RedShark News: Opinion: Which are the best NLEs right now?

[Oliver Peters]

BTW – speaking of marketing – FCP X getting some front page love within this group:

https://www.apple.com/start-something-new/

– Oliver

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

[Daniel Frome]

I can navigate myself around FCPX fairly well … but the thing that still irks me is that I cannot “select clip” on a secondary storyline element without hovering my mouse point on it. Is there a way to definitively select secondaries/audio elements via keyboard ?

[David Mathis]

That makes sense. Honestly, some editing features could have been added but a stand-alone NLE would be a better choice. Things could change in the next version, I hope.

[Deleted User]

[James Ewart] “I would say that the negativity I experience towards FCPX (that echoes Legacy) is irrational and has an agenda. What could that agenda be? …”

FWIW: I don’t have an “agenda”. I don’t have an axe to grind with Apple. In fact, as a Mac user since 1984 (actually, 1983, but that’s another story), I a huge fan of most things Apple.

My problem with FCPX is that every time I try to use it, its UI design makes me completely, utterly, crazy — and not in a good way. It fundamentally doesn’t work for me. Not only do I not “get” it, I hate it.

I have no problem with people who love FCPX as is. Go forth and prosper.

I would have preferred if Apple had instead designed FCPX with a “legacy” UI mode as the default. It would be OK with me if Apple had also gone a step further and included the current FCPX UI as an “alternate” UI mode — in addition to a legacy UI mode — for people who wanted to use it.

I understand having two UI modes would be tricky/difficult to implement well, but Apple could’ve done it if they wanted to. Sometimes I wonder what all those thousands of Apple employees do all day …

But whatever. That train left the station a l-o-n-g time ago. I accept that.

Meanwhile I’m not ecstatic about spending the next few years using a software tool that’s not a good fit for me. As I explained in my previous post, the alternatives are even worse for me.

Thanks all for a truly great thread. I’m enjoying reading. Cheers.

—

https://www.peterdv.com
Blog: https://herefortheweather.wordpress.com

[James Ewart]

My reference to having an agenda was not addressed at you Peter.

You know I made a posting on another forum so close to yours about 24 months ago (little longer). Could not get my head round it. I wanted to make it work the way i was used to working . It drove me nuts and I abandoned three projects with it and went back and did them in FCP7.

You have to be prepared to change if not then probably PP is the way to go.

What made the difference for me was the Ripple Tutorials and taking a little bit of time out to learn FCPX from scratch.

[Deleted User]

[Jeff Markgraf] “… Regarding finder tags and color coding: so what? Why is that such a deal breaker? Real question, not snark. I do my tagging and organizing in the NLE. And I can tag and color code all I want in finder, then drag directly into X to import if seeing the files in finder is important for some reason. …”

Thanks for your thoughtful reply, Jeff!

I gave the Finder tag/label/color-coding issue as an example of what is for me a consistent problem with FCPX: The WTF/WWTT (what were they thinking?) aspect of its design.

The frigging Mac operating system has long allowed you to tag/label files on disk. Immediately after shooting, after making multiple backups of camera clips, you can (if you want) easily tag/label clips right in the Finder. No NLE required. I’ve worked this way for years with every kind of file. Many other users do, too. In fact, the latest version of the Mac OS makes tags even more important than ever.

Yes, I understand I can drag & drop files from a Finder window into FCPX. My point is why the heck doesn’t FCPX — years later — not recognize Finder tags in its import dialog box or in the app? It’s just stupid — brain dead as Steve Jobs would say.

That’s just one small example of why I can’t stand FCPX’s UI.

The issue about how needlessly difficult it is to perform audio-only cross fades is another. Using the empty Motion transition workaround is a nice parlor trick, but it’s not without its downsides. Just another small example of FCPX brain deadness, and an utterly mystifying one — especially at this late date.

I don’t have a problem with fiddling and twiddling with itty bitty GUI “handles” when necessary (FCP 7 has those in spades, too), but I do have a problem when a supposedly big, powerful, modern, sophisticated app gets many fundamentals utterly wrong.

I expect FCPX will continue to improve. God, I hope so.

Meanwhile, glad FCPX is working well for you. Again, I appreciate reading your observations. Cheers.

—

https://www.peterdv.com
Blog: https://herefortheweather.wordpress.com

[Walter Soyka]

[Oliver Peters] “AFAIK, Resolve processes video at a much higher bit depth (and as full RGB) than does a normal NLE.”

I thought FCP X was all floating-point RGB, but I don’t know enough about the render pipeline to be able to say for certain.

Resolve has its own proprietary YRGB color science, which essentially lets you adjust color without altering brightness, and brightness without altering color. It combines benefits of RGB processing and YUV processing.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[James Ewart]

For audio only try this

https://blog.alex4d.com/2011/07/11/fcpx-transition-sound-only/

FCPX requires you to buy the ad dons you need and no the ones you don’t need. I like that. I don’t have to pay for functionality i do not need.

Incidentally I like having more control over my audio fas. it’s much more like an audio application like Logic or Pro tools.

Default audio cross fades are a bit of a “bodge” IMHO. Audio needs to be a bit more subtle than that ideally.

Best regards

james

[Oliver Peters]

[James Ewart] “Default audio cross fades are a bit of a “bodge” IMHO. Audio needs to be a bit more subtle than that ideally.”

Really? That’s how most DAWs do it. Granted you have more control over each side of the fade in most DAWs. The way X handles it is better for precision, but in the dark ages for speed. Logic X gives you both crossfades on the same track and a quick application of manual fades for individual clips. In fact, the Logic X fade control is way superior to how X handles this.

For instance, when I edit dialogue, I usually place short crossfades across all audio edit points. In FCP7, MC or PPro I set a default audio dissolve length and apply that to all edits in one step. Then I go through the timeline and listen. Any that don’t work are tweaked. This is light years faster than adjusting fade handles manually for every clip in/out, not to mention also having to extend the handle to create an overlap.

– Oliver

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

[Deleted User]

[Scott Witthaus] “… I have R11 on a new (mid 2014), totally tricked out MacPro and the playback is terrible. …”

Sorry to hear it. That’s a drag.

Co-incidentally, this recent post may be helpful (if you haven’t already tried these techniques):
https://tomasz.cc/2014/12/improve-davinci-resolve-performance-3-steps/

Cheers.

—

https://www.peterdv.com
Blog: https://herefortheweather.wordpress.com