X multi cam. You choose your sound track and cut around it.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Oliver Peters]

[Craig Alan] “How could this be improved with the precision editor?”

Well to start with, the ability to even do it in the PE.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Craig Alan]

I got that. But how could you add that to the PE?

If you expand the audio and video and create an L or J cut you still get a two up when you play with the edit point. What would the PE add to the package and how should it get displayed?

When I open the PE after editing a J cut, I get sections of the now collapsed audio that look blacked/greyed out but the overlapped (L or J) audio will still play. So do you use the PE for visual edit points and then expand the audio and create your L or J?

I don’t get that blacked out look. It looks like it is disabled but its not, its a handle and seeing the waveform of this audio handle is even more confusing. Underneath it is the other clips audio. This is where trackless as designed is not as good. Unless I’m missing something. If the audio is collapsed (attached) to a visual its very obvious that it’s a L or J cut. Why black out that portion? Maybe a colored bar across the audio section would make it more obvious.

In any case, how would you beef up the PE by adding the ability to edit audio as well.

L cut:

collapsed L cut:

L cut in PE

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Oliver Peters]

[Craig Alan] “I got that. But how could you add that to the PE?”

Well, I personally think it’s a less useful piece of eye candy designed to demo the software. I never use it and wish there was a two-up view when you trim via the keyboard.

In addition, I think the way split edits are implemented is a very slow way of working, unless you want dialogue overlaps, which I usually don’t. For example, you can’t work with split-edits in the chicklet view. You can’t work with split-edits unless you expand audio using one of the other views. So, if you typically work with small timeline “tracks” (the chicklet view), then it takes 2 steps before you can even perform a split edit.

That being said, I think you could simply extend the audio and/or video portions of the A or B side within the existing paradigm for the PE. Possibly requiring a modifier key.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Craig Alan]

Thanks Oliver. Thought I was just not getting it. Always feels like a a tug of war and too many steps to get the result of a very common need – a simple split edit. I do like seeing the available handles on either side of an edit point but the audio feels like an afterthought in the way the program was designed from not having a keyboard shortcut that brings up an audio-centric interface, the little audio space you get in the inspector to see all available tracks, the half baked version of timeline tracks for audio. I do like the connection points when adding an audio clip.

I thought you were looking for a particular feature to be added in the PE.

Like I said, I really just use it to see the handles and then go back to …. non precision?

[Oliver Peters] “wish there was a two-up view when you trim via the keyboard”

Yes that would be great. Seems like a bug that it displays 2-up but not when using the keyboard.

Can’t imagine that was deliberate.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.