Primary storyline

[Tom Wolsky]

Shift-Cmd-G is break apart clips. The Position tool is just a crutch for not using the application the way it’s designed to work. You really don’t want to do that, not in this application.

“clips next to each other all seem to house themselves with a grey bar as a roof” It sounds like you’ve created a secondary storyline. A very useful tool.

1) Not really. You can’t switch it off.

2) Put a gap clip in the primary. Opt-W. Select it. The C key selects what’s under the skimmer in the storyline. Control-D for duration in the dashboard. Dial in a number.

You’re basically finding workarounds to fight the application. If you’re going to use this application you should learn how to use this application, and not learn how best you can make it behave like another application.

All the best,

Tom

“Final Cut Pro X for iMovie and Final Cut Express Users” from Focal Press
“Complete Training for FCPX” from Class on Demand
Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP7,” “Basic Training for FCS” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”

[Julian Bowman]

Maybe, maybe not. The point of my work is to deliver my clients a good film they are happy with. How I achieve that is kind of irrelevant to anyone other than me. I don’t want to leave Final Cut Pro but it has been EOLd and I had to upgrade my OS to use a plugin I wanted. At some point I’m going to lose FCP7.

But making FCX work the way I want it to work isn’t counterproductive I don’t think, as long as I am happy and the end results are good. From what I have seen so far I can pretty much replicate tracks and (most of) my preferred way of editing, whilst retaining the use of all the plugins I have bought that mostly work in X.

I just don’t like the programme moving my stuff around. it is none of its business, it is mine. I do see limitations to the way I work in places but i will circumnavigate those, and I’m sure if i stick with it there may come times when i have a better look at the magnetic timeline, but I’ve read a lot about it and mostly it just doesn’t seem to be for me. Tracks are. And sadly CS6 had too many frustrations for me, more than X with my trackifying of it.

I have been self taught all down the line and working for 10 years. I’m sure the way I use/d FCP4.5 to 7 would have had people saying “what are you doing” but i’m still here and I like the way I do things. They will morph a bit in a new environment, but I’m far from convinced I will ever stop using the terms ‘project’ ‘sequence’ and ‘tracks’ and that the magnetic timeline isn’t really for me.

Never say never, but I wouldn’t put your house on it down William Hill.

[Tom Wolsky]

“But making FCX work the way I want it to work isn’t counterproductive I don’t think”

It may be counterproductive when you find you can’t do some things because the application no longer behaves as it was designed.

If you need detailed help it might be better to use the Apple forums where you can post screen shots.

All the best,

Tom

“Final Cut Pro X for iMovie and Final Cut Express Users” from Focal Press
“Complete Training for FCPX” from Class on Demand
Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP7,” “Basic Training for FCS” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”

[Charlie Austin]

[Julian Bowman] “Maybe, maybe not. The point of my work is to deliver my clients a good film they are happy with. How I achieve that is kind of irrelevant to anyone other than me.”

You’re absolutely right. I did a similar thing, and it was a great way to dive into X and get used to how it works. You’re gonna dig it. I’m just now starting to use the primary storyline, and I never really missed tracks, but there is no “correct” way to use it, make it do what you want, that’s one of the nice things about X IMO…

————————————————————-

~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~

[Julian Bowman]

Cheers. Having spent a day looking (and posting a lot on here) I am feeling comfortable enough to, well, not hate it off the bat. I’m still not 100% convinced by any stretch but I am now willing to give it a go. So thanks for the support. It’s quite a hassle having to do this, i’d much rather be spending my christmas break guiltily gorging myself on festivities 🙂

But Tom, despite my disagreeing a tad with you on this, many thanks for all the help in answering my questions to date. I really appreciate it and the speed with which you did it, it has helped me reach this point where I am comfortable with moving forwards. So cheers.

[Bill Davis]

Julian,

You’ve gotten some great advice here – and I’m happy you’re feeling more comfortable.

But I just want to add another small voice to Tom’s.

As a FCP-Legacy editor since V1 – It was a huge temptation to try to make X work as much like Legacy as i could. But when I finally got around my resistance, I discovered that the way X is designed to work has tremendous advantages that go well beyond what Legacy was designed to do. These are not necessarily “better” capabilities than what Legacy was focused on – but they ARE very different.

And if I might be so bold, the way X is designed is more consistent with where editing as an overall industry seems to be going. (I’d describe that as smaller pieces of content that need to be combined, deployed and revised constantly – rather than the more traditional concept of every video being primarily a discrete FINAL THING that is created from isolated ingredients and done for one isolated process, then cut off – rarely to be re-visited again.

X with it’s Event Browser and Share system sits at the heart of a different kind of “live” workflow concept.

To just learn and use it exclusively as an EDITOR is to just learn and use a PART of what it is.

So I also encourage you to try to get comfortable with doing what you need to do now – but don’t wall yourself off from what is different about it.

Those “different” things are what make it very special, IMO.

FWIW.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.

[Gabriel Spaulding]

If you want tracks then don’t use Final Cut Pro X. You can try all you want to create the illusion of tracks but you’ll just be working against the editing paradigm introduced by Final Cut Pro X. You can use the Position Tool, and other tools in combination with the Tilde key, to change the behavior of the Magnetic Timeline, but you’re still not creating tracks. The “grey bar with a roof” is simply a Secondary Storyline, and will behave more or less just like the Primary Storyline. It is not a separate track.

By default, a Secondary Storyline or Connected Clip is connected to a specific frame on the Primary Storyline. You can change which specific frame it is connected to by Command+Option+clicking on the Secondary Storyline or Connected Clip. If you don’t want the Secondary Storyline or Connected Clip to move when you move the Primary Storyline clip it is connected to, hold down the Tilde key when you move the clip in the Primary Storyline.

I understand you frustration. I use a track-based editor, Premiere Pro CS6, daily. It is a fine way of working. Even though it behaves very differently, I still prefer Final Cut Pro X. Don’t try to force FCP X to work the way a track-based editing program is designed to work. Learn how the program is supposed to work and you might quickly see how wonderful it can be. It might not speak to your unique style of working, however. In that case, maybe you should stick with a track-based editing program. Everybody has their own style.

Best of luck!

By the way, you can adjust the length of a black slug just as you would adjust any other clip: just click and drag the start point or end point.